discordant scream in the tree-tops, and Zadoc found himself alone in the presence of his deliverer, Tommy Croft.
"Thee was hard bested, Zadoc," said Tommy, "and thee was wrong in saying goblins were ag'in natur, but thee withstood that fellow as thee should. I'm very sorry, however, to hear that so many of our respected friends have got into such unpleasant quarters. Thee won't laugh at old Knot again. It's very sartain I never saw so unsubstantial a thing as that goblin; the stick went clean through him, as if he was smoke. Pah! he smells like burnt gunpowder. Come, Zadoc, let's be moving."
Taking Zadoc under one arm, and his trusty cudgel under the other, Tommy tramped through the woods and across the fields; nor did he relinquish the guardianship of his friend until he had seen him fairly housed beneath his own roof, and under the vinegar eye of Sister Betsey, where he felt certain that neither hobgoblin, nor Old Nick himself, would be hardy enough to disturb him.
