- No Kind Of Furniture, Not Even Straw To Cover The Damp
Earthen Floor, Which Served Them For A Seat By
Day and bed at night.
Inured as they had been to hardships, the noisomeness of this dreadful
vault killed many
Of them, and among the rest a young Swedish officer
named Gullinstern, one with whom Horatio had contracted a very intimate
friendship, and who, for his many excellent qualities, had been so dear
to the king, that seeing him one day greatly wounded, and in danger of
being taker, prisoner, that generous prince obliged him to mount on his
own horse, and fought on foot himself till another could be brought.
The light of this gentleman expiring in his arms, filled Horatio with so
poignant an anguish, that he wanted but little of following him; and,
indeed, had it not been for the sanguine hopes that the king would in a
short time complete the ruin of the czar, and not only restore them
liberty, but also add vengeance to it for the ill treatment they had
found in his dominions, few, if any of them, had been able to support
the miseries inflicted on them by these inhuman wretches, who, not
content with burying them in a manner alive, for the dungeon they were
in was deep underground, and allowing them no other food than bread and
water once in four and twenty hours, made savage sport at their
condition, ridiculed the conquests of their king, and spoke in the most
opprobrious terms of his royal person, which, when some of them were
unable to restrain themselves from answering in a manner befitting their
duty and love of justice, they were silenced by the most cruel stripes.
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