inexcusable and the public indignationthoroughly aroused, the

unusual figure of 750 pounds was offered for his capture. He was
reported to have large sums of money in his possession. One day,

he had been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure
intelligence that he was still lurking between Manchester and

Liverpool, or along the border of Wales; and the day after, a
telegram would announce his arrival in Cuba or Yucatan. But in all

this there was no word of an Italian, nor any sign of mystery.
In the very last paper, however, there was one item not so clear.

The accountants who were charged to verify the failure had, it
seemed, come upon the traces of a very large number of thousands,

which figured for some time in the transactions of the house of
Huddlestone; but which came from nowhere, and disappeared in the

same mysterious fashion. It was only once referred to by name, and
then under the initials "X. X."; but it had plainly been floated

for the first time into the business at a period of great
depression some six years ago. The name of a distinguished Royal

personage had been mentioned by rumour in connection with this sum.
"The cowardly desperado" - such, I remember, was the editorial

expression - was supposed to have escaped with a large part of this
mysterious fund still in his possession.

I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture it into
some connection with Mr. Huddlestone's danger, when a man entered

the tavern and asked for some bread and cheese with a decided
foreign accent.

"SIETE ITALIANO?" said I.
"SI, SIGNOR," was his reply.

I said it was unusually far north to find one of his compatriots;
at which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a man would go

anywhere to find work. What work he could hope to find at Graden
Wester, I was totallyunable to conceive; and the incident struck

so unpleasantly upon my mind, that I asked the landlord, while he
was counting me some change, whether he had ever before seen an

Italian in the village. He said he had once seen some Norwegians,
who had been shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness and

rescued by the lifeboat from Cauldhaven.
"No!" said I; "but an Italian, like the man who has just had bread

and cheese."
"What?" cried he, "yon black-avised fellow wi' the teeth? Was he

an I-talian? Weel, yon's the first that ever I saw, an' I dare say
he's like to be the last."

Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a glance
into the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation together,

and not thirty yards away. One of them was my recent companion in
the tavern parlour; the other two, by their handsome, sallow

features and soft hats, should evidently belong to the same race.
A crowd of village children stood around them, gesticulating and

talking gibberish in imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign
to the bleak dirty street in which they were standing, and the dark

grey heaven that overspread them; and I confess my incredulity
received at that moment a shock from which it never recovered. I

might reason with myself as I pleased, but I could not argue down
the effect of what I had seen, and I began to share in the Italian

terror.
It was already drawing towards the close of the day before I had

returned the newspapers at the manse, and got well forward on to
the links on my way home. I shall never forget that walk. It grew

very cold and boisterous; the wind sang in the short grass about my
feet; thin rain showers came running on the gusts; and an immense

mountain range of clouds began to arise out of the bosom of the
sea. It would be hard to imagine a more dismal evening; and

whether it was from these external influences, or because my nerves
were already affected by what I had heard and seen, my thoughts

were as gloomy as the weather.
The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable spread

of links in the direction of Graden Wester. To avoid observation,
it was necessary to hug the beach until I had gained cover from the

higher sand-hills on the little headland, when I might strike
across, through the hollows, for the margin of the wood. The sun

was about setting; the tide was low, and all the quicksands
uncovered; and I was moving along, lost in unpleasant thought, when

I was suddenly thunderstruck to perceive the prints of human feet.
They ran parallel to my own course, but low down upon the beach

instead of along the border of the turf; and, when I examined them,
I saw at once, by the size and coarseness of the impression, that

it was a stranger to me and to those in the pavilion who had
recently passed that way. Not only so; but from the recklessness

of the course which he had followed, steering near to the most
formidable portions of the sand, he was as evidently a stranger to

the country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach.
Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a mile

farther, I beheld them die away into the south-eastern boundary of
Graden Floe. There, whoever he was, the miserable man had

perished. One or two gulls, who had, perhaps, seen him disappear,
wheeled over his sepulchre with their usual melancholy piping. The

sun had broken through the clouds by a last effort, and coloured
the wide level of quicksands with a dusky purple. I stood for some

time gazing at the spot, chilled and disheartened by my own
reflections, and with a strong and commanding consciousness of

death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy had taken, and
whether his screams had been audible at the pavilion. And then,

making a strong resolution, I was about to tear myself away, when a
gust fiercer than usual fell upon this quarter of the beach, and I

saw now, whirling high in air, now skimming lightly across the
surface of the sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical in

shape, such as I had remarked already on the heads of the Italians.
I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The wind was

driving the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the floe
to be ready against its arrival. The gust fell, dropping the hat

for a while upon the quicksand, and then, once more freshening,
landed it a few yards from where I stood. I seized it with the

interest you may imagine. It had seen some service; indeed, it was
rustier than either of those I had seen that day upon the street.

The lining was red, stamped with the name of the maker, which I
have forgotten, and that of the place of manufacture, VENEDIG.

This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name given by the Austrians
to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for long after, a part

of their dominions.
The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon every side;

and for the first, and, I may say, for the last time in my
experience, became overpowered by what is called a panic terror. I

knew nothing, that is, to be afraid of, and yet I admit that I was
heartily afraid; and it was with a sensiblereluctance that I

returned to my exposed and solitary camp in the Sea-Wood.
There I ate some cold porridge which had been left over from the

night before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; and, feeling
strengthened and reassured, dismissed all these fanciful terrors

from my mind, and lay down to sleep with composure.
How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; but I

was awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into my
face. It woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my knees.

But the light had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness was
intense. And, as it was blowing great guns from the sea and

pouring with rain, the noises of the storm effectuallyconcealed
all others.

It was, I dare say, half a minute before I regained my self-
possession. But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had

been awakened by some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the
flap of my tent, which I had shut carefully when I retired, was now

unfastened; and, second, I could still perceive, with a sharpness
that excluded any theory of hallucination, the smell of hot metal

and of burning oil. The conclusion was obvious. I had been
wakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye lantern in my face. It

had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my face, and then
gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a proceeding, and