rmy, moved by the unaided machinations of a single
individual, would be the dazzling achievement of a god!

The hours loitered slowly onward. The sun waned in the gorgeous
heaven, and set, surrounded by red and murky clouds. Then came silence
and darkness. The Gothic watch-fires flamed one by one into the dusky
air. The guards were doubled at the different posts. The populace were
driven from the ramparts, and the fortifications of the great city
echoed to no sound now but the tramp of the restless sentinel, or the
clash of arms from the distant guard-houses that dotted the long line
of the lofty walls.

It was then that Ulpius, passing cautiously along the least-frequented
streets, gained unnoticed the place of his destination. A thick vapour
lay over the lonely and marshy spot. Nothing was now visible from it
but the dim, uncertain outline of the palaces above, and the mass, so
sunk in obscurity that it looked like a dark layer of mist itself, of
the rifted fortifications. A smile of exultation passed over the
Pagan's countenance, as he perceived the shrouding and welcome
thickness of the atmosphere. Groping his way softly through the
thickets, he arrived at the base of the wall. For some time he passed
slowly along it, feeling the width of the different rents wherever he
could stretch his hand. At length he paused at one more extensive than
the rest, drew from its concealment in his garments a thick bar of iron
sharpened at one end, and began to labour at the breach.

Chance had led him to the place best adapted to his purpose. The
ground he stood on was only encumbered close to the wall by rank weeds
and low thickets, and was principally composed of damp, soft turf. The
bricks, therefore, as he carefully detached them, made no greater noise
in falling than the slight rustling caused by their sudden contact with
the boughs through which they descended. Insignificant as this sound
was, it aroused the apprehension of the wary Pagan. He laid down his
iron bar, and removed the thickets by dragging them up, or breaking
them at the roots, until he had cleared a space of some feet in extent
before the base of the wall. He then returned to his toilsome task,
and with hands bleeding from the wounds inflicted by the thorns he had
grasped in removing the thickets continued his labour at the
brick-work. He pursued his employment with perfect impunity; the
darkness covered him from observation; no one disturbed