296 PEAIBIE AND FOEEST. 



"When we got back to Clyde, the very day we sighted 

 old Ailsa Craig, my time was out, and as we ran up the 

 river with a fair wind astern, and' all our stunsails set, I 

 would have given most aucht if my mither and faither 

 who lived at Saltcoats, close by could have seen their 

 boy, in his new and advanced berth. The owners of the 

 old Kilmors launched a new ship next year, and, much to 

 my unexpected satisfaction, I got the berth of first officer 

 in her. A year or two after, when at Jamaica, I was offered 

 the command of a brig in the Honduras trade, and here I 

 saved some money; in three years I purchased a share, and 

 in two years more was half owner. The world prospered 

 wi' me, and every few years or so I see the auld folks and 

 gie them a little comfort in their auld age. When young, 

 many's the trout I had tane, and when I would make my 

 fleeing visits to the old hearthstone, I would generally get 

 a day or two to try the salmon in Doon, for I was aye 

 fond o' fishing, so was my father, and his father afore him, 

 an* somehow I ne'er kent a fisher who was na an honest 

 man " (as he warmed with the subject he resumed his 

 native dialect), "and when I looked at you, and heard you 

 say you were going for a bit o' fishing, my heart warmed to 

 you, ane tho' I ha' been so fashed with passengers, and had 

 maist made up my mind nare to take anither, 1 jist thought 

 I 'd drap my rule on your account." 



The afternoon passed pleasantly ; the captain had been 

 everywhere, and discoursed with great good sense and 

 knowledge upon different countries, and he was destitute of 

 the disagreeable egotism that so frequently stamps our 

 uneducated countrymen. Moreover, he was a loyal and 



