When the men looked at it
agin it was four times the size it had been at the beginin', and, what
was still more frightful, it was gettin' bigger and bigger, and fiercer
and fiercer lookin', every minute. Begad, the men seein' this took to
their heels for the present, wid an intention of comin' the next momin',
wid the priest and the magisthrate, and a strong force to seize upon
her, and have her tried and convicted, in ordher that she might be
burned."
"And did they come?"
"They did; but of all the storms that ever fell from the heavens, none
o' them could aquil the one that come on that night. Thundher, and wind,
and lightnin', and hail, and rain, were all at work together, and every
one knew at wanst that the devil was riz for somethin'. Well, I'm near
the end of it. The next mornin' the priest and the magisthrate, and a
large body of people from all quarthers, came to make a prisoner of her;
but, indeed, wherever she might be herself, they didn't expect to find
this light, flimsy hut standin', nor stick nor stone of it together
afther such a storm. What was their surprise, then, to see wid their own
eyes that not a straw on the roof of it was disturbed any more than if
it had been the calmest night that ever came on the earth!"
"But about the witch herself?"
"She was gone; neither hilt nor hair of her was there; nor from that day
to this was she ever seen by mortal.
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