occurred which tested his courage severely. As he went along he imagined
that he heard the sound of human footsteps near him. This, to be sure,
gave him at first no trouble on the score of anything supernatural. The
country, however, was, as we have already intimated, very much infested
with outlaws and robbers, and although Woodward was well armed, as he
had truly said, and was no coward besides, yet it was upon this view
of the matter that he experienced anything like apprehension. He
accordingly paused, in order to ascertain whether the footsteps he heard
might not have been the echo of his own. When his steps ceased, so
also did the others; and when he advanced again so did they. He coughed
aloud, but there was no echo; he shouted out "Is there any one there?"
but still there was a dead stillness. At length he said again, "Whoever
you may be, and especially if your designs be evil and unlawful, you had
better beware; I am well armed, and both able and determined to defend
myself; if money is your object, pass on, for I have none about me."

Again there was the silence, as there was the darkness of the grave. He
now resumed his former pace, and the noise of footsteps, evidently and
distinctly different from his own, were once more heard near him. Those
that accompanied him fell upon his ear with a light, but strange and
chilling sound, that filled him with surprise, and something like awe.
In fact, he had never heard anything similar to it before. It was very
strange, he thought, for the sounds, though light, were yet as distinct
and well-defined as his own. He still held a pistol in each hand, and as
he had no means of unravelling this mystery so long as he was inwrapped
in such Cimmerian gloom, he resolved to accelerate his pace and get into
the light of the moon as soon as he could. He accordingly did so; but
the footsteps, although they fell not now so quickly as his own, still
seemed to maintain the same distance from him as before. This certainly
puzzled him; and he was attempting, if possible, to solve this new