THE FIEND'S FIELD.
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for, and by himself, according to the adept's instructions. He had lately enclosed a considerable portion of the Wrekinwolds, lying at a distance of about three miles from his home, and behind some of the highest of the hills. The Fiend's Field, a full and fair acre of this acquisition, was situated at its extremity, and was upon this auspicious evening to be consecrated. Howison, who had invited a party of his daughter's young friend's, Walter and Ryecroft among them, to burn nuts and try charms with her, drank deep potations of strong ale; and, at a signal given by Ryecroft, soon after the clock had struck eleven, wrapped himself in his great frieze coat, took down his massy oaken cudgel, and sallied forth — joked, of course, by his juvenile guests, who asserted that he was going to dip his shirt sleeves in the fairy spring beyond the hills. Heedless of their jests, Howison went on his way, but with an exceedingly heavy heart, thus to quit a warm fire side, blythe company, and excellent cheer, for a long, dreary, and cold walk over the Wrekinwolds the wind howling, the rain falling in sullen, heavy drops, the night dark as death, and such a night, too! the witching one of all the year, and its witching hour so nigh! And what was he going to do? unto whom to offer sacrifice? To be sure he did it but as a mere piece of foolish formality, to please Ryecroft; there could be nothing sinful in such a frolic, more than in those simple charms in which he knew, at twelve o'clock, all the gay youths and maidens at the Grange would be engaged.
Thus, alternately a prey to the smitings of conscience and the sophistries which were to heal them, and frequently whistling, singing, and repeating aloud the efficacious scrap of magical lore taught him by Tony, Howison contrived to find his way across hilly, arable, and waste lands, to his new territory. The walls of an old stone building, of which the country people could give no satisfactory account, stood in the portion fenced off for the Fiend's Field. Some believed it to have been a Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Hubert, the hunter's patron, and thence termed Hubb's House on the Hill; some thought it an ancient watch tower, whilst others, referring its origin to the Romans, thought they displayed an extraordinary share of erudition by the conjecture. All, however, agreed that it had been for ages the resort of fairies, apparitions, and witches, who held an annual festival on the Wrekin, though on what night of the year none could positively say, since no person had ever yet been found sufficiently courageous to watch in and about Hubb's House, in order to effect so important a discovery.
The recollection of these traditions, tended by no means to raise the sinking spirits of Howison, whose teeth fairly chattered with affright, and whose limbs almost failed him, as he groped his way into the building, where Ryecroft had assured him he must offer the propitiary sacrifice. The slightest degree of fear was to be deprecated, as liable to incense the being whom he came to conciliate; a circumstance that added to his tre-
pidation. Terror and fatigue, occasioned by the pace at which he had walked to reach the ruin ere the stroke of midnight, caused him to sink almost exhausted upon the ground; but, recovering, he took from his pocket a tinder box and matches, struck a light and set fire to a previously prepared pile of furze, sticks, and fagots, mingled with turf, damp earth, and stones, in order to prevent its immediate combustion. Then, taking from a niche in the ruined wall, the black cock and the heart brought for this sacrifice during the day by Tony and himself, he cast them upon the blazing altar, meaning to utter an invocation taught him for the occasion, when unluckily out slipped by mistake the more familiar phrase, whose signification, according to Ryecroft, was “Demon, avaunt. "
Immediately a burst of wild, deriding laughter, buildso loud that it shook the walls of the crazy ing, and seemed echoed and re echoed by every stone, saluted the ears of Howison, and this had no sooner subsided, than a voice, whose tone seemed to freeze the very blood at his heart, exclaimed, “Fool! Passpara iconathem dentimasticon, thou would'st say. Wherefore am I summoned? “The white curling smoke, which had, upon the firing of the combustible altar, rolled in gross, suffocating volumes around the narrow area enclosed by the ruined walls, having found a vent through the roofless tower as through an ample chimney, now rose majestically upwards in a dense white column, mingled with bright streams of ascending flame; so that Howison was clearly enabled to discern standing before him a black and gigantic apparition, whose dusky countenance was stern and sorrowful, and whose glittering eyes, illumined by the reflection of the burning materials, glowed like living fires. Howison, at length, in faltering accents, gave utterance to the lesson he had studied.
“I, a poor fortune fallen mortal, have summoned thee, in order to crave for the future fruitful crops and sound cattle; is my sacrifice accepted?“
“Art thou ready, “interrupted the power, gloomily, “to fulfil the terms agreed upon by our trusty servant, Anthony Ryecroft?“
The mortal bowed his assent, for terror had sealed his tongue.
“Thy sacrifice is accepted then, “pronounced the demon; “see that thou fail not in thy compact, lest when we meet again, for we shall meet again "
“I know it! “ groaned Howison: “upon this same night next year, shall we— ”
At this moment the distant church clock slowly chimed twelve; the blazing altar became suddenly extinct; a hollow rushing sound echoed through the ruin, and Howison, half frenzied darted from its shade.
Wild, wet, and haggard, at about ten minutes to one, he entered the Grange; his guests were gone, and Kate, beside a cheerful fire, was awaiting her father's return in a mood as cheerful, ready to jest with him upon his secret expedition; but when he rushed in with the wildness of
