s,
to ameliorate his sad fate. And, after all, never had the night of his
imprisonment been utterly dark and impenetrable. The star of hope, of
love, of constancy, had glimmered from afar. This star, which had thrown
its silver veil over his most beautiful and sacred remembrances, over
his young life of liberty and love, this star was Amelia. She had never
ceased to think of him, to care for him, to labor for his release; she
had always found means to supply him with help, with gold, with active
friends. But, alas! all this had only served to add to his misfortunes,
to narrow the boundaries of his prison, and increase the weight of his
chains.

Treachery and seeming accident had, up to this time, made vain every
attempt at escape, and destroyed in one moment the sad and exhausting
labors of many long months. The first and seemingly most promising
attempt at flight had miscarried, through the treason of the faithless
Baron Weingarten, who had offered to communicate between Trenck and the
princess.

For six long months Trenck had worked with ceaseless and incomparable
energy at a subterranean path which would lead him to freedom; all was
prepared, all complete. The faithful grenadier, Gefhart, who had been
won over by the princess, had given him the necessary instruments, and
through the bars of his prison had conveyed to him such food as would
strengthen him for his giant task.

Nothing was now wanting but gold, to enable Trenck, when he had escaped,
to hire a little boat, which would place him on the other side of the
Elbe--gold, to enable him to make a rapid flight.

Gefhart had undertaken to deliver Trenck's letter to the princess,
asking for this money. This letter, written with his own blood upon
a piece of linen, had been forwarded through Gefhart's mistress, the
Jewess Rebecca, to Weingarten. He delivered it to the princess, and
received, through Pollnitz, two thousand thalers, which he did not hand
over to Rebecca, but retained for himself, and betrayed to the king
Trenck's intended flight.

This was but a short time before Weingarten's own flight; and while he
was enjoying the fruit of this base fraud in security and freedom,
poor Trenck was forced to descend still lower in the citadel, and take
possession of that frightful prison which, by special command of the
king, had been built and prepared for him, in the lowest casemates of
the fortress.

The king was greatly exasperated at these never-ending att