mself. "They all tell me to go to the Devil--my stepmother, the
farmer, and now the bailiff. If I knew the way to hell I think I'd take
their advice. I'm sure the Devil would treat me better than they do!"

Just then a handsome gentleman, dressed in green, walked by. Peter
touched his hat politely and said:

"Let every one praise Lord Jesus."

The man passed him without responding. Then he looked back and asked
Peter why he looked so discouraged.

"I have reason to look discouraged," Peter said. "Everywhere I ask for
work they tell me to go to the Devil. If I knew the way to hell I think
I'd take their advice and go."

The stranger smiled.

"But if you saw the Devil, don't you think you'd be afraid of him?"

Peter shook his head.

"He can't be any worse than my stepmother, or the farmer, or the
bailiff."

The man suddenly turned black.

"Look at me!" he cried. "Here I am, the very person we've been talking
about!"

With no show of fear Peter looked the Devil up and down.

Then the Devil said that if Peter still wished to enter his service, he
would take him. The work would be light, the Devil said, and the hours
good, and if Peter did as he was told he would have a pleasant time. The
Devil promised to keep him seven years and at the end of that time to
make him a handsome present and set him free.

Peter shook hands on the bargain and the Devil, taking him about the
waist, whisked him up into the air, and, pst! before Peter knew what was
happening, they were in hell.

The Devil gave Peter a leather apron and led him into a room where there
were three big cauldrons.

"Now it's your duty," the Devil said, "to keep the fires under these
cauldrons always burning. Keep four logs under the first cauldron, eight
logs under the second, and twelve under the third. Be careful never to
let the fires go out. And another thing, Peter: you're never to peep
inside the cauldrons. If you do I'll drive you away without a cent of
wages. Don't forget!"

So Peter began working for the Devil and the treatment he received was
so much better than that which he had had on earth that, sometimes, it
seemed to him he was in heaven rather than hell. He had plenty of good
food and drink and, as the Devil had promised him, the work was not
heavy.

For companions he had the young apprentice devils, a merry black crew,
who told droll stories and played amusing pranks.

Time passed quickly. Peter was faithful at his work and neve