s that would make the savage
blush? Think ye that Heaven will long withhold its vengeance from
atrocities that cry aloud to it night and day--that the innocent blood
ye have spilt will sink, unavenged, into the earth? Fear and tremble,
for the hour of wrath and woe is at hand!"

The energy and eloquence with which he spoke sent a strange thrill of
terror through the crowd. The governor, alone insensible to fear,
shouted from his saddle:--

"Tremble for yourself, Isaac! for, by the rood! if you dare question
the justice of the Holy Office, you shall share the fate of yonder
prisoner."

"I fear not the wrath of man," replied the Jew; "fear you the wrath of
Heaven!"

And at this moment, as if in vindication of his words, a heavy clap of
thunder, that shook the city like the discharge of a park of
artillery, broke upon the ear; and one of those sudden storms, so
common in southerly latitudes, rolled up its dark masses of clouds,
and the light of day was suddenly quenched, as in an eclipse. Vivid
flashes of lightning lit the upturned and terror-stricken faces of the
cowering multitude. At the same time, the wind howled fiercely through
the streets that debouched upon the plaza, and tore the plumage that
waved and tossed upon the helmets of the soldiery.

"Executioner!" roared the governor, whose high, stern tones of
military command were heard above the roar of the sudden tornado, "do
your duty! Set fire to the fagots!"

The order was obeyed; the torch was applied, and already a quivering,
lurid flame shot up at the feet of the luckless Landon, when the storm
burst forth with ungovernable fury. The scaffolding was blown down,
the fragments scattered, and the rain, descending in torrents,
instantly quenched both torch and fagot. The vast crowd was thrown
into utter confusion; the terrified horses of the cavalry plunged
madly among the footmen; hundreds fell and were trampled under foot;
and prayers, shrieks, and imprecations filled the darkened air.

Landon was unhurt amid the wreck of the sacrificial pyre. A ray of
hope shot up in his heart. Scrambling out of the ruins, unobserved and
unpursued, he fled down the nearest lane with the utmost speed.
Anxious to obtain shelter, he, without even a thought, climbed a
garden wall; once within which he was safe, for a moment, from
pursuit. Rushing through a shaded alley of the garden, he found
himself at the door of a large and splendid house. Almost without a
hope of find