streams met, and many other things. He was very confident, as well as those who had brought him on the grounds, that he could soon lead them to the lost children. It did not require long, however, to discover that he and his peach-tree limb were a fraud and had it not been for those who were with him, he would have been lost in the mountain himself.
But the believers in sorcery and witch-craft were not to be discouraged with one failure. There was an old witch living in Somerset county who was noted for her conjuring power, not surpassed perhaps by the witch of Endor. After holding a consultation, it was determined by a few of the superstitious to send for her. The old lady, on arriving at the mountain, went through a number of mysterious conjuring tricks, after which she said she knew where the children were; she could see them plainly -- that they were far out in the interior of the mountain, living and subsisting well on chestnuts that had lain on the ground over winter. She said that they lodged at night on a nice bed of leaves under a heavy bunch of laurel that protected them from the rain and snow. But she said, "I can't find de children unless you gif me some
|
