Elmira District Secondary School - Oracle Yearbook (Elmira, Ontario Canada)

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THE ORACLE 18 The Red Count By ELEANOR KERRIGAN, GRADE IX A I F irst Prize funior Storyj In one of the years when inflation was prevalent on the continent of Europe, we were enjoying a very fine vacation there. Our American money being at a high premium, we could afford to spend there our entire three months' holidays, and we did. This was the promised trip that we had planned between ourselves during the years of the last war of 1914 to 18 and its fulfilment now to my hus- band, Dr. Harvey Wahl, and myself was indeed affording us a full measure of happiness. Only one adventure marred this vacation, and I will tell it to you as it happened. London, Paris, Berlin and then Bel- grade! After our second day in the lat- ter historic city, we had decided to move on to newer sights. That night we met the driver of the quaint carriage, who had driven us around the city on a sight- seeing tour the day before. He entreated us to see a castle just twenty miles away, very historic and old, and he in- sisted that no tourist ever left Belgrade without a glimpse at it. We were finally persuaded and presently we were on our way, leaving the city behind and lurch- ing through the forest road on the Musium Perci , as he called his carri- age. We had travelled for about an hour when all at once he brought his horse to a stand-still and uttered what we thought was one of the local Slavian oaths. To-day! he exclaimed, You can- not see the castle today. We were amazed at this and my hus- band said to him, What do you mean? Why can't we see it to-day? He only repeated, You can not go to-day. Nothing we said would move him, nor would he give any explanations of his refusal to go. Finally my husband who was now thoroughly exasperated, said to him, Very well, drive us to the village near the castle and come back for us to- morrow. After a moment's hesitation, he shrugged his shoulders and drove on. In a short time we arrived at the village and found an inn there. Our driver then whipped up his horse and made no delay in making his departure. What a strange man! I said to my husband. With a grin he said, Probably one of the rackets to get some extra money out of the tourists. Seated in the inn, we enjoyed some plain but good food. After we were served, the proprietor came to our table and said, You are here to see the castle? Yes , my husband replied, but ap- parently our driver did not want us to see it to-day. Our host gave us a queer look and as- sured us that he was right. alt is now too late, the sun has gone down and, you do not know, but the castle has no lights. ,A But why didnit he say so? said my husband as we got up from our chairs and walked toward the inn door. I think we'll take a short stroll before we turn inf, he added. The proprietor followed us to the door and said anxiously I thought, You will not be too long away? We did not think this question very strange as it was getting dark now, and we assured him we would return soon. Well! said my husband as we walked up the village street, They sure believe in retiring early here. On our walk we did not see a solitary human being, the village was quite de- serted, the moon came up from behind the clouds and by its light we could see the famous castle on the hill about half a mile away. Forgetting our promise to ,the inn- keeper we both had the same thought- why not see the castle by moon-light? Soon we were struggling up what was once a roadway leading to the castle. As we neared it my husband pointed:

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THE ORACLE 17 on from somewhere to the left and Hickered back and forth around the har- bour, finally lighting on us, outlining the ship in brilliant white splendour. However, in its brief trip around the harbour, the light had shown us the ships we sought, huddled for protection against a large quay on the east side of the harbour. The helmsman, at an order from the captain, spun the wheel, swinging the ship hard-a-port. At that moment, a battery of field-guns posted on the pier towards which we were steaming, let go a round. The sleepy gunners, aroused by the alarm bells which could be heard ringing in the town, were but poor adversaries for our own zealous gun- layers. All their shells were over, and before they had time to reload, our own shells ripped into the earthworks pro- tecting the field-guns, silencing the en- tire battery. Slowly Le Triomophantv lost way, and drifted leisurely into an empty berth beside the quay. Our marines were landed and in a short time they had wiped out all resist- ance in the harbour area. The few pro- testing Spaniards that were around at that time of night were ,hustled un- ceremoniously into a small, waterfront shed to await our withdrawal, when they would be liberated by their country men. As time was precious, we wasted none of it in trying to heave up the anchors of the ships to be removed from the harbour. Three were in the process of being removed from Lloyd's shipping lists by their crews. Two were sinking at their moorings, scuttled by their own crews, the third lay just off the pier, blazing merrily. The other three had been captured by our marines, whose sudden attack on the Spanish levies must have seemed like the assault of a horde of black devils. Depth charges were dropped into the waters of the harbour to blast the anchors away, and the three ships were ready to leave the harbour. The largest, a ten thousand ton freighter, had had steam up, so a prize crew was put aboard and in a few minutes the ship was ready to leave under her own power. The other two ships, a six thou- sand ton passenger liner, and a four thousand ton freighter, were taken in tow by our ship. All this had been ac- complished under brilliant light sup- plied by a kind searchlight operator who thought he was hindering us by playing his light on the ship. Inside of twenty minutes our marines were re-embarked, the ships, engines rusty from disuse, had fallen silently into line in our wake, and we were steaming slowly toward the mouth of the harbour, followed by a futile hail of machine-gun bullets from a single gun. It had been set up and manned by the ships' ofhcers who were spending the night ashore, and who had been aroused by the nocturnal fusilade which had greeted our arrival. Slowly we drew out of range and rounded the promontory, which put us out of sight of town, but Within range of the battery of modern naval guns mounted at San Cristobal by the German sailors. First one gun, and then another, opened up against us, and this time there were no superstitious Negroes manning them. They were well-trained gunners drawn from enemy warships. One shell landed on the freighter we were towing, but the prize crew smothered the re- sulting iire before it gained any ground. Our gunners rapidly regained their positions and were soon firing briskly to port against the fortress. Although well-manned, the light guns mounted there were no match for our five-inch rapid-iire rifies, and in a few minutes they were silenced and we steamed safe- ly past. For twelve hours we ploughed through an oily surf, and in the mid- afternoon our look-out reported a ship on the horizon. We recognized her as our flagship, the cruiser La1nottee- Piquet . As ,she rounded up to leeward we could read from her halyards the message Well done, Vive la France .

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THE ORACLE y I 19 Lookin he exclaimed, The lights. From the castle window came a glow. Something going on there they did not want us to see, I'll bet. I was a little frightened by now, but he laughed my fears away, as he took my arm and led me around the castle walls. He then climbed up on some fallen blocks of stones and looked in the high leaded windows. I could see his face as he looked in the window. Amazement at first and then I was re- lieved to see him smile as he pulled me up beside him, and we both looked in. '6Look!', he whispered, The villagers are practising a costume pageant, but what a sight! Fourteen people were dressed in cos- tume of long ago date. There were faded old tapestries hung on the walls, and cob-webs were everywhere. Huge Hag- stones composed the floor and six of these had been torn up and revealed an old coffin, and lying in it was a man with a red beard. Grouped about, they stared silently down at the old man. My husband got down from the window and helped me down. We then both walked around to a huge door. Knowing what he was about to do, I tugged at his arm and whispered, Don't go in there, Harvey, let us go back to the village. He agreed and we descended to the village and entered the inn. The land- lord was pacing the Hoor and came for- ward as we entereed. You had a long walk, did you see the village?,' he ventured and looked qquite anxiously at us I thought. We had more than a walk, my hus- band said smiling at him, we saw the castle. The landlord paled, You saw the castle to-night, he stuttered. W-what did you-s-see! My husband was a little annoyed now and exclaimed, What's all the mystery about? We merely saw the villagers putting on a pageant of some sort. A pretty gruesome one I must say though. The landlord was quite staggered at these words and had to sit down, he mo- tioned us to chairs and wiped his now perspiring face. He stared at us with quivering lips-told us-- What you saw to-night was indeed a pageant, but no living creature took part in it! Wait a minute! Kas my husband started to his feetj. One hundred years ago there lived in the castle one who was known as the Red Count, and his beau- tiful wife, one day they held a grand party and invited thirteen guests, among them was one who was the Count's best friend. The Count always believed his wife was very devoted to him until the night of that party, when he caught his wife in the arms of the man who was his best friend. This sight drove him quite insane, and it was with some difficulty they could quiet him and lead him to bed. -Guests in those days stayed overnight and parties lasted two or three days. That night the count arose from his bed and in an insane rage murdered everyone in the castle. He was tried and beheaded for his crime, and, according to custom, buried in the castle floor. And now once a year on that same day his coffin is torn from the floor by those whom he murdered. During the past long years he has not changed in appearance. He is not dead or living! That is the story which has been passed on to us. Tomorrow morning the men of the village will put the coffin back in its resting-place. My husband now scoifed at the land- lord and his story. Next morning after our breakfast the landlord and some men came to see us. My husband suggested I stay at the inn KI was very agreeable to thatj while he went with them to the castle. When he came back, I could see that he was quite pale and shaken, and when I questioned him as to what he saw at the castle, he stared at me and said very quietly, The man with the red heard in the colin has been dead for a long time, for how long I do not know, but in all my medical experience, I have never seen a more perfect lifelike state of preservation.