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Riach and the captain had to take turn and turn like Alan and me, or the brig might have gone ashore and nobody the wiser. It was a mercy the night had fallen so still, for the wind had gone down as soon as the rain began.
"Give me leave, sir," said Riach; "you've a good head upon your shoulders, and a good Scots tongue to ask with; but I will leave you no manner of excuse: I want that boy taken out of this hole and put in the forecastle." "What ye may want, sir, is a matter of concern to nobody but yoursel'," returned the captain; "but I can tell ye that which is to be. Here he is; here he shall bide."
"The captain," says he, "would like to speak with your friend. They might speak at the window." "And how do we know what treachery he means?" cried I. "He means none, David," returned Mr. Riach, "and if he did, I'll tell ye the honest truth, we couldna get the men to follow." "Is that so?" said I. "I'll tell ye more than that," said he. "It's not only the men; it's me. I'm frich'ened, Davie."
It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respect for the chief mate, who was, as they said, "the only seaman of the whole jing-bang, and none such a bad man when he was sober." Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiarity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach was sullen, unkind, and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would not hurt a fly except when he was drinking.
She came round into the wind like a top, and the next moment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck, and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast. I was on my feet in a minute. The reef on which we had struck was close in under the southwest end of Mull, off a little isle they call Earraid, which lay low and black upon the larboard.
She's no a Thrums lassie, and so I say, 'Let the law take its course on her." "Will you listen to such a cur, Riach?" asked Halliwell. "Certainly. Speak out, Langlands." "Weel, then, I was in the windmill the nicht." "You were a watcher?" "I happened to be in the windmill wi' another man," Dave went on, avoiding the officer's question. "What was his name?" demanded Halliwell.
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