y had been suddenly
engulfed,--while far, far above them flew the "White Eagle," gradually
lessening in size through distance till it looked no bigger than a dove
on its homeward way. Some priests watching by a row of lifeless men,
women and children killed in the earthquake, chanted the "Nunc
Dimittis" as the evening grew darker,--and the only one among them who
had first seen the air-ship over the canon, where it fell, as it were
in the deep gulf surrounded by flood and foam, now raised his eyes in
wonderment as he perceived it once more soaring at liberty towards the
moon.

"Surely a miracle!" he ejaculated, under his breath--"An escape from
destruction through God's mercy! God be praised!"

And he crossed himself devoutly, joining in the solemn chanting of his
brethren, kneeling in the moonlight, which threw a ghastly lustre on
the dead faces of the victims of the earthquake,--victims not "struck
by the hand of God" but by the hand of man! And he who was responsible
for the blow lay unconscious of having dealt it, and was borne through
the air swiftly and safely away for ever from the tragic scene of the
ruin and desolation he had himself wrought.

CHAPTER XXIV

A great silence pervaded the Palazzo d'Oro,--the strained silence of an
intense activity weighted with suspense. Servants moved about here and
there with noiseless rapidity,--Don Aloysius was seen constantly pacing
up and down the loggia absorbed in anxious thought and prayer, and the
Marchese Rivardi came and went on errands of which he alone knew the
import. Overhead the sky was brilliantly blue and cloudless,--the sun
flashed a round shield of dazzling gold all day long on the breast of
the placid sea,--but within the house, blinds were drawn to shade and
temper the light for eyes that perhaps might never again open to the
blessing and glory of the day. A full week had passed since the "White
Eagle" had returned from its long and adventurous flight over the vast
stretches of ocean, bearing with it the two human creatures cast down
to death in the deep Californian canon,--and only one of them had
returned to the consciousness of life,--the other still stayed on the
verge of the "Great Divide." Morgana had safely landed the heavy burden
of seeming death her ship had carried,--and simply stating to Lady
Kingswood and her household staff that it was a case of rescue from
drowning, had caused the two corpses--(such as they truly appeared)--to
be l