The Four Pools Mystery | Page 9

to the present by hearing, almost beneath
me, the low shuddering squeak of an opening window. I leaned out
silently alert, and to my surprise I saw Cat-Eye Mose--though it was
pretty dark I could not be mistaken in his long loping run--slink out
from the shadow of the house and make across the open space of lawn
toward the deserted negro cabins. As he ran he was bent almost double
over a large black bundle which he carried in his arms. Though I
strained my eyes to follow him I could make out nothing more before
he had plunged into the shadow of the laurels.
CHAPTER IV
THE HA'NT GROWS MYSTERIOUS
I waked early and hurried through with my dressing, eager to get down
stairs and report my last night's finding in regard to Mose. My first

impulse had been to rouse the house, but on soberer second thoughts I
had decided to wait till morning. I was glad now that I had; for with the
sunlight streaming in through the eastern windows, with the fresh
breeze bringing the sound of twittering birds, life seemed a more
cheerful affair than it had the night before, and the whole aspect of the
ha'nt took on a distinctly humorous tone.
A ghost who wafted roast chickens through the air and out of doors on
a breeze of its own constructing, appealed to me as having an original
mind. Since my midnight discovery I felt pretty certain that I could
identify the ghost; and as I recalled the masterly way in which Mose
had led and directed the hunt, I decided that he was cleverer than Rad
had given him credit for. I went down stairs with my eyes and ears
wide open prepared for further revelations. The problems of my
profession had never led me into any consideration of the supernatural,
and the rather evanescent business of hunting down a ha'nt came as a
welcome contrast to the very material details of my recent forgery case.
I had found what Terry would call a counter-irritant.
It was still early, and neither the Colonel nor Radnor had appeared; but
Solomon was sweeping off the portico steps and I addressed myself to
him. He was rather coy at first about discussing the matter of the ha'nt,
as he scented my scepticism, but in the end he volunteered:
"Some says de ha'nt's a woman dat one o' de Gaylords long time ago,
should o' married an' didn't, an' dat pined away an' died. An' some says
it's a black man one o' dem whupped to deaf."
"Which do you think it is?" I inquired.
"Bress yuh, Marse Arnold, I ain't thinkin' nuffen. Like es not hit's bofe.
When one sperrit gits oneasy 'pears like he stir up all de odders. Dey
gets so lonely like lyin' all by dereselves in de grave dat dey're 'most
crazy for company. An' when dey cayn't get each odder dey'll take
humans. De human what's consorted wid a gohs, Marse Arnold, he's
nebber hisself no moah. He's sort uh half-minded like Mose."
"Is that what's the matter with Mose?" I pursued tentatively. "Does he

consort with ghosts?"
"Mose was bawn dat way, but I reckon maybe dat was what was de
matter wid his mudder, an' he cotched it."
"That was rather an unusual thing, last night, wasn't it, for a ha'nt to
steal a chicken?"
"'Pears like ha'nts must have dere jokes like odder folkses," was as far
as Solomon would go.
At breakfast I repeated what I had seen the night before, and to my
indignation both Radnor and my uncle took it calmly.
"Mose is only a poor half witted fellow but he's as honest as the day,"
the Colonel declared, "and I won't have him turned into a villain for
your entertainment."
"He may be honest," I persisted, "but just the same he knows what
became of that chicken! And what's more, if you look about the house
you'll find there's something else missing."
The Colonel laughed good-naturedly.
"If it raises your suspicions to have Mose prowling around in the night,
you'll have to get used to suspicions; for you'll have 'em during the rest
of your stay. I've known Mose to stop out in the woods for three nights
running--he's as much an animal as he is a man; but he's a tame animal,
and you needn't be afraid of him. If you'd followed him and his bundle
last night I reckon you'd have made a mighty queer discovery. He has
his own little amusements and they aren't exactly ours, but since he
doesn't hurt anybody what's the use in bothering? I've known Mose for
well on to thirty years, and I've never yet known him to do a meanness
to any human being. There