[Illustration: THE WITCHES' ELM.]
The last tenant of the old house was one Mark Scraggs, or Scroggs, a
solitary miser who, the story goes, sold himself to the Devil, one of
the features of the compact being that he should provide for the wants
of three wise women, or witches, who on their part were to assist him in
carrying out his schemes and make them successful. In everything he
seemed to prosper, and accumulated great hoards of wealth, but he had
not a soul in the world to leave it to or to regret his leaving in spite
of his wealth.
At length the time approached when his terrible master would claim him
body and soul, but Scraggs worked out a scheme for evading his bond, and
for a time successfully kept Satan at bay and disposed of the three
witches by imprisoning them in a hollow tree close by, on which he cast
a spell which prevented them from communicating with their master the
evil one, or enabling him to find them. This spell was so successful
that Scraggs soon felt himself secure, but one day, venturing beyond the
charmed circle, he was immediately seized by the Devil, who attempted to
carry him off by way of the chimney, but failed, as the shaft was not
sufficiently wide for the passage of the man's body.
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