like a
sugar-loaf, two or three hundred feet above the level of the stream, and
had just made up his mind to ascend it when I spoke to him. I readily
consented to accompany him, and we immediately commenced climbing
upwards.

The ascent was toilsome, as well as dangerous, and more than once we
were on the point of descending without reaching the summit. Still,
however, we clambered on, and at half-past one o'clock A. M., we
succeeded in our effort, and stood upon the old stone rampart that had
for more than half a century been slowly yielding to the remorseless
tooth of Time. Abandoned for many years, the ruins presented the very
picture of desolation. Rank vines clung upon every stone, and half
filled up with their green tendrils the yawning crevices everywhere
gaping at us, and whispering of the flight of years.

We sat down on a broken fragment that once served as the floor of a
port-hole, and many minutes elapsed before either of us spoke a word. We
were busy with the past. Our thoughts recalled the terrible scenes which
this same old fort witnessed on that glorious day when the youthful
Nelson planted with his own hand the flag of St. George upon the very
ramparts where we were sitting.

How long we had been musing I know not; but suddenly we heard a low,
long-drawn sigh at our very ears. Each sprang to his feet, looked wildly
around, but seeing nothing, gazed at the other in blank astonishment. We
resumed our seats, but had hardly done so, when a deep and most
anguishing groan was heard, that pierced our very hearts. This time we
retained our position. I had unclosed my lips, preparatory to speaking
to my companion, when I felt myself distinctly touched upon the
shoulder. My voice died away inarticulately, and I shuddered with
ill-concealed terror. But my companion was perfectly calm, and moved not
a nerve or a muscle. Able at length to speak, I said, "Judge, let us
leave this haunted sepulchre."

"Not for the world," he coolly replied. "You have been anxious for
spiritual phenomena; now you can witness them unobserved and without
interruption."

As he said this, my right arm was seized with great force, and I was
compelled to resign myself to the control of the presence that possessed
me. My right hand was then placed on the Judge's left breast, and his
left hand laid gently on my right shoulder. At the same time he took a
pencil and paper from his pocket, and wrote very rapidly the following
communication