As we paused, Blackana regarded me silently. I was then able, for the
first time, to see his face clearly. No light reveals the countenance
of a demon so well as the light of his own region.
I stood as if paralyzed under his awful eyes. Oh! thought I, can two
orbs picture such infinite depth of remorse; such absence of tenderness;
such barrenness of sympathy, far beyond the most care-worn look of
earth? Then, pervading all these lineaments of despair were the positive
characteristics of his nature--malice, envy, and hatred. These lent
their repulsive fires to his eye, already overcharged with insidious
gleamings. I suddenly thought of my ten thousand, and my fears subsided.
"It were better for you to remain a stranger to the greater depth and
go no farther," were the words that finally came from Blackana's
scarcely moving lips.
"Fulfill your mission, Blackana! I fear not the deepest depth when I
am thus equipped."
"Where is your sword and where is your armor?" he tauntingly asked.
"My steel is hid until I find a foe worthy of its mettle."
Blackana quivered and resumed his task. He told me that above us, deep
in the bowels of these mountains, were the more refined legislative
halls of Satan; while below us, at varying and terrible depths, lay
scattered many a brooding station where the lowest laws of Hell are
hatched.
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