"Well, he was gone a quarter of an hour when we heard hoofs, galloping, galloping, hard and furious, coming up the road. And as we opened the door a horse came over the wall and Fanie tumbled off it and came rushing in.
"We all screamed. He was white like ashes, and wet with sweat, and trembling so that he could not stand.
"'Fanie,' cried my sister, 'what is it?' and he groaned and put his face in his hands.
"By and by he spoke, and kept glancing about him and turning to look behind him, and would not let one of us move away.
"'There was something behind me,' he said.
"'Something?' we all asked.
"'Yes,' he said. 'Something . . . dead I It followed me up here, and I could not get away from it, spur as hard as I would. I think it is a death-call.'
"Then we were all frightened, but we could not help wanting to hear more.
"'No,' said Fanie, 'I did not see it, nor hear it even, but
I knew it was there.'
"'It was a sign,' said my mother, a very wise old woman.
'Let us all thank God.'