Let us return now to Iouenn. After swimming for some time he came upon a barren rock in the middle of the ocean, and here, though beaten upon by tempests and without any manner of shelter save that afforded by a cleft in the rock, he succeeded in living for three years upon the shell-fish which he gathered on the shores of his little domain. In that time he had grown almost like a savage. His clothes had fallen off him and he was thickly covered with matted hair. The only mark of civilization he bore was a chain of gold encircling his neck, the gift of his wife. One night he was sitting in his small dwelling munching his wretched supper of shell-fish when an eerie sound broke the stillness. He started violently. Surely these were human accents that he heard—yet not altogether human, for their weird cadence held something of the supernatural, 152 and cold as he was he felt himself grow still more chilly.
“Cold, cold,” cried the voice, and a dreadful chattering of teeth ended in a long-drawn wail of “Hou, hou, hou!”
The sound died away and once more he was left amid the great silence of the sea.
The next evening brought the same experience, but although Iouenn was brave he dared not question his midnight visitor. On the third occasion, however, he demanded: “Who is there?”
Out of the darkness there crawled a man completely naked, his body covered with blood and horrible wounds, the eyes fixed and glassy.
Iouenn trembled with horror. “In the name of God, who are you?” he cried.
“Ha, so you do not remember me, Iouenn?” asked the phantom. “I am that unfortunate man whose body you gave decent burial, and now I have come to help you in turn. Without doubt you wish to leave this desert rock on which you have suffered so long.”
“I do, most devoutly,” replied Iouenn.
“Well, you will have to make haste,” said the dead man, “for to-morrow your wife is going to be married to the minister of your father-in-law, the wretch who cast you into the sea. Now if you will promise to give me a share of all that belongs to yourself and your wife within a year and a day, I will carry you at once to the palace of your father-in-law.”
Iouenn promised to do as the phantom requested, and the dread being then asked him to mount upon his back. Iouenn did so, and the corpse then plunged into the sea, and, swimming swiftly, soon brought him to the port where his father-in-law reigned. When it had 153 set him safely on shore it turned and with a wave of its gaunt white arm cried, “In a year and a day,” then plunged back into the sea.