asking questions. I was
still more anxious to know if he could give me any account of the smack.
As we were going up to the cottage I described her exactly, but he
shook his head.

"We were up late last night, looking along the shore on account of the
gale, and we were not out so early this morning as usual," was the
reply.

Having satisfied the curiosity of my host with an account of my own
adventure, I entreated that, as soon as my clothes were dried, I might
be allowed to proceed to the southward along the coast, to try and gain
tidings of the smack. My hopes revived within me when the fisherman
told me that we were not far from the mouth of the Firth of Tay, and
that perhaps the smack might have been driven in there.

"Still ye should know that there is a danger there which has proved
fatal to many a tall ship," said the old man. "It is called the
Inchcape Rock. There's a bell made fast to it, which, whenever a gale
is blowing, tolls by the tossing of the seas as they drive against it.
You've heard tell, maybe, of the pirate, who, in the wantonness of his
wickedness, carried the bell away, and who, although another was placed
in its stead, was lost, with all his companions, on that very rock.
Heaven finds out sinners of high and low degree, at some time or other,
however they may endeavour to escape its vengeance."

I thought to myself, "True, indeed, is that. How often have I been
found out and punished for my one great sin!"

Ill and weak as I was, I insisted, as I had had some food on starting,
to proceed along the coast to try and obtain tidings of the smack. If
she had not foundered, she must have been cast on shore or taken shelter
in some harbour at the mouth of the Tay.

"No, no," said the old man; "young blood fancies that it can do
anything, but I tell ye that ye have no strength to go on now without
rest. I'll send my laddies along the coast, both north and south, and
they will make inquiries and bring back any tidings they can obtain; you
will have news of the vessel more speedily in that way than any other."

Still I insisted on putting on my own clothes and setting off; but when
I attempted to get up, I found that I could scarcely walk across the
room, much less could I hope to trudge over the links, and rough rocks
and sand which lined the shore along which I wished to proceed. I was
obliged, therefore, to consent to go to bed, and to try and sleep. At
first I thought that would be im