"It is done!" she whispered to him, and the boat pushed off. It was just then that the young pair became aware of the movement upon the beach. Camilla stood up; perhaps she suspected that the King would turn the boat, but he cried: "No; they shall not rob me of this hour, the happiest of my life! I must sip still more of these sweet words. Oh, Camilla, you must tell me more; you must tell me all! Come, we will land upon that island, they may reach us there." And rowing rapidly, he pressed with all his might upon the oar, so that the boat flew forward as if winged. "Will you not speak again?" "Oh! my friend, my King--do not press me." He only looked into her lovely face, into her beaming eyes; he paid no more attention to his goal. "Well, wait--there upon the island; there you shall----" A renewed and passionate effort, when all at once a dull crash was heard; the boat had struck, and drove, shaking violently, backwards. "Oh, Heaven!" cried Camilla, springing up and looking towards the bow of the boat. A whole volume of water came foaming towards her. "The boat has burst! we sink!" she cried, turning pale. "Come here to me; let me see!" cried Athalaric, starting up. "Ah! it is the 'Needles of the Amphitrites!' We are lost!" The "Needles of the Amphitrites"--we know that they could scarcely be seen from the terrace of the temple--were two narrow, sharp-pointed rocks, lying between the shore and the nearest lagoon island. They scarcely rose above the level of the water; with the slightest wind, the waves washed quite over them. Athalaric knew the danger of the place, and had always easily avoided it; but this time he had only looked into Camilla's eyes. At one glance he saw their fearful position. They could not be saved. A plank in the bottom of the slightly-made boat had sprung; the water rushed rapidly through the leak. The boat sank deeper and deeper every moment. He could not hope, with Camilla, to gain the nearest island or the shore by swimming. On the narrow point of the rock scarcely the feet of a sea-eagle could have found a moment's resting-place, and Rusticiana's gondola had only just pushed off from the land. All this he had seen with lightning-like rapidity, and he cast a horrified look at Camilla. "Beloved, thou must die!" he cried despairingly. "And through me!" He embraced her passionately. "Die?" she cried. "Oh no! not so young--not now! Let me live--live with thee!" And she clung closely to his arm. The tone, the words, cut him to the heart. He tore himself loose; he looked about for rescue. In vain; in vain. The water rose higher and higher; the boat sank more and more rapidly. He threw the oar away. "It is over--all is over, beloved! Let us take leave!"