than once; the purchaser only stipulating that he should always come by
night and alone. I do not know whether it was from mere curiosity, or
whether some hope of gain mixed with it, but after Dick had sold several
horses in this way, he began to complain that dry bargains were unlucky,
and to hint, that since his chap must live in the neighbourhood, he
ought, in the courtesy of dealing, to treat him to half a mutchkin.

"You may see my dwelling if you will," said the stranger; "but if you
lose courage at what you see there, you will rue it all your life."

Dickon, however, laughed the warning to scorn, and having alighted to
secure his horse, he followed the stranger up a narrow footpath, which
led them up the hills to the singular eminence stuck betwixt the most
southern and the centre peaks, and called, from its resemblance to such
an animal in its form, the Lucken Hare. At the foot of this eminence,
which is almost as famous for witch-meetings as the neighbouring windmill
of Kippilaw, Dick was somewhat startled to observe that his conductor
entered the hillside by a passage or cavern, of which he himself, though
well acquainted with the spot, had never seen nor heard.

"You may still return," said his guide, looking ominously back upon him;
but Dick scorned to show the white feather, and on they went. They
entered a very long range of stables; in every stall stood a coal-black
horse; by every horse lay a knight in coal-black armour, with a drawn
sword in his hand; but all were as silent, hoof and limb, as if they had
been cut out of marble. A great number of torches lent a gloomy lustre
to the hall, which, like those of the Caliph Vathek, was of large
dimensions. At the upper end, however, they at length arrived, where a
sword and horn lay on an antique table.