closest
of friends. The recollection of their many adventures evidently
afforded Mr. Porter infinite amusement, and one of these adventures,
in particular, he told me, was as fresh in his mind as if it had
happened yesterday.

"Looking back upon it now," he said, with a far-away look in his eyes,
"it certainly was a strange coincidence, and if you are interested in
the hauntings of Cortachy, Mr. O'Donnell, you may, perhaps, like to
hear the account of my ghostly experiences in that neighbourhood."

Of course I replied that nothing would give me greater pleasure, and
Mr. Porter forthwith began his story.

"One misty night in October, my friend Alec and I, both being keen on
rabbiting, determined to visit a spinney adjoining the Cortachy
estate, in pursuit of our quarry. Alec had chosen this particular
night, thinking, under cover of the mist, to escape the vigilance of
the keepers, who had more than once threatened to take him before the
laird for trespassing.

"To gain access to the spinney we had to climb a granite wall and drop
on the other side--the drop, in addition to being steep, being
rendered all the more precarious by reason of the man-traps the
keepers were in the habit of setting. When I got astride the wall and
peered into the well-like darkness at our feet, and heard the grim
rustling of the wind through the giant pines ahead of me, I would have
given all I possessed to have found myself snug and warm in bed; but
Alec was of a different 'kidney'--he had come prepared for excitement,
and he meant to have it. For some seconds, we both waited on the wall
in breathless silence, and then Alec, with a reckless disregard of
what might be in store for him, gently let himself drop, and I,
fearing more, if anything, than the present danger, to be for ever
after branded as a coward if I held back, timidly followed suit. By a
great stroke of luck we alighted in safety on a soft carpeting of
moss. Not a word was spoken, but, falling on hands and knees, and
guiding ourselves by means of a dark lantern Alec had bought
second-hand from the village blacksmith, we crept on all-fours along a
tiny bramble-covered path, that after innumerable windings eventually
brought us into a broad glade shut in on all sides by lofty trees.
Alec prospected the spot first of all to see no keepers were about,
and we then crawled into it, and, approaching the nearest burrows, set
to work at once with our ferrets. Three rabbits were captur