The Banshee Part 7

"The Senor has heard of pigs," the girl replied, showing her beautiful teeth in a smile, almost amounting to a grin. "Well, I'm going to kill one to-night."

"Good heavens!" Ralph e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, glancing incredulously at the white, rounded arms and the long, slim, tapering fingers. "You kill a pig! Do you do all the work of this house? Is there no one else here to help you?"

"Oh, yes, Senor," the girl laughed. "There is Isabella, an old woman who comes here every day to do all the hard rough work, and my aunt, but there are certain jobs they can't do because their eyesight is not very good, and their hands lack the skill. The gentleman looks shocked, but is there anything so very dreadful in killing a pig? One slash and it is quickly done--very quickly. We have to live somehow, and, after all, the Senor is a soldier--he follows the vocation of killing!"

"Oh, yes, it is all very well for big, rough men. One somehow a.s.sociates them with deeds of violence and bloodshed. But with beautiful, dainty girls like you it is different. You should shudder at the very thought of blood, and be all pity and compa.s.sion."

"But not for pigs," the girl laughed, "nor for Senors. Now please go in and sit in the parlour, or my aunt will hear me talking to you and accuse me of wasting my time."

Ralph reluctantly obeyed, and drawing his chair close up to the parlour fire--for the summer evenings in Spain are often very chilly--was soon deeply absorbed in plans and speculations as to the future. After supper, when the young girl came into the room to clear the table, Ralph noticed that she was once again wearing the gay apparel she had worn earlier in the day; and all in red, even to the ribbons in her hair, she seemed to be dressed more coquettishly than ever. She was also inclined to be more communicative, and in response to Ralph's invitation to partake of a gla.s.s of wine with him, she fetched an armchair and came and planted it close beside him.

Pretty as he had thought her before, she now appeared to him to be indescribably lovely, and the longer he stared at her, stared into the depths of her large, beautifully shaped purplish grey eyes, the more and more hopelessly enslaved did he become, till, in the end, he realised she had him completely at her mercy, and that he was most madly and desperately in love with her.

They drank together, and so absorbed was he in gazing at her eyes--indeed he never ceased gazing at them--that he did not observe what he was drinking or how many times she filled up his gla.s.s. If she had given him a poisoned goblet, it would have been all the same, he would have drained it off and kissed her hands and feet with his dying breath.

"Now, Senor," she said at length, after he had held her hand to his lips and literally smothered it in kisses, "now, Senor, it is time for you to go to bed. We do not keep late hours here, and to-morrow, Senor, if he is still in the same state of mind, will have plenty of time for repeating to me his sentiments."

"To-morrow," Ralph stuttered. "To-morrow, that is a tremendous way off, and isn't it to-morrow that that fellow O'Flanagan is coming?"

The girl laughed. "Yes," she said saucily, "there will be two of you to-morrow, the one as bad as the other, and I did think, Senor, you were the steadier of the two. Well, well, you are both soldiers, and soldiers were ever gay dogs; but you must be careful, Senor, you and your friend do not quarrel, for, as you know, more than one friendship has been terminated through the witching glance of a lady's eyes, and you both seem to like looking into mine."

"What!" Ralph stuttered angrily. "Did that fellow d.i.c.k look at you? Did he dare to look at you? d.a.m.n----" but before he could utter another syllable, the girl put her soft little hand over his mouth and pushed him gently to the door.

Alternately making wild love to her and pa.s.sionately denouncing d.i.c.k, Ralph then allowed himself to be got upstairs to his room by pushes and coaxings, and, as he made a last frantic effort to kiss and fondle her, the door slammed in his face and he found himself--alone.

For some moments he stood tugging and twisting at the door handle, and then, finding that his efforts had no effect, he was staggering off to the bed with the intention of getting into it just as he was, when he caught his foot on something and fell with a crash to the floor, striking his face smartly on the edge of a chair. For a moment or so he was partially stunned, but, the flow of blood from his nose relieving him, he gradually came to his senses, all trace of his drunkenness having completely vanished. The first thing he did then was to look at the carpet which, by a stroke of luck, was crimson, a most p.r.o.nounced, virulent crimson, exactly the colour of his blood. The spot where he had fallen was close to the bed, and, as his eyes wandered along the carpet by the side of the bed, he fancied he saw another damp patch. He at once fetched the candle and had a closer look.

Yes, there was a great splash of moisture on the floor, near the head of the bed, just about in a line with the pillow. He applied his finger to the patch and then held it to the light--it was wet with blood.

Filled with a sickening sense of apprehension, Ralph now proceeded to make a careful examination of the room, and, lifting the lid of a huge oak chest that stood in one corner, he was horrified to perceive the naked body of a man lying at the bottom of it, all huddled up.

Gently raising the body and bending down to examine it, Ralph received a second shock. The face that looked up at him with such utter lack of expression in its big, bulging, gla.s.sy eyes was that of the once gay and humorous d.i.c.k O'Flanagan.

The manner of his death was only too obvious. His throat had been cut, not cleanly as a man would have done it, but with repeated hacks and slashes, that pointed all too clearly to a woman's handiwork.

This then explained it all, explained the curious something in the girl's eyes and mouth he had noticed when he first saw her; explained, too, the stealthy, tiptoeing footsteps in the pa.s.sage that night, the reason for the appearance of the Banshees, the eagerness with which the girl had plied him with wine, her red dress--and--the red carpet.

But why had she done it--for mere sordid robbery, or because they were Carlists. Then recollecting the look she had fixed on the ruby in d.i.c.k's ring, the answer seemed clear. It was, of course, robbery. Snake-like, she used those beautiful eyes of hers to fascinate her victims--to lull them into a false sense of security; and then, when they had wholly succ.u.mbed to love and wine, of which she gave them their fill, she butchered them.

Murders in Spanish inns were by no means uncommon about that time, and even at a much later date, and had this murder been committed by some old and ugly and cross-grained "host," Ralph would not have been surprised, but for this girl to have done it--this girl so young and enchanting, why it was almost inconceivable, and he would not have believed it, had not the grim proofs of it lain so close at hand. What was he to do? Of course, now that he was sober and in the full possession of his faculties, it was ridiculous for him to be afraid of a girl, even though she were armed; but supposing she had confederates, and it was scarcely likely she would be alone in the house.

No, he must try and escape; but how! He examined the window, it was heavily barred; he tried the door, it was locked on the outside; he looked up the chimney, it was far too narrow to admit the pa.s.sage of anyone even half his size.

He was done, and the only thing he could do was to wait. To wait till the girl tiptoed into the room to kill, and then--he couldn't bear the idea of fighting with her, even though she had so cruelly murdered poor d.i.c.k--make his escape.

With this end in view he blew out the candle, and, lying on the bed, pretended to be fast asleep.

In about an hour's time he heard steps, soft, cautious footsteps, ascend the staircase and come stealing surrept.i.tiously towards his door. Then they paused, and he instinctively knew she was listening. He breathed heavily, just as a man would do who had drunk not wisely but too well, and had consequently fallen into a deep sleep. Presently, there was a slight movement of the door handle.

He continued breathing, and the movement was repeated. Still more stentorian breaths, and the handle this time was completely turned. Very gently he crept off the bed to the door, and, as it slowly opened and a figure in red, looking terribly ghostly and sinister, slipped in, so he suddenly shot past and made a bolt for the pa.s.sage. There was a wild shriek, something whizzed past his head and fell with a loud clatter on the floor, and all the doors in the house downstairs seemed to open simultaneously. Reaching the head of the stairs in a few bounds, he was down them in a trice. A hideous old hag rushed at him with a hatchet, whilst another aged creature, whose s.e.x he could not determine, aimed a wild blow at him with some other instrument, but Ralph avoided them both, and, reaching the front door, which providentially for him was merely locked, not bolted, he was speedily out of the house and into the broad highway.

The screams of the women producing answering echoes from the wood in the hoa.r.s.er shouts of men, Ralph took to his heels, nor did he stop running until he was well on his way to Trijello.

He did not, however, go to the latter town, fearing that the inn people might follow him there and get him arrested as a Carlist; instead, he struck off the high road along a side path, and, luckily for him, about noon fell in with an advanced guard of the Carlist Army.

His troubles then, for a time at least, ceased; but to his lasting regret he was never able to avenge d.i.c.k's death; for when the war was at last over and he had succeeded in persuading the local authorities to take the matter in hand, the inn was found to be empty and deserted. Nor was the pretty murderess ever seen or heard of again in that neighbourhood.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BANSHEE ON THE BATTLE-FIELD

Although the Banshee haunting referred to in my last chapter occurred during a war, the manifestations did not take place on the battle-field; nor were they actually due to the fighting. At the same time it cannot be denied that they were the outcome of it, for had our two lieutenants not been fighting desperately in a skirmish and got separated from the main body of the Army, in all probability they never would have visited the wayside inn, and the Banshee manifestations there would never have occurred.

There are, however, many instances on record of Banshee manifestations occurring on the battle-field, either immediately before or after, or even whilst the fighting was actually taking place. Mr McAnnaly, in his "Irish Wonders," p. 117, says:

"Before the Battle of the Boyne, Banshees were heard singing in the air over the Irish camp, the truth of the prophecy being verified by the death roll of the next morning."

Now several of my own immediate ancestors took part in the Battle of the Boyne,[10] and according to a family tradition one of them both saw and heard the Banshee. He was sitting in the camp, the night prior to the fighting, conversing with several other officers, including his brother Daniel, when, feeling an icy wind coming from behind and blowing down his back, he turned round to look for his cloak which he had discarded a short time before, owing to the heat from a fire close beside them. The cloak was not there, and, as he turned round still further to look for it, he perceived to his astonishment the figure of a woman, swathed from head to foot in a mantle of some dark flowing material, standing a few feet behind him. Wondering who on earth she could be, but supposing she must be a relative or friend of one of the officers, for her mantle looked costly, and her hair--of a marvellous golden hue--though hanging loose on her shoulders, was evidently well cared for, he continued to gaze at her with curiosity. Then he gradually perceived that she was shaking--shaking all over, with what he at first imagined must be laughter; but from the constant clenching of her hands and heaving of her bosom, he finally realised that she was weeping, and he was further a.s.sured on this point, when a sudden gust of wind, blowing back her mantle, he caught a full view of her face.

Its beauty electrified him. Her cheeks were as white as marble, but her features were perfect, and her eyes the most lovely he had ever seen. He was about to address her, to inquire if he could be of any service to her, when, someone calling out and asking him what on earth he was doing, she at once began to melt away, and, amalgamating with the soft background of grey mist that was creeping towards them from the river, finally disappeared.

He thought of her, however, some hours later, when they were all lying down, endeavouring to s.n.a.t.c.h a few hours' sleep, and presently fancied he saw, in dim, shadowy outline, her fair face and figure, her big, sorrowful eyes, gazing pitifully first at one and then at another of his companions, but particularly at one, a mere boy, who was lying wrapped in his military cloak, close beside the smouldering embers of the fire. He fancied that she approached this youths and, bending over him, stroked his short, curly hair with her delicate fingers.

Thinking that possibly he might be asleep and dreaming, he rubbed his eyes vigorously, but the outlines were still there, momentarily becoming stronger and stronger, more and more distinct, until he realised with a great thrill that she actually was there, just as certainly as she had been when he had first seen her.

He was so intent watching her and wishing she would leave the youth and come to him, that he did not notice that one of his comrades had seen her, too, until the latter, who had raised himself into a half-sitting posture, spoke; then, just as before, the figure of the girl melted away, and seemed to become absorbed in the dark and shadowy background.

A moment later, he heard, just over his head, a loud moaning and wailing that lasted for several seconds and then died away in one long, protracted sob that suggested mental anguish of an indescribably forlorn and hopeless nature.

The deaths of most of his companions of the night, including that of the curly haired boy, occurred on the following day.

But the Banshee, although of course appearing to soldiers of Irish birth only, does not confine its attentions to those who are fighting on their native soil; it has been stated that she frequently manifested herself to Irishmen engaged on active service abroad during the Napoleonic Wars, and also to those serving in America during the Civil War.

With regard to the Banshee demonstrations in connection with the Napoleonic campaigns, I have not been able to acquire any written record; but as the result of numerous letters sent out by me broadcast in quest of information, I was asked by several people to call either at their houses or clubs, and, gladly accepting their invitations, I learned from them the incidents which, with their permission, I am now about to relate.

Miss O'Higgins, an aged lady, residing, prior to the late war, close to Fifth Avenue, New York, and visiting, when I met her, a friend in the Rue Campagne Premiere, Paris, told me that she well remembered her grandfather telling her when she was a child that he heard the Banshee at Talavera, a day or two prior to the great battle. He was serving with the Spanish Army, having married the daughter of a Spanish officer, and had no idea at the time that there were any men of Irish extraction in his corps.

Bivouacking with about a hundred other soldiers in a valley, and happening to awake in the night with an ungovernable thirst, he made his way down to the banks of the river that flowed near by, drank his fill, and was in the act of returning, when he was startled to hear a most agonising scream, quickly followed by another, and then another, all proceeding apparently from the camp, whither he was wending his steps. Wondering what on earth could have happened, and inclining to the belief that it must be in some way connected with one of those women thieves who prowled about everywhere at night, robbing and murdering, with equal impunity, wherever they saw a chance, he quickened his pace, only to find, on his arrival at the camp, no sign whatever of the presence of any woman, although the screaming was going on as vigorously as ever. The sounds seemed to come first from one part of the camp, and then from another, but to be always overhead, as if uttered by invisible beings, hovering at a height of some six or seven feet, or, perhaps, more, above the ground, and although Lieutenant O'Higgins had at first attributed these sounds to one person only, on listening attentively he fancied he could detect several different voices--all women's--and he eventually came to the conclusion that at least three or four phantasms must have been present. As he stood there listening, not knowing what else to do, the wailing and sobbing seemed to grow more and more harrowing, until it affected him so much that, hardened as he had become to all kinds of misery and violence, he, too, felt like weeping, out of sheer sympathy. However, this state of affairs did not last long, for at the sound of a musket shot (that of a sentry, as Lieutenant O'Higgins afterwards ascertained, giving a false alarm in some distant part of the camp) the wailing and sobbing abruptly and completely ceased, and was never, the Lieutenant declared, heard by him again.

On mentioning the matter to one of his brother officers in the morning, the latter, no little interested and surprised, at once said: "You have undoubtedly heard the Banshee. Poor D----, who fell at Corunna, often used to tell me about it, and, you may depend upon it, there are some Irishmen in camp now, and it was their funeral dirge that you listened to."

What he said proved to be quite correct, for, on inquiring, Lieutenant O'Higgins discovered three of the soldiers who had been sleeping around him that evening had Irish names, and were, unquestionably, of ancient Irish origin; and all of them perished on the b.l.o.o.d.y field of Talavera, twenty-four hours later.

A story relating to an O'Farrell, who was with the Spanish in the same war, was also told me by Miss O'Higgins; but whether this O'Farrell was the famous general of that name or not I do not know. The story ran as follows:[11]