Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 1.djvu/142

 so serious a manner, that no impartial man would laugh at those reports.

I had not, as yet, had an opportunity of getting more nearly acquainted with that wonderful man, and I must confess, I was not very desirous of being introduced to him, for I always treated with scorn such supernatural events, yet I never liked to make those matters a subject for ridicule.

Some of my comrades were frequently inclined to have a fun, as they used to call it, and to request the sorcerer, Volkert, to raise up the ghost of one of their companions, who had died suddenly, in order to ask his departed spirit, whether he had found pretty girls and good wine in the other world; but I always dissuaded them from it, endeavouring to direct them to some other amusement:Mean while the rumour of Volkert's exploits increased from day to day, and some people would swear solemnly, that they had seen and