THE TOWN. 91

shuts out the light. The crystal dusk grows cool
and fresh before the stars come out. Every-
thing wakes; and the same alert distinctness
that touched the trees and bushes on Anastasia
Island at dawn, cuts the shadows out of the
twilight. Even the letters on the tablet beneath
the coat-of-arms over the entrance can be read,
although the years have blurred them until, in
some lights, they can scarcely be distinguished:
"REYNANDO EN ESPANA EL SENN DON FER-
NANDO SEXTO Y SIENDO GOVt Y CAPN DE ESA
C SAN AUGN DE LA FLORIDA Y SUS PROVA EL
MARISCAL DE CAMPO DN ALONZO FERNDO HE-
RADA ASI CONCLUIO ESTE CASTILLO EL AN OD
1756. DRICENDO LAS OBRAS EL CAP. INGNRO
DN PEDRO DE BROZAS Y GARAY." One falls
to thinking of the sentry who used to stand
upon the wall, just over the coat-of-arms; what
dreams and hopes have shaped themselves here,
above this assertion,--for it is only that now,-
that the fashion of this world passeth away! A
little oval depression in the block of cement
shows how long the end of a spear or the staff
of a banner has rested there; through hours of