You 've hindered John 's lawful trade for months , '' and he laughed where he lay . ' A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight , so we climbed the belfry stairs , and there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail . ' `` Aha ! Your Devil has left his doublet ! Does it become me , Hal ? '' He draws it on and capers in the shafts of window-moonlight -- won ` erful devilish-like . Then he sits on the stairs , rapping with his tail on a board , and his back-aspect was dreader than his front , and a howlet lit in , and screeched at the horns of him . ' `` If you 'd keep out the Devil , shut the door , '' he whispered . `` And that 's another false proverb , Hal , for I can hear your tower-door opening . '' ' `` I locked it . Who a-plague has another key , then ? '' I said . ' `` All the congregation , to judge by their feet , '' he says , and peers into the blackness . `` Still ! Still , Hal ! Hear 'em grunt ! That 's more o ' my serpentines , I 'll be bound . One -- two -- three -- four they bear in ! Faith , Andrew equips himself like an Admiral ! Twenty-four serpentines in all ! ''
` As if it had been an echo , we heard John Collins 's voice come up all hollow : `` Twenty-four XXXXX and two demi-cannon .
Andrew Devil Hal John Sebastian back-aspect cow-hide doublet serpentines window-moonlight