manners, and would always just as soon go off without biddin' a body
good-by as not."

"You didn't notice which way he went, did you?" asked Tony.

"Yes, I did," said Cousin Maria; "he went out o' the back door, and
along the edge of the woods, and he was soon out of sight, fur George
has got long legs, as you well know; and the last I saw of him was just
out there by that fence. And if there isn't Jim Anderson! Come in, Jim;
what are you doin' standin' out there?"

So she went to the window to call Jim Anderson, and Tony stepped to the
door and whistled for the other men, so that when Cousin Maria came to
the door she saw not only Jim Anderson, but Thomas Campbell and Captain
Bob Winters and Doctor Price's son Brinsley.

"Well, upon my word an' honor!" said Cousin Maria, lifting up both her
hands.

"Come along, boys," said Tony, starting off toward the woods. "We've got
no time to lose. Good-by, Cousin Maria."

"Good-by, Cousin Maria," said each of the other men, as the party
hurried away.

Cousin Maria did not answer a word. She sat right down on the door-step
and took off her spectacles. She rubbed them with her apron, and then
put them on again. But there was no mistake. There were the men. If she
had seen four ghosts she could not have been more astonished.