hermit, that you will not consider me like a mole, with eyes to see, or claws to work my way out of this cave; but, as I am anxious to return home, that you will throw a light upon my path to enable me to do so," he exclaimed, with some degree of anger in his tone. "Turn, then, to the left as you face the rock, and you will soon see the bright light which shines on all men alike, the light of day;" said a voice at some little distance. "If he does, he will plunge into the deep hole through which the stream flows; his feet are close to it already," answered another voice. "Then he is not where I thought he was," said the first; "but let him turn to the right then, and he will be free." "I beg you will finish this mummery," exclaimed Don Luis, "and show me the way out of this place." "Beware that you utter no blasphemy," said the voice. "Now, look more earnestly, and you will behold the light before you." At that moment a small flame burst forth, towards which he immediately advanced, and found himself treading on the soft sand in the narrow passage. The light was again extinguished, but in its stead he saw, at some distance, the sunshine gleaming through the mouth of the cavern. Glad to escape from the place, he was hurrying towards it, when a loud noise resounded through the rocky vault, and he found himself again in complete darkness, and could distinctly hear a suppressed chuckle of laughter. This was trying his patience too much. "Whether saint or devil," he exclaimed, "let me go free from your abode." "Blaspheme not, my son," answered the voice; "but your temper shall no longer be tried; only, remember in future to cast no reflections on the character of my esteemed friend, the holy Fre Diogo;" and a loud peal of laughter resounded through the vault, whose echoes had no sooner died away, than a door he had not before perceived was thrown open, and the sunshine again streamed in, when he saw, standing on one side, the venerable form of the hermit. "Farewell, my son," said the latter personage. "My devotions have been sadly disturbed by sounds of unwonted merriment, in which the spirits of darkness have indulged, even as they did in the hermitage of the most holy Saint Anthony. Ah! I see you were prepared to combat with the weapons of carnal warfare; but those avail not against the inhabitants of the infernal regions. 'Twas with his crosier and breviary, not to mention the pair of red-hot tongs, that the great saint put to flight the Prince of Darkness; and such are the weapons with which I fight. I will detain you no longer: again, farewell, my son. Your shortest way home is to mount the path by which you came here, and to descend on the other side of the hill. Above all things, do not speak ill of the holy Fre Diogo." "Farewell, most holy hermit," answered Luis; "though, I suspect, if you allow such proceedings in your hermitage, its character for sanctity will be somewhat damaged."