Historic Oddities and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Historic Oddities and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History; Mysticism; Patarines
As soon as he had finished his meal, Bathurst inquired who was in
command of the soldiers quartered in the town, and where he lodged. He
was told that a squadron of the Brandenburg cuirassiers was there under
Captain Klitzing, who was residing in a house behind the Town Hall. Mr.
Bathurst then crossed the market place and called on the officer, who
was at the time indisposed with a swollen neck. To Captain Klitzing he
said that he was a traveller on his way to Hamburg, that he had strong
and well-grounded suspicions that his person was endangered, and he
requested that he might be given a guard in the inn, where he was
staying. A lady who was present noticed that he seemed profoundly
agitated, that he trembled as though ague-stricken, and was unable to
raise a cup of tea that was offered him to his lips without spilling it.
The captain laughed at his fears, but consented to let him have a couple
of soldiers, and gave the requisite orders for their despatch; then Mr.
Bathurst rose, resumed his sable overcoat, and, to account for his
nervous difficulty in getting into his furs again, explained that he was
much shaken by something that had alarmed him.
Not long after the arrival of Mr. Bathurst at the Swan, two Jewish
merchants arrived from Lenzen with post-horses, and left before
nightfall.
On Mr. Bathurst's return to the inn, he countermanded the horses; he
said he would not start till night. He considered that it would be safer
for him to spin along the dangerous portion of the route by night when
Napoleon's spies would be less likely to be on the alert. He remained in
the inn writing and burning papers. At seven o'clock he dismissed the
soldiers on guard, and ordered the horses to be ready by nine. He stood
outside the inn watching his portmanteau, which had been taken within,
being replaced on the carriage, stepped round to the heads of the
horses--_and was never seen again_.
It must be remembered that this was at the end of November. Darkness had
closed in before 5 P.M., as the sun set at four. An oil lantern hung
across the street, emitting a feeble light; the ostler had a horn
lantern, wherewith he and the postillion adjusted the harness of the
horses. The landlord was in the doorway talking to the secretary, who,
as courier, was paying the account. No one particularly observed the
movements of Mr. Bathurst at the moment. He had gone to the horses'
heads, where the ostler's lantern had fallen on him. The horses were in,
the postillion ready, the valet stood by the carriage door, the landlord
had his cap in hand ready to wish the gentleman a "lucky journey;" the
secretary was impatient, as the wind was cold. They waited; they sent up
to the room which Mr. Bathurst had engaged; they called. All in vain.
Suddenly, inexplicably, without a word, a cry, an alarm of any sort, he
was gone--spirited away, and what really became of him will never be
known with certainty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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