would be added to his empire in the course of six months. Now, this was, in my opinion, the most deadly and terrible of all sins. He who wrote a book against Christianity incurred a responsibility which there were no words in any language sufficiently strong to describe or denounce. What did it matter to them whether it was true or false? They did not choose to believe it, and there the matter, as far as they were concerned, might be allowed to rest. If they can prove it to be false, then let them write against it; but they cannot. They cannot prove any other creed to be true. I abhorred in my heart this most foolish and wicked desire to destroy a pure and undefiled religion that has been promulgated for the good and not the evil of the human race; and I had, by my recent act, made myself an accessory before the fact to this diabolical villainy. Oh, how I cursed my folly and my ignorance; and how bitterly I bewailed my ever-recurring misfortunes and calamities! The deed was, however, now done; I could not recall the past; but I might yet have power given me to counteract the evil design, should the Doctor make any serious attempt to put it in execution.
Then, after some necessary preparations, we entered the Demon's carriage. The coachman, a fiend of great muscular strength and shaggy appearance, drove his horses three abreast, slowly but surely. When we reached the primordial I noticed that the population was much denser than I had seen it before. The people preserved an ill-omened silence, and regarded us as we passed with gloomy, dissatisfied, and scowling looks. All their hilarity at the result of the late duel had disappeared. In its place there appeared nothing but hatred and defiance. The Demon was greatly disturbed, and showed it by agitation and impatience. He ordered his coachman to drive faster, but the gathering crowd impeded our progress; and from the
