‘Prisoner,’ remarked the president, ‘in my twenty years’ experience of the army, I have served on numerous courts-martial, and have heard all kinds of ingenious defences put forward by men in your present position in excuse of the offences with which they were charged; but your line of defence is the most remarkable that has come under my observation. Who, do you think, will credit a story of that description? Assuredly not I, for one.—Now, prisoner,’ continued the major in a kindly tone, ‘I must advise you that your action in submitting to the court a statement of that description is extremely injudicious. You will do yourself a positive injury by persevering in it, not only with regard to the probable extent of your punishment, but also to your reputation as a soldier. It will be far better for you simply to own that you were asleep. You are a young man who has served but six months in the regiment; so, under the circumstances, assuming that you adopt my suggestion, which is assuredly meant for your good, the court may think fit, consistently with the duty demanded of it by the hard and fast requirements of military law, to recommend a much lighter sentence of imprisonment than would be administered to an older and more experienced member of the service.’
‘I can only tell the truth, sir,’ I urged.
‘That, then, is your defence—that you were frightened by the figure you saw?’ asked the officer in a tone of vexation.
‘That is my defence, sir,’ I replied.
‘Very well,’ said the president, writing down my statement.—‘Escort, remove the prisoner.—Stop! About his character? Call the captain of his company.’
My captain answering the summons, stated that my conduct had been most exemplary; after which I received the command: ‘Left turn, quick march!’ and was removed to the guardroom; and the members of the court-martial began their deliberations on the duration of the period of imprisonment which they meant to administer to me.
I shall now relate the facts in connection with the appearance of the ‘figure’ before alluded to. At one o’clock on the morning of my arrest, I was posted on sentry in front of a wall which had been built on the face of a cliff overhanging the beach. Why that particular spot required guarding, when any attempt on the part of a soldier to break out of barracks would be equivalent to committing suicide, as the rock had a sheer unbroken descent of one hundred and fifty feet, was a matter of puzzling speculation to the men of all the regiments which in turn occupied the quarters I refer to. A tradition, however, which was retailed to me by an aged veteran who officiated as a barrack labourer, threw some light on the subject. Many years before, the colonel of a regiment which was about to leave the town in order to embark for India, placed a sentry on the spot, to prevent his men from throwing over the cliff the rubbish that accumulates in changing quarters; and the relieving regiment finding this man on duty, had supplied his place without troubling themselves about the why and wherefore; the post became in consequence a permanent institution, and a sentry guards the wall to this day.
The morning on which I was on guard was exceedingly cold and frosty. The moon shone brightly, throwing the dark shadow of the adjoining officers’ quarters half-way across the parade-ground in front. In the valley beneath I could see distinctly every gable and chimney of the houses of the old-fashioned town that nestled so cosily in the hollow between the precipitous cliffs. The moon was reflected brightly in the ocean to the south, and by its light I could even see the glittering bayonet of the sentry who guarded the government stores on the pier, a mile distant. Our gallant soldiers on duty, however, have but little regard for the picturesque; and like most men similarly situated, I was wearying for the termination of my two hours’ vigil, and little inclined to admire the surrounding scenery. At length the clock struck three; and I was at once filled with a feeling of cheery satisfaction at the immediate prospect of being relieved, and of returning to the warm guardroom and drinking a cup of hot coffee before turning off to sleep.
I heard the sentry on the gate lustily shout ‘Sentry-go!’ as a summons for the relief to turn out; and just as I was preparing to take a last turn on my post, I perceived, at the extremity of the shadow cast by the officers’ quarters, a ghostly figure in a long white robe, bearing in its hand a drawn sword. I endeavoured to shout for assistance, but was so ‘harrowed with fear and wonder,’ that I was unable to articulate a single word, but stood perfectly transfixed, staring at the apparition. It moved slowly past me; but when it turned round and raised its disengaged hand to its white head-covering, as if in salute, its aspect so filled me with terror, that being, as I mentioned before, of a nervous temperament, I fell to the ground, and only recovered consciousness when, a minute or two afterwards, I was vigorously shaken up by the sergeant of the guard.
That non-commissioned officer along with the men of the relief laughed heartily when I described the fright I had received, and remarked that I had been dreaming. The sergeant, however, performed the duty required of him by the rules of discipline in a most inexorable fashion. He deprived me of my arms and belts, and confined me in the prisoners’ quarters in the guardroom.