The forest groans; the whizzing rustle of the waving leaves becomes a hollow murmuring sound, which at length resembles the distant roll of muffled drums.

That rustle was a voice of childhood, youth, and manhood, whispering to him, thrilling as never before.

Every rustle of the corn-husks in the mattress underneath Was to me a ghostly whisper muttered through a phantom's teeth, And the mice behind the wainscot, as they scampered round about, Filled my soul with speechless horror when I'd put the candle out.

I thought every rustle in the bushes was a bear or a panther.