The Sicilian Renegade

Krom the Argonuuï. The night was stormy. The wind howled through the troes, and the ta.ll pines bent before it. Froiu time to timo flashes of lUiuv allut i i,M lnnrK Im!4IIII1 n[ tltl' sky, followed by peala ' of thunder that seeuied to sliaku the luountain. By the glare of the lighting thore oould be seen, at intervals, the gothio towers of an ancient convent. The heaped up thunder-cloudi seeroed like the battalions of an army ansailing the veoeialile pile. The convent was that of Policastro, situated near the city ot tbat name in southern Italy. In the darkness might be discerned the figure of a man Jeaning againt a tree. Apparently unconseious ot' the rage of the storm, he remained there, his' eyes fixed upon the convent towers. Upon his head he wore a turban, and a long white mande was thrown around him. Ncar by a beautiful Arabian horse pawed the ground. He was evidently a Saracen warrior. Hut what was his enand near the convent at that hour, and such a night? Whatcould he have to do with the aaintly woinen who there devoted themselves to God? But he is troubled - broken words escape from his lips. He speaks the Italian tongue, in the dialect of the Sicilian mountaineers. It s a renegado. " She is there- my Gabriella ! Ten years have passed since her inexorable fatber shut those gates upon her ratber than allow her to become my bride. It has ever shone before mo like a Htar - in dungcon, in desert, in camp, on the field of battle. It was her itnage that inHpired me in combat against the Christians ; it was the thout'ht of winning her one day that made me a Pacha. And now, Ó Gabriella mine, I am here, with a thou sand good scimetan at my back to rescue you from your living touib !" The chronicles of the Kingdom of Sicily teil of the exploits of an audacious corsair, of Calabrian origin, who was the terror of the Italiaa seas. He was called Cario, and was born in Polioastro. Of humble birth, and let't an orphan at an early age, an old priest took him to his home, and gave him instructiou iu both sacred and profane literature. But, when he arrived at man hood, Cario feil dasperately in love with the daughter of a powerful noblenian. Krom that moment he devoted all the forces of his soul to winning her. It was a senseless undertaking ; for she was the daughter of an ancient house, and he ot plebeian birth. But love ever laughs at rank; and aoon Gabriella loved Cario. For a time their affection was not notioed. But what is bidden love? Amor celato fa slecome fuoco II qual procede senza alcuu riparo. The servants first found out the lovers' secret; and from lip to lip it passed until it reached her father's ears. His rage was terrible. His daughtor was forced to take the veil, and renounce the world for the clo8ter. Cario was spirited away by night, and sold as a slave to the Alienan pirates who infested the coast. But the desire for revengo, a mostabsorbing passion to an Italian, inspired him to abjure faitb, and to enroll h i niself in the Saracen forces. Despite the storm and the darkness, a part of the Mussulman battalions had succeeded in climbing the heights of Policastro. The captain, in his eagerness, had outstripped them, and was standing before the convent gates. From the plain bclow oarne the sound of neighing horaes, of confused voicc8, of clashing arms, mingled with the noise of the elementa. But suddenly another clamor joins the (t'on-i uh.ruo oí man nd uaturo. Tho bells of the churches in the valleys below peal forth the alarm. From peak to peak flash forth fires ; from lip to lip goes the cry: "To arms! To arms! The Saracens are apon us !" The hardy mbuntaineera pour from out their humble dwellings ; the troops from Policastro sally forth ; the people are aroused. As day breaks the tempest dies away. The rising aun sends hia long ahaft so orange over the Ionian seas. The clouds flee from his face ; the flowers, but now terrified by the tempest, lift up their heads to greet him. (uitting his ocean bed, he claps the palpitating earth in hia gorgeous arms. Naugbt is beautiful as this favored land after a storm. But while the passions of nature are appeased, those of man are not. In the midst of the groyes on the mountain side rush the furious combatanta. The barbarie cries of the Saracens mingle with the shouts of tbe Siciliana. The Christian wariors force their way to the mountain-top, and the tide of battle surges under the convent walls. But despite Sicilian valor, the Christian forces are slowly beaten b:u-k ; aoon the plateau at the top of the peak is cleared of them, and a Saracen squadroo ia drawn up before the great gates of the convent. At their head rides a tall and swarthy soldier, ciad in rich vestments. It is the renegado. A soldier advanees to the gates, and stating the name and title of his leader, formally demunds that Sister Gabriella be delivered ui to bim. Sinubre and pensive the renegade sits upon his Arabian steed, waiting for the gatea to open- waiting for hia love to come fotth from her living tomb. His eye wauders over the vast atnphitheatre formed by the peaks around Policastro, from which floats the standard of the cross. Thoughts of hia youth and of his abandoned faith come over him as he contemplates the smiling valley and the spires pointing heavenward. Suddeoly a strange sound strikes the Saracenic ear. It ia the convent choir - the voiceaof the nuns, singing their matinal ' hymn. Even to these barbarous warriors the janghng clash of arms is not in accord with sweet voices, and they are involuntaily still. But the renegade fances that he can distinguish the voice of Gabriella. For an instant soothed by the singing, his wrath returns. Indignant at his raomentary weakness, he recovers himself and bids his soldiers force an entranoe to the cloister. Within the convent the nuns, like affrighted doves, have huddled together in the chapel, praying for divine help against the infidels. One of them has thrown herself upon her face before the gigantic cross, and is praying. It is Gabriella. "Aid me, O Lord, against myself ! For I have aeen Cario, and I fear. He wears the garb of the infidel, and he is lost. But wliat f he coiue to me - if I hear his voice at iny side - if he extends his strong arm ? I fear, Lord, I fear, for I love hiui still I" ?? A crash ! The gates have fallen in. The chapel is filled with Saracens. In the van there hastens a tall warrior, who seeks for some one. His eye soon discovers the form of Gabriella, prone upon the chapel floor, claaping the base of themarble cross. The violence of her agitation has deprived her of animal ion ; her face is colorless , she looks as one dead. The renegado approached, and seized her in his armf. "At lat, Gabriella, after all these years, do I hold yuu in iny anus 1 Do you oot know me? 'Tis (arlo, who has come to break your ehiiins !" Gabriella remaiued long silent. At last he heard her mui tuur : " It is bis voice I Oh, aid me, heaven ! I feel the flaiues of iny fatal love reviving." "What!" said the renegade, bitterly, "do you repulse me? Think of what I have suffered for you. I have braved slavery and death. I have crossed ocean mul ciesfTt. I have detied the wrath of Uoa and man. Ana it ts tnus, i„,„ ii.ai you reward me for my devotion I" But she did not seem to hear hiui. She spoke as to herself: " They told me that he was dead. And I - I took the irrevocable vow. Yet for DM s:ka l would give my poor life a thousand times; but my soul! - alas!" She shuddered, and was silent. The renegade eagerly seized her hanJ. " Then you love me still, Qabriella? Come - fly with me ! Let U3 leave this cloister, where the very air is heavy, and not fit to give life to young and loving hearts. Come, Gabriella, quit your cage, and launch yourself out into the free air of life!" "Alas, Cario, pity me, but do n,ot take advantage of my weakness - of my sacrilegious love for you. Thé hand of God would lifi heavy upon us were I to go. I dare not fly from here. For life and death I must remain. All that is mortal of me must repose under these stones bcneath our f'üet. " No, Gabriella? There s a god more terrible tliau yours - at whose voice the Asian uinuntaius tremble ; bef'ore wbose face the African deserts shudder. lócense goes up to hiiu f rom the II i malaya to the Atlantic shore, and his name is heard on the Auxine and the Bosphorus. Allah-ilAllah " He burst luto a hoarse shout. "The cry of' noy tortured beart has reached him, and he has nivea you to me. Look ! his crescent flag floats from the gates ; his soldiers are around us. Come, my love ! We will fly to the land of the rising sun, and there, O Occidental Peri, you shall be my sultana!" While the hapless (iabriella, fascinated by her lover's glaoce, listeoed to him with a misture of fear and love, a strange rumbling sound smote their ears. It seemed to come from the bowels of the earth. The horses of the Saracen warriors started with affright, and, defyiog bit aad .-pur, dashed d wn the mountaio side. In their mad terror, they heeded not the precipices, and many a bold barbarían met his fa te on the rocks below. An unseen power sbook the mountain. The sky was blue and cloudlesH, aud there was no wind, but the trees sighed and shook their liinbs, while the birds darted forth from the branches, uttering cries of distress. The subterranean mutterings grew louder, the earth shook, the staiaed glass panels of the lofty windows flew iuto fragments, and clattered upon the stone floor; the paintings upon the walls were torn, and shook like leaves beforo the blast ; the the statues of saints tottered in their niches, and feil with Juli reverberations to the stones ; the toweriog dome trembled upon its crumbling supports. A thick and stiflingdustarosii, and obscured thealready gloomy hall. " See !" cried Gabriella, " 'tis the hand of God ! Fly, whüe it is yet time, Cario ! Fly for your lifo ! Let my death suffice, O Lord !" she murmured. But he encircled her with his strong arm, and bore her slight form toward the entrance. He stood upon the threshold ; his f'riends outside hastened toward him ; one step more, and they were without the dooroed convent. But again theconvulsed earth gave forth itsrumblings ; the threshoíd rose up under his feet - it hurled them back into the chapel. The two lofty towers came thundering down before the door. The renegado anu the maiden were entonibed alive. Gabriella disengaged herself from the renegade's grasp, and looking around upon the rocking walls, she cried : "Aa invisible Hand detains us, Cario. It is vain to struggle against our fate. My prison has becouic our sepulchre. But, oh, with you I neither f'ear death nor heil I" Shethrew herself upon hisbosora. "May the hour of divine vengeance be that of our spiritual nuptials!" she cried. " Fall upon our heads, O wall 1 Engulf os, O earth I Naught can deprive us of our love I" As if in answer to her invocation a muffled sound was heard, like the tramp of a mighty army. The mountain again trembled to its base. The stone flooring of the chapel rose up as if struck by Titans from below. The stones heaved and rolled like the waves of the sea. The mighty columns supporting the roof shirered and writhed ; the walls approached and receded again. The groaning floor burst in places, and the ghastly skeleton1 below rose to the surface, their hideou, grinning faces seeming to invite the lovers to a home with them. Gabriella seemed inspired. Her long hair, freed from its confinoment, flowed benind her ; her eyes gleamed like those of a Sibyl. " Embrace uie, Cario !" ehe cried wildly ; " kiss me- love defies death !" Suddenly the earth seemed to disappear from beneath their feet, as if the moontain had been swallowed up. Like a flash the immense building disappeared in the yawning gulf. The mountain had split in two, and one of the halves had doubled upon itself, the tap falling into the gulf between. But the earth in its agony would not be stil). Another effort, and the mountain rolled back again, forcing the convent to the top, as the ocean casts a shipwrecked mariner upon a rock. And now the Sicilian nun shone upon a scène of desolation. The mountain was still, but its crest was split in twain, and upon the brink of the precipjee thus formed stood a part of the ruined convent. The gigantic marble cross still stood erect, as if defying the efforts of the earthquake. At its base lay the lovers, the young gin's head supported upon the renegade's arm. He was uüiojured, but she- moro fortúnate than her lover- was dead. The legeod adds that the renegade never left the ooufines of the convent, but that he lived there to the end of his days. Silent and sombre, he ceaselessly sought for his loved oue ; through the deserted cells and the abandoned halla he pursued his way ; over the trenibling stairs he climbed ; in the sinuous labyrinths beneath the building he bid when men approached. Soon the vy, with pitying hand, covered the disfigured walls with its green mantle ; the spider spun his web on the ceiling ; the owl made his retreat in the silent vaults. But when the renegade, panoed py the cries and sobs which the wind brought to his ears, sought a refuge in these obscure depths, even thu owl would uy aSrighted before him, so loaded was he of sin. The people believe, too, that on the eve of the " Day of the Dead," the renegade s form may be seen on one side of the abyss, Gabriella's on the other; that after vamly attempting to reach eaeh other they disappear, the renegade to heil, to suffer endless torment ; the maiden to purgatory, to expíate her sin. Notk.- Miraglla, the transcnber of the legend, Htates that lt m founded upon verltable oicurrences. a monklsh manuscript whlch he found givliipabout the same facts. minus th snpenitttural element. In regard lo eurth eivIng up lts vlctlms, a similar fact occured In 1784, near Terranovo, when a physlclan named Taverna was swalloweU up by one shock and released by tnotlier. In the same year, Uonn t rsiïiïirziis.T) ¦