"So much the better," I interposed; "we can duck under if the fiery breath of the spirits should torment us.'

"You are jesting," said he.

"Not I," I answered. "In me, after fifty years, you have at last found the man who is willing to undertake the adventure with you; and to convince you that I am in earnest, I invite you to accompany us to-morrow. As we intended under any circumstances to bathe, it will make little difference to us if we take our bath in the water that so much terrified the priests." Agreed!" cried the notary, and a beam of delight shot over his manly countenance. "I can tell you, that old as I am I will swim with the best of you. But let us speak quietly, that none in the house may hear of it, or they would not suffer me to go, so great is their anxiety on this head."

We now consulted as to what arrangements we should make; and as the opening to the cavern was but small, I concluded that the interior would be dark, and that it would be advisable for us to take torches with us. The notary agreed with this suggestion, observing that we could push them before us through the entrance on floats, and thus see the grotto to great advantage on entering, and promised that Angelo, the boatman, should have everything in readiness for us on the morrow.

My travelling companion, who had hitherto been merely a listener, now observed, that in his opinion the affair was one which would consume much time that might be more advantageously spent than in hunting for such a mare's nest, as he termed it. He was, therefore, opposed to our going. At this, a cloud passed over the face of the notary, which, however, was dispelled on my assuring him that the adventure should certainly be carried out. I now represented to my friend that (as we intended under any circumstances to bathe on the morrow) a bath in the grotto would not consume more time than in any other place, and that we could easily combine this with our proposed trip round the island. After no little trouble, I at length succeeded in inducing him to meet our wishes, and he promised to accompany us. Our host was now in ecstasy, and a period was only put to his joyful exclamations by the arrival of Angelo Ferraro, the boatman, an elderly man, whose skin was bronzed with exposure to the sun and sea-breezes, and who, hat in hand, stood respectfully before us. We asked if he would venture to take us round the island.

"As soon as another, gentlemen," was his ready answer.

The notary now gave him instructions as to the preparations to be made for our visit to the grotto. At this the man stared, and asked whether the gentlemen were determined to enter the grotto.

"Yes; and I too!" exclaimed the notary. "Will you not accompany us, Angelo?"

66

You, too?" cried the astonished boatman, starting back. "Well," added he, "since that is the case, I will enter with you. Yes! Angelo goes with you!"

"Bravo, Angelo!" said the notary.

Angelo continued:

"Often have I wished to see the place, but could never venture in alone; now, however, there are four of us, and the devil flees from four,' as the proverb goes. I will take a small boat and row in first,

driving the torches before me; you will then be able to look about
much more comfortably than if you had them under your nose."
"Bravo, Angelo !" repeated our worthy host.

you

"Bravo, Angelo!" was echoed softly and ironically from a corner of the room, towards which our eyes were instantly turned.

"Alas! alas!" said, or rather sighed, the notary, "my brother, the canonico!"

The canonico approached with assumed politeness, boiling over with ill-disguised rage.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, for intruding in so indecorous a manner; I should never have thought of doing so, had my brother acted as beseems a good Christian. I stood for some time behind that glass door, fixed with astonishment at the pranks this old man, who should by this time have known better, proposed acting with you strangers and Angelo."

"Oh! to think that he should come," said the notary, shrugging his shoulders; "there's an end of it now. Pray leave us, my dear brother; I wish to speak to these gentlemen."

"Oh, indeed! to speak? What then? Nothing but evil!-nothing but evil! Look, gentlemen, here is my brother, the esteemed notary of the place, Don Guiseppo Pagano, a studied man, a learned man (our host raised his hat at every sentence, in scorn), a good father to his family, a worthy husband, a discreet instructor of his children, honoured and beloved by every one; but a bag of wind and a vessel of folly, boiling over yes, boiling over!" repeated he, warmly.

"Go, Angelo!" said the notary-"go and do as I bid you." Angelo went; the canonico, however, turned to us, and continued: "You, gentlemen (excuse me for saying so), as strangers here, have allowed yourselves to be drawn into an affair, by the talkativeness of my brother, which is more dangerous than it appears to you. To swim into a cave may seem easy to those who have breasted rapid rolling rivers, or mounted the waves of the ocean; but are you aware, on that account, of the peculiarities of the water in that grotto? Do you know whether the water will sustain you? or whether it is not a deceit of the devil, and that you may sink into eternal flames? You cannot know it. You may, perhaps, not have heard that the waters round the island swarm with ravenous monsters, in consequence of which it is only safe to bathe under shelter of rocks. Good, you may say; when we are in the grotto we are sheltered by rocks, and need not fear sharks. But do you believe that the devil does not foster other monsters therein, compared with which they are but as lambs? Do not smile. What I say is not mere imagination. It is corroborated by facts-undoubted facts! You must, doubtless, have frequently read of syrens and tritons. Now, these are nothing but evil ones, which assume those and other shapes to injure men, and seduce them from eternal welfare!"

"My dear sir," I interjaculated, "those are nothing but old Grecian fables, not worthy of belief!"

"Old Grecian fables?" exclaimed the canonico, raising his arms in astonishment. "Would to God they were only fables, and that men now-a-days were not doomed to see them! How long ago is it since one of our fishermen, I forget his name

"Nobody ever knew it," cried the notary, angrily.

"Oh! indeed! many know it," continued the priest; "suffice it to say, then, that the fisherman died of a horrible and painful disease, because he had seen a merman. And how was it, think you, that it took place? He had steered in the direction of that very grotto to spear fish. The morning was beautiful, and the water so calm and clear, that he could see the muscles at the bottom of the sea, which is twenty fathoms deep there. Suddenly he beheld the fishes below him dart from the spot, leaving only one, at a great depth, which kept circling round his little bark, and rising nearer and nearer to the surface. As the fish appeared to him to be of a considerable size he seized the largest of his harpoons, adjusted the line, and poising the weapon in his right hand, his left on an oar, anxiously awaited the near approach of the fish, which still kept rising, and assumed at times a reddish or a greenish hue. At this the fisherman, who had never before beheld such a thing, began to lose courage, but, instead of repeating a pater-noster like a good Christian, to drive away the monster, he took heart, as the men of the world say, and with a fearful oath drove the harpoon into the back of the fish. The water was immediately so much discoloured with blood that he could no longer see the bottom, and as the line was not taut he imagined that he had killed the fish, and commenced hauling up, when lo! he brought the harpoon to the surface divided in the middle, not broken, but as it were melted! Terror now seized the man; he dropped the fragment of his weapon in the boat, seized both oars, which he plied with all his strength to bear him from the place. In vain-the boat would only move in that dread circle formerly described by the fish; at length, however, it stood quite still, and a bleeding man rose from the purple water, the end of the harpoon projecting from his breast, and rushed with threatening mien towards the fisherman, who sunk unconscious in the bottom of the boat, which drifted on shore. There he was speedily assisted by his friends, but remained for some time in a state of stupor, and it was not until the fourth day after this occurrence that he was able to explain these circumstances to them. A sudden and wonderful change then came over him. The hand with which he had thrown the harpoon dried up and withered like a leaf in autumn, as also did his arm and the rest of his members, and death at last terminated his excruciating agonies. His body, after death, bore little resemblance to a human corpse, but looked more like a dried root from some apothecary's shop."

"Like the tail of my wig!" exclaimed our host, starting from his seat and pacing the room impatiently. The canonico, however, did not allow himself to be disturbed, but continued talking on, and seemed to have an inexhaustible store of tales respecting the grotto, all of which he firmly believed in. He told us that fires were sometimes seen within, and that at other times animals like crocodiles peeped out. That the entrance changed daily seven times, and was now large, then small; that the voices of syrens were heard therein during the night singing to an audience of skeletons. Now and then children's cries were heard, and nothing was more common than groans and sighs; and it was no unusual circumstance to hear that young fishermen had suddenly disappeared in that neighbourhood.

"All nonsense! pure invention!" cried the notary, whose patience

was now exhausted. "Pray leave us, brother! We have come to a determination, and nothing in the world shall move us from it!"

The canonico now endeavoured to work upon the mind of his brother by spiritual admonitions; mildly at first, but as the notary only offered more opposition, the dispute at last waxed so warm, and they spoke so loud, that the wife of the notary, with the whole family at her heels, rushed into the room to learn what had set them thus at variance.

"Listen, my dear sister," said the priest, solemnly-"listen to what your husband, my brother, is about to do. Listen, my dear children, to what your father purposes. He intends to swim into the cave to-morrow with these gentlemen!"

"Into the cave? What cave? Not the haunted cave?" said the wife. "My husband will surely not do that."

"Yes, now I will!" said the notary. "Will you come with me, my son ?" said he, addressing his eldest, a fine boy of twelve or thirteen.

"Yes! where father goes I will go," was the reply; and the boy sprang to his father's knee.

This was too much for the good canonico, who departed to his chamber, praying for the welfare of his brother's soul.

"Quiet at last!" exclaimed the notary. "Now, wife, prepare supper, whilst I fetch some of our best wine." With that he left the room, and our hostess, with a deep sigh, made the necessary arrangements. His daughters, however, drew near to us, and asked whether we really intended to stake both soul and body in what appeared in their eyes so dangerous an undertaking, and were not at all satisfied with our making light of their fears. Their father entering with a liberal supply of the juice of the grape, and observing their sad looks, ordered them to depart for the night, and invited us, now that we were alone, to be seated.

We responded willingly to his call, and commenced a vigorous attack on the wholesome repast, drinking more than once success to our proposed adventure. The notary, now that he saw his long-cherished desire on the point of being fulfilled, could hardly find words to express his joy, and entertained us with no brief recital of his golden anticipations. My friend, however, who was less inspired with the affair, cut short his discourse, by saying that all he expected to find was a damp, disagreeable and gloomy grotto, and finished by suggesting that we should retire for the night. The notary rose, and embraced us in the excess of his gladness, and we hastened to repose.

I passed half the night in dreams. My thoughts naturally led me to the grotto: we had landed there, and discovered long passages; here and there were chained skeletons in all attitudes, one of which, methought, was abusing me in no measured terms in Latin. Suddenly, steps were heard approaching, and Tiberius stood before us, attended by an old soldier of the imperial city, who demanded the reason of our intrusion; when, deliberating as to my reply, I awoke. Sleep, however, again conducted me to the grotto. We were before a brazen door; we had levers with us, which we immediately applied, and saw through the crevices of the yielding hinges that we were on the threshold of a splendid saloon. The door at last burst open, and we were immediately overpowered by a violent storm which threatened to annihilate us.

The

sea rose also into the gorgeous hall, and with unbridled vengeance overwhelmed thrones, statues, and tripods, involving them in inextricable confusion, the boiling waves dashing us against the painted walls. At last, thrown violently against the roof, I grasped an iron ring, which yielded to my hold, and the gilded ceiling following with a horrid crash, again awoke me. Morning at length dawned; I roused my friend, and we dressed in all haste. On leaving our rooms we found the notary in full trim, contemplating his preparations for the trip, amongst which a well-filled provision-basket, and an immense lantern, which he thought would be useful in case we were able to land in the grotto, were most conspicuous. After partaking of a hurried breakfast, we set out, accompanied by our host and his little son, followed by the sad and anxious looks of his family.

We arrived in half an hour at the landing-place from which we were to embark, where we found Angelo and our muleteer Michelo Furerico, who were awaiting us. We took our places in Angelo's boat, towing after us a smaller one containing torches, a large iron vessel filled with pitch, besides lanterns, and some yards of small but strong rope. Angelo and his companion plied their oars, however, so vigorously, that we had to request them occasionally to lessen their exertions, that we might have a better view of the wonderful coast. We kept the shore on our left, and passing over against the Neptune villa of Tiberius, soon found ourselves under the bold and almost overhanging precipice, at the foot of which we observed many holes and caves, ornamented with stalactites of every possible shape. I now looked out impatiently for that we were seeking; my friend, however, the nearer we approached, showed less desire to enter it, supposing that our host intended to laugh at us. I convinced him, however, that we should have the laugh all on our side when we got into the grotto, if we found such were the case. began to cast off our encumbering garments, and exhorted the notary, who in the mean time had become rather grave, to follow our example.

We now

"In one minute--I am rather too warm at present," said he, without stirring. The rowers, who up to this time had been very loquacious, now grew remarkably quiet. Not long after we shot past the extremity of a small headland, the oars were drawn in, and our boat remained at Not a lip moved.

rest.

66

Well, what are we stopping for?" said I.

"Here is the grotto," replied Angelo, after a little hesitation; and he pointed out the small entrance to me, in and out of which the deep blue water was rolling. All were silent-Don Pagano had become rather meditative.

"Now then, Angelo," cried I, breaking silence, "look after the torches; we have not much time to lose, and must be sharp."

Angelo stepped into the small boat, struck a light, and in a short time we had the pitch in the iron dish blazing famously. The fumes and heat were so great, that the worthy boatman, in setting the fire-pan on to the surface of the water, screwed up his face until it looked more like a squeezed lemon than a human visage, causing a hearty laugh on the part of us strangers; the notary, however, looked more serious than ever.

"Quick, Mr. Notary! quick!" said I; "we want to jump in."