When he came to reflect upon it, it seemed impossible.
"Well, that beats everything," he said, with a perplexed sigh.

"That sounded so close that I expected to be run over before I could get out of the way, and now he's gone." He waited some minutes, and, hearing and seeing nothing, once more resumed his stealthy way along the gorge, a new, shivering fear gradually creeping over him, as it does over anyone who suspects himself in the presence of the unexplainable and unnatural.
"I wonder whether they have ghosts in this part of the world ?" he said to himself.

"I used to hear the men talk of such things, but father said there was nothing in them, and so I didn't believe them--but I don't know what father would say or think if he was in my place." There was the strong counter-belief, also--the conviction that most likely there was a reality about the thing--which kept Fred on the _qui vive_.

He was determined, if possible, to prevent a repetition of the startling surprise of a few minutes before.

He scrutinized the side of the ravine as he walked along, on the lookout for any opening or crevice which would permit a man and a horse to find shelter.