No, he would not die! With trembling hands he tore his coarse shirt into
strips, and bound with it his bleeding veins. When he had thus closed
the portals upon death, he seated himself to meditate upon the means
of avoiding still severer punishment. He soon arose from his bed, much
strengthened by the short rest he had had. With an iron bar that he had
forced from his bed he hammered into the wall until the stones, around
which the mortar had become loosened owing to the dampness of the cell,
fell at his feet. He piled them together in the centre of his ceil, and
then hastened to barricade the second door he had attempted to force.
The lower part of it was still held on by the lock; over the opening at
the top he passed the chains several times that he had forced from his
limbs, forming a sort of trellis-work, which rendered entrance from
without impossible.
When all his preparations were made, when he was ready for the contest,
he seated himself upon his strange barricade, and there, wearied out by
suffering and anxiety, he fell into a sweet sleep. He was awakened by
the sound of many loud voices. Through the iron lattice of the second
door he saw the wondering, terrified countenances of the city guard, who
were endeavoring to unloose the chains. With one bound Trenck was beside
his door, balancing in his right hand a large stone, and in the left his
broken knife. He cried out, in a furious voice:
“Back! back!--let no one dare to enter here. My stones shall have good
aim; I will kill any one who ventures to enter this room. Major, tell
his excellency, the commandant, that I will remain no longer in chains.
I wish him to have me shot down at once! I will thank him for my death,
but I will curse him if he forces me to become a murderer. For I swear,
before God, I will stone any one who seeks to overpower me. I will
die--yes, die!”
It was a fearful sight--this man, thin, wan, naked, and bleeding, who
seemed to have risen from the grave to revenge the sufferings of his
life. His countenance was ghastly pale, his hair lying in matted locks
on his neck; and the long beard, covering the lower part of his face,
and falling almost to his waist, gave him a wild, insane look, which was
heightened by the fearful brightness of his eyes.
With terror and pity they gazed at the poor unfortunate one whom
despair had driven to this extremity; who remained deaf to all their
representations, all their entreaties, still swearing that he would kill
any one who approached him. It was in vain that the officers besought
him in the most tender manner to submit--that the prison chaplain
came and implored him, in the name of God, to give up this useless
resistance. God’s name had no effect whatever upon him. What was God to
him--to him on whom no one had pity, neither God nor man; he whom they
treated like a wild beast, and fastened in a cage? It was in vain that
the commandant ordered the guard to storm the fortified door. Trenck
received them with stones, and sent the two foremost ones reeling to the
floor, causing the others to fall back in dismay.
Trenck raised his hand with a shout of exultation, armed with another
stone, and fixing his wild, triumphant glance upon the commandant, he
cried:
“You see it is useless to endeavor to take me while living. Order the
guards to fire! Let me die!”
The commandant lacked the power to do as Trenck requested, however
willing he may have been to grant his request. Instead of continuing
his threats, he withdrew into another chamber, signing to the major to
follow him.
Trench still stood with uplifted arm when the major returned. And now,
as the stern, much-feared commandant had left, no one withheld the
tender sympathy that was almost breaking the hearts of the lookers-on.
Trenck saw it written upon every countenance, and he to whom a look
and word of pity had been so long unknown, felt deeply touched. His
expression became milder, and as the major, whom he had known in the
other prison, commenced to speak to him in gentle, loving tones, and
implored him not to cause his ruin, for all the punishment would fall
upon his head, as, through his negligence, Trenck had been allowed to
retain his knife--as he finished, Trenck’s arm fell to his side, and
tears streamed from his eyes.
“No one,” said he, gently--“no one shall become unhappy through me, for
misery is a fearful thing. I will make no further resistance, if you
will swear to me that no heavy chains shall be put upon me--that I shall
suffer no unworthy punishment.”
The major promised him, in the commandant’s name, that if he ceased to
resist, no further notice would be taken of the affair.
“Then,” whispered Trenck, with a bitter smile, “I must suffer
anew--suffer forever.”
He approached the door and drew off the chains. “Now, guards,” said he,
“the door can be opened. The wild beast has become tame.”
Then, with a low moan, he sank fainting upon the floor. He was lifted up
and laid upon his bed. Tears were in every eye, but Trenck did not
see them; he did not hear their low, whispered words of sympathy and
friendship. Death, from whom Trenck had once more been torn, had sent
her twin sister, insensibility, to cause him to forget his sufferings
for a while.