This legend was told me by Mrs. A. F. Shannon of Velasco. San Luis Pass
is the narrow entrance from the Gulf into a small and sheltered bay on
the Texas coast. It is a wild and mournful spot, where sea gulls scream
and breakers roar. It is especially wild and mournful when the wind is
east, as the few settlers say. Then three great billows roll in
successively from the Gulf, overtake each other on the bar, and break
together with the sound of thunder. This breaking together of the
billows is called the boor [109] on the bar.
A great many years ago a fisherman lived with his wife and young child
at the Pass. One day when the wind was east and the boor was on the
bar, he went out in his boat to fish. The wind blew stronger, the
billows rose higher, and a great tide came in, flooding the salt
marshes that border the Pass. The fisherman did not return. A few days
later other fishermen found the young wife, quite demented, wandering
in the salt marshes and calling, “Come back! Come back!” Since that
time, when the wind is east and the boor is on the bar, the white form
of the woman flits over the marshes and cries, “Come back! Come back!”
in warning to fishermen whose boats are on the water.
It is probable that the white wings and the hoarse cries of the giant
gulls that come in to the marshes only when there is a high east wind
and the lives of fishermen are threatened have given rise to this
legend of the salt marshes. Such an explanation, at least, was
suggested to Mrs. Shannon by Mr. Lon Follet.