They were not well gone before I heard
another distinctly enter the stable, and come towards the ladder.
The lad who was sitting up in his bed, intent on the watch, called
out: "Wha's that there? Walker, is that you? Purdie, I say is it
you?"
The darkling intruder paused for a few moments, and then came
towards the foot of the ladder. The horses broke loose, and,
snorting and neighing for terror, raged through the house. In all
my life I never heard so frightful a commotion. The being that
occasioned it all now began to mount the ladder towards our loft,
on which the lad in the bed next the ladder sprung from his
couch, crying out: "The L--d A--y preserve us! What can it be?"
With that he sped across the loft and by my bed, praying lustily
all the way; and, throwing himself from the other end of the loft
into a manger, he darted, naked as he was, through among the
furious horses, and, making the door that stood open, in a
moment he vanished and left me in the lurch. Powerless with
terror, and calling out fearfully, I tried to follow his example; but,
not knowing the situation of the places with regard to one
another, I missed the manger, and fell on the pavement in one of
the stalls.
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