Traditions of Lancashire Volume I Part 58

I knew the cause of his terror, and, giving the bridle to one of my attendants, cautiously proceeded, followed by the maiden and her lover; who, to do him justice, showed a tolerable share of courage--at any rate, in the presence of his mistress. At length I recognised the spot, where, yet unmoved, lay the bleeding carcase. The girl started when she beheld the grim features, horribly drawn together and convulsed, as if in the last agony. I was obliged to muster the requisite fort.i.tude to attempt its removal; and raising it from the sand, with a little a.s.sistance I placed it across the horse, though not without a most determined opposition on the part of the animal. Throwing a cloak over the body, we made the best of our way back; and on arriving at the house I found that the only vacant apartment where I could deposit my charge was a narrow loft over the out-house, the entrance to which was both steep and dangerous. With the a.s.sistance of my two friends, though with considerable difficulty, it was in the end deposited there, upon a miserable pallet of straw, over which we threw a tattered blanket. On returning, I found the guest-room deserted: the old woman to whom the tavern belonged--the mother, as I afterwards found, of my female companion--was hastily clearing away the drinking utensils, and preparing for an immediate removal to the only apartment above-stairs which bore the honours of the bedchamber. She kindly offered me the use of it for the night; but this sacrifice of comfort I could not allow; and throwing my cloak over a narrow bench, I drew it near the fire, determining to s.n.a.t.c.h a brief interval of rest, without robbing the good woman and her daughter of their night's repose.

It was now past midnight; sleep was out of the question, as I lay ruminating on the mysterious events of the few past hours. The extraordinary manner in which the murdered wretch had been committed to my care seemed an imperative call upon me to attempt the discovery of some foul and horrible crime. With the returning day I resolved to begin my inquiries, and I vowed to compa.s.s sea and land ere I gave up the pursuit. So absorbed was I in the project, that I scarcely noticed the storm, now bursting forth in a continuous roll from the sea, until one wild gust, that seemed to rush by as if it would have swept the dwelling from its seat, put an end to these antic.i.p.ations. I watched the rattling cas.e.m.e.nt, expecting every moment that it would give way, and the groaning thatch be rent from its hold. Involuntarily I arose and approached the window. It was pitchy dark, and the roar of the sea, under the terrific sweep of the tempest, was truly awful. Never had I heard so terrible a conflict. I knew not how soon I might be compelled to quit this unstable shelter; the very earth shook; and every moment I expected the frail tenement would be levelled to its foundations. The eddying and unequal pressure of the wind heaped a huge sand-drift against the walls, which probably screened them from the full force of the blast, acting at the same time as a support to their feeble consistency; sand and earthy matter were driven about and tossed against the cas.e.m.e.nt, insomuch that I almost antic.i.p.ated a living inhumation.

The next gust, however, generally swept off the greater portion of the deposit, making way for a fresh torrent, that poured upon the quaking roof like the rush of a heavy sea over a ship's bulwarks.

I was not destined to be left companionless in the midst of my alarms.

The old woman and her daughter, too much terrified to remain quiet, came down from their resting-place, which, being close within the thatch, was most exposed to the tempest. A light was struck, and the dying embers once more kindled into a blaze. The old woman, whom I could not but observe with emotions of awe and curiosity, sat cowering over the flame, her withered hands half-covering her furrowed and haggard cheeks; a starting gleam occasionally lighted up her grey and wasted locks, which, matted in wild elf-knots, hung about her temples. Occasionally she would turn her head as the wind came hurrying on, and the loud rush of the blast went past the dwelling. She seemed to gaze upon it as though 'twere peopled, and she beheld the "sightless coursers of the air"

careering on the storm; then, with a mutter and a groan, she again covered her face, rocking to and fro to the chant of some wild and unintelligible ditty. Her daughter sat nearly motionless, hearkening eagerly during the short intervals between the gusts; and as the wind came bellowing on, she huddled closer into the chimney-corner, whither she had crept for protection.

"Such nights are not often known in these parts," said I, taking advantage, as I spoke, of a pause in the warfare without. The old woman made no answer; but the daughter, bending forwards, replied slowly and with great solemnity:--"Mother has seen the death-lights dancing upo'

the black scud: some ha' seen the sun sink down upon the waters that winna see him rise again fro' the hill-top."

"Is your mother a seer, then, my pretty maiden?"

"Ye're but a stranger, I guess, if you know not Bridget o' the Sandy Holm--Save us! she's hearkening again for the"----

"There!--Once!" The old woman raised her hands as she spoke, and bent her head in an att.i.tude of listening and eager expectation. I listened too, but could discover no sound, save the heavy swing of the blast, and its receding growl."

"Again!" As she said this, Bridget rose from the low stool she had occupied, and hobbled towards the window. I thought a signal-gun was just then audible, as from some vessel in distress. Ere I could communicate this intelligence, another and a nearer roll silenced all conjecture. It was indeed but too evident that a vessel was in the offing, and rapidly driving towards the sh.o.r.e, from the increasing distinctness of the signals.

Old Bridget stood by the window; her dim and anxious eyes peering through the cas.e.m.e.nt as if she could discern the fearful and appalling spectacle upon the dark billows.

"Your last!--your last, poor wretches!" she cried, when a heavy gust brought another report with amazing distinctness to the ear. "And now the death shriek!--another and another!--ye drop into the deep waters, and the gulf is not gorged with its prey. Bridget Rimmer, girl and woman, has ne'er watched the blue dancers but she has heard the sea-gun follow, and seen the red sand decked with the spoil. Wench, take not of the prey: 'tis accursed!"

The beldame drew back after uttering this anathema, and again resumed her station near the hearth.

The storm now seemed to abate, and as if satisfied with the mischief at this moment consummating, the wind grew comparatively calm. The gusts came by fitfully, like the closing sobs of some fretful and peevish babe, not altogether ceasing with the indulgence of its wishes. As I stood absorbed in a reverie, the nature of which I cannot now accurately determine, the maiden gently touched my arm.

"Sir, will ye walk to the sh.o.r.e? I'se warrant the neighbours are helping, and we may save a life though we canna gie it."

She was wrapped in a thick cloak, the hood thrown forward, and the horn lantern again put in requisition, fitted up for immediate service. We opened the door with considerable difficulty, and waded slowly through the heavy sand-drifts towards the beech. The clouds, shattered and driven together in mountainous heaps, were rolling along the sky, a dark scud sweeping over their huge tops, here and there partially illuminated by the moonbeams: the moon was still obscured, but a wild and faint light, usually seen after the breaking up of a storm, just served to show the outline of objects not too remote from our sphere of vision.

My companion soon brought me to an opening in the hills which led directly down to the beach. Immediately I saw lights before us moving to and fro, and the busy hum of voices came upon the wind; forms were indistinctly seen hurrying backward and forward upon the very verge of the white foam boiling from the huge billows. Hastening to the spot, we found a number of fishermen--their wives a.s.sisting in the scrutiny--carefully examining the fragments of wreck which the waves were from time to time casting up, and throwing with a heavy lunge upon the sh.o.r.e. Either for purposes of plunder, or for the more ostensible design of contributing to their preservation, sundry packages were occasionally conveyed away, subsequently to an eager examination of their contents. My a.s.sociate ran into the thickest of the group, anxiously inquiring as to the fate of the crew, and if any lives had been preserved.

"I guess," cried an old hard-featured sinner, "they be where they'll need no lookin' after. Last brast o' wind, six weeks agone next St Barnaby, I gied my cabin to the lady and her children--an' the pains I waur like to ha' for my labour--I didn't touch a groat till the parson gied me a guinea out o' th' 'scription;--but I may trot gaily hoam to-night. There's no live lumber to stow i' my loft; the fishes ha' the pick o' the whole cargo this bout."

"Canna we get the boats?--I can pull an oar thou knows, Darby, wi' the best on 'em," inquired the female.

"Boats!" exclaimed Darby; "ne'er a boat would live but wi' keel uppermost. I'se not the chap to go to Davy Jones tonight pickled i'

brine, my pratty Kate."

"Thou'rt a greedy glead;--I'se go ask Simon; but I'll warrant thou'lt be hankering after the reward, and the biggest share to thine own clutches."

She turned away from the incensed fisherman; and proceeding to a short distance, we found a knot of persons gathered around a half-drowned wretch who owed his appearance again upon land to having been lashed on some lumber which the sea had just cast ash.o.r.e. Almost fainting from cold and exhaustion, he was undergoing a severe questioning from the bystanders--every one wishing to know the name of the ship, whither bound, and the whole particulars of the disaster. We just came in time for his release; and I soon had the satisfaction to find the poor fellow in my quarters, before a comfortable fire, his clothes drying, and his benumbed limbs chafed until the circulation was again pretty nigh restored. After drinking a tumbler of grog he appeared to recover rapidly; and we found on inquiry that he was master of the vessel just wrecked on the coast. He shook his head on a further inquiry as to the fate of her crew. "A score as good hands," said he, "are gone to the bottom as ever unreefed a clean topsail or hung out a ship's canvas to the wind; I saw them all go down as I lashed myself to the jib." He groaned deeply; but speedily a.s.suming a gayer tone, requested a quid and a quiet hammock. "My lights are nearly stove in,--my head hangs as loose as a Dutchman's shrouds; a night's sleep will make all taut again."

Old Bridget was gone to bed; and unless the sailor chose to occupy the straw pallet already in the possession of a guest whose mysterious arrival seemed to be the forerunner of nothing but confusion and disaster, there did not seem any chance of obtaining a berth save by remaining in his present situation. I told him of the dilemma, but Kate replied:--"We can just take the body fro' the bed; it winna tak' harm upo' the chest i' the fur nook. The captain will not maybe sleep the waur for quiet company."

He did not seem to relish the idea of pa.s.sing the night even with so quiet a companion; but as it seemed the least disagreeable alternative, we agreed to pilot him to the chamber and help the miserable pallet to change occupants. The corpse we agreed to lay on some clean litter used for the bedding of the cattle. We conducted the stranger to his dormitory, which was formerly a hay loft, until converted into an occasional sleeping-room for the humble applicants who sometimes craved a night's lodging at the Sandy Holm.

The only entrance was by a crazy ladder, and so steep, that I was afraid our feeble companion would find considerable difficulty in climbing to his chamber. It was my intention to have prevented him from getting a sight of the ghastly object that occupied his couch; but pressing foremost, he ran up the ladder with surprising agility, gaining the top ere I had made preparations for the ascent. I mounted cautiously, giving him the light whilst I made good my landing; and he went directly to the bed. I had set my foot on the floor, and was lending a hand to Kate, who had still to contend with the difficulties of the way, when I heard a dismal and most appalling shriek. Starting round, I beheld the stranger gazing on the couch, his eyeb.a.l.l.s almost bursting from their sockets, and his countenance distorted with horror and amazement. I ran to him as the light dropped from his grasp; catching it ere it fell, I perceived his eyes rivetted on the livid and terrific features of the corpse. My limbs grew stiff with horror; thoughts of strange import crowded on my mind; I knew not how to shape them into any definite form, but stood trembling and appalled before the dark chaos whence they sprung. Scarcely knowing what I said, still I remember the first inquiry that burst from my lips--"Knowest thou that murdered man?"

The words were scarcely uttered when the conscience-stricken wretch exclaimed, in accents which I shall never forget, "Know him!--yesterday he stood at my helm. I had long borne him an evil grudge, and I brooded on revenge. The devil prompted it--he was at my elbow. It was dark, and the fiend's eyes flashed when I aimed the blow. It descended with a heavy crash, and the body rolled overboard. He spoke not, save once; it was when his hated carcase rose to the surface. I heard a faint moan; it rang on my ear like the knell of death; the voice rushed past--a low sepulchral shout; in my ear it echoed with the cry of 'MURDER!'"

Little remains to be told; he persisted to the last in this horrible confession. He had no wish to live; and the avenging arm of retributive justice closed the world and its interests for ever on a wretch who had forfeited all claims to its protection--cast out, and judged unworthy of a name and a place amongst his fellow-men.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] Glazebrook's Southport.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BAR-GAIST.]

THE BAR-GAIST.

"From hag-bred Merlin's time have I Thus nightly revelled to and fro; And for my pranks men call me by The name of Robin Goodfellow.

Fiends, ghosts, and sprites, Who haunt the nightes, The hags and goblins do me know; And beldames old My feates have told-- So _vale, vale_; ho, ho, ho!"

--BEN JONSON.

"In the northern parts of England," says Brand, speaking of the popular superst.i.tions, "ghost is p.r.o.nounced _gheist_ and _guest_. Hence _barguest_ or _bargheist_. Many streets are haunted by a _guest_, who a.s.sumes many strange appearances, as a mastiff dog, &c. It is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon [Ill.u.s.tration: jart], _spiritus, anima_."

Drake, in his _Eborac.u.m_, says (p. 7, Appendix), "I have been so frightened with stories of the barguest when I was a child, that I cannot help throwing away an etymology upon it. I suppose it comes from A.S. [Ill.u.s.tration: bupp], a town, and [Ill.u.s.tration: jart], a ghost, and so signifies a town sprite. N.B. [Ill.u.s.tration: jart] is in the Belgic and Teutonic softened into gheist and geyst."

The boggart or bar-gaist of the following story resembles the German _kobold,_ the Danish _nis_, and the Scotch _brownie_; but, above all, the Spanish _duende_, which signifies a spirit or sprite, supposed by the vulgar to haunt houses and highways, causing therein much terror and confusion. "DUENDE. _Espiritu que el vulgo cree que infesta las casas y travesea, causando en ellas ruidos y estruendos_"--LEMURES, LARVae. "To appear like a _duende_," "to move like a _duende_" are modes of speaking by which it is meant that persons appear in places where they are least expected. "To have a _duende_" signifies that a person's imagination is disturbed.

The following curious Spanish "Moral," the MS. of which has been kindly lent to the author by Mr Crofton Croker may not be deemed uninteresting as an ill.u.s.tration of the subject. We have accompanied each stanza with a parallel translation of our own.

DUENDE ENEMIGO DEL JUEGO.

DUENDE AN ENEMY TO GAMING.

_Cuento Moral._

_A Moral Tale._

Un _Duende_, grave Senor, Que estudio la astrologia, Se propuso la mania, De ser rico jugador.

A grave and learned Senior, who Practised astrology, Bethought him by his lucky stars He pa.s.sing rich would be.

Todos los siete planetas, Formaban su gran consejo; Y antes de llegar a viejo, Ya no tenia calzetas.

The planets seven his council made, He hugged the glozing cheat; But ere the pedant's legs were old, No stockings held his feet!

Aburrido y sin dinero, Mui tarde se arrepintid, Y en un desban se metid A llorar su error primero.

Enraged and disappointed, he Waxed sour and melancholy, And to a vintner's garret trudged, There to bewail his folly.