The next morning, bright and early, Dolph was at the haunted house.
Every thing looked just as he had left it. The fields were grass-grown
and matted, and it appeared as if nobody had traversed them since his
departure. With palpitating heart, he hastened to the well. He looked
down into it, and saw that it was of great depth, with water at the
bottom. He had provided himself with a strong line, such as the
fishermen use on the banks of Newfoundland. At the end was a heavy
plummet and a large fish-hook. With this he began to sound the bottom
of the well, and to angle about in the water. He found that the water
was of some depth; there appeared also to be much rubbish, stones from
the top having fallen in. Several times his hook got entangled, and he
came near breaking his line. Now and then, too, he hauled up mere
trash, such as the skull of a horse, an iron hoop, and a shattered
iron-bound bucket. He had now been several hours employed without
finding any thing to repay his trouble, or to encourage him to
proceed. He began to think himself a great fool, to be thus decoyed
into a wild-goose-chase by mere dreams, and was on the point of
throwing line and all into the well, and giving up all further
angling.
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