Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-07-24
NO. 1853.
THE FAIR PILOT OF LoCH URIBoL.
A YACHTING EPISODE.
lcosrNUEp FROM YESTERDAY

lCONTfNUED FROM YEsTERDAY.l
Something in the perfectly unmoyed
and phlegmatic tone of the speaker took
the others attention, for the young man
stared at him for some time with half
comic, half sneering look of astonishment;
and, seeing the grim, weather-beaten fea-
lures perfectly unmoved, he broke into
hard laugh.
"You take it cooly enough at any rate.''
he cried.
"And what for should do mo- tax it
coolly? I'm only common man, and
maun taxi the winds as they come, and
earn my breed"
"Can you swim?''
mot stroke" replied Calum, burying
his face in his hands to light his black
Guilty pipe; while the man at the forepaff
OF the vessel, reclining against the bits,
hummed in a low voice the dolefnl lively
ditty of 'Gille Colum."
Still finding secret amusement in the
stolidity OF his companions, the young
man laughed again; then, entering the
cabin once more, he re-emerged with
fowling piece and fired two shots rapidly
into the air. Scarcely had he done SO.
when an enormous black dog sprang up
the companion. and, rushing to the bull
warks. gazed eagerly ont on the waters.
down, Nero, down. !" cried the young
man. ''He thinks / have shot something.
Ha the noise seems to have attracted at
tention at last. Look yonder!"
On small eminence overlooking the
entrance of the lOch two or three figures
were now dimly seen; but it was already
too dark to make out who and what they
were. The twilight had quite fallen, and
the wind was blowing with great fury.
Hang off ten minutes longer" the
young man said, land then il no one
comes, we must risk the run down the
coast
The helmsman nodded, .'put about"
once more, and ran through the wind.
The squalls could still be seen whitening
the sea to windward when they struck the
water; but every minute the coast grew
DINNER, so that only very familiar eye
could have made out the landmarks.
Ten minutes passed: and the order was
already given to let the vessel run with a
free sheet, when Calum. knocking the
ashes of his pipe out into the water to
leeward, said. quietly
whist minute hear the sound of
oars between us and the shore.n
Listening intently all could hear the
splash, splash of oars coming nearer and
nearer. Immediately afterwards q small
boat rowed by a solitary figure shot out of
the shadow of the hills. 1t seemed to be
a rude coble quite at the mercy of the
wind, but very skilfully managed. While
Calum brought the boat up to the wind,
the young man leant over the side of the
vessel and regarded the small boat in
tently. Presently he uttered an exclama-
tion which bore suspicious resemblance
to an oath, and turning angrily to Calum-
Look there! Confound the idiots!
they've sent out woman!' FE
Calum, who was quite as astonished,
but exhibited as much self-control, nodded
sharply. The boat was indeed rowed by
female, to all appearance strong and
young, but her head was covered by q
dark hood, and they could not see her
face.
Angrily enough Calum addressed the
stranger in Gaelic. He was answered in
clear ringing tones, in the same tongue;
and almost before he could say another
word the coble was alongside the yacht.
and slight, girlish figure, with speed
and agility perfectly marvellous to the
southerner, had sprung on board.
1t was too dark to distinguish her fea-
lures plainly. but she seemed fair-com-
plexioned and very young. Her hood
had fallen back, and her face and hair
were damp with spray. Perfectly lost in
amazenent at so strange an apparition,
the young man stood staring open
mouthed, while the stranger and Calum
spoke to each other rapidly in Gaelic.
'What does the girl sayp" he at last
inquired, impatiently, "Is any one coming
off to pilot us into the anchorage?"
Calum replied in the methOdical way
peculiar to him and to his class.
The lassie says there's not man in
the village this night that can pull an oar
or draw net The whole village is ava
after the herring at Loeb Uish, and there's
nothing but wives, BARNS and old ed-rid-
den men,"
A furious squall struck the yacht as the
fishermen spoke, and almost capsized her
for she had entirely lost way through be-
ing brought up to the wind. Again ad.
dressing Calum rapidly in Gaelic, the girl
pulled him aside and seized the tiller.
"Hullo, what are you doing P, cried the
young man. YOU'RE never going to
trust the boat to a girl like that!"
what was said or guessed at the meaning
for she laughed. BY this time lthe yacht
was again running rapidly through the
water, steered by the stranger.
The lassie says" observed Calum.
phlegmatically, that theirs no better pi-
lot in the place than herself; and If we
leave the boat to her she II take us in all
snug. The tides at the flood, she says,
and Wei hae plenty o water at the mar
rows"
but it's nearly pitch dark, and this is
mere child"
Never you fear, sir. See that She kens
how to steer a boat, and take my word
for it she'll take US safe. I've had worse
pilots than this before now. She's bold
lass, and cannie, and better than many
men," @
A loud cry from the girl interrupted
him. She seemed giving instructions in
her own tongue. in a moment be ran for
ward to assist the other hand with the
sheets, while the girl brought the vessel
round just few feet from large black
mass projecting out Of the sea. $3.50
That's close work." cried the genile-
man nervously. I'm afraid well come