CHAPTER XVII.
THE RING OF IRON.
A boat full of musicians appeared, gliding slowly past them in themoonlight, surrounded by many gondolas. To the throbbing of the harp andguitar, a score of voices were chanting an Italian song.
"Splendid! magnificent!" breathed the professor.
The singing ceased. The gondolas swung near the music barge, from whichwhite, phantom hands were outstretched. Into those hands fell silvercoins, and the gondolas swept away.
Dick spoke a word of command to Reggio, who quickly sent them close tothe boat of the singers. Merriwell added his contribution to thecollection the musicians were taking up.
"There's still music in Venice," said Dick, as they drifted away.
"But now," said Professor Gunn, "the musicians are professionals, whotake that way of making a living."
"Then," spoke Dick, "in a certain sense it is true that--
"'In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more, And silent rows the songless gondolier: Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, And music meets not always now the ear;
Those days are gone--but beauty still is here.'"
"Well quoted, my boy!" exclaimed the old pedagogue, in deepsatisfaction.
"Let's follow the music boat," suggested Brad. "That singing has stirredup something a whole lot inside of me. I sure would like to hear somemore."
So Reggio was instructed to follow the musicians.
Some fifteen minutes later, perhaps, the music boat turned into anarrow, close canal, where all was darkness and gloom, with never agleam of light, save from the gondolas, where lamps twinkled and movedlike wills-o'-the-wisp. The boats were lost in the blackness of theplace, the lights alone marking their movements.
"Another right fine place for a race with death, pard," whispered Brad.
"Why have they turned in here?" whispered the professor apprehensively.
"We'll find out," said Dick. "We must be close to the Bridge of Sighs.Yes, you can see it against the sky. There it is."
"With a palace and a prison on either hand," murmured Zenas.
The beautiful bridge could be seen, buttressed by two great hulks ofgloom. It was a ghostly place, and the cool air of the night seemed totake on a deeper chill.
The music barge floated beneath the arch of the bridge and stopped.Reggio permitted his gondola to slowly move along until it was alsobeneath the bridge. Above them was the terrible prison. Beneath them wasthe dark and sluggish waters. Dick thought of the headless bodies thatonce had awaited the changing tide that was to bear them away from thatbloodstained spot to outer sea.
Suddenly the musicians began to play and chant a solemn song, full ofsadness and despair. Enraptured, enthralled, their blood cold in theirbodies, the boys and the old professor listened to the most thrillingand impressive music that had ever greeted their ears. In fancy, Dickseemed to hear the tread of the condemned passing over the bloodybridge, the moans of the dying within those black walls. The airshuddered and vibrated with the horror of it.
Never as long as life lasted could any of that trio forget that chantedsong.
When it ended at last, they seemed turned to stone themselves. It wasseveral moments before one of them stirred or even seemed to breathe.
"Let's get out of here!" Brad finally suggested, chokingly.
"Grand, but terrible!" muttered the professor.
"I would not have missed it for worlds!" declared Dick.
Reggio swung the gondola round, and they were soon moving toward theopen canal.
Just as they passed out of the deeper darkness, a black gondola sweptclose to them--so close that the two boats almost touched.
An unseen person reached forth a ghostly hand from between divided blackcurtains, and something was tossed through the air, falling with alittle clang at the feet of Reggio. It sounded not unlike the ring ofmoney.
Then the phantom hand disappeared and the gondola slipped swiftly intothe blackness from which they had just emerged, being lost to view.
"What was it?" muttered Buckhart. "Did some one throw Reggio a coin?"
Dick grasped the arm of his bosom friend.
"Look!" he breathed. "Look at Reggio!"
The gondolier had not moved after the thing dropped at his feet. He waspoised with his body swayed backward a little, and he seemed to begazing with wide-open eyes at the mysterious object lying within teninches of his feet. His attitude was expressive of the greatest horror.
"Whatever does it mean?" speculated the Texan. "He certain looks a wholelot alarmed."
Dick started to speak to the gondolier, but checked himself andcontinued to watch the man.
Onward glided the boat, out into the full flood of moonlight.
Then the man at the oar could plainly see the thing that had been castbefore him. Slowly, slowly, as if dreading to touch it, yet forcinghimself to perform the act, Reggio stooped and picked it up.
"At last!" he muttered, with a choking sound--"at last it has come tome!"
"What is it?" questioned Dick.
"Death!" answered the man.
"Death?" exclaimed Professor Gunn. "Why, what do you----"
"See!" directed the gondolier, holding the object up in the moonlight."Here it is! By this I am told that I must die!"
"What is it?"
"A ring of iron."
"A ring of iron? What has that to do with your death?"
"It tells me that I am chosen. I have a few hours in which to settle myaffairs and make ready. I knew that death pursued us to-night!"
"He's still making crazy talk, pard!" declared Brad, who couldunderstand Italian, although he made a mess in attempting to speak it.
"The man is not crazy," asserted Dick positively.
"He sure talks that way."
"There is something behind all this, Brad--something I'd like tounderstand."
Professor Gunn continued to question Reggio. They seemed quite alonejust then, with no other boats near them.
"I warned you not to speak of the Ten," said the gondolier. "It is nowtoo late."
"But the Council of Ten no longer exists."
"Not as once it did; but there is another. Oh, if I talk now it willonly hasten the end! I am chosen, anyhow, and there is no escape! LittleTeresa, my sister--what will become of her!"
The man seemed utterly crushed and hopeless. All the buoyant life andgrace had departed from his body. His shoulders were bowed and hisappearance that of one aged twenty years in a few moments.
"Boys," said Professor Gunn, "there is something mighty singular andsinister back of this. That man is badly frightened."
"Or doing stunts," muttered Buckhart.
"No stunts," asserted Dick. "His terror and despair is genuine.Evidently the iron ring is a sign of some sort. He believes that thereceipt of it dooms him to death."
"Folly."
"Perhaps not."
For a little time now Reggio answered none of their questions. Finallyhe straightened up and looked around. He lifted his arms and stretchedthem out to the white buildings with a despairing gesture.
"Farewell--farewell, Venice!" he murmured, with a sob. "This is my lastnight with you! For the last time I look on your beauty! Before anothernight my eyes will be closed in the long, long sleep."
Then suddenly he seemed to realize that the others were looking andlistening. He threw back his shoulders, drew in a deep breath, and withthat breath his manhood seemed to return. He made a careless gesture ofhis hand.
"It is nothing to you, signors," he said. "Mind not anything you haveseen or heard. But it is better that you should leave Venice, for I havespoken to you of the Ten."
"But you have not explained--you have not told us what you mean," saidthe professor.
"It is better that you should not know. Your knowledge would place youin peril. Talk no more of the Ten. Keep your lips tightly closed, if youvalue your lives--and leave Venice."
"Well, I like that!" growled Brad, in a manner that plainly told he didno
t like it. "I opine we won't be chased out of Venice in any suchmanner."
"Not much!" declared Dick earnestly. "We'll remain and solve the mysteryof the Ten."
In vain they tried to learn anything further from the gondolier. Hebecame silent, and no amount of questioning elicited anything of asatisfactory sort.
"I must return to Teresa," he finally said. "It is the last time I shallsee her."
He then insisted on taking them without delay to their lodgings. On theway, he swung the gondola into another dark and narrow canal. A peculiarwhistle sounded from his lips, causing Professor Gunn, who was verynervous by this time, to give a jump of alarm.
"My! my!" muttered the old pedagogue. "I'm expecting anything to happen!I'm looking for assassins everywhere. Why did he whistle? What does itmean?"
The answer came in the form of a gleam of light from a window in thewall on their left.
Reggio uttered a soft exclamation of satisfaction.
"Teresa is waiting for me, signors," he said. "I must hasten with youand then return."
"So this is his ranch," said Buckhart. "He camps here, I judge."
But now a change came over the gondolier. The light above had been shutoff suddenly. Darkness followed for a moment, after which the lightgleamed again. Again it disappeared for a few seconds, and again itgleamed.
"Trouble!" hissed Reggio. "Teresa has made the danger signal!"
"Dear! dear! dear!" gasped Zenas Gunn. "This is terrible! It is so dark.In the light of day I am brave as a lion--I fear nothing. But thisdarkness is so treacherous that I--really I'm disturbed."
"Signors," entreated the gondolier, "I entreat you a moment to wait,till I see what danger it is that has alarmed my sister. When I havereassured her, I will hasten to take you on your way."
"All right, Reggio," said Dick promptly. "We can wait. In fact, we're inno haste."
"Hum! ha!" coughed Zenas. "I am in haste to get out of this darkspot--indeed I am!"
"But you would not leave a lady in trouble, professor?" remonstratedDick. "I know you would not do that, for you are the soul of chivalry.Where the fair sex is concerned, you are ever ready to face peril ordeath."
"That's right," agreed the old pedagogue, bracing up. "You understand meperfectly, Richard. You are a very astute lad. Reggio, we will wait."
"And," added Dick, "if you need our assistance, you may depend on us."
The gondolier poured out his thanks, swung the craft alongside some darksteps, fastened it to a ring of iron set in the marble, and then steppedout, saying he would make great haste.
He had not ascended more than three of the steps when he paused. At thesame moment, from some dark nook, a figure stepped out above him.
"Who is there?" challenged the gondolier.
"A friend, Reggio Tortora," came the answer, in perfect Italian, thevoice being soft and musical.
"A friend?" retorted the gondolier, suspiciously. "What are you doinghere?"
"Waiting for your return."
"Who are you?"
"You know me well."
"I know you not."
A laugh sounded low and soft in the darkness.
"Your ears must be losing their cunning, Reggio. Why, I should recognizeyour voice anywhere in all the world that I heard it. Come nearer."
But the gondolier had been warned of death that hovered over him, and hedid not move.
"If you are my friend," he said, "why do you lurk like an assassin at mydoor?"
Again that musical laugh echoed between those dark walls.
"You seem timid as a rabbit, Reggio. Is this the brave, careless TortoraI knew so well? It cannot be."
The gondolier was angered by the mockery of the words and laughter, buthe did not forget that the iron ring had fallen at his feet a short timebefore. Might this not be the man chosen by the Ten to strike the fatalblow?
"Reggio," called Dick, standing up and preparing to step from thegondola to the steps, "if you need aid, you may rely on us."
"You bet your boots!" exclaimed Buckhart, eager to do something. "Justsay the word, Reg, and we'll get right into the game. I'm beginning tospoil for a rumpus, and I'm the Unbranded Maverick of the Rio Pecos.When I get my war paint on and take to the trail, I'm a holy howler onten wheels."
"Boys, boys!" spluttered the agitated old professor, "do be careful!Don't leave me here! I must protect you. I must take care of you. If anyharm comes to you, I'll never forgive myself."
"Don't worry, professor," said Dick.
"Just keep your clothes on, professor," urged Brad.
"There is but one," said Reggio, in answer to Dick. "I need no aid infacing one man."
Again the stranger laughed.
"Even though you are changed," he said, "you yet have a little pride, myReggio. But why should you fear me! I am here to do you a greatservice."
"To do me a service?"
"Even so, my Reggio."
"What service?"
"I would save your life."
"How is that--how can it be?"
"You are under the ban of the Terrible Ten," whispered the stranger,leaning forward in the darkness, and sending the words down the steps atthe gondolier.
"How know you that unless you are my enemy--unless you are the assassinsent to do the deed?" demanded Reggio.
"I know many things, but my means of knowledge I keep in my own breast.You doubt me? I swear to you that I can save you, and will--on a certaincondition."
"No one condemned by the Ten has ever escaped," retorted Reggio.
"You shall be the first--if you agree to terms I will offer."
"What are the terms?" doubtingly inquired the doomed man.
"Will you accept them?"
"I will not become a murderer and a thief!" was the fierce retort. "Iwill not plunder and slay, and give one-half my evil gain to thosecriminals who hide their faces and are growing wealthy through the blackcrimes other men commit out of fear of them. I am a man! My ancestorswere of the Castellani--the aristocrats of the red hoods. Never one ofthem has descended to the ranks of crime. It is because of that thingthat I am now condemned to the assassin. The Ten claim they are thedescendants of the black-hooded Nicolletti, and that they are avengingthe old wrongs of their class. It is a lie! They are thieves andmurderers, banded together for plunder. They strike no blows with theirown hands, but they frighten others into doing the dark work and givingthem half the plunder. Not even their tools know who compose the Ten,whose faces are always hidden. No man dares betray them by confessing.If he is caught red-handed, he takes all the blame, and tells it notthat those who drove him to his crimes, and have shared his plunder, arethe Ten, for if he should speak, he knows the ban of death will fall onall his family and all his blood relations."
Repeatedly the stranger had tried to check the torrent of words flowingfrom Reggie's lips, but his efforts had been unavailing. The speaker wasaroused to a pitch of desperation, and he would not be silenced until hehad finished.
"I fear not to speak!" he exclaimed. "I know I must die, for I havereceived the iron ring."
"You fool!" hissed the other. "Do you not think of Teresa? What willhappen to her if you talk like this?"
Reggie's aspect of defiant rage suddenly departed, his shoulders droopedand he lifted his shaking hand to his eyes.
"Teresa!" he whispered. "Teresa, my sister! What have I done?"
"You have spoken like a crazy fool in the presence of foreigners,"declared the other man. "Still, besides them, I am the only one who hasheard your words, and I am your friend. Their lips must be silenced, forif they speak one word of this, Teresa is doomed!"
Once more Reggio straightened himself somewhat defiantly.
"What mean you?" he demanded. "Their lips must be silenced, you say.What mean you?"
"You know."
"They shall not be harmed while with me!" exclaimed the gondolier. "Noman I have ever served has come to harm through me."
"Oh, Lord, boys! Oh, Lord!" palpitated Zenas Gunn, almost
overcome byhorror. "Do you hear? Do you understand? They are speaking of murder--ofkilling us!"
"But Reggio is on the level," said Dick.
"Great howling coyotes!" exclaimed Buckhart. "It begins to look some asif we were going to get mixed up with this Ten, whoever they are."
"Tortora," said the stranger, "you are a great fool! You will be slain,the strangers will disappear, and Teresa--it will be left for me to saveher."
"For you?"
"Yes."
"Why, you?"
"Because she is the fairest flower of Venice! Because my sleeping dreamsof her and my waking thoughts of her have brought me back to Venice fromAmerica, far over the seas."
"By the saints!" cried Reggio, "you are Nicola Mullura!"