ish columns of smoke
curled in the air from the terrible cone; the sun was setting over the
beautiful Bay of Naples in the color of blood, and the air was
impregnated with the fumes of sulphur. The wilderness of the spot,
and nature's terrors convulsing the elements around, made, indeed,
the moment before battle a dreadful moment for the delicate children
of the French banker.

A few minutes, and the battle was at its height. A long and dreadful
contest ensued. The numbers were about equal on both sides.
Fortunately, the brigands had not time to muster all at once, and the
royalist troops met them in small but desperate bands. No sooner was
one defeated than another and another poured down from the sides of
the mountain and disputed every inch of the way. The brigands fought
bravely, but were outnumbered, and towards midnight the bloodshed
ceased. All sounds had died away save the groans of the wounded and
dying, and now and then a solitary whoop of a brigand chief from the
distant hills, calling together the few straggling and scattered bands
of rebels.

The moment the heat of the combat was over the first thought that struck
Charles was to look for Henry. They were separated in the confusion
of the fight. She ran through the men, but could not find her. Here
and there she could discern in the pale light of a clouded moon some
knot of soldiers binding up their wounds and recounting their escapes
and their triumphs. She hurriedly ran through them, enquiring for her
brother-officer, but none knew anything of her. She scanned every
feature, she called her in every group, but in vain--no Henry was
there. The awful thought struck her--and her heart nearly broke under
its pang--perhaps she is killed! She flew across the bloody path they
had passed; her mournful and shrill cry of "Enrico!" rolled over the
bodies of the slain, and was echoed again and again with plaintive
intensity from the surrounding hills. Sometimes she even fancied the
dying echo of her own shrill cry was the feeble answer of her wounded
sister; and when she would pause to listen again, the valley around
was wrapt in the stillness of death. At length she came to the spot
where the battle first commenced, and there, with a shriek that was
heard in the distant encampment, she found among the first victims of
that bloody night the lifeless corpse of her sister.

Chapter XXII.

The Morning After the Battle.

The morning sun rose d