ints the curiosity of some peasants who happened to be
present, having come with corn from the plain several miles off to
this town high up among the mountains, was vehemently aroused. Conrad,
who lookt upon himself as the wisest person in the company, became
grave and monosyllabic, waiting to hear what this new device or scheme
for detecting the thief, would end in.

"You must lay a charm," said the stranger, "which the thief, when he
has once set foot within it, will not be able to escape from; and so,
as soon as the sun rises, you are sure to find him."

"And what is such a charm to be made of?" asked Andrew, who was the
forwardest of the peasants.

Conrad laught aloud and scornfully, while he said: "Clownish dolts,
don't thrust in your tongues, when people are debating about matters
of art and science; stick to your straw and your chaff; they are
things you are better skilled in handling. Proceed, knowing sir," he
added, looking with suspicious graciousness toward the stranger; "how
do you mean that such a charm or spell is to be prepared, so as to be
certain of its effect?"

The stranger, whose pale face formed a singular contrast with the
stout dusky-hued Conrad, the fat host, and the puffy cheeks of the
peasants, said with a somewhat stifled voice: "Yew twigs cut and
peeled beneath the new moon, and then boiled at the first quarter in a
decoction of wolf's milk and hemlock, which itself must have been
previously made on the selfsame night, are to be stuck in the earth,
while some words that I know are repeated, at certain distances round
the spot where the robbery is committed; and the thief, be he ever so
daring, and ever so learned in laying spells and breaking them, will
be unable to step out of this circle, and will stand in fear and
trembling, till the persons who set the magical trap pounce upon him
in the morning. I have often seen this practist in Hungary and
Transylvania, and it has always succeeded."

Conrad was about to answer, but the pert Andrew was beforehand with
him and cried: "My grandfather, the smith, had a spell with
abracadabra, which was to be repeated backward and forward, along with
certain verses of the Bible; and when he had said these words, every
thief, whether he was in the wood, on the high road, or in the field,
was forced to halt on the sudden in the middle of his running,--or, if
he was riding on horseback, it was just the same--and to wait in
terrour and affright, so that e