At night, however, the obscurity was black and palpable; and such upon this occasion was its awful solemnity and stillness, and the sense of insecurity occasioned by the almost supernatural gloom about him, that Woodward could not avoid the idea that it afforded no bad conception of the entrance to the world of darkness and of spirits.

He had not proceeded far, however, under this dismal canopy, when an incident occurred which tested his courage severely.

As he went along he imagined that he heard the sound of human footsteps near him.

This, to be sure, gave him at first no trouble on the score of anything supernatural.

The country, however, was, as we have already intimated, very much infested with outlaws and robbers, and although Woodward was well armed, as he had truly said, and was no coward besides, yet it was upon this view of the matter that he experienced anything like apprehension.