full stop, when I knew by the observations made
amongst them, that they were descending into some subterranean place. I
accordingly waited with the utmost anxiety until I was convinced that
they had all disappeared with their prisoner; and then I crept
cautiously along to the place at which I had already reckoned them to
have paused. I stooped down, and carefully felt upon the ground, until I
was enabled to ascertain the precise point at which the marks of their
footsteps had ceased. At this moment the moon shone forth with such
extreme brilliancy, that its beams penetrated the thick foliage; and I
now observed with horror that I had advanced to the very verge of a
steep precipice, on the brink of which the grove suddenly ceased. Had
not the moon thus providentially appeared at that instant, I should have
continued to grope about in the utter darkness, and have assuredly
fallen into the abyss. I breathed a fervent prayer for this signal
deliverance. But not a trace of any secret entrance to a cavern could I
find--no steps, no trap-door! Well aware that it would be dangerous for
me to be caught in that spot, should any of the banditti emerge suddenly
from their cave, I was reluctantly compelled to depart. But before I
quitted the place, I studied it so well that I should have no difficulty
in recognizing it again. In fact, just at the precise spot where the
footsteps of the banditti ceased, an enormous chestnut tree, which for
more than a century must have continued to draw from the earth its
nourishment, slopes completely over the precipice, while on the right of
this tree, as you face the abyss, is a knot of olives, and on the left
an umbrageous lime. These features of the spot I committed to memory,
with the idea that such a clew to the robbers' retreat might not
eventually prove useless.

"I will extirpate that nest of vipers--that horde of remorseless
banditti!" exclaimed Ibrahim Pasha, in a tone indicative of strong
excitement.

"Your highness has the power," responded Demetrius; "but the Florentine
authorities must be completely impotent in respect to such a formidable
horde of lawless men. The remainder of my narrative is soon told, my
lord," returned the young Greek. "I returned to my lodgings in safety,
but determined not to remain there a single hour longer than necessary.
For apart from the resolve which I had formed already, in consequence of
the various and unforeseen incidents which had occurred, to retu