I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
The old Don, on rising the next morning, found all his womankind
"overwhelmed with grief" in consequence of the news of the capture and
imprisonment of the American seamen, and prepared to assail him with
prayers, petitions, and tears, as soon as he made his appearance. In
vain he tried to assume the governor, and to look and act dignified; he
had not, either in appearance or manner, or even language, so "much of
the Roman" in him, as a certain other potentate who shall be nameless;
the persevering ladies followed him, and gave him no rest; and perhaps,
by their pertinacity, drove him to declare, in his vexation, that it was
his fixed and settled resolve to inflict upon his prisoners the
extremity of the law's indignation. In fact, the tribulation caused in
the governor's family by the unhappy events of the past night, had
reached to an extravagant and general height; for even the wife of his
bosom remonstrated in no very gentle terms against her lord's severity;
so that his poor excellency found the gubernatorial chair as
uncomfortable a seat as though its cushion had been stuffed with pins.
He made good his retreat as quick as possible to his usual place of
official business, or _bureau d'office_, but there new trials awaited
him; for the very first person he saw there, and evidently waiting for
him, was Captain Williams.
Isabella, in the mean time, had not yet risen; her sleeping thoughts had
been too delightfully occupied with visions of happiness, and her waking
reveries had so engaged her with day-dreams of prospective felicity,
that she was not conscious of the lapse of time. She had just commenced
dressing, with the assistance of a favorite servant, a native Mexican
girl, when her weeping cousins rushed into the chamber in an agony of
grief. With voices choked and interrupted by sobs and tears, it was some
minutes before they could make their poor cousin comprehend the
melancholy truth, with the gratuitous addition that the prisoners were
to be shot the next morning in the plaza, and directly in front of the
house. Having communicated all they knew, and all they had invented,
they retired to spread the intelligence, to collect more, and to remove
the furniture in the front chamber, for the more convenient witnessing
the execution of the next morning.
Isabella, when left to herself, neither screamed, nor went into
hysterics or tears; she sat still and motionless in the chair, into
which she had sunk when the dreadful truth was made known to her; she
became deadly pale, her temples throbbed, her breathing seemed
oppressed, the light swam before her eyes, she uttered a convulsive sob,
and, to the terror of her faithful and sympathising attendant, fell
senseless upon the floor. The Indian girl, with great presence of mind,
though sorely frightened, dashed water in her face, loosened her
clothes, and practised all those modes of relief, better understood by
ladies than described by me. The unhappy young lady at length recovered,
and, with the assistance of her attendant, threw herself upon the bed,
and gave way to a flood of tears, to the relief caused by which, and her
subsequent repose, we must for a time leave her.
Captain Williams saluted the governor, as they met, with a countenance
partaking of anger as well as sorrow; and, without much circumlocution,
proceeded to state his business, and interceded most warmly in behalf of
his men in confinement. But the old Don, before whose mind visions of
promotion and honors were floating, was in no humor to grant petitions
of any kind, much less one, the acceding to which would overthrow all
his air-built castles; and he steadily refused to listen to the
warm-hearted old seaman's arguments, urged with all the fervency of
almost paternal affection for both Mr. Morton and his seamen. Unable to
oppose or refute the arguments of Captain Williams, proving the
innocence of the prisoners, or, at least, the veniality of their
offence, if guilty, and the unreasonable disproportion between the crime
and the punishment; wearied by the perseverance of the petitioner, and
convinced, though unwilling to own it, by his arguments;--convinced,
too, that he was making a very ridiculous figure in the eyes of his
officers and several merchants who were present, he did, as all
obstinate and pig-headed people do when they find themselves in the
wrong, and see that they are making themselves contemptible: that is, he
plunged still deeper into the wrong, by giving the good old seaman a
harsh refusal to his prayer.
At this unexpected and ungentlemanly rebuff, Captain Williams suddenly
became calm and silent, and, a moment after, left the office. Those who
were present thought they saw in the stern, determined expression of his
countenance grounds for apprehension and alarm; having the most
extravagant opinion of the desperate and daring courage of the
Americans, they looked to see the ensuing night signalized by some
desperate attempt on the part of the seaman, to release his companions
from imprisonment. Their apprehensions were confirmed in a space of time
that seemed impossible to have enabled Captain Williams to reach his
ship, by seeing the Albatross, under jib and spanker, slowly standing to
the westward, and again anchoring full half a mile farther out to sea
than before; not, to be sure, out of reach of the guns of the battery,
but at such a distance as to render it extremely problematical whether
_Spanish_ artillerymen would be able to throw a shot within half a mile
of her, especially in a star-light night.
This movement of the ship alarmed the governor not a little; for he knew
that the guarda-costa was absent on a cruize, and it was doubtful when
she would return, and that there were but thirty soldiers on duty at the
barracks, the rest having recently been drafted into the interior, to
wage war against certain straggling, light-fingered gentry, known in
that part of the world by the general title of "monteneros," or
highlanders, being analogous in their habits and manners, and confused
ideas of _meum_ and _tuum_, to the highland cattle-stealers of Scotland.
In this dilemma, the governor's heart began to relent--he thought that
he was carrying his severity too far.
On retiring to his house to dinner, he was met by a message from his
niece, requesting to see him in her chamber, being too unwell to meet
the family at noon. Thither his Excellency ascended with reluctant steps
and slow, like a child called from his play to be whipped and sent to
bed. He found his niece reclining upon a sofa, pale, languid, and
evidently much agitated. She rose to receive him with her accustomed
affection, and the old Don seated himself by her side.
"Isabella, my love, you appear to be distressed; what is the matter,
child?"
"Dear uncle, my cousin Antonia tells me dreadful news."
"Dreadful news! what is it, dearest?" "She tells me," said Isabella,
shuddering and gasping for breath, "that these unfortunate Americans are
to be put to death to-morrow morning."
"Poh, poh! what nonsense! you know as well as I do that the law gives me
no such power."
"But, dearest uncle, why should they be punished at all? nothing is
proved against them, nothing is found about them that indicates guilty
intentions," for, notwithstanding her indisposition, she had learned all
the facts of the case from her gossip, Juanita, and the officers that
had called in the course of the forenoon, "I have heard all the
particulars, and confess that I see no reason why they deserve
punishment at all."
"You know nothing at all about the matter, child. They have been seen,
at other times than last night, landing boxes and bales at the same
place."
"Are you quite sure that it was not some other persons?"
The governor paid no attention to this question, which he had never
dreamt of asking his informer.
"Besides, if these are pardoned, other offenders will plead their
innocence, and refer to the case of these men as a precedent. No,
Isabella, I cannot, I dare not do it; they must abide by the
consequences."
"Then if their lives are to be spared, what is to be done with them?"
"I shall write to the Viceroy, and keep them confined till I receive his
instructions as to their future destiny."
"And that," said the young lady, in a faint voice, "will be worse than
death! O think of it, dear, dear uncle."
"You take too gloomy a view of the case," said Don Gaspar, kissing the
forehead of the lovely suppliant; "the Viceroy may pardon them, but I
dare not--You plead in vain," continued he, as he saw she was about to
speak; "were they my own sons, they should undergo the sentence of the
law for their misconduct."
Fearing to excite her uncle's suspicions by too great urgency, Isabella
changed her battery--
"At least, let them be used kindly--let them have plenty of good food
and wine."
"Certainly, dearest little niece," said the governor, delighted to find
the most formidable and irresistible of his female assailants so
lukewarm in the cause of the prisoners, "and you shall be their
provider."
"Me, uncle? well, I own I should wish to visit the prison occasionally,
to see that they are comfortable."
"You shall whenever you please," said the Don, rising, and going to
Isabella's writing desk; "there, there is an order, signed by my own
hand, that will admit you whenever you please." So saying, he retired.