9* B Y<- V&A YS AN& 81R£>~N& TES. 



somehow I was reminded by their course of 

 those shadowy, silvery lines in the blades of 

 Damascus daggers. 



We slipped on and on, still following the 

 now madly careering halcyon. For the mer- 

 est point of time, not long enough for an eye 

 to twinkle, we were opposite the rift in the 

 woods and trembling on the verge of mystery. 

 I looked down the open vista and saw some- 

 thing, I know not what — a form or a shadow, 

 an image conjured up by my imagination, or 

 Only a blending of the glooms and gleams by 

 force of distance and velocity — but a new ele- 

 ment was added to my nature. I felt a great 

 thrill. A new joy took root in my heart. A 

 new flower blew open in my soul. Accipio 

 agnoscoque deos t 



It seemed that down that aisle I could look 

 to the remotest age of time ; and out of it, 

 blowing into my eager face, I felt the un- 

 changed, the unchangeable spirit of Eld ! 

 Was it, or not, a face that I saw ? Can I ever 

 know? The flowing hair, like blown supple 

 ringlets of gold floss, the gray deep eyes, the 

 divinely smiling lips ; were they not there ? 

 And the shining body and agile limbs, did I 

 only fancy I saw them ? How shall I ever be 

 sure ? O ! Dea certe. An indescribable some- 

 thing, as of that whole landscape melting and 

 vanishing, by a sudden and noiseless deflagra- 

 tion, followed close upon this fortunate mo- 

 ment. With a harsh, maniacal cry of delight, 

 the belted halcyon leaped over the coruscating 

 line into the silvery mist beyond. And, like 

 an arrow flung from the bent bow of the river, 

 we were whirled after him into the vast fanged 

 jaws of the canon. 



