were the first to see the wreck--was not that it?" At these words the
father and son seemed to exchange a very swift and secret look, and
both grew pale. "John told me there was a wreck ashore, and they went
presently and roused the rest of the village; and all that day they
were out, saving what could be saved. Two sailors were found, both
dead and pitifully battered by the sea, and they were buried, as you
know, Father, in the churchyard next day; John came back about dusk
and Henry with him, and we sate down to our supper. John was telling
me about the wreck, as we sate beside the fire, when Henry, who was
sitting apart, rose up and cried out suddenly, 'What is that?'"

She paused for a moment, and Henry, who sate with face blanched,
staring at his mother, said, "Ay, did I--it ran past me suddenly."
"Yes, but what was it?" said Father Thomas trying to smile; "a dog or
cat, methinks." "It was a beast," said Henry slowly, in a trembling
voice--"a beast about the bigness of a goat. I never saw the like--yet
I did not see it clear; I but felt the air blow, and caught a whiff of
it--it was salt like the sea, but with a kind of dead smell behind."
"Was that all you saw?" said Father Thomas; "belike you were tired and
faint, and the air swam round you suddenly--I have known the like
myself when weary." "Nay, nay," said Henry, "this was not like
that--it was a beast, sure enough." "Ay, and we have seen it since,"
said Bridget. "At least I have not seen it clearly yet, but I have
smelt its odour, and it turns me sick--but John and Henry have seen it
often--sometimes it lies and seems to sleep, but it watches us; and
again it is merry, and will leap in a corner--and John saw it skip
upon the sands near the wreck--did you not, John?" At these words the
two men again exchanged a glance, and then old Master Grimston, with a
dreadful look in his face, in which great anger seemed to strive with
fear, said, "Nay, silly woman, it was not near the wreck, it was out
to the east." "It matters little," said Father Thomas, who saw well
enough this was no light matter. "I never heard the like of it. I will
myself come down to your house with a holy book, and see if the thing
will meet me. I know not what this is," he went on, "whether it is a
vain terror that hath hold of you; but there be spirits of evil in the
world, though much fettered by Christ and His Saints--we read of such
in Holy Writ--and the sea, too, doubtless hath its monsters