g determined to spare no pains, in the hope of
discovering the object of our search.

Company breeds courage. Several of the guests, finding how matters
stood, and that the encounter was not likely to be made single-handed,
volunteered their attendance; so that our retinue was shortly augmented
to some half-dozen stout fellows. The vanguard was composed of myself
and the lovers; the rest crept close in our rear, forming their rank as
broad as the nature of the ground would admit.

Luckily I soon found the jutting bank round which I had turned on my
first view of the house we had just left. We proceeded in
silence,--except that a whisper occasionally arose from one of the
rearmost individuals talking to his bolder neighbour in front, when
finding his own courage on the wane. Following for some time what
appeared to be the traces of recent footsteps, I hoped, yet almost
feared, that every moment I might stumble on the bleeding corpse. An
attendant in the rear now gave the alarm,--something he saw moving on
our left causing him to make a desperate struggle to get before his
companions. This produced a universal uproar--each fighting for
precedency, and thoroughly determined not to be the last. I soon beheld
a dark object moving near, and the next minute I was overjoyed to find
my recreant steed, quietly searching amongst the tufted moss and
sea-reed for a scanty supper. My associates knew not what to make of
this discovery. Some of them, I believe, eyed him with deep suspicion;
and more than one glance was given at his hoofs to see if they were not
cloven.

Order, however, being re-established, we again set forward with what
proved a useful auxiliary to our train. We had not travelled far ere I
was again aware of the peculiar snort by which he manifested his alarm;
and it was with difficulty I got him onwards a few paces, when he stood
still, his head drawn back, as if from some object that lay in his path.
I knew the cause of his terror, and, giving the bridle to one of my
attendants, cautiously proceeded, followed by the maiden and her lover;
who, to do him justice, showed a tolerable share of courage--at any
rate, in the presence of his mistress. At length I recognised the spot,
where, yet unmoved, lay the bleeding carcase. The girl started when she
beheld the grim features, horribly drawn together and convulsed, as if
in the last agony. I was obliged to muster the requisite fortitude to
attempt its removal; and rais