In the autumn we had great rains, heavy mists and other things contrary to the usual course of nature, such as strange lights shining in the heavens, and so forth.

Then after a day of much heat, one evening a man clad in a red and yellow cap, who wore a cloak of thick black furs and necklaces of black pearls, was seen standing in the market-place.

Indeed, I saw him myself.

There was something so strange and dreadful about the appearance of this man, although it is true that some say he was no more than a common mountebank arrayed thus to win pence, that the people set upon him.
They hurled stones at him, they attacked him with swords and every other weapon, and thought that they had killed him, when suddenly he appeared outside the throng unhurt.

Then he stretched out his white-gloved hand toward them and melted into the gloom.
"Only," added Basil nervously, "it was noted afterward that all those who had tried to injure the man were among the first to die of the pest.
Thank God, I was not one of them.