I am after that head now and when I get it all my woe will cease.

Do you want that head Domnule ?--I can tell you where it is." "Well ?" "Have you pluck enough not to be afraid of him, Domnule ?" "I am afraid of nothing." "And yet many brave men fall back at the sight of that black face, which never changes, which is just like steel and which they fancy neither sword nor bullet can hurt; but my nails have torn his body and I have seen his blood flow." "Say where he is!" "Close at hand." "In which direction ?" "Ah! Domnule!" sighed Juon Tare, "how can I answer that, I who can see neither heaven nor earth ?" "Then how do you know that he is hard by ?" "Ah, Domnule, I can recognize him by his voice, and if I do not hear him speak, I can recognize the sound of his footsteps when I hear him draw nigh.

Nobody else has his trick of walking.

Sometimes he goes as softly as a spectre so that only the ears of a blind man can detect his footfall and at other times he tramps as if the whole earth beneath him were hollow and it resounds at every step.

Oh, I have often heard him approaching when he was still far, far away." "But do you know anything certain about him ?" "I will tell you everything, Domnule, beginning at the beginning.