“God’s wounds, then are we ruined!”

“Possibly.”

“But not certainly? Ye mean, not certainly?”

“That is it.”

“Wherefore, ye also mean that when he saith none can break the spell — ”

“Yes, when he says that, he says what isn’t necessarily true. There are conditions under which an effort to break it may have some chance — that is, some small, some trifling chance — of success.”

“The conditions — ”

“Oh, they are nothing difficult.

Only these: I want the well and the surroundings for the space of half a mile, entirely to myself from sunset to-day until I remove the ban —