THE EEL A. 305 



be in a hurry." " Well," cried Tammy, " I thought we 

 might have gone back to Baltasound in company. I 

 don't care to be storm-stayed here ; I want to get home, 

 and I think we can manage it before the weather gets 

 very bad : so we're off : good evening. Give her sail, 

 lads" — he added, taking the helm and sheet, while 

 his brother at once hauled up the closely-reefed sail ; 

 and away before the rapidly rising gale flew the 

 buoyant little boat like a racer. Peter shook his head, 

 glanced at the lowering sky, and muttered, "They are 

 reckless fools." And so we were afterwards told did 

 Tammy and his crew themselves think before they 

 reached the shelter of Baltasound. The wind and sea 

 continued to rise. The whole coast from Muness to 

 the south entrance to Baltasound is rocky and exposed 

 to the full fury of the North Sea. There was no 

 shelter, no landing place, to which the boat could run. 

 Baltasound was the nearest haven of safety. Tammy's 

 boat was several times nearly filled with water, and 

 nothing but admirable seamanship could have saved 

 them. They were glad enough and very thankful 

 when they rounded the point of Skeotaing and found 

 themselves in smooth water. 



Meantime we had come to the conclusion, at least 

 Peter had, that it would be madness to attempt the 

 passage. As evening approached snow began to fall 

 and the wind blew a fierce gale. So we landed at 

 Muness and drew up our boat high on the beach. A 

 well-to-do fisherman, who, in virtue of considerable 

 savings he was known to have at his credit in the 



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