g. "And now, if I am not to call my guards, what
am I to do with thee!"

"Let me go, and I will seek thee tomorrow; and if thou payest me
handsomely, and promisest not to harm limb or life, I will put thine
enemies and my employers in thy power."

Rienzi could not refrain from a slight laugh at the proposition, but
composing himself, replied--"And what if I call my attendants, and give
thee to their charge?"

"Thou givest me to those very enemies and employers; and in despair lest
I betray them, ere the day dawn they cut my throat--or thine."

"Methinks knave, I have seen thee before."

"Thou hast. I blush not for name or country. I am Rodolf of Saxony!"

"I remember me:--servitor of Walter de Montreal. He, then, is thy
instigator!"

"Roman, no! That noble Knight scorns other weapon than the open sword,
and his own hand slays his own foes. Your pitiful, miserable, dastard
Italians, alone employ the courage, and hire the arm, of others."

Rienzi remained silent. He had released hold of his prisoner, and stood
facing him; every now and then regarding his countenance, and again
relapsing into thought. At length, casting his eyes round the small
chamber thus singularly tenanted, he observed a kind of closet, in which
the priests' robes, and some articles used in the sacred service, were
contained. It suggested at once an escape from his dilemma: he pointed
to it--

"There, Rodolf of Saxony, shalt thou pass some part of this night--a
small penance for thy meditated crime; and tomorrow, as thou lookest for
life, thou wilt reveal all."

"Hark, ye, Tribune," returned the Saxon, doggedly; "my liberty is in
your power, but neither my tongue nor my life. If I consent to be caged
in that hole, you must swear on the crossed hilt of the dagger that you
now hold, that, on confession of all I know, you pardon and set me free.
My employers are enough to glut your rage an' you were a tiger. If you
do not swear this--"

"Ah, my modest friend!--the alternative?"

"I brain myself against the stone wall! Better such a death than the
rack!"

"Fool, I want not revenge against such as thou. Be honest, and I swear
that, twelve hours after thy confession, thou shalt stand safe and
unscathed without the walls of Rome. So help me our Lord and his
saints."

"I am content!--Donner und Hagel, I have lived long enough to care only
for my own life, and the great captain's next to it;--for the rest, I
reck not if ye southerns cut each