Kneeling on the gangway, he perceived the dark bale
disappearing in the element, with the feet of the Westphalian dragging
after. He bent forward to grasp the rising body, but it never returned to
the surface, being entangled in the cords, or, what was equally probable,
retained by the frantic grasp of the student, whose mind had yielded to
the awful character of the night.
The life of Il Maledetto had been one of great vicissitudes and peril. He
had often seen men pass suddenly into the other state of existence, and
had been calm himself amid the cries, the groans, and what is far more
appalling, the execrations of the dying, but never before had he witnessed
so brief and silent an end. For more than a minute, he hung suspended over
the dark and working water, expecting to see the student return; and, when
hope was reluctantly abandoned, he arose to his feet, a startled and
admonished man. Still discretion did not desert him. He saw the
uselessness, and even the danger, of distracting the attention of the
workmen, and the ill-fated scholar was permitted to pass away without a
word of regret or a comment on his fate.
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