'I have no way of checking it,' moaned the pedagogue.
'Ah, ah,' bellowed the fiend, who now, instead of hopping round the ring, capered in high glee about the chamber.
'Ho, ho!' laughed the schoolmaster, 'I have it! Here it is! Ho, ho! Twist a rope of sand[18] and wash it in the river Cocker without losing a grain.'
The Evil One stepped out of the house, to the great relief of its occupier, who at once felt that the atmosphere was purer; but in a few minutes he returned with the required rope of sand.
'Come along,' said he, 'and see it washed.' And he swung it over his shoulder, and stepped into the lane.
In the excitement of the moment the wizard had almost involuntarily stepped out of the magic circle, when suddenly he bethought himself of the danger, and drily said—
'Thank you; I'll wait here. By the light of the moon I can see you wash it.'
The baffled fiend, without more ado, stepped across to the rippling streamlet, and dipped the rope into the water, but when he drew it out he gave utterance to a shout of rage and disappointment, for half of it had been washed away.
'Hurrah!' shouted the schoolmaster. 'Cockerham against the world!' And as in his joy he jumped out of the ring, the Evil One, instead of seizing him, in one stride crossed Pilling Moss and Broadfleet, and vanished, and from that night to the present day Cockerham has been quite free from Satanic visits.[19]