Glennie
translated it, _As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make
something of the worst of throws_. At last Elzevir looked up and spoke
to me, not unkindly, 'Lad, it is time for you to go home; men say that
Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met him
face to face betwixt this house and yours.' I saw he wanted to be rid of
me, so bade them both good night, and was off home, running all the way
thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard, for Ratsey had often
told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless one passed the
churchyard by night.
Blackbeard was one of the Mohunes who had died a century back, and was
buried in the vault under the church, with others of his family, but
could not rest there, whether, as some said, because he was always
looking for a lost treasure, or as others, because of his exceeding
wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason, he must have been
bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since his day wicked enough
to bear anyone company in their vault or elsewhere. Men would have it
that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with an old-fashioned
lanthorn digging 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.
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