1826.] . A True AdvnUnre. '281 



ill our Btatt" of siege, witli fire and candle, a double portion of the latter 

 having been surreptitiously procured from the kitchen by the faithful 

 ■Swiss. He hastily, however, seized the wooden cup and wine jug, and 

 poured their contents into the grate, reminding nie of the unusual re- 

 luctance and denial of the servant to partake of them. It occurred to 

 me next to secure the only perceptible mode of ascent to the saloon, by 

 drawing up the drop-ladder ; but on examination we had been anticipated 

 in our designs by some one, for it had disappeared, and we were fairly 

 prisoners of war. As there was no room now for further debate or 

 hesitation, Sebastian stretched his full and brawny length against the 

 door by way of an eflectual barrier ; and then, poor fellow, with a pistol 

 in his grasp, urged me to sleep, while he watched. The very idea 

 of sleep was out of the question for me, and wrapping my plaid around 

 me, I sat mechanically watching the embers, in no very enviable state of 

 mind. Good God ! what an eternity of time did the succeeding hour 

 appear, to my restless, feverish, conjuring brain. At one time I endea- 

 voured to explain aAva)'' appearances ; at another the fearful spectacle of 

 the adjoining room at once dissipated every shadow of doubt; and I 

 was possessed with the racking reality, that I was not only breathing 

 the tainted air of murder, but probably was marked out as the next 

 victim on the same altar ; then succeeded the dear and desperate conflict 

 of life and death. I balanced nicely the calculation of numbers against 

 the singleness of our righteous cause ; the daring carelessness of these 

 men of blood, hardened and emboldened by a long career of successful 

 crime, against the security of our position, and the wariness of awakened 

 caution ; the determined character of our resolves, the interested unity 

 of our fellowship, and that host in himself, Sebastian — a match for a 

 multitude in courage and constancy, with our local superiority. I re- 

 member often examining the priming of my pistol on that eventful 

 night, and bending the blade of my sword nearly double, to prove its 

 staunchness and right metal. I imagined the advance of the enemy, 

 and arranged exactly where I should smite him with the sword, and 

 what position I should take up to use my pistol close and effectually, 

 sharpening the edge of the flint mechanically ; in short, such and a 

 thousand similar refle.ctions and plans occupied my restless thoughts, 

 while my honest companion was sleeping tranquilly, occasionally dis- 

 turbing the profound stillness by his hard and fitful breathing. I think 

 it might have been an hour after midnight, when I was roused from a 

 waking doze by a shrill whistle echoing through the apartment, and 

 then followed the tramp of horses ; I placed my ear to the loop-hole, 

 and so accurate is the instinct of every sense connected with self-pre- 

 servation, that I could distinguish the different paces, and counted at 

 short intervals the tramp of five horsemen who halted in the court-yard, 

 but without dismounting. Presently there was a gleam of light shot 

 awthart the intense gloom of the morning, and a low indistinct parley 

 was held with some one at the door of the house. The words " siamo 

 tardt' reached my ear ; and on a repetition of " Jra poco, fra poco" 

 they wheeled about, and I caught them in a line as they defiled singly 

 through the gate, from my loop-hole. There they were four of them, 

 muffled in long cloaks, and the last with a led horse ; while a strange man 

 whom we had not before seen, earned a lantern, and with him another 

 muffled horseman, who had evidently just dismounted ; these two last 

 follo'wed the cavalcade out of the court, and in an instant they were out 

 M. M. New Series Vol. I. No. 3. 2 O 



