“Nor do I!” said the man.

Now, while we thus fronted each other, there came the sound of approaching footsteps, and John Pringle, the Carrier, appeared, followed by the pessimistic Job.

“Marnin’, Peter!—­them ’orseshoes,” began John, pausing just outside the smithy door, “you was to finish ’em ’s arternoon; if so be as they bean’t done, you bein’ short’anded wi’out Jarge, why, I can wait.”  Now, during this speech, I was aware that both his and Job’s eyes had wandered from my bandaged thumb to my bare throat, and become fixed there.

“Come in and sit down,” said I, nodding to each, as I blew up the fire, “come in.”  For a moment they hesitated, then John stepped gingerly into the smithy, closely followed by Job, and, watching them beneath my brows as I stooped above the shaft of the bellows, I saw each of them furtively cross his fingers.

“Why do you do that, John Pringle?” said I.

“Do what, Peter?”

“Cross your fingers.”

“Why, ye see, Peter,” said John, glancing in turn at the floor, the rafters, the fire, and the anvil, but never at me, “ye see, it be just a kind o’ way o’ mine.”

“But why does Job do the same?”

“An’ why do ‘ee look at a man so sharp an’ sudden-like?” retorted Job sullenly; “dang me! if it aren’t enough to send cold shivers up a chap’s spine—­I never see such a pair o’ eyes afore—­no—­nor don’t want to again.”

“Nonsense!” said I; “my eyes can’t hurt you.”

“An’ ’ow am I to know that, ‘ow am I to be sure o’ that; an’ you wi’ your throat all torn wi’ devil’s claws an’ demon’s clutches —­it bean’t nat’ral—­Old Amos says so, an’ I sez so.”

“Pure folly!” said I, plucking the iron from the fire, and beginning to beat and shape it with my hammer, but presently, remembering the strange man who had spoken my name, I looked up, and then I saw that he was gone.  “Where is he?” said I involuntarily.

“Where’s who?” inquired John Pringle, glancing about uneasily.

“The fellow who was talking to me as you came up?”

“I didn’t see no fellow!” said Job, looking at John and edging nearer the door.

“Nor me neither!” chimed in John Pringle, looking at Job.

“Why, he was leaning in at the window here, not a minute ago,” said I, and, plunging the half-finished horseshoe back into the fire, I stepped out into the road, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

“Very strange!” said I.

“What might ’e ’ave been like, now?” inquired John.

“He was tall and thin, and wore a big flapping hat.”

John Pringle coughed, scratched his chin, and coughed again.

“What is it, John?” I inquired.

“Why, then, you couldn’t ‘appen to notice—­’im wearin’ ’is ’at —­you couldn’t ’appen to notice if ’e ‘ad ever a pair o’ ’orns, Peter?”

“Horns!” I exclaimed.

“Or a—­tail, Peter?”

“Or even a—­’oof, now?” suggested Job.