address of a single man. On his proper element Yawkins was equally
successful. On one occasion he was landing his cargo at the
Manxman's Lake near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue cutters (the
'Pigmy' and the 'Dwarf') hove in sight at once on different tacks,
the one coming round by the Isles of Fleet, the other between the
point of Rueberry and the Muckle Ron. The dauntless freetrader
instantly weighed anchor and bore down right between the luggers,
so close that he tossed his hat on the deck of the one and his wig
on that of the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his
occupation, and bore away under an extraordinary pressure of
canvass, without receiving injury. To account for these and other
hairbreadth escapes, popular superstition alleged that Yawkins
insured his celebrated buckkar by compounding with the devil for
one-tenth of his crew every voyage. How they arranged the
separation of the stock and tithes is left to our conjecture. The
buckkar was perhaps called the 'Black Prince' in honour of the
formidable insurer.

The 'Black Prince' used to discharge her cargo at Luce, Balcarry,
and elsewhere on the coast; but her owner's favourite landing-
places were at the entrance of the Dee and the Cree, near the old
Castle of Rueberry, about six miles below Kirkcudbright. There is
a cave of large dimensions in the vicinity of Rueberry, which,
from its being frequently used by Yawkins and his supposed
connexion with the smugglers on the shore, is now called Dirk
Hatteraick's Cave. Strangers who visit this place, the scenery of
which is highly romantic, are also shown, under the name of the
Gauger's Loup, a tremendous precipice, being the same, it is
asserted, from which Kennedy was precipitated.