Again I saw that awful gleam in his eyes.

The gruesome suggestion he had made set my nerves tingling, and I peered about among the shadows of that dimly lighted recess, half expecting some vision to greet my eyes.

Then there came a loud rustling of the branches high above us.

The lantern light flared up and suddenly went out, leaving us in total darkness.
"She is here!" he whispered, in excitement.

"Sit still--do not speak." A deep silence, intensified by the sound of the night wind in the trees around us, followed my uncle's words.