THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 25 



house, and the keeper and his wife most civilly 

 agreed to give us tea on our return from the 

 rocks, and allowed us to eke it out by shooting a 

 rabbit. A row of " Letter-o'-marques " were already 

 drawn up on their night quarters. One of the 

 nearest, decked in the most bright and varied 

 colours, looked like their chief. Of course he 

 was the target, but being fixed at far too long 

 a range, dropped down the abyss with the rest, 

 little inconvenienced by the No. 2. Had we 

 not been so eager another overlooked approach 

 would have abridged the distance by thirty 

 yards, when most likely this brilliant specimen 

 would have been ours. The only resource now 

 was to take post above the rocks, and await the 

 return of our fugitives. As dusk was setting in, 

 they soon began to cross backwards and for- 

 wards at long distance. Fearing that darkness 

 would stop our shooting, we were forced to try 

 these random chances, which were all shot- 

 proof ! 



Seated at our snug meal in the lighthouse, 

 Kelly appeared with rueful face. "The nicht," 

 he said, " looked ugly, rain had set in, and they 



