infamy in which she had been confined, feeling well assured that but a few
hours would be suffered to elapse, ere Duffel, with as many adherents as he
deemed necessary to accomplish his ends, would return, to wreak his
pitiless vengeance upon her. Making everything ready for her departure, she
awaited the darkness of the approaching night, that in its friendly mantle
she might find protection and shelter. But ere the light of day had
withdrawn, she again ventured out into the stream for the purpose of more
fully reconnoitering the place, and fixing in her mind the relative
position of things, obstacles and distance, and to obtain such knowledge in
general as might facilitate her escape.

Night came; she left her room, the common door locked and bolted, the
secret one clogged with the furniture of the room, so that it would require
the united strength of several men to force it open. The door of the secret
passage which she had learned to open and shut from both sides, was closed
after her, and alone she passed along that damp aisle, paused a moment
before the mirror to note whether it reflected the scene without, and
seeing upon its face but blank darkness, she opened the last door between
herself and the world into which she was going, closed it as she passed
through its portals, descended the stairs, reached the outer extremity of
the passage, put out her lamp, and the next minute stood on the pebbles at
the margin of the stream. A brief survey of the coast in all directions
satisfied her that she was not observed, and without more delay she moved
down the stream as rapidly as the nature of the ground and her want of
experience in such places and mode of travel would permit.

It was about a mile from the starting point before she reached the first
recession of the high bank, that afforded an opportunity to leave the
stream, which she improved without delay, and after a laborious ascent of
an inclined plane, more than a hundred yards in extent and quite steep, she
found herself on the high bluff, with the cave in the distance.

But now a new and before unthought of difficulty faced her. She was in a
wilderness, with no compass by which to direct her course, and no friendly
guide to conduct her to the habitations of men. For a moment she was almost
paralyzed by the magnitude of this untried danger, and hope well nigh fled
from her breast. But rousing her energies she boldly looked her fate in the
face, and committed her