The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



by reason of the fact that the mail-steamer had failed to call 

 — were of opinion that "There was no safety in the sound." 

 But all trusted themselves to the fine Highlander who, often 

 single-handed, has sailed the passage these forty years back ; 

 and with many farewells from the shore the sail was filled and 

 the boat shot forward with the wind. Almost at once we were 

 in a heavy sea, and the wind blew with such force that all 

 idea of crossing to Fionphort was quickly abandoned, and, 

 sailing before the gale, the course was set for the sheltered 

 creek near the little fishing village of Kentra. Things looked 

 serious, for we were shipping the waves which broke white- 

 topped and menacing around us — the tide runs strong in the 

 sound, and when moving against the storm renders the swell 

 doubly dangerous — and each person had perforce to lie at the 

 bottom of the boat so that the ferryman might see the more 

 easily to avoid the overfalls of the heaviest waves. Some 

 feared that the mast would snap before the strain, but all went 

 well, and it was with much gratitude that we reached harbour, 

 and many a word of well-deserved praise and thanks did the 

 ferryman, soaked to the skin by the breaking waves, receive 

 from his Gaelic-speaking passengers. 



But not always is the sound thus in winter. I have 

 crossed on days of February when scarce a breath of wind 

 ruffled the waters, when all the hills of Mull stood out clear 

 and blue, saving Ben More, whose summit was whitened 

 by snows which did not reach to the lesser peaks, and when 

 all the islands were clear and on Gometra every house dis- 

 tinct. Then there were days when a bitter north-easter, 

 sweeping up the waters of Loch Scridain, brought with it 

 from the snow-clad hills of the mainland the icy breath of 

 the frost spirit; w^hen the sky over the rocks of the Wilder- 

 ness was of steel, and when even the Atlantic swell was 

 stilled by the frost. These days would perhaps come in 

 early spring, scorching the young grass already showing 

 green on lona and numbing the early lambs with deadly 

 chill. But with April better weather would come to lona 



46 



