Can she be dreaming? or can her eyes deceive her? or does she actually see the wall of the cavern parting? Such actually seems to be the case, and from the opening out steps a figure dressed like an Indian, and bearing in his hand a blazing torch.
Hellena's tongue cleaves to the roof of her mouth, and her limbs are paralyzed with terror. She cannot move if she dare.
The figure moves about the room with a step as noiseless as the step of the dead, while the crystals on the walls seem to be set in motion, and to blaze with unnatural brilliancy as his torch is carried from place to place.
He carefully examines everything as he proceeds; particularly the weapons belonging to the pirates, which seemed particularly to take his fancy. But he carefully replaces everything after having examined it.
He now approaches the place where the two women are lying.
Hellena with an effort closed her eyes.
The figure approached the couch; for a moment he bent over it and gazed intently on the two women; particularly on that of the white maiden. When having apparently satisfied his curiosity, he withdrew as stealthily as he had come.
When Hellena opened her eyes again, the spectre had vanished, and everything about the cave appeared as if nothing unusual had happened.
For a long time she lay quietly thinking over the strange occurrences of the night. She was in doubt whether scenes which she had witnessed were real, or were only the empty creations of a dream. The horrible spectres which she had seen in the fore part of the night seemed like those which visit us in our dreams when our minds are troubled. But the apparition of the Indian seemed more real.
Could she be mistaken? was this, too, only a dream? or were the two scenes only different parts of one waking vision?