Although the king was hungry and chilly, he was also so tired and so drowsy

That these latter influences soon began to get the advantage of the former, and

He presently dozed off into a state of semi-consciousness. Then, just as he was

On the point of losing himself wholly, he distinctly felt something touch him.

He was broad awake in a moment, and gasping for breath. The cold horror of

That mysterious touch in the dark almost made his heart stand still. He lay

Motionless, and listened, scarcely breathing. But nothing stirred, and there

Was no sound. He continued to listen, and wait, during what seemed a long

Time, but still nothing stirred, and there was no sound. So he began to drop

Into a drowse once more at last; and all at once he felt that mysterious touch

again! It was a grisly thing, this light touch from this noiseless and invisible

presence; it made the boy sick with ghostly fears. What should he do? That

Was the question; but he did not know how to answer it. Should he leave these

reasonably comfortable quarters and fly from this inscrutable horror? But fly

whither? He could not get out of the barn; and the idea of scurrying blindly

Hither and thither in the dark, within the captivity of the four walls, with this

Phantom gliding after him, and visiting him with that soft hideous touch upon