Then she chanted:

'Demon legion, listen, listen!
Hear the voice of Hecate,
Hear the thundering of her feet!
I, her minion, bid you tremble
Ere ye hasten back to Tartarus.

Seek ye bodies more befitting,
With your spirits more in union.

Come ye out, ye reeking fiends,
Never more return to hinder
This old man from groping forwards
To the radiant fields Elysian.'

Putting her hands forward towards the man and lowering them towards the
ground, she paused with greedy expectation, whilst the possessed stood
still with vacant stare, and naught was heard but the barking of the
night-hounds.

'Thou hast failed, mother,' said Sceva--'thou hast failed!'

'Yes, I know--I know! Look ye--look at the cross yonder! See how it
streams with living light! 'Tis guarded by spirits of flame more
powerful than Hecate--ah, more powerful than Hecate is here!'

'Nonsense, woman! cease thy prattling! Thou hast drunk the Samian
wine--thou art weak to-night. We will abjure. Eh? By Solomon! who left
us incantations stronger than thine.'

Sceva said: 'Set a basin full of water on the floor. It shall be
upturned by unseen hands, that we may be assured of the departure of the
demons.'

Then, drawing from the folds of his dress a blood stone ring, he placed
it near the nostrils of the demoniac, commanding the legion to come out
of him, chanting:

'By the Jewish altar throne,
By the temple at fair Salem,
By the rites of Solomon,
By the sovereign power of Judah,
Children loved by God of gods,
Come ye forth, ye fiends rebellious,
Hasten with the waning hour
Back to hell, your endless house!'

Still the look of Samo was one of blank despair. No voice came from him,
no paroxysms, no falling to the ground, and the water was unspilt.

Then the men gazed at each other, and Endora said with her sardonic
smile:

'What ails the gods to-night? They are powerless, and ye also have drunk
the Samian wine.'

'No, we will not yield,' said Sceva. 'Now for the test! Let us adjure by
this Jesus whom the wandering Paul preaches, and, by Heaven, we will use
the cross.'

Rushing forward, he seized it and held the emblem before the man.

Endora cried out: 'Stay! stay! Do it not! I see one by it who looks like
a God!'

But Sceva said, 'Nay!' and cried out:

'We, the holders of this symbol,
Bid you by the name of Jesus
Come ye forth, and ever be so