es," replied Vanslyperken, coming towards the man with eagerness;
"that is what I want," and he held out his hand to receive it.

"And pray, may I ask," replied the other, looking very suspiciously at
Vanslyperken, "what can you want with this piece of carrion?"

"To make soup of," replied another, laughing; "he can't afford ox-tail."

Vanslyperken made an eager snatch at his treasure; but the man lifted it
up on the other side, out of his reach.

"Let us have a look at this chap," said the first, examining
Vanslyperken, whose peaked nose and chin, small ferret-eyes, and
downcast look, were certainly not in his favour; neither were his old
and now tattered habiliments. Certainly no one would have taken
Vanslyperken for a king's officer--unfortunately they took him for
something else.

"Now tell me, fellow, what were you going to do with this?" inquired the
man in a severe tone.

"I sha'n't tell you," replied Vanslyperken.

"Why that's the chap that I sees go in and out of the room where that
old hell-fire witch lives, who curses all day long."

"I thought as much," observed the man, who still held up the cur's tail.
"Now I appeal to you all, what can a fellow want with such a thing as
this--ay, my good people, and want it so much too, as to risk being torn
to pieces for it--if he ar'n't inclined to evil practices?"

"That's sartain sure," replied another.

"A witch--a witch!" cried the whole crowd.

"Let's duck him--tie his thumbs--away with him--come along, my lads,
away with him."

Although there were not, at the time we write about, regular
witch-finders, as in the time of James the First, still the feeling
against witches, and the belief that they practised, existed. They were
no longer handed over to summary and capital punishment, but, whenever
suspected, they were sure to meet with very rough treatment. Such was
the fate of Mr Vanslyperken, who was now seized by the crowd, buffeted,
and spit upon, and dragged to the parish pump, there being, fortunately
for him, no horse-pond near. After having been well beaten, pelted with
mud, his clothes torn off his back, his hat taken away and stamped upon,
he was held under the pump and drenched for nearly half an hour, until
he lay beneath the spout in a state of complete exhaustion. The crowd
were then satisfied, and he was left to get away how he could, which he
did, after a time, in a most deplorable plight, bare-headed, in his
shirt and torn trousers