"What is his name? I don't suppose he would care anything about me.
He never heard of me, anyhow."

"Name is Captain Shard; he keeps a big livery stable. You just tell
him you're a friend of mine, and I'll bet my steers agin a coon skin
you're at home straight."

Soon after supper Ralph was shown to his bed in a shed room at the rear
of the house. In the mountains the people go to bed and rise early
from habit.

Before eight o'clock a sound of heavy breathing could be heard from
every room. Under the floor the very dogs were steeped in dreams of
coon and 'possum hunting.

Suddenly Ralph awoke, feeling a pressure on his chest. The room was
not so dark but that he could detect a shadowy figure at the bedside.

A prickly chill ran through his veins, but before he could speak, a
voice whispered:

"Give me your hand," and as the boy dazely obeyed, the pressure on his
chest was removed as another hand was lifted from there, that firmly
grasped his own.

"I can feel your pulse jump; you're skeered, Ralph."

"Wh--who are--you?" faltered Ralph, unable to make out as yet whether
it was a "haant" or a living person that had awakened him thus.