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 happy Restoration of King Charles the Second.  But even after his death he could not get rest; for men said that he had hid somewhere that treasure given him to permit the King’s escape, and that not daring to reclaim it, had let the secret die with him, and so must needs come out of his grave to try to get at it again.  Mr. Glennie would never say whether he believed the tale or not, pointing out that apparitions both of good and evil spirits are related in Holy Scripture, but that the churchyard was an unlikely spot for Colonel Mohune to seek his treasure in; for had it been buried there, he would have had a hundred chances to have it up in his lifetime.  However this may be, though I was brave as a lion by day, and used indeed to frequent the churchyard, because there was the widest view of the sea to be obtained from it, yet no reward would have taken me thither at night.  Nor was I myself without some witness to the tale, for having to walk to Ringstave for Dr. Hawkins on the night my aunt broke her leg, I took the path along the down which overlooks the churchyard at a mile off; and thence most certainly saw a light moving to and fro about the church, where no honest man could be at two o’clock in the morning.