Page:Doctor Syn - A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh.djvu/212

 "Understood, Scarecrow, understood," replied Beelzebub promptly.

"And," went on the strange man, "you will stick by Jack Ketch as far as possible, and don't let him get into any needless danger. I want him to see all the fun that is possible, but I don't want any hurt to come to him. If I alter the plans, I'll pass the word. Understood?"

"Understood, Scarecrow, understood," repeated Beelzebub.

"Then off you go!"

And off they did go, the packponies, trotting under their heavy loads of wool, keeping along the edges of the field, and this with a very good purpose, for where the dykes run zigzag over Romney Marsh a thick mist arises some eight feet high, and even upon nights of full moon these mists hang about the dykes like heavy rolls of a spider's web, contrasting strangely with the rest of the country, which is all bright and easily seen. And now Jerk had to ride even faster than before, for the packponies, entirely hidden by the mist curtains, were circled and circled all the way by the galloping demons and jack-o'-lanterns, these last swinging their pole lights round their heads and uttering strange cries like those of the Marsh fowl, weird and ominous. This accounted, then, for all the ghost tales he had heard, for all the ghostly things those not in the secret had seen upon the Marsh, and a very clever scheme Jack