The fury of the mysterious band was arrested, and at daybreak he rode home to his residence." The story is still current in the Glenkens, and what is supposed to be the circle drawn by the laird is pointed out on Waterside Hill. In concluding the account of "traditional witchcraft," there yet falls to be mentioned one outstanding form in which beautiful and seductive female shapes were assumed to tempt through the flesh, the destruction of soul and body. There is no better reference to this than in the local traditional tale of the "Laird of Logan" of Allan Cunningham, where the struggle between the powers of darkness and those of good contend, not without a certain dignity of purpose, for the mastery. The following is the dramatic denouement:-- "He took a sword from the wall, and described a circle, in the centre of which he stood himself. Over the line drawn with an instrument on which the name of God is written, nought unholy can pass. 'Master, stand beside me, and bear ye the sword.' He next filled a cup with water, and said, 'Emblem of purity, and resembling God, for He is pure, as nought unholy can pass over thee whilst thou runnest in thy native fountain, neither can ought unholy abide thy touch, thus consecrated--as thou art the emblem of God, go and do His good work. Amen.' So saying he turned suddenly round and dashed the cupful of water in the face and bosom of the young lady--fell on his knees and bowed his head in prayer. She uttered scream upon scream; her complexion changed; her long locks twined and writhed like serpents; the flesh seemed to shrivel on her body; and the light shone in her eyes which the Master trembled to look upon. She tried to pass the circle towards him but could not. A burning flame seemed to encompass and consume her; and as she dissolved away he heard a voice saying, 'But for that subtle priest, thou hadst supped with me in hell.'" [Illustration] _CHAPTER II._ WITCH NARRATIVE. "The best kye in the byre gaed yell; Some died, some couldna raise themsel'; In short, ilk' beast the farmer had Died--sicken'd--rotted--or gaed mad!" --_Maggie o' the Moss._ The witchcraft however, which had a special abiding-place in rural districts, was most usually associated with the presence in their midst of someone to whom it was supposed the devil had bequeathed the doubtful possession of the "evil eye," a possession which at all times was deemed a certain means of bringing about supernatural ill. Other suspected workers of subtle cantrips whom the finger of suspicion was ready to point to were old creatures, not uncommonly poor and eccentric, perhaps even deformed or with some peculiarity, but generally genuinely blameless, or in some instances foolishly seeking notoriety in the pretended possession of witch-power.