Say the oath that I may hear it!" Fatia Negra repeated his hocus-pocus, kneeling down beside Anicza on the steps of the altar, and raising his eyes towards the black vault of the cavern as he recited the words of a new oath, which kept all the listeners spellbound, so full it was of grisly images and hellish fancies.

So deep indeed was the general attention that nobody observed in the meantime that, in the dark background formed by the distant walls of the cavern, a multitude of strange faces were popping up.

First two men descended through the machinery of the mill and then two others until, gradually, a hundred of them had assembled.

They were all armed and dressed in uniform, but their arms were concealed beneath their mantles, that they might not glimmer through the darkness.

And then they quietly formed into ranks like supernumeraries on the stage of a theatre whilst the chief comedian is ending his monologue in front of the footlights.