I crept closer to my steed:  nature, recoiling from contact with the approaching phantom, prompted me thus intuitively to cling to anything that had life.  I felt a temporary relief, even from the presence of the terrified beast, though I could distinctly perceive him shuddering, yet fixed to the spot.  The voice now came on rapidly; it was but a few paces distant.  I felt as though I was the sport and prey of thoughts too horrible for utterance.  Alone, I had to cope with the Evil One;—­or I was already, perhaps, the victim of some diabolical agency.  The yell was close upon my ear; I felt the clammy breath of the grave across my face, and the sound swept by.  It slowly arose;—­but the agony of the cry was more intense,—­more sharp and vehement the shriek of “Murder!” Grown bolder, or perhaps more desperate, I cried out, “Where, in the name of——?” I had scarcely uttered the words when a loud rushing cleft the air, and a crash followed, as though some heavy body had fallen at my feet.  The horse burst from its bonds, galloping from me at full speed, and I stood alone!  In this appalling extremity, I approached the object of my fears.  I bent to the ground; stretching out my hand, my fingers rested on the cold and clammy features of a corpse!  I well remember the deep groan that burst from my lips;—­nature had reached the extremity of endurance—­I felt a sudden rush of blood to the heart, and fell beside my ghastly companion, equally helpless and insensible.

I have no means of ascertaining the duration of this swoon; but, with returning recollection, I again put out my hand, which rested on the cold and almost naked carcase beside me.  I felt roused by the touch, and started on my feet—­the moon at this instant emerging from a mass of dark clouds, streamed full on the dead body, pale and blood-stained, the features distorted, as if by some terrible death.  Fear now prompted me to fly:  I ran as if the wind had lent me wings—­not daring to look back, lest my eyes should again rest on the grisly form I had just left.  I fled onwards for some time; the moon now enabling me to follow the beaten track, which, to my great joy, brought me suddenly, at the turn of a high bank, within sight of a cheerful fire gleaming through a narrow door, seemingly the entrance to some wayside tavern.  Bursts of hilarity broke from the interior; the voice of revelry and mirth came upon my ear, as though I was just awakening from a dream.  It was as if I had heard the dead laugh in their cold cerements.  As I stepped across the threshold, the boisterous roar of mirth made me shudder; and it seemed, by the alarm visible in the countenances of the guests, that my appearance presented something as terrible to their apprehensions.  Every eye was fixed on me as I seated myself by a vacant table; and I heard whisperings, with suspicious glances occasionally directed towards the place where I sat.  The company, however, soon began to get the better of their consternation, and were evidently not pleased