Before I left the schooner that afternoon, therefore, the matter
was fully arranged. The Falcon was to be round in Stromness Bay in
a few days' time, and I was then to join her.
Passing through Finstown on my way home, I was overtaken by Oliver
Gray's man in the inn gig. He gave me a lift as far as Stenness,
and thence I hurried to Lyndardy to tell my mother the joyful news.
For the next few days, whilst my mother and Jessie were occupied
with the business of providing some warm clothing for me, for use
on the cold nights at sea, and in other ways preparing for my
leaving, I sought to add to our stock of winter provisions by a
free use of my gun. The eider ducks, or dunter geese, as we call
them in Orkney, are always plentiful in the winter time, and
valuable not only for their flesh, but also for their rich downy
feathers, and I managed to procure a good number of these. Over at
the fresh-water loch of Harray, too, several teals and sheldrakes
were taken. And then, when my sport was over, I hung up my gun in
its place in the warm byre, believing that I was now a man.
So passed the time pleasantly and profitably until, much to my
satisfaction, the good ship Falcon arrived in the bay and dropped
anchor off the jetty.
Chapter XXIX. In Which The "Falcon" Sets Sail.
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