"It is very strange," said Squire, standing in the open door, after satisfying himself that there was no intruder on the premises.
"Listen!" said Flag; "is that Ed awake?"
"What is the matter?" inquired Ed, as they turned toward him.
"Where is Doc? Has any thing happened to him? Why are you not in bed?"
"What makes you ask if any thing has happened to Doc?" asked Squire, giving Flag a sign of silence.
"I had a dream—and Doc has not come to bed. Why don't you tell me what is the matter?" he asked, raising himself on his elbow.
"There is something very serious the matter, Ed."
"Then the doctor is shot!" said he, jumping up hurriedly. "Yes, he is shot. But how did you know it?"
"I have just dreamed it. Is he dead?"
"Yes, dead. He was shot two hours after you last saw him."
A smothered groan escaped from Ed, who, half. dressed, was pacing back and forth in the cabin.
"Why don't you tell me the particulars?" he asked; "and whether it was an accident."
After relating all he knew about the cause of Edwards' death, "Now," said Squire, "tell me what you dreamed?"
"I dreamed," answered Ed, still walking rapidly about and shivering, "that I saw the Doctor come into the cabin and show you a wound in his side; and he looked awful-awful!"
"Did he make any sign or communication, besides showing his wound?" asked Squire, now deeply interested to learn how what he had seen and Ed had dreamed entirely corresponded.
"No, why do you ask?"
"Only because I wished to know whether you had had the same vision asleep which I had waking; for I, too, saw the Doctor come in and show his wound. Was that what you saw, Flag?"
"The very same."[1]
"Great God!" muttered Ed; "that is very singular!"
After having related the events of the day over again to their messmate, who gradually grew calm, and almost indifferent, the young men again returned to seek some repose; but it was almost daylight in the cabin before sleep closed the eyes of any of that party to a brief oblivion of their mutual grief and uneasiness.
- ↑ This "short story" is repeated from the lips of a citizen of Omaha, who solemnly testifies to its actual occurrence, in a case nearly analogous to the incidents recorded in this chapter. Those curious in such matters may refer to Mrs. Crowe's "Night Side of Nature," where numerous attested and verified instances of a bodily appearance after death are recorded. See also Robert Dale Owen's more recent work, "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World."
