THE WEHR-WOLF.
It was the last day of the month; and the hour of sunset was fast
approaching. Great was the sensation that prevailed throughout the city
of Florence. Rumor had industriously spread, and with equal assiduity
exaggerated, the particulars of Fernand Wagner's trial, and the belief
that a man on whom the horrible destiny of a Wehr-Wolf had been
entailed, was about to suffer the extreme penalty of the law, was
generally prevalent.
The great square of the ducal palace, where the scaffold was erected, was
crowded with the Florentine populace; and the windows were literally alive
with human faces. Various were the emotions and feelings which influenced
that mass of spectators. The credulous and superstitious--forming more
than nine-tenths of the whole multitude--shook their heads, and
commented amongst themselves, in subdued whispers, on the profane
rashness of the chief judge, who dared to doubt the existence of such a
being as a Wehr-Wolf. The few who shared the skepticism of the judge
applauded that high functionary for his courage in venturing so bold a
stroke in order to destroy what he and they deemed an idle superstition.
But the great mass were dominated by a profound and indeed most painful
sensation of awe; curiosity induced them to remain, though their
misgivings prompted them to fly from the spot which had been fixed upon
for the execution. The flowers of Florentine loveliness--and never in
any age did the republic boast of so much female beauty--were present:
but bright eyes flashed forth uneasy glances, and snowy bosoms beat with
alarms, and fair hands trembled in the lover's pressure. In the midst of
the square was raised a high platform covered with black cloth, and
presenting an appearance so ominous and sinister that it was but little
calculated to revive the spirits of the timid. On this scaffold was a
huge block: and near the block stood the headsman, carelessly leaning on
his ax, the steel of which was polished and bright as silver. A few
minutes before the hour of sunset, the chief judge, the procurator
fiscal, the two assistant-judges, and the lieutenant of sbirri, attended
by a turnkey and several subordinate police officers, were repairing in
procession along the corridor leading to the doomed prisoner's cell.
The chief judge alone was dignified in manner; and he alone wore a
demeanor denoting resolution and at the same time self-possession. Those
who accompanied him were, without a single exception, a prey to the most
lively fear; and it was evident that had they dared to absent themselves
they would not have been present on this occasion. At length the door of
the prisoner's cell was reached; and there the procession paused.
"The moment is now at hand," said the chief judge, "when a monstrous and
ridiculous superstition, imported into our country from that cradle and
nurse of preposterous legends--Germany--shall be annihilated forever.
This knave who is about to suffer has doubtless propagated the report of
his lupine destiny, in order to inspire terror and thus prosecute his
career of crime and infamy with the greater security from chances of
molestation. For this end he painted the picture which appalled so many
of you in the judgment hall, but which, believe, my friends, he did not
always believe destined to retain its sable covering. Well did he know
that the curiosity of a servant or of a friend would obtain a peep
beneath the mystic veil; and he calculated that the terror with which he
sought to invest himself would be enhanced by the rumors and
representations spread by those who had thus penetrated into its feigned
secrets. But let us not waste that time which now verges toward a
crisis, whereby doubt shall be dispelled and a ridiculous superstition
destroyed forever."
At this moment a loud, a piercing, and an agonizing cry burst from the
interior of the cell.
"The knave has overheard me, and would fain strike terror to your
hearts!" exclaimed the chief judge; then in a still louder tone, he
commanded the turnkey to open the door of the dungeon. But when the man
approached, so strange, so awful, so appalling were the sounds which
came from the interior of the cell, that he threw down the key in dismay
and rushed from the dreadful vicinity.
"My lord, I implore you to pause!" said the procurator fiscal, trembling
from head to foot.
"Would you have me render myself ridiculous in the eyes of all
Florence?" demanded the chief judge sternly.
Yet, so strange were now the noises which came from the interior of the
dungeon--so piercing the cries of agony--so violent the rustling and
tossing on the stone floor, that for the first time this bold
functionary entertained a partial misgiving, as if he had indeed gone
too far. But to retreat was impossible; and, with desperate resolution,
the chief judge picked up the key and thrust it into the lock.
His assistants, the procurator fiscal, and the sbirri drew back with
instinctive horror, as the bolts groaned in the iron work which held
them; the chain fell with a clanking sound; and as the door was opened,
the horrible monster burst forth from the dungeon with a terrific howl.
Yells and cries of despair reverberated through the long corridor: and
those sounds were for an instant broken by that of the falling of a
heavy body.
'Twas the chief judge, hurled down and dashed violently against the
rough uneven masonry, by the mad careering of the Wehr-Wolf as the
monster burst from his cell. On, on he sped, with the velocity of
lightning, along the corridor, giving vent to howls of the most
horrifying description.
Fainting with terror, the assistant judges, the procurator fiscal, and
the sbirri were for a few moments so overcome by the appalling scene
they had just witnessed, that they thought not of raising the chief
judge, who lay motionless on the pavement. But at length some of the
police-officers so far recovered themselves as to be able to devote
attention to that high functionary--it was, however, too late--his skull
was fractured by the violence with which he had been dashed against the
rough wall, and his brains were scattered on the pavement. Those who now
bent over his disfigured corpse exchanged looks of unutterable horror.
In the meantime the Wehr-Wolf had cleared the corridor, rapid as an
arrow shot from the bow; he sprung, bounding up a flight of steep stone
stairs as if the elastic air bore him on, and rushing through an open
door, burst suddenly upon the crowd that was so anxiously waiting to
behold the procession issue thence.
Terrific was the yell that the multitude sent forth--a yell formed of a
thousand combining voices, so long, so loud, so wildly agonizing, that
never had the welkin rung with so appalling an ebullition of human
misery before! Madly rushed the wolf amidst the people, dashing them
aside, overturning them, hurling them down, bursting through the mass
too dense to clear a passage of its own accord, and making the scene of
horror more horrible still by mingling his hideous howlings with the
cries--the shrieks--the screams that escaped from a thousand tongues.
No pen can describe the awful scene of confusion and death which now
took place. Swayed by no panic fear, but influenced by terrors of
dreadful reality, the people exerted all their force to escape from that
spot; and thus the struggling, crushing, pushing, crowding, fighting,
and all the oscillations of a multitude set in motion by the direst
alarms, were succeeded by the most fatal results. Women were thrown down
and trampled to death, strong men were scarcely able to maintain their
footing, many females were literally suffocated in the pressure of the
crowd, and mothers with young children in their arms excited no
sympathy.
Never was the selfishness of human nature more strikingly displayed than
on this occasion: no one bestowed a thought upon his neighbor: the
chivalrous Florentine citizens dashed aside the weak and helpless female
who barred his way with as little remorse as if she were not a being of
flesh and blood; and even husbands forgot their wives, lovers abandoned
their mistresses, and parents waited not an instant to succor their
daughters.
Oh! it was a terrible thing to contemplate, that dense mass, oscillating
furiously like the waves of the sea, sending up to heaven such appalling
sounds of misery, rushing furiously toward the avenues of egress,
falling back baffled and crushed, in the struggle where only the very
strongest prevailed, laboring to escape from death, and fighting for
life, fluctuating and rushing, and wailing in maddening excitement like
a raging ocean. Oh! all this wrought a direful sublimity, with those
cries of agony and that riot of desperation. And all this while the wolf
pursued its furious career, amid the mortal violence of a people thrown
into horrible disorder, pursued its way with savage howls, glaring eyes,
and foaming mouth, the only living being there that was infuriate and
not alarmed, battling for escape, and yet unhurt.
As a whirlpool suddenly assails the gallant ship, makes her agitate and
rock fearfully for a few moments and then swallows her up altogether, so
was the scaffold in the midst of the square shaken to its very basis for
a little space, and then hurled down, disappearing altogether amidst the
living vortex.
In the balconies and at the windows overlooking the square, the awful
excitement spread like wild-fire, and a real panic prevailed among those
who were at least beyond the reach of danger. But horror paralyzed the
power of sober reflection, and the hideous spectacle of volumes of human
beings battling, and roaring, and rushing, and yelling in terrific
frenzy, produced a kindred effect, and spread the wild delirium among
the spectators at those balconies and those windows. At length, in the
square below, the crowds began to pour forth from the gates, for the
Wehr-Wolf had by this time cleared himself a passage and escaped from
the midst of that living ocean so fearfully agitated by the storms of
fear. But even when the means of egress were thus obtained, the most
frightful disorder prevailed, the people rolling in heaps upon heaps,
while infuriate and agile men ran on the tops of the compact masses, and
leapt in their delirium, as with barbarous intent.
On--on sped the Wehr-Wolf, dashing like a whirlwind through the streets
leading to the open country, the white flakes of foam flying from his
mouth like spray from the prow of a vessel, and every fiber of his frame
vibrating as if in agony. And oh! what dismay--what terror did that
monster spread in the thoroughfares through which he passed; how wildly,
how madly flew the men and women from his path; how piteously screamed
the children at the house-doors in the poor neighborhoods! But, as if
sated with the destruction already wrought in the great square of the
palace, the wolf dealt death no more in the precincts of the city; as if
lashed on by invisible demons, his aim, or his instinct, was to escape.
The streets are threaded, the suburbs of the city are passed, the open
country is gained; and now along the bank of the Arno rushes the
monster, by the margin of that pure stream to whose enchanting vale the
soft twilight lends a more delicious charm.
On the verge of a grove, with its full budding branches all impatient
for the spring, a lover and his mistress were murmuring fond language to
each other. In the soft twilight blushed the maiden, less in bashfulness
than in her own soul's emotion, her countenance displaying all the magic
beauty not only of feature but of feeling; and she raised her large blue
eyes in the dewy light of a sweet enthusiasm to the skies, as the
handsome youth by her side pressed her fair hand and said, "We must now
part until to-morrow, darling of my soul! How calmly has this day, with
all its life and brightness, passed away into the vast tomb of eternity.
It is gone without a single hour's unhappiness for us--gone without
leaving a regret on our minds--gone, too, without clouds in the heavens
or mists upon the earth, most beautiful even at the moment of its
parting! Tomorrow, beloved one, will unite us again in your parents'
cot, and renewed happiness----"
The youth stopped, and the maiden clung to him in speechless terror: for
an ominous sound, as of a rushing animal and then a terrific howl, burst
upon their ears! No time had they for flight, not a moment even to
collect their scattered thoughts. The infuriate wolf came bounding over
the greensward, the youth uttered a wild and fearful cry, a scream of
agony burst from the lips of the maiden as she was dashed from her
lover's arms, and in another moment the monster had swept by.
But what misery, what desolation had his passage wrought! Though unhurt
by his glistening fangs--though unwounded by his sharp claws, yet the
maiden--an instant before so enchanting in her beauty, so happy in her
love--lay stretched on the cold turf, the cords of life snapped suddenly
by that transition from perfect bliss to the most appalling terror!
And still the wolf rushed madly, wildly on.
* * * * *
It was an hour past sunrise; and from a grove in the immediate
neighborhood of Leghorn a man came forth. His countenance, though
wondrously handsome, was deadly pale; traces of mental horror and
anguish remained on those classically chiseled features, and in those
fine eloquent eyes. His garments were soiled, blood-stained, and torn.
This man was Fernand Wagner. He entered the city of Leghorn, and
purchased a change of attire, for which he paid from a purse well filled
with gold. He then repaired to a hostel, or public tavern, where he
performed the duties of the toilet, and obtained the refreshment of
which he appeared to stand so much in need. By this time his countenance
was again composed; and the change which new attire and copious ablution
had made in his appearance, was so great that no one who had seen him
issue from the grove and beheld him now, could have believed in the
identity of the person. Quitting the hostel, he repaired to the port,
where he instituted inquiries relative to a particular vessel which he
described, and which had sailed from Leghorn upward of a fortnight
previously.
He soon obtained the information which he sought; and an old sailor, to
whom he had addressed himself, not only hinted that the vessel in
question was suspected, when in the harbor, to be of piratical
character, but also declared that he himself had seen a lady conveyed on
board during the night preceding the departure of the ship. Further
inquiries convinced Wagner that the lady spoken of had been carried by
force, and against her will, to the corsair vessel; and he was now
certain that the demon had not deceived him, and that he had indeed
obtained a trace of his lost Nisida!
His mind was immediately resolved how to act; and his measures were as
speedily taken.
Guided by the advice of the old sailor from whom he had gleaned the
information he sought, he was enabled to purchase a fine vessel and
equip her for sea within the space of a few days. He lavished his gold
with no niggard hand, and gold is a wondrous talisman to remove
obstacles and facilitate designs. In a word, on the sixth morning after
his arrival at Leghorn, Fernand Wagner embarked on board his ship, which
was manned with a gallant crew, and carried ten pieces of ordnance. A
favoring breeze prevailed at the time, and the gallant bark set sail for
the Levant.