eated crashes of the tempest, as it
raged among them, was accompanied by a frightful repetition of hoarse
moanings, muffled groans, and wild unearthly shrieks, which encountered
him from a thousand quarters in the grove, and he began to feel
that horrible excitement which is known to be occasioned by the mere
transition from extreme cowardice to reckless indifference.

Still he advanced homewards, repeating his prayers with singular energy,
his head uncovered notwithstanding the severity of the night, and the
rain pouring in torrents upon him, when he found it necessary to cross a
level of rough land, at all times damp and marshy, but in consequence of
the rains of the season, now a perfect morass. Over this he had advanced
about half a mile, and got beyond the frightful noises of the woods,
when some large object rose into the air from a clump of plashy rushes
before him, and shot along the blast, uttering a booming sound, so loud
and stunning that he stood riveted to the earth. The noise resembled
that which sometimes proceeds from a humming-top, if a person could
suppose one made upon such a gigantic scale as to produce the deep and
hollow buzz which this being emitted. Nothing could now convince him
that he was not surrounded by spirits, and he felt confident that the
voice of undiscovered murder was groaning on the blast--shrieking, as it
were, for vengeance in the terrible voice of the tempest. He once more
blessed himself, repeated a fresh prayer, and struggled forward, weak,
and nearly exhausted, until at length he reached the village adjoining
which his master, Dick o' the Grange, resided.

The winds now, and for some minutes previously, had begun to fall, and
the lulls in the storm were calmer and more frequent, as well as longer
in duration. Hanlon proceeded to his master's, and peering through the
shutters, discovered that the servants had not yet retired to rest;
then bending his steps further up the village, he soon reached a small
isolated cabin, at the door of which he knocked, and in due time was
admitted by a thin, tall female.

"God protect us, dear, you're lost!--blessed father, sich a night! Oh!
my, my! Well, well; sit near the spark o' fire, sich as it is; but,
indeed, it's little you'll benefit by it. Any way, sit down."

Hanlon sat on a stool, and laying his hat beside him on the floor, he
pressed the rain as well as he could out of his drenched hair, and for
some time did not speak, whilst th