It was the image of Haidee. The light of her eyes seemed to shine upon him from out of the thick darkness. He saw the beauty of her form, veiled in her costly, jewelled drapery, and her magnificent hair floating around her.
“Who is that strange beautiful woman?” was the question he asked, as in his imagination he saw her stand before him.
Then he followed it by another.
“Why did she interest herself in me? I must surely be totally unknown to her?”
But the questions were more easily asked than answered. It was a mystery of which he could scarcely hope at that moment to find the solution.
Exhausted with his long ride, and the great excitement under which he had laboured, he sank into an uneasy doze. How long he had remained thus he had no means of knowing; but he was suddenly startled by the boom of a heavy gun, that seemed to shake his dungeon, solid as it was.
He sprang to his feet. He thought he would hear wild shouts and the clashing of arms.
Boom!
Again a gun gave tongue. It appeared to be directly overhead.
Another and another quickly followed. His heart beat violently; a clammy perspiration stood upon his brow; not from any craven fear, but from the awful thought that murder and rapine were broken loose, and he, young and active, with an arm powerful to wield a sword, was imprisoned there, and utterly helpless as if he had been bound in iron gyves.