THE DEATH LIGHT

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 289, 5 December 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE DEATH LIGHT

A MYSTERY OF THE SEA.

CHAPTER I. 461% AT AY T clear away, sir?"' IVA "Yes. certainly, 'Mrs. Donald," I replied. Outside rain was spluttering in violent gusts against the curtained windows of the snug little parlour and tlie pale, tearing in from the Atlantic, wailccl eerily around the tinv cottage. " 'Tis a wild night," remarked Mrs. Donald, my landlady, placing the supper dishes on her tray. "A body's better in than out in such a wild night as this." "Yes indeed,'' I replied, thankful for my comfortable armchair and for the fire that glowed and crackled cheerily in the grate. "It must have been on such a night that Captain Shark died out there on the beach." "Cap'n Shark?" repeated Mrs. Donald, staring with milk jug suspended. "Lawks, ill". Howard, what do you know of him?" "Only what tradition tells, Mrs. Donald," I replied, "and only what I am reading in this book." Mrs. Donald sniffed. "Books are lies," she opinionated, with a touch of acidity. "Well, listen to what this old book says of Captain Shark," I replied, "and you shall tell me if it lies." And thus I read from the book which I held in my hand: "And Captain Shark raised his massive Iread, his great red Tjeard all matted with the wet and clinging sand. Wildly he glared at /those who stood around him. "I am dying," he cried, . hoarsely "so listen to these parting words of mine. Yon light yev'e lit on- Vulture Rock this night will never be put out. As it has lured me to my doom, so it shall lure many an honest ship in years to come." Then he propped himself on his elbow and shouted, "D'ye hear me, ye fools? D'ye hear my curse? When seas run high and the storm wind comes in howling out of the night then shall ye see the death light shining out yonder on Vulture Rock." With that he fell back. And there were some that stood there and bared their heads. For Captain Shark of Scarne had gone to his last, long rest.

I laid down the book. "Now tell me, Mrs. Donald," I said, "are those true words or are they lies?" "True as true, Mr. Howard," i replied my landlady, impressively, i "I've lived here in Scarne all my life and often have I heard the story told. Died out there 011 the beach. 1 did Cap'n Shark nigh on a hundred ; vears ago. Aye, right in front of these very windows it was. My great-grandfather was one of them what stood there and saw him die and heard the curse." 1 "But what exactly was the curse?" [ I replied. "And what did Cap'n Shark mean by saying that when storms raged the death light would be seen on Vulture Rock?" "It was like this. Mr. Howard." explained Mrs. Donald. "Cap'n Shark was a smuggler. Tiger Shark they called him. for he was strong and cruel and cunning. Clever as well, he was, for the Preventive men could never catch him. Well, there came a. wild and stormy night when the Preventive men got word that Cap'n Shark was running a cargo down the coast. Before the seas got too rough they rowed out a boat to Vulture Rock, which was a mile out to sea. Ye've seen it, maybe?" "Yes, I saw it this evening on my way here," I replied. Mrs. Donald nodded and continued: "Them Preventive men lit a beacon on Vulture Rock. Along comes Cap'n Shark's cutter, running before the wind. He sights the beacon on Vulture Rock, and takes it for the Ormsby Light, -farther along the coast. He was wrecked on the rocks. All his crew was i drowned, and the folks on the beach [ had given Cap'n Shark up for dead, r when he staggers out of the ' breakers. Aye* a powerful man he ! was, and he l*ad reached the shore " by clinging to a spar. But he was sore bruised -and hurt." f "Yes, my book says that it was an extraordinary feat for any man to live through the great seas which 1 were running at that time," I 3 remarked. . . 1 "Well, he did, anyway," went on Mrs. Donald, "and when he said bef.ore lie died that the Death Light s would be seen shining on Vulture e Rock when he was dead and gone he n meant that a ghostly beacon would 2 burn there, luring ships to their doom as he had been lured to his." * "Which was rubbish, of course," I J ventured. Mrs. Donald shook her head por--1 tentiouslv. . J "And that's where you're wrong, - sir," slie replied, and I saw hef > shudder as rain was whirled splatteringly against the windows. "Often

and often tlie ghost light lias shone, and many its the ship what has been lost and many the poor sailor what has been drowned for taking it for the Ormsby Light. Ah, sir, you can smile. " But us here in Scarne knows what we knows. The spirit of Cap'll Shark roams Vulture. Rock to this very day, and when the storm winds blow he lights hid beacon of death." "You have seen it, then, Mrs. Donald ?" '•Seen it with my very eyes, sir," she replied, earnestly, "Not once, nor twice, but many times. Aye, aiid when morning has dawned, I've helped to carry the bodies of drowned sailor men off the beach what lias been littered with wreckage." "But surely there must be some explanation,"" I said incredulously. "ilr. Howard, may I never draw another breath if I'm not saying just what I've seen with my own eyes. When a storm has been coming up, all day us folks of Scarne have watched Vulture Rock with nary a soul on it. Then, when night lias come, and no boat could ever live on the seas what is runjiing, that ghostly beacon has. appeared. Come morning, the rock has stood there, lonely and deserted, untrod by human foot save those of the men who have rowed out to see if the Cap'n has left any trace over night. But never a trace of him, or anything else, has been found." "And this ghostly beacon has been appearing off and on since Captain Shark died," I demanded. "Aye, for nigh 011 a hundred years it has shone and this past winter has seen it four times. And each time a ship has been lost through it." I sat silent, starim* into the fire. "A strange story, indeed, Mrs. Donald," I remarked at length. "One which defies any material explanation." "Yes, Mr. Howard," she replied "maybe if you are staying here Ion;; you will see the light with your own eyes." ■ "I might, as you say," I agreed. "In fact, it may appear on such a night as this." "I hope not." she said with simple fervour. "The good God knows enough lives have been lost already through it." She took up the laden tray and I jumped to my feet to open the door for her 'to pass through to the kitchen. When she had gone and I waralone, I crossed to the little parlour window. Pulling aside the curtains I stared out into the blackness of that wild night. Somewhere out there on the dreary waste of waters stood the Vulture Rock. In daylight it was visible from the window at which I stood. But now nothing was to be seen through the rain-washed pane save black, impenetrable darkness. Dropping the curtain back into place I returned to my seat by the fire and nave myself up to my thoughts. For it was expressly to investigate the mystery of the phantom beacon that I had that day arrived at Scarne. lodging with Mrs. Donald. Frankly. I had been sceptical as to its existence when I first heard of it from my chief, Rear-Admiral Sir

Freville Browne, of the Admiralty. But the steadily increasing toll of shipping on this* desolate part of tlie western eoa6t of,, Scotland had made investigation necessary. And now, as I sat gazing into the fire, I wondered if I was still as sceptical as I had been, or, in fact, as I wished that I could be, I would not admit to myself, as I sat turning- the matter over in my mind, that the lamp on Vulture Rock could be lighted by any hand but that of man. I did not believe in the supernatural. And yet, if reports were true, the beacon had been seen at intervals, glowing through the storms for. close on one hundred years, luring ships to their doom. Were the inhabitants of Scarne themselves entirely guiltless? I was quite aware that in these enlightened times wrecking is looked upon as a thing belonging only to the wild days of long ago. But could one be certain ? Scarne had possessed an unenviable reputation in the past for smuggling, and worse. Its inhabitants were fisher-folk, every 0110. By marriage and inter-marriage they were, to all intents and purposes, one big clan. Theirs was a common weal and old traditions die hard — traditions handed down from their smuggling forbears. It was possible that they were still carrying 011 the nefarious wrecking, finding rich loot from the washed-up cargoes on the beach. Well, I would learn little by sitting over my fire, yet a certain survey of the problem was necessary. But at length I rose to my feet. I would go to the one place where men •wild meet in that little lonely village—the inn. There I might learn some little more of the ghostly beacon. Crossing to the window I pulled the curtain aside and peered out into the blackn OSS of the night. The sullen boom of the surf thundering on the beach came clearly to my ears. Rut no light showed out yonder on the wild waters. Evidently the heanon was not being kindled that night. Dropping the curtain back into nlace. and turning down the oil lamp which stood 011 the table. I passed out of the room into the little passageway where hung my hat and mackintosh. The kitchen door at the end of tlie passage was closed. But Mrs. Donald appeared to have a visitor there, for a gruff voice came plainly to my ears. Let me state here, and now that nothing was further from my thoughts than to act as eavesdropper. But that indefinable seventh sense which we all possess told me that I was the subject of the conversation which was going on behind that door. "Who i« he?"—the words came nuite audibly—"What tlees he want here, in Scarne?" Mrs. Donald's low voiced reply was lost to me, but evidently it contained a word of warning to speak lower, for the conversation dropped to an unintelligible rumble. Struggling into my mackintosh ind clapping on my hat. T sallied forth into the nistlit. The wind, howling in from the North Atlantic, tore at me and buffeted me. driving neltincr rain into my face with blinding force. t (To be continued.)