Page:Singular adventures of Sir Gawen, and the enchanted castle.pdf/8

8 fortunately the spot he had dropped upon was covered with a quantity of damp and soft earth, which gave way to his weight. He now found himself in a large vault arched in the gothic manner, and supported by eight massy pillars, down whose sides the damp moisture ran in cold and heavy drops, the moon shining with great lustre through three iron-grated windows, which although rusty with age, were strong enough to resist the efforts of Sir Gawen. who after having in vain tried to force them, looked around for his sword, which during the fall had started from his grasp, and in searching the ground with his fingers, he laid hold of and drew forth the fresh bones of an enormous skeleton. yet greasy and moist from the decaying fibres: he trembled with horror—a cold wind brushed violently along the surface of the vault and a ponderous iron door slowly grating on its hings. opened at one corner and disclosed to the wandering eye of Sir Gawen a broken staircase down whose steps a blue and faint light flashed by fits, like the lightening of a summer's eve Appalled by these dreadful prodigies Sir Gawen felt, in spite of all his resolution, a cold and death like chill prevade his frame and kneeling down, he prayed fervently to that Power, without whose mandate, no being is let loose upon another, and feeling himself more