y his friend the Rev. Father Rappaport. Accordingly, at
about nine o'clock the party set out, and, on arriving at the house,
found it in total darkness and apparently deserted.

But they had not waited long before a series of savage growls from the
adjacent thicket put them on their guard, and almost immediately
afterwards three werwolves stalked across the path and prepared to enter
the house. At a word from the Colonel the soldiers leaped forward, and
after a most desperate scuffle, in which they were all more or less
badly mauled, succeeded in securing their quarry. In more civilized
parts of the country the police would have been called in, but here,
where that good old law, "Might is right," still held good, a man in the
Colonel's position could do whatever he deemed most expedient, and
Colonel Majendie had made up his mind that justice should no longer be
delayed. The chateau had borne an ill reputation for generations. From
time immemorial Ivan Baranoff's ancestors had been suspected of
lycanthropy, and this last deed of the family was their crowning
atrocity.

"You may exorcize the devils first," the Colonel grimly remarked to the
priest, wiping the blood off his sleeves. "We will hang and quarter the
brutes afterwards."

To this the holy Father willingly agreed, for he did not care what
happened so long as his exorcism was successful.

The rites that were performed in connexion with this ceremony (and which
I understand are those most commonly observed in exorcizing all manner
of evil spirits) were as follows:--

A circle of seven feet radius was drawn on the ground in white chalk. At
the centre of the circle were inscribed, in yellow chalk, certain
magical figures representing Mercury, and about them was drawn, in white
chalk, a triangle within a circle of three feet radius--the centre of
the circle being the same as that of the outer circle. Within this inner
circle were then placed the three captive werwolves. It would be well to
explain here that in exorcism, as well as in the evocation of spirits,
great attention must be paid to the position of the stars, as astrology
exercises the greatest influence on the spirit world. The present
occasion, the reverend Father pointed out, was specially favourable for
the casting out of devils, since from 8.32 p.m. to 9.16 p.m. was under
the dominion of the great angel Mercury--the most bitter opponent of
all evil spirits; that is to say, Mercury was in 17 deg. [Gem