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tain, and in many places, even in ordinary weather, must have been shut in from the beams of the sun. The sides of the ravine were clothed with the same unvarying drapery, from the line of the visible horizon down to the torrent at the bottom, which it concealed; and if at times a bare rock protruded threateningly in the midst, or the foam of the waters below was seen gleaming through the misty trees, the occurrence was hailed by the eye as a relief.

In the mean time the mist had not wholly dispersed. As they neared the summit of the pass, a sudden gust of wind would sometimes whirl it away, but returning the next moment, like a determined foe, it encompassed them with a phalanx still more formidable. By degrees, however, its force appeared to be exhausted. Fiercer and more frequent came the triumphant winds, and at length the blast swept wildly and alone over the plateau of the mountain. The sea of vapour that rolled and tumbled in the ravine began gradually to disappear. Sometimes a large mass was detached, and, floating slowly upwards, was caught in the eddy of the winds near the top, and rent into fragments, and so vanished; but in general the whole body sunk slowly, like a lake swallowed up in the sands. A hundred islands reared their wooded heads in the waste; and as the tops of the trees first rose above the unstable surface, the Israelites were reminded of the time when the dove of Noah was able to pluck off an olive branch amidst the wilderness of waters.

When its task was at length accomplished, the wind itself died away with a wailing sound; some heavy drops of rain fell vertically upon the earth, and splashing through the leaves and branches of the forest, filled the air with a dreary monotone. Even the fiery

sun was extinguished in the heavens, and the clouds began to move, and rend, and blacken.

The calm below was not of long duration. The great round drops of rain were shattered suddenly in the faces of the party, each fragment feeling as cold and sharp as a dagger. A universal roar ran through the recesses of the Wald, and was echoed in thunder from cliff to cliff; the mightiest trees bent and shivered like so many willows; and at length as a stream of fire descended, not a hundred yards from the travellers, and smote a magnificent oak to its centre, all stood still aghast.

“God of Abraham!" cried old Adonijah, "what will become of me!"

"Closer, love-closer, my own Magdalene," whispered Ishmael, "so that one blow may destroy us both!" The women prayed silently; while Carl Benzel ran on before to a bend in the road, to look if there was no place of shelter in sight. He was speedily seen by the rest of the party waving his hat for them to come on; and having eagerly obeyed, all ran towards a little hut which he pointed out by the way-side, and crowded in.

It was one of those small chapels, or rather oratories, that in Catholic countries are placed in such situations for the use of pious travellers. In general the Virgin Mary is the presiding deity; but here a wooden statue of our Saviour, as large as life, looked down from the blood-stained cross upon the group. The Jews looked at the image with a natural horror: they felt as if they were intruders, and would probably have retired, had not the raving of the blast without fallen still more wildly upon their ear. As it was, they kept away, as far as the narrow area per

mitted, from what, in such a place and at such a time, must have been an object of awe.

Carl, moving neither cap nor knee, stood opposite the crucifix, gazing on the ghastly face with a look of grave and solemn interest. More he would have deemed unbecoming a man whose family had long abjured the damnable errors of image-worship; yet the presence of the Jews seemed to annoy him; and turning away from the mean and knavish face of Adonijah, the expression of which, touched by the sublimity of the storm, had acquired a character of atrocity, he sought the eyes of Ishmael, curious to observe with what feelings he regarded the spectacle.

Ishmael did not look towards the crucifix at all. His eyes were fixed upon those of Magdalene, who stood gazing wildly upon the symbol of her deserted faith.

"It is but an image," said he, "of man's workmanship; look at me, Magdalene-or at the stormor at the heavens ! "

"See-see!" she exclaimed, pointing with a bewildered expression to the figure.

"Magdalene!" and he endeavoured with gentle force to draw her away.

"Hush! hush! Hark! the lips open-oh!" and she hid her face in her hands, and would have sunk upon the ground had not her lover supported her.

"This is frenzy," said he; "these lips cannot move, neither can a voice come forth from the workmanship of man."

"Ishmael," said Magdalene, with a calmness that startled him, "you are a Hebrew; and you cannot hear the words of the Saviour, neither you nor your people. But I, who have been baptized in His name,

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my ears are open, though my heart is shut. lips did unclose, and that mouth did speak. It said and stopping short, she pressed her hand wildly upon her brow.

“What were the words of its voice?" asked Ishmael in a whisper; for a superstitious terror seemed to have taken hold of him. She clasped her hands round his neck, and drawing his head down to hers, put her lips to his ear.

"These!" said she: "Liar, hypocrite, adultress, apostate-traitress to thy family, thy country, and thy God!-perish in thy sin!"" Then casting him away with almost miraculous force, she sunk down before the image, not daring to raise her eyes beyond the bleeding feet, and with a low, broken moan, fell prone upon her face.

Carl watched this scene with intense interest; and when Ishmael would have gone to raise his mistress, he seized him by the shoulder with a gripe which the Jew in vain endeavoured to resist.

"Let her alone," said he sternly; "she may worship the Saviour erroneously, but that is better than to reject and deny him altogether."

The storm at length so far abated in violence, that the travellers were able to resume their journey; but the detention they had suffered, ever since setting out, by the state of the weather, rendered it late in the evening before they were completely clear of the Hohe-Wald. Even after they had descended to the common level of the earth, the surface was so much broken by heights and hollows, and woods and morasses, that little benefit appeared to have accrued from the change; and when at length they entered a forest, where the twilight was converted into almost total

darkness, they began to fear that it would be necessary to pass the night upon the spot.

Their case was the more desperate as the strength of some of the women had begun to fail; and Magdalene, more especially, could only get forward by means of the joint support of Ishmael and Carl Benzel. The old Jew, Adonijah, had long since been obliged to lean upon two of his people, passing his arms round their necks; while Leah in the rear, left to the exertion of her own energies, followed the steps of the former trio like fate.

At this moment a light gleamed suddenly in the distance, and as suddenly disappeared. Most of the Jews hailed the signal with delight, likening it to the pillar of fire that led their fathers in safety through the wilderness. Carl remarked, however, that it did not seem as if it had proceeded from the window of a house, and that its disappearance was too instantaneous to be referred to the intervention of any object on the road. Ishmael and Adonijah alone were silent. The former of the two last became gloomy and abstracted; he did not reply either in sympathy or encouragement, as he was wont, to the moans that sometimes escaped his mistress; but, on the contrary, appeared at times to forget that she was leaning on his arm.

Proceeding a little further, the cry of an owl was heard in the thicket; and Ishmael, whose nervous sensibilities appeared to have been excited by the events of the journey, started so violently as to draw a faint scream from Magdalene. In another minute the long shrill "whoo!" was answered from the trees on the opposite side of the road.

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My God, what is that?" cried Magdalene, starting in her turn.

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