el of nails, which he had made
up for the purpose, and then repaired the breach with great deliberation.

Had Fathom's good genius prompted him to examine his effects next
morning, the Tyrolese, in all probability, would have maintained his
acquisition by force of arms; for his personal courage was rather more
determined than that of our adventurer, and he was conscious of his own
ascendency in this particular; but his good fortune prevented such
explanation. Immediately after dinner, he availed himself of his
knowledge, and, betaking himself to a remote part of the town, set out in
a post-chaise for Luneville, while our hero was meditating his own
escape.

Fathom's conception was sufficient to comprehend the whole of this
adventure, as soon as his chagrin would give his sagacity fair play; nor
would he allow his resolution to sink under the trial; on the contrary,
he departed from the village that same afternoon, under the auspices of
his conductor, and found himself benighted in the midst of a forest, far
from the habitations of men. The darkness of the night, the silence and
solitude of the place, the indistinct images of the trees that appeared
on every side, "stretching their extravagant arms athwart the gloom,"
conspired, with the dejection of spirits occasioned by his loss, to
disturb his fancy, and raise strange phantoms in his imagination.
Although he was not naturally superstitious, his mind began to be invaded
with an awful horror, that gradually prevailed over all the consolations
of reason and philosophy; nor was his heart free from the terrors of
assassination. In order to dissipate these disagreeable reveries, he had
recourse to the conversation of his guide, by whom he was entertained
with the history of divers travellers who had been robbed and murdered by
ruffians, whose retreat was in the recesses of that very wood.

In the midst of this communication, which did not at all tend to the
elevation of our hero's spirits, the conductor made an excuse for
dropping behind, while our traveller jogged on in expectation of being
joined again by him in a few minutes. He was, however, disappointed in
that hope; the sound of the other horse's feet by degrees grew more and
more faint, and at last altogether died away. Alarmed at this
circumstance, Fathom halted in the middle of the road, and listened with
the most fearful attention; but his sense of hearing was saluted with
nought but the dismal sighings of