The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1891-05-27
PILOTEn BY 4 GHOST.

---o~- - ~ ~ 4icA Do - ~ a. eO1 CcO
long, straining look around owned
to myself that l was lost. had
suspected the fact some time since,
but had stubbornly fought down the
suspicion, though my horse evident
lly realized. With patient endur-
ancc he pIodded along, resignation
plainly expressed in the droop of
his tail and ears. In place of the
ranch, the hearty welcome, pleasant
words, bed, supper, and fire L had
expected to reach by sunset, there
was noting to be seen before, behind,
on either hand, but the dead level of
the plain. There were paths in
plenty; in fact, the trouble was there
were too many-narrow and wind
ing, for whose meandering there
seemed not the slightest excuse, ex-
cel'sstise general tendency to crook
cdness most things, animate and in
animate alike possess. But it would
have taken the instinct of a blood
hound or a trailing Indian to have
said which paths had been made by
horses feet or those of cattle.
Now that the sun was gone,
found my knowledge of the point of
the compass gone with il. AS l sat
perplexed and worried the gloom of
twilight gathered fast and the chill
of coming rain smote me through
and through, while in the distance
there was the roll of thunder
CHANGING up saw that the masses
of cloud had closed together in a
curtain of gray mist.
My horse strobe on of his own
accord, and hoping that his instinct
would lead us to some house, / let
him have his will. Presently it be-
gan to rain, sort of heart broken
passionless weeping, but with a
steady determination to perseve all
night, that awoke graver apprehen-
/ sion in my bosom than any amout
of clustering, showery downpour
could have done.
1t was now quite dark, and very
dark at that, though at short in
tervals close to the horizon u faint
gleam of lightning showed, too dis
tant to cast brightness on my path
and only sufficient to intensity the
blackness about me.
All at once ! saw n man walking
about fifteen feet in front of me.
Yes, i knowiI said it was intensely
dark, but all the same, repeat it.
i saw man walking in front of me
and furthermore 1 could see that he
was large man, dressed in rough,
but wcllfitting clothes; that he wore
a heavy red beard, and that he look
ed back at me from time to time
with an expression of keen anxiety
on his otherwise rather fixed fea-
lures.
"Hallo!' i cried, but as he did
not halt l concluded lie did not hear
me. As u second hail produced no
result / spurred my weary horse up
to overtake the stranger. But
though the gray responded with an
alacrity most commendable under
the circumstances, / soon found that
this strange pedestrian did not in
tend to let me catch up with him.
Not that he hurried himself He
seemed without any exertion to
keep good fifteen feet between us.
Then began to wonder how, with
the intense darkness shutting me in
as four black walls, / was yet able
to see my strange companion so
clearly, to take in the details of his
dress, and even the expression of
his face, and that at distance more
than twice my horses length when
/ could hardly see his head before
me. / am not given to superstiti-
GUS faneies, and my only feeling
was of curiosity.
We went on in silence for nearly
half an hour, when, as suddenly as
as he appeared, he was gone. i
looked around for him, half afraid,
from his instant and complete disap-
pearance, that had been dreaming,
when / perceived that 1 was close
to small, low building of some sort.
| reined in and shouted several
times, but not the slightest response
could l hear, and at last rode boldly
up and tapped on the wall with my
riding whip. Then, as this elected
no sign of life, 1 concluded that 1
had stumbled upon some deserted
house, or it was the abode of nv
eccentric friend; so, dismounting
and tying the gray, L resolved to
spend the rest of the night under a
roof or to find some good reason for
continuing my journey. 1 felt my