THE MONK. 81 



the last injunction of our guide, and all crept close to each other, 

 when, after addressing a joint and fervent supplication to Heaven, 

 we awaited in silence our doom, which now seemed inevitable. I 

 soon began to experience a return of those sensations of numbness 

 which had been for a time overcome, together with an indescribable 

 giddiness and exhaustion, which promised speedily to render me in- 

 capable of receiving external impressions. I had been in this state 

 for some time, and was fast sinking into insensibility, when a strange 

 sound struck upon my ear. At first it was blended with all the 

 confused feelings of a bewildered fancy, but it came again and again, 

 distinct and certain. I raised myself, and laid my hand on Stierry's 

 arm, but he did not move. I called to him ; he started, and in- 

 quired what I needed. " Listen," I replied. " What sound is 

 that ? I have heard it more than once : now, now it comes again ; 

 it is like the distant bark of a dog." He laid his ear down to the 

 snow for an instant, then, springing to his feet, he exclaimed, " It 

 is ! it is ! we may yet be saved ! That sound is the signal of re- 

 lief; some of the brave souls from the monastery are out to-night 

 on their errand of mercy. God grant they may turn this way !" 

 We could now plainly distinguish the deep baying of a dog, and 

 imagined we could occasionally discover human voices swelling on 

 the breeze : then again all was still, perfectly still : hope died with- 

 in us, and the heart became sick. It might be nothing but the 

 wind wailing through the rugged ravines, or the mountain spirits 

 revelling with demoniac glee in the desolation of the storm. Again 

 the sounds were borne upon the gale ; they approached, and again 

 died away : to have aid so near, and yet with the possibility that it 

 might never reach us, rivalled even the tortures of Tantalus. Could 

 we but make our situation known, deliverance was at hand. We 

 shouted with all the vehemence of mingled hope and despair, but 

 our voices went faintly over the expanded waste. That instinctive 

 and mysterious love of life which is implanted in every breast, and 

 which is only extinguished by the utter annihilation of being, now 

 rekindled the almost expiring spark of vitality in our companions. 

 They joined their voices to ours, and we continued our efforts. In 

 a short time, we had the inexpressible delight of knowing that our 

 deliverers were advancing rapidly to the rescue ; the gleam of 

 torches was now discovered through the darkness, and soon after the 

 noble mastiff,* who first apprized us of the coming succour, had 



* In the museum at Berne there is preserved the skeleton of one of these 

 sagacious animals, who for many years was well known on the Great St. Ber- 

 VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 11 



