Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXXVI. THE LAST THROW. v Forty-eight hours had passed since the capture of Ezelin. He was lying wounded, and chained to a pillar in a dim dungeon with a single-barred window. A man-at-arms and a gaoler were standing near him with a lantern. "He is still alive?" asked the former. "Ay, but as good as dead," answered the gaoler. "His heart still beats, and he still breathes. He was stabbed in the back by one of his own men." "It was madness to ford the Adda in our teeth," remarked the soldier. "The riverbank was steep; the stream was strong; the odds were all against him...." "They say, though, that he would have won the day, if he hadn't been stabbed," said the other. "Ay, there was a moment when he swept our men like chaff before him. Fiends with black wings flew round him. I have it from a slinger who saw them. They say he shouted in the thick of it, 1 On, on, in Satan's name!' And it was then that one of his own Saracens struck him." The gaoler pushed the wounded man with his foot. "He can still groan," he said. "Leave him in peace," said his companion; "he isn't common clay. The world has seen few captains like him. Give him some water, man." "What's the use?" returned the gaoler. "He's drunk his last.... Come, he's as good as dead." They were leaving the dungeon, when they stopped. "He is speaking," said the soldier. "Some one has touched me," Ezelin was muttering. "Where's the water?... How dark it is!... Hold thy torch higher, Sin.... I cannot keep my footing in these black lobbies of hell. What am I sliding in? Is it in blood?... "And how shall I get back through all these sunless gullets? Must I run once more the gauntlet of that chained wild pack thou saidst were human tigers?... I never shall get through.... "Out of...
