94 THE CRUISE OP THE BETSEY j OR, 



Now, such was the kind of Protestantism that, since the days 

 of Dr Johnson, had also been introduced, I know not by 

 what means, into Eigg. It had lived on the best possible 

 terms with the Popery of the island ; the parish minister had 

 soaked day after day in the public-house with a Roman Ca- 

 tholic boon companion ; and when a Papist man married a 

 Protestant woman, the woman, as a matter of course, became 

 Papist also ; whereas when it was the man who was a Pro- 

 testant, and the woman a Papist, the woman remained what 

 she had been. Roman Catholicism was quite content with 

 terms, actual though not implied, of a kind so decidedly ad- 

 vantageous ; and the Roman Catholics used good-humouredly 

 to urge on their neighbours the Protestants, that, as it was 

 palpable they had no religion of any kind, they had better 

 surely come over to them, and have some. In short, all was 

 harmony between the two Churches. My friend laboured 

 hard, as a good and honest man ought, to impart to Protest- 

 antism in his parish the animating life of the Reformation ; 

 and, through the blessing of God, after years of anxious toil, 

 he at length fully succeeded. 



I had got wet, and the day continued bad ; and so, instead 

 of returning to the evening sermon, which began at six, I 

 remained alone aboard of the vessel. The rain ceased in little 

 more than an hour after, and in somewhat more than two 

 hours I got up on deck to see whether the congregation was 

 not dispersing, and if it was not yet time to hang on the 

 kettle for our evening tea. The unexpected apparition of 

 some one aboard the Free Church yacht startled two ragged 

 boys who were manoeuvring a little boat a stonecast away, 

 under the rocky shores of Eilean Chaisteil, and who, on catch- 

 ing a glimpse of me, flung themselves below the thwarts for 

 concealment. An oar dropped into the water ; there was a 

 hasty arm and half a head thrust over the gunwale to secure 

 it ; and then the urchin to whom they belonged again disap- 



