The Brownie of Bodsbeck, and Other Tales Volume I Part 6

"Do you mean that they were cut, or cloven, or minced?"

"Na, na-no that ava-But they had gotten some sair doofs-They had been terribly paikit and daddit wi' something."

"I do not in the least conceive what you mean."

"That's extrordnar, man-can ye no understand folk's mothertongue?-I'll mak it plain to you. Ye see, whan a thing comes on ye that gate, that's a dadd-sit still now. Then a paik, that's a swapp or a skelp like-when a thing comes on ye that way, that's a paik. But a doof's warst ava-it's"--

"Prithee hold; I now understand it all perfectly well.-What, then, is your opinion with regard to these men's death? How, or what way do you think they were killed?"

"O, sir, there's naebody can say. It was some extrordnar judgment, that's out of a' doubt. There had been an unyerdly raid i' the Hope that day."

"What reason have you for supposing such a thing?"

"Because there wasna a leevin soul i' the hale Hope that day but theirsels-they wadna surely hae felled ane another-It's, by an'

attour, an awsome bit where they war killed; there hae been things baith seen and heard about it; and I saw an apparition there mysel on the very night before."

"You saw an apparition at the place the night before, did you? And, pray, what was that apparition like?"

"It was like a man and a woman."

"Had the figure of the woman no resemblance to any one you had ever seen before? Was it in any degree, for instance, like your master's daughter?"

"No unlike ava."

"Then I think I can guess what the other form was like-Had it a bonnet on its head?"

"Not a bonnet certainly, but it had the shape o' ane."

"I weened as much-And was it a tall gigantic figure?"

"Na, na, sir; the very contrair o' that."

"Are you certain of that you say? Was it not taller than the apparition of the woman?"

"No half sae tall, sir."

"Had it not some slight resemblance to your master, little as it was?

Did that not strike you?"

"Na, na, it was naething like my master, nor nae yerdly creature that ever was seen; indeed it was nae creature ava."

"What then do you suppose it was?"

"Lord kens!-A wraith, I hae little doubt. My een rins a' wi' water whan I think about it yet."

"Wraiths are quite common here, are they?"

"O yes, sir!-oure common. They appear aye afore death, especially if the death be to be sudden."

"And what are they generally like?"

"Sometimes like a light-sometimes like a windinsheet-sometimes like the body that's to dee, gaen mad-and sometimes like a coffin made o'

moonlight."

"Was it in the evening you saw this apparition?"

"It was a little after midnight."

"And pray, what might be your business in such a place at that untimely hour?-Explain that fully to me if you please."

"I sall do that, sir, as weel as I can:-Our ewes, ye see, lie up in the twa Grains an' the Middle a' the harst-Now, the Quave Brae again, it's our hoggfence, that's the hained grund like; and whenever the wind gangs easterly about, then whan the auld luckies rise i' the howe o' the night to get their rug, aff they come, snouckin a' the way to the Lang Bank, an' the t.i.ther end o' them round the Piper Snout, and into the Quave Brae to the hained grund; an' very often they think naething o'

landing i' the mids o' the corn. Now I never mindit the corn sae muckle; but for them to gang wi' the hoggfence, I coudna bide that ava; for ye ken, sir, how coud we turn our hand wi' our pickle hoggs i' winter if their bit foggage war a' riven up by the auld raikin hypalts ere ever a smeary's clute clattered on't?"

Though Clavers was generally of an impatient temper, and loathed the simplicity of nature, yet he could not help smiling at this elucidation, which was much the same to him as if it had been delivered in the language of the Moguls; but seeing the shepherd perfectly sincere, he suffered him to go on to the end.

"Now, sir, ye ken the wind very often taks a swee away round to the east i' the nighttime whan the wather's gude i' the harst months, an'

whanever this was the case, and the moon i' the lift, I had e'en aye obliged to rise at midnight, and gang round the hill an' stop the auld kimmers-very little did the turn-just a bit thraw yont the brae, an'

they kend my whistle, or my tike's bark, as weel as I did mysel, still they wadna do wantin't. Weel, ye see, sir, I gets up an' gangs to the door-it was a bonny night-the moon was hingin o'er the derk brows o'

Hopertoody, an' the lang black scaddaws had an eiry look-I turned my neb the t.i.ther gate, an' I fand the air was gane to the eissel; the se'en starns had gaen oure the lum, an' the tail o' the king's elwand was just pointin to the Muchrah Crags. It's the very time, quo' I to mysel, I needna think about lying down again-I maun leave Janet to lie doverin by hersel for an hour or twa-Keilder, my fine dog, where are ye?-He was as ready as me-he likes a play i' the nighttime brawly, for he's aye gettin a broostle at a hare, or a tod, or a foumart, or some o' thae beasts that gang snaikin about i' the derk. Sae to mak a lang tale short, sir, off we sets, Keilder an' me, an' soon comes to the place. The ewes had been very mensefu' that night, they had just comed to the march and nae farther; sae, I says, puir things, sin' ye hae been sae leifu', we'll sit down an' rest a while, the dog an' me, an' let ye tak a pluck an' fill yersels or we turn ye back up to your cauld lairs again. Sae down we sits i' the scaddaw of a bit derksome cleuchbrae-naebody could hae seen us; and ere ever I wats, I hears by the grumblin o' my friend, that he outher saw or smelled something mair than ordinar. I took him in aneath my plaid for fear o' some grit brainyell of an outbrik; and whan I lookit, there was a white thing and a black thing new risen out o' the solid yird! They cam close by me; and whan I saw the moon s.h.i.+nin on their cauld white faces, I lost my sight an' swarfed clean away. Wae be to them for droichs, or ghaists, or whatever they war, for aye sin' syne the hoggfence o' the Quave Brae has been harried an' traisselled till its little better nor a drift road-I darna gang an' stop the ewes now for the saul that's i' my bouk, an' little do I wat what's to come o' the hoggs the year."

"Well now, you have explained this much I believe to your own satisfaction-Remember then, you are upon oath-Who do you think it was that killed these men?"

"I think it was outher G.o.d or the deil, but whilk o' them, I coudna say."

"And this is really your opinion?"

"Yes, it is."

"Have you seen any strangers about your master's house of late?"

"I saw one not long ago."

"What sort of a man was he?"

"A douselooking man wi' a brown yaud; I took him for some woolbuyer."

"Was he not rather like a preacher?"

"The man might hae preached for aught contrair till't in his appearance-I coudna say."

"Are you certain it was not Mr Renwick?"

"I am certain."

"Is your master a very religious man?"

"He's weel eneugh that way-No that very reithe on't; but the gudewife hauds his neb right sair to the grindstane about it."