There was no human being in sight save the mariner, and he took no notice of my presence. We began to descend the steep and slippery path towards the beach in the teeth of a tearing gale from the west. The rain was drenching me to the skin; the darkness had increased; once or twice I stumbled heavily. Suddenly my guide turned round and, noting my difficulties, halted to assist me but never spoke a word. With a firm hand he led me down the slope, and shortly we were walking on level ground beside the sea, whose angry waves I could hear close at hand, and could even distinguish the white foam on their crests as they broke on the shingle. After some minutes of skirting the fore-shore my companion stopped, and, waiting for me to approach, for a second time he seized my hand and thus helped me to climb a small crag that jutted out into the raging surf. Together we reached its summit, where we rested for a moment. Then d'Aragno in a sonorous whisper bade me remove my clothes, and one by one I stripped myself of every sodden garment in the midst of the pitiless gale laden with rain and spray. When I was naked as ever I was born, my companion signed to me to lie down on the flat surface of the rock. I obeyed, and he next produced a small phial which he gave me to drink. Strangely enough in this brief space as I lay numbed and bruised on the sharp clammy bed, buffeted by the wind and stung by the lashing of the rain-drops, two lines from an old Moravian hymn kept buzzing in my brain; "Oh, what is Death?--'Tis Life's last shore Where vanities are vain no more." But it could have been only for a minute or so, for d'Aragno was already forcing the phial to my lips, and at the same time helping me to raise my aching head, the better to obey his command. A burning-hot sweetish liquid now raced down my throat; an indescribable sense of warmth and repose began to trickle through every portion of my body; wondrous waves of violet and vermilion were floating before my eyes or in my brain; in a shorter space than it takes me to write this single sentence I became insensible. * * * * *