m Nick rightly
judged to be a doctor.

"No," said Nick, "I'm not much hurt, except in my feelings. What
happened, Patsy?"

"The ghost got away," responded the young man, in a tone of disgust.

"I wouldn't talk very much," said Colonel Richmond. "The doctor says
that you have been subjected to a severe nervous shock, and--"

"My grandmother's ducks!" exclaimed Nick. "Nervous shock! Well, this
makes me worse. Why, man, I've been sand-bagged."

The colonel shook his head.

"The power of the unseen forces," he began; but Nick interrupted him.

"Look here, Colonel Richmond!" he said, "if you had the sensation behind
your ear that I've got, you wouldn't talk about mysterious powers of
darkness. I know what's the matter with me, and what I want is a chance
to get square."

"There is no evidence of any injury," said the physician.

"There never is in a case of this kind," rejoined Nick. "A sand-bag
doesn't leave any mark. That's why it is so popular."

"It is impossible to convince a stubborn man," said the colonel. "I
should think that this experience would have been enough."

"Quite enough, thank you," responded Nick, sitting up. "And so, if you
gentlemen who kindly put me to bed will gracefully withdraw I will get
into my clothes, and prove to you that I have had enough, and that it is
somebody else's turn now."

He made them leave him with Patsy. Then he began to dress.

"Now tell me your story," he said.

"When I jumped for that spook," Patsy began, "I got the fearfulest thump
on my crust that I've had since that marline-spike fell off the main
yard on to me in the little affair of the Five Kernels of Corn.

"It couldn't have been a marker to what you got afterward, though. I
went down, but not out.

"You saw me draw my gun. Well, when you yelled 'Don't fire!' I held off,
but when I saw you go out I decided that all orders of that kind were
canceled.

"I blazed away; and, Nick, I put five bullets through that figure just
as sure as you're an inch high."

"What happened then?"

"The light went out. I got to your side, and flashed your lantern in
half a second.

"The figure had vanished. The colonel's lamp stood on the sideboard just
where he had put it.

"We had a fair light very soon. I examined you first, and, upon my word,
I thought that you were done for.

"We got you up to this room, and Horace Richmond rode off for the
doctor.

"From what he said about a nervous shock you can judge how m