When the last load was brought on board some ingenuity was required to strike a just balance in the accounts, for in this primitive community actual money, though well appreciated, was of less consequence than money’s worth, and the system of barter which Captain Flett necessarily adopted was very difficult of adjustment.  However, my schooling was of some service to him in striking a balance, and at nightfall the business was agreeably settled.

The next day was the Sabbath, and in the morning Captain Flett appeared on deck dressed in his finest clothes of blue cloth, and wearing a very respectable soft felt hat over his neatly-brushed hair.  The mate, Jerry, and I were also apparelled in our Sunday best.  After breakfast we went ashore in the dinghy, and the four of us made our way in a body up to the Manse.

The room in which service was held was barely large enough to admit so great an addition to its weekly congregation, but we were permitted to take front seats near the chair occupied by the minister, who thus was able not only to exchange occasional civilities with the captain, but also to help himself to a frequent pinch from the old man’s snuffbox.

I remember I thought the service extremely wearisome, and I soon grew tired of listening to the doctrinal discourse that was given for our benefit.  I found diversion in looking through a little window behind the minister, and in observing the curious contortions which were given to a cow browsing on the heath outside whenever the animal passed a certain round knot in the glass.

Captain Flett remained ashore with the minister for the rest of the day; and in the afternoon, when Peter was asleep in his bunk, Jerry and I left the schooner and went for a walk across the hills.  The weather was not very inviting, for the wind blew in cold, cutting gusts from the northwest, and there was little of interest to be seen on the bleak, treeless waste.  The coastline of Scotland was hidden in mist, and even the crown of the Ward hi?^ll was covered by the low-lying clouds.  There would be little, indeed, to tell of this walk were it not for an adventure that we encountered.

We had got round into the Red Glen, and were resting on a great gray boulder.  Everything was so quiet in the shelter of the hills that even the birds seemed to recognize that it was Sunday.  Not a living thing was to be seen or a sound to be heard, except the soughing of the wind and the trickling of a burn down the hillside.  Presently a loud screech rent the air, and a large eagle swooped swiftly above us, carrying in its talons a rabbit or other small animal.  Flying in gradually narrowing circles, the bird at last alighted among some rocks on the opposite side of the valley.

We ran as speedily as we could to where the eagle had dropped.  To our disappointment, however, the bird took wing and hovered high in the air, but without its victim.