ed at
the timidity of his brothers. "Tell me not of such folly," he said; "the
demon is a good demon--he lives among us as if he were a peasant like
ourselves--haunts the lonely crags and recesses of the mountains like
a huntsman or goatherd--and he who loves the Harz forest and its wild
scenes cannot be indifferent to the fate of the hardy children of the
soil. But, if the demon were as malicious as you would make him, how
should he derive power over mortals, who barely avail themselves of his
gifts, without binding themselves to submit to his pleasure? When you
carry your charcoal to the furnace, is not the money as good that is
paid you by blaspheming Blaize, the old reprobate overseer, as if you
got it from the pastor himself? It is not the goblins gifts which can
endanger you, then, but it is the use you shall make of them that you
must account for. And were the demon to appear to me at this moment,
and indicate to me a gold or silver mine, I would begin to dig away
even before his back were turned,--and I would consider myself as under
protection of a much Greater than he, while I made a good use of the
wealth he pointed out to me."

To this the elder brother replied, that wealth ill won was seldom well
spent; while Martin presumptuously declared, that the possession of all
the treasures of the Harz would not make the slightest alteration on his
habits, morals, or character.

His brother entreated Martin to talk less wildly upon the subject, and
with some difficulty contrived to withdraw his attention, by calling it
to the consideration of the approaching boar-chase. This talk brought
them to their hut, a wretched wigwam, situated upon one side of a wild,
narrow, and romantic dell, in the recesses of the Brockenberg. They
released their sister from attending upon the operation of charring the
wood, which requires constant attention, and divided among themselves
the duty of watching it by night, according to their custom, one always
waking, while his brothers slept.

Max Waldeck, the eldest, watched during the first two hours of the
night, and was considerably alarmed by observing, upon the opposite
bank of the glen, or valley, a huge fire surrounded by some figures that
appeared to wheel around it with antic gestures. Max at first bethought
him of calling up his brothers; but recollecting the daring character of
the youngest, and finding it impossible to wake the elder without also
disturbing Martin--conceiving