He ran through the forest in swift pursuit of the vanishing girl, but quickly realized that she was far swifter than he, for he soon lost sight of her entirely, and came to a standstill.
Not for long, however.
The storm that was already brewing became more threatening every moment, the clouds thicker and thicker, and a few drops began to patter on the leaves overhead. Remembering the direction of the mountain clearing, the hussar directed his course thereto, and pushed steadily through the woods toward it.
He had not far to go to reach it, and ten minutes brought him there, but the storm had already set in, with rattle and crash of thunder, and intense gloom, only broken by the vivid flashes of the lightning.
As he looked into the clearing, a gray sheet of rain came driving down over every thing, shutting out mountain and valley from sight, and threatening to drench him to the skin.
Schuyler was a bold, decided young fellow, as we have seen, and he hesitated not to run across the clearing, and dash headlong into the hut, where he found the door as open as on his former visit, and every thing silent.
Looking round, as soon as he had shaken himself clear of water, he found himself in a circular room of rough stones, without plastering of any sort, with a conical roof, supported by a central post of hemlock with the bark on. At one side of the apartment was a huge fireplace, in which blazed a big fire of logs, but the cabin was perfectly bare of furniture, save for the two square blocks of stone, roughly trimmed, one on each side of the fireplace.
The hussar took his seat on one of these, and dried himself at the fire, not without some trepidation, it must be owned. He was in the supposed stronghold of the very demon that he had seen with his own eyes the night before, and he knew not at what moment he might behold that terrible form darken the doorway, and be engaged in a contest for life with the terrible enigma.
But as time wore on, and nothing appeared, while the rain descended in torrents overhead, and the fire hissed and sputtered as it struggled against the tempest, the hussar’s spirits insensibly rose, and with them his curiosity. He began to long to see the fairy form of Diana, and even caught himself wishing that the demon himself might appear.
But still the solemn rain poured down amid peals of thunder without cessation, and nothing came. The fire hissed and sputtered, and finally roared up the wide chimney in triumph, the soldier dried his steaming garments, and at last the storm slowly abated, and passed off, settling into a gentle, drizzling rain, with a cold, gray sky, that looked as if it had set in for a gloomy day.