But the time was not spent wearily, for I knew the town of Kirkwall very well, and there were many folks anxious to hear from me the full particulars of the fatality in Hoy Sound.  Amongst these was old Colin Lothian, whose wanderings had brought him to Kirkwall.  The old man sat with me on a stone seat in the shadow of the cathedral, and talked long of the accident and of my own blighted prospects, and at length of the trial that was now going on in the courthouse.

I mentioned Thora, and said we had met her on the road in company with Hilda Paterson.  Colin was fond of Thora, and talked of her with affection, notwithstanding his hatred of her father.

“Ay, there again, there again, you see,” said he.  “What cares the lass though her father brings up Jack Paterson?  It doesna make a bawbee’s difference in Thora’s liking for Jack’s lass.  Ah there’s good in Thora.  She’s a right good girl, my lad, and I warrant she would do anything for them that are good wi’ her.”

As we sat there Captain Gordon joined us sooner than I expected, and I asked him how they had settled the case.

“Oh!” said he, “the trial hasn’t begun yet; the humbug of a sheriff clerk has sent us away till three o’clock.”

“What like a man is the sheriff’s clerk, sir?” asked Lothian.

“I can’t tell you that, my man, for we never saw him,” replied the skipper.  “He has a clerk, who has also a clerk, and this last one is the only one we saw.  Why, the Governor of Jamaica has not so many functionaries.”

Until three o’clock Captain Gordon went about the town with me—­to the cathedral, where he examined the old Norman arches, the dim old epitaphs, and other relics of antiquity contained within these ancient temple walls.  There were many other sights of curious interest to the captain about Kirkwall; for here were the decayed palaces of earls, the halls of old sea kings, and thick-walled mansions of the lordly times—­many of them degraded into hostelries and shops, but all of them showing something of the glories of old Orcadia.  Thus we passed the time until three o’clock.

In the evening, when I joined the Stromness party, I found Captain Abernethy exclaiming in indignant terms against the result of the trial.

“I knew how it would go,” he said; “but still I wanted just to show them what was what, ye see.  Of course, it was as well they went through all the due forms.  But only to think of Kinlay getting off so cleanly!  I don’t mind paying the fine, Jack—­it has got you off going to jail—­but, hang it, I don’t like paying Kinlay’s expenses.”

Kinlay had gained the case.  Jack Paterson was fined fifteen shillings and costs, or a fortnight in Kirkwall jail.  Abernethy had paid the fine on the spot.  Carver, therefore, was throughout successful.

Not only had he gained in the assault case, but in the matter of the piloting he was equally fortunate.  He was permitted to carry on his business in the St. Magnus, and notices were posted up forthwith on the quays at Stromness to inform the inhabitants that Carver Kinlay of Crua Breck, in the parish of Sandwick, was a duly certified pilot of Pomona.