no demand
for liquor in the islands. What for would I tak' spirits to the
crofters when the poor folk canna more than pay for their
bannocks?"

"Why, man alive, ye can surely make a demand? Just carry a good
supply of spirits in yer schooner, and I warrant ye'll do a grand
trade."

"Ye're maybe no far wrang there," said Davie thoughtfully. "But
then, there's another difficulty, pilot; where will the spirits
come from?"

"Why, man," said Kinlay, lowering his voice, "that's just the
simplest part o' the whole business. Think ye that no whisky comes
into Stromness forbye what gangs to Oliver Gray's? Why, man, if it
came to that, I could undertake to supply ye mysel' on the most
easy terms."

"Ay, like enough," returned Flett, with a look in his face that
Carver did not observe. "Like enough--excise paid, of course?"

"Oh! we needna say anything about the excise, Davie," said the
pilot, looking uneasy. "What does't matter about the excise?"

Davie Flett quietly stroked his bristly chin, saying:

"Weel, Carver Kinlay, it's the first time I have heard of a pilot
having a hand in that business. But, no doubt, a pilot has grand
facilities. However that may be, I'm not sure that the Orkney
crofters would welcome such a new line of business. Anyway, I have
more respect for the crofters and for their poor families than to
think of starting such a damnable traffic; nor am I in the least
disposed to turn a schooner of mine into a floating grog shop. Good
morning, pilot!"

Kinlay winced visibly under this taunting speech of the trading
captain. Evidently he had mistaken his man in supposing that Flett
would descend to his own level, and aid in promoting the nefarious
traffic he suggested. Davie Flett's intimate knowledge of the
Orcadians, and the nature of his commerce with them, would
certainly have made it easy for him to do a considerable retail
trade. But, as I well knew, the skipper of the Falcon had
systematically avoided including spirits in his stock of marketable
commodities. Though himself no enemy to an occasional dram on a
cold night, he knew too well the evil effects that would probably
follow the introduction of strong drink among the innocent
islanders, who, for the most part, had the greatest difficulty in
gaining a simple livelihood. Even apart from his moral scruples,
Davie Flett had excellent reasons for rejecting Kinlay's singular
proposal.

One thing that I gathered from this conversation was the