nty even in the mind of his
oldest pal, Peter Betts.

"Why--ghostisses!" said Halsey, with a frown, removing his pipe for a
moment to give emphasis to the word. "I don't see as a man can be
expected to deal with ghostisses. Anythin' else yer like in a small
way--mad dogs, or bulls, or snakes, where they keep 'em, which, thank the
Lord, they don't in these parts--but not _them_."

"What did yer see?" said Betts, after a few ruminating pulls.

"Well, I saw old Watson, the keeper, as was murdered sixty years since,
'at's what I saw," said Halsey with slow decisiveness.

"An' what might be like?" asked Betts, with equal deliberation. The day
was mild and sunny; the half-ploughed field on which they had been
working lay alternatively yellow in the stubbles and a rich brown purple
in the new turned furrows under the autumn noon. A sense of well-being
had been diffused in the two old men by food and rest. Halsey's tongue
grew looser.

"Well, I saw a man come creepin' an' crouchin' down yon grass road"--(it
was visible from where they sat, as a green streak on the side of the
hill)--"same as several people afore me 'as seen 'um--same as they allus
say old Watson must ha' come after Dempsey shot 'im. He wor shot in the
body. The doctors as come to look at 'im fust foun' that out. An' if
ye're shot in the body, I understan', yo naterally double up a bit if yo
try to walk. Well--that's jes' how I saw 'im--crouchin' along. Yo
remember it wor a dull evenin' yesterday--an' it wor gettin' dark, though
it worn't dark. It wor not much after fower, by my old watch--but I
couldn't see 'im at all plain. I wor in Top-End field--you know?--as
leads up to that road. An' I watched 'im come along making for that
outside cart-shed--that 'un that's back to back wi' the shippen, where
they foun' Watson lyin'. An' I wor much puzzled by the look on 'im. I
didn't think nothink about old Watson, fust of all--I didn't know what to
think. I was right under the hedge wi' the horses; 'ee couldna' ha' seen
me--an' I watched 'im. He stopped, onst or twice, as though he wor
restin' hisself--pullin' 'isself together--and onst I 'eered 'im cough--"

Halsey looked round suddenly on his companion as though daring him to
mock.

Betts, however, could not help himself. He gave an interrupting and
sceptical chuckle.

"Ghostisses don't cough, as ever I 'eered on."

"And why shouldn't they?" said Halsey testily. "If they can do them
other things they'd used