By this time the yerl had come up, an' followed cooerin'
ahin' the priest.
"Never a horse was i' the transe; an' the priest, first layin' the
cross 'at hang frae 's belt agane the door o' the chaumer, flang
't open wi'oot ony ceremony, for ye 'll alloo there was room for
nane.
"An' what think ye was the first thing the yerl saw?--A great
hole i' the wa' o' the room, an' the starry pleuch luikin' in at
it, an' the sea lyin' far doon afore him--as quaiet as the bride
upo' the bed--but a hantle bonnier to luik at; for ilka steek that
had been on her was brunt aff, an' the bonny body o' her lyin' a'
runklet, an' as black 's a coal frae heid to fut; an' the reek 'at
rase frae 't was heedeous. I needna say the bridegroom wasna there.
Some fowk thoucht it a guid sign that he hadna cairried the body
wi' him; but maybe he was ower suddent scared by the fut o' the
priest's horse upo' the drawbrig, an' dauredna bide his oncome.
Sae the fower fut stane--wa' had to flee afore him, for a throu
gang to the Prence o' the Pooer o' the Air. An' yon's the verra hole
to this day, 'at ye was sae near ower weel acquaint wi' yersel',
my leddy. For the yerl left the castel, and never a Colonsay has
made his abode there sin' syne. But some say 'at the rizzon the
castel cam to be desertit a'thegither was, that as aften as they
biggit up the hole, it fell oot again as sure 's the day o' the year
cam roon' whan it first happened. They say, that at twal o'clock
that same nicht, the door o' that room aye gaed tu, an' that naebody
daur touch 't, for the heat o' the han'le o' 't; an' syne cam the
skreighin' an' the moanin', an' the fearsome skelloch at the last,
an' a rum'le like thun'er, an' i' the mornin' there was the wa' oot!
The hole's bigger noo, for a' the decay o' the castel has taen to
slidin' oot at it, an' doobtless it'll spread an' spread till the
haill structur vainishes; at least sae they say, my lord; but I
wad hae a try at the haudin' o' 't thegither for a' that.
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