Re: Pull devil, pull baker


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Previous # Next ] [ Start New Thread ] [ TarBoard ]

Posted by Ed Kiser on February 20, 2005 at 07:14:44 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re: Pull devil, pull baker posted by Robert Dilley on February 19, 2005 at 22:52:16:

There is a reference to "pull devil, pull baker" found in:

"LORD JIM" by Joseph Conrad
in Chapter 13:

A case of collision on a hazy morning off the Spanish coast you may remember. All the passengers had been packed tidily into the boats and shoved clear of the ship when Bob sheered alongside again and scrambled back on deck to fetch that girl. How she had been left behind I can't make out; anyhow, she had gone completely crazy- wouldn't leave the ship- held to the rail like grim death. The wrestling-match could be seen plainly from the boats; but poor Bob was the shortest chief mate in the merchant service, and the woman stood five feet ten in her shoes and was as strong as a horse, I've been told. So it went on, pull devil,
pull baker, the wretched girl screaming all the time, and Bob letting
out a yell now and then to warn his boat to keep well clear of the
ship. One of the hands told me, hiding a smile at the recollection, 'It
was for all the world, sir, like a naughty youngster fighting with his
mother.' The same old chap said that 'At the last we could see that Mr.
Stanton had given up hauling at the gal, and just stood by looking at
her, watchful like. We thought afterwards he must've been reckoning
that, maybe, the rush of water would tear her away from the rail by and
by and give him a show to save her. We daren't come alongside for our
life; and after a bit the old ship went down all on a sudden with a
lurch to starboard- plop. The suck in was something awful.

Ed Kiser, South Florida



Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
Eel-Mail:

Existing subject (please edit appropriately) :

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

post direct to TarBoard test post first

Before posting it is necessary to be a registered user.


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TarBoard ]

Courtesy of Environmental Science, Lancaster

space