e o' piratin'. He be leukin' for ye
noo, John Paul." With that some of the men on the thwarts, perceiving
that matters were likely to go ill with the captain, began to chaff
with their friends above. The respect with which he had inspired them,
however, prevented any overt insult on their part. As for me, my temper
had flared up like the burning of a loose charge of powder, and by
instinct my right hand sought the handle of the mate's hanger. The
beldame saw the motion.

"An' hae ye murder't MacMuir, John Paul, an' gien's claw to a Buckskin
gowk?"

The knot stirred with an angry murmur: in truth they meant
violence,--nothing less. But they had counted without their man, for
Paul was born to ride greater crises. With his lips set in a line he
stepped lightly out of the boat into their very midst, and they looked
into his eyes to forget time and place. MacMuir had told me how those
eyes could conquer mutiny, but I had not believed had I trot been
thereto see the pack of them give back in sullen wonder. And so we
walked through and on to the little street beyond, and never a word from
the captain until we came opposite the sign of the Hurcheon."

"Do you await me here, Richard," he said quite calmly; "I mast seek Mr.
Currie, and make my report."

I have still the remembrance of that pitiful day in the clean little
village. I went into the inn and sat down upon an oak settle in a corner
of the bar, under the high lattice, and thought of the bitterness of
this home-coming. If I was amongst strangers, he was amongst worse:
verily, to have one's own people set against one is heaviness of heart
to a man whose love of Scotland was great as John Paul's. After a while
the place began to fill, Willie and Robbie and Jamie arriving to discuss
Paul's return over their nappy. The little I could make of their talk
was not to my liking, but for the captain's sake I kept my anger under
as best I could, for I had the sense to know that brawling with a lot
of alehouse frequenters would not advance his cause. At length, however,
came in the same sneering fellow I had marked on the wharf, calling
loudly for swats. "Ay, Captain Paul was noo at Mr. Curries, syne banie
Alan seed him gang forbye the kirk." The speaker's name, I learned, was
Davie, and he had been talking with each and every man in the long-boat.
Yes, Mungo Maxwell had been cat-o'-ninetailed within an inch of his
life; and that was the truth; for a trifling offence, too; and c