his head pillowed on Billy's neck, the
Colonel had known nothing of this until the mule's abrupt stop shocked
him awake and to a sight of the ghostly apparition on the roadside.

"Hello, Spook!" exclaimed the Colonel, inclined to be friends with
anybody or anything which would relieve the loneliness of his night
ride.

"Hel--Hello, yourself! Ha, ha, ha!" returned Gerald, in great delight
yet half-confused by fatigue and the surprise of this meeting. They
were mutual "apparitions," arisen out of the earth to confront one
another. "Where you come from? Where you going? I'm--I'm awful tired."

"So 'm I. Always tired. Always expect to be. I come from going to and
fro upon the earth seekin' that I cayn't find. No, I cayn't. And of
all the bad luck I've had this is the worst. Ah! hum."

"I'm sorry," murmured Gerald, stumbling near enough Billy to lay his
head on the animal's shoulder, where he immediately went to sleep.

"Sho! That's odd! But everything is in this topsy-turvy world. I'll be
glad to be out of it. I never had no luck, Billy, an' you know it.
This yeah 's a piece with all the rest. To have this boy, or his
spook, rise up this-a-way, an' go to sleep, standin'. Well, Billy, it
cayn't be helped. The trouble is I was born with a heart, and it's
always gettin' us into trouble. It's that old heart o' mine makes me
feel I cayn't just shove this creatur' off an' leave him to his own
deserts. Ah! hum."

In his mournful tones the Colonel thus addressed the intelligent
beast, who responded with a sympathetic bray; but he stood rigidly
still while his master loosened and slipped from his back the blanket
strapped there and spread it on the grassy bank beside the road. Then,
as if Gerald had been a little child, the Colonel carried him to the
blanket, laid and covered him in it. He even took off his own coat and
made a pillow of it for Gerald's head. Next, he ordered: "Billy, lie
down!" and having been obeyed, calmly composed himself for another nap
upon the back of "his only friend."

The night passed. Gerald slept as he had never done in all his life.
The healthful fatigue of his tramp across lots and the pure outdoor
air did more for him than all the medicine he'd swallowed. When he
awoke the sun was shining in his eyes and Billy was braying an
injunction to get up, while the Colonel sat on the roadside pensively
reading out of his little brown book.

"My! You're an early student!" cried Gerald, who had lain stil