peared streaked over with streams of blood, which
reached from the valley even to the city of Samarah. As this awful
phenomenon seemed to touch his tower, Vathek at first thought of
re-pairing thither to view it more distinctly, but feeling himself unable
to advance, and being overcome with apprehension, he muffled up his face
in his robe.

Terrifying as these prodigies were, this impression upon him was no more
than momentary, and served only to stimulate his love of the marvellous.
Instead, therefore, of returning to his palace, he persisted in the
resolution of abiding where the Indian vanished from his view. One
night, however, while he was walking as usual on the plain, the moon and
the stars at once were eclipsed, and a total darkness ensued; the earth
trembled beneath him, and a voice came forth, the voice of the Giaour,
who, in accents more sonorous than thunder, thus addressed him: "Wouldest
thou devote thyself to me? Adore then the terrestrial influences, and
abjure Mahomet. On these conditions I will bring thee to the palace of
subterranean fire; there shalt thou behold in immense depositories the
treasures which the stars have promised thee, and which will be conferred
by those Intelligences whom thou shalt thus render propitious. It was
from thence I brought my sabres, and it is there that Soliman Ben Daoud
reposes, surrounded by the talismans that control the world."

The astonished Caliph trembled as he answered, yet in a style that showed
him to be no novice in preternatural adventures: "Where art thou? be
present to my eyes; dissipate the gloom that perplexes me, and of which I
deem thee the cause; after the many flambeaux I have burnt to discover
thee, thou mayst at least grant a glimpse of thy horrible visage."

"Abjure, then, Mahomet," replied the Indian, "and promise me full proofs
of thy sincerity, otherwise thou shalt never behold me again."

The unhappy Caliph, instigated by insatiable curiosity, lavished his
promises in the utmost profusion. The sky immediately brightened; and by
the light of the planets, which seemed almost to blaze, Vathek beheld the
earth open, and at the extremity of a vast black chasm, a portal of
ebony, before which stood the Indian, still blacker, holding in his hand
a golden key that caused the lock to resound.

"How," cried Vathek, "can I descend to thee without the certainty of
breaking my neck? come, take me, and instantly open the portal."

"Not so fast,"