ormous size."

Ibrahim Pasha, having read this reply, summoned from the barge the
officer in command: and to him he communicated the intelligence which he
had just received from Nisida. That officer's countenance immediately
underwent a dreadful change; and, falling on his knees at Ibrahim's
feet, he made some strong appeal, the nature of which Nisida could only
divine by its emphatic delivery and the terrified manner of the
individual. Ibrahim smiled contemptuously, and motioned the officer with
an imperious gesture to rise and return to the barge. Then, again,
having recourse to the tablets, he conveyed the following information to
Nisida: "Lady, it appears that this is the Isle of Snakes, situated in
the Gulf of Sictra, on the African coast. Horrible superstitions are
attached to this clime: and I dare not remain longer on its shore, lest
I should seriously offend the prejudices of those ignorant sailors.
Come, then, lady, you shall receive treatment due to your rank, your
beauty, and your misfortunes."

In the meantime the officer had returned to the barge, where whispers
speedily circulated in respect to the land on which that boat had
touched; and the reader may imagine the extent of the loathing which the
mere name of the isle was calculated to inspire in the breasts of the
superstitious Mussulmans, when we observe that the existence of that
island was well known to the Turks and also to the Africans, but was
left uninhabited, and was never visited knowingly by any of their ships.
Nisida saw that the grand vizier was in haste to depart, not through any
ridiculous fears on his part, because he was too enlightened to believe
in the fearful tales of mermaids, genii, ghouls, vampires, and other
evil spirits by which the island was said to be haunted, but because his
renegadism had been of so recent a date that he dared not, powerful and
altered as he was, afford the least ground for suspecting that the light
of Christianity triumphed in his soul over the dark barbarism of his
assumed creed. Seeing, then, that Ibrahim Pasha was anxious to yield to
the superstitious feelings of the sailors, Nisida intimated, with a
graceful bend of the head, her readiness to accompany him. But, as she
advanced toward the boat, she cast a rapid and searching glance behind
her. Alas! Wagner appeared not.

A feeling of uneasiness, amounting almost to a pang of remorse, took
possession of her, as she placed her foot upon the velvet-cover