"Ah's willin'," he declared. "Anythin' dat now appears will be mah doin'--ten minits is all Ah asks. Am dat sat'sfact'ry?" "Yaas," replied the voice of Behemoth Scott. "Go ahaid wif yo' sperit-summonin', Mista Travis." "Ah'll cawncentrate now," replied Ambrose, "an' sho'tly you-all will witness ample proof of mah bein' a genuine Voo-doo. _Ah's stahtin_'." Silence more terrible than ever fell upon the waiting negroes. Then--horror of horrors! a peculiar grating, rustling sound came from the vicinity of Ambrose--a slight creaking--and again silence. The investigators held hands of neighbours who trembled from sheer panic, whose breath came hard and panting from this awful suspense! Another creaking, as though Ambrose had shifted his weight in his chair.... Then--baleful--in its green, ghastly glow--a dim, indistinct light shone in the centre of the circle! Moving slowly, like a newly awakened spirit, it waved in the very midst of the gasping committee. Back and forth, up and down, it moved--glowing, vaporous, ghostly. Two hundred pairs of bulging eyes saw the horror--and realized that it was an enormous hand, terribly deformed! Some one moaned with terror--a woman screamed. "De hand ob death!" shrieked a man. "Run--run fo' yo' lives!" The stampede was spontaneous! Chairs were overturned and tables smashed in this frightful panic in the dark. No one thought of turning on the lights--everyone's sole aim was to leave that appalling shining hand--and get out! A crashing on the stairway marked where Raffin, chair and all, was making his fear-stricken way to the street. In one brief minute the place was apparently empty save for Ambrose. Still tied to his chair, he inquired: "Is any one hyar?" For a second there was silence, then the dulcet tones of Miss Aphrodite fell on the big negro's ear: "Ah's hyar, Ambrose," she said. "Well, den"--recognizing her voice--"would you mine lightin' de gas till Ah can tie mahself loose from dis hyar throne ob glory?" In a moment a feeble gaslight shone, disclosing Aphrodite--somewhat disarranged by the panic--standing smiling in front of the erstwhile Voodoo. She looked down at his feet. There, sure enough, one huge member was unshod and stockingless; the elastic-slit congress gaiter, lost in the shuffle, lay out of the radius of Ambrose's long leg. Miss Aphrodite picked it up and, stooping, slipped it over his mighty toes, noticing as she did so the thick coating of phosphorescent paint that still covered them. "Ambrose," she whispered, "Ah wasn't scaired. No ghos' eber was bohn dat had han's de size ob yo' feet!" An embarrassed silence followed; the gas jet flickered weakly; then Ambrose said: "Untie mah han's, Aphrodite--Ah'd jes' lak to hug you!" "Oh, Ambrose," she cried coyly. But she untied the rope just the same. Again came silence, broken only by a certain strange sound. Then Ambrose's voice came softly through the gloom: "Aphrodite," it said, "yo' lips am jes' lak plush!"