Frederick the Great and His Family [260]
I would not have you call Trenck a traitor. Look at me; see what the king has made of me; and then tell me, was I not justified in fleeing from these tortures? Even if Magdeburg had been stormed, and thousands of lives lost, would you have called me a traitor? Am I a traitor because I strive to conquer for myself what you, what every man, receives from God as his holy right--my freedom?" While he spoke, his pale, wan countenance beamed with inspiration.
The soldiers were struck and touched with it--their low murmurs of applause taught the commandant that he had committed a mistake in having so many witnesses to his conversation with the universally pitied and admired prisoner.
"You will not name your accomplices?" said he.
"No," said Trenck, "I will not betray my friends. And what good would it do you to know their names? You would punish them, and would thereby sow dragons' teeth from which new friends would rise for me. For undeserved misfortune, and unmerited reproach, make for us friends in heaven and on earth. Look there, sir commandant--look there at your soldiers. They came here indifferent to me--they leave as my friends; and if they can do no more, they will pray for me."
"Enough! enough of this," cried the commandant. "Be silent! And you," speaking to the soldiers, "get out of here! Send the blacksmith to solder these chains at once. Go into the second passage--I want no one but the blacksmith."
The soldiers withdrew, and the smith entered with his hot coals, his glowing iron, and his panful of boiling lead. The commandant leaned against the prison-door gazing at the smith; Trenck was looking eagerly at the ceiling of his cell watching the shadows thrown there by the glowing coals.
"It is the ignus fatuus of my freedom," said he, with a weary smile. "It is the fourth time they have danced on this ceiling--it is the fourth time my chains have been forged. But I tell you, commandant, I will break them again, and the shadows flickering on these walls will be changed to a glorious sun of freedom--it will illuminate my path so that I can escape from this dungeon, in which I will leave nothing but my curse for you my cruel keeper."
"You have not, then, despaired?" said the commandant, with a cold smile. "You will still attempt to escape?"
Trenck fixed his keen, sparkling eyes upon Von Bruckhausen, and stretching out his left arm to the smith, he said: "Listen, sir commandant, to what I have to say to you, and may my words creep like deadly poison through your veins! Hear me; as soon as you have left my cell--as soon as that door has closed behind you--I will commence a new plan of escape. You have thrown me in a cell under the earth. The floor in my other cell was of wood--I cut my way through it. This is of stone--I shall remove it. You come daily and search my room to see if there is not some hole or some instrument hidden by which I might effect my escape. Nevertheless I shall escape. God created the mole, and of it I will learn how to burrow in the ground, and thus I will escape. You will see that I have no instruments, no weapons, but God gave me what He gave the mole--He gave my fingers nails, and my mouth teeth; and if there is no other way, I will make my escape by them."
"It is certainly very kind of you to inform me of all this," cried the commandant. "Be assured I shall not forget your words. I shall accommodate myself to them. You seek to escape--I seek to detain you here. I am convinced I shall find some means of assuring myself every quarter of an hour that your nails and teeth have not freed you. The smith's work I see is done, and we dare entertain the hope that for the present you will remain with us. Or perhaps you mean to bite your chains in two as soon as I leave?"
"God gave Samson strength to crush with his arms the temple columns," said Trenck, gazing at the blacksmith, who was now leaving the room. "See, the ignis fatuus has disappeared from my cell, the sun will soon shine."
"Trenck, be reasonable," said Von Bruckhausen, in an entreating tone. "Do not increase
The soldiers were struck and touched with it--their low murmurs of applause taught the commandant that he had committed a mistake in having so many witnesses to his conversation with the universally pitied and admired prisoner.
"You will not name your accomplices?" said he.
"No," said Trenck, "I will not betray my friends. And what good would it do you to know their names? You would punish them, and would thereby sow dragons' teeth from which new friends would rise for me. For undeserved misfortune, and unmerited reproach, make for us friends in heaven and on earth. Look there, sir commandant--look there at your soldiers. They came here indifferent to me--they leave as my friends; and if they can do no more, they will pray for me."
"Enough! enough of this," cried the commandant. "Be silent! And you," speaking to the soldiers, "get out of here! Send the blacksmith to solder these chains at once. Go into the second passage--I want no one but the blacksmith."
The soldiers withdrew, and the smith entered with his hot coals, his glowing iron, and his panful of boiling lead. The commandant leaned against the prison-door gazing at the smith; Trenck was looking eagerly at the ceiling of his cell watching the shadows thrown there by the glowing coals.
"It is the ignus fatuus of my freedom," said he, with a weary smile. "It is the fourth time they have danced on this ceiling--it is the fourth time my chains have been forged. But I tell you, commandant, I will break them again, and the shadows flickering on these walls will be changed to a glorious sun of freedom--it will illuminate my path so that I can escape from this dungeon, in which I will leave nothing but my curse for you my cruel keeper."
"You have not, then, despaired?" said the commandant, with a cold smile. "You will still attempt to escape?"
Trenck fixed his keen, sparkling eyes upon Von Bruckhausen, and stretching out his left arm to the smith, he said: "Listen, sir commandant, to what I have to say to you, and may my words creep like deadly poison through your veins! Hear me; as soon as you have left my cell--as soon as that door has closed behind you--I will commence a new plan of escape. You have thrown me in a cell under the earth. The floor in my other cell was of wood--I cut my way through it. This is of stone--I shall remove it. You come daily and search my room to see if there is not some hole or some instrument hidden by which I might effect my escape. Nevertheless I shall escape. God created the mole, and of it I will learn how to burrow in the ground, and thus I will escape. You will see that I have no instruments, no weapons, but God gave me what He gave the mole--He gave my fingers nails, and my mouth teeth; and if there is no other way, I will make my escape by them."
"It is certainly very kind of you to inform me of all this," cried the commandant. "Be assured I shall not forget your words. I shall accommodate myself to them. You seek to escape--I seek to detain you here. I am convinced I shall find some means of assuring myself every quarter of an hour that your nails and teeth have not freed you. The smith's work I see is done, and we dare entertain the hope that for the present you will remain with us. Or perhaps you mean to bite your chains in two as soon as I leave?"
"God gave Samson strength to crush with his arms the temple columns," said Trenck, gazing at the blacksmith, who was now leaving the room. "See, the ignis fatuus has disappeared from my cell, the sun will soon shine."
"Trenck, be reasonable," said Von Bruckhausen, in an entreating tone. "Do not increase