this he
proceeded to do.

But first he drew a brace of long barrelled pistols from his coat
pocket, and taking a powder-flask and bullets from his pocket also, he
loaded them very carefully.

"There," said he, "are my bull-dogs; and rare watch-dogs they are. They
never bark but they bite. Now, if anybody does come, it will be all up
with them. Tricks upon travellers ain't a safe game when I have these;
and now for the other bottle."

He drew the other bottle, and thought, if anything, it was better than
the first. He drank it rather quick, to be sure, and then he began to
feel sleepy and tired.

"I think I shall go to bed," he said; "that is, if I can find my way
there, for it does seem to me as if the door was travelling. Never mind,
it will make a call here again presently, and then I'll get through."

So saying he arose. Taking the candle in his hand, he walked with a
better step than might have been expected under the circumstance. True
it was the candle wagged to and fro, and his shadow danced upon the
wall; but still, when he got to the bed, he secured his door, put the
light in a safe place, threw himself down, and was fast asleep in a few
moments, or rather he fell into a doze instantaneously.

How long he remained in this state he knew not, but he was suddenly
awakened by a loud bang, as though something heavy and flat had fallen
upon the floor--such, for instance, as a door, or anything of that sort.
He jumped up, rubbed his eyes, and could even then hear the
reverberations through the house.

"What is that?" he muttered; "what is that?"

He listened, and thought he could hear something moving down stairs, and
for a moment he was seized with an ague fit; but recollecting, I
suppose, that there were some valuables down stairs that were worth
fighting for, he carefully extinguished the light that still burned, and
softly crept down stairs.

When he got down stairs he thought he could hear some one scramble up
the kitchen stairs, and then into the room where the bureau was.
Listening for a moment to ascertain if there were more than one, and
then feeling convinced there was not, he followed into the parlour, when
he heard the cabinet open by a key.

This was a new miracle, and one he could not understand; and then he
hoard the papers begin to rattle and rustle; so, drawing out one of the
pistols, he cocked it, and walked in.

The figure instantly began to jump about; it was dressed in white--in
gr