Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight Part 30

"I knew how she must suffer and search for traces of me, fearing I had been murdered and my body thrown into the river or buried in some secret place.

"That night the friar lay down upon the floor and called;

"'Edward Hawkwood are you awake?'

"'Yes.'

"'Has the swelling and soreness left your joints?'

"'Yes, I feel about well.'

"'In a day or two they will torture you again and continue doing so each week until you confess, express repentance and do what they ask. This I advise you to do, else in the end they will torture you to death, or leave you forgotten to die in your dungeon.'

"'I at least have this to be thankful for that you are not unkind.'

"'If it were suspected that I treated you other than a caged beast your jailer would be changed and severely punished.'

"'Discovery is impossible, since you only talk with me at night.'

"'I am not so sure; there are always spies in our brotherhood and all, from the scullion to the prelate, are under surveillance.'

"'I am sorry to learn that, as I hoped to prevail upon you to deliver a message to my wife, telling her where I am confined.'

"'Were I caught in the effort, I should be tortured to death, or confined indefinitely in a dungeon. Should your friends attempt your rescue or ask your release you would be murdered and dropped into come deep secret pit to destroy all evidence, when all would deny that you had been held a prisoner.'

"'My wife will give you a hundred florins if you will but give her a note telling my place of confinement. I have been but a few months married; she loves me dearly and is no doubt crazed by my disappearance.'

"'I wear this cowl and robe and beg as a mendicant on the street yet have always wished to be a soldier fighting to free Tuscany from tyranny; the tyranny not only of the oppressing n.o.ble families, chief of whom at this time are the Albizzi, but of the church with whom they are allied. I have suffered too much in mind from disappointment to care for the physical discomforts of others; and had you not been a soldier of renown, fighting against those influences which I condemn, I would have looked upon your imprisonment as incidental and your suffering without sympathy. I know how little I can do and that little at great personal risk, which, if discovered, will be not only your death warrant but my own. I will not carry a written message to your wife, but will stand near your home, pretending to solicit alms, and if she should pa.s.s, will tell her your message, but not disclose your place of imprisonment. She will know you are alive and have a friend who at rare intervals will give her news of you and bring back messages from her which you must give me to destroy. That is all that can be done. As my reward, you shall teach me to use the sword so when the opportunity is presented I may do my part as a patriot to rid Tuscany of her oppressors.'

"'You will at least hand this ring to my wife when you deliver my message and await her answer?'

"'Yes, I will risk that much.'

"That night I slept in peace and had rapturous dreams of freedom.

"On the next day in the afternoon, when my wife left our home to go to her brother's seeking news of me, she was addressed by a mendicant friar, who had even to touch her arm before she took notice, as she walked as a woman asleep--mind lost in sorrow.

"'Do not start; pretend to give me alms and take this ring which your husband sends. He is alive and well but a prisoner. I am his friend and will take a written message to him. Should his friends seek to find his place of confinement he will be murdered. On each Tuesday at this hour, if you pa.s.s, I will bring you news of him. I must not be followed on his account.'

"'Oh! Where is he.'

"'I have told you all I dare. Return home and write him a brief message for which I shall wait; fold it closely and hand me as though it were a small coin.'

"Turning away the friar solicited alms of a pa.s.sing merchant.

"In a few minutes my wife returned and when he again asked alms she dropped in his hand two florins and between them a note for me.

"That night at a late hour the friar called through the grating and when I answered told me of the meeting and dropped the two florins into my hand, stating he would read the note to me, which he did.

"'You cannot know how much I have suffered believing you dead. I hope and live again since you sent the message and the ring.

"'What shall we do to find or rescue you? If you are not permitted to write send me a piece of your clothing so I may know the messenger comes from you.

"'Use every effort to come home to me as life is worthless with you away. I dare not write more. Can I send you anything?'

"'Let me have the note so I may see my wife's handwriting.'

"'I will if you return it so it may be destroyed; your cell may be searched.'

"He dropped it down, then let down a cord to which I tied the note after having read it many times and held it to my lips.

"The succeeding night Ser Nuto came to the cell and I was again brought before the holy tribunal, where an officer stood to take down my confession and a surgeon to feel my pulse and estimate the amount of torture I could bear.

"As I came in a poor man was being tortured and I stood and looked on, a horrified witness, until he died upon the rack.

"Then I was called before the prelate and asked:

"'Will you confess your many sins, declare your repentance and help the Holy Church to secretly take and imprison Sir John Hawkwood?'

"Remembering Sir John's many kindnesses to me, my duty as a soldier to his commander, and thinking of my dear wife, I unhesitatingly answered; 'I will not.'

"'It is then my duty to subject you to torture. Reflect that what is done to your body is for the good of your soul and in doing this we are the servants of G.o.d. Have you anything to confess in mitigation of our severest torture?'

"'I have not.'

"I was seized and bound to the ropes and suspended in midair; eight husky friars repeatedly pulled with all their might upon ropes; they swung and jerked me back and forth from floor to ceiling until it seemed arms and legs must be torn from my trunk. I would have lost consciousness long before I did, except I thought of my poor wife rather than myself. Finally the relief of unconsciousness came and hers was the last face I saw.

"It was hours before I regained consciousness and more than a week before I was able to stand.

"A week after the second torture Ser Nuto came for me to be again tortured, but was forced to return and report that I was unable to stand, much less respond to torture.

"While I was on my pallet unable to move, the friar asked for my message to my wife. I told him to cut off the corner of my coat and give her, saying I was well and making every effort for release so I might soon be with her.

"He brought back a note full of hope and tender messages, some money and underclothing. We hid the money under the floor bars of my cell.

"About the time I was able to walk again the prelate of the order died and on the night which had heretofore been selected for my weekly torture the members of the holy tribunal were busy with the reception and entertainment of his successor.

"In some way Ser Nuto's message of my condition was misunderstood and entry was made in the register opposite my name that I had died from the torture, the friar having told Ser Nuto that I was near death. Thus I became and remained a forgotten prisoner in a dungeon without chance of escape, but for the time free from the dread of torture.

"Until I had been registered as dead frugal meals had been furnished from the kitchen. Now the supply from that source was cut off, except that the friar, by giving the cook a florin each week and telling him that he desired a lunch before retiring, had been able to procure something.

"This was cold and rather a short ration for a man whose appet.i.te was always keen and who had boasted and demonstrated that he could eat a quarter of lamb or a hen at a single meal.

"The friar supplemented this by purchases of fruit and cakes, which he brought to the cell in deep pockets st.i.tched on the lining of his robe, so while I was always hungry, I did not suffer or lose strength.

"He explained the situation to my wife and she filled his pockets with packages of bread, meat, cheese and sweets, so that on each Tuesday night I counted on quite a feast. She also kept him supplied with money to make such purchases as he could carry through the portal without detection by the watchful gatemen.

"We tried all sorts of keys in our effort to unlock the grating, but were unsuccessful. We even had a locksmith make a key from a defective wax impression, but this failed of purpose. The bars might have been cut out with hammer and chisel except the noise would have brought the watchman.