the music of distant waterfalls and understood the whispered
language of the breeze. It was amazing, delightful. Esteban and
she were walking through the grounds of the quinta and he was
telling her about his casks of Spanish sovereigns, about those
boxes bound with iron, about the gold and silver ornaments of
heavenly, beauty and the pearls as large as plums. As he talked,
Isabel felt herself grow hot and cold with anticipation; she
experienced spasms of delight. She felt that she must dance, must
run, must cast her arms aloft in ecstasy. Never had she
experienced so keen an intoxication of joy as now, while Esteban
was leading her toward the treasure and wooing her with youthful
ardor.

Then of a sudden Isabel's whole dream-world dissolved. She awoke,
or thought she did, at hearing her name shouted. But although she
underwent the mental and the physical shock of being startled from
slumber, although she felt the first swift fright of a person
aroused to strange surroundings, she knew on the instant that she
must still be asleep; for everything about her was dim and dark,
the air was cold and damp, wet grass rose to her knees. It flashed
through her mind that she had simply been whirled from a pleasant
dream into one of terror. As she fought with herself to throw off
the illusion of this nightmare its reality became overwhelming.
Warring, incongruous sensations, far too swift for her mind to
compass, were crowded into the minutest fraction of time. Before
she could half realize her own condition she felt herself plunged
into space. Now the sensation of falling was not strange to
Isabel--it is common to all sufferers from nightmare--
nevertheless, she experienced the dawn of a horror such as she had
never guessed. She heard herself scream hoarsely, fearfully, and