ith me at midnight, and at daybreak we shall march
our forces to join the main army. Heaven be with you!"

"Stay!" cried a harsh, imperious voice. "Stay!"

And, to his surprise, the abbot beheld Nicholas Demdike standing before
him. The aspect of the wizard was dark and forbidding, and, seen by the
beacon light, his savage features, blazing eyes, tall gaunt frame, and
fantastic garb, made him look like something unearthly. Flinging his
staff over his shoulder, he slowly approached, with his black hound
following close by at his heels.

"I have a caution to give you, lord abbot," he said; "hear me speak
before you set out for the abbey, or ill will befall you."

"Ill _will_ befall me if I listen to thee, thou wicked churl," cried the
abbot. "What hast thou done with Cuthbert Ashbead?"

"I have seen nothing of him since he sent a bolt after me at your
bidding, lord abbot," replied Demdike.

"Beware lest any harm come to him, or thou wilt rue it," cried Paslew.
"But I have no time to waste on thee. Farewell, fathers. High mass will
be said in the convent church before we set out on the expedition
to-morrow morning. You will both attend it."

"You will never set out upon the expedition, lord abbot," cried Demdike,
planting his staff so suddenly into the ground before the horse's head
that the animal reared and nearly threw his rider.

"How now, fellow, what mean you?" cried the abbot, furiously.

"To warn you," replied Demdike.

"Stand aside," cried the abbot, spurring his steed, "or I will trample
you beneath my horse's feet."

"I might let you ride to your own doom," rejoined Demdike, with a
scornful laugh, as he seized the abbot's bridle. "But you shall hear me.
I tell you, you will never go forth on this expedition. I tell you that,
ere to-morrow, Whalley Abbey will have passed for ever from your
possession; and that, if you go thither again, your life will be
forfeited. Now will you listen to me?"

"I am wrong in doing so," cried the abbot, who could not, however,
repress some feelings of misgiving at this alarming address. "Speak,
what would you say?"

"Come out of earshot of the others, and I will tell you," replied
Demdike. And he led the abbot's horse to some distance further on the
hill.

"Your cause will fail, lord abbot," he then said. "Nay, it is lost
already."

"Lost!" cried the abbot, out of all patience. "Lost! Look around. Twenty
fires are in sight--ay, thirty, and every fire thou seest w