“’Tis a stiff price, good Satan,” said the doctor in protest.
“’Tis the only price I will listen to,” said the Devil.
“Then I must een pay it,” said the doctor, seeing that further argument was useless, and, being by this time quite determined to have his desires no matter what the cost. “I agree,” he added. And there and then he signed the bond in blood, with a pen made from a dead man’s bone.
Satan pocketed the bond.
“Thy desires are granted,” said he. “Make the most of thy opportunities. One day I shall surely call upon thee for payment.”
Then, with a burst of mocking laughter, he disappeared.
The doctor seems to have enjoyed the results of the compact until the day drew near for the settlement. Then, indeed, he appears to have repented, But he was by no means a dull-witted individual, and in a happy moment he began to cudgel his brain for some way out of the difficulty—some plan of escape. Before long his face brightened, a gleam of hope shone on it, and at length he seemed to see his way clear. He received the formal summons of Satan with a knowing smile, and when the day at last arrived, set out in good time to keep his unholy tryst.
In the language of the rhyme,
“Now rapidly along he sped
Unto a region waste and dead,