Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/171

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Letters from New Zealand
145

occasion I took as my subject, "Old Folklore and Superstition," illustrating it by reference to the old country. Audible comments from the crowd of men showed their intelligent interest, and, somehow, instead of disconcerting, added stimulus to my speech. Quoting a most interesting note to one of Walter Scott's novels, with regard to an apparition in Scotland which led to the discovery of a foul murder of two women, an apparition which manifested itself many times before the discovery was made, and the only one I ever heard of which satisfies Swift's critical objection to such appearances: "Give me evidence of the apparition having been seen by more than one person at the same time, and I will believe it"; I ended with the commonplace remark, "and so the old word came true, 'Murder will out,'" whereupon a deep voice came from the crowd, "Aye, that it will," and all turned to look at the speaker. He explained afterwards what he was thinking of. In New South Wales, in the early days of the gold fields, men used to camp by a waterhole which lay on a lonely track far from any habitation. The waterhole had a steep bank on one side, with a rough fence placed there to prevent accidents. On several occasions men had reported that in the moonlight they had seen the figure of a man sitting on the fence, and pointing with his right hand down to the water, but that when they went near somehow he had disappeared. Moreover, several times he had been seen by two persons at once. After a time a search was made, the waterhole dragged, and the body of a man found who had evidently met with foul play, and had been murdered; the skull being smashed. This was, no doubt, the work of some of the bushrangers who roamed the