The Ghost Lights

[Mr. Handy]

"Perhaps the lights are not to do with Angelique," says Reverend Trask to Nathan Forbes, "but are something else entirely. There were more than one light, which suggests multiple entities. This does bear further investigation. Shall we go and examine the lights?"

[SunlessNick]

"Shall we go and examine the lights?"

"In their present position on the lake, we will need a boat to reach them, though that should not be too hard to arrange, or else I could show you the place Daniel Collins was led to... the second missing man was building a boat too, and one not fit for the sea.

OOC,Is the boat the sailor was building gone as well?

[SunlessNick]

At the revelation of the missing Daniel, Millicent cries "He will have gone in search of those terrible lights again!" before the swoon takes her.

[SunlessNick]

In response to Millicent's pronouncement, Josette proposes two search parties - one to the place where Daniel went into the water, though in the absence of Lieutennant Forbes, Millicent will have to lead them there when she recovers - and the other to the lake where the lights are seen now. She will volunteer to go with the latter, since a woman may reach a child in a way that a man might not.

[Mr. Handy]

If he has heard that Daniel has gone missing, Reverend Trask will want to see where he was led first.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"You're welcome," says Victoria, following Barnabas. "Would you like me take a reply back to your sister? I'll gladly wait for you to write it."

Barnabas has rushed out of the door in such a hurry that he made no reply whatsoever to this inquiry.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

News of the missing child having reached their ears with great speed, the various persons involved hurry to the place in Hells Bottom Swamp where he was last seen. Indeed, several more volunteers accompany the party, searching the area with the aid of hounds and torches, crying out the boy's name in loud voices. Not a few of them lose their way and must be called for themselves. After some time spent in this pursuit, it soon becomes clear that, if the lad be present, he is hiding himself with uncommon skill.

Back at the harbor, it becomes clear that the small craft manufactured by the sailor is nowhere to be found, having apparently gone off with its maker. There is a similar boat available for hire, built by a fisherman who thought to procure game from bodies of fresh water; a hope that was not realized, and thus the craft abandoned. Its virtue is that it is easily transported over land; its disadvantage that it holds, at most, two passengers.

[SunlessNick]

"We should make for the lake, then," says Nathan. "If Reverend Trask and I make haste on foot, we may still be able to get there before Daniel." He turns to two of the men from Millicent's party. "If you men would be willing to transport the hire-boat from the harbour to the lake, we can then make a closer examination of where the lights have been seen." He leaves it unsaid that they might also find body of their colleague.



Millicent knows she could not keep up with the two men - at least not at the pace she would wish them to travel - and wishes them Godspeed.

[SunlessNick]

Josette had already suggested a second party to the lake, whether or not they allowed her to accompany them.

[Mr. Handy]

Victoria picks up the piece of paper and hurries outside after Barnabas.

[Mr. Handy]

"Then let us make haste," says Reverend Trask to Nathan Forbes.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Josette had already suggested a second party to the lake, whether or not they allowed her to accompany them.

Josette,You may follow if you wish, and choose whether or not to do so surreptitiously or openly, as far as the party of men is concerned.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Victoria picks up the piece of paper and hurries outside after Barnabas.

Barnabas appears to be heading in the direction of Widow's Hill; certainly this is not the first time he has done so of late.

Victoria,You may choose whether or not to read the note.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Alamoosook Lake is a roughly oval body of water, measuring about two miles in length north and south, and about a mile east and west. Given the ins and outs that shape the coast of the lake, a journey completely around it might require a walk of some nine miles or so.

Once the party arrives, they are able to perceive a small craft in the center of the lake. From such a distance, it cannot be easily determined who is inside it, although the witnesses may have their suspicions. Directly above the boat, at a considerable height, hovers one of the mysterious lights.

[SunlessNick]

Nathan reasons that it must either be Daniel or the other sailor, but he does not know the latter's name. "Daniel! Come back to shore!" he yells. As soon as the other men arrive with the second boat, he will put to water.

[SunlessNick]

Vicki,Jostte follows her own search party, which presumably encounters the Reverend's at the lake.

[SunlessNick]

For lack of any other way to help, Millicent makes her way back to Collinswood to wait for news (and deliver the news that Daniel was not found at the marsh).

[Mr. Handy]

Victoria runs to catch up to Barnabas, not wanting to waste the time it would take to read the note, which would be an invasion of privacy anyway. She remembers when Josette nearly leapt from Widow's Walk under Angelique's influence, and she is concerned that Barnabas may intend to do the same. Then it occurs to her that the reading the note may have been what has influenced Barnabas.

[Mr. Handy]

Reverend Trask volunteers to be the second man in the boat when it arrives.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

There is no response from the boat in the center of the lake.

As Trask and Forbes row toward it, they experience a powerful current pulling them in that direction, in defiance of all of Nature's laws, in that there should not be such a phenomenon encountered in a body of water which is of no great depth, and whose source and outlet are both gently flowing streams. As they draw near, they perceive Daniel and the sailor, seemingly engaged in angling, their lines dropped in the water and being pulled into their craft now and then with a prize.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

At a point not far from Widow's Hill, Victoria comes upon Barnabas and Sarah. The former kneels upon the ground, that he may embrace his sister, which is obviously done with great affection. They engage in conversation, the exact content of which is not detectable from a distance, but, from the state of their countenances, is evidently productive of strong emotion.