e to divert my fear, by employing me, and making me
think that I was of use. Thus did I stand firm to my post, while the
wind and rain beat upon me, always expecting a call to pull my rope.
The man with one eye steered; old M'Donald, and Col and his servant, lay
upon the fore-castle, looking sharp out for the harbour. It was
necessary to carry much _cloth_, as they termed it, that is to say, much
sail, in order to keep the vessel off the shore of Col. This made
violent plunging in a rough sea. At last they spied the harbour of
Lochiern, and Col cried, 'Thank GOD, we are safe!' We ran up till we
were opposite to it, and soon afterwards we got into it, and
cast anchor.

Dr. Johnson had all this time been quiet and unconcerned. He had lain
down on one of the beds, and having got free from sickness, was
satisfied. The truth is, he knew nothing of the danger we were in[769]
but, fearless and unconcerned, might have said, in the words which he
has chosen for the motto to his _Rambler_,

'Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.[770]'

Once, during the doubtful consultations, he asked whither we were going;
and upon being told that it was not certain whether to Mull or Col, he
cried, 'Col for my money!' I now went down, with Col and Mr. Simpson, to
visit him. He was lying in philosophick tranquillity with a greyhound of
Col's at his back, keeping him warm. Col is quite the _Juvenis qui
gaudet canibus_[771]. He had, when we left Talisker, two greyhounds,
two terriers, a pointer, and a large Newfoundland water-dog. He lost one
of his terriers by the road, but had still five dogs with him. I was
very ill, and very desirous to get to shore. When I was told that we
could not land that night, as the storm had now increased, I looked so
miserably, as Col afterwards informed me, that what Shakspeare has made
the Frenchman say of the English soldiers, when scantily dieted,
_'Piteous they will look, like drowned mice!'_[772] might, I believe,
have been well applied to me. There was in the harbour, before us, a
Campbelltown vessel, the Betty, Kenneth Morrison master, taking in
kelp, and bound for Ireland. We sent our boat to beg beds for two
gentlemen, and that the master would send his boat, which was larger
than ours. He accordingly did so, and Col and I were accommodated in his
vessel till the morning.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4.

About eight o'clock we went in the boat to Mr. Simpson's vessel, and
took in Dr. Johnson.