ted with a
magnificent ram-goat, flanked by baskets of choicest rice.

When I sallied forth into the town with the suffering sinners, I found
the sun fast declining in the west, and, although my fever had left
me, it was altogether too late to depart from the village on our
journey. I mentioned to Ibrahim a report on the coast that his town
was bordered by a sacred spring known as the DEVIL'S FOUNTAIN, and
inquired whether daylight enough still remained to allow us a visit.
The chief assented; and as in his generous fit last night, he had
offered me a horse, I now claimed the gift, and quickly mounted in
search of the aqueous demon.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Ah! what joy, after so many years, to be once more in the saddle in an
open country, with a steed of fire and spirit bounding beneath my
exhilarated frame! It was long before I could consent to obey the
summons of our guide to follow him on the path. When the gates of Kya
were behind, and the wider roads opened invitingly before me, I could
not help giving rein to the mettlesome beast, as he dashed across the
plain beneath the arching branches of magnificent cotton-woods. The
solitude and the motion were both delightful. Never, since I last
galloped from the _paseo_ to Atares, and from Atares to El Principe,
overlooking the beautiful bay of Havana, and the distant outline of
her purple sea, had I felt so gloriously the rush of joyous blood that
careered through my veins like electric fire. Indeed, I know not how
long I would have traversed the woods had not the path suddenly ended
at a town, where my Arabian turned of his own accord, and dashed back
along the road till I met my wondering companions.

Having sobered both our bloods, I felt rather better prepared for a
visit to the Satanic personage who was the object of our excursion.
About two miles from Kya, we struck the foot of a steep hill, some
three hundred feet in height, over whose shoulder we reached a deep
and tangled dell, watered by a slender stream which was hemmed in by a
profusion of shrubbery. Crossing the brook, we ascended the opposite
declivity for a short distance till we approached a shelving precipice
of rock, along whose slippery side the ledgelike path continued. I
passed it at a bound, and instantly stood within the arched aperture
of a deep cavern, whence a hot and sulphurous stream trickled slowly
towards the ravine. This was the fountain, and the demon who presided
over its source dwe