Fife and Lothian, and sounding for
sunk dangers. Early one fine morning she was seen about two miles to
east of us, where she lowered a boat, and seemed to examine the Wildfire
Rocks and Satan's Bush, famous dangers of that coast. And presently,
after having got her boat again, she came before the wind and was headed
directly for the Bass. This was very troublesome to Andie and the
Highlanders; the whole business of my sequestration was designed for
privacy, and here, with a navy captain perhaps blundering ashore, it
looked to become public enough, if it were nothing worse. I was in a
minority of one, I am no Alan to fall upon so many, and I was far from
sure that a warship was the least likely to improve my condition. All
which considered, I gave Andie my parole of good behaviour and
obedience, and was had briskly to the summit of the rock, where we all
lay down, at the cliff's edge, in different places of observation and
concealment. The _Seahorse_ came straight on till I thought she would
have struck, and we (looking giddily down) could see the ship's company
at their quarters and hear the leadsman singing at the lead. Then she
suddenly wore and let fly a volley of I know not how many great guns.
The rock was shaken with the thunder of the sound, the smoke flowed over
our heads, and the geese rose in number beyond computation or belief. To
hear their screaming and to see the twinkling of their wings, made a
most inimitable curiosity: and I suppose it was after this somewhat
childish pleasure that Captain Palliser had come so near the Bass. He
was to pay dear for it in time. During his approach I had the
opportunity to make a remark upon the rigging of that ship by which I
ever after knew it miles away; and this was a means (under Providence)
of my averting from a friend a great calamity, and inflicting on Captain
Palliser himself a sensible disappointment.

All the time of my stay on the rock we lived well. We had small ale and
brandy, and oatmeal of which we made our porridge night and morning. At
times a boat came from the Castleton and brought us a quarter of mutton,
for the sheep upon the rock we must not touch, these being specially fed
to market. The geese were unfortunately out of season, and we let them
be. We fished ourselves, and yet more often made the geese to fish for
us: observing one when he had made a capture and scaring him from his
prey ere he had swallowed it.

The strange nature of this place, a