ies of his situation. He was a young man of determination and
courage: yet he could not entirely subdue those feelings of uneasiness
and alarm which were natural under the circumstances. He was alone, at
midnight, in that abode of crime and murder; near him lay the corpse of
an unfortunate fellow creature, who had without a doubt fallen by the
hand of an assassin; he was momentarily expecting the return of that
arch-miscreant, who would show him no mercy; a deep, unbroken silence,
and an air of fearful mystery, reigned in that gloomy cellar and
throughout that awful house--and before him, dark and yawning as the
gate of hell, was that black and infernal pit which led to the
subterranean caverns of the Dark Vaults, far below.

'I will sell my life dearly, at all events,' thought our hero, as he
drew a bowie knife from his breast, and felt its keen, glittering edge;
then impelled by a sudden thought, he advanced to the mouth of the pit,
and cut the four ropes, which sustained the wooden platform, so nearly
asunder, that they would be almost sure to break with a slight
additional weight.

He had scarcely accomplished this task, when a strange, unnatural cry
resounded throughout the cellar--a cry so indescribably fearful that it
chilled his blood with horror. It was almost instantly followed by a low
and melancholy wail, so intense, so solemn, so profoundly expressive of
human misery, that Frank was convinced that some unfortunate being was
near him, plunged in deepest anguish and distress.

In a few moments the sound entirely ceased, and silence resumed its
reign; then Frank, actuated by the noble feelings of his generous
nature, said, in a loud voice--

'If there is any unhappy creature who now hears me, and who needs my
charitable aid, let him or her speak, that I may know where to direct my
search.'

No answer was returned to this request; all was profoundly silent.
Frank, however, was determined to fathom the mystery; accordingly, he
began a careful search throughout the cellar, and finally discovered in
an obscure corner an iron door, which was secured on the outside by a
bolt--to draw back this bolt and throw open this door, was but the work
of a moment; and our hero was about to enter the cell thus revealed,
when a hideous being started from the further end of the dungeon, and
with an awful yell rushed out into the cellar, and hid itself in a deep
embrasure of the wall.

Whether this creature were human or no