humming the words of a song to keep me awake, when I
chanced to glance up to mark the position of the moon, and there that
hell's imp danced in the sheen as he has been dancing ever since.
_Sacre_! it was the bravest deed of my life to crawl here and awaken
you; the devilish thing did charm me as a snake does a bird."

The mere sound of human speech put new heart into me, yet I found it
difficult to avert my eyes from that fantastic figure.

"If that is the Devil," I said more composedly, still enthralled by the
baleful presence, "surely we have neither of us done so much evil as to
make us especially his victims."

As I concluded these words, my courage creeping back, a sudden rustling
among the pines at our back startled us to glance around. Out of the
gloom of the rock shelter a figure uplifted itself on all fours, and
the faint light of a star glimmered directly down upon an upraised,
terror-stricken face. Before either De Noyan or myself could mutter a
hasty warning, the half-awakened preacher sent his great, gruff voice
booming out into the air:

"O Lord God of Israel deliver Thy servant from destruction and the
clutch of the Evil One. O Lord God of----"

I flung myself on him, clutching his brawny throat, throttling his
speech into a vain gurgle. The fellow made so fierce a struggle,
mistaking me for an assistant of the fiend, my fierce hold was jerked
loose, and I was hurled heavily backward at full length upon the
stones, striking with no pleasant force upon my shoulder.

"Verily have I overcome the Devil by Thy strength, O Lord!" he began
fervently.

"Be still, you red-headed Connecticut fool," I commanded sharply, now
thoroughly aroused. "Stop, or I 'll drive into you a leaden slug to
silence that blundering tongue of yours for good and all. Get up from
your knees there, and play the man. If needs be you must pray, keep
grip on that bull voice of yours."

"It makes small odds now," chimed in De Noyan with easier tone. "The
Devil, or what, has disappeared from the rock."

I glanced up at his words, to find them true. The sky was assuming a
faint grayish tinge, as if the dawn were near. The vanishing of that
spectral figure relieved us greatly, while the steady coming of
daylight revived those spirits upon which the haunted night had rested
grimly. Nevertheless I felt it incumbent to speak somewhat harshly to
the yet sulking sectary for such untimely uproar.

"Did you mistake this for a