"Be careful in following me," said Stephano; "for you are about to cross a narrow bridge, my lord--and one false step is destruction." Slowly they passed over the bridge, which seemed to be a single plank of about thirty feet in length and excessively narrow, he had no doubt, both from the caution which he had received and the elasticity of that dangerous pathway. On the opposite side, the level-paved surface was continued; and at the expiration of another minute, heavy folding-doors closed behind them. "Take off the bandage, my lord," said Stephano, as he untied the knot which fastened the scarf at the back of the young nobleman's head. The Marquis of Orsini gladly availed himself of this permission; and when the bandage fell from his eyes, he found himself in a spacious cavern, paved with marble, hung with rich tapestry, and lighted by four chandeliers of massive silver. Six pillars of crystal supported the roof, and rendered the luster of the chandeliers almost insupportably brilliant by means of reflection. In the midst of this subterranean apartment stood a large table, covered with flagons, empty wine flasks, and drinking-cups; but the revelers had retired to rest--and the marquis and Stephano were alone in that banqueting-hall. "Follow me, my lord," said the bandit-captain; "and I will conduct you to a place where you will find as dainty a couch as even a nobleman so accustomed to luxury as your lordship need not despise." Thus speaking Stephano opened an iron door at the end of the hall, and led the way along a narrow and low corridor, lighted by lamps placed in niches at short intervals. At the end of this corridor he knocked at another door, which was opened in a few moments by a man who had evidently been aroused from his slumber. "I bring a guest, Lomellino," said Verrina. "See that his lordship be well cared for." Stephano then retraced his way along the corridor, and Lomellino closed and bolted the iron door. But no pen can describe the astonishment of the marquis when he found himself in a spacious room, heaped all around with immense riches. Massive plate, splendid chandeliers, gorgeous suits of armor and martial weapons incrusted with gold or set with precious stones, chalices and dishes of silver, bags of money piled in heaps, an immense quantity of jewelry spread upon shelves, and an infinite assortment of the richest wearing apparel--all these, suddenly bursting upon the young nobleman's view by the light of a lamp suspended to the roof, produced an effect at once brilliant and astounding.