ery horrid, sir."

"Very strange. How is old Batavsky?"

"I have not seen him since, sir."

"I thought in my dream that he had me by the throat, and was strangling
me with his bony fingers. And I thought he hissed in my ear that he was
going to take me with him. I was powerless in his dreadful grasp, and I
thought he dragged me down, down, through some huge volcano's crater,
sulphurous and suffocating, growing hotter and hotter all the while as
we plunged downward, until finally I saw the blue and yellow flames dart
up as though to meet and welcome us, and heard the agonized cries of
anguished beings far below! Anon I could see them writhing in their
fiery torment, and I recognized many faces there that I had seen on
earth. As I drew nearer they seemed to forget their agonies, and joined
in a glad, wild chorus of imprecating welcome to me. Fiends came at me
with blazing swords and fiery prongs, and in my extreme terror I awoke.
Oh, it was dreadful!" he added, hiding his face in his hands.

"It surely must have been, sir, and I have read of such sleeping
agonies. But, after all, it was but a dream," said Barnwell.

"Oh, but such a dream! Barnwell, I would not go through the agony of
such a dream again for Alexander's crown. You are an educated, well-read
man. Tell me, do you believe there is such an awful place?" he asked,
and he seemed to have forgotten all his old hauteur.

"Our common religion teaches us that there is."

"Oh, Heaven, forgive and keep me from it," said he, bowing his head
abjectly.

"My dear sir, you lay too much stress on an ugly dream. Remember that
you went to sleep after eating a hearty dinner and they often cause ugly
dreams," said Barnwell, for thought it would best serve his purpose to
attribute it to it might be, rather than to what it probably was--a
warning of the future.

"Oh, if I could only think so I would abandon the sin of gluttony at
once. But that terrible face, those bony fingers, which seemed to
penetrate my neck like eagle's claws!" and involuntarily he placed his
hand upon his neck, as if he really expected to find lacerations there,
showing that he was greatly frightened.

"Barnwell, go and see how Batavsky does," he added.

"I will, sir."

"And hurry to let me know."

Barnwell withdrew, and Kanoffskie bowed his head upon the table before
him, repeating a simple prayer of the Greek Church which he had not
quite forgotten.

The young man made haste to Batavsky's