A NIGHT ALARM 



the verandah in heavy shoes. Believing our ponies in 

 the stables near to have been the cause of this disturbance, 

 we had them removed at once to other stalls, lower down 

 the hill, where their movements could not possibly be 

 heard from the house. 



" ' The next morning, however, much to our surprise, he 

 again complained of the tramping in the verandah, and, 

 still under the impression the night-watchman was the 

 culprit, asked that he might be told to patrol outside. 



"'Now, as it happened, no night-watchman was em- 

 ployed by us, hence we were naturally much puzzled to 

 account for the continuance of the noise, after the removal 

 of the ponies, but fearing to alarm the boy, said nothing to 

 him about this, and merely told him we would make further 

 inquiries at once. He thanked us, and before the day 

 was over, appeared to have forgotten all about the matter, 

 and quite recovered his usual spirits, laughingly observing 

 as he was going off to bed, that " if that blessed watch- 

 man commenced his pranks again, he would plug him with 

 a new catapult he had made." 



" * It was about ten o'clock, and the next hour or two 

 went quickly by, the stillness of the night being only 

 occasionally broken by the howling of the jackals, when 

 suddenly an appalling shriek was heard, and the next 

 moment Morton's door was violently thrown open, and he 

 rushed screaming down the passage into my room, evidently 

 under the influence of some awful terror. Shortly after- 

 wards my two chums, awakened by the noise, came in 

 too, and together we tried to soothe him, but it was some 

 time before he was sufficiently collected to speak, and when 

 at length able to do so, he told us what had happened. 



" * It appeared that he had been lying in bed, reading for 

 about an hour, when again the tramping in the verandah 

 suddenly commenced, and determined this time to find 

 out what it was, jumped out of bed to look. 



" ' Going up to one of the windows, he pushed aside the 

 curtain and saw what seemed to him the faint outlines of 

 a face, peering into the room ; unfastening the window, 

 he pushed it open, when to his amazement he discovered 

 that in addition to the glass there were heavy wooden 

 shutters, securely fastened from inside ! 



L 145 



