'
"For thus it is, sirs, the man who after seeing a ghost is confronted
with a light immediately drops down dead."
I made no sceptical remarks, and did not even shake my head. The
circumstances of the encounter were described by Mariano with such
graphic power and minuteness that it was impossible not to believe his
story. Yet some things in it afterwards struck me as somewhat absurd;
that straw hat, for instance, and it also seemed strange that a person
of Mula's disposition should have been so much improved in temper by
his sojourn in a warmer place.
"Talking of ghosts----" said Laralde, the other man--but proceeded no
further, for I interrupted him. Laralde was a short, broad-shouldered
man, with bow legs and bushy grey whiskers; he was called by his
familiars Lechuza (owl) on account of his immense, round, tawny-coloured
eyes, which had a tremendous staring power in them.
I thought we had had enough of the supernatural by this time.
"My friend," I said, "pardon me for interrupting you; but there will
be no sleep for us to-night if we have any more stories about spirits
from the other world."
"Talking of ghosts----" resumed Lechuza, without noticing my remark,
and this nettled me; so I cut in once more:
"I protest that we have heard quite enough about them," I said. "This
conversation was only to be about rare and curious things.
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