a true story.
“to keep without a reef in a gale of wind like that—jock was the only boatman on the firth of tay to do it!”—
“he had sail enough to blow him over dundee law.”—
“she’s emptied her ballast and come up again,—with her sails all standing—every sheet was belayed with a double turn.”
i give the sense rather than the sound of the foregoing speeches, for the speakers were all dundee ferry-boatmen, and broad scotchmen, using the extra-wide dialect of angus-shire and fife.
at the other end of the low-roofed room, under a coarse white sheet, sprinkled with sprigs of rue and rosemary, dimly lighted by a small candle at the head, and another at the feet, lay the
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object of their comments—a corpse of startling magnitude. in life, poor jock was of unusual stature, but stretching a little, perhaps, as is usual in death, and advantaged by the narrow limits of the room, the dimensions seemed absolutely supernatural. during the warfare of the allies against napoleon, jock, a fellow of some native humour, had distinguished himself by singing about the streets of dundee, ballads, i believe his own, against old boney. the nick-name of ballad-jock was not his only reward; the loyal burgesses subscribed among themselves, and made him that fatal gift, a ferry-boat, the management of which we have just heard so seriously reviewed. the catastrophe took place one stormy sunday, a furious gale blowing against the tide, down the river—and the tay is anything but what the irish call “weak tay,” at such seasons. in fact, the devoted nelson, with all sails set,—fair-weather fashion,—caught aback in a sudden gust,—after a convulsive whirl capsized, and went down in forty fathoms, taking with her two-and-twenty persons, the greater part of whom were on their way to hear the celebrated dr. chalmers,—even at that time highly popular,—though preaching in a small church at some obscure village, i forget the name, in fife. after all the rest had sunk in the waters, the huge figure of jock was observed clinging to an oar, barely afloat,—when some sufferer probably catching hold of his feet, he suddenly disappeared, still grasping the oar, which afterwards springing upright into the air, as it rose again to the surface, showed the fearful depth to which it had been carried. the body of jock was the last found; about the fifth day, it was strangely enough deposited by the tide almost at the threshold of his own dwelling, at the craig, a small pier or jetty, frequented by the ferry-boats. it had been hastily caught up, and in its clothes laid out in the manner just described, lying as it were in state, and the public, myself one, being freely admitted, as far as the room would hold, it was crowded by
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fish-wives, mariners, and other shore-haunters, except a few feet next the corpse, which a natural awe towards the dead kept always vacant. the narrow death’s door was crammed with eager listening and looking heads, and by the buzzing without, there was a large surplus crowd in waiting before the dwelling for their turn to enter it.
on a sudden, at a startling exclamation from one of those nearest the bed, all eyes were directed towards that quarter. one of the candles was guttering and sputtering near the socket,—the other just twinkling out, and sending up a stream of rank smoke,—but by the light, dim as it was, a slight motion of the sheet was perceptible just at that part where the hand of the dead mariner might be supposed to be lying at his side! a scream and shout of horror burst from all within, echoed, though ignorant of the cause, by another from the crowd without. a general rush was made towards the door, but egress was impossible. nevertheless horror and dread squeezed up the company in the room to half their former compass: and left a far wider blank between the living and the dead! i confess at first i mistrusted my sight; it seemed that some twitching of the nerves of the eye, or the flickering of the shadows, thrown by the unsteady flame of the candle, might have caused some optical delusion; but after several minutes of sepulchral silence and watching, the motion became more awfully manifest, now proceeding slowly upwards, as if the hand of the deceased, still beneath the sheet, was struggling up feebly towards his head. it is possible to conceive, but not to describe, the popular consternation,—the shrieks of women,—the shouts of men—the struggles to gain the only outlet, choked up and rendered impassable by the very efforts of desperation and fear!—clinging to each other, and with ghastly faces that dared not turn from the object of dread, the whole assembly backed with united force against the opposite wall, with a convulsive energy that
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threatened to force out the very side of the dwelling—when, startled before by silent motion, but now by sound,—with a smart rattle something fell from the bed to the floor, and disentangling itself from the death drapery, displayed—a large pound crab!—the creature, with some design, perhaps sinister, had been secreted in the ample clothes of the drowned seaman, but even the comparative insignificance of this apparition gave but little alleviation to the superstitious horrors of the spectators, who appeared to believe firmly, that it was only the evil one himself, transfigured.—wherever the crab straddled sidelong, infirm beldame and sturdy boatman equally shrank and retreated before it,—aye, even as it changed place, to crowding closely round the corpse itself, rather than endure its diabolical contact. the crowd outside, warned by cries from within, of the presence of mahound, had by this time retired to a respectful distance, and the crab, doing what herculean sinews had failed to effect, cleared itself a free passage through the door in a twinkling, and with natural instinct began crawling as fast as he could clapperclaw, down the little jetty before mentioned that led into his native sea. the satanic spirit, however disguised, seemed everywhere distinctly recognised. many at the lower end of the craig lept into their craft; one or two even into the water, whilst others crept as close to the verge of the pier as they could, leaving a thoroughfare—wide as “the broad path of honour,”—to the infernal cancer. to do him justice, he straddled along with a very unaffected unconsciousness of his own evil importance. he seemed to have no aim higher than salt water and sand, and had accomplished half the distance towards them, when a little decrepit poor old sea-roamer, generally known as “creel katie,” made a dexterous snatch at a hind claw, and before the crab-devil was aware, deposited him in her patchwork apron, with an “hech, sirs, what for are ye gaun to let gang siccan a braw partane?” in vain a hundred voices shouted
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out, “let him bide, katie,—he’s no cannie;” fish or fiend, the resolute old dame kept a fast clutch of her prize, promising him, moreover, a comfortable simmer in the mickle pat, for the benefit of herself and that “puir silly body the gudeman:” and she kept her word. before night the poor devil was dressed in his shell, to the infinite horror of all her neighbours. some even said that a black figure, with horns, and wings, and hoofs, and forky tail, in fact old clooty himself, had been seen to fly out of the chimney. others said that unwholesome and unearthly smells, as of pitch and brimstone, had reeked forth from the abominable thing, through door and window. creel kate, however, persisted, aye, even to her dying day and on her deathbed, that the crab was as sweet a crab as ever was supped on; and that it recovered her old husband out of a very poor low way,—adding, “and that was a thing, ye ken, the deil a deil in the dub of darkness wad hae dune for siccan a gude man, and kirk-going christian body, as my ain douce davie.”
