me. But I was saying: that midnight, as I passed the tree, drunk as
I was, I saw a naked black man with a long beard run out; I took to
my heels; he was after me; till I reached the bridge, when I
stopped, faced him, fired a blow into his eyes, and he vanished.

"During the week I continued to see apparitions. My groans were
heard in the farm-yard: Lord have mercy upon me! Christ have mercy
upon me! I was visited by the Methodist preacher at Thring; and
finally I found solace: I became a class-member, a leader, a local
preacher.

"For some time I have been conscious of dissatisfaction among the
people with my preaching, who say that my God 'is not a personal
God', and that my Christianity is 'rum stuff': I am therefore
meaning to give it up. But I still preach every second Thursday
night.

"It was about that time that, by accident, I found out the power of
my hand to cure headache, and things like that, and the sensation
among these villagers was enormous, I can tell you, six years ago;
now they come to be touched without the slighest sense of the
unusual. But what I have done well in was--the farming. I knew
little of agriculture--"

At this point they turned into the lane to Westring: and Loveday
went with him a little beyond Priddlestone to see the fatal elm.