"
The sentinel rushed out, but the beacon was undisturbed.
"St Mary protect us!--'Tis the same noise I heard last night, and about
the same hour."
The stranger here entered the hut. Enveloped in a huge cloak, he sate
silent, and apparently inattentive; but the conversation was now abrupt,
and broken down into short and interrupted whispers.
"I wish old Hal and his wives were here, with all my heart," said one:
"we'd have a rare bonfire. How his fat paunch would swell! But for him
and his unlucky women, we had been snug in the chimney-corner, snoring
out psalmody, or helping old Barn'by off with the tit-bits in the
kitchen."
"Hush!" said his neighbour: "there be the faggots talking again. I think
they are bewitched.--Dan, look to them."
"Nay," said Dan, "they may bide awhile for me."
The words were scarcely uttered when the building seemed in a blaze.
Crash upon crash followed. The inmates, stupified with terror, were well
nigh suffocated ere their astonishment left them the power to escape.
In the full conviction that the foul fiend had taken him at his word,
Dan was dragged from the hut, wan, speechless, and gasping with
affright.
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