They two would speak together by the hour at the gable end, in guarded tones and with an air of secrecy and almost of guilt; and if she questioned either, as at first she sometimes did, her inquiries were put aside with confusion.

Since Rorie had first remarked the fish that hung about the ferry, his master had never set foot but once upon the mainland of the Ross.

That once--it was in the height of the springs--he had passed dryshod while the tide was out; but, having lingered overlong on the far side, found himself cut off from Aros by the returning waters.

It was with a shriek of agony that he had leaped across the gut, and he had reached home thereafter in a fever- fit of fear.

A fear of the sea, a constant haunting thought of the sea, appeared in his talk and devotions, and even in his looks when he was silent.
Rorie alone came in to supper; but a little later my uncle appeared, took a bottle under his arm, put some bread in his pocket, and set forth again to his outlook, followed this time by Rorie.