s began
to envelop the bottom of the abyss where Rutler waited. The colonel
judged it time to depart.

Notwithstanding his rare energy, this man of iron felt himself seized,
in spite of himself, with a kind of superstitious fear; the horrible
death of his companion had affected him keenly, the enforced fast to
which he had been subjected since the preceding evening (he could not
bring himself to eat the serpent), mounted to his head, causing singular
and sinister ideas; but, surmounting this weakness, he commenced the
ascent.

At first Rutler found the points of support allowed him to rapidly climb
a third of the face of the cliff. Then serious obstacles began to
present themselves; but with dogged courage he surmounted them. At the
moment when the sun disappeared suddenly below the horizon, the colonel
reached the summit of the cliff; broken by fatigue and pain, he fell
half-fainting at the foot of the further trees of the park at Devil's
Cliff; happily among these were several cocoanut trees; a large quantity
of ripe nuts lay on the ground. Rutler opened one with the point of his
dagger; the fresh liquid inclosed within appeased his thirst, and its
nourishing pulp his hunger. This unexpected refreshment renewed his
strength, and the colonel penetrated resolutely into the park; he walked
with extreme caution, guiding himself by the instructions John had given
him, in order that he might reach the white marble fountain not far from
which he wished to conceal himself. After walking some time in this
obscurity, under a tall forest of orange trees, Rutler heard in the
distance a slight sound as of a stream of water falling into a basin;
soon after he reached the border of the orange grove, and by the faint
light of the stars--for the moon would not rise until later--he saw a
large vase of white marble, situated in the midst of a circular space,
on all sides surrounded with trees. The colonel, pushing aside some
thick shrubs of Indian plants, enormous reeds which grow abundantly in
that humid soil, hid himself some steps away from the fountain and
quietly awaited events.

* * * * *

In order to sum up the chances of the safety or danger to which the
mysterious dwellers at Devil's Cliff were exposed, we must remind the
reader that De Chemerant had started from Fort Royal in the afternoon,
and was advancing with all haste; that Father Griffen had hastily left
Macouba in order to head off th