Perpetua. A Tale of Nimes in A.D. 213

by S. Baring-Gould

  CHAPTER XVII

  PEDO

  Baudillas had been lowered into the pit of the _robur_, and he sank in theslime half-way up his calves. He waded with extended arms, groping forsomething to which to cling. He knew not whether the bottom were even, orfell into deep holes, into which he might stumble. He knew not whether hewere in a narrow well or in a spacious chamber.

  Cautiously, in obscurity, he groped, uncertain even whether he wentstraight or was describing a curve. But presently he touched the wall andimmediately discovered a bench, and seated himself thereon. Then he drewup his feet out of the mire, and cast himself in a reclining position onthe stone seat.

  He looked up, but could not distinguish the opening by which he had beenlet down into the horrible cess-pit. He was unable to judge to what depthhe had been lowered, nor could he estimate the extent of the dungeon inwhich he was confined.

  The bench on which he reposed was slimy, the walls trickled with moisture,were unctuous, and draped with a fungous growth in long folds. The wholeplace was foul and cold.

  How long would his confinement last? Would food, pure water be lowered tohim? Or was he condemned to waste away in this pit, from starvation, or inthe delirium of famine to roll off from his shelf and smother in the mire?

  After a while his eyes became accustomed to the dark and sensitive to thesmallest gradations in it; and then he became aware of a feeble glowwormlight over the surface of the ooze at one point. Was it that some fungoidgrowth there was phosphorescent? Or was it that a ray of daylightpenetrated there by some tortuous course?

  After long consideration it seemed to him probable that the light hedistinguished might enter by a series of reflections through the outfall.He thought of examining the opening, but to do so he would be constrainedto wade. He postponed the exploration till later. Of one thing he wasconfident, that although a little sickly light might be able to struggleinto this horrible dungeon, yet no means of egress for the person would beleft. Precautions against escape by this means would certainly have beentaken.

  The time passed heavily. At times Baudillas sank into a condition ofstupor, then was roused to thought again, again to lapse into a comatosecondition. His cut lip was sore, his bruises ached. He had passed histongue over his broken teeth till they had fretted his tongue raw.

  The feeble light at the surface became fainter, and this was finallyextinguished. The day was certainly at an end. The sun had set in thewest, an auroral glow hung over the place of its decline. Stars werebeginning to twinkle; the syringa was pouring forth its fragrance, theflowering thorns their too heavy odor. Dew was falling gently and cool.

  The deacon raised his heart to God, and from this terrible pit his prayermounted to heaven; a prayer not for deliverance from death, but for graceto endure the last trial, and if again put to the test, to withstandtemptation. Then he recited the evening prayer of the Church, in Greek: "OGod, who art without beginning and without end, the Maker of the world byThy Christ, and the sustainer thereof, God and Father, Lord of the spirit,King of all things that have reason and life! Thou who hast made the dayfor the works of light, and the night for the refreshment of ourinfirmity, for the day is Thine, the night is Thine: Thou hast preparedthe light and the sun--do Thou now, O Lord, lover of mankind, fountain ofall good, mercifully accept this our evening thanksgiving. Thou who hastbrought us through the length of the day, and hast conducted us to thethreshold of night, preserve us by Thy Christ, afford us a peacefulevening, and a sinless night, and in the end everlasting life by ThyChrist, through whom be glory, honor and worship in the Holy Spirit, forever, amen."(8) After this prayer Baudillas had been wont in the church tosay, "Depart in peace!" and to dismiss the faithful. Now he said, "IntoThy hands I commend my spirit."

  Out of that fetid abyss and its horrible darkness rose the prayer to God,winged with faith, inspired by fervor sweet with humility, higher than thesoaring lark, higher than the faint cloud that caught the last rays of theset sun, higher than the remotest star.

  Presently a confused sound from above reached the prisoner, and a spot oforange light fell on the water below. Then came a voice ringing hollowdown the depth, and echoed by the walls, "Thy food!" A slender rope wassent down, to which was attached a basket that contained bread and apitcher of water. Baudillas stepped into the ooze and took the loaf andthe water vessel.

  Then the jailer called again: "To-morrow morning--if more be needed--I willbring a second supply. Send up the empty jar when I lower that which isfull, if thou art in a condition to require it." He laughed, and the laughresounded as a bellow in the vaulted chamber.

  Few were the words spoken, and they ungracious. Yet was the deaconsensible of pleasure at hearing even a jailer's voice breaking thedreadful silence. He waded back to his ledge, ate the dry bread and dranksome of the water. Then he laid himself down again. Again the doorclashed, sending thunders below, and once more he was alone.

  As his hand traveled along the wall it encountered a hard round knot. Hedrew his hand away precipitately, but then, moved by curiosity, groped forit again. Then he discovered that this seeming excrescence was a hugesnail, there hibernating. He dislodged it, threw it from him and itplashed into the mire.

  Time dragged. Not a sound could be heard save the monotonous drip of someleak above. Baudillas counted the falling drops, then wearied of counting,and abandoned the self-imposed task.

  Now he heard a far-away rushing sound, then came a blast of hot vaporblowing in his face. He started into a sitting posture, and clung to hisbench. In another moment he heard the roar of water that plunged fromabove; and a hot steam enveloped him. What was the signification of this?Was the pit to be flooded with scalding water and he drowned in it? In amoment he had found the explanation. The water was being let off from thepublic baths. There would be no more bathers this night. The tide of tepidwater rose nearly level with the ledge on which he was crouching, and thenebbed away and rolled forth at the vent through which by day a pale halohad entered.

  Half suffocated, part stupefied by the warm vapor, Baudillas sank into acondition without thought, his eyes looking into the blackness above, hisears hearing without noting the dribble from the drain through which theflood had spurted. Presently he was roused by a sense of irritation inevery nerve, and putting his hand to his face plucked away some hundred-legged creature, clammy and yet hard, that was creeping over him. It wassome time before his tingling nerves recovered. Then gradually torporstole over him, and he was perhaps unconscious for a couple of hours, whenagain he was roused by a sharp pain in his finger, and starting, he hearda splash, a rush and squeals. At once he knew that a swarm of rats hadinvaded the place. He had been bitten by one; his start had disconcertedthe creatures momentarily, and they had scampered away.

  Baudillas remained motionless, save that he trembled; he was sick atheart. In this awful prison he dared not sleep, lest he should be devouredalive.

  Was this to be his end--to be kept awake by horror of the small foes tillhe could endure the tension no longer, and then sink down in deadweariness and blank indifference on his bench, and at once be assailedfrom all sides, to feel the teeth, perhaps to attempt an ineffectualbattle, then to be overcome and to be picked to his bones?

  As he sat still, hardly breathing, he felt the rats again. They wererallying, some swimming, some swarming up on to the shelf. They rushed athim with the audacity given by hunger, with the confidence of experience,and the knowledge of their power when attacking in numbers.

  He cried out, beat with his hands, kicked out with his feet, swept hisassailants off him by the score; yet such as could clung to his garment bytheir teeth and, not discomfited, quickly returned. To escape them heleaped into the mire; he plunged this way, then that; he returned to thewall; he attempted to scramble up it beyond their reach, but in vain.

  Wherever he went, they swam after him. He was unarmed, he could kill noneof his assailants; if he could but decimate the horde it would
besomething. Then he remembered the pitcher and felt for that. By this timehe had lost his bearings wholly. He knew not where he had left the vessel.But by creeping round the circumference of his prison, he must eventuallyreach the spot where he had previously been seated, and with theearthenware vessel he would defend himself as long as he was able.

  Whilst thus wading, he was aware of a cold draught blowing in his face,and he knew that he had reached the opening of the sewer that served asoutfall. He stooped and touched stout iron bars forming part of a grating.He tested them, and assured himself that they were so thick set that itwas not possible for him to thrust even his head between them.

  All at once the rats ceased to molest him. They had retreated, whither hecould not guess, and he knew as little why. Possibly, they were shrewdenough to know that they had but to exercise patience, and he mustinevitably fall a prey to their teeth.

  Almost immediately, however, he was aware of a little glow, like that of aspark, and of a sound of splashing. He was too frightened, too giddy, tocollect his thoughts, so as to discover whence the light proceeded, andwhat produced the noise.

  Clinging to the grating, Baudillas gazed stupidly at the light, that grewin brightness, and presently irradiated a face. This he saw, but he wasuncertain whether he actually did see, or whether he were a prey to anillusion.

  Then the light flashed over him, and his eyes after a moment recognizedthe face of his old slave, Pedo. A hand on the further side grasped one ofthe stanchions, and the deacon heard the question, "Master, are you safe?"

  "Oh, Pedo, how have you come into this place?"

  "Hush, master. Speak only in a whisper. I have waded up the sewer(_cloaca_), and have brought with me two stout files. Take this one, andwork at the bar on thy side. I will rasp on the other. In time we shallcut through the iron, and then thou wilt be able to escape. When I heardwhither thou hadst been cast, then I saw my way to making an effort tosave thee."

  "Pedo! I will give thee thy liberty!"

  "Master! it is I who must first manumit thee."

  Then the slave began to file, and as he filed he muttered, "What isliberty to me? At one time, indeed! Ah, at one time, when I was young, andso was Blanda! But now I am old and lame. I am well treated by a goodmaster. Well, well! Sir! work at the bar where I indicate with my finger.That is a transversal stanchion and sustains the others."

  Hope of life returned. The heart of Baudillas was no longer chilled withfear and his brain stunned with despair. He worked hard, animated byeagerness to escape. There was a spring of energy in the little flame ofthe lamp, an inspiring force in the presence of his slave. The bar wasthick, but happily the moisture of the place and the sour exhalations hadcorroded it, so that thick flakes of rust fell off under the tool.

  "Yesterday, nothing could have been done for you, sir," said Pedo, "forthe inundation was so extensive that the sewer was closed with water thathad risen a foot above the opening into the river. But, thanks be to God,the flood has fallen. Those who know the sky declare that we shall have ablast of the _circius_ (the mistral) on us suddenly, and bitter weather.The early heat has dissolved the snows over-rapidly and sent the waterinundating all the low land. Now with cold, the snows will not melt."

  "Pedo," said the deacon, "hadst thou not come, the rats would havedevoured me. They hunted me as a pack of wolves pursue a deer in theCebennae."

  "I heard them, master, as I came up the sewer. There are legions of them.But they fear the light, and as long as the lamp burns will keep theirdistance."

  "Pedo," whispered Baudillas again, after a pause, whilst both worked atthe bar. "I know not how it was that when I stood before the duumvir, Idid not betray my Heavenly Master. I was so frightened. I was as in adream. They may have thought me firm, but I was in reality very weak.Another moment, or one more turn of the rack and I would have fallen."

  "Master! God's strength is made perfect in weakness."

  "Yes, it is so. I myself am a poor nothing. Oh, that I had the manhood ofMarcianus!"

  "Press against the bar, master. With a little force it will yield."

  Pedo removed the lamp that he had suspended by a hook from the crossbar.Baudillas threw himself with his full weight against the grating, and thestanchion did actually snap under the impact, at the place where filed.

  "That is well," said the slave. "Thy side of the bar is also nearly raspedthrough. Then we must saw across this upright staff of iron. To mythinking it is not fastened below."

  "It is not. I have thrust my foot between it and the paving. Methinks itends in a spike and barbs."

  "If it please God that we remove the grating, then thou must follow me,bending low."

  "Is the distance great?"

  "Sixty-four paces of thine; of mine, more, as I do but hobble."

  "Hah! this is ill-luck."

  With the energy of filing, and owing to the loosened condition of the bar,the lamp had been displaced, and it fell from where it had been suspendedand was extinguished in the water.

  Both were now plunged in darkness as of Erebus, and were moreover exposedto danger from the rats. But perhaps the grating of the files, or thewhispers of the one man to the other, alarmed the suspicious beasts, andthey did not venture to approach.

  "Press, master! I will pull," said the slave. His voice quivered withexcitement.

  Baudillas applied his shoulder to the grating, and Pedo jerked at itsharply.

  With a crack it yielded; with a plash it fell into the water.

  "Quick, my master--lay hold of my belt and follow. Bow your head low or youwill strike the roof. We must get forth as speedily as may be."

  "Pedo! the jailer said that if alive I was to give a sign on the morrow.He believes that during the night I will be devoured by rats, as doubtlesshave been others."

  "Those executed in the prison are cast down there."

  "Perhaps," said Baudillas, "if he meet with no response in the morning hewill conclude that I am dead, and I do not think he will care to descendand discover whether it be so."

  After a short course through the arched passage, both stood upright; theywere to their breasts in water, but the water was fresh and pure. Abovetheir heads was the vault of heaven, not now spangled with stars butcrossed by scudding drifts of vapor.

  Both men scrambled out of the river to the bank, and then Baudillasextended his arms, and said, with face turned to the sky:

  "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard mycalling. He hath brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the mireand clay, and hath set my feet upon the rock. And He hath put a new songin my mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our God."(9)