"Not that I know of," said Peechy; "he had no time to spare from
his work, and, to tell the truth, he did not like to run the risk
of another race among the rocks. Besides, how should he recollect
the spot where the grave had been digged? everything would look so
different by daylight. And then, where was the use of looking for
a dead body when there was no chance of hanging the murderers?"
"Aye, but are you sure it was a dead body they buried?" said
Wolfert.
"To be sure," cried Peechy Prauw exultingly. "Does it not haunt in
the neighborhood to this very day?"
"Haunts!" exclaimed several of the party, opening their eyes still
wider, and edging their chairs still closer.
"Aye, haunts," repeated Peechy; "have none of you heard of Father
Red-cap, who haunts the old burned farmhouse in the woods, on the
border of the Sound, near Hell Gate?"
"Oh, to be sure, I've heard tell of something of the kind, but then
I took it for some old wives' fable."
"Old wives' fable or not," said Peechy Prauw, "that farmhouse
stands hard by the very spot. It's been unoccupied time out of
mind, and stands in a lonely part of the coast, but those who fish
in the neighborhood have often heard strange noises there, and
lights have been seen about the wood at night, and an old fellow in
a red cap has been seen at the windows more than once, which people
take to be the ghost of the body buried there.
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