Our farm-house was situated in a lonely valley, half surrounded with woods, with no neighbors in sight.

One dark, cloudy night, when our parents chanced to be absent, we were sitting with our aged grandmother in the fading light of the kitchen-fire, working ourselves into a very satisfactory state of excitement and terror by recounting to each other all the dismal stories we could remember of ghosts, witches, haunted houses and robbers, when we were suddenly startled by a loud rap at the door.

A stripling of fourteen, I was very naturally regarded as the head of the household; so,--with many misgivings, I advanced to the door, which I slowly opened, holding the candle tremulously above my head and peering out into the darkness.

The feeble glimmer played upon the apparition of a gigantic horseman, mounted on a steed of a size worthy of such a rider-- colossal, motionless, like images cut out of the solid night.

The strange visitant gruffly saluted me; and, after making several ineffectual efforts to urge his horse in at the door, dismounted and followed me into the room, evidently enjoying the terror which his huge presence excited.