Page:Hallowe'en festivities (1903).djvu/190

186 The only answer was a moaning of the wind—or, was it the moaning-of a ghost?

But Noah Clayton was not a coward, especially with such a backing; so he directed his wife how to hold the light; and then, having seen that his pistol was properly cocked, he placed his hand upon the latch.

Mrs. Noah grasped the poker more firmly, and raised it into ready position; Master Tommy, under cover of his mother, with bootjack valiantly advanced, stood side by side with his smaller brother, and papa's boot.

"Ah—sh!—There go the plates again! And—now—ha!—a leap upon the floor! How curiously they tread! Hold the light, mother. A little higher—ah—that's it. Now!"

And he threw open the door. The fresh breeze came in through a break in the window; the moonbeams struggled through the dingy panes, and from her place near the center of the floor straight to them advanced—the old cat, with a fear-dispelling meow!

AIN'T afraid o' goblins, I should say; You can't scare Sam an' me, not that a-way. Do you know what goblins are? They're awful things, Dressed all in white, or black. They don't have wings, But they can fly right through the ceilin'; then They have long arms, an' oo-oo! long claws, an' when They grab a feller, off they fly, before You've time to yell—'n' you don't come back no more.

We ain't afraid o' goblins, Sam an' me— I ain't, when Sam's around, an' Sam says he Ain't 'f raid o' nothing! Goblins like to keep All night in lonesome graveyards—cre-e-ep an' cre-ep So scarey like—a-listenin' in the dark