Famous Modern Ghost Stories

and he placed his middle finger over a smoot

d of dry seaweed and u

edges of the shot-hole, first with his

the skull ag

icked it up

f. "I thought you might care to see one of the skulls, so I brought this over

are there altoget

list. They lie piled up in the gravel pit on the edge of Le Bihan's

p my gun and started across the cliffs,

ked, lighting my pipe. "

id the chemist. He added: "You should not smoke here.

cover to my pipe

pper-box arrangement over the glowin

the brass tube has preserved it. It is as fres

at the

0.' The Brigadier Durand has i

in French!"

n solemnly, "it is

reton language was never w

riests," sai

priest who ever wrote the

e a glance

e Black Prie

odd

itated, and finally shut his teeth obstinat

eless; for it is easier to move the stars from their courses than to ma

t, which he was trampling as though it were heather. As I spoke we came in sight

n see him; he stands just be

raight down, following a sun-bake

the mayor of St. Gildas, called to me, and I tucked my

itched voice; "there is but one more, and I am opp

and returned the salute

cking at the mass of silver buttons which covered the front of hi

d his tremendous mustache, and ho

id, "I am in favor

what-for the thirty-

cliffs to the horizon. I followed his eyes. On the dark glistening cliffs, silhouetted against

at list, Dur

rewed the head and dumped out a scroll of thick yellow paper closely covered with writing on both sides. At a nod

translate it, won't you? You and Max Fortin m

the three Bannalec men were digging, gave a

men were removing a square piece of sailcloth

ambered down the gravel sides of the pit and walked over to the men of Bannalec. They saluted me

?" said I

ight," th

n, rusted bits of iron and steel. Looking closer, I saw that this mound was composed of rusty bayonets, sab

ons bore the royal arms of England; the belt plate was emb

nglish regiment, the 27th Foot, which landed and sto

these are the bones

d the men

it above, and I handed the belt plate and buttons

icking my face as I emerged from the pit, "I suppose you kno

, who passed here in a dog-cart on his way to Quimper ab

lics?" I as

, was standing there where Max Fortin stands, and do you know what he answered? He spat up

ved from one year's end to the other without bein

Englishman offer

rancs for the

s and the relic buyers on the

ed and sixty is

dead can never

here to kill your fathers and

d," said Tregunc, coming up from the beach below,

ear, Jean Marie?" I asked, tu

nd twenty fran

? My wife wished me to ask you. I think it would be worth one hundred francs a month to you and to me. Come

zing at me, his

," I said, smiling, "i

mbling for his pipe in a sil

Tregunc started across the moors toward St. Gildas, taking off h

" said the mayor, after a moment's

r your salary except play dominoes

and winked at Max Fortin, and I slipped my arm t

iff," I said; "come on, Le Bihan,

w of the cliff, and I threw myself up

against the cliff, polishing his glasses and examining us with vague, near-sighted eyes; and Le B

ipe, and while lighting it I shall tell you what I have heard about t

oduced a tobacco pouch, a bit of flint and tinder, and a long-stemmed pipe fitted with a microscopical bowl of baked clay. To fill such a pipe requires ten

d I, lightin

from the island of Groix-three shiploads, and they stormed the fort and sacked St. Julien yonder, and they started to burn St. Gildas-you can see the marks of their bullets on my house yet;

h skull?" I asked, f

ling his pipe, and now he bega

etween his defective teeth-"the thirty-ninth skull is no busi

the missing skull?"

et it aglow, applied it to his pipe, took the prescribed four puffs, knoc

ng skull?"

id I, imp

began to read, translating from the Bre

liffs of

13,

ying in Kerselec Forest, the bodies of thirty-eight English soldiers of the 27th, 50th, an

and glanced at

Le Bihan

hat the brand should even burn into the bone of the skull. The traitor was then led out and bidden to kneel. He admitted having guided the English from the island of Groix. Although a priest and a Frenchman, he had violated his priestly office to aid him in discovering the password to the fort. This password he extorted during confession from a young Breton girl who was in the habit of r

claimed, "Ma

ather over his face, because the Bretons who composed the squad of execution refused to fire at a priest unless his face was concealed. The priest w

nded the manuscript back to Durand. The gendarme

y-ninth skull is the sku

in. "I hope they

eed," said the mayor querulous

gun. M?me came and pushe

og," observed Du

d Le Bihan. "It would be curious to see whethe

I didn't read to you," said the mayor

" I replied

cutioners, have written it in my own blood; and with it I leave my curse. My curse on St. Gildas, on Marie Trevec, and on her des

ou believe it was really

"at the request of Monsieur le Maire.

g out the scroll to me, "it

uriously ov

. This is a wonderfully interesting discovery, for now, at last, the mystery of the Black Pr

shall be buried in the pit below whe

t would be useless. But still I said, "It w

y, then," said the enligh

sh soldiers toward the St. Gildas cemetery, on the cliffs to the east, where already a knot of white-coiffed wom

ssassins; they are dead

the Mayor of St. Gildas, lo

ed by the priest-she and her descendants," I said, touching Le Bihan on the

aid Le Bihan, looki

en they were ance

the curse?" a

" I la

the Purple Emperor,"

shoulders and kicked at a smooth bit of rock which la

himself crazy because he was descended fr

t," said Max

mayor. "I only-Hellow! wh

rily giving another kick. The smooth bit of rock dislodge

ngo, it's the noddle of the Black Priest! See

ated. There was a pause, during which I looke

"I don't like it! The scroll says he will come back to St. Gildas w

an't get out. For Heaven's sake, Le Bihan, what is t

r gave m

You are an Englishman, Mons

er. You know I

said the Mayor of St.

and deliberately pushed the skull till it ro

send it to Paris. Don't look so gloomy, Fortin, unless you believe in werewolves and ghosts.

, tremulous voice, "it's time we got out

ed Max Fortin, p

sunny pasture now, and I hastened after t

d terror. "The skull is rolling up hill again," and he burs

een before I pushed it over the edge. For a second I stared at it; a singular chilly feeling crept up my spinal column, and I turned and walked away, sweat starting from t

lay th

d the skull over the edge of the pit and watched it roll to the bottom; and as it struck the bottom of t

d; but the dog only fled the faster, a

ith that dog!" I thought. He had n

could not see the skull. I looked down. The

till facing it, one, ten, twenty paces, my eyes almost starting from my head, as though I expected to see the thing roll up from the bottom of the pit under my very gaze. At last I turned my back to the pit and strode out across the gorse-covered moorland toward my home. As I reached the road