nsiderably, but Rad kept him from hearing it as much
as he could."

"When did the ha'nt appear again after the party?"

"Oh, by that time all sorts of rumors were running about among the
negroes. The whole place was haunted and several of the plantation hands
had left. But the next thing that we heard directly was in the early
evening before the robbery when Mose, appearing terribly frightened,
said he had seen the ha'nt rising in a cloud of blue smoke out of the
spring-hole."

"And how did the Colonel and Radnor take this?"

"The Colonel was angry because he had been bragging about Mose not
being afraid, and Rad was dazed. He didn't know what to think; he
hustled Mose out of the way before we could ask any questions."

"And what did you think?"

"Well, I fancied at the time that he had really seen something, but as I
thought it over in the light of later events I came to the conclusion
that he was shamming, both then and in the middle of the night when he
roused the house."

"That is, you wished to think him shamming, in order to prove his
complicity in the robbery and the murder; and so you twisted the facts
to suit your theory?"

"I don't think you can say that," I returned somewhat hotly. "It's
merely a question of interpreting the facts."

"He didn't gain much by raising all that hullabaloo in the middle of the
night."

"Why yes, that was done in order to throw suspicion on the ha'nt."

"Oh, I see!" laughed Terry. "Well, now, let's get to the end of this
matter. Was any more seen of the ha'nt after that night?"

"No, at least not directly. For five or six days everyone was so taken
up with the robbery that the ha'nt excitement rather died down. Then I
believe there were some rumors among the negroes but nothing much
reached the house."

"And since the murder nothing whatever has been seen of the ha'nt?"

I shook my head.

"Just give me a list of the things that were stolen."

"Well, the roast chicken, a box of cigars, some shirts off the line, a
suit of Rad's pajamas, a French novel, some brandy, quite a lot of
things to eat--fresh loaves of bread, preserves, a boiled ham, sugar,
coffee--oh, any amount of stuff! The niggers simply helped themselves
and laid it to the ha'nt. One of the carriages was left out one night,
and in the morning the cushions were gone and two lap robes. At the same
time a water pail was taken and a pair of Jake's overalls. And then to
end up came the robbery of the safe