its nerves, the eye of the latter now began to fail him.
For a moment he closed it; and when again it fell upon
the window; it encountered nothing but the clear and
glittering pane. For upwards of a minute he and his friend
still continued to rivet their gaze, but the face was no
longer visible.

Why is it that what is called the "human face divine" is
sometimes gifted with a power to paralyse, that the most
loathsome reptile in the creation cannot attain? Had a
hyena or cougar of the American forest, roaring for prey,
appeared at that window, ready to burst the fragile
barrier, and fasten its talons in their hearts, its
presence would not have struck such sickness to the soul
of our adventurers as did that human face. It is that
man, naturally fierce and inexorable, is alone the enemy
of his own species. The solution of this problem--this
glorious paradox in nature, we leave to profounder
philosophers to resolve. Sufficient for us be it to know,
and to deplore that it is so.

Footsteps were now heard upon the stairs; and the officers,
aroused to a full sense of their danger, hastily and
silently prepared themselves for the encounter.

"Drop a bullet into your gun," whispered the elder,
setting the example himself. "We may be obliged to have
recourse to it at last. Yet make no show of hostility
unless circumstances satisfy us we are betrayed; then,
indeed, all that remains for us will be to sell our lives