with satisfied accents. "We're all right now; and the wind's
lifting the sky ahead there. Forward now, all together, and let's
get out of this hell-hole while we can!"

It was so much lighter that the bulk of each horseman could be seen
as they moved forward together. But there was no thinning of the
obscurity on either side of them. Nevertheless the profile of the
horseman with the pleasant voice seemed to be occasionally turned
backward, and he suddenly checked his horse.

"There's the window again!" he said. "Look! There--it's gone
again."

"Let it go and be d--d!" returned the leader. "Come on."

They spurred forward in silence. It was not long before the
wayside trees began to dimly show spaces between them, and the
ferns to give way to lower, thick-set shrubs, which in turn yielded
to a velvety moss, with long quiet intervals of netted and tangled
grasses. The regular fall of the horses' feet became a mere
rhythmic throbbing. Then suddenly a single hoof rang out sharply
on stone, and the first speaker reined in slightly.

"Thank the Lord we're on the ridge now! and the rest is easy. Tell
you what, though, boys, now we're all right, I don't mind saying
that I didn't take no stock in that blamed corpse light down there.
If there ever was a will-o'-the-wisp on a square up mountain, that
was one. It wasn't no window! Some of ye thought ye saw a face
too--eh?"