in the Red Sea?"

"Yes," quoth Short.

"But he ban't a spirit yet," replied Smallbones; "he be flesh and blood
o' some sort. If I gets fairly rid of his body, d----n his soul, I say,
he may keep that and welcome."

"But then, you know, he'll haunt us just as much as ever--we shall see
him here just the same."

"A spirit is only a spirit," observed Smallbones; "he may live in the
cabin all day and night afore I care; but, d'ye see, there's a great
difference between the ghost of a dog, and the dog himself."

"Why, if the beast ar'n't natural, I can't see much odds," observed
Spurey.

"But I can feel 'em," replied Smallbones. "This here dog has a-bitten me
all to bits, but a ghost of a dog can't bite anyhow."

"No," replied Short.

"And now, d'ye see, as Obadiah Coble has said as how spirits must be
laid, I think if we were to come for to go for to lay this here hanimal
in the cold hearth, he may perhaps not be able to get up again."

"That's only a perhaps," observed Coble.

"Well, a perhaps is better than nothing at all," said the lad.