On the hither side was a row of _lumières à pied_ which seemed _afloat_ on the darkness, and in their centre a sudden chasm which looked as if it had been made by human agency. The fitful moonbeams[29] showed us a most curious and accurately shaped spur, or _run-down_ as it is called in the native dialect, which connected the floor on which we stood with the darkness beyond. [29] You've not mentioned them before.--PUBLISHER. That's why I do now.--ED. What mortal, however hardy, dared cross this quivering wavering bridge in the total darkness? Beneath our feet it swayed and leaped like rotten ice on the magic Serpentine. 'Hush,' cried Jambres, 'it comes, it comes! Be still!' Even as he spoke, we saw a _long shaft of yellow light_ streaming from an unknown centre, and searching out the recesses of the cavern. 'Be still, as you value your liberty,' whispered Jambres. 'The Bobî is on his beat.' Then, as the long shaft smote the swaying bridge, he lightly crossed it, and beckoned us to follow. We obeyed, and in another instant all was again darkness. 'He has gone his round,' said Jambres. 'Won't be back for hours!' CHAPTER XIV. THE MAGIC CHAIR. There, on the plateau, or platform, we had seen, stood, in naked mystery, the Enchanted Chair. ''Tis the weird chair of the Viewless Maiden, the place of Her who is no more seen,' said Jambres. 'Who shall sit therein?' 'The writing said,' remarked the dauntless Leonora, 'that a descendant of Theodolitê must achieve this adventure. I am ready.' 'Nay, not so, maiden,' murmured Jambres, 'try it not till I have made experience thereof. Me it cannot harm; in me you see the original inventor; beware of spurious imitations. But it is a dread experience; let me work it first!' Leonora could not resist his winning manner and concern for her safety. 'I move,' she said, 'that Mr. Jambres do take the chair at this meeting.' 'I second that proposal,' said I, and there was not a dissentient voice. 'Mr. Jambres will now take the chair,' said Leonora, and the wizard, his swathing robes bulging with Leonora's securities, glided forward. Then an awful thing occurred. No sooner had Jambres sat down than Leonora and I found ourselves--how can we expect it to be believed?--gazing on a blank, bare space! The chair was still there, but the wizard was gone. Leonora turned to me, horror in her eyes, her golden curls changed to a pale German silver. 'It is the chair of the Vanishing Lady,' she said. 'It is the Confidence Trick,' I cried; and we both lost consciousness as the true state of the case flashed on our minds. The wizard was off with 300,000_l._ in high-class American securities. CHAPTER XV. THE END. What remains to be told is of little public interest. When we came to ourselves, all was darkness. Escape seemed impossible. We could not swarm up the rope, by the way we had come. We knew not when the shaft of yellow light might return on its beat.