The Pirate Read online

  CHAPTER X.

  What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine, Seen by the curtal friar, who, from some christening Or some blithe bridal, hies belated cell-ward-- He starts, and changes his bold bottle swagger To churchman's pace professional, and, ransacking His treacherous memory for some holy hymn, Finds but the roundel of the midnight catch.

  _Old Play._

  The stride of the Udaller relaxed nothing of its length or of itsfirmness as he approached the glimmering cabin, from which he now hearddistinctly the sound of the fiddle. But, if still long and firm, hissteps succeeded each other rather more slowly than usual; for, like acautious, though a brave general, Magnus was willing to reconnoitre hisenemy before assailing him. The trusty Laurence Scholey, who kept closebehind his master, now whispered into his ear, "So help me, sir, as Ibelieve that the ghaist, if ghaist it be, that plays so bravely on thefiddle, must be the ghaist of Maister Claud Halcro, or his wraith atleast; for never was bow drawn across thairm which brought out the gudeauld spring of 'Fair and Lucky,' so like his ain."

  Magnus was himself much of the same opinion for he knew the blitheminstrelsy of the spirited little old man, and hailed the hut with ahearty hilloah, which was immediately replied to by the cheery note ofhis ancient messmate, and Halcro himself presently made his appearanceon the beach.

  The Udaller now signed to his retinue to come up, while he asked hisfriend, after a kind greeting and much shaking of hands, "How the devilhe came to sit there, playing old tunes in so desolate a place, like anowl whooping to the moon?"

  "And tell me rather, Fowd," said Claud Halcro, "how you came to bewithin hearing of me? ay, by my word, and with your bonny daughters,too?--Jarto Minna and Jarto Brenda, I bid you welcome to these yellowsands--and there shake hands, as glorious John, or some other body,says, upon the same occasion. And how came you here like two fair swans,making day out of twilight, and turning all you step upon to silver?"

  "You shall know all about them presently," answered Magnus; "but whatmessmates have you got in the hut with you? I think I hear some onespeaking."

  "None," replied Claud Halcro, "but that poor creature, the Factor, andmy imp of a boy Giles. I--but come in--come in--here you will find usstarving in comfort--not so much as a mouthful of sour sillocks to behad for love or money."

  "That may be in a small part helped," said the Udaller; "for though thebest of our supper is gone over the Fitful Crags to the sealchies andthe dog-fish, yet we have got something in the kit still.--Here, Laurie,bring up the _vifda_."

  "_Jokul, jokul!_"[23] was Laurence's joyful answer; and he hastened forthe basket.

  "By the bicker of Saint Magnus,"[24] said Halcro, "and the burliestbishop that ever quaffed it for luck's sake, there is no finding yourlocker empty, Magnus! I believe sincerely that ere a friend wanted, youcould, like old Luggie the warlock, fish up boiled and roasted out ofthe pool of Kibster."[25]

  "You are wrong there, Jarto Claud," said Magnus Troil, "for far fromhelping me to a supper, the foul fiend, I believe, has carried off greatpart of mine this blessed evening; but you are welcome to share andshare of what is left." This was said while the party entered the hut.

  Here, in a cabin which smelled strongly of dried fish, and whose sidesand roof were jet-black with smoke, they found the unhappy TriptolemusYellowley seated beside a fire made of dried sea-weed, mingled with somepeats and wreck-wood; his sole companion a barefooted, yellow-hairedZetland boy, who acted occasionally as a kind of page to Claud Halcro,bearing his fiddle on his shoulder, saddling his pony, and rendering himsimilar duties of kindly observance. The disconsolate agriculturist, forsuch his visage betokened him, displayed little surprise, and lessanimation, at the arrival of the Udaller and his companions, until,after the party had drawn close to the fire, (a neighbourhood which thedampness of the night air rendered far from disagreeable,) the pannierwas opened, and a tolerable supply of barley-bread and hung beef,besides a flask of brandy, (no doubt smaller than that which therelentless hand of Pacolet had emptied into the ocean,) gave assurancesof a tolerable supper. Then, indeed, the worthy Factor grinned,chuckled, rubbed his hands, and enquired after all friends atBurgh-Westra.

  When they had all partaken of this needful refreshment, the Udallerrepeated his enquiries of Halcro, and more particularly of the Factor,how they came to be nestled in such a remote corner at such an hour ofnight.

  "Maister Magnus Troil," said Triptolemus, when a second cup had givenhim spirits to tell his tale of woe, "I would not have you think that itis a little thing that disturbs me. I came of that grain that takes asair wind to shake it. I have seen many a Martinmas and many aWhitsunday in my day, whilk are the times peculiarly grievous to thoseof my craft, and I could aye bide the bang; but I think I am like to bedung ower a'thegither in this damned country of yours--Gude forgie mefor swearing--but evil communication corrupteth good manners."

  "Now, Heaven guide us," said the Udaller, "what is the matter with theman? Why, man, if you will put your plough into new land, you must lookto have it hank on a stone now and then--You must set us an example ofpatience, seeing you come here for our improvement."

  "And the deil was in my feet when I did so," said the Factor; "I hadbetter have set myself to improve the cairn on Clochnaben."

  "But what is it, after all," said the Udaller, "that has befallenyou?--what is it that you complain of?"

  "Of every thing that has chanced to me since I landed on this island,which I believe was accursed at the very creation," said theagriculturist, "and assigned as a fitting station for sorners, thieves,whores, (I beg the ladies' pardon,) witches, bitches, and all evilspirits!"

  "By my faith, a goodly catalogue!" said Magnus; "and there has been theday, that if I had heard you give out the half of it, I should haveturned improver myself, and have tried to amend your manners with acudgel."

  "Bear with me," said the Factor, "Maister Fowd, or Maister Udaller, orwhatever else they may call you, and as you are strong be pitiful, andconsider the luckless lot of any inexperienced person who lights uponthis earthly paradise of yours. He asks for drink, they bring him sourwhey--no disparagement to your brandy, Fowd, which is excellent--You askfor meat, and they bring you sour sillocks that Satan might chokeupon--You call your labourers together, and bid them work; it provesSaint Magnus's day, or Saint Ronan's day, or some infernal saint orother's--or else, perhaps, they have come out of bed with the wrong footforemost, or they have seen an owl, or a rabbit has crossed their path,or they have dreamed of a roasted horse--in short, nothing is to bedone--Give them a spade, and they work as if it burned their fingers;but set them to dancing, and see when they will tire of funking andflinging!"

  "And why should they, poor bodies," said Claud Halcro, "as long as thereare good fiddlers to play to them?"

  "Ay, ay," said Triptolemus, shaking his head, "you are a proper personto uphold them in such a humour. Well, to proceed:--I till a piece ofmy best ground; down comes a sturdy beggar that wants a kailyard, or aplant-a-cruive, as you call it, and he claps down an enclosure in themiddle of my bit shot of corn, as lightly as if he was baith laird andtenant; and gainsay him wha likes, there he dibbles in his kail-plants!I sit down to my sorrowful dinner, thinking to have peace and quietnessthere at least; when in comes one, two, three, four, or half-a-dozen ofskelping long lads, from some foolery or anither, misca' me for barringmy ain door against them, and eat up the best half of what my sister'sprovidence--and she is not over bountiful--has allotted for my dinner!Then enters a witch, with an ellwand in her hand, and she raises thewind or lays it, whichever she likes, majors up and down my house as ifshe was mistress of it, and I am bounden to thank Heaven if she carriesnot the broadside of it away with her!"

  "Still," said the Fowd, "this is no answer to my question--how the foulfiend I come to find you at moorings here?"

  "Have patience, worthy sir," replied the afflicted Factor, "and listento what
I have to say, for I fancy it will be as well to tell you thewhole matter. You must know, I once thought that I had gotten a smallgodsend, that might have made all these matters easier."

  "How! a godsend! Do you mean a wreck, Master Factor?" exclaimed Magnus;"shame upon you, that should have set example to others!"

  "It was no wreck," said the Factor; "but, if you must needs know, itchanced that as I raised an hearthstane in one of the old chambers atStourburgh, (for my sister is minded that there is little use in mairfire-places about a house than one, and I wanted the stane to knock bearupon,) when, what should I light on but a horn full of old coins, silverthe maist feck of them, but wi' a bit sprinkling of gold amang themtoo.[26] Weel, I thought this was a dainty windfa', and so thought Baby,and we were the mair willing to put up with a place where there weresiccan braw nest-eggs--and we slade down the stane cannily over thehorn, which seemed to me to be the very cornucopia, or horn ofabundance; and for further security, Baby wad visit the room maybetwenty times in the day, and mysell at an orra time, to the boot of a'that."

  "On my word, and a very pretty amusement," said Claud Halcro, "to lookover a horn of one's own siller. I question if glorious John Dryden everenjoyed such a pastime in his life--I am very sure I never did."

  "Yes, but you forget, Jarto Claud," said the Udaller, "that the Factorwas only counting over the money for my Lord the Chamberlain. As he isso keen for his Lordship's rights in whales and wrecks, he would notsurely forget him in treasure-trove."

  "A-hem! a-hem! a-he--he--hem!" ejaculated Triptolemus, seized at themoment with an awkward fit of coughing,--"no doubt, my Lord's right inthe matter would have been considered, being in the hand of one, thoughI say it, as just as can be found in Angus-shire, let alone the Mearns.But mark what happened of late! One day, as I went up to see that allwas safe and snug, and just to count out the share that should have beenhis Lordship's--for surely the labourer, as one may call the finder, isworthy of his hire--nay, some learned men say, that when the finder, inpoint of trust and in point of power, representeth the _dominus_, orlord superior, he taketh the whole; but let that pass, as a kittlequestion _in apicibus juris_, as we wont to say at Saint Andrews--Well,sir and ladies, when I went to the upper chamber, what should I see butan ugsome, ill-shaped, and most uncouth dwarf, that wanted but hoofs andhorns to have made an utter devil of him, counting over the very hornfulof siller! I am no timorous man, Master Fowd, but, judging that I shouldproceed with caution in such a matter--for I had reason to believe thatthere was devilry in it--I accosted him in Latin, (whilk it is maistbecoming to speak to aught whilk taketh upon it as a goblin,) andconjured him _in nomine_, and so forth, with such words as my poorlearning could furnish of a suddenty, whilk, to say truth, were not somany, nor altogether so purely latineezed as might have been, had I notbeen few years at college, and many at the pleugh. Well, sirs, hestarted at first, as one that heareth that which he expects not; butpresently recovering himself, he wawls on me with his grey een, like awild-cat, and opens his mouth, whilk resembled the mouth of an oven, forthe deil a tongue he had in it, that I could spy, and took upon his uglyself, altogether the air and bearing of a bull-dog, whilk I have seenloosed at a fair upon a mad staig;[27] whereupon I was somethingdaunted, and withdrew myself to call upon sister Baby, who fears neitherdog nor devil, when there is in question the little penny siller. Andtruly she raise to the fray as I hae seen the Lindsays and Ogilviesbristle up, when Donald MacDonnoch, or the like, made a start down fraethe Highlands on the braes of Islay. But an auld useless carline, calledTronda Dronsdaughter, (they might call her Drone the sell of her,without farther addition,) flung herself right in my sister's gate, andyelloched and skirled, that you would have thought her a wholegeneration of hounds; whereupon I judged it best to make ae yoking ofit, and stop the pleugh until I got my sister's assistance. Whilk when Ihad done, and we mounted the stair to the apartment in which the saiddwarf, devil, or other apparition, was to be seen, dwarf, horn, andsiller, were as clean gane as if the cat had lickit the place where Isaw them."

  Here Triptolemus paused in his extraordinary narration, while the restof the party looked upon each other in surprise, and the Udallermuttered to Claud Halcro--"By all tokens, this must have been either thedevil or Nicholas Strumpfer; and if it were him, he is more of a goblinthan e'er I gave him credit for, and shall be apt to rate him as such infuture." Then, addressing the Factor, he enquired--"Saw ye nought howthis dwarf of yours parted company?"

  "As I shall answer it, no," replied Triptolemus, with a cautious lookaround him, as if daunted by the recollection "neither I, nor Baby, whohad her wits more about her, not having seen this unseemly vision, couldperceive any way by whilk he made evasion. Only Tronda said she saw himflee forth of the window of the west roundel of the auld house, upon adragon, as she averred. But, as the dragon is held a fabulous animal, Isuld pronounce her averment to rest upon _deceptio visus_."

  "But, may we not ask farther," said Brenda, stimulated by curiosity toknow as much of her cousin Norna's family as was possible, "how all thisoperated upon Master Yellowley, so as to occasion his being in thisplace at so unseasonable an hour?"

  "Seasonable it must be, Mistress Brenda, since it brought us into yoursweet company," answered Claud Halcro, whose mercurial brain faroutstripped the slow conceptions of the agriculturist, and who becameimpatient of being so long silent. "To say the truth, it was I, MistressBrenda, who recommended to our friend the Factor, whose house I chancedto call at just after this mischance, (and where, by the way, owingdoubtless to the hurry of their spirits, I was but poorly received,) tomake a visit to our other friend at Fitful-head, well judging fromcertain points of the story, at which my other and more particularfriend than either" (looking at Magnus) "may chance to form a guess,that they who break a head are the best to find a plaster. And as ourfriend the Factor scrupled travelling on horseback, in respect of sometumbles from our ponies"----

  "Which are incarnate devils," said Triptolemus, aloud, muttering underhis breath, "like every live thing that I have found in Zetland."

  "Well, Fowd," continued Halcro, "I undertook to carry him to Fitful-headin my little boat, which Giles and I can manage as if it were anAdmiral's barge full manned; and Master Triptolemus Yellowley will tellyou how seaman-like I piloted him to the little haven, within a quarterof a mile of Norna's dwelling."

  "I wish to Heaven you had brought me as safe back again," said theFactor.

  "Why, to be sure," replied the minstrel, "I am, as glorious John says,--

  'A daring pilot in extremity, Pleased with the danger when the waves go high, I seek the storm--but, for a calm unfit, Will steer too near the sands, to show my wit.'"

  "I showed little wit in intrusting myself to your charge," saidTriptolemus; "and you still less when you upset the boat at the throatof the voe, as you call it, when even the poor bairn, that was mair thanhalf drowned, told you that you were carrying too much sail; and then yewad fasten the rape to the bit stick on the boat-side, that ye mighthave time to play on the fiddle."

  "What!" said the Udaller, "make fast the sheets to the thwart? a mostunseasonable practice, Claud Halcro."

  "And sae came of it," replied the agriculturist; "for the neist blast(and we are never lang without ane in these parts) whomled us as agudewife would whomle a bowie, and ne'er a thing wad Maister Halcro savebut his fiddle. The puir bairn swam out like a water-spaniel, and Iswattered hard for my life, wi' the help of ane of the oars; and here weare, comfortless creatures, that, till a good wind blew you here, hadnaething to eat but a mouthful of Norway rusk, that has mair sawdustthan rye-meal in it, and tastes liker turpentine than any thing else."

  "I thought we heard you very merry," said Brenda, "as we came along thebeach."

  "Ye heard a fiddle, Mistress Brenda," said the Factor; "and maybe ye maythink there can be nae dearth, miss, where that is skirling. But thenit was Maister Claud Halcro's fiddle, whilk, I am apt to think, wadskirl at his father's deathbed, or at his ain, sae lang as hi
s fingerscould pinch the thairm. And it was nae sma' aggravation to my misfortuneto have him bumming a' sorts of springs,--Norse and Scots, Highland andLawland, English and Italian, in my lug, as if nothing had happened thatwas amiss, and we all in such stress and perplexity."

  "Why, I told you sorrow would never right the boat, Factor," said thethoughtless minstrel, "and I did my best to make you merry; if I failed,it was neither my fault nor my fiddle's. I have drawn the bow across itbefore glorious John Dryden himself."

  "I will hear no stories about glorious John Dryden," answered theUdaller, who dreaded Halcro's narratives as much as Triptolemus did hismusic,--"I will hear nought of him, but one story to every three bowlsof punch,--it is our old paction, you know. But tell me, instead, whatsaid Norna to you about your errand?"

  "Ay, there was anither fine upshot," said Master Yellowley. "She wadnalook at us, or listen to us; only she bothered our acquaintance, MasterHalcro here, who thought he could have sae much to say wi' her, withabout a score of questions about your family and household estate,Master Magnus Troil; and when she had gotten a' she wanted out of him, Ithought she wad hae dung him ower the craig, like an empty peacod."

  "And for yourself?" said the Udaller.

  "She wadna listen to my story, nor hear sae much as a word that I had tosay," answered Triptolemus; "and sae much for them that seek to witchesand familiar spirits!"

  "You needed not to have had recourse to Norna's wisdom, Master Factor,"said Minna, not unwilling, perhaps, to stop his railing against thefriend who had so lately rendered her service; "the youngest child inOrkney could have told you, that fairy treasures, if they are not wiselyemployed for the good of others, as well as of those to whom they areimparted, do not dwell long with their possessors."

  "Your humble servant to command, Mistress Minnie," said Triptolemus; "Ithank ye for the hint,--and I am blithe that you have gotten yourwits--I beg pardon, I meant your health--into the barn-yard again. Forthe treasure, I neither used nor abused it,--they that live in the housewith my sister Baby wad find it hard to do either!--and as for speakingof it, whilk they say muckle offends them whom we in Scotland call GoodNeighbours, and you call Drows, the face of the auld Norse kings on thecoins themselves, might have spoken as much about it as ever I did."

  "The Factor," said Claud Halcro, not unwilling to seize the opportunityof revenging himself on Triptolemus, for disgracing his seamanship anddisparaging his music,--"The Factor was so scrupulous, as to keep thething quiet even from his master, the Lord Chamberlain; but, now thatthe matter has ta'en wind, he is likely to have to account to his masterfor that which is no longer in his possession for the Lord Chamberlainwill be in no hurry, I think, to believe the story of the dwarf. Neitherdo I think" (winking to the Udaller) "that Norna gave credit to a wordof so odd a story; and I dare say that was the reason that she receivedus, I must needs say, in a very dry manner. I rather think she knew thatTriptolemus, our friend here, had found some other hiding-hole for themoney, and that the story of the goblin was all his own invention. Formy part, I will never believe there was such a dwarf to be seen as thecreature Master Yellowley describes, until I set my own eyes on him."

  "Then you may do so at this moment," said the Factor; "for, by ----,"(he muttered a deep asseveration as he sprung on his feet in greathorror,) "there the creature is!"

  All turned their eyes in the direction in which he pointed, and saw thehideous misshapen figure of Pacolet, with his eyes fixed and glaring atthem through the smoke. He had stolen upon their conversationunperceived, until the Factor's eye lighted upon him in the manner wehave described. There was something so ghastly in his sudden andunexpected appearance, that even the Udaller, to whom his form wasfamiliar, could not help starting. Neither pleased with himself forhaving testified this degree of emotion, however slight, nor with thedwarf who had given cause to it, Magnus asked him sharply, what was hisbusiness there? Pacolet replied by producing a letter, which he gave tothe Udaller, uttering a sound resembling the word _Shogh_.[28]

  "That is the Highlandman's language," said the Udaller--"didst thoulearn that, Nicholas, when you lost your own?"

  Pacolet nodded, and signed to him to read his letter.

  "That is no such easy matter by fire-light, my good friend," replied theUdaller; "but it may concern Minna, and we must try."

  Brenda offered her assistance, but the Udaller answered, "No, no, mygirl,--Norna's letters must be read by those they are written to. Givethe knave, Strumpfer, a drop of brandy the while, though he littledeserves it at my hands, considering the grin with which he sent thegood Nantz down the crag this morning, as if it had been as muchditch-water."

  "Will you be this honest gentleman's cup-bearer--his Ganymede, friendYellowley, or shall I?" said Claud Halcro aside to the Factor; whileMagnus Troil, having carefully wiped his spectacles, which he producedfrom a large copper case, had disposed them on his nose, and wasstudying the epistle of Norna.

  "I would not touch him, or go near him, for all the Carse of Gowrie,"said the Factor, whose fears were by no means entirely removed, thoughhe saw that the dwarf was received as a creature of flesh and blood bythe rest of the company; "but I pray you to ask him what he has donewith my horn of coins?"

  The dwarf, who heard the question, threw back his head, and displayedhis enormous throat, pointing to it with his finger.

  "Nay, if he has swallowed them, there is no more to be said," repliedthe Factor; "only I hope he will thrive on them as a cow on wet clover.He is dame Norna's servant it's like,--such man, such mistress! But iftheft and witchcraft are to go unpunished in this land, my lord mustfind another factor; for I have been used to live in a country wheremen's worldly gear was keepit from infang and outfang thief, as well astheir immortal souls from the claws of the deil and his cummers,--sainand save us!"

  The agriculturist was perhaps the less reserved in expressing hiscomplaints, that the Udaller was for the present out of hearing, havingdrawn Claud Halcro apart into another corner of the hut.

  "And tell me," said he, "friend Halcro, what errand took thee toSumburgh, since I reckon it was scarce the mere pleasure of sailing inpartnership with yonder barnacle?"

  "In faith, Fowd," said the bard, "and if you will have the truth, I wentto speak to Norna on your affairs."

  "On my affairs?" replied the Udaller; "on what affairs of mine?"

  "Just touching your daughter's health. I heard that Norna refused yourmessage, and would not see Eric Scambester. Now, said I to myself, Ihave scarce joyed in meat, or drink, or music, or aught else, sinceJarto Minna has been so ill; and I may say, literally as well asfiguratively, that my day and night have been made sorrowful to me. Inshort, I thought I might have some more interest with old Norna thananother, as scalds and wise women were always accounted something akin;and I undertook the journey with the hope to be of some use to my oldfriend and his lovely daughter."

  "And it was most kindly done of you, good warm-hearted Claud," said theUdaller, shaking him warmly by the hand,--"I ever said you showed thegood old Norse heart amongst all thy fiddling and thy folly.--Tut, man,never wince for the matter, but be blithe that thy heart is better thanthy head. Well,--and I warrant you got no answer from Norna?"

  "None to purpose," replied Claud Halcro; "but she held me close toquestion about Minna's illness, too,--and I told her how I had met herabroad the other morning in no very good weather, and how her sisterBrenda said she had hurt her foot;--in short, I told her all and everything I knew."

  "And something more besides, it would seem," said the Udaller; "for I,at least, never heard before that Minna had hurt herself."

  "O, a scratch! a mere scratch!" said the old man; "but I was startledabout it--terrified lest it had been the bite of a dog, or some hurtfrom a venomous thing. I told all to Norna, however."

  "And what," answered the Udaller, "did she say, in the way of reply?"

  "She bade me begone about my business, and told me that the issue wouldbe known at the Kirkwall Fair; and said just the li
ke to this noodle ofa Factor--it was all that either of us got for our labour," said Halcro.

  "That is strange," said Magnus. "My kinswoman writes me in this letternot to fail going thither with my daughters. This Fair runs strongly inher head;--one would think she intended to lead the market, and yet shehas nothing to buy or to sell there that I know of. And so you came awayas wise as you went, and swamped your boat at the mouth of the voe?"

  "Why, how could I help it?" said the poet. "I had set the boy to steer,and as the flaw came suddenly off shore, I could not let go thetack and play on the fiddle at the same time. But it is all wellenough,--salt-water never harmed Zetlander, so as he could get out ofit; and, as Heaven would have it, we were within man's depth of theshore, and chancing to find this skio, we should have done well enough,with shelter and fire, and are much better than well with your goodcheer and good company. But it wears late, and Night and Day must beboth as sleepy as old Midnight can make them. There is an inner cribhere, where the fishers slept,--somewhat fragrant with the smell oftheir fish, but that is wholesome. They shall bestow themselves there,with the help of what cloaks you have, and then we will have one cup ofbrandy, and one stave of glorious John, or some little trifle of my own,and so sleep as sound as cobblers."

  "Two glasses of brandy, if you please," said the Udaller, "if our storesdo not run dry; but not a single stave of glorious John, or of any oneelse to-night."

  And this being arranged and executed agreeably to the peremptorypleasure of the Udaller, the whole party consigned themselves to slumberfor the night, and on the next day departed for their severalhabitations, Claud Halcro having previously arranged with the Udallerthat he would accompany him and his daughters on their proposed visit toKirkwall.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [23] _Jokul_, yes, sir; a Norse expression, still in common use.

  [24] The Bicker of Saint Magnus, a vessel of enormous dimensions, waspreserved at Kirkwall, and presented to each bishop of the Orkneys. Ifthe new incumbent was able to quaff it out at one draught, which was atask for Hercules or Rorie Mhor of Dunvegan, the omen boded a crop ofunusual fertility.

  [25] Luggie, a famous conjurer, was wont, when storms prevented him fromgoing to his usual employment of fishing, to angle over a steep rock, atthe place called, from his name, Luggie's Knoll. At other times he drewup dressed food while they were out at sea, of which his comradespartook boldly from natural courage, without caring who stood cook. Thepoor man was finally condemned and burnt at Scalloway.

  [26] Note IV.--Antique Coins found in Zetland.

  [27] Young unbroke horse.

  [28] In Gaelic, _there_.