“Nobody ever saw it but father, because it was one of them snobbish ghosts that never appeared to common people.
“Father used to see it on Christmas night, an’ that was always a sign for mother to send for the doctor.
“Hullo, Clark,’ sez the doctor, ‘ been seein’ that ghost of yours?’
“‘Yes, sir,’ sez father.
“‘Hum!’ sez the doctor, feelin’ his pulse, ‘did u see anythin’ else?’
“‘Yes, sir,’ sez father. ‘I saw a lot of pink beetles an’ a mouse with an elephant’s head.’
“Then the doctor would write his prescription, an’ father would be a teetotaller for months an’ months.
“If I said our family ghost was pinched for rent, I’m bein’ what you might call exaggeracious. What happened was that father got an execution in for rent, an’ him an’ the broker’s man got into a friendly argument as to how much whisky a man can drink without dyin’. Father went down to the grocer’s an’ swapped two coal tickets for two bottles, an’ the broker’s man obligingly sat down to prove his words…. It seems that he saw our ghost, an’ the ghost must have took a likin’ to him, for the broker’s man wouldn’t talk about anything but that ghost an’ the other animals he saw for days an’ days after. It was bad business for the broker’s man, because whilst he was in his trance father an’ mother got all the furniture out of the house an’ disappeared.
“I never took much stock of ghosts meself, an’ didn’t believe in ’em till the South African War.” Nobby was silent for a little while, and his face grew suddenly serious and old looking.
“If you think what I’m goin’ to tell you is a lie, you needn’t be frightened to tell me,” he said. “I don’t understand the rights of it meself, an’ don’t expect I ever shall.
“When we was in South Africa, durin’ the second half of the war, we went down to a place called Heilbron in the O.R.C.*
[* Orange River Colony.]
“There had been fightin’ there, but the only fight we saw was between Darkie Williams an’ Tom Sparrer of ‘G’ for the championship of the Anchesters, Darkie winnin’ in two rounds owin’ to his havin’ filled his boxin’ glove with sand.
“But De Wet was in the neighbourhood, browsin’ round, an’ though we never got a shot at him, there was enough excitement in the possibility of his getting’ a shot at us that we were kept fairly busy. There was another regiment at Heilbron at the time — the Warwicks I think it was, or the ‘8th of Kings’ — an’ they’d been there long before we were.
“In a station like Heilbron all sorts an’ kinds of duty had to be done; there were guards, pickets an’ outlyin’ pickets, flyin’ sentries an’ patrols, an’ if a chap wasn’t on one, he was on another, but I did every one of ’em before it came to me duty to do flyin’ sentry. Me beat was two miles long, from the base guard to ‘Hussars Kopje.’
“It was called ‘Hussars Kopje’ because in one of the early fights of the war the Hussars took this little hill after a fight in which they lost an officer.
“Flyin’ sentry isn’t such a bad job, partly because a feller was on his own. He could have a smoke, an’ so long as he covered the ground, an’ kept his eyes open, he was doin’ all that was expected of him.
“It was a lonely walk over a deserted bit of country, but the night I went on flyin’ sentry duty there was a full moon.
“Three men an’ a corporal, that was the flyin’ guard, an’ we took over duty from the other regiment.
“Just before the old guard marched off, one of the fellows sez: —
“‘Don’t any of you fellers go up “Hussars Kop.”’
“‘For why?’ I sez.
“‘Because of the ghost,’ sez the feller, it’ll probably scare you chaps, bein’ new to the game.’
“‘If it don’t scare a woolly-headed Warwickshire cow-chaser,’ I sez politely, it won’t scare a feller of the Dashin’ Anchesters.’
“‘You’ll dash all right,’ sez the Warwick, when that ghost comes after you.’
“Soon after this the Warwicks marched off.
“‘Don’t go up that kopje — keep to the road,’ sings out the Warwick as he left, an’ havin’ shouted a few insultin’ remarks after him, we settled down to the guard.
“I was first relief, an’ went straight out on me two-mile walk. I had me rifle loaded an’ slung, with the safety catch down, an’ with me hands in me overcoat pockets, the night bein’ rather cold, I loafed along.
“Halfway to the kopje, I came up to a mounted patrol of the Imperial Yeomanry, an’ after I’d given him me opinion of yeomen in general, an’ he’d been very candid about foot-sloggers, we parted bad friends.
“‘Look out for the ghost,’ he sez.
“‘Mind you don’t fall off that horse,’ I sez.
“I’d gone a little way when I heard him come canterin’ after me.
“‘Hi, Tommy,’ he called, an’ I turned round.
“‘Not so much of the Tommy,’ I sez, ‘or I’ll stick a pin in your gallant charger!’
“‘No offence,’ sez the yeoman, an’ then went on to tell me about the ghost. I hadn’t took much notice of the yarn till then, an’ I got a bit interested.
“‘I’ve never seen it,’ sez the yeoman, ‘but one of our sergeants did. Let’s go up the kopje together an’ see what it’s like.’
“‘Catch me climbin’ a hill,’ I sez, ‘when I can walk on the nice level road.’
“‘You’re afraid,’ he sez.
“‘I am,’ I sez. ‘I’m afraid of tirin’ me feet.’
“We continued discussin’ the matter till we came up to the hill, an’ all the time I was gettin’ more an’ more curious. When he put his horse at the kopje, I sez: —
“‘All right, I’ll come up with you — I ain’t seen a ghost for years.’
“It was a kopje as like as two pins any other kopje I’ve seen.
“There were thousands similar to it in South Africa. A gentle rise covered with boulders an’ stunted bush, with big stones underfoot to make the goin’ worse.
“It was, as I’ve told you, a bright, moonlight night, a clear sky an’ not a breath of wind stirrin’, an’ as we got farther an’ farther up the side of the hill, the country sort of unrolled itself beneath. Over to the north, an’ seemin’ly under our feet, was the lights of Heilbron. Yon could hear sentries challengin’ in the town, an’ even the tramp of their feet as they marched up an’ down.
“I was warm enough by the time I reached the top, an’ me an’ the yeoman stopped an’ looked round.
“‘Where’s your ghost?’ I sez.
“I’d hardly got the words out of me mouth when I had a queer sensation. I didn’t hear anythin’, or see anythin’, but I knew that there was somebody behind me, an’ I spun round, slippin’ me rifle from me shoulder.
“An’ then I saw.
“Comin’ up the hill, the same way