MAY 95 



violent; a nasty chopping sea got up, and it looked 

 as though the boat might founder any moment. 



' Sannie,' said the man whose name I can't remember, 

 ' Sannie man, if ye wad pit up a bit prayer it might 

 help us.' 



' Me pray ! ' Sannie is reported to have said ; ' man, 

 I hae nae skeel at the prayinV 



' Weel,' quoth his mate, ' I think ye should try your 

 haun'; for I reckon we'll need a' we can get to win 

 through.' 



Sannie said nothing for a few minutes, his eye fixed 

 on the luff of the close-reefed lug-sail ; then he broke 

 silence. 



' O Lord ! it 's no aften I 'm asking ony thing o' ye ; 

 if ye '11 help us this ae time and bring us safe to port, 

 it 's no likely I '11 be asking ony thing o' ye again.' 



The simple petition was effective, inasmuch as the 

 little craft weathered the storm in safety. 



I wish I had treasured more of the songs and sayings 

 of these hardy fellows than I can now call to mind. 

 One ballad, especially, I blame myself for not having 

 committed to memory as I had it long ago from the 

 lips of an aged fisherman near the Mull of Galloway. 



The subject thereof was the sea-fight between the 

 squadron of the French Admiral Thurot, and the 

 British Captain Elliot, about which I have put together 

 some notes on page 201. The old fisherman has long 

 been dead, and although I have sought diligently of 

 late in the neighbourhood of his dwelling, I have failed 

 to recover any trace of the ballad. But now, as I sit in 

 a luxurious state cabin of a White Star liner, the long 



