narrator
continued: "I have often seen it myself, and once, very clearly. I
will never forget it to my dying day. It was pitch-dark and a
drizzling rain was falling. I was walking hastily towards my home,
when, on my right, I beheld a light. It danced up and down, now it
came towards me, then it receded. I confess that I was nailed to the
spot. I already seemed to feel its deathly grip. I was powerless to
move. I could not scream. It was the old fellow who was already
fascinating me. Fortunately, I remembered the words which my father
had once told me: 'If ever you meet the _feu bellanger_, my boy,
take off your coat, turn the sleeves inside out, and put it on so;
it means that you will have nothing to do with it, and that you will
resist its efforts to seize you.' I found strength enough to follow
my father's advice. Hope must have sustained me. The bluish light
remained about there for a few minutes more, then disappeared
entirely."

"How thankful did I feel. With all speed, I hastened home to tell my
parents of my narrow escape. They congratulated me; my father even
took my hand and welcomed me as one risen from the dead."

"How does it kill the people it attacks?" Frank inquired.

"It flies with them to the seaside, or to the nearest pool and
drowns them there."

"I once knew a man who was a downright ne'er do well. He was very
much addicted to drink. One morning, he was found drowned in a
stream."

"But," interposed Frank, "he might have stumbled in the stream
whilst in a state of intoxication."

"No--no--no," said Pierre, "it was not that; the _feu bellanger_ was
seen that very night near this spot where the corpse was afterwards
found. Some people said that they had heard a scream. I quite
believe it. It was the horrible monster's triumphal shout. He was
celebrating his victory."

"You don't think it was the poor inebriate's cry for help," said
Frank, forcing back a smile.

"I told you it was a shout of triumph," said old Pierre, losing
patience and already angry at Frank's demeanour. "Moreover," he
added, "I'll tell you something else, I have not finished yet.

"It's a well-known fact that the _feu bellanger_ dislikes sharpened
tools, and fights with them if he happens to meet them. Being aware
of this, my brother and I went to a place where we had seen the
monster on the previous night. We had a sharp knife. We placed it
with the handle in the ground and the keen blade sticking out."

"We watched