“House ho!” he shouted, in a hoarse and unnatural voice.
In a second the door was opened by an aged woman.
The horseman dismounted, and entered the house.
As he did so, the watch dogs began to howl in a most horrible and hideous manner!
The stranger heard it.
His face turned to an ashy paleness, as he thought——
“That dismal howling, I have been told, is always looked upon by superstitious country people as an omen of death!”
It was an omen of death!