Ralph Dayner's Doom.

Otago Witness, Issue 1177, 20 June 1874, Page 24

Ralph Dayner's Doom.

BY W. W. FEN"N.

If travellers see strange things, so do artists, at least landscape-painters do, for they are travellers as well j and in pursuit of their vocation visit so many remote places, and come in contact with so many different sorts of people, that they ought to be good story-tellers. The rural and seafaring populations, with whom of necessity they have to mingle, offer many curious studies of character ; and the sketcher from nature, who chances to be a writer also, may pick up amongst them incidents and stories by the score. I have come across many, but the brush has claimed so much of my time, that, like most of my craft, I have had but little inclination to give any to the pen. However, within the last week some circumstances have occurred under my very eyes of so tragic a nature, and associated with so terrible a story, that I am tempted, before I leave the spot, to utilise the long evenings now setting in by writing down the facts as they have come to my knowledge. I am staying at a little public-house called the Pilot, the only hostelry in the small village of Pitsdean, situated at the foot of that enormous range of chalk cliffs which, at its highest peak, is marked on the charts of the south coast as Shingle Head. The scant population is composed of a few fishermen, farm labourers, and some lime-burners ; these latter being the most numerous, for lime-burning is carried on extensively in the district, and where the chalk begins to rise from the flatter country by the beach, the kilns abound. Odd gaps and roads wind down to them through the upheaved soil and fantastic masses of landslip, rendered more fantastic by the cuttings, excavations, and blastings constantly going on. Little green plateaus jut out here and there half-way down some of the taller cliffs ; and notably there is one which, overhanging a kiln on one side, and cut off on the other by a rising precipice of chalk, is accessible only by a narrow winding path descending from the upper heights. This, together with the range of white cliffs, very varied in form, and rising in some placeo to hundreds of feet ; the burning lime-kiln, with its film of smoke, its dark cavernous furnace, its adjacent staok of dried gorse for fuel ; the carts and horses going to and fro down the steep road to the beach, and across the sands to the little craft that has put in at flood-tide, and is now at the ebb _ left stranded to receive her cargo of limestone ; the moving figures and some boats — made up a bit of coast scenery which tempted me to submit for a week or so to the limited accommodation offered by the Pilot. I had marked down the scene during a long walk, and had determined to take up. my quarters at the rough inn for the purpose of painting it. So, six days ago I came over, bag and baggage, from Helmstone, the watering-place where I was staying, and set to work betimes the next morning. The autumnal weather was beautiful, and the effect just what I wanted ; but the little craft was absent, and as she formed a conspicuous item in the picture, I grew anxious for her appearance as the tide came in. When it was at its highest, however, she slowly rounded the headland, and dropped anchor in her old berth, a little before noon. I knew that by the time the men had had their dinner she would be lying high and dry, and taking in her cargo, in the usual picturesque fashion. Resting for a while, I strolled down to the beaph to get a closer look at her. She was rough and tub-like, as might be expected, remembering her trade ; cutterrigged, and of from fifteen to twenty tons burden. There was a deck, and cabin hatchway forward, and open hold, and the yellow letters on her black stern announced that she was the Betsy of Helmstone, and that Ralph Dayner was her 'master. The sea was calm, but there was just enough ripple breaking on the shore to prevent the purport of some very high words issuing from the tiny cabin being heard. Nevertheless, I could make out enough to understand that there was a man abusing and bullying a woman. Once there was something very like a scream, but soon all was silent, and preseatty a sailor emerged from the hatchway. Calling to a boy apparently asleep in the hold, the two got into a little

boat which the cutter had in tow, , and pulled ashore. They then hauled it up on to the beach, and I saw that the man waa a huge broad-shouldered, bull-necked, illlooking fellow. As he walked away towards the kilns, exchanging a few rough words with the men at work there, and disappeared up the road leading to the village, I thought I had never seen a worse specimen of his class.

Sitting down again to my easel, I became much absorbed ; and as the dinner hour left the spot quite deserted, I remained for a long time free from the interruption of any of those on-lookera who are more or less attracted by the sight of an artist sketching. Fraotice has made me generally indifferent to these molestations, and so, when after a while I was conscious that some one was standing near me, I at first paid little heed to the fact. But when for a moment I chanced to turn my head, I waa rather ptartled by the sullen and forbidding aspect of the individual at my elbow. He was a tall, thin, pale-faced man of about forty, with shaggy irongrey beard, and matted hair.

Dressed in a besmirched and seedy suit of black, and wearing an old ohimneypot hat, he looked very different from any of my usual audience ; but it waa not bo much this which disturbed me as hiß unpleasant stare — a Btare bent upon me, be it remarked, and not upon my picture. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was not regarding what I was doing at all. He had his back turned too much towards the easel for that, and each time that I glanced up at him, and our eyes met, 1 encountered a dark sinister scowl. I tried, however, to ignore his presence, although I confess it affected me disagreeably. By degrees, too, I had a sensation he was trying to get nearer to me without my knowing it, and I became sure of this at last, as I furtively watched his feet. They were certainly creeping as it were towardß me, and, without taking a stride, he had got much closer to me than he was when I first noticed him. He was now not above a yard from where I sat, and looked up at him at last point blank. He winced a little under my steady glance, dropped his wild eyes for a moment, and movedslowlyroundtotheotherside. Again I tried to go on with my work and to forget him. In a more solitary place I should have felt rather uneasy j nay, was I not really feeling so now ? — for here, at this hour, with the coast utterly deserted, I was as much alone as I well could be.

I did not know what to make of the fellow. Did he want to attack and rob me ? He hardly looked like a pickpocket ; but I could not doubt from Mb strange behaviour that he had some sinister intention.

Resolving thus much in my mind, and seeing that he was again creeping in his cat-like stealthy way towards me, and this time, as it seemed, trying to get behind me, 1 stood up suddenly, and faoing him, said angrily, " What do you mean by this dodging about ? If you want to see what I am doing, look at it and be off, and don't annoy me any longer."

I had pitched my easel in such a position as to make it impossible for anybody to get to my rear without passing very close in front of me first ; for I was about halfway up the cliff road, just at one of its zigzag bends, with a steep slope down to the beach on the left hand, and on the right a sheer wall of rifling chalk. Instead of answering me, the fellow burst into a low impertinent laugh, and, slipping between the easel and the edge of the cliff, was behind me m a moment. Turning almost as rapidly, however, I was again face to face with him ; and now there waa barely a foot's space between us. He appeared scarcely prepared for thia movement, and again winced perceptibly under my steady gaze. His long bony fingers, which were remarkably claw-like in J their action and form, twitched nervously at his beard, his laugh ceased, his eyes dropped, and he shrank back w if he thought I was going to strike him, much as a fierce dog that had met his master might have done. Before I had time to speak, he shyly and awkwardly, but with some politeness, raised his hat, saying, in a soft gentle voice, "I beg your pardon, I thought I knew you ; I am sorry to have disturbed you, and I wish you good-morning." Then, again slipping by me, he walked away down the road to the beach, occasionally looking back furtively over his shoulder in my direction. He passed close to the cutter, finally disappearing round some jutting rocks, with his head bent towards the ground, apparently deeply absorbed, and noticing nothing around him.

Right glad was I to see his back, for I had never been so much put out in my life by the impertinence of an idler ; and the strange conduct and appearance of this man set me wondering who he could be. But the interest in my work once revived, he vanished for a time from my mind. Only when the Bhort twilight drove me to my solitary chop in the par-

lour of the little inn did I think of him again, or make any inquiries. No, the landlord didn't know nothin at all about such a customer ; he harn't never seen his like up that way ; no, nor no more hadn't the one or two natives who were by this time dropping in for their evening smoke and glass. I have said that the Pilot's accommodation is limited ; and beyond my snug clean little bedroom my privacy does not go. This ii no hardship, however, for I have always been used to roughing it ; and there is nothing objectionable to me in occasionally mingling with the homely frequenters of a village alehouse. Thus I smoked my pipe, and listened to or chatted with the few customers as they came in from time to time. Several of them had seen me at work during the day ; but of course, as it was whilst they were absent that my strange visitor had appeared, and i as they knew nothing of him otherwise, they could give no information. At a table in the farthest corner of the room— which was fairly spacious, considering the size of the house— in company with two workmen from the limekiln* sat the ill-looking fellow whom I had seen come ashore from the cutter. Ab it was getting late, I was surprised to see him there, and asked of a fisherman close beside me how it was this man had not gone off with his craft and her cargo before it got dark. " 0," said the man in an undertone, "he bee's a proper radical sort o' chap that Ralph Dayner ; there's never no knowin' what he'll be up to ! Somewhiles he'll go hisself right enough, and somewhiles he'll just leave it to his lad and his missus, and go off on the drink for a week or two at a time ; and I reckon that's what he's up to now ! I reckon the boy and one of our men 'ull take the Betsy round to Helmstone to-night better than he would hisself ; and his missus won't be none the worse for it neither ; proper radical he bee's to her too somewhiles sure-ly !" " 111-uses her T f I suggested " Yeß, I reckon he does," went on the man ; " and she be a poor sad sort of creatur too, kind o' cracky they say somewhiles. Harmless eno', you know, sir, but a little weak in her head like, and that makes it all the worse for her, don't you ace ?" Of course I could see plainly enough, and of course I could now understand the sounds I had heard from on board the cutter in the morning. Our farther talk was here interrupted by the sound of wheels stopping at the door of the inn, followed by the hurried entrance of two strangers. One was a strong broad-shouldered man, in appearance rather like an upper groom out of livery ; the other, also tall and strong, looked like a doctor. He said abruptly, "Do any of you here happen to have seen wandering about over the downs and cliffs to-day a tall, thin, pale-faced man, with a beard, dressed in black, and wearing a high hat V I instantly replied that certainly had Been a person answering this description, and I briefly told the gentleman under what circumstances. "That's he," he replied, "without doubt. Now, look here," he added, addressing the company generally, who were of course all attention, "he is a madman, aid this morning he escaped from the asylum at Helmstone. Now, I offer five pounds reward to any one who shall be the means of helping us to secure him. Depend upon it he is not far off, but as it is dark I am afraid we may not be able to find him till the morning. Still, if any of you who know the country well will guide me and my man, we will go and do what we can. He'll be stowing himself away under some barn or hayrick, or down on the shore somewhere perhaps. Can you let us have a lantern or two landlord ?" Naturally, the whole roomful was astir by this time. Every one volunteered his services, and a couple of lanterns being produced, and a move made towards the door, the doctor paused as he reached it, and said, •'Now, steady; I must warn you of one thing, he is very dangerous — what we call a homicidal maniac—that is to say, he will try to murder, try to strangle, anybody he gets hold of who shows the slightest fear of him. He has already killed a man in his madness ; that is why he has been shut up. But if you face him boldly, look straight into his eyes, and show that you are not afraid of him, you will have no more difficulty in dealing with him than you would with one of the sheep on these hills ; but if he sees you shrink from him for an instant, he'll have his fingers in your neckcloth before you know where you are, and slight as he is, he is as strong as a lion." I need not say what flashed through my mind at this moment, or how thankful I felt for the escape I had had. Among the six or eight listening faces turned towards the doctor whilst he Bpoke there was only one that grow pale ; the biggest into in th« room ww the o»Iy on© who

showed the slightest sign of cowardice. This was Ralph Dayner, the owner of the cutter, who, at the conclusion of the doctor's words, drew back, unperceived by everybody but me, to the corner where he had been sitting, and, with something like a shudder, sank moodily into his chair, and took a deep draught of the liquor in front of him. I was the last to leave the room as the little crowd went forth into the night ; and I left him still sitting there. Having, by the aid of a lantern, conducted the doctor to the spot where I had been sketching, and pointed out the way the man had taken when he left me, I returned to the inn, having no mind to assist farther in the exciting search. Dayner had not moved from his corner inthe parlour when I peeped in, and I went; to bed full of uncomfortable reflections upon the escape I had had from the clutch of those long bony fingers. Had not something urged me to assume an angry dominant tone towards the unfortunate madman as promptly as I did, there is no doubt he would have wreaked his homicidal propensities upon me. He would have creptlto within a springing distance, and then, like a wild beast, would have strangled me, or thrown me over the cliff. As it was, finding me prepared and resolute, he suddenly assumed the fawning tone and hypocritical manner which I have understood to be part of the cunning displayed by those afflicted with this direst of diseases.

With no small regret I learned next morning that the search proved fruitless, and that the lunatic was still at large. It was very much like hearing that a maneating tiger was prowling about the neighbourhood, and 1 confess to having hesitated about going on with my work. Yet I could not well afford to lose a day, and as I had shown myself master of the situation once, I would rely on being able to do so again. Therefore, keeping a sharp look-out, it was not long ere I was ensconced in my old position, and fully.engrossed with my sketch. As luck would have it, the spot was unusually quiet today. The kilns, though still burning, were not being fed ; the Betay did not come round from Helmstone ; and with the exception now and then of two or three natives loafing about, on the watch, as they said, " for that theer cracky chap, as nobody 'cept the gentleman a-draftin' had clapped eyes on," I had the cliffs and the road all to myself, just at the very I time when I could have cheerfully submitted to a little company. j Late in afternoon, th 6 doctor and his man, both looking weary and travelstained from their want of rest and long tramp, paid me a short visit. Their scouts, they said, had failed to find any trace of the fugitive. Indeed, I believe the doctor was inclined to doubt the statement I had made, for he cross-ex-amined me again and again upon the whole matter. An hour or more passed ; the beach, as far as the eye could stretch, was quite deserted, as also were the tops of the cliffs, along which, from my position, 1 could see some way. The sun was declining, the thin film of blue smoke from the lime-kiln rose prettily across the little green plateau before mentioned, and the whole effect at this time was one ,of perfect calm and peace, but also one of intense loneliness. At last, however, this was rudely broken down by the appearance of Ralph Dayner coming down the road. He was far from sober, and lurched and staggered in his gait. He stopped now and then, and appeared to be looking vacantly about seawards for his vessel. As he neared me he said sulkily, "D'ye 'appen t' ha' seen that theer boat o' mine ?" "Not since yesterday," I replied shortly. "Not since yesterday 1" he repeated moodily, first turning his blood-shot eyes upon me and then towards the spot where she had been lying. " What d'ye mean by yesterday 1 What's yesterday ? 'Twar'n't yesterday 1 brought her round, was it ? No, couldn't ha' been," he continued to mutter ; " 'twas s-mornin'. Where the blazes is she gone ?" And then he staggered a pace or two farther down the road, stopped, came back, scowled at me, muttered another oath, and retreated by the way he had come. I had watched him reach the second bend in the road above me, when I saw him suddenly give a start — much as if he had seen a ghost — and set off running with all his might. Wondering what could have produced such unlooked-for agility in a man of his bulk, I beheld, at about twenty yards from him, a tall dark figure emerging stealthily from out of one of the many cuttings or chalk-pits by the side of the road. I immediately recognised the madman. He was without his hat, and was stooping, or crouching, as it seemed at first, but as Dayner took to his heels, he presently set off running after him. I stood up from my easel, and shouted. I had a whistle with me, and blew it with all my might— did everything I could to raise m alwm, F° r »

moment a turn in the road hid alike pursuer and pursued from my view, but presently they both stood out clear against the evening sky, upon the top of the nearest high cliff. The pace at which the heavier man moved was extraordinary. Fear seemed to have lent him wings ; nevertheless the other was steadily gaining on him ; and for an instant it looked as if they might encounter at the cliff edge, for they were running straight towards it. Whilst I trembled at the thought of what might then follow, for I could imagine that in his blind terror Dayner did not know in which direction he was running, he turned nimbly and doubled back like a hare ; but again feeling himself overtaken, hearing, doubtless, the quick breathing of his pursuer almost in his ear (for the latter, with outstretched arm, seemed about to have him in his grip), the terrified fugitive took suddenly to the little winding path that led from the upper height down to the green plateau overhanging the lime kiln. The remnant of his wits fairly scared out of him, he probably hardly saw whither he was going, or he would have remembered that, as from here there was no escape, a struggle for life would surely ensue. Reaching the grass, Dayner made for the ledge above the kiln, and this brought him to within fifty yards of where I was standing. I could, see the terror in his white bloated face ; and. as his bewildered gaze fell upon the yawning red-hot pit of ! burning lime beneath him, and he knew that he was caged, he threw up his arms with a shriek, and turning round, encountered the maniac face to face. They closed in an instant ; the fatal grip was already on Dayner's throat. Despite every effort, he failed to shake it off, or even to relax it in the least ; but his enormous strength enabled him to lift his antagonist off the ground as if he had been a child. As he did so, they fell, but Dayner downwards ; and for several moments they were rolling in a huddled heap together, the thin sinewy form of the madman clinging to and entwining the other's bulky frame as a serpent might coil round an elephant. Dayner struggled to his feet again, and in the wild whirl which followed, I saw from the deepening colour of his face that those terrible fingers must be tightening their hold. It was a fearful spectacle ! Hither and thither for a few moments more, upon that narrow ledge of turf, the two bodies swayed, now going with a heavy thud against the wall of chalk on the one side, and then staggering perilously near the sheer down cliff above the kiln on the other. Twice again they fell, and twice again Dayner got to his feet. He was now tearing at the madman's beard and hair, and dealing smashing blows with his huge fists at the face of his foe ; but the grip evidently never for an instant lessened ; it was steadily doing its fatal work.

All of a sudden the big man's strength seemed to fail him entirely. Once more the two dropped to the ground, this time so close to the edge of the plateau that in another instant, before I could well realise the horror of the event, they had fallen, locked in their deadly embrace, into the fiery depths of the lime-kiln below ! An inquest on the unrecognisable charred remains of the two miserable men has brought out the terrible sequel to this tale of brutality and madness. That afternoon, whilst the whole village was in commotion at the news, there arrived two policemen from Helmstone asking for Ralph Dayner. It appeared that the lad who helped to sail his craft, finding his master did not return in time to save the daylight on the previous evening, got one of the boatmen from the beach to aid him in taking her back to the neighbouring port ; as he had had to do on many other occasions when, as my fisherman friend suggested, the burly ruffian had taken to a drinking bout. The map and the boy got into Helmstone (that place not being above an hour's sail off) just at nightfall ; but on their way, not hearing anything of Mrs Dayner, they looked into the little fore-cabin, and, to their dismay, found the poor woman bleeding and almost senseless. She faintly told them that her husband had struck her a tremendous blow just before he left his boat in the morning ; and they had hardly got her on shore when she died from its effects.

A dreadful retribution had overtaken her murderer, and I had witnessed it, as also had many others ; for besides being attracted to the spot by my shouts and whistlings, some of the natives of Pitsdean had caught sight of that chase for life, and of course had followed it up. But, from a strange coincidence, accident, or whatever it may have been, the instrument selected by Fate to deal this act of retributive justice turned out to have been a fearfully fitting one— the miserable maniac being none other than the brother of Mrs Dayner. The taint of madness was in the family, and once, long ago, it was proved he had attaokod her husband, after some high words between them, »nd nearly ptranglod him, This was the first

sign of that homicidal mania which, early leading to one murder, as the doctor had stated, terminated in the catastrophe I beheld. This accounted for Dayner's behaviour when he first heard of the lunatio being at large, and the abject terror he displayed on seeing him suddenly emerge from the chalk-pit. His nerves, shattered by his dissolute life doubtless, the recollection of those terrible fingers which had once already been at his throat, scared his wits utterly, and led to his seeking safety in flight ; the one course of all others the most fatal to have adopted in the presence of such a madman.

I doubt if I shall ever have the heart to finish my sketch. I fear I can never look upon its lines without seeing that awful death-struggle still going on upon the little green plateau which is so prominent a feature in the subject. At present the canvas stands with its face to the wall ; and everything concerning the tragedy being now over, and my presence of no farther use, I think the wisest thing, l can do is to pack up and quit the Pilot tomorrow morning, endeavouring as far as possible to forget my visit to Pitsdean, and all connected with. it.