skrat's
tail deposited in the toe of an old brogan which he had found by the
roadside, brown and wrinkled and stiff, with a hole in the side and the
ears curled back, and which he had hung by the heel to a long crooked
stick. On they came, the crowd around them following at irregular
distances, surging back and forth, advancing or retreating as they were
urged by curiosity or repelled by fear.

It was now getting dark, so Dr. Rutherford, having had the table
removed, brought forth three large plates filled with different colored
powders. On one he placed Mercy's frog, on another Wash's corn, and on
the third the muskrat's tail and weasel's paw taken from Apollo's shoe.
Then we all waited in silence while with his hands behind him he strode
solemnly back and forth in front of the three plates. At length the bees
had ceased to hum; the cattle had come home of themselves, and could be
heard lowing in the distance; the many shadows had deepened into one;
twilight had faded and darkness come. Then he stood still: "I am the
great Dr. Rutherford, the witch-doctor of Boston! I will now set fire to
these witch's eggs, and if they burn the flames will scorch her. She
will scream and fly away, and it will be a hundred years before another
witch appears in this part of the country."

He applied a match to Apollo's plate and immediately the whole place was
illuminated by a pale blue glare which fell with ghastly effect on the
awestricken countenances around, while in the distance, apparently near
the "big gate," arose a succession of the most frightful shrieks ever
heard or imagined. Then the torch was applied to Mercy's frog, and
forthwith every nook and corner, every leaf and every blade of grass was
bathed in a flood of blood-red light, while the cries grew, if
possible, louder and fiercer. Then came Wash's corn, which burned with a
poisonous green glare, and lashed its sickly light over the house and
yard and the crowd of black faces; and hardly had this died away when
from the direction of the big gate there slowly ascended what appeared
to be a blood-red ball.

"There she goes!" said the great Dr. Rutherford, and we all stood gazing
up into the heavens, till at length the thing burst into flames, the
sparks died away and no more was to be seen.

"Now, that is the last of her!" impressively announced the witch-doctor
of Boston; "and neither she nor her sisters will dare come to this
country again for the next hundred years.