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In the pitchy darkness Venters led Bess, and, groping his way, by feel of hand found the entrance to her cave and lifted her up On the instant a blinding flash of lightning illumined the cave and all about hihtened eyes He saw the dogs leap up, and he followed suit The golden glare vanished; all was black; then ca crack and the infernal din of echoes

Bess shrank closer to hihtly over her ears, and dropped her face upon his shoulder, and hid her eyes

Then the storm burst with a succession of ropes and streaks and shafts of lightning, playing continuously, filling the valley with a broken radiance; and the cracking shots followed each other swiftly till the echoes blended in one fearful, deafening crash

Venters looked out upon the beautiful valley--beautiful now as never before--loo The dark spruces were tipped with glihts; the aspens bent low in the winds, as waves in a tempest at sea; the forest of oaks tossed wildly and shone with gleae cavern of the cliff-dwellers yawned in the glare, every little blackas clear as at noonday; but the night and the stor to the black clouds, the great stone bridge seeht the full fury of the rushing wind It lifted its noble crown to les and their lofty nest in a niche under the arch A driving pall of rain, black as the clouds, ca walls and the shining valley The lightning played incessantly, streaking down through opaque darkness of rain The roar of the wind, with its strange knell and the re-crashing echoes, ly were deadened and drowned in a world of sound

In the diirl She had sunk into his ar to him He felt the softness of her, and the warmth, and the quick heave of her breast He saw the dark, slender, graceful outline of her form A woman lay in his arms! And he held her closer He who had been alone in the sad, silent watches of the night was not now and never ain alone He who had yearned for the touch of a hand felt the long tree chance had she corown into a treasure!