"I heard that three or four
weeks syne; and I hae seen the boat mysel', on the stocks at Allan
Dewar's boatyard. Ay, and a bonnie boat she is! As to what Carver
means to do wi' it--Weel, I dinna ken if it be true; but I hae
heard that he intends to start as a Stromness pilot in opposition
to Sandy Ericson."
"A pilot!" exclaimed Mansie. "Carver Kinlay a pilot! Man, Colin, ye
astonish me. Why, the man hasna gotten a certificate!"
"Maybe ay and maybe no; but I assure ye, Mansie, that a pilot he
means to be."
Mansie dismissed this notion incredulously; for though Kinlay knew
the coast very well, yet the idea of his starting with his limited
experience as an Orkney pilot was droll to one who, like my uncle,
had been all his life at the work, and knew every fathom of the
waters.
But the character of Carver Kinlay--"Crafty Carver" he was called
by those who knew him well--was a problem which had not yet been
solved. I had myself gathered many incoherent hints relating to
him, and, bit by bit, I heard fragments of fact as to his first
appearance in Pomona; but on this Sunday evening, as I sat with
Lothian and Mansie, I added to these hints some certain knowledge
which enabled me afterwards to better understand this man.
The noise of the storm raging outside--the wind and rain beating on
the windows, and the sound of the waves breaking against the
cliffs--brought the two men to talk about the ships that had from
time to time been wrecked on our neighbouring coast.
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