His anxiety therefore, about the Tobacco-box began, as he approached the Grey Stone, to balance his fears; so that by the time he arrived there, he found himself cooler and firmer a good deal than when he first crossed the dark fields from home.

Hanlon, in fact, had learned a good deal of the Prophet's real character, from several of those who had never been duped by his impostures; and the fact of ascertaining that the very article so essential to the completion of his purpose, had been found in the Prophet's house or possession, gave a fresh and still more powerful impulse to his determinations.

The night, we have already observed, was dark, and the heavy gloom which covered the sky was dismal and monotonous.

Several flashes of lightning, it is true, had shot out from the impervious masses of black clouds, that lay against each other overhead.

These, however, only added terror to the depression which such a night and such a sky were calculated to occasion.
"I trust," thought Hanlon, as he approached the stone, "that there will be no disappointment, and that I won't have my journey on sich a dark and dismal night for nothing.