"Oh, Rusty, why worry over history? Leave that sort of thing to these "spigotties"--that"s all they have to think about over here. It was just a question of being "pinked" or "pinking" a certain gentleman who was working beyond union hours."
"Huh!" snorted Rusty. "I"ll bet de razor I has in my jeans dat he was moh red dan pink when you-all got finished wid dat cannon o" yourn, Ma.r.s.e Warren. It runs in de fambly ter shoot straight!"
"Well, Rusty, let"s ride straight for a while. We must go up this road to the turn."
They pa.s.sed dark cottages, and finally reached the fateful angle of the road. Rusty groaned apprehensively.
"Say, Ma.r.s.e Warren, I wouldn"t mind dis all in de meanest moonshine district in Kaintuck, but I don"t like for to ride in dis yere foreign district. W"y didn"t you-all pick out some place w"ere dey speaks human talk, instead of dis on-Christian lingo? It don"t seem releegious to me, Ma.r.s.e Warren."
"Rusty, I"m beginning to think you"ve got a yellow streak in you, with all this talk about objections. You used to have a name for not even being afraid of your weight in wildcats," said Warren.
Rusty nodded, as he clung tightly to the saddle, on the increasingly rough trail.
"Ma.r.s.e Warren, dat was right. But wildcats is purty heavy, an" you-all can hit "em with a shotgun. De trouble wid ghosts is dat dey don"t weigh nuffin!"
"Lookout, Rusty. Here"s a brook," and suddenly Jarvis" horse stumbled to its feet, after sliding down a sharp declivity which had been hidden by the shadows of the big moonlit trees. Rusty was not so fortunate,--he was rolled off despite his efforts, to receive a ducking.
Then did his teeth have reason to chatter, as he mounted again to follow his master up the declivity with dripping clothes.
"Whaffor dey want a crick like dat just below de doors of a castle, Ma.r.s.e Warren?" he complained.
"That"s how they got their water supply--I wouldn"t be surprised if the old place weren"t built right on top of that spring. You know when this place was built they didn"t have any faucets or taps in these old places.--Except on the heads!"
They mounted higher, ever higher, swinging on their saddlebows the unlighted, antique lanterns. Rusty was unmistakably becoming more and more nervous.
The road took a sharp turn to the right now, and they clattered over the wooden bridge of the moat.
They faced the great doorway of the old castle now. In the moonlight it was an eerie sight indeed. The castle stood on a broad rocky shelf. A cold wind swept over the mountain top, rattling the naked branches near by the dismal walls.
"Ooooh!"
"What"s that?" grunted Rusty in terror.
"Just the wind trying to get out through those barred windows up there, you fool."
"Laws-a-ma.s.sy, I don"t blame it fer gittin" out. I wish I wasn"t goin"
in."
A lone cloud took this occasion to cover the moon, and the shadow darkened the outlines of the sinister structure. The castle, so Warren had judged on his trip up the hill, must have been built in the period of the Spanish Moors. Later, perhaps when the Moors had been driven out of the country, two dismal wings, several towers and turrets had been added, reminding one of the castles on the Rhine cliffs.
The face of the structure, which Jarvis scanned quickly, was about two hundred feet long and maybe sixty feet high--with two stanch square towers at either end.
Thin slits in the walls and two round windows high up appeared to the mind of the Kentuckian (humorous in the face of the unknown danger) as "architectural bungholes." On either side of the great arched door jutted a turret, slit with many smaller openings and possessing castellated tops.
As they rumbled over the planking of the open drawbridge Rusty"s chattering teeth were audible to the rider close at his side, and Jarvis muttered angrily, drawing up his horse by the gate which led to the inner courtyard.
"If you"re still too much of a coward to go on, you can ride back, Rusty. This is the first time you"ve ever failed me in a time of danger."
The negro remonstrated nervously.
"I"m not skeered--Ma.r.s.e Warren, I"m jes" gittin" straight hair fer de fust time in my life. I"m goin" wid you. I"ze jes" mighty onhappy."
A doorway somewhere swung shut with an iron clang. Rusty"s nerves were stronger now. He breathed hard but said nothing.
"They used to hitch their horses here, I suppose," said Jarvis, as he slid from the saddle. The moonlight gave them a better illumination by this time. He hitched his horse, and Rusty followed his example with trembling fingers.
"Now, light the lamps. My, but those lamps would sell for a fortune in a Fourth Avenue antique shop!"
Rusty obeyed silently.
Then followed the most horrible experience of Rusty"s life, in what seemed an endless exploration. They trod along weirdly echoing corridors, through s.p.a.cious chambers, where ancient tapestries hung from the walls, while strange _debris_ lay about amidst the curious carved furniture. Everything was covered by a pall of dust. Squealing and scurrying, the shining eyes and ghastly noises betrayed the presence of myriad rats.
"What can they find to live on?" wondered Warren.
From the high battlements they peered into the valley, and could see a few faint lights in the distant inn. Warren felt sure that one of those lights was in the room of her Highness.
They explored the bedchambers of the lords and ladies of the castle, the little pigeonholes in which the men-at-arms must have slept.
Strange subtle odors met them like an actual presence as they peered into dungeons, stone chambers, and horrid vaults.
"I don"t even see why a ghost would want ter hang around dis misserable place, Ma.r.s.e Warren," ventured Rusty, as for the second time they entered the largest room of all, within the central keep.
"We"ve been here before, Rusty," replied Warren, sitting down for a moment on an old bench. Rusty looked around with rolling eyes.
Suddenly Jarvis jumped up and sniffed.
"Yes, and someone else has been here before. Do you smell that, Rusty?"
"Ma.r.s.e Warren, I"m so skeered dat I can"t smell nuthin",--I can" see nuthin", hear nuthin"--except dem moans and yowls in all dose powerful big rooms we was in."
"The room"s full of smoke and the smell of oil." Jarvis walked about, to make certain. "Somebody"s been carrying a smoky lantern. We"re getting warmer with that ghost."
A dull thud came to their ears, from far within the building. Rusty jumped like a frightened fawn.
"Good G.o.delmity! What"s dat?"
Jarvis quietly walked across the room, to peer into the big stone fireplace.
"Oh, Ma.r.s.e Warren, I want to go home!"
Rusty had turned about, and his eyes took in two figures of ancient armor at the top of the broad half-flight of stairs, on a balcony das.
He sank upon his knees and bobbed his head to the floor in obeisance.
"What"s the matter?" and Jarvis whirled about, with revolver drawn. His own nerves were beginning to get too taut, with the tension exaggerated by the superst.i.tion and fright of the negro.
"Look! Look! Look at dem big black boogies standin" dere, Ma.r.s.e Warren.
See "em standin" dere?"
Jarvis laughed and put his gun into his side pocket.