ed near it
the tall figure of the enthusiast.

"There is the robber," he cried to Judith. "I have found him. It is
Solomon Eagle. Villain! you have purloined our hoard!"

"I have done so," replied Solomon Eagle, "and I will carry off all other
spoil you may obtain. Think not to hide it from me. I can watch you when
you see me not, and track you when you suppose me afar off."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Chowles, trembling. "I begin to think he is
possessed of supernatural power," he added, in an undertone to Judith.

"Go on," pursued Solomon Eagle, "continue to plunder and destroy. Pursue
your guilty career, and see what reward you will reap."

"Restore what you have robbed us of," cried Judith in a menacing tone,
"or dread the consequences."

"Woman, you threaten idly," returned Solomon Eagle. "Your ill-gotten
treasure is gone--whither, you will never know. Get hence!" he added, in
a terrible tone, "or I will rid the earth of you both."

So awed were they by his voice and gestures, that they slunk away with a
discomfited air, and returned to the crypt.

"If we are always to be robbed in this manner," observed Chowles, "we
had better shift our quarters, and practise elsewhere."

"He shall not repeat the offence with impunity," returned Judith. "I
will speedily get rid of him."

"Beware!" cried a voice, which they recognised as that of Solomon Eagle,
though whence proceeding they could not precisely determine. The pair
looked at each other uneasily, but neither spoke a word.

Meanwhile, Leonard Holt did not omit to pay a daily visit to the
cathedral. It was a painful contemplation, and yet not without deep
interest, to behold the constant succession of patients, most of whom
were swept away by the scourge in the course of a couple of days, or
even in a shorter period. Out of every hundred persons attacked, five
did not recover; and whether the virulence of the distemper increased,
or the summer heats rendered its victims more easily assailable, certain
it is they were carried off far more expeditiously than before. Doctor
Hodges was unremitting in his attentions, but his zeal and anxiety
availed nothing. He had to contend with a disease over which medicine
exercised little control.

One morning, as he was about to enter the cathedral, he met Leonard
beneath the portico, and as soon as the latter caught sight of him, he
hurried towards him.

"I have been in search of you," he said, "and was about to proceed to
you