PART II: The Devil’s Henchman
They said his mother came from France –
They said she fled the blade –
They saw she brought a baby son:
Of him they were afraid!
She reared him in a haunted house
Among empires of spiders,
But anything that she did need
The Lord did there provide her.
They said the boy was Satan’s son
And his mother Satan’s bride,
Though she raised a fine young man
Till death took her from his side.
She left her son a trunk which had
Inside a wedding dress
To be a gift from her above
His chosen wife to bless.
The girls all said they hated him
Though they thought him handsome –
He stood as proud as any mast
As ever graced St Sampson’s!
But till that morn with Deruchette
He had not sought a bride:
His first love was his fishing sloop,
The buoys of the ocean wide...
He knew the Creux, the Alligande,
The Tremies and Sardrette,
The oval Anfre, triple Rousse
And white ball of Corbette!
They said that he had sold his soul
To sail that sloop so well,
And all the fish he hauled aboard
Had swum straight up from hell.
They said his skill with wind and tide
Made him the devil’s henchman:
No pilot like him island-wide
And worse – he was a Frenchman!
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This is the second part, following on from The Word in the Snow: here, we discover the islanders' distrust of Gilliat due to his mother's arrival from France after the Revolution. Charlie's illustration perfectly captures the whispering gossips of St Sampson's... and special thanks must go to our rugged model for Gilliat, Ed Bois! More coming in the next couple of days...
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