his elbow on the top of the pen and snored again, lightly, while I mixed
the feed for the pigs.

Mr. Hacket met us at the kitchen door, where Deacon Binks said to him:

"If you'll look after the boy to-day, I'll go home and get a little
rest."

"God bless yer soul, ye had a busy night," said the schoolmaster with a
smile.

He added as he went into the house:

"I never knew a man to rest with more energy and persistence. It was a
perfect flood o' rest. It kept me awake until long after midnight."

CHAPTER XII

THE SPIRIT OF MICHAEL HENRY AND OTHERS

That last peril is one of the half-solved mysteries of my life. The
following affidavit, secured by an assistant of the district attorney
from a young physician in a village above Ballybeen, never a matter of
record, heightened its interest for me and my friends.

"Deponent saith that about eleven o'clock on the evening of the,
24th of September (that on which the attack upon me was made) a man
unknown to him called at his office and alleged that a friend of
the stranger had been injured and was in need of surgical aid. He
further alleged that his friend was in trouble and being sought
after and that he, the caller, dared not, therefore, reveal the
place where his friend had taken refuge. He offered the deponent
the sum of ten dollars to submit to the process of blindfolding and
of being conducted to I said place for the purpose of giving relief
to the injured man. Whereupon the deponent declares that he
submitted to said process and was conducted by wagon and trail to a
bark shanty at some place in the woods unknown to him where the
bandage was removed from his eyes. He declares further that he
found there, a strong built, black-bearded man about thirty years
of age, and a stranger to him, lying on a bed of boughs in the
light of a fire and none other. This man was groaning in great pain
from a wound made by some heavy weapon on the side of his head. The
flesh of the cheek and ear were swollen and lacerated. Deponent
further declares that he administered an opiate and dressed and put
a number of stitches in the injured parts and bound them with a
bandage soaked in liniment. Then deponent returned to his home,
blindfolded as he had left it. He declares that the time consumed
in the journey from the shanty to his home was one hour and ten
m