“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 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.
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 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.