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about supper hit Lionel like a punch in his empty stomach. He glanced up to the ridge, and there it was again not thirty paces away from them—the antlers, at least. This time the antlers did not disappear but seemed to grow. They were getting closer.
    Now Corn Poe saw the antlers. Lionel raised his finger to his lips, but with little result.
    â€œWhat is that?” Corn Poe said, forgetting to whisper altogether. “That don’t look like no deer to me!”
    It no longer looked like a deer to Lionel either. As it got closer, it began to look more and more like the body of a man with a deer’s head. That was about all that Corn Poe needed to see or could stand. He turned in the opposite direction of the ghostly deer-headed creature and moved as fast as he could through the deep snow.
    Lionel was tempted to do the same, but given how little distance Corn Poe was gaining and the adamant instructions from Beatrice, he opted to say put. The figure raised its arms into the air, causing Corn Poe to let out a yelp that would raise the dead.
    Then the creature began to speak….
    â€œÃssa und! Póóhsapoot!”
    But it spoke in a tongue that neither Corn Poe nor Lionel could understand. Lionel spun around, startling Ulysses.
    Corn Poe hadn’t made it ten steps when he turned back to Lionel. “Come on, ya idjit! It’s gonna kill us!”
    Lionel took a few steps back, frantically looking around for Beatrice. No Beatrice. He continued to backpedal as the creature moved down the slope toward them. It spoke again, and although its words sounded familiar, Lionel could not understand what it was saying. Then suddenly, it spoke English.
    â€œDon’t be afraid, little one. I’m not here to hurt you,” the creature called.
    Lionel found this hard to believe. As it came closer, it became apparent that the creature was definitely some sort of man, but with the deer head it was about the size of Corn Poe’s father, Big Bull.
    â€œCover your ears! Even the sound of its voice could curse ya for life!” Corn Poe screamed as he crawled though the snow behind Lionel. “It’s an apparition, I tell ya! A ghost!”
    Lionel believed him. The creature didn’t have trouble in the snow like Lionel and Corn Poe; as a matter of fact, it seemed to float.
    â€œHey, I told ya, I ain’t gonna hurt ya,” the deer head called out again. Its voice seemed old and cracked.
    â€œHow do we know you’re telling the truth? Ghostly apparitions from beyond ain’t known for honesty!” Corn Poe yelled, struggling through the snow.
    Lionel turned. “How would you know?”
    â€œI know! I saw the spirits when my kid sister Viola died! Run!” Corn Poe was out of breath and barely moving. He seemed to be making his situation worse, and Lionel thought he would soon bury himself alive. where was Beatrice?
    The creature continued down the hill toward them. Lionel decided to make a stand. He crawled through the snowdrift back to Ulysses’s side, back to where Beatrice had told him to stay. He studied the creature as it came closer and concluded that although it was strange, it wasn’t a ghost. For starters, Lionel realized that it was not floating above the snow, but wore snowshoes that enabled it to skim easily across the top.
    â€œWhat in the hell are you children doing way out here in weather like this, anyhow?” the deer head asked, now just ten paces away.
    â€œThat ain’t no concern of yours!” Corn Poe yelled from his snow hole. He was no longer moving and lay panting in the drift.
    â€œIt’s getting colder and colder, and here y’all are just out wandering?” the deer head continued. “I’d say that the storm pushed through, but another one’s on the way. Helluva time for a stroll.”
    Lionel moved closer and saw that the deer head was actually a hood—a hood worn by an old man. The cowl covered the