evered from every
pursuit, a stranger to every natural tie, I resolved to dedicate all the
resources of my soul to the prosecution of the most exemplary revenge.
Ever since that time, I have, under the cover of various disguises,
hovered about his path, and I had once an opportunity of partly
satiating my thirst of revenge; but I let it pass, because the draught
would not half satisfy my fevered longing for deeper retribution. It was
in the embrace of a deep slumber that I once saw Gomez Arias, and I
hovered over his devoted head with the pleasure of the vulture that sees
beneath him its defenceless prey."

"And why didst thou not slay him?" inquired Caneri.

"No!" replied the renegade, "I would not kill him then, for that were no
revenge; his soul would flee from this world without the knowledge that
it was _I_--it was Bermudo that inflicted the wound. I did not kill him;
I reserved his hated life for more exquisite tortures--a more appalling
fate, with all the harrowing attendants of remorse and despair."

"And what probability was there afterwards," demanded the Moor, "of
prosecuting your intentions with success?"

"That," returned the renegade, "was the constant object of my
meditation; but alas! the whole study of my existence is now rendered
useless by the unexpected death of my enemy. However, I joined your
cause from hatred to the injustice of my countrymen. That hatred still
burns, and I will yet find means for vengeance in the detested blood of
Christians. Moor," he then added, with sternness, "I am sunk low, low in
the depths of crime, and this is thy best security for my constancy to
the desperate course I have adopted. My life is solitary and
independent, reckless of all results. Lead then to the combat, and where
slaughter stains the way, and where shrieks and groans encumber the air,
where death is busiest, there! thou mayest exultingly cry, there is the
renegade!"

As Alagraf delivered these words, he suddenly withdrew, leaving the Moor
plunged in astonishment. Caneri, however, was soon aroused from his
train of reflection by a consciousness of the importance of his station.
He prudently judged that too much of his valuable time had already been
devoted to a matter of individual interest. He started therefore from
his couch, summoned his various officers, and inquired with minute
accuracy into the state of every thing in the palace. Satisfactory
answers were returned, and the chief received the comm