the sea; but as I sat he bade me bale the water
out of the boat, for it was slushing about high over the floor-boards,
and these had come adrift, and were moving with every motion, so I
baled with a will, glad for something mechanical to do, to keep my eyes
off the menacing waves which seemed to rush up to devour us, and as if
we were too poor a prey, spurned us away. Then I saw that we were in
calmer water, and the steep shore of the Isle seemed close to, and the
light of the white house clear, and in a little time the sail came
rattling down, and the skiff's keel grated on the flat gravel, and we
sprang ashore and put the anchor on the beach though the tide was going
back.

And as we made our way over the gravelly shore I saw a crouching figure
rise from among the wrack and come to us.

"Oh, oh; have ye come for me, father? Have ye come for me at last?"
and a girl flung herself into McKelvie's arms, and hung there crying.

"Wheest, lass, wheest," commanded the innkeeper sternly.

"Oh, I just crept as near the sea as I could go, for oh, yon hoose is
no' canny, and a' day the ravens from the Red Rocks have walked in at
the doors, fluttering and croaking, and the Red Man is crying that he's
gaun tae his hame the night; and McRae piping to him a' day, and him
drinking and blaspheming. . . ."

"If McDearg's gaun the night, we'll maybe hae news tae stop him, my
dear," said Dan. "Anywie, ye're surely no' feart of a raven's
croaking?"

With that we started for the Isle House, the whitewash of it looking
yellowish against the snow, and all about us the flapping of wings and
the crying of sea-birds as our feet scrunched on the gravel.

"I canna go there," cried the lass. "I just canna; let me bide in the
boat," and then, as she saw her brother take the lantern from the bows,
she ran to him.

"Take me wi' ye, Robin. I'll speil tae the Goat's Ledge wi' ye; but
oh, do not be making me go back there. . . ."

"Wheest, my lassie, my poor wee lassie," said her father; "there's nae
harm will come on you, wi' your father and Robin beside ye; but you
will not be mentioning any Goat's Ledge, for the devil himself will
carry word to the Preventives."

So, standing some way from the skiff, we held a council of war, and at
length Robin took his lantern and left us to climb to the Goat Ledge
and make the warning signal, should M'Gilp be in the channel, and we
others made for an outhouse, where we left McKelvie's lass content