k they ken, they care nae mair for it than what
I do for pease porridge."

As we had first made inland, so our road came in the end to lie very
near due north; the old Kirk of Aberlady for a landmark on the left; on
the right, the top of the Berwick Law; and it was thus we struck the
shore again, not far from Dirleton. From North Berwick west to Gillane
Ness there runs a string of four small islets, Craiglieth, the Lamb,
Fidra, and Eyebrough, notable by their diversity of size and shape.
Fidra is the most particular, being a strange grey islet of two humps,
made the more conspicuous by a piece of ruin; and I mind that (as we
drew closer to it) by some door or window of these ruins the sea peeped
through like a man's eye. Under the lee of Fidra there is a good
anchorage in westerly winds, and there, from a far way off, we could see
the _Thistle_ riding.

The shore in face of these islets is altogether waste. Here is no
dwelling of man, and scarce any passage, or at most of vagabond children
running at their play. Gillane is a small place on the far side of the
Ness, the folk of Dirleton go to their business in the inland fields,
and those of North Berwick straight to the sea-fishing from their haven;
so that few parts of the coast are lonelier. But I mind, as we crawled
upon our bellies into that multiplicity of heights and hollows, keeping
a bright eye upon all sides, and our hearts hammering at our ribs, there
was such a shining of the sun and the sea, such a stir of the wind in
the bent grass, and such a bustle of down-popping rabbits and up-flying
gulls, that the desert seemed to me like a place alive. No doubt it was
in all ways well chosen for a secret embarcation, if the secret had been
kept; and even now that it was out, and the place watched, we were able
to creep unperceived to the front of the sandhills, where they look down
immediately on the beach and sea.

But here Alan came to a full stop.

"Davie," said he, "this is a kittle passage! As long as we lie here
we're safe; but I'm nane sae muckle nearer to my ship or the coast of
France. And as soon as we stand up and signal the brig, it's another
matter. For where will your gentry be, think ye?"

"Maybe they're no come yet," said I. "And even if they are, there's one
clear matter in our favour. They'll be all arranged to take us, that's
true. But they'll have arranged for our coming from the east, and here
we are upon their west."

"Ay," says Alan, "I