Dead Mans Rock | Page 7

though that is bad enough."
She seemed relieved a little, but still trembled sadly, and caught her
breath with every fresh roar. The tempest had gathered fury, and was
now raging as though Judgment Day were come, and earth about to be
blotted out. For some minutes we listened almost motionless, but heard
nothing save the furious elements; and, indeed, it was hard to believe
that any sound on earth could be audible above such a din. At last I
turned to my mother and said--
"Mother dear, it is nothing but the storm. You were thinking of father,
and that made you nervous. Go back to bed--it is so cold here--and try
to go to sleep. What was it you thought you heard?"
"Dear Jasper, you are a good boy, and I suppose you are right, for you
can hear nothing, and I can hear nothing now. But, oh, Jasper! it was so
terrible, and I seemed to hear it so plainly; though I daresay it was only
my--Oh, God! there it is again! listen! listen!"

This time I heard--heard clearly and unmistakably, and, hearing, felt the
blood in my veins turn to very ice.
Shrill and distinct above the roar of the storm, which at the moment had
somewhat lulled, there rose a prolonged wail, or rather shriek, as of
many human voices rising slowly in one passionate appeal to the mercy
of Heaven, and dying away in sobbing, shuddering despair as the wild
blast broke out again with the mocking laughter of all the fiends in the
pit--a cry without similitude on earth, yet surely and awfully human; a
cry that rings in my ears even now, and will continue to ring until I die.
I sprang from bed, forced the window open and looked out. The wind
flung a drenching shower of spray over my face and thin night-dress,
then tore past up the hill. I looked and listened, but nothing could be
seen or heard; no blue light, nor indeed any light at all; no cry, nor gun,
nor signal of distress--nothing but the howling of the wind as it swept
up from the sea, the thundering of the surf upon the beach below; and
all around, black darkness and impenetrable night. The blast caught the
lattice from my hand as I closed the window, and banged it furiously. I
turned to look at my mother. She had fallen forward on her knees, with
her arms flung across the bed, speechless and motionless, in such sort
that I speedily grew possessed with an awful fear lest she should be
dead. As it was, I could do nothing but call her name and try to raise
the dear head that hung so heavily down. Remember that I was at this
time not eight years old, and had never before seen a fainting fit, so that
if a sight so like to death bewildered me it was but natural. How long
the fit lasted I cannot say, but at last, to my great joy, my mother raised
her head and looked at me with a puzzled stare that gradually froze
again to horror as recollection came back.
"Oh, Jasper, what could it be?--what could it be?"
Alas! I knew not, and yet seemed to know too well. The cry still rang in
my ears and clamoured at my heart; while all the time a dull sense told
me that it must have been a dream, and a dull desire bade me believe it
so.
"Jasper, tell me--it cannot have been--"

She stopped as our eyes met, and the terrible suspicion grew and
mastered us, numbing, freezing, paralysing the life within us. I tried to
answer, but turned my head away. My mother sank once more upon her
knees, weeping, praying, despairing, wailing, while the storm outside
continued to moan and sob its passionate litany.
CHAPTER III.
TELLS OF TWO STRANGE MEN THAT WATCHED THE SEA
UPON POLKIMBRA BEACH.
Morning came at last, and with the first grey light the storm had spent
its fury. By degrees my mother had grown calmer, and was now
sleeping peacefully upon her bed, worn out with the passion of her
terror. I had long ago dressed; but even had I wished to sleep again,
curiosity to know the meaning of that awful cry would have been too
strong for me. So, as soon as I saw that my mother was asleep, I took
my boots in my hand and crept downstairs. The kitchen looked so
ghostly in the dim light, that I had almost resolved to give up my plan
and go back, but reflected that it behoved me to play the man, if only to
be able to cheer mother when I came back. So, albeit with my heart in
my mouth,