find it, in which the
deserting Nymphs have left a shelter.' While thus saying he moved from
the trees, and, looking wistfully towards the mountain, discovered
through the advancing gloom a red and tremulous light at no considerable
distance. 'That must come,' said he, 'from the hearth of some shepherd
or vine-dresser--it will guide us to some hospitable retreat. Wilt thou
stay here, while I--yet no--that would be to leave thee to danger.'

'I will go with you cheerfully,' said Ione. 'Open as the space seems,
it is better than the treacherous shelter of these boughs.'

Half leading, half carrying Ione, Glaucus, accompanied by the trembling
female slave, advanced towards the light, which yet burned red and
steadfastly. At length the space was no longer open; wild vines
entangled their steps, and hid from them, save by imperfect intervals,
the guiding beam. But faster and fiercer came the rain, and the
lightning assumed its most deadly and blasting form; they were still
therefore, impelled onward, hoping, at last, if the light eluded them,
to arrive at some cottage or some friendly cavern. The vines grew more
and more intricate--the light was entirely snatched from them; but a
narrow path, which they trod with labor and pain, guided only by the
constant and long-lingering flashes of the storm, continued to lead them
towards its direction. The rain ceased suddenly; precipitous and rough
crags of scorched lava frowned before them, rendered more fearful by the
lightning that illumined the dark and dangerous soil. Sometimes the
blaze lingered over the iron-grey heaps of scoria, covered in part with
ancient mosses or stunted trees, as if seeking in vain for some gentler
product of earth, more worthy of its ire; and sometimes leaving the
whole of that part of the scene in darkness, the lightning, broad and
sheeted, hung redly over the ocean, tossing far below, until its waves
seemed glowing into fire; and so intense was the blaze, that it brought
vividly into view even the sharp outline of the more distant windings of
the bay, from the eternal Misenum, with its lofty brow, to the beautiful
Sorrentum and the giant hills behind.

Our lovers stopped in perplexity and doubt, when suddenly, as the
darkness that gloomed between the fierce flashes of lightning once more
wrapped them round, they saw near, but high, before them, the mysterious
light. Another blaze, in which heaven and earth were reddened, made
visible to them