Fiction > Book editions > Leipzig, 1888 - Kidnapped

THE ISLET. 1 1 Q
sign of the brig, which must have Hfted from the reef
and sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere to be seen.
There was never a sail upon the ocean; and in what I
could see of the land, was neither house nor man.
I was afraid to think what had befallen my ship-
mates, and afraid to look longer at so empty a scene.
What with my wet clothes and weariness, and my belly
that now began to ache with hunger, I had enough
to trouble me without that. So I set off eastward along
the south coast, hoping to find a house where I might
warm myself, and perhaps get news of those I had lost.
And at the worst, I considered the sun would soon rise
and dry my clothes.
After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or
inlet of the sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into
the land; and as I had no means to get across, I must
needs change my direction to go about the end of it.
It was still the roughest kind of walking; indeed the
whole, not only of Earraid, but of the neighbouring part
of Mull (which they call the Ross) is nothing but a
jumble of granite rocks with heather in among. At
first the creek kept narrowing as I had looked to see;
but presently to my surprise it began to widen out
again. At this I scratched my head, but had still no
notion of the truth; until at last I came to a rising
ground, and it burst upon me all in a moment that I
was cast upon a little, barren isle, and cut off on every
side by the salt seas.
Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to
rain, with a thick mist; so that my case was lamentable.
I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered
what to do, till it occurred to me that perhaps the