Year: 1866

notice his absence until some time next


day, when his family were alarmed by


the return of his horse with an empty


saddle, and sent to inquire after him


This sort of inquiries had become so sig


niticant of late that they were instantly


sobered, and mounting. rode back on
their trail. Very soon a swarm of buz-


yards and wolves, near line of thicket


ahead, designated the whereabouts of the


object of their search, and there they


found his heshless bones scattered on ey-


cry side. The reddest bloated cheek


among them blanched. 1t was terrible


They seemed to be doomed Three of


their number dead and torn to pieces in


less than three days, and yet not the


slightest clue to the relentless and invis


IDLE foe, but that ghostly story of Henry IS


and tracks which only served to tantalize
| them 1t must be some dread, super


natural visitation of their hideous crimesl


They shivered while the great drops of


sweat fell from their foreheads, and with


out thinking of looking for any trail, or


even gathering up the bones, they start


ed back at full speed, spreading the
alarm everywhere. The excitement now


became universal and Tremendous
Nearly the whole country turned out for


the purpose of unravelling this alarming


mystery, and the superstltious frenzy was


in no small degree heightened by the re-


port that this man had been shot in the
same way as the others-in the 6acE Of the
head!


These incidents were all so unaccounta.


BILE that own | felt no little sympathy


with the popular association of a super
natural agency in their perpetratIon.-
Harry laughed at all this, but insisted


that it was a maniac; and to account for
the peculiar dexterity of his escapes and


whole management, related many anec-
dotes of the proverbial cunning of mad


men. The widest, most absurd and IN
credible stories were now afioat among
the people concerning this deadly and
subtle foe of the Regulators; for 1t was
now universally believed and remarked
that it was against them alone that his
enmity was directed. The story was
greatly improved upon and added to- and
as some reports had it, the Madman-
others the Bearded Ghost, was seen in
half dozen places at the same time
now on foot, stalking with enormous
strides across some open glade from
thicket to thicket-passlng out of sight
before the observer could recover from
his surprise-then mounted, he was seen
flying like shadow of a summer cloud
over the prairies, or beneath the gloom
of forests, always haggard and lean,
dressed in skins with the hair on, and
that long, heavy terrible rifle on his
shoulder | noticed that there was only
one class of men who ventured to assert
that they had actually seen with their
tho.a ,ra,Aarf,,l givhfa o-1
that was constituted of those who had
either suffered, or from their character
and pursuits were most likely to suffer
persecution from the RegulatoIs-the
hunter emigrants. These men were
most industrious in embellishing all the
circumstances of character. feats, and re-
lentless hatred to the Regulators, as high
ly as the excited credulity of the public
would bear. They never saw him except
in the vicinity of some of these hated ty-
Iantsi In their visions this being was
forever lowering around them. waiting
the moment to strike while they were
alone and far from any help.


They carried this thing so far as to at
tract attention to it, and arouse in the
cunning mind of Hinch the same suspi-
cion which had occurred to Henry and
myself, namely: that all this was the re-
suit of profoundly acute and thorough !
ly organized scheme of that class, headed |
by some men of peculiar personalities and |
consummate skill, with the object of ex-
terminating or driving off the Regula- |
tors. It seemed impossible that, without |
collusion with many others, the murder |
er should have been able to battle all pur- |
suit. Hinch and his band had been /
completely cowed, but as soon as this |
idea occurred to them the reaction of
their base fears was savage exultation.-I
Here was something tangible; their open
and united force could easily extermin- !
ate an enemy who had acknowledged |
their weakness in resorting to secret COM |
binatiou and assassination from the bush. |
They forthwith proclaimed war to the |
the knife, with the whole class; and dur |
ing the week several outrages, so revolt |
ing that l will not detail them, were per-
petrated upon these men in different !
parts of the country; and the fact that
during the general tumult, nothing more |
was seen or heard of the mysterious rife !
man, encouraged them with the belief
that they had succeeded in getting rid
of him through the intimidation of his
confederates.


They had been now for nearly a fort |
night in the saddle-had glutted them
selves with vengeance, and, as they con
ceived, broken down this dangerous con- |
spiracy against their power; and if they |
had not succeeded in detecting and pun
ishiug, had at least frightened off their |
singular foe. They now concluded they |
might safely disband. That day, after
they separated, one of their number |
named Bees-almost as bad and savage a /
man as Hinch himself-was riding past 6
thicket in sight of his own house, when |
he was shot from it. His negroes heard |
the gun, and seeing the horse galloping |
up to the house riderless. and snorting
wildly, they ran down and found him /
stretched in the road, dead. He lCas shot
IN the eye, and the ball passed out at the
back of the head.


When Hinch heard this, he turned |
perfectly iivid, his knees smote together,
and with a horrible oath, he exclaimed
"It's Jack Long. or his ghost, by Cd |
coma back for vengeance !" 1t was now
perceived, for the first time, that all the /
men had been shot through the eye, in |
stead of the back of the head where the |
bali had only passed out after entering |
at the socket. ne QL0ef QeaQ6 IaQ L
been too much unpleasantly mutilated
for examination, and this fact had not
been before observed. Of course, every
body was satisfied now, that this terrible
being was in one way or another identi-
fed with Jack Long for the notoriety of
his favorite mark and his matchless skill
occurred to all as accountable for much |
that was UpacooqntabIe in these occur
rences. This produced a great change in
public feeling. The better sort began to
conceive that they understood the whole
matter. The lynching Jack had received
vas fresh in their memories, and they |
supposed that its severity had shaken his
mental balance and made him a mono
maniac, and the disease had endowed |
him with the marvellous cunning-the
staunch murdrous hate-and the unnat- /
ural appearance which had created such
a sensation. They could not understand
how being so simple hearted and slug
gish as he was reputed to have been.
could nave been reused or stung to such
deeds by the mere power and depth OF