natural post-mortem appearances. The whole country-side became alarmed, and he was a bold man who dared go any distance from his home after nightfall. There were certain spots which she seemed particularly to affect. One of these was the old bridge at Meldon, over the Wansbeck; another was a dilapidated well near Meldon Tower. Once a farmer, riding home from market, happened to be passing over the bridge about midnight, when he was somewhat surprised to see a large black dog lying directly in his way upon it. He took his whip, however, and gave the brute a smart cut, when, to his horror, it suddenly arose in the form of a female of tremendous dimensions, who, seizing him by the throat, nearly stifled him before she relaxed her deadly hold. When she did so, she flung the luckless wight into the bottom of his cart, exclaiming, “let sleeping dogs lie,” and then sprang over the battlements of the bridge, and disappeared in the clear waters of the Wansbeck. To this day there are some of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who would as soon think of walking into a blast furnace as of rousing a sleeping dog, especially if his cost should be black. Then, again, there were some who declared they had seen Meg in the form of a beautiful female, who tried by looks and gestures to allure them towards the well aforesaid, and who tore her hair and seemed to be overcome with rage and vexation when she found that they did not succumb to her fascinations.
But though everybody was so chary of having anything to do with her during the hours of darkness, there were not a few who in broad daylight tried to enrich themselves by becoming the fortunate discoverers of some of her hidden treasure. Many an attempt was made with this end in view, but all without avail; till at last people began to lose faith in her reputed riches, and gave up thinking about, or looking for them. There was, however, one man who was either less superstitious, or more covetous, than his neighbours, and he determined to make a desperate effort to enrich himself. He would look for Meg’s treasure at the very time when Meg herself was known to be hovering over the places where it was concealed. Three times did the bold countryman walk over Meldon Bridge, and sit by the side of Meldon Well, at the dread hour of midnight. The first two nights nothing occurred to reward his bravery; but on the third, as he was about to leave the well disappointed and weary, he suddenly saw Meg herself standing before him just as she had looked during her lifetime. In a moment his boldness forsook him, and he fell upon his knees trembling with fear; he was somewhat re-assured, however, when the unearthly being who stood before him addressed him in the most commonplace accents, merely telling him to return to the same spot the next night at twelve o’clock exactly, when he would have an opportunity of enriching himself for ever; house, till he returned to it again with the money, not to utter a single word either to himself or anybody else. To Hodge’s mind the sole condition which had been laid upon him seemed a very simple and easy one; and it was, therefore, with good hopes of his success that he returned to the appointed place the next night, provided with a long chain and grappling irons, to assist him in his exploit. When he reached the well, he found an ordinary looking man standing beside it, who, without a word being said on either side, took the chain, fastened Hodge to it, and then lowered him gradually down the well. After sinking an immense depth, he found himself on a level with the water, of which there was not, however, nearly so much as he had expected, and on looking into it, he easily discovered, just beneath its surface, an enormous leather bag. This he fastened to the grappling irons, and giving the signal to his assistant, was quickly drawn up to the top. With some difficulty the bag was raised; several times it slipped, and seemed likely to fall; but at last it was safely placed on the ground; at seeing which, poor Hodge, in his joy, quite forgot the command he had received the previous night, and exclaimed in ecstasy:
“There! all the devils alive can’t help me getting it now.”
But, alas! he was mistaken; the instant the fatal words escaped his lips, the bag slid into the well, and fell like a leaden weight to the bottom, whilst he received a sudden blow which deprived him of consciousness; and had he not been discovered the next morning by his anxious wife, and removed home, he would probably have died from the fever which attacked him, in consequence of the excitement and exposure. When he recovered, he went back to his everyday work, like a wise man, and gave up dreaming about Meg of Meldon and her money-bags.
Many years passed on without anything fresh turning up respecting the hidden treasure; but at last a circumstance occurred which brought a portion of it, at any rate, to light, though in a. manner by no means so ghostly or “awsum” as might have been expected. The school-house at Meldon was a building of great antiquity, and one which had suffered very considerably from the ravages of time. Some sixty or seventy years ago, as those of the children who took their dinners at school were emptying the contents of their satchels, in the absence of the master, who was also enjoying his midday repast, they were alarmed by a portentous crack in the ancient ceiling above their heads, and in a moment a portion of it came down, and with it—a veritable bag of Meg’s long-sought money! Age had rotted the bag, and bursting in its fall, its contents were scattered over the floor of the school-room, causing a fine scramble among the fortunate youngsters, who very quickly had the precious pieces stowed away in their pockets, and with true northern doggedness refused to deliver them up to their master, who was sadly disappointed when he heard of the “find” which had fallen to the lot of his varlets during his absence.
Poor Meg has now been dead more than two hundred years; but as yet this is all of her long-concealed and oft-sought-for treasure that has ever been recovered; and it is by no means likely that the monomaniacs who still occasionally waste their time in looking for it, will ever become the richer for their pains.
