wer, that I was contented while my
condition was such as I have been describing; but a little while after
the darkness or twilight came on, I frequently heard the voices again;
sometimes a few only at a time, as it seemed, and then again in great
numbers. This threw me into new fears, and I became as uneasy as ever,
even to the degree of growing quite melancholy; though, otherwise, I
never received the least injury from anything. I foolishly attempted
several times, by looking out of my window, to discover what these odd
sounds proceeded from, though I knew it was too dark to see anything
there.

I was now fully convinced, by a more deliberate attention to them, that
they could not be uttered by the beast-fish, as I had afore conjectured,
but only by beings capable of articulate speech; but then, what or where
they were, it galled me to be ignorant of.

At length, one night or day, I cannot say which, hearing the voices very
distinctly, and praying very earnestly to be either delivered from the
uncertainty they had put me under, or to have them removed from me, I
took courage, and arming myself with gun, pistols, and cutlass, I went
out of my grotto and crept down the wood. I then heard them plainer
than before, and was able to judge from what point of the compass they
proceeded. Hereupon I went forward towards the sound, till I came to the
verge of the wood, where I could see the lake very well by the dazzle of
the water. Thereon, as I thought, I beheld a fleet of boats, covering a
large compass, and not far from the bridge. I was shocked hereat beyond
expression. I could not conceive where they came from, or whither they
would go; but supposed there must be some other passage to the lake than
I had found in my voyage through the cavern, and that for certain they
came that way, and from some place of which as yet I had no manner of
knowledge.

Whilst I was entertaining myself with this speculation, I heard the
people in the boats laughing and talking very merrily, though I was too
distant to distinguish the words. I discerned soon after all the boats
(as I still supposed 'em) draw up, and push for the bridge; presently
after, though I was sure no boat entered the arch, I saw a multitude of
people on the opposite shore all marching towards the bridge; and what
was the strangest of all, there was not the least sign of a boat now
left upon the whole lake. I then was in a greater consternation than
before; but was still