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Both these men told their story with a wealth of unlettered detail, and Duney, who was one of the aboriginals of the district, added his personal opinion that t'oud ma'aster mun 'a' been very dead afore the chap got him in the pit, else he would 'a' dinged one of the chap's eyes in, t'oud ma'aster not bein' a man to be taken anywhere against his will.
Is she any relation of Black Shuck, the ghost dog you were telling me about?" "It's no larfin' matter, ma'aster. You moind the day me and Billy Backlog come and towld yow about us seein' that chap on th' edge of yon wood that night? Well, just befower we seed un we heerd th' rummiest kind of noise summat atween a moan and a shriek, comin' from this 'ere pit.
The faces of the men showed that the epithet rankled, as Colwyn intended that it should. There was a brief pause, and then another fisherman stepped forward and said: "I'm a Norfolk man, and nobbut agoin' to say I'm afeered. I'll go wi' yow, ma'aster." "If yower game, Tom, I'll go too," said another.
The other man, Backlos, was a tall, hawk-featured man with a sweeping black moustache, who needed only gaudy habiliments to make him the ideal pirate king of the comic opera stage. It was he who spoke first. "If you please, ma'aster, we uns come to you thinkin' as you might gi' us a bit o' advice." "About somefin' we seed last night," explained Mr.
Then a man in jersey and sea-boots spoke: "None of us dare go up to th' pit, ma'aster." "Why not?" "Life be sweet, ma'aster. It be a suddint and bloody end to meet th' White Lady of th' pit. Luke what's happened to Charles, who went out of this bar not ten minutes agone! Who knows who she may take next?" "Very well, then stay where you are. You are a lot of cowards," said Colwyn, turning away.
Duney, backing away with a slightly pale face. "Doan't yow meddle wi' un, ma'aster. It's a quare place, thissun." "Why, what's the matter with it?" "Did you never hear that th' pit's haunted? Like enough nobody'd tell yow. Folk hereabowts aren't owerfond of talkin' of th' White Lady of th' Shrieking Pit, for fear it should bring un bad luck." "I've been hearing a little about her to-day.
"My grandfeyther seen un once not a hundred yards from the very spot were we wor standin' last night, and, sure enough, he died afore three months wor out. Dick and I couldn't tell what it wor we see creepin' out o' th' shadder o' th' wood, an' to tell yow th' trewth, ma'aster, we didn't care to look agen. I asked Dick if he didn't think it wor Black Shuck.
"Never mind the spirit from the pit," said Colwyn. "Go on with your story." "Well, ma'aster, just as we wor walkin' away from th' wood as fast as ever we could, th' mune come out from behind th' shadder of a cloud, and threw a light right ower th' wood.
He stared hard at Colwyn and then advanced towards him with a grin of recognition. "Yow be lookin' to see how t'owd ma'aster was hulled dune th' pit?" he asked. "I was wondering how far the pit ran straight down," replied Colwyn. "It seems to take a slight slope a little way down. Does it?" "I doan't know narthin' about th' pit, and I doan't want to," replied Mr.
Backlos, with the air of a man who had made up his mind to take the bull by the horns, blurted out: "It's like this, ma'aster. We be in a bit o' a fix about that.
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