Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1878-01-10
THE PHANTOM LIGHT.

Nellie and were sitting by the bow
window in our drawing-room which she
had thrown wide open. The day had
been oppressively hot, but now a faint
breeze was coming in from the sea,
most refreshingly welcome after the
sultry sitting heat of the day. 1t was
quite dark-that soft, velvety darkness
that belongs only to a perfectly moon
less, starless night
Just down below our window lay the
yarc or two of garden, then the long
straight line of the promenade, with its
aspI alt walk and drive dimly defined
by u shadowy row of white posts con-
nected by ornamental chains. Beyond
the cmbankment lay the wide, desolate
vast of sands, stretching away for miles
and miles on either hand.
TIE tide was far out, so far that only
4 sort of pale gray CLEAN on the hori-
ION showed where the sea was just be-
ginning 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 Lytham lighthouse kept
vigilant watch and ward over the dan
gerous shOal, on which many a good
ship has gone to its doom of shipwreck
and death.
Nellie was leaning out of the window,
her elbow on the sill, her eyes fixed on
the misty, soft darkness outside. 1t was
as dark inside as out; we had no thought
Of lighting the gas, that long summer
evening.
How still it is!' said she, dreamiIy.
What spell of solemn silence the
nigh lays on everything"
Al if to contradict her words, faint
sour / like far-of voice seemed sud
denl to rise from the sands below, and
SWEET by with a prolonged, mournful
cry.
"What is that?' she asked, startled
Some one calling down on the sands, :"
| said "The intense stiffness carries
the sound a great distance at night"
II heard such a wild legend, this
morning" she went on, persistently,
connected with those great deserts of
sand that stretch over toward Lytham.
Old Joe, the boatman, says they are
hunting up phantom voice"
: How thrilIingP' l remarked, skepti-
cally. "What does it say?"
Don't scott, Jean," said Nellie, lit
tie vexedly, 1T IS most pathetic,
dreadful legend. Years ago before there
was town here at all, people used to
cross the sands between here and Ly-
than on horseback. One stormy even
ing, a traveller had crossed, as usual
and had almost reached the shore, when
suddenly q bright light appeared, how
n ,,,l
or two away, and then vanished. At
the same moment, Il piteous, unearthly
cry echoed all around. The horse be
came 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 a
beautiful young girl. She was quite
dead, with a CHASTITY wound in her side,
from which the blood had flowed all
over her white dress. The traveller stag
gered away to the nearest house, got
assistance, and had the girls body laid
in an upper room. That night an aw-
full storm arose. A ship was wrecked
on the Horse bank, and only one man,
the captain, saved. He was taken to
the same house where the traveller had
already found shelter, and by some mis-
take, was put into the room where the
murdered girl was lying.
At the sight of her he gave an appall-
ing shrek, and fell down senseless.
When he revived, he was questioned,
and confessed that the beautiful young
girl was his wife, whom in moment of
rage and jealousy he hadstabbed to the
heart and cast into the sea. And the
sea had given up her dead, and the
waves had cast him on shore, and the
murderer and his victim were face to
face. And now they say the voice of
the murdered girl haunts the place
where she was found. 1t seems to rise
from the sands, and goes echoing and
wailing along, calling, calling, as if in
mortal agony The old boatman says
people have followed it, believing some
one was III peril, and have been lured
on and on, till the tide has overtaken
them, and they were drowned"
"What horrible talel" 1 said with
shudder. Il wish you had not told it
to me"
"And he says" went on Nellie, I'M
needing my remark, that whoever
hears the voice is in risk of great peril
or danger, or some kind of sorrow or
trouble is about to happen to him."
Nellie's voice had unconsciously taken
tone of awe. The still, sombre dark
ness, the midnight hour, and the weird,
melancholy legend had infected us both
with an underlined sensation of oppres-
sion and fear, presentiment of dread
and evil. We kept our places by the
window, looking out into the deep, vel
yety darkness, with the far away solitary
light from the lighthouse cleaning like
a red spark
Suddenly, while we sat, the sound of a
voice rose again from the lonely sands,
4 moaning, piteous voice wailing and
imploring as if in unutterable distress.
1t seemed to mingle with the boom of
the distant sea, now rising, now falling, a
lonely desolate wall, thrilling through
the darkness like a soul in mortal agony.
1t was dying away in the distance, in a
low, faint sob, when Nellie suddenly
sprang back into the room.
40 Jean, look!" she cried, "Look. the
phantom light"
/ leant out of the window, and gazed
out along the Epromenade. Flashing