which was dark, save for the light on Father
Thomas' book. He read the holy service swiftly and courageously, but his
face was very pale and grave in the light of the candle. When the
vespers were over, and he had put off his robe, he said that he would go
back to his house, and gather what he needed for the night, and that
they should wait for him at the churchyard gate. So he strode off to his
vicarage. But as he shut to the door, he saw a dark figure come running
up the garden; he waited with a fear in his mind, but in a moment he saw
that it was Henry, who came up breathless, and said that he must speak
with the Father alone. Father Thomas knew that somewhat dark was to be
told him. So he led Henry into the parlour and seated himself, and said,
"Now, my son, speak boldly." So there was an instant's silence, and
Henry slipped on to his knees.

Then in a moment Henry with a sob began to tell his tale. He said that
on the day of the wreck his father had roused him very early in the
dawn, and had told him to put on his clothes and come silently, for he
thought there was a wreck ashore. His father carried a spade in his
hand, he knew not then why. They went down to the tide, which was moving
out very fast, and left but an inch or two of water on the sands. There
was but a little light, but, when they had walked a little, they saw the
black hull of a ship before them, on the edge of the deeper water, the
waves driving over it; and then all at once they came upon the body of a
man lying on his face on the sand. There was no sign of life in him, but
he clasped a bag in his hand that was heavy, and the pocket of his coat
was full to bulging; and there lay, moreover, some glittering things
about him that seemed to be coins. They lifted the body up, and his
father stripped the coat off from the man, and then bade Henry dig a
hole in the sand, which he presently did, though the sand and water
oozed fast into it. Then his father, who had been stooping down,
gathering somewhat up from the sand, raised the body up, and laid it in
the hole, and bade Henry cover it with the sand. And so he did till it
was nearly hidden. Then came a horrible thing; the sand in the hole
began to move and stir, and presently a hand was put out with clutching
fingers; and Henry had dropped the spade, and said, "There is life in
him," but his father seized the spade, and shovelled the sand into the
hole with a kind of silent fury, and trampled it over and