J 6 EYE SPY 



ghostly light that flickered about the eaves of a 

 certain old ruin of a house in the neighborhood, 

 and also above the well close by in the weedy 

 waste of the former door-yard. 



The light was seen by many for several con- 

 secutive nights. It fairly glowed into a halo up 

 from the wooden curb which surmounted the well, 

 where it was viewed at a safe distance with bated 

 breath by a curious crowd of villagers, not one of 

 whom would have dared to steal up and surprise 

 the innocent spook in its haunt — doubtless a mass 

 •of fox-fire which had found its brief, congenial 

 home in the decaying boards within the tottering 

 well-curb. Of course the house was ''haunted" 

 for evermore, and rustic tradition for a whole 

 generation was rich in fabulous tales of the 

 " haunted well," and there was serious talk of 

 unearthing the nameless mystery which lay at 

 the bottom of it. 



A certain saw-mill was also tenanted by a simi- 

 lar luminous ghost one night after a heavy rain, 

 but the shape of the spook in this case was so 

 peculiar, and so exactly corresponded with the 

 parallel cross-boxes of the old broken water-wheel, 

 that it was considered harmless. 



But it is scarcely to be wondered at that a phe- 

 nomenon so startling and inexplicable to the rustic 

 mind should be associated with the supernatural. 

 One's first experience with fox-fire, especially if 



