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Page 24
"Hush! listen! All our friends, like you, are ready, and the conspiracy
winds like a great chain through all the countries of Europe. Every one who
loves his native land, and therefore hates Napoleon, has laid his brave
hand on this chain and will add the link of his manly strength. In France,
in England, in Spain and Italy, in Sweden, in Russia and Turkey,
everywhere, our friends are waiting for the decisive act which must take
place here. In England they have bought arms and ammunition and sent them
to Heligoland Thence members of our league have brought them here and
distributed them among the brothers. In the harbor of Genoa a Swedish and
an English ship lie ready for our service; the English one to aid our
escape and convey us to England, if our enterprise fails; the Swedish one
to serve as a transport vessel, if we succeed. Everywhere our friends are
working, everywhere they are preparing the insurrection; Tyrol is like a
well-filled bomb which needs only the application of a spark to burst and
scatter confusion around it, and in the minds of individuals patriotism
has increased to a fanaticism which deems even murder a justifiable means
to rid Europe from the shameful yoke of the tyrant. If we cannot execute
our plan, if we do not succeed in abducting Napoleon, perhaps the dagger of
an assassin will he raised against him--an assassin who does not regard his
deed as a crime, but as a sacred duty."
"And why are we content with an abduction?" asked the count fiercely. "Why
should not the blood of the man who has shed so many torrents of blood, be
shed also?"
"Because that would be too light a punishment," said Kraus, with an
expression of gloomy hate. "Because it would be an atonement for all his
crimes, if he fell beneath the daggers of murderers. Such daggers rendered
the tyrant Julius C�sar a hero, a martyr, and they would also transform
Napoleon into a demi-god. No, we will not grant him such a triumph, such a
glorious end--we will not allow him a speedy death. He shall ignominiously
disappear; he shall die slowly on some barren island in the ocean; die amid
the tortures of solitude, of weariness, of powerless rage. This must be the
vengeance of Europe; this must be the end of the vampire who has drunk her
heart's blood."
"You are right? it shall, it must be so," cried the count, with sparkling
eyes. "Now tell me, what have _I_ to do? What part is assigned to _me_?"
"You will go to Genoa, count. Here is a letter from General Nugent to the
captain of the Swedish ship Proserpina, now lying in the harbor."
"But it is not sealed?" asked the count, taking the paper offered.
"Open it, and you will find that it does not contain a single word. I
received it so from our messenger, who brought it directly from Count
Nugent in Heligoland to me. It is your letter of recommendation, that is
all! Written words might compromise, spoken ones die away upon the wind. If
you deliver this, addressed in General Nugent's hand, to the captain of the
Proserpina, he will recognize you as the right messenger, and you will then
tell him verbally what you have to say."
"What shall I tell him?"
"Tell him to take in his freight, have his ballast on board, and keep
everything in readiness for departure. From the day that you reach him the
Proserpina must be ready for sea, and a boat must lie in the harbor night
and day to receive the members of our league who will come if the plan
succeeds."
"But I hope this is not all that I have to do? I shall not be denied a more
active part in the great cause?"
"If you wish, no! One of us will accompany Bonaparte to Genoa as his
jailer. You can relieve him there, and attend him to his prison."
"I will do so. But where will the prison be?"
"You will put him on some barren island in the ocean, which will serve as
his dungeon. Then you will return. But you must name the place to which you
conveyed him to no one except the heads of the society: that is, to General
Nugent and myself. We will guard it as the most sacred secret of our lives,
that no one may learn it--no one can make the attempt to rescue him."
"I thank you," cried the count joyously. "You assign me an honorable task,
which proves that the heads of the society trust me. What else have I to
do? Will not a meeting of the conspirators take place? Will you not summon
one?"
"No, for I shall go at once to Totis to make the most necessary additional
arrangements with General Bubna, and through him with the Empress Ludovica,
that, if the plot succeeds, the advantage will be ours and cannot be
claimed by the French party. But you, count, must manage to summon such an
assembly of our friends in some unsuspected place. I learn that Baroness de
Simonie is to give an entertainment to which, without knowing it, she has
invited a number of our friends. You will recognize them by the black
enamel ring which every member of our band must wear upon the little finger
of his left hand. You will name to each a place of meeting.
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