found--it was he who slaked his thirst with the juice
of the fruits which I, then invisible, beheld thee contemplate with
attention."

"Stephano here also!" cried Wagner. "Oh! Nisida--to thy rescue!"

And he bounded forth from the cave, and was rushing madly down one of
the tortuous defiles leading toward the chasm, when the voice of the
demon suddenly caused him to stop short.

"Fool!--insensate mortal!" said the fiend, with a derisive laugh. "How
canst thou escape from these mountains? But tarry a moment--and behold
thy Nisida--behold also her persecutor, who lusts after her."

Thus speaking; he handed Wagner a magic telescope, which immediately
brought the most remote objects to a distance of only a few yards.

Then what a delicious scene met Fernand's eyes! He beheld Nisida bathing
in the sea--sporting like a mermaid with the wavelets--plunging into the
refreshing depths--then wringing out the water from her long raven hair,
now swimming and diving, then wading on her feet,--unconscious that a
human eye beheld her.

At length she came forth from the sea, beauteous as a Venus rising from
the ocean; and her toilet commenced upon the sand. But scarcely had she
decked herself with the flowers which she had gathered early in the
morning for the purpose, when she started and rose up; and then Wagner
beheld a man approaching her from the nearest grove.

"That is Stephano Verrina!" murmured the demon in his ears.

Fernand uttered a cry of dismay, and threw down the telescope.

"You may save her--save her yet," said the demon, speaking in a tone of
unusual haste. "In a few minutes she will be in his power--he is strong
and desperate; be mine, and consent to serve me--and in a moment Nisida
shall be clasped in thy arms--the arms of thee, her deliverer."

"No--no! I will save her without thine aid, dread fiend!" exclaimed
Wagner, a prey to the most terrible excitement.

Then making the sign of the cross, he rushed forward to leap the yawning
chasm; his feet touched the opposite side, but he lost his balance,
reeled, and fell back into the tremendous abyss, while the demon, again
baffled, and shrinking in horror from the emblem of Christianity,
disappeared with cries of rage and vexation.

Down--down fell Wagner,--turning over and over in the hideous vacancy,
and clutching vainly at the stunted shrubs and dead roots which
projected from the rugged sides of the chasm.

In another moment he was swallowed up by the b