ce, and a voice
groaned, "Out of this! out of this! out of this!" He pulled the
trigger, aiming at the point whence the voice came, but the cap alone
exploded, a hoarse laugh at the same time bursting forth, when a fearful
looking figure for an instant appeared, surrounded by a blue flame, and
then again all was dark and silent.

Mr Ludlow was a man of nerve; springing from his bed he rushed towards
the spot where he had seen the figure, but nearly fractured his head
against the wall. He sprang to the other side, but only upset some
articles of furniture which seemed to have been placed purposely in the
way; and at length, after groping about for some time, he was glad to
get back, utterly baffled, to his bed. He had no matches in the room,
or he would have lighted a candle and gone in search of the disturbers
of his slumbers. He could not go to sleep again very easily, so he lay
wondering who could have played the trick. "Not Stephen, my own son,"
he thought, "but that other boy, Charley Blount; he seems up to
anything. Still he would not have the audacity to come into my room and
attempt to frighten me."

Thus thinking, he was dropping off to sleep when a deep groan awoke
him--he listened, all was silent; he thought that he must be mistaken,
but he tried to keep awake to listen, directing his eyes at the same
time towards the door. Once more there was a groan, and directly
afterwards, at a spot where a gleam of starlight came through the
window, he caught a glimpse of a tall figure gliding across the room.
He fired at the instant; this time his pistol went off. There was a
hoarse laugh as before; but when he sprang up, hoping to seize his
untimely visitor, the figure had disappeared, and he ran his head
against the edge of the door which had been left open. So unusual a
sound as the report of a pistol in a quiet household at midnight soon
brought most of the inmates to his room. The captain came stumping down
in a red nightcap and an old pea-coat; Tom had quickly slipped into a
pair of trousers, and had a yellow handkerchief round his head; Becky
appeared, her countenance ornamented with huge curlpapers, in a flannel
petticoat and piece of chintz curtain over her shoulders; while the
stout lieutenant, unable to find his garments in the dark, had groped
his way up wrapped in a blanket, when coming suddenly in front of Becky,
she shrieked out, "A ghost! a ghost! a ghost!" and ran off, nearly
upsetting her ma