“How came you to this place?” sternly asked the monster.
“By walking in at the door,” answered the terrified Mr. World.
“Without permission?” he further asked.
“There was no one there to ask, and I, being out sight-seeing, thought I might also enter in here.”
The monster seized Mr. World by the arms and looked at him in a still more frightful manner.
“You are not yet ready to come into this region, and if you will solemnly pledge me that you will never reveal what you have seen here, I will conduct you safely to the door; if not, you must remain here without a ray of hope until death gives relief.”
Mr. World humbled himself and gave double assurance of secrecy. Then the grim creature conducted him a little to one side and bade him look down into a deep and dark yawning chasm.
“Down there,” commenced the Old Monster, “runs the Black River deep and wide. The stream, coming from its distant source, drains the filthy realm of human society, and not far hence it enters into the boundless ocean of eternal death. The wild sounds which you hear are the unseen dashings of its never-ceasing waves, and the moans of those who have fallen victims to its merciless currents.”
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LAST WARNING.
1. Miss Church-Member is now induced to frequent the haunts of vice in the “Wicked Valley.”