Leguer is
here, and that he is trying to free the Princess from the enchantment
which we have placed upon her."

A hurried search at once took place, the demons scrambling from one
part of the room to the other, tearing down the curtains and making
every effort to discover the hiding-place of the intruder. At last
Boiteux, peering under the bed, saw the miller crouching there, and
cried out: "Here is the rogue beneath the bed."

The unlucky miller was then seized by the foot and dragged into the
shrieking and leaping circle. With a gesture of command the chief
demon subdued the antics of his followers.

"So, my jolly miller," said he, "our friend the Princess has found a
champion in you, has she? Well, we are going to have some sport with
you, which I fear will not be quite to your taste, but I can assure
you that you will not again have the opportunity of assisting a
princess in distress."

With this he seized the miller and thrust him from him with great
force. As he flew like a stone from a sling, another of the fiends
seized him, and the unhappy man was thrown violently about from one to
the other. At last they threw him out of the window into the
courtyard, and as he did not move they thought that he was dead. But
in the midst of their laughter and rejoicing at the easy manner in
which they had got rid of him, cockcrow sounded, and the diabolic
company swiftly disappeared. They had scarcely taken their departure
when the Princess arrived. She tenderly anointed the miller's hurts
from the little pot of magic ointment she had brought with her, and,
nothing daunted, now that he was thoroughly revived, the bold fellow
announced his intention of seeing the matter through and remaining in
the manor for the two following nights.

He had scarcely ensconced himself in his seat by the chimney-side on
the second night when the twelve fiends came tumbling down the chimney
as before. At one end of the room was a large heap of wood, behind
which the miller quickly took refuge.

"I smell the smell of a Christian!" cried Boiteux. A search followed,
and once more the adventurous miller was dragged forth.

"Oho!" cried the leader, "so you are not dead after all! Well, I can
assure you that we shall not botch our work on this occasion."

One of the grisly company placed a large cauldron of oil upon the
fire, and when this was boiling they seized their victim and thrust
him into it. The most dreadful agony seized the miller