Secret Societies Of The Middle Ages.—V.

held the Julian Alps in the distance , but they ivere in the north , as he found from observing the position ofthe sun ; whereas , were he in Camiola , they should stand in the south . The green fields , moreover , the trees , the richly cultivated land , all showed him clearly that he was not in cold and comfortless Carniola ; and finding on inquiry in a

peasant ' s cottage , much indeed to the astonishment of its inmates , that he was in Italy ; that the clay was only the day after that on which he had entered the building above described ; and , above all , that the journey from Italy into Carniola could only be made by a circuitous and difficult road , in three days at the very least—his amazement at the fact that he had positively passed from Carniola into Italy iu one

day kneiv no bounds . To the astonishment , Ave said , of the inmates of the cottage—of all but one— -for the father of the family , on hearing the account given by the traveller , recognized all its particulars , having travelled the same journey himself , with adventures nearly identical . Both were warned never to allow their curiosity to tempt them again to penetrate the secrets of that " terra , incognita , ¦ " secrecy ,

under the mosfc dreadful penalties , was imposed upon both of them . But in spite of these threats , our traveller and his new friend , the peasant , determined on again exploring this mountain stronghold ; for , on comparing notes , they found that an . interval of six years had elapsed between their visits , and that they had both been entreated , while in the building , in the most piteous tones , to release a A'ery

unwilling prisoner , who they found must be one ancl the same individual . Both agreed that it must liave been to conceal the road by which they left the building , that their wine was drugged ; and that from this fact , in addition to the accomplishment of a three days ' journey in one day , this fortress must be the centre of some marvellously short cut from Carniola into Italv .

Loth having regained consciousness in about the same spot , they determined to continue their researches in that quarter ; and accordingly , ascending an eminence close to fche field near the peasant ' s cottage , they proceeded four or five miles into the mountains , and at length entered a narrow gorge , bounded by overhanging rocks and tremendous precipices . About a quarter of a mile along this gorge they

found , after a long search , a path , so concealed as almost to elude observation , leading through a cavern , at first not above a yard in width , and scarcely iive feet in height , but sifter about the first hundred paces , of more enlarged dimensions , and graduall y increasing in size till they emerged on the brink of a preci p ice , along which ran a ledge nearly four feet wide . Entering on this ledge , they proceeded

without interruption for upwards of half an hour , when the ledge joined a path ivhich wound its circuitous way betAveen the mountains . Through this they continued to advance till they arrived at a chapel , from Avhich the road branched oft' in two different directions . As neither of these paths gave any indication ivhether it led in the direction they Avished or nofc , they determined to explore both , each taking one , and returning to the chapel to report progress to each other * .