this figure that lay extended on
the rising ground, a perceptible movement took place in it. The limbs
appeared to tremble, and although it did not rise up, the whole body
gave signs of vitality.

"The vampyre--the vampyre!" said Mr. Marchdale. "I cannot doubt it now.
We must have hit him last night with the pistol bullets, and the
moonbeams are now restoring him to a new life."

Henry shuddered, and even Mr. Chillingworth turned pale. But he was the
first to recover himself sufficiently to propose some course of action,
and he said,--

"Let us descend and go up to this figure. It is a duty we owe to
ourselves as much as to society."

"Hold a moment," said Mr. Marchdale, as he produced a pistol. "I am an
unerring shot, as you well know, Henry. Before we move from this
position we now occupy, allow me to try what virtue may be in a bullet
to lay that figure low again."

"He is rising!" exclaimed Henry.

Mr. Marchdale levelled the pistol--he took a sure and deliberate aim,
and then, just as the figure seemed to be struggling to its feet, he
fired, and, with a sudden bound, it fell again.

"You have hit it," said Henry.

"You have indeed," exclaimed the doctor. "I think we can go now."

"Hush!" said Marchdale--"Hush! Does it not seem to you that, hit it as
often as you will, the moonbeams will recover it?"

"Yes--yes," said Henry, "they will--they will."

"I can endure this no longer," said Mr. Chillingworth, as he sprung from
the wall. "Follow me or not, as you please, I will seek the spot where
this being lies."

"Oh, be not rash," cried Marchdale. "See, it rises again, and its form
looks gigantic."

"I trust in Heaven and a righteous cause," said the doctor, as he drew
the sword he had spoken of from the stick, and threw away the scabbard.
"Come with me if you like, or I go alone."

Henry at once jumped down from the wall, and then Marchdale followed
him, saying,--

"Come on; I will not shrink."

They ran towards the piece of rising ground; but before they got to it,
the form rose and made rapidly towards a little wood which was in the
immediate neighbourhood of the hillock.

"It is conscious of being pursued," cried the doctor. "See how it
glances back, and then increases its speed."

"Fire upon it, Henry," said Marchdale.

He did so; but either his shot did not take effect, or it was quite
unheeded if it did, by the vampyre, which gained the wood before they
could have a hope of getting suffi