The Adventures of Hairy BoB

I am going to tell you a story.
You can believe it or not, it's up to you, but it is based on true facts, and I will tell you how I know at the end of this story, but you need to read on...

Once upon a time, there was a man called Hairy Bob and he lived in Scarborough.
No one knows where Hairy Bob came from.

Many townspeople believe he is a ghost and has been haunting Scarborough for hundreds of years.
Other people believe he's been around since older times when dinosaurs roamed the earth, dragons soared through the skies, and sea monsters lurked in the depths of our seas.
Some say a druid mystic put a curse on him to live forever, which left Bob with magical powers.

The Bob we knew was a jack of all trades and a master of none.
He could turn his hand to anything specializing in joinery or building.
He was known for the amazing shapes of his home-made cakes and bread he used to make in what he called his Magic Baking Tin!

He also used to boost his income by collecting tiny pebbles off the beach and painting them gold, he would sell them to the holiday makers explaining they were magical prehistoric stones only found on Scarborough beach.

With his tongue in his cheek and a cheery smile on his lips, Bob used to say there is one born every minute.
He was a bit of a character in Scarborough town, everyone knew Bob.

The truth was Bob was a fisherman who worked very hard out of the harbour throughout the day.

However, on many a night, he used to relieve the wealthy and powerful Lord Walsh who owned a big estate with a lake containing his prize-winning fish.
He was commonly known in the town as a poacher.
If you wanted it, Bob could get it; all you had to do was ask.
He was a likeable rogue.
Wherever Bob went, his loyal dog, Big Black went too.

Big Black was a jet-black Great Dane standing three foot six inches to the top of his head.
Bob had to make him a small saddle with pockets down both sides, to help him carry things, Big Black looked like a small donkey walking down the street at his side.

Bob was up and about every morning when the fishing fleet was in; working hard in the harbour.
It was pitch dark when he went to work in the morning, and some days it was also dark when he got home.
It was a full day in anybody's book.

Bob used to rent a room in the back of the King Richard public house just off the waterfront which he called home.
I say home, it was an old dusty storage room, just room enough for Bob and Big Black to get their heads down.
Big Black spent any of his spare time sitting on the harbour wall looking out to sea, wondering what was over the horizon.

On one fateful night after Bob had put a full day in at the harbour, he made his way home on a warm, summer evening.
The moon silently slipped behind the clouds, and darkness descended.

Bob never missed an opportunity to relieve Lord Walsh of his prize-winning fish, so in a flash, he had looked down at Black, saying "It's going to be a good night for a bit of fishing!".

He smiled as Big Black wagged his tail as if to say let's go! Bob stroked Black's head and saddled him up, ready for the oncoming night's work.
On one side of the saddle, Bob placed the bait and three tiny bells with three fishing lines and hooks.

The other side was reserved for Bob's sandwich and a small bone for Black’s midnight snack.
With his hat scarf and gloves in his pocket, Bob looked down at Black and asked "are we ready for off boy?" and in the twinkling of an eye, they were off into the dark night up the hills.

They were slowly moving through the woods, Big Black and Bob never made a sound that evening as they crept silently through the undergrowth.
It wasn't long before Bob could see the Manor house perched on top of the hill in the distance.
Bob suddenly stopped and dropped down onto one knee in the long grass. In a quiet voice, he whispered to Black "It looks like they are having a party and dancing in the Manor house tonight.
We will have a free run".

Big Black looked up, wagging his tail.
Then, they both made their way down the hill to a wall that surrounded the giant moonlit lake.
Without hesitation, Bob and Black leapt over the wall and set off running down through the grass to the water's edge.

Dropping onto his front surveying the grounds ahead of him, Bob pulled out a small telescope from his inside pocket, at the same time shushing Black to keep him quiet.
There were trees to both sides of them; Bob looked for a good twenty minutes to see if the coast was clear.

"Let's get started" Bob whispered to Black and he sat up at the water's edge baiting his lines, throwing one to the right-hand side, one to the left side, and then one directly in front of them.
He fastened a little bell to each line and retired into the long grass to wait for the fish to bite.
It wasn't long before he heard the faint ringing of a bell.
Within seconds all three of the bells were ringing.
Leaping up and running down to the edge of the water, he grabbed all three lines at once and started to pull them in.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the game keeper Willie sprang up out of the long grass shouting at the top of his voice, “We've got you now!” Frightened to death, Bob dropped the fishing lines and ran for his life, as fast as his legs could carry him.
He yelled "Come on, Black, run for it” as they sprinted through the woods to the wall and jumped over it - straight into the arms of a Bobby, Bob was speechless.
Lord Walsh and the local police constabulary had set a trap!
Big Black had a net thrown over him and they were both arrested.

Bob and Black were picked up and tossed into the back of the paddy wagon by two Bobbies.
Willie the gamekeeper appeared above the wall, shouting, “we have you now.
I will see you in court" he was madly shaking his fist and waving his big woolly hat over his head in victory.

Both Bobbies locked the back door of the police paddy wagon and then jumped onto the front seat.

One of the men picked up the reins in one hand and the whip in his other.
Waving it above his head like some possessed Ben-Hur, he kicked the brake off with his left foot and dropping down on to the seat he shouted “giddy up” and with a flick of his wrist and a crack of the whip, the horses set off at full speed.
The paddy wagon was rocking and rolling as they travelled down the bumpy road.
Both Bob and Black were thrown about in the back, all the way down the road, over the hill, over the bridge and into Scarborough town.
They came to a shuddering stop outside the station illuminated in blue by the big light above the door.

As they opened the back door to the paddy wagon, Bob and Black were dragged out and shoved into the police station; they were made to stand in front of the booking desk and told to be quiet as a mouse.

Soon they were joined by the duty Sergeant who appeared from a door behind the desk. It seemed to get darker as he entered the room.
He was a giant of a man and cast a massive shadow over the whole room.
He had a monocle on his left eye and the most oversized handlebar moustache you had ever seen which stuck out six inches on both sides of his head.
In a deep booming voice, without looking up, the Sergeant asked “What are the charges?”.

As he tapped his pencil on the edge of the desk furiously, the constables replied, "poaching.”
The sergeant stopped tapping his pencil and slowly looked up.

Asking where the poaching was, the constable replied “at the Manor House”.
Sergeant Bink burst out laughing as he looked Bob straight in the eye saying "Your goose is cooked Bob.
You're up in front of Lord Walsh in the morning for poaching his fish last night, and you are up in front of him in the next six hours”.
The sergeant bellowed," Take them to Scarborough castle and throw them into the deep hole with no food and water."

Bob hit the wet cold flag floor with a crash and Black landed at the side of him.
A big pile of wet straw for a bed could be seen in the corner of the room. Leaping up, Bob grabbed onto the bars of the prison door and shouted out.
"I curse you all. The wind will blow, and lightning will fill the sky, thunder will roll in and you will all disappear forever if you do not let us go now!"
As the words came out of his mouth, the temperature dropped and an icy chill came over the prison.
Lightning filled the sky. The thunder rolled in and with one big flash, a bolt of lightning hit Bob's prison cell, dislodging it from the castle wall.
It dropped down past the cliffs below, miraculously all in one piece, it landed at the base of the cliff, where it still stands to this day.

The next morning, the sky cleared, and the birds began to sing.
The sun shone and it was a lovely day on the Scarborough coast.
The mayor of the town and the townsfolk came to look at the havoc that the mysterious lightning storm had caused to the castle. They could not believe what they saw - a big cell-shaped hole missing from the castle wall, their eyes slowly travelled down the cliff to see Bob's upright prison cell. The door was smashed off its hinges and Bob and Black gone.

Only when the Mayor called a meeting the following day, was it discovered they were not the only ones missing from the town. The Lord of the Manor, Lord Walsh was one, the two police constables on duty that night, the sergeant and the Gamekeeper Willie.
The only thing that was found was the Gamekeeper Willie’s woolly hat floating on the lake, all the people who were involved that night vanished.
Never to be seen again.
Bob and Big Black became homeless.

The door to Bob’s lock-up was bolted and barred to him.
With nowhere to live, he and Big Black ended up back in the cell, making it their home.
Now it is known as Hairy Bob's cave.
Bob and Big Black lived in the cave all their lives.
People say they still see them from time to time.

When this story started, I did say I would tell you where I got the story from.
A long time ago we were on our annual holiday in Scarborough and I was a young man at the time.
One early summer’s morning before the sun was up, there was a chill in the air, and yet it was not cold.
It was a bit of a strange morning and I noticed that the hairs on my arm were stood on end.
I often liked to get up before the sunrise and have a walk down to the front by myself; I would find myself a wooden bench and watch the sun come up.

This particular morning, I sat there all on my own looking out to sea.
I settled down waiting for the sunrise, as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes I was astonished to see that an older man had appeared sitting at the other end of the bench.
He was stroking a big black dog.
I had not heard either of them approach.

I could hear his words in my mind but his lips never moved.
He said, “Can I tell you a true story?”

This is the very story you have just finished reading.
He told me to return at daybreak, and he would tell me another.
We met several times that week with a new tale every day.
I have never forgotten what he told me and have written it all down.
I’m sure that you can’t wait to read about further adventures of Bob and Big Black and I can’t wait to tell you...

Postscript

If you time it right, and if you look hard enough you can still see Hairy Bob looking out of his cave.
On a dark winter’s night with the wind blowing hard, and the rain lashing down you may see Bob looking out of his cave, with his Big Black sat at his side.

This is the true story how Hairy Bob’s cave got to be there. Believe me or believe me not, see you in the next adventure of Hairy Bob. As a young man I got to know Bob back in 1844.
I am now 178 years old. The year is 2023. I think Bob passed on some of his magical powers for a long life to me when we met.

The Adventures of Hairy Bob

CRAFTY SEA GAL

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