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from her moorings; and the Aberdeen men; pick in hand; had seized 

upon the only boats; and he must stoop and lap sea…water before his 

tongue could utter audible words; and once more with him when the 

Bell Rock beacon took a 〃thrawe;〃 and his workmen fled into the 

tower; then nearly finished; and he sat unmoved reading in his 

Bible … or affecting to read … till one after another slunk back 

with confusion of countenance to their engineer。  Yes; parts of me 

have seen life; and met adventures; and sometimes met them well。  

And away in the still cloudier past; the threads that make me up 

can be traced by fancy into the bosoms of thousands and millions of 

ascendants: Picts who rallied round Macbeth and the old (and highly 

preferable) system of descent by females; fleers from before the 

legions of Agricola; marchers in Pannonian morasses; star…gazers on 

Chaldaean plateaus; and; furthest of all; what face is this that 

fancy can see peering through the disparted branches?  What sleeper 

in green tree…tops; what muncher of nuts; concludes my pedigree?  

Probably arboreal in his habits。 。 。 。



And I know not which is the more strange; that I should carry about 

with me some fibres of my minister…grandfather; or that in him; as 

he sat in his cool study; grave; reverend; contented gentleman; 

there was an aboriginal frisking of the blood that was not his; 

tree…top memories; like undeveloped negatives; lay dormant in his 

mind; tree…top instincts awoke and were trod down; and Probably 

Arboreal (scarce to be distinguished from a monkey) gambolled and 

chattered in the brain of the old divine。









CHAPTER VIII。 MEMOIRS OF AN ISLET





THOSE who try to be artists use; time after time; the matter of 

their recollections; setting and resetting little coloured memories 

of men and scenes; rigging up (it may be) some especial friend in 

the attire of a buccaneer; and decreeing armies to manoeuvre; or 

murder to be done; on the playground of their youth。  But the 

memories are a fairy gift which cannot be worn out in using。  After 

a dozen services in various tales; the little sunbright pictures of 

the past still shine in the mind's eye with not a lineament 

defaced; not a tint impaired。  GLUCK UND UNGLUCK WIRD GESANG; if 

Goethe pleases; yet only by endless avatars; the original re…

embodying after each。  So that a writer; in time; begins to wonder 

at the perdurable life of these impressions; begins; perhaps; to 

fancy that he wrongs them when he weaves them in with fiction; and 

looking back on them with ever…growing kindness; puts them at last; 

substantive jewels; in a setting of their own。



One or two of these pleasant spectres I think I have laid。  I used 

one but the other day: a little eyot of dense; freshwater sand; 

where I once waded deep in butterburrs; delighting to hear the song 

of the river on both sides; and to tell myself that I was indeed 

and at last upon an island。  Two of my puppets lay there a summer's 

day; hearkening to the shearers at work in riverside fields and to 

the drums of the gray old garrison upon the neighbouring hill。  And 

this was; I think; done rightly: the place was rightly peopled … 

and now belongs not to me but to my puppets … for a time at least。  

In time; perhaps; the puppets will grow faint; the original memory 

swim up instant as ever; and I shall once more lie in bed; and see 

the little sandy isle in Allan Water as it is in nature; and the 

child (that once was me) wading there in butterburrs; and wonder at 

the instancy and virgin freshness of that memory; and be pricked 

again; in season and out of season; by the desire to weave it into 

art。



There is another isle in my collection; the memory of which 

besieges me。  I put a whole family there; in one of my tales; and 

later on; threw upon its shores; and condemned to several days of 

rain and shellfish on its tumbled boulders; the hero of another。  

The ink is not yet faded; the sound of the sentences is still in my 

mind's ear; and I am under a spell to write of that island again。





I





The little isle of Earraid lies close in to the south…west corner 

of the Ross of Mull: the sound of Iona on one side; across which 

you may see the isle and church of Columba; the open sea to the 

other; where you shall be able to mark; on a clear; surfy day; the 

breakers running white on many sunken rocks。  I first saw it; or 

first remembered seeing it; framed in the round bull's…eye of a 

cabin port; the sea lying smooth along its shores like the waters 

of a lake; the colourless clear light of the early morning making 

plain its heathery and rocky hummocks。  There stood upon it; in 

these days; a single rude house of uncemented stones; approached by 

a pier of wreckwood。  It must have been very early; for it was then 

summer; and in summer; in that latitude; day scarcely withdraws; 

but even at that hour the house was making a sweet smoke of peats 

which came to me over the bay; and the bare…legged daughters of the 

cotter were wading by the pier。  The same day we visited the shores 

of the isle in the ship's boats; rowed deep into Fiddler's Hole; 

sounding as we went; and having taken stock of all possible 

accommodation; pitched on the northern inlet as the scene of 

operations。  For it was no accident that had brought the lighthouse 

steamer to anchor in the Bay of Earraid。  Fifteen miles away to 

seaward; a certain black rock stood environed by the Atlantic 

rollers; the outpost of the Torran reefs。  Here was a tower to be 

built; and a star lighted; for the conduct of seamen。  But as the 

rock was small; and hard of access; and far from land; the work 

would be one of years; and my father was now looking for a shore 

station; where the stones might be quarried and dressed; the men 

live; and the tender; with some degree of safety; lie at anchor。



I saw Earraid next from the stern thwart of an Iona lugger; Sam 

Bough and I sitting there cheek by jowl; with our feet upon our 

baggage; in a beautiful; clear; northern summer eve。  And behold! 

there was now a pier of stone; there were rows of sheds; railways; 

travelling…cranes; a street of cottages; an iron house for the 

resident engineer; wooden bothies for the men; a stage where the 

courses of the tower were put together experimentally; and behind 

the settlement a great gash in the hillside where granite was 

quarried。  In the bay; the steamer lay at her moorings。  All day 

long there hung about the place the music of chinking tools; and 

even in the dead of night; the watchman carried his lantern to and 

fro in the dark settlement and could light the pipe of any midnight 

muser。  It was; above all; strange to see Earraid on the Sunday; 

when the sound of the tools ceased and there fell a crystal quiet。  

All about the green compound men would be sauntering in their 

Sunday's best; walking with those lax joints of the reposing 

toiler; thoughtfully smoking; talking small; as if in honour of the 

stillness; or hearkening to the wailing of the gulls。  And it was 

strange to see our Sabbath services; held; as they were; in one of 

the bothies; with Mr。 Brebner reading at a table; and the 

congregation perched about in the double tier of sleeping bunks; 

and to hear the singing of the psalms; 〃the chapters;〃 the 

inevitable Spurgeon's sermon; and the old; eloquent lighthouse 

prayer。



In fine weather; when by the spy…glass on the hill the sea was 

observed to run low upon the reef; there would be a sound of 

preparation in the very early morning; and before the sun had risen 

from behind Ben More; the tender would steam out of the bay。  Over 

fifteen sea…miles of the great blue Atlantic rollers she ploughed 

her way; trailing at her tail a brace of wallowing stone…lighters。  

The open ocean widened upon either board; and the hills of the 

mainland began to go down on the horizon; before sh

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