Page 310 - The snake's pass

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298 THE snake's pass.
of the legend itself ; and so on with every fact and inci-
dent. Presently, as I dreamt, the whole Mountain seemed
to writhe and shake as though the great Snake was circling
round it, deep under the earth ; and again this movement
changed into the shifting of the bog. Then through dark
shadows that lay athwart the hill I could see the French
soldiers, with their treasure-chest, pass along in dusky,
mysterious silence, and vanish in the hill side. I saw
Murdock track them ; and, when they were gone, he and
old Moynahan—who suddenly and mysteriously appeared
beside him—struggled on the edge of the bog, and, with
a shuddering wail, the latter threw up his arms and sank
slowly into the depths of the morass. Again Norah
and I were wandering together, when suddenly Mur-
dock' s evil face, borne on a huge serpent body, writhed
up beside us ; and in an instant Norah was whirled from
my side and swept into the bog, I being powerless to
save her or even help her.
The last of all my dreams was as follows —Norah
:
and I were sitting on the table rock in the Cliff Fields
all was happy and smiling around us. The sun shone
and the birds sang, and as we sat hand in hand, the
beating of our hearts seemed a song also. Suddenly
there was a terrible sound—half a roar, as of an
avalanche, and half a fluttering sound, as of many great
wings. We clung together in terror, waiting for the
portent which was at hand. And then over the cliff
poured the whole mass of the bog, foul- smelling, foetid,
terrible, and of endless might. Just as it was about