ye'll be wantin'? Ye'll hev that an' welcome, though it
will be of the poorest. But in the mornin' ye'll gang up to the hoose,
for the laird wud be ill-pleased if we keepit ye here."

"Pray, who is this laird?" asked Barret; "your wife has already
mentioned him."

"Maister Gordon is his name. He lives near the heed o' Loch Lossie. It
iss over eight mile from here," said Ian; "an' a coot shentleman he iss,
too. Fery fond o' company, though it iss not much company that comes
this way, for the steam-poats don't veesit the loch reg'lar or often.
He'll be fery glad to see you, sir, an' to help ye to git home. But
we'd petter be goin' to tell your freen's that we can putt them up for
the nicht. I'll go pack with ye, an we'll take the poy to help an'
carry up their things."

"You forget that we have been wrecked," returned Barret with a laugh,
"and have no `things' to carry, except our own damp carcases."

"That's true, sir, but we'll be none the worse o' the poy, what-e-ver.
Come away, Tonal'," said Ian, as they started back along the shore. "It
iss under the Eagle Cliff where ye came to laund, I make no doot?"

"Well, I suppose it was; at least, there is a range of cliffs close to
the place where our raft struck."

"Oo ay--but it iss not the wee precipices, it iss the big hull behind
them that we ca' the Eagle Cliff."

"Oh, indeed! I saw that cliff in a peculiar manner as I came along,"
said Barret giving a description of the scene.

"Ay; it iss sometimes seen like that," said Ian; "an' we often see the
eagle, but it's no' possible to git a shot at that crater. The laird is
real keen to bring it doon, for it plays the mischief among the lambs,
an' him an' his freen's hes aften tried, but they hev not manicht it
yet."

Thus chatting they soon reached the raft, and found the disconsolate
party waiting impatiently for them.

"Shall we leave it where it lies, or drag it further up on the beach?"
asked Mabberly, referring to the raft.

"Ye petter haul it a wee higher up," said Ian, examining the machine
with much interest; "for when it comes on to plow there's a heavy sea
here. Weel, weel, but it iss a strange contrivance!"

"Ay; an' also a useful one," said the skipper, drily--at least as duly
as was possible in the circumstance.

"Noo, shentlemen, I think we had petter be goin'."

It was indeed time, for although the weather was warm and fine, the sun
had set, and their damp garments began to feel un