"You shall see anon," replied the other.

"You are taking me to the spot where you traced the magic circle," cried
Paslew in alarm. "I know it from its unnaturally green hue. I will not
go thither."

"I do not mean you should, lord abbot," replied Demdike, halting.
"Remain on this firm ground. Nay, be not alarmed; you are in no danger.
Now bid your men advance, and prepare their weapons."

The abbot would have demanded wherefore, but at a glance from Demdike he
complied, and the two men-at-arms, and the herdsmen, arranged
themselves beside him, while Fathers Eastgate and Haydocke, who had
gotten upon their mules, took up a position behind.

Scarcely were they thus placed, when a loud shout was raised below, and
a band of armed men, to the number of thirty or forty, leapt the stone
wall, and began to scale the hill with great rapidity. They came up a
deep dry channel, apparently worn in the hill-side by some former
torrent, and which led directly to the spot where Demdike and the abbot
stood. The beacon-fire still blazed brightly, and illuminated the whole
proceeding, showing that these men, from their accoutrements, were
royalist soldiers.

"Stir not, as you value your life," said the wizard to Paslew; "but
observe what shall follow."