Our skipper said, he would get us into the Sound. Having
struggled for this a good while in vain, he said, he would push forward
till we were near the land of Mull, where we might cast anchor, and lie
till the morning; for although, before this, there had been a good moon,
and I had pretty distinctly seen not only the land of Mull, but up the
Sound, and the country of Morven as at one end of it, the night was now
grown very dark. Our crew consisted of one M'Donald, our skipper, and
two sailors, one of whom had but one eye: Mr. Simpson himself, Col, and
Hugh M'Donald his servant, all helped. Simpson said, he would willingly
go for Col, if young Col or his servant would undertake to pilot us to
a harbour; but, as the island is low land, it was dangerous to run upon
it in the dark. Col and his servant appeared a little dubious. The
scheme of running for Canna seemed then to be embraced; but Canna was
ten leagues off, all out of our way; and they were afraid to attempt the
harbour of Egg. All these different plans were successively in
agitation. The old skipper still tried to make for the land of Mull; but
then it was considered that there was no place there where we could
anchor in safety. Much time was lost in striving against the storm. At
last it became so rough, and threatened to be so much worse, that Col
and his servant took more courage, and said they would undertake to hit
one of the harbours in Col.
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