Moloch dropped Sybil, and cowered in the most abject manner.
Sybil looked up, and turned cold from head to foot; for in the handsome, stately, graceful form of the brigand chief, she recognized the finished gentleman who, in the character of "Death," had danced with her at her own Mask ball, and—the probable murderer of Rosa Blondelle!
CHAPTER VI.
THE ROBBER CHIEFTAIN.
| He was the mildest mannered man |
| That ever scuttled ship, or cut a throat; |
| With such true breeding of a gentleman, |
| You never could divine his real thought; |
| Pity he loved adventurous life's variety, |
| He was so great a loss to good society.—Byron. |
While the walls of the cavern seemed wheeling around Sybil, the robber captain calmly came up to her, lifted his hat, and said:
"Spirit of Fire, I am happy to welcome you to your own appropriate dwelling place. Behold!"
And he waved his hat around towards the stalactite walls and ceiling of the cavern, now burning, sparkling, blazing, in the reflected light of the candles.
"Death!" uttered Sybil, under her suspended breath.