trying. Then again, the mysterious way in which Shaibalini was carried on the top of the hill and thrown into that dismal cave, with all its horrible associations—a fearful incident which at least Shaibalini thought to have been brought about by the agency of supernatural beings—produced a terrible effect on her mind. All those things combined to unnerve and break down Shaibalini—what more could human constitution endure? Shaibalini was lying in that bed of stones in an almost unconscious state. She was neither asleep nor awake—a cold morbid stupor had dulled both her mind and body. Gradually she lost all her senses. She then saw, in a vision, the endless course of a flowing river. But it seemed to her that the river had no water in it—it was a current of blood that overflowed the banks. She saw in it rotten human bodies, skulls and skeletons, floating away in a hideous manner. Dreadful animals, resembling huge crocodiles in their shape and form, devoid of flesh and skin, with only their skeleton intact and eyes flashing fire, were seen to move here and there, devouring the rotten bodies. She felt that the stalwart man, who had carried her to that hideous cave,
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