and other filth,
which they actually eat; and the floating sticks and timber serve them
for fuel. You remember the man we saw devouring the dead animal; well,
he took that carcase from the sewer.'

'And what effect does such loathsome diet produce upon them?' asked the
other.

'Oh,' was the reply--'it makes them insane in a short time; eventually
they lose the faculty of speech, and howl like wild animals. Their
bodies become diseased, their limbs rot, and finally they putrify and
die.'

'And how do they dispose of the dead bodies?' asked the stranger.

'_They throw them into the sewer_,' answered the boy, with indifference.
His listener shuddered.

'Come,' said the young guide--'you have only seen the wretched portion
of the Dark Vaults. You are sick of such miseries, and well you may
be--but we will now pay a visit to a quarter where there are no
sickening sights. We will go to the _Infernal Regions_!'

Saying this, he led the way thro' a long, narrow passage, which was
partially illumined by a bright light at the further end. As they
advanced loud bursts of laughter greeted their ears; and finally they
emerged into a large cavern, brilliantly illuminated by a multitude of
candles, and furnished with a huge round table. Seated around this were
about twenty men, whose appearance denoted them to be the most desperate
and villainous characters which can infest a city. Not any of them were
positively ragged or dirty; on the contrary, some of them were dressed
richly and expensively; but there was no mistaking their true
characters, for villain was written in their faces as plainly as though
the word was branded on their faces with a hot iron.

Seated upon a stool in the centre of the table was a man of frightful
appearance: his long, tangled hair hung over two eyes that gleamed with
savage ferocity; his face was the most awful that can be imagined--long,
lean, cadaverous and livid, it resembled that of a corpse. No stranger
could view it without a shudder; it caused the spectator to recoil with
horror. His form was tall and bony, and he was gifted with prodigious
strength. This man, on account of his corpse-like appearance was known
as 'the Dead Man.' He never went by any other title; and his real name
was unknown.

The stupendous villainy and depravity of this man's character will
appear hereafter. Upon the occasion of his first introduction in this
narrative, he was acting as president of the carousals; he wa