"
Disengaging himself from the other's gripe, Ralph ran through the wood
in an opposite direction, and was soon out of sight. A loud shout from
Gregory followed him as he fled, which only served to quicken his speed;
and the hunchback was left alone. The figure which was the moving cause
of this cowardly apprehension almost immediately disappeared behind a
projecting crag, at the base of which grew a thick skirting of
underwood; but Gregory pursued cautiously in the same direction. He had
heard strange stories of demons guarding heaps of treasure; and it was
currently reported that in former times a mine had been secretly worked
in these parts for fear of discovery; all mines yielding gold and
silver, so as to leave a profit from the working, being considered as
"mines royal," and regarded as the property of the king.[57] Gregory's
prevailing sin was avarice; and oftentimes this vice put on the
appearance of courage, by rendering him daring for its gratification,
though at heart a coward. He thought that if the treasure were once
within his grasp neither man nor demon should regain it.
For a short time past this part of the forest had been commonly reported
as the haunt of a spectre, in the likeness of a man clad in grey
apparel, who by some was supposed to be an impalpable exhalation from a
concealed mine existing in the neighbourhood.
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