"I will not, I will _not_ follow you like a victim to the altar," I
cried, straining every nerve to control myself. "Vile gnome, thou shalt
_not_ feast on _my_ blood!" The fiend nodded his huge head slowly with a complacent smile, as if to
say, "We shall see, we shall see." On, and still on, up, further up the mountain, through thick pine
forests and gigantic clumps of rock the demon guide led his unresisting
prey. Breathless, footsore, over the most impassable places the
relentless fiend magnetically dragged me after him; at a rate, too, that
thoroughly surprised me; until, to my horror, I found myself close to a
deep chasm formed in the rock by the late earthquake. The demon halted, and now speaking for the first time since our walk
together, he asked with a malicious smile if I desired any fossils or
any gold, observing that all sorts of curiosities were to be found down
there. He then made a strange gesture with his hand towards my face, and
I suddenly perceived I was under a spell. I had no memory of anything that had happened up to that time. I bore no
malice against my guide; on the contrary, he appeared to me my best
friend. He did not even seem any longer ugly in my eyes, and when he
asked me if I would descend into the chasm, I replied cheerfully. "Yes; but how shall we manage it?" "I have brought a rope on purpose," said my friend. "Bravo!" said I. He then began to unwind a long rope from his waist, and adjusted it
underneath my shoulders. I then descended gradually, my companion holding the rope and letting it
out by degrees, until I had descended a very considerable distance, when
he fastened the other end to a stump. I then began chipping out various
geological specimens, and experienced an intense delight in my novel
situation. Soon, however, while busily occupied in extracting a bone of an
ichthyosaurus, I was interrupted by a cry of many voices from below. "Secure the victim! Down with him, down with him! Our feast of blood is
at hand." Then followed a hungry roar, as of wild beasts unfed. The charm was
broken in an instant, and I awoke to a sense of my awful position. To
drop my hammer and clamber up the rope as fast as I could was my first
step; but what was my horror, when, on raising my eyes aloft, I descried
the fiend in the act of deliberately cutting the rope. How fortunate I
happened to look upwards just at that moment. The rope was already half cut through; in another moment I must have
been launched into the abyss, to be devoured by the bloodthirsty
monsters below. There was no time to lose; I was desperate, so thrusting
one foot into a chink in the walls of the chasm, I looked about for
another, then for some projecting stone to grasp hold of, and thus by
slow degrees, at the imminent peril of my life, I climbed up until I
gained the ledge of the chasm. It was a terrific struggle for life. The rope was of immense length,
and, deep as I had descended, there was yet an immeasurable gulf below
me. The darkness of the chasm prevented the gnome above from seeing his
victim, though I could see him well enough. When he severed the rope he
knew none other than that I had already been precipitated into the maws
of the gnomes below. When, therefore, lacerated and exhausted, I
reappeared at the top, the utmost consternation and chagrin were visible
in the features of the wretch. Too astonished, perhaps, to think of
working another charm upon me, the ogre pounced upon me like a tiger on
his prey, and a terrific tussle ensued--a tussle for life and death. I soon found I was no match for my misshapen, but powerful, adversary. I
was soon worsted. Every moment I expected to be my last. "Can the Almighty allow the fiends to triumph over His own?" I asked
myself, in my dying moments. I offered up a short prayer, and gave myself up for lost. Suddenly a
crash. A huge mass of rock above me had loosened. The demon let go his
hold to save himself, but it was too late. The deformed body of the crêtin lay crushed beneath the weight of the
enormous fragment. I myself escaped with but a slight graze on the head and shoulder. Had I
been one whit less active, I must have shared the fate of my guide. For
a moment I stood rooted to the spot, stupefied, bewildered; then,
offering up a prayer of thanksgiving for my miraculous salvation, I
departed on my way rejoicing. The last sounds which rang in my ears were the voices of the hungry
gnomes, calling out, "Give us our victim; we famish." But I heeded them not, and continued my journey with a buoyant step. I
had a long and tedious walk before me. At sundown, however, I reached
the hotel from which I had started. My friend, of course, had not arrived, as I had returned before the
time specified. I know not how it was, whether from the effects of
over-fatigue or excessive fright, but I was seized immediately upon my
arrival with a prolonged illness. A leech was sent for, the best that
the mountains could produce, and after feeling my pulse and looking at
my tongue, shook his head gravely. He asked me the symptoms of my case,
and to what I attributed it. I told him the story that I have just
retailed to you, gentlemen; but he only shook his head again, and said
that I was in a high state of fever, that these ravings were but the
offspring of delirium, that I had been deluded by my senses, etc. But I
knew better, for previous to meeting with the monster I had never
enjoyed better health in my life. *       *       *       *       *

Need the reader be told that at the conclusion of this narrative the
professor was greeted with murmurs of applause from his gratified
audience? "Well, Helen," said our artist, to his fair neighbour, "what do you
think of the professor's story?" The maiden blushed, and smilingly replied in a low voice, that she liked
it very much, and then added, "And are there really those horrid
what-ye-call-ums that eat up poor gentlemen all alive?" "So the professor says," replied Mr. Oldstone. "You would not doubt his
word, would you?" "Oh, no, not for a moment, sir," said the girl; "but how dreadful; I'm
sure I shall dream horribly to-night." "Oh, no, you won't, my dear," said Mr. Crucible. "Don't be afraid; and,
I say, Miss Helen, don't you think you could tell us a story? I am sure
Mr. Blackdeed, who comes next on the list, will yield his turn to you." "Oh, certainly," said the tragedian; "only too happy; besides, it is not
every day our club is honoured by a lady." "There now, lass," said Captain Toughyarn, "if I may be allowed to put
in my marling spike, that's the prettiest little compliment you've
shipped this many a day. Come, sail along. What! afraid to set sail
alongside big ships like ours? Bah! When I was a little craft of your
tonnage I did not want so much towing when asked for a yarn." "The Captain's nautical language confuses the young lady," observed Mr.
Hardcase.