"'Tis black work at the best," answered Malise; "these are no common wolves who would dare to attack armed men—demons of the nethermost pit rather, driven on by their hellish hunt-mistress. There will be many dead warlocks to-morrow throughout the lands of France."
"Stand to your arms," cried Sholto, from the other side of the tree. And indeed the howling seemed suddenly to grow nearer and louder. The noise circled about them, and they could again perceive dusky forms which glided to and fro in the faint light among the arches of the forest.
In the midst of the turmoil Malise took off his bonnet and stood reverently at prayer.
"Aid us, Thy true men," he cried in a loud and solemn voice, "against all the powers of evil. In the name of God—Amen!"
The howling stopped and there fell a silence. Lord James would have spoken.
"Hush!" said Malise, yet more solemnly.
And far off, like an echo from another world, thin and sweet and silver clear, a cock crew.
The blue leaping flame of the wild-fire abruptly ceased. The dawn arose red and broad in the east. The piles of dead beasts shone out black on the grey plain of the forest glade, and on the topmost bough of a pine tree a thrush began to sing.