hor will not drag."

"Och! is it _that_? Well, _all_ the bottom in this counthry is of that
same natur'. None of it will drag, without pulling mighty hard. I'll swear
to any part of it."

"You surely would not think of anchoring a ship out here, a league from
the land, with nothing to break either wind or sea, and a gale
commencing?"

"I anchor! Divil the bit did I ever anchor a ship, or a brig, or even a
cutther. I've not got so high up as that, yer honour: but yon's ould
Michael Sweeny, now; many's the anchor he's cast out, miles at a time,
sayin' he's been a sayman, and knows the says from top to bottom. It's
Michael ye'll want, and Michael ye shall have."

Michael was spoken to, and he clambered up out of the boat, as well as he
could; the task not being very easy, since the fishermen with difficulty
kept their dull, heavy boat out of our mizen chains. In the mean time,
Marble and I found time to compare notes. We agreed that Mr. Terence
McScale, or O' something,--for I forget the fellow's surname,--would
probably turn out a more useful man in hauling in mackerel and John Dorys,
than in helping us to take care of the Dawn. Nor did Michael, at the first
glance promise anything much better. He was very old,--eighty. I should
think,--and appeared to have nullified all the brains he ever had, by the
constant use of whiskey; the scent of which accompanied him with a sort of
parasitical odour, as that of tannin attends the leather-dresser. He was
not drunk just then, however, but seemed cool and collected. I explained
my wishes to this man; and was glad to find he had a tolerable notion of
nautical terms, and that he would not be likely to get us into difficulty,
like Terence, through any ignorance on this score.

"Is it anchor ye would, yer honour?" answered Michael, when I had
concluded. "Sure, that's aisy enough, and the saison is good for that
same; for the wind is getting up like a giant. As for the guineas yer
honour mintions, it's of no avail atween fri'nds. I'll take 'em, to
obleege ye, if yer honour so wills: but the ship should be anchored if
there niver was a grain of goold in the wur-r-r-ld. Would ye like a berth
pratty well out, or would yer honour choose to go in among the rocks, and
lie like a babby in its cradhle?"

"I should prefer a safe roadstead, to venturing too far in, without a
professed pilot. By the look of the land in-shore, I should think it would
be easy to find a lee against this wind, p