THIS startling announcement was accompanied by such strange contortions on the part of the negro who made it, that Dan was completely unnerved, and would have taken to his heels in short order, had he not suddenly lost all control over himself. His whole body seemed weighed down with iron. He did, however, manage to turn his head and look in the direction in which his sable companions were gazing, and sure enough, there he was—an old, rheumatic negro, bent half double with age, and dressed in that peculiar costume so common among field negroes before the war. He leaned heavily upon a staff—which, however, he planted firmly, almost viciously on the ground with every step, as if there was plenty of strength left in his old arm—and walked in that indescribable manner which no one ever saw attempted by anybody except a plantation negro.

[Pg 177]When first seen he was in the middle of the lane; and how he ever got there without being observed, was a mystery. He was coming toward the barn, and when he arrived opposite to it he turned toward the open doors, and Dan and the terrified negroes backed hastily out of his way. He looked neither to the right nor left, but entered the barn, went the whole length of it, and disappeared through the door at the other end.

“That’s ole Jordan, if I ever seed him,” exclaimed one of the negroes, all of whom turned as white as their black skins would let them.

“No, sar; ’tain’t ole Jordan, nudder—dat ain’t,” said another; “kase ole Jordan, if it was him, wouldn’t go right fru us dat way, widout speakin’ to nobody. Whar’s he gwine now?”

The negro, as he asked this question, started on tiptoe toward the back door, followed by his companions and Dan. Arriving on the spot where the figure had last been seen, they looked in every direction, but could see nothing of it. Gathering a little more courage, they went to the end of the corn-crib and looked around it. There was no one in sight. After that they went around the barn, keeping close together for mutual protection, but old Jordan had[Pg 178] disappeared as completely as though he had never been in existence. Then the negroes began to grow frightened again. The hostler declared that he would never go into that barn again; those who had been at work in the field retreated in great haste toward the house; and Dan, who dared not stay there alone, shouldered his rifle, got over the tall gate somehow, and stepped out for home at his very best pace.

This was the substance of the story Dan told his father, and Godfrey listened to it with open mouth and staring eyes. He knew that ghosts appeared at night—nobody could talk or laugh him out of that belief, for he knew it to be true by his own experience—but he had never before heard that they grew so bold as to show themselves in broad daylight. “This yere beats my time all holler,” said he, as he found his tongue. “I declar’, folks ain’t safe nowhar, an’ at no time, day nor night. Dannie, that thar bar’l is in that tater-patch as sure’s you’re an inch high; kase if it ain’t, what makes ole Jordan’s haunt come back here foolin’ around? He didn’t act as though he wanted to hurt anybody, did he?”

“No, but he had a big club in his hand,” said[Pg 179] Dan, whose frightened optics had magnified an ordinary walking-stick, just as they had cheated their owner into believing that the apparition, or whatever it was, had an eye of fire in the middle of his forehead.

“What sort of a club was it?” asked his father.

“O, a great big one! an’ it was all curled and twisted up like a snake.”

“I’ve seed ole Jordan walkin’ with it a million times,” said Godfrey. “He used it this yere way, didn’t he?” he added, picking up a stick, that happened to be lying near him, and imitating the energetic manner in which the old negro handled his cane.

“That’s jest the way he done,” said Dan.

“An’ he walked this way, didn’t he?” continued Godfrey, bending his back and legs, drawing his head down between his shoulders and mimicking old Jordan’s style of progression.

“Yes; that’s jest the way he walked.”

“Then it’s his haunt, an’ thar ain’t no mistake about it,” said Godfrey, throwing down the stick and pushing back his sleeves. “Jest fetch out my rifle, Dannie.”

“O, pop, what be ye goin’ to do?” gasped Dan.

[Pg 180]“I’m goin up thar,” was the reply; and any one who had seen Godfrey when he made it, never would have imagined that only a few short hours before he had been so badly frightened, that he could not run half fast enough to suit him. He looked brave enough to meet a lion single-handed. “I want to see that thing,” he continued, “an’ I want to see it in the daytime, too—not arter dark, as I did afore!”

“Wal, now, I ain’t agoin’ to stay here alone, I bet ye,” whined Dan.

“Then come along with yer pop.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Ye needn’t be afeared; kase I’ve heard tell that them haunts can’t harm nobody in the daytime. Ye see, if it’s ole Jordan’s haunt, his comin’ back here proves that we’ve dug a hole purty clost to that thar bar’l; an’ if Mr.—— Hum! Bring out my we’pon, Dannie.”

Godfrey was about to add that if Mr. Clarence, after hearing of what had just taken place, was not afraid to continue the search for the buried treasure, he (Godfrey) was not afraid either; but remembering that Dan was to be kept in ignorance of the arrangements he had made with the general’s nephew, he checked himself in time, and again desired the boy[Pg 181] to bring out his rifle. Godfrey did not intend to shoot at old Jordan’s apparition if he saw it. He only wanted to take the weapon with him because he felt safer while it was in his hands. He loaded it very carefully when his son brought it out, and placing it on his shoulder started off, Dan keeping close by his side.

Godfrey was by no means as much at his ease as he seemed to be, and had it been after sunset, he could not have been hired to venture near the general’s lane after what he had heard. He considered that he was about to do a very reckless thing, but he kept resolutely on, and finally reached the barn. The wide doors that gave entrance into the lane stood open, but the building was deserted by all living things save the horses and a few chickens, and an unearthly silence seemed to brood over it. Godfrey dared not enter. He walked up close to the threshold, and stretching out his long neck, peeped into every corner. While he was thus engaged, a smothered exclamation from Dan caused him to straighten up as suddenly as if he had been shot.

“Laws a massy!” cried Dan. “Thar he is agin!”

“O, my soul!” ejaculated Godfrey, shivering all over.

[Pg 182]He looked around, and saw the object of his search coming down the lane toward the barn. Just one look was enough for Godfrey, and in that one look he took in everything about the apparition; for such he believed it to be. He remembered old Jordan so well that he would have recognised him on the instant if he had seen him in Asia. Here he was now before his very eyes. There could be no mistake about it. The peculiar style of progression, the clothes, the manner in which he handled his cane, and the whole appearance of the approaching object, all proclaimed that it could be none other than the missing Jordan. Godfrey did not wait for him to come any nearer. Quickly shouldering his rifle he darted through the barn, out at the back door, and ran for his life, paying no heed to the frantic appeals to “wait a minute,” which the terrified Dan shouted after him. He made his way across the general’s grounds to the lake, the shore of which he followed until he came to the woods; and there he sat down on a log to recover his breath, and to wait for Dan.

The latter came at last, and his first act was to take his father to task for deserting him in so cowardly a manner. Godfrey had nothing to say in reply. Forgetting that the boy had been just as anxious[Pg 183] as himself to get safely out of sight of the apparition, he asked a good many questions, hoping to learn what old Jordan had done, where he had gone, and whether or not he had said anything; but on these points Dan could give him no information. The two went home together, and passed the remainder of the day in a state of mind that can hardly be described. When night came Godfrey did not sit on his bench as usual; he stayed in the house, never once giving a thought to Clarence Gordon, who was waiting for him at his uncle’s barn. He kept a bright blaze in the fire-place, so that the interior might be lighted up as much as possible. When he got ready to go to bed he took pains to fasten the door securely—and that was a thing he had never been known to do before—and to place his rifle close by the head of the “shake-down,” so that it could be readily seized in case of emergency.

The next morning he ate but little breakfast, and seemed to be greatly relieved when he could sit on the bench with his pipe. He smoked and meditated for two hours (during this time all the members of his family had gone off about their usual vocations—Mrs. Evans to work at the house of a neighbor, David to the fields to continue the education of the[Pg 184] pointer, and Dan to the woods, to spend the day in shooting squirrels and making a pretence of building turkey-traps)—and was then aroused by the appearance of Clarence Gordon, who was the very person he most wished to see. The boy carried his rifle in the hollow of his arm, and, as before, stopped near the cabin to bring a squirrel out of one of the tall trees growing by the roadside. Godfrey hastened to meet him, and was greeted with:

“You’re a nice fellow to keep a promise, are you not?”

“Mr. Clarence, have they heard of it up to the Gordons?” asked Godfrey, almost in a whisper.

“There’s an awful row up there among the negroes about a ghost, or some such nonsense, if that’s what you mean,” answered Clarence. “There isn’t a black man or woman on the plantation that can be hired to go near the barn, and my uncle is afraid all his hands are going to leave him to gather his crops as best he can. ............