The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-01-04
The Phantom Light.
| rHRLL1NG GHOST STORY.

~ Nus> Atrt.SS OiSNSAi " WYNN efs hiSHt-
Nellie and I were sitting by the bow
window in our drawing-room, which she
had thrown wide open. The day had
been most oppressively hot, but now a
faint breeze was coming in from the sea,
mist refreshingly welcome after the sui
try, Sitting heat Of the day.
It was quite dark-that soft, velvety
: lssness dat belongs only to q perfectly
,psa,les zterlegs .OA
just ~ below our window lay the
yard or two of garden, then the long,
straight line of the promenade, with its
asphalt walk and drive dilnly defined by
shadowy row of white posts connected
by ornamental chains. Beyond the en-
blnkmst lay the wide, desolate waste
of sands, stretching away for miles on
either hand.
The tle 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
sandbahks off the Southport coast.
Seven niles away to the right, across the
estuarzsf the Ribble, the steady light
from tk Lytham lighthouse kept vigi-
liant wSch and ward over the dangerous
Horse Eank,,,that treacherous, dangerous
shoal b which manFa good ship had
Dsone b its. doom of shipwreck and
death.
NelH was ieaning out of the window,
her elpw on The sill, her eyes fixed on
the misty, soft darkness outside. 1t was
, as dak inside as outside; We had no
though OF lighting the gas that long
summer evening.
How still it is - she said, dreamily.
"Whs a spell of solemn silence the
!, nighthys ON everything
As / to contradict her words, faint
soundEke far off voice seemed to rise
from He sands below, and swept by with
a erohnged, mournful cry.
What is that % she asked, startled.
"Seme one cai, ng down on the
/ sandss said. al le intense stiffness
carries the sound !. great distance at
night
heard such a wild legend this
morning" she went on, presently, soon
nected with those great deserts of sand
that stretch ever toward Lytham. Old
Joe, he boatman, says they are haunted
by aphantom voice.
"How thrilling I remarked, scepti-
cally "Wbat does it say?
Don't scoff, Jean, said Nellie, a lit
tie vsxedly. 1t is most pathetic,
dreadful legend. Years ago, before
there WAS town here at al, people used
to crtss the sands between here and
Lytham on horseback. One stormy even
ing gtraveler had crossed as usual, and
had almest reached the shore, when sud-
denly bright light appeared, lowered
for moment over spot yard or two
away, and then vanished. At the same
moment plteous, unearthiy cry echoeo
al alound. The horse became wild with
terror, and broke loose, throwing his
rider to the ground. When he recovered
himself, he found, lying on the ground
at his feet, the body of beautiful young
girl. She was quite dead, with ghastly
wound in her side, from which the blood
bad 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, saved.
Hewas taken to the same house where
the traveller hm, q ready found shelter,
and, by some mistake, was put into the
rosa where the murdered giA was lying.
Hae sight Of hsr he gave an appalling
.hrs and fell down senseless, When
as =" - ~ss questioned, and con