IT was on the fifteenth day of the flood that a large division of the people, headed by Iärban, were retiring before the waters up a rocky and precipitous mountain. The forests which clothed the lower lands were already hidden by the relentless elements, and thus the wretched men were deprived of such nourishment as they had hitherto been enabled to collect there, and were driven to assuage the pangs of hunger by consuming the putrid bodies of men and animals which were cast up by the current.

They fought for the possession of each carrion carcase as if it had been some priceless

treasure, for there was not enough to feed them all. They tore infants from the arms of the women, and rending them limb from limb, they devoured the still quivering flesh before the eyes of the mothers. Nay, more than one mother might be seen to kill her own offspring, and alleviate the torments of famine with that unnatural food. None but constitutions framed to endure for centuries could have undergone such hardship and suffering as theirs, and continued to exist.

For fourteen days their bodies, emaciated by want of food and rest, had been incessantly exposed to the waters of heaven; and now to add to their miseries, they were driven from the shelter of the forest, and had arrived at an elevation at which a cold wind swept past them with its drifting vapour, and chilled them to the very heart. Below them, they saw a rehearsal of that which they had but too much cause to dread would ere long be their own fate. A spur from the mountain upon which they stood, after running out for about a mile into the plain, suddenly rose into a peak, towards the summit of which another group of human beings were retiring forced on by the encroaching waters.

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The wretched creatures were seen to make for the ridge which connected that mountain with its loftier neighbour, but alas! the ridge was already covered by the flood; and they found themselves upon an island which was momentarily growing less and less, as the engulphing element rose fast around it. Deprived of that hope, they again were seen to return to the peak, to cluster more and more closely together, as their standing-ground diminished, to gather about the very apex, like bees when they swarm, to grasp at each other for support. As the remorseless tide rose above their waists, one by one they were detached from the mass; they struggled for a moment with the current, and then disappeared for ever beneath the waters.

The multitude on the neighbouring mountain watched them in breathless emotion, until the last had disappeared, and the place where the rocky peak had been, was now a watery expanse, sprinkled only by the close and heavy rain. Then they congratulated themselves on their comparative safety, and again began to search after dead bodies, and to hunt for the animals that had taken refuge in the clefts, and caverns of the rocks.

Presently, a loud shout drew the greater part of

them together. A little above them, at the mouth of a cavern, stood a human being armed with a club. He was far above the ordinary height of man; his black hair, clogged with water, hung in heavy masses about his neck. His dark eyes, deeply sunken in his haggard countenance, shone with an unnatural fire. His face and hands were besmeared with the blood of some recently-slain animal, which added to the ferocity of his countenance. His dress, which appeared once to have been magnificent, was torn and soiled, and dripping with wet. It was with difficulty that in this fearful object they recognised their King, for it was no other than Riesen so lately the proudest, and the mightiest of men.

Järban had taught the people to consider Riesen as the cause of all their miseries, and now it was with savage exultation that he saw the revenge for which he had so long toiled, at last within his grasp.

Suffering has the power to extinguish love from the hearts of most men, but malice and hatred take a deeper root, and outlive all other feelings. Thus Iärban's thirst for vengeance was unquenched by all the miseries which he had undergone. Turning to the people, he exclaimed: "Here is the wretch who caused you all this

woe! On his account it is that Heaven pours down its waters; sacrifice him to the angry elements, and they will be appeased. "Tis Riesen that the flood pursues; 'tis Riesen that the waves seek to engulf. Give them their prey, and they will retire contented."

The multitude listened readily to his words, at all times eager to lay the blame of their afflictions, however unjustly, to the charge of others rather than themselves. Uttering a loud shout, therefore, they rushed up the rocks intending to seize their late king, but there was something so awful in his aspect, that when they came near him they stopped short.

"Ha ha! they fear me still!" exclaimed he, with a wild laugh, then, bounding down amongst them, he began slaughtering them with his club like sheep. As they had long before thrown away their more their more cumbrous weapons and were only armed with daggers, and short swords, they were unable to parry the blows of the furious madman; while he turned about on every side with such rapidity, that they could not succeed in wounding him mortally, but his dress was literally cut piece by piece from his body, and the blood flowed freely from many gaping wounds.

He seemed, however, insensible to pain and