Moonfleet | Page 5

heart at ease. And now get the backgammon-board,
John, and set it for us on the table.' So they fell to the game, and I took
a sly sip at the liquor, but nearly choked myself, not being used to
strong waters, and finding it heady and burning in the throat. Neither
man spoke, and there was no sound except the constant rattle of the
dice, and the rubbing of the pieces being moved across the board. Now
and then one of the players stopped to light his pipe, and at the end of a
game they scored their totals on the table with a bit of chalk. So I
watched them for an hour, knowing the game myself, and being
interested at seeing Elzevir's backgammon-board, which I had heard
talked of before.
It had formed part of the furniture of the Why Not? for generations of
landlords, and served perhaps to pass time for cavaliers of the Civil
Wars. All was of oak, black and polished, board, dice-boxes, and men,
but round the edge ran a Latin inscription inlaid in light wood, which I
read on that first evening, but did not understand till Mr. Glennie
translated it to me. I had cause to remember it afterwards, so I shall set
it down here in Latin for those who know that tongue, Ita in vita ut in
lusu alae pessima jactura arte corrigenda est, and in English as Mr.
Glennie translated it, As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make
something of the worst of throws. At last Elzevir looked up and spoke

to me, not unkindly, 'Lad, it is time for you to go home; men say that
Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met him
face to face betwixt this house and yours.' I saw he wanted to be rid of
me, so bade them both good night, and was off home, running all the
way thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard, for Ratsey had
often told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless one
passed the churchyard by night.
Blackbeard was one of the Mohunes who had died a century back, and
was buried in the vault under the church, with others of his family, but
could not rest there, whether, as some said, because he was always
looking for a lost treasure, or as others, because of his exceeding
wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason, he must have been
bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since his day wicked
enough to bear anyone company in their vault or elsewhere. Men would
have it that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with an
old-fashioned lanthorn digging for treasure in the graveyard; and those
who professed to know said he was the tallest of men, with full black
beard, coppery face, and such evil eyes, that any who once met their
gaze must die within a year. However that might be, there were few in
Moonfleet who would not rather walk ten miles round than go near the
churchyard after dark; and once when Cracky Jones, a poor doited body,
was found there one summer morning, lying dead on the grass, it was
thought that he had met Blackbeard in the night.
Mr. Glennie, who knew more about such things than anyone else, told
me that Blackbeard was none other than a certain Colonel John
Mohune, deceased about one hundred years ago. He would have it that
Colonel Mohune, in the dreadful wars against King Charles the First,
had deserted the allegiance of his house and supported the cause of the
rebels. So being made Governor of Carisbrooke Castle for the
Parliament, he became there the King's jailer, but was false to his trust.
For the King, carrying constantly hidden about his person a great
diamond which had once been given him by his brother King of France,
Mohune got wind of this jewel, and promised that if it were given him
he would wink at His Majesty's escape. Then this wicked man, having
taken the bribe, plays traitor again, comes with a file of soldiers at the

hour appointed for the King's flight, finds His Majesty escaping
through a window, has him away to a stricter ward, and reports to the
Parliament that the King's escape is only prevented by Colonel
Mohune's watchfulness. But how true, as Mr. Glennie said, that we
should not be envious against the ungodly, against the man that walketh
after evil counsels. Suspicion fell on Colonel Mohune; he was removed
from his Governorship, and came back to his home at Moonfleet. There
he lived in seclusion, despised by both parties in the State, until he died,
about the time of the