I lay still where I was, staring at the solitary moon-ray, and listening to the nightingale, whose rapturous melodies now rang out upon my ears with full distinctness.

ONE! The harsh-toned bell I had heard before clanged forth the hour.

It would soon be morning; I resolved to rest till then.

Utterly worn out in body and mind, I laid down my head upon the cold stones as readily as if they had been the softest cushions, and in a few moments forgot all my miseries in a profound sleep.
* * * * * I must have slumbered for some time, when I was suddenly awakened by a suffocating sensation of faintness and nausea, accompanied by a sharp pain on my neck as though some creatures were stinging me.

I put my hand up to the place--God! shall I ever forget the feel of the THING my trembling fingers closed upon! It was fastened in my flesh--a winged, clammy, breathing horror! It clung to me with a loathly persistency that nearly drove me frantic, and wild with disgust and terror I screamed aloud! I closed both hands convulsively upon its fat, soft body--I literally tore it from my flesh and flung it as far back as I could into the interior blackness of the vault.