On this occasion surely if there had been any one hidden in the ditch Don, the setter, would have found him.
Coming home she still seemed nervous. Goliah says "plat eye" and Chloe says "speret, Miss Pashuns. You know Cherokee is a ha'nt place, dat Red Bank road speshul, en wen yu cum to de Praise House lane dat dem home.
"T'ree time dem 'tack me dere. One time I bin a cum f'um Nannie weddin'. I see a man walk right befo' me, en I call to um en say 'Elihu! Dat be yu? Wait f'r me,' en de man neber answer, en w'en 'e git to de gate 'e neber open um, 'e jes' pass trou' wi'dout open, en den 'e tu'n 'eself unto a bull, en rare up befo' me. Den I kno' 'twas plat eye, en I say to meself 'Trow down yu fader h'art, en tek up yu murrer h'art,' 'en I dun so. 'Kase yu kno', Miss Pashuns, yu' murrer h'art is always stronger dan yu fader h'art.
"Oh, yu didn't kno' dat? 'Oman h'art is stronger dan man h'art w'en yu cum to speret en plat eye. Yes, Rut' see dat same man en I jes' t'enk de Lawd she ain' cripple yu."
That night she returned to the subject and told many wonderful ghost stories, all of that same road, and said Gibbie was so afraid of going along there in the dusk and reminded me that he never would wait to take my horse when I was out late, and that was the reason. As I still pooh-poohed her stories she put on quite a superior air and said:—
"Critter kin see mo' dan me, Miss Pashuns, en I kin see mo' dan yu, fer all yu kno' so mutch mo' en me. W'at I tell yu, 'tain't wha' I hear, but wha' I see meself."
"Plat eye!"
There is no doubt something in what Chloe says about creatures, as she calls animals, seeing more than human beings. There is a spot on the road about a mile from Casa Bianca where a man was killed by a fall from his horse, which shied violently, throwing him against a tree. This was about sixty-five years ago, and though it is now a commonplace looking spot enough, my horses rarely pass it without shying.