Moonfleet | Page 8

of a strange noise under the church. The first
time it came was just as Mr. Glennie was finishing 'Dearly Beloved',

and we heard it again before the second lesson. It was not a loud noise,
but rather like that which a boat makes jostling against another at sea,
only there was something deeper and more hollow about it. We boys
looked at each other, for we knew what was under the church, and that
the sound could only come from the Mohune Vault. No one at
Moonfleet had ever seen the inside of that vault; but Ratsey was told by
his father, who was clerk before him, that it underlay half the chancel,
and that there were more than a score of Mohunes lying there. It had
not been opened for over forty years, since Gerald Mohune, who burst
a blood-vessel drinking at Weymouth races, was buried there; but there
was a tale that one Sunday afternoon, many years back, there had come
from the vault so horrible and unearthly a cry, that parson and people
got up and fled from the church, and would not worship there for weeks
afterwards.
We thought of these stories, and huddled up closer to the brazier, being
frightened at the noise, and uncertain whether we should not turn tail
and run from the church. For it was certain that something was moving
in the Mohune vault, to which there was no entrance except by a ringed
stone in the chancel floor, that had not been lifted for forty years.
However, we thought better of it, and did not budge, though I could see
when standing up and looking over the tops of the seats that others
beside ourselves were ill at ease; for Granny Tucker gave such starts
when she heard the sounds, that twice her spectacles fell off her nose
into her lap, and Master Ratsey seemed to be trying to mask the one
noise by making another himself, whether by shuffling with his feet or
by thumping down his prayer-book. But the thing that most surprised
me was that even Elzevir Block, who cared, men said, for neither God
nor Devil, looked unquiet, and gave a quick glance at Ratsey every
time the sound came. So we sat till Mr. Glennie was well on with the
sermon. His discourse interested me though I was only a boy, for he
likened life to the letter 'Y', saying that 'in each man's life must come a
point where two roads part like the arms of a "Y", and that everyone
must choose for himself whether he will follow the broad and sloping
path on the left or the steep and narrow path on the right. For,' said he,
'if you will look in your books, you will see that the letter "Y" is not

like the Mohune's, with both arms equal, but has the arm on the left
broader and more sloping than the arm on the right; hence ancient
philosophers hold that this arm on the left represents the easy
downward road to destruction, and the arm on the right the narrow
upward path of life.' When we heard that we all fell to searching our
prayer-books for a capital 'Y'; and Granny Tucker, who knew not A
from B, made much ado in fumbling with her book, for she would have
people think that she could read. Then just at that moment came a noise
from below louder than those before, hollow and grating like the cry of
an old man in pain. With that up jumps Granny Tucker, calling out loud
in church to Mr. Glennie--
'O Master, however can'ee bide there preaching when the Moons be
rising from their graves?' and out from the church.
That was too much for the others, and all fled, Mrs. Vining crying,
'Lordsakes, we shall all be throttled like Cracky Jones.'
So in a minute there were none left in the church, save and except Mr.
Glennie, with me, Ratsey, and Elzevir Block. I did not run: first, not
wishing to show myself coward before the men; second, because I
thought if Blackbeard came he would fall on the men rather than on a
boy; and third, that if it came to blows, Block was strong enough to
give account even of a Mohune. Mr. Glennie went on with his sermon,
making as though he neither heard any noise nor saw the people leave
the church; and when he had finished, Elzevir walked out, but I stopped
to see what the minister would say to Ratsey about the noise in the
vault. The sexton helped Mr. Glennie off with his gown, and then
seeing me standing by and listening, said--
'The Lord has sent evil angels among us; 'tis a terrible thing, Master
Glennie,