have undertaken to keep guard to-night as well,' said the
little man, 'and you must attend to that.' He then took hold of him, and
however unwilling he was, Christian had to go with him right back to
the same little door that he had crept out at. When they got there, the
little man said to him, 'Go in front of the altar now, and take in your
hand the book that is lying there. There you shall stay till you hear
the lid of the chest slam down over the dead. In that way you will come
to no harm.'

With that the little man shoved him in at the door, and locked it.
Christian then immediately went in front of the altar, and took the
book in his hand, and stood thus until the clock struck twelve, and
the appearance sprang out of the chest. 'Sentry, where are you? Sentry,
where are you?' it shrieked, and then rushed to the pulpit, and right
up into it. But there was no one there that night. Then it howled and
shrieked again,

My father has set no sentry in,
War and Pest this night begin.

At the same moment, it noticed the smith standing in front of the altar,
and came rushing towards him. 'Are you there?' it screamed; 'now I'll
catch you.' But it could not come up over the step in front of the
altar, and there it continued to howl, and scream, and threaten, until
the clock struck one, when it had to go into the chest again, and
Christian heard the lid slam above it. That night, however, it had not
the same appearance as on the previous one; it was less ugly.

When all was quiet in the church, the smith lay down before the altar
and slept calmly till the following morning, when the colonel came to
fetch him. He was taken up to the king again, and things went on as the
day before. He got his money, but would give no explanation whether he
had seen the king's daughter, and he would not take the post again,
he said. But after he had got a good breakfast, and tasted well of the
king's wines, he undertook to go on guard again the third night, but he
would not do it for less than the half of the kingdom, he said, for it
was a dangerous post, and the king had to agree, and promise him this.

The remainder of the day went like the previous one. He played
the boastful soldier, and the merry smith, and he had comrades and
boon-companions in plenty. At eight o'clock he had to put on his uniform
again, and was shut up in the church. He had not been there for an hour
before he had come to his senses, and thought, 'It's best t