It might
be near the howe hour of the night; the tide was making, and its singing
brought strange old-world stories with it; and I thought on the dangers
that sailors endure, the fates they meet with, and the fearful forms
they see. My own blythe goodman had seen sights that made him grave
enough at times, though he aye tried to laugh them away.
"Aweel, atween that very rock aneath us and the coming tide, I saw,
or thought I saw, for the tale is so dream-like, that the whole might
pass for a vision of the night, I saw the form of a man: his plaid was
gray; his face was gray; and his hair, which hung low down till it nearly
came to the middle of his back, was as white as the white sea-foam.
He began to howk and dig under the bank; an' God be near me, thought
I, this maun be the unblessed spirit of Auld Adam Gowdgowpin, the miser,
who is doomed to dig for shipwrecked treasure, and count how many
millions are hidden forever from man's enjoyment. The Form found
something which in shape and hue seemed a left-foot slipper of brass;
so down to the tide he marched, and placing it on the water, whirled
it thrice round; and the infernal slipper dilated at every turn, till
it became a bonnie barge with its sails bent, and on board leaped the
form, and scudded swiftly away.
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