The Book of Dreams and Ghosts by Andrew Lang
page 69 of 279 (24%)
page 69 of 279 (24%)
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all we could say to him, and I believe he was buried with it". Mr.
Barter then asked where he got the pony, describing it minutely. "He bought him at Peshawur, and killed him one day, riding in his reckless fashion down the hill to Trete." Mr. Barter and his wife often heard the horse's hoofs later, though he doubts if any one but B. had ever ridden the bridle path. His Hindoo bearer he found one day armed with a lattie, being determined to waylay the sound, which "passed him like a typhoon". {74} Here the appearance gave correct information unknown previously to General Barter, namely, that Lieutenant B. grew stout and wore a beard before his death, also that he had owned a brown pony, with black mane and tail. Even granting that the ghosts of the pony and lieutenant were present (both being dead), we are not informed that the grooms were dead also. The hallucination, on the theory of "mental telegraphy," was telegraphed to General Barter's mind from some one who had seen Lieutenant B. ride home from mess not very sober, or from the mind of the defunct lieutenant, or, perhaps, from that of the deceased pony. The message also reached and alarmed General Barter's dogs. Something of the same kind may or may not explain Mr. Hyndford's view of the family coach, which gave no traceable information. The following story, in which an appearance of the dead conveyed information not known to the seer, and so deserving to be called veracious, is a little ghastly. THE BRIGHT SCAR |
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