Of us they know but little,
Save when the storm doth rise,
And the mighty waves are tossing
Against the archèd skies.
Then oft they see us striding
O’er the billow’s snow-white foam,
Or hear us speak in thunder
When we stand, in grandeur lone,
On the darkest of the mighty clouds
Which veil the pearly moon,
Around us lightning flashing,
Night’s blackness to illume.
Chorus:
The music of our songs,
And our mighty trumpet’s swell,
And the sounding of our silver harps,
No mortal tongue can tell.
When they had finished there was a dead silence for about half an hour; and then the palace began slowly and gradually to vanish, till it disappeared entirely, and I found myself in the glen surrounded by high mountains, and the fountain, illuminated by the cold light of the moon, springing up in the middle of the valley; and standing close by was the old man who had conducted me to this enchanted place. He turned round and I could see that his countenance had an expression of strange severity which I had not before observed.
‘Follow me,’ he said.
I obeyed, and we began to ascend the mountain. It is needless to trouble you with a repetition of my adventures. Suffice it to say that after two months’ time we arrived at a large temple. We entered it. The interior as well as the outside had a very gloomy and ominous aspect, being entirely built of black marble. The old man suddenly seized me and dragged me to an altar at the upper end of the temple; then, forcing me down on my knees, he made me swear that I would be his servant for ever. This promise I faithfully kept, notwithstanding the dreadful scenes of magic of which every day of my life I was forced to be a witness. One day he told me he would discharge me from the oath I had taken, and commanded me to leave his service. I obeyed, and, after wandering about the world for many years, I, one evening, laid myself down on a little bank by the roadside, intending to pass the night there. Suddenly, I found myself raised in the air by invisible hands. In a short time I lost sight of the earth, and continued on my course through the clouds till I became insensible; and, when I recovered from my swoon, I found myself lying outside this cave. What may be my future destiny I know not.
CHAPTER V
DEPARTURE OF THE OLD MAN—DISAPPEARANCE OF DELANCY—TRANSPORTATION OF O’DONELL—HIS ARRIVAL AT THE CITY—HIS ARRIVAL AT THE PALACE, AND HIS INTERVIEW WITH HIS CHIEF—HE FINDS DELANCY
When the old man had finished his tale, O’Donell and Delancy thanked him for the relation, adding at the same time that they had never heard anything half so wonderful. Then, as it was very late, they all retired to rest. Next morning, O’Donell awoke very early, and, looking round the cave, he perceived the bed of leaves on which the old man had lain to be empty. Then rising he went out of the cave.
The sky was covered with red, fiery clouds, except those in the east whose edges were tinged with the bright rays of the morning sun as they strove to hide its glory with their dark veil of vapours, now all beauty and radiance by the golden lines of light which streaked their gloomy surface beneath this storm-portending sky; and, far off, to the westward rose two tremendous rocks whose summits were enveloped with black clouds rolling one above another with an awful magnificence well-suited to the land of wilderness and mountain which they canopied.
Gliding along in the air between these two rocks was a chariot of light. In the chariot sat a figure the expression of whose countenance was that of the old man, armed with the majesty and might of a spirit.