iho CASTi.i': OF iivj:Rr:s. 



hands and were wliirliiiLf round the ruins hi an infernal 

 dance. Up liill and down dale and over the steep rocks 

 the^ went, while the wind groaned a=nd shrieked a wild, 

 threatening accompaniment. For a few seconds the 

 fastness was as brillianth' illuminated as though it -were 

 on lire — tlien once more all vanislied in the darkness 

 of the night. \Mtli whirling gusts and thunder and 

 lightning a storm was rising irom the west, and ma\- 

 perhaps ha^■e conjured up before us these fantastic 

 visions. Rapidh' darkness spread o^■er the landscape 

 and onh" the distant sea was still bathed in sih'er\' 

 light. A dazzling flash shot through the air, followed b\ 

 a deafening peal of tliunder \\hich seemed to shake, the 

 earth to its foundations. We stood dazed, wliile the 

 thunder rolled lurther off. It still resounded hollo\\' in 

 tlie nearest heights, reverberating from the rocks ^\-ith 

 ever lessening echo, approaching again, and at last thing 

 iiwav in the cbstance. Did tliis brilliant flash of light- 

 ning strike the Castle, or blast tliose slender Cypresses 

 which point so proudK' heavenu-ard from the ruins, as 

 thongli in deliance? I]eav\- rain-drops began to fall - 

 it \'\as time to return. 



CHAPTER 11. 



The range of mountains which rises to the east of 

 Ilyeres was a stronghold of the ]Moors in the nintli and 

 tenth centuries: and it appropriateh' bears their name, 

 b rom these mountain fastnesses the\' terrorised the coast 

 far and wide. The Ah^ntagnes des Maures are higliU- 

 interesting from a geological point of x'lew. The\' present 



