"Busied in this, I walked on for several hours, during which the
mist deepened around me to so great an extent that at length I was
reduced to an absolute groping of the way. And now an indescribable
uneasiness possessed me- a species of nervous hesitation and tremor. I
feared to tread, lest I should be precipitated into some abyss. I
remembered, too, strange stories told about these Ragged Hills, and of
the uncouth and fierce races of men who tenanted their groves and
caverns. A thousand vague fancies oppressed and disconcerted me-
fancies the more distressing because vague. Very suddenly my attention
was arrested by the loud beating of a drum.
"My amazement was, of course, extreme. A drum in these hills was a
thing unknown. I could not have been more surprised at the sound of
the trump of the Archangel. But a new and still more astounding source
of interest and perplexity arose. There came a wild rattling or
jingling sound, as if of a bunch of large keys, and upon the instant a
dusky-visaged and half-naked man rushed past me with a shriek. He came
so close to my person that I felt his hot breath upon my face. He bore
in one hand an instrument composed of an assemblage of steel rings,
and shook them vigorously as he ran.
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