462 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



tacks we easily cleared the islands of Loch Inver, and the 

 breeze being light and fair, we stood across for Stornoway 

 harbour. What an enchanting sail ! In full view were the 

 rugged bluffs and headlands, with a background of heathery 

 hills. In the distance the sun glanced on the bald tops of 

 the rocky mountains gradually fading out of sight until they 

 mingled with the warm blue sky. At the end of Storehead, 

 a high narrow stone rears itself so exactly like a lighthouse 

 that few could discover the cheat. Often a hatch of Mother 

 Carey's chickens were clustered on the curling water. Now 

 and then a stray one would flit past our " bow," so like a 

 swallow as to justify the sailors' other appellation of the sea- 

 swallow. I had never seen the stormy-petrel in his native 

 element, and much enjoyed a peep through my telescope at 

 many a group of these so-called birds of the tempest. Yet, 

 spite of the stormy-petrel, the ocean slept calmly that night, 

 so calmly that I passed it pacing the deck, gazing at the radiant 

 sunset and gorgeous rising, now so nearly blended listening 

 to the cries of the sea-birds, some so exquisitely plaintive, and 

 others so wild and unearthly as to seem voices of spirits 

 from the depths below. 



Notwithstanding the novel excitement of our night cruise, 

 it certainly was a relief to escape from the greasy skipper and 

 his nauseous boat. He had disgusted us by recklessly cutting 

 through the herring-nets, treating the remonstrances of the 

 fishermen with supreme contempt. On one poor fellow, who, 

 in agony for his net-rope, ventured to call him " no gentle- 

 man," he fired such a volley of disgusting expletives, as seemed 

 in his own opinion fully to vindicate his claim to the aristo- 

 cratic title. I frequently checked him, but, being half-seas- 

 over, he forgot himself the next moment. We could not but 

 wish him as prosperous and speedy a return voyage as befell 

 two Loch Lomond boatmen equally well primed with grog. 

 In the dusk they hoisted sail from Inverbeg for the top of the 

 loch, but immediately ran aground on a sandbank. "Here 



