The descent accomplished, the bear changed ends, that his nose might take the lead. With a slightly waving motion, as were he swimming in the air, now was he gliding swiftly onward at a speed which soon brought him and his riders to the edge of a wide swamp, where the forest foliage became so thick as wholly to exclude the moonlight. Here he paused, and in a loud voice called out: "Will-o'-the-Wisp! Will-o'-the-Wisp!" A voice so tremendously loud that it must have been heard through all the wilds around; yet never an echo it left to tell it had sounded. Had an echo awakened, it could hardly have fallen asleep again before the boy espied approaching them swiftly through the gloom a large ball of light, which shown with a phosphorescent gleam, so dead and dim, that the luminous circle it made in the pitch-black darkness of the swamp seemed scarcely to exceed its own circumference. Without any preliminary abatement of motion, the glimmering ball, as were it a lantern borne by an unseen hand, came suddenly to a pause in the air directly before them. Then followed an odd sort of a dialogue, made up of questions on one side, with motions for answers on the other, the wisp-light moving up and down for "yes," from side to side for "no," and for "I don't know," 'round and 'round. Bear. "Will-o'-the-Wisp, have you lighted the robber's feet to the pit-fall?" Wisp. Up and down. B. "Did he swear?" W. From side to side. B. "Did he pray?" W. Up and down. B. "Will he be less of a thief for the pit-fall?" W. 'Round and 'round. B. "Has Friar's lantern lighted the hypocrite's feet to the quicksands?" W. Up and down. B. "Did he swear?" W. Up and down. B. "Did he pray?" W. From side to side. B. "Will he be the less of a scamp for the quicksands?" W. 'Round and 'round. B. "Has Jack-o'-Lantern lighted the bad boy's feet to the frog-pond?" W. Up and down. B. "Did he swear?" W. From side to side. B. "Did he pray?" W. From side to side. B. "Then he must have swum?" W. Up and down. B. "Will he be the less of a rogue for the frog-pond?" W. 'Round and 'round. The questions duly answered, and evidently to his entire satisfaction, the bear wound up the dialogue thus: "Then, Will, lead on, over mire and clay, And when you come where the dead men lay, Hold your lantern close to the mound, That we may keep on Manitou ground."