“Either Mother Melldrum,” said I, being
now a little angry, “or else old Nick himself.”
“Nay, old Uncle Reuben!” Saying this,
Master Huckaback cast back his coat, and stood up,
and made the most of himself.
[Illustration: 534.jpg Master Huckaback cast
back his coat]
“Well!” cried I, being now quite come
to the limits of my intellect, “then, after
all, Captain Stickles was right in calling you a rebel,
sir!”
“Of course he was; could so keen a man be wrong
about an old fool like me? But come, and see
our rebellion, John. I will trust you now with
everything. I will take no oath from you; only
your word to keep silence; and most of all from your
mother.”
“I will give you my word,” I said, although
liking not such pledges; which make a man think before
he speaks in ordinary company, against his usual practices.
However, I was now so curious, that I thought of nothing
else; and scarcely could believe at all that Uncle
Ben was quite right in his head.
“Take another glass of wine, my son,”
he cried with a cheerful countenance, which made him
look more than ten years younger; “you shall
come into partnership with me: your strength will
save us two horses, and we always fear the horse work.
Come and see our rebellion, my boy; you are a made
man from to-night.”
“But where am I to come and see it? Where
am I to find it, sir?”
“Meet me,” he answered, yet closing his
hands, and wrinkling with doubt his forehead, “come
alone, of course; and meet me at the Wizard’s
Slough, at ten to-morrow morning.”
MASTER HUCKABACK’S SECRET
[Illustration: 535.jpg Illustrated Capital]
Knowing Master Huckaback to be a man of his word,
as well as one who would have others so, I was careful
to be in good time the next morning, by the side of
the Wizard’s Slough. I am free to admit
that the name of the place bore a feeling of uneasiness,
and a love of distance, in some measure to my heart.
But I did my best not to think of this; only I thought
it a wise precaution, and due for the sake of my mother
and Lorna, to load my gun with a dozen slugs made
from the lead of the old church-porch, laid by, long
since, against witchcraft.
I am well aware that some people now begin to doubt
about witchcraft; or at any rate feign to do so; being
desirous to disbelieve whatever they are afraid of.
This spirit is growing too common among us, and will
end (unless we put a stop to it!) in the destruction
of all religion. And as regards witchcraft, a
man is bound either to believe in it, or to disbelieve
the Bible. For even in the New Testament, discarding
many things of the Old, such as sacrifices, and Sabbath,
and fasting, and other miseries, witchcraft is clearly
spoken of as a thing that must continue; that the
Evil One be not utterly robbed of his vested interests.
Hence let no one tell me that witchcraft is done away
with; for I will meet him with St. Paul, than whom
no better man, and few less superstitious, can be
found in all the Bible.
