Urith: A Tale of DartmoorBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
General
Urith: A Tale of Dartmoor
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England) -- Fiction
This way, of which at present but faint traces exist, was called the
Lyke-Way. Since the establishment of the prison at Prince's Town, first
for French captives in the European War, then for Irish and English
convicts, a church has been erected, and a graveyard enclosed and
consecrated, for the convenience and accommodation of those who live and
those who die on Dartmoor. The Lyke-Way has accordingly been abandoned
for three-quarters of a century; nevertheless it is still pointed out by
the moor-men, and is still occasionally taken advantage of by them.
In former days, when for weeks the moor was covered with snow, and its
road and tracks deep in drifts, corpses were deliberately exposed to the
frost, or were salted into chests, to preserve them till the Lyke-Way
was once more passable.
Where the Lyke-Way touches a stream, there double stepping-stones were
planted in the bed, for the use of the bearers, occasionally a rude
bridge was constructed, by piling up a pier in midwater, and throwing
slabs of granite across, to meet in the midst on this pier; but these
were always wide enough to permit of the bearers to cross the bridge
with the bier between them.
It is not to be marvelled at that superstition attaches to this road,
and that at night, especially when the moon is shining, and the clouds
are flying before the wind, the moor-men aver that there pass trains of
phantom mourners along this way, bearing a bier, gliding rather than
running, shadows only, not substantial men of flesh. And as, in the old
days, the funeral train sang hymns as they went along with their load,
up hill and down dale, so do the moor-men protest at the present time
that when the phantom train sweeps along the Lyke-Way, a solemn dirge is
wafted on the wind of such overwhelming sadness, that he who hears it is
forced to cover his face, and burst into tears.
It is said that if one be daring enough to hide behind a rock on the
side of the corpse-track when the phantom procession is on the move, so
as to suffer it to pass near him, he will see his own face upturned to
the moon on the bier that goes by. Then must he make the best of his
time, for within a year he will be dead.
Along the Lyke-Way, as the nearest way to her home, and also to his own,
in defiance of the superstition that clung to it, did Anthony Cleverdon
purpose to conduct Urith.
When she heard him suggest this way she shivered, for she was, though a
strong-minded girl, imbued with the belief of the age. But the power to
resist was taken from her. Moreover, along that way there was less
chance than on any other of encountering travellers, and Urith shrank
from being seen.
On reaching the point where she and her companion touched the Lyke-Way,
a point recognisable only by Anthony, who was familiar with it--for here
it was but a track over smooth turf, then Cleverdon bade his companion
seat herself on a stone and await him. He would, he said, go to the
tavern and fetch his horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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