The Ghost of Appledore

It was after sunset, and I was coming round the corner of a work-shop, when I saw a wild and dreadful figure advancing toward me. My first thought was that some one wished to make me the victim of a practical joke. I called out something to the effect that I was not afraid, but the thing came nearer and nearer showing me his ghastly face and hollow eyes. His expression was fiendish as he extracted a knife from its belt and flourished it in my face. I fled to my house and entered breathlessly, calling against the person who had tried to frighten me.

To my alarm, I found him sitting at my supper table and eating my victuals! At this sight, my senses left me, and I was overtaken by a faint. When I awoke, Babb started to laugh--at first a chuckle. Then it became louder, and louder until the rafters began to shake, and I--I began to quake. Then, in an eye blink, he vanished, leaving me more firmly convinced than ever of his ghostly presence.

A short span of time passed, and this one warm, summer night found me sitting on my broad piazza at sunset, searching for a cool sea breeze. The wind was calm--barely a waft in the still atmosphere. The sea murmured but little. Birds twittered softly welcoming their time of rest.

As I glanced northward toward Babb's Cove, I saw a figure slowly crossing the shingle to the path which led to my house. After watching it a moment, I called out to it, but there was no reply. Again I called. Still no answer. The darkish figure glided slowly closer and closer to my being. Suddenly, I realized that I was hearing no steps on the loose shingle that was wont to give back every footfall. I slowly descended the steps of the piazza and sauntered toward the stranger.

In the twilight I could see the face and immediately recognized the butcher's frock and leather belt of Babb. But I was not prepared for the devilish expression of malice in that hollow face and I was chilled to the marrow at the sight!

The white stripes in the frock gleamed like phosphorescent light, as did his awful eyes. I called out aloud, "Who are you? What do you want?" He but continued his advance towards me, when suddenly the shape grew indistinct, first thick and cloudy, then

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