the spirit. They felt as though entering on
mysterious or forbidden ground. The hour--the circumstances which led
to their present situation--their companion's recent and unaccountable
disappearance, and the prevalent superstitions connected with this
solitary spot--all contributed to their present alarms with a force
and poignancy unusual, and even appalling. They almost expected the
"_Spectre Horseman_" to rush by, or to rise up suddenly before them,
and forbid their further progress into his domains.

"I am not prone to pay much heed either to marvels or superstitions,
and yet"----said Mortimer, again pausing after a long silence.

"Why," said Pilkington, "the very air feels rank with mystery.
Whatever may be the cause, I never felt more i' the mood for an hour
of devotion in my life."

"We may both have need for the exercise ere we depart hence, or my
thoughts misgive me," replied Mortimer.

"It may be the mystery connected with our expedition which operates in
its own nature upon the mind," said Pilkington. "I feel, as it were,
every faculty impressed with some fearful and indissoluble spell. An
atmosphere, impervious, and almost impalpable, seems to oppress the
spirit. Surely we are on the trail of some demon, and his subtle
influence is about us."

"Ah!" said Mortimer, starting aside with a shudder, as though a
serpent stung him.

"Heardest thou aught, Mortimer?"

"I thought there was a rushing past my ear."

"I heard it too," replied Pilkington, in a low and agitated tone; "but
I heard more, Mortimer. A voice, methought, distinct as thine own,
swept by: '_Go not_,' was faintly uttered. I am sure I heard the
words."

"This place affects me strangely," said Mortimer; "but I will not go
back, though the very jaws of the pit were to interpose."

Suddenly a mist gathered about them, not an unusual circumstance in
these mountain regions, but a sufficiently portentous one to fasten
strongly upon their imaginations, already predisposed to invest every
appearance, however trivial, or according to the common course of
events, with supernatural terrors. A gust of wind soon curled the
vapour into clouds, which swept rapidly on; sometimes with the
moonlight through their shattered rifts, then dark and impervious,
shutting out the whole hemisphere, and wrapping them as with a cloak.
Still they kept on their way, slowly, but in the direction, as near as
they could ascertain, towards the place where they hoped to