Bohemian Days: Three American TalesTownsend, George Alfred
General
Bohemian Days: Three American Tales
Townsend, George Alfred
Fiction; Poetry
Then began that strange lifetime of reminiscence; that trooping of sins
and cruelties, in sure, unbroken continuity, through the reeling brain;
that moment of years; that great day of judgment, in a thought; that
last winkful of light, which flashes back upon time, and makes its
frailties luminous. And, higher than all offences, rose that of the fair
young wife deserted abroad, left to the alternatives of shame or
starvation. Her wail came even now, from the bed of the crowded
hospital, to follow him into the world of shadows.
"Monsieur the Commander," hailed the spokesman in the launch, "the
government of his Imperial Majesty does not wish to interpose any
obstacle to the departure of the Confederate cruiser. It is known,
however, that a person guilty of an atrocious crime is concealed on
board. In this paper, Monsieur the Capitaine will find all the
specifications. The name of the person, Plade. The crime of the person,
murder, with premeditation. The giving up of said person is essential to
the departure of the cruiser from his Imperial Majesty's waters."
There was blank silence on the deck of the privateer; the torches in the
launch threw a glare upon the water and sky. They lit up something
struggling between both at the tip of the rocking yard-arm. It was the
effigy of a man, bound and suspended, around which swept timidly the
bats and gulls, and the sea wind beat it with a shrill, jubilant cry.
"I have done justice unconsciously," said the privateer; "may it be
remembered for me when I shall do injustice consciously!"
X.
THE SURVIVING COLONISTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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