The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-07-04
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

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From London Society. }az' .@.4l r .
alt was about IL O'Clock at night, a" ~
I Nellie and were sitting by the bow
window in our drawing room, which she
bad thrown wide eopen. The day had
been most oppressiyely hot, but now a
faint breeze was coming in from the sea,
most refreshingly welcome after the
sitting heat of the day. .ga
1t was quite dark that soft, velvety
darkness that belongs only to perfectly
J moouless, starless night ,Yai,r'
Just down below our window Law the
yard or two of garden, then the long,
straight line of the prone 1ade, with its
asphalt walk and drive dimly dcin ed by
a shadOwy row of white posts connected
by ornamental chains. Beyond the en-
bankmcnt lay the wide, desolate waste of
sands, stretching away for miles on either
hand. The tide was far out, so far out
that only sort of pale-gray CLEAN on
the horizon showed where the sea was
just beginning to creep over the shoals
and sand-banks off the Southport coast.
Seven miles away to the right, across
the estuary of the Ribble, the steady
| light from the j, Lythan lighthouse kept
vigilaut watch and ward over the danger
Gus Horse Bank, that treacherous, danger
GUS shoal on which many good ship has
gone to its doom of shipwreck and
death, .a.. -....,t
Nellie was leaning out of the window,
her elbow on the sill, her eyes fixed on
the misty, soft darkness outside. Il was
as dark inside as out; we had no thought
OF lighting the gas that long summer even
ing. ,.. ..
"How still it ls!' she said, dreamily.
"What spell Of solemn silence the night
lays on everythingp'
AS if to contradict her words, faint
sound like a far-off voice seemed sud
dency to rise from the sands below, and
swept by with prolonged, mournful
"What is that?" she asked, startled.
"Some one calling down on the
sands" said. 1.-THE intense stiffness
carries the sound great distance at
night"
II heard such wild legend, this morn
ing" she went on, presently, connected
with those great deserts of sand that
stretch over toward Lythan. Old Joe, the
boatman, says they are haunted by phan-
tom voice."
"How thrilling!' I remarked, skep-
tically. "What does it say?"
"Don't scof, Jean," said Nellie, little
vexedly. "It's a most pathetic, dreadful
legend. Years ago, before there was {:
town here at all, people used to cross the
sands between here and Lytham on horse
back. One stormy evening a traveller
had crossed as usual, and had almost
reached the shore, when suddenly a
bright light appeared, lowered for mo-
ment or two over a spot yard or two
away, and then vanished. At the same
moment, piteous, unearthly cries echoed
all around. The horse became wild with
terror, and broke loose, throwing his ride,
to the ground. When he recovered him
self, he found lying on the ground at his
feet the body of a beautiful young girl
She was quite dead, with CHASTITY wound
in her side, from which the blood heG
flowed all over her white dress.
The traveller staggered away to the
nearest house, got assistance, and had the
girls body laid in an upper room.
! That night an awful storm arose. A
ship was wrecked on the Horse Bank
and only one man, the captain, was saved
He was taken to the same house where
the traveller had alre dy found shelter
and, by some mistake, was put in the
room where the murdered girl was lying
| At the sight of her he gave an appalling
shrek, and fell down seasele;s. When
he revived, he was questioned, and con.
fessed that the beautiful young girl was
his wife, whom in moment of rage and
jealousy Re had stabbed to the heart and
cast into the sea. And the sea had civ
en- up her dead, and the waves had cast
him on shore, and the murderer and hi:
victim were face to face. And now they
say the voice Of the murdered girl haunts
the place where she was found. Itseemt
to rise from the sands and goes echoine
and wailing along, calling, calling, as i
in mortal agony. The old boatman says
people have followed it, believing some
one was in peril, and have bee lured on
and on, till tire tide has overtaken them
and they were drowned.''
"What horrible tale!" I said with a
shudder. II wish that you had not told
it to me-"
sand he says" went on Nellie, unheed-
ing my remark, 'that whoever hears the
voice is in risk of great peril or danger
or some kind of sorrow or trouble is