also what he saw to be an illusion of the
demon, sent perhaps in consequence of the venturous expressions used by
Martin on the preceding evening, he thought it best to betake himself to
the safeguard of such prayers as he could murmur over, and to watch in
great terror and annoyance this strange and alarming apparition. After
blazing for some time, the fire faded gradually away into darkness, and
the rest of Max's watch was only disturbed by the remembrance of its
terrors.

George now occupied the place of Max, who had retired to rest. The
phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen,
again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. It was surrounded
as before by figures, which, distinguished by their opaque forms, being
between the spectator and the red glaring light, moved and fluctuated
around it as if engaged in some mystical ceremony. George, though
equally cautious, was of a bolder character than his elder brother.
He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder; and,
accordingly after crossing the rivulet which divided the glen, he
climbed up the opposite bank, and approached within an arrow's flight
of the fire, which blazed apparently with the same fury as when he first
witnessed it.

The appearance, of the assistants who surrounded it resembled those
phantoms which are seen in a troubled dream, and at once confirmed the
idea he had entertained from the first, that they did not belong to
the human world. Amongst these strange unearthly forms, George Waldeck
distinguished that of a giant overgrown with hair, holding an uprooted
fir in his hand, with which, from time to time, he seemed to stir the
blazing fire, and having no other clothing than a wreath of oak leaves
around his forehead and loins. George's heart sunk within him at
recognising the well-known apparition of the Harz demon, as he had been
often described to him by the ancient shepherds and huntsmen who had
seen his form traversing the mountains. He turned, and was about to fly;
but upon second thoughts, blaming his own cowardice, he recited mentally
the verse of the Psalmist, "All good angels, praise the Lord!" which
is in that country supposed powerful as an exorcism, and turned himself
once more towards the place where he had seen the fire. But it was no
longer visible.

The pale moon alone enlightened the side of the valley; and when George,
with trembling steps, a moist brow, and hair bristling upright