rs; and its truth
has been attested by many families whose sons and whose fathers have been
drowned in the haunted bay of Blawhooly."

"And trow ye," said the old woman, who, attracted from her hut by the
drowning cries of the young fisherman, had remained an auditor of the
mariner's legend,--"And trow ye, Mark Macmoran, that the tale of the
Haunted Ships is done? I can say no to that. Mickle have mine ears
heard; but more mine eyes have witnessed since I came to dwell in this
humble home by the side of the deep sea. I mind the night weel; it was
on Hallowmas Eve; the nuts were cracked, and the apples were eaten, and
spell and charm were tried at my fireside; till, wearied with diving into
the dark waves of futurity, the lads and lasses fairly took to the more
visible blessings of kind words, tender clasps, and gentle courtship.
Soft words in a maiden's ear, and a kindly kiss o' her lip were old-world
matters to me, Mark Macmoran; though I mean not to say that I have been
free of the folly of daunering and daffin with a youth in my day, and
keeping tryst with him in dark and lonely places. However, as I say,
these times of enjoyment were passed and gone with me--the mair's the
pity that pleasure should fly sae fast away--and as I couldna make sport
I thought I should not mar any; so out I sauntered into the fresh cold
air, and sat down behind that old oak, and looked abroad on the wide sea.
I had my ain sad thoughts, ye may think, at the time: it was in that very
bay my blythe good-man perished, with seven more in his company; and on
that very bank where ye see the waves leaping and foaming, I saw seven
stately corses streeked, but the dearest was the eighth. It was a woful
sight to me, a widow, with four bonnie boys, with nought to support them
but these twa hands, and God's blessing, and a cow's grass. I have never
liked to live out of sight of this bay since that time; and mony's the
moonlight night I sit looking on these watery mountains and these waste
shores; it does my heart good, whatever it may do to my head. So ye see
it was Hallowmas Night, and looking on sea and land sat I; and my heart
wandering to other thoughts soon made me forget my youthful company at
hame. 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 b