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The Doctor leaned forward urgently. 'What did he look like?'

'I only had a glimpse, you understand. He was twenty or thirty feet tall—the cloven hooves were there—and the horns—and that face!'

Jo seized Mike's hand.

'The Devil!' she murmured.

The Doctor frowned. 'Miss Hawthorne,' he said, 'I've agreed with you from the first about the danger. But now I think you are utterly mistaken. Whatever else you saw, it was not the Devil.'

Miss Hawthorne's manner became even more grave. 'Oh, but it was,' she said. 'You see, there's a Satanist cult in the village and last night they held a Sabbat.'

'A Sabbat? What's that?' asked Mike.

'An occult ceremony. To call up the Devil.'

'And it worked...' breathed Jo, completely carried away. 'The Devil came...'

'Nonsense,' said the Doctor, impatiently. 'It's all rubbish. Superstitious rubbish!'

Miss Hawthorne bristled. 'I assure you, sir, that every word I have uttered...'

'Oh, I'm not impugning your veracity, madam. It's your interpretation I take issue with. Who is the leader of this. this Satanist coven?'

The new Vicar. He calls himself Magister.'

Unexpectedly, the Doctor laughed. 'The arrogance! Magister—of course. I should have guessed.'

'Guessed what?' said Jo, quite bewildered.

'Did you fail Latin at school as well as science, Jo?' he asked. ' “Magister” is the Latin word for “Master”!'

Renegade Time Lord, the Doctor's arch-enemy, instigator of so many evil schemes in the past, the Master's one overwhelming objective always remained the same, Power! The power of the tyrant, to make slaves of all others; the power of the despot, to be ruler, dictator of a country, an empire, a planet; the power of the demi-god, to command a galaxy, no ambition was too great for the megalomaniac dreams of the Master.

The telephone bell was ringing. The new Vicar of Devil's End picked up the receiver. 'Magister here... I see... So he has survived, has he?... No, no, it doesn't surprise me... Nevertheless, I'm grateful to you for letting me know... I shall deal with him, never fear. Now get back in there before they begin to suspect—but let me know where he goes the moment he steps outside. You understand... ?'

Bert put down the 'phone, picked up the tray on which the tea for Sergeant Benton stood ready, and returned to the bar. But already the Doctor had left. So had the girl for that matter. But where had they gone? He took the tea over to Benton, who accepted it gratefully, and quietly returned to his task of clearing the mess behind the bar, listening hard.

Mike Yates was talking to the Brigadier on his walkie-talkie.

' ...and that's about it, sir. Over. '

' I see, Captain Yates. ' The Brigadier's voice was crisp and clear. ' So the Doctor was from stiff at the barrow, then revived by a freak heatwave. Benton was beaten up by invisible forces, and the local white witch claims she's seen the Devil. Apart from that it's been a quiet night? Over. '

Sergeant Benton grinned. He was obviously feeling better.

' I know it all sounds a bit wild. Over. '

' It does indeed, Yates, it does indeed. Now listen. I'm about five miles away from Devilnt's End and I seem to have run into some sort of heat barrier. Let me talk to the the Doctor. '

Bert, on his hands and knees behind the bar, was at once alert.

' I'm afraid you can't, sir. He's gone up to the dig with Jo Grant. Over. '

So that was it. He must let Mr. Magister know at once. Unnoticed, he delicately moved across the carpet of broken glass and out of the room.

' I see. Well, as soon as he comes back I need to have a word with him. Got it? This heat barrier's quite beyond my ken, I don't mind admitting. Over. '

' Right, sir. Er... heat barrier? What kind of heat barrier? '

' No time to stand here nattering, Yates. Too much to do. Out! '

The Brigadier snapped the aerial back and turned to his driver.

'Well, Manders. We'd better have a try at getting in from the south. Let's have a shufti at the map.'

'Sir!'

The Brigadier spread the map out on the bonnet of his staff car and considered. If they circled and came up through Lob's