ate with the signet.
A low solemn murmur sounded around. Presently the plate flew off, and
Alroy pulled forth several yards of an iron chain, which he threw over
to the opposite precipice. The chain fastened without difficulty to
the rock, and was evidently constrained by some magnetic influence.
The Prince, seizing the chain with both his hands, now swung across
the ravine. As he landed, the chain parted from the rock, swiftly
disappeared down the opposite aperture, and its covering closed with the
same low, solemn murmur as before.

Alroy proceeded for about a hundred paces through a natural cloister
of basalt until he arrived at a large uncovered court of the same
formation, which a stranger might easily have been excused for believing
to have been formed and smoothed by art. In its centre bubbled up a
perpetual spring, icy cold; the stream had worn a channel through the
pavement, and might be traced for some time wandering among the rocks,
until at length it leaped from a precipice into a gorge below, in a
gauzy shower of variegated spray. Crossing the court, Alroy now entered
a vast cavern.

The cavern was nearly circular in form, lighted from a large aperture
in the top. Yet a burning lamp, in a distant and murky corner, indicated
that its inhabitant did not trust merely to this natural source of the
great blessing of existence. In the centre of the cave was a circular
and brazen table, sculptured with strange characters and mysterious
figures: near it was a couch, on which lay several volumes.[9] Suspended
from the walls were a shield, some bows and arrows, and other arms.

As the Prince of the Captivity knelt down and kissed the vacant couch, a
figure advanced from the extremity of the cavern into the light. He
was a man of middle age, considerably above the common height, with
a remarkably athletic frame, and a strongly-marked but majestic
countenance. His black beard descended to his waist, over a dark red
robe, encircled by a black girdle embroidered with yellow characters,
like those sculptured on the brazen table. Black also was his turban,
and black his large and luminous eye.

The stranger advanced so softly, that Alroy did not perceive him, until
the Prince again rose.

'Jabaster!' exclaimed the Prince.

'Sacred seed of David,' answered the Cabalist,[10] 'thou art expected. I
read of thee in the stars last night. They spoke of trouble.'

'Trouble or triumph, Time must prove which it is, great mas