couldnae see him for the mains'l, that had just begude to draw, when a'

at ance he gied a skirl. I luffed for my life, for I thocht we were ower

near Soa; but na, it wasnae that, it was puir Sandy Gabart's deid

skreigh, or near hand, for he was deid in half an hour. A't he could

tell was that a sea deil, or sea bogle, or sea spenster, or sic-like, had

clum up by the bowsprit, an' gi'en him ae cauld, uncanny look. An', or

the life was oot o' Sandy's body, we kent weel what the thing betokened,

and why the wund gurled in the taps o' the Cutchull'ns; for doon it

cam'--a wund do I ca' it! it was the wund o' the Lord's anger--an' a'

that nicht we foucht like men dementit, and the niest that we kenned we

were ashore in Loch Uskevagh, an' the cocks were crawin' in Benbecula.'

'It will have been a merman,' Rorie said.

'A merman!' screamed my uncle with immeasurable scorn. 'Auld wives'

clavers! There's nae sic things as mermen.'

'But what was the creature like?' I asked.

'What like was it? Gude forbid that we suld ken what like it was! It

had a kind of a heid upon it--man could say nae mair.'

Then Rorie, smarting under the affront, told several tales of mermen,

mermaids, and sea-horses that had come ashore upon the islands and

attacked the crews of boats upon the sea; and my uncle, in spite of his

incredulity, listened with uneasy interest.

'Aweel, aweel,' he said, 'it may be sae; I may be wrang; but I find nae

word o' mermen in the Scriptures.'

'And you will find nae word of Aros Roost, maybe,' objected Rorie, and

his argument appeared to carry weight.

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