Caesar's Column eBook

Ignatius Donnelly
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 355 pages of information about Caesar's Column.

Caesar's Column eBook

Ignatius Donnelly
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 355 pages of information about Caesar's Column.

I bowed my head.

“What brother vouches for this stranger?” asked the same stern voice.

Then I heard Maximilian.  He spoke as if he was standing near my side.  He said: 

“I do.  If I had not been willing to vouch for him with my life, I should not have asked to bring him—­not a member of our Brotherhood—­into this presence.  He saved my life; he is a noble, just and honorable man—­one who loves his kind, and would bless and help them if he could.  He has a story to tell which concerns us all.”

“Enough,” said the voice.  “Were you present in the council-chamber of the Prince of Cabano last night?  If so, tell us what you saw and heard?”

Just then there was a slight noise, as if some one was moving quietly toward the door behind me, by which I had just entered.  Then came another voice, which I had not before heard—­a thin, shrill, strident, imperious voice—­a voice that it seemed to me I should recognize again among a million.  It cried out: 

“Back to your seat!  Richard, tell the guards to permit no one to leave this chamber until the end of our meeting.”

There was a shuffling of feet, and whispering, and then again profound silence.

“Proceed,” said the stern voice that had first spoken.

Concealing all reference to Estella, and omitting to name Rudolph, whom I referred to simply as one of their Brotherhood known to Maximilian, I told, in the midst of a grave-like silence, how I had been hidden in the room next to the council-chamber; and then I went on to give a concise history of what I had witnessed and heard.

“Uncover his eyes!” exclaimed the stern voice.

Maximilian untied the handkerchief.  For a moment or two I was blinded by the sudden glare of light.  Then, as my eyes recovered their function, I could see that I stood, as I had supposed, in the middle of a large vault or cellar.  Around the room, on rude benches, sat perhaps one hundred men.  At the end, on a sort of dais, or raised platform, was a man of gigantic stature, masked and shrouded.  Below him, upon a smaller elevation, sat another, whose head, I noticed even then, was crooked to one side.  Still below him, on a level with the floor, at a table, were two men who seemed to be secretaries.  Every man present wore a black mask and a long cloak of dark material.  Near me stood one similarly shrouded, who, I thought, from the size and figure, must be Maximilian.

It was a solemn, silent, gloomy assemblage, and the sight of it thrilled through my very flesh and bones.  I was not frightened, but appalled, as I saw all those eyes, out of those expressionless dark faces, fixed upon me.  I felt as if they were phantoms, or dead men, in whom only the eyes lived.

The large man stood up.  He was indeed a giant.  He seemed to uncoil himself from his throne as he rose.

“Unmask,” he said.

There was a rustle, and the next moment the masks were gone and the cloaks had fallen down.

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Project Gutenberg
Caesar's Column from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.