Part 2

"It has been pointed out to me," he said, "that I have demonstrated sufficiently--now there are other matters to be attended to. I will destroy the bell once again ... but mark these words well, humans: the Dark One will create another--and it, like all his creations, will be a potential for evil. Not a large evil, perhaps, in this case, nor an evil in itself by the simple fact of its existence--rather his creations represent the potential of evil _within yourselves_. After he goes, I urge that you take down the bell and throw it away ... destroy it ... for as you have seen he is powerless to prevent that. If he creates another, cast it aside also. Keep doing so. The bell is but the symbol, the temptation: the conquest of evil can take place only in your own souls; you must _act_ in the face of that temptation. The battleground is not this town, nor this yard, nor that structure, but in _yourselves_. In you is the pit; in you must be the strength and will to escape it. Do you understand?"

Three nods.

* * * * *

The young man looked into their minds for the last time, to assure himself of their purity.

And in Charley Mason's mind he saw a tiny, half-hidden thought that struck him so forcibly that he almost smiled. Deep in Charley's mind, beneath all his awe and wonder at the present situation, almost on a subconscious level, Charley's sense of humor was still working--the sense of humor that had come up with the cowbell joke in the first place.

Now, in Charley's mind, was a solution for the present difficulty. Not a solution, actually; for the realities of the problem were already solved--solved in the minds of the three old men and their firm resolve to do nothing ever again that would precipitate this kind of Heavenly and Satanic tug-of-war in the arena of their souls.

But it would end this business of bell/no bell very nicely. And not inappropriately, the young man thought. He would arrange the situation just as Charley was mentally picturing it. And seeing what Charley had in mind finally brought a smile to the young man's face.

He walked across the yard and entered the outhouse. The bell and chain and mounting vanished. This time the young man was gone from sight just a little longer than any time previously, and when he came out he looked just a tiny bit expectant.

He waved in friendly fashion at the three men on the porch and rose into the sky, faster and faster until he disappeared into the sun.

The man in black got up from his chair and knocked out his pipe on a heel--or rather, where a heel should have been, for it was now evident for the first time that he had black hooves instead of feet.

The wad of sulphur fell to the boards and smoked and stank.

"He was right, you know," he said. "The battle was in yourselves. And I suppose I've lost. I seem to be losing more and more these days ... though I'm by no means through. I suppose if I put up another bell, you'll just take it down." He sighed and stretched his long black-clad arms wide, as the young man had done. "Well, it's been diverting. I think I _will_ put up another bell--just for the Hell of it."

He went down the steps, across the yard, into the outhouse.

An enormous cowbell appeared on the roof--a prince of cowbells, a cowbell fit for the neck of Babe, the giant blue ox of Paul Bunyan. From it hung an inch-thick chain.

The chain yanked down, the cowbell went _BLONGLE, BLONGLE, BLOK, BLOK, BLOK!_--and Charley's plan which the young man had arranged before leaving the confines of the outhouse became evident.

There was a loud flushing sound. A herculean flush. The walls collapsed inward with a giant roar and an enormous swoosh and a gargantuan gurgle. A moment later there was only a deep hole in the ground where the outhouse had stood. And then the sides of the hole crumbled in to form a shallow pit.

_Timelessness_ ended.

Luke scratched his head and stared from Sam over to Charley. "Did you two dream the same thing I did?" his voice was awed.

Sam pointed over to where the pit made a raw scar in the ground. "Weren't no dream. Or if it was, we're still asleep."

Charley had a laughing glint in his eye. "We're not asleep, and it wasn't any dream. 'Specially the ending."

Luke and Sam looked at him puzzled for a moment. Then they both laughed and Charley joined them.

"Bet that flush was the damndest joke Satan ever had played on him!" Luke gasped, holding his sides.

"One _hell_ of a joke, Charley," Sam choked. "What I wouldn't give to have seen his face!"

Charley agreed. He began to laugh even harder as he wondered if there was any soap and water down in Gehenna. He had an idea Satan might be praying for some.