"'So you're not going,' says he.
"'Och, Alan Donn, have sense,' says we.
"'If you aren't, then by Jesus, I am.'
"He turns to one of the men there, a fisherman by the name of Rafferty, and he says: 'Hughie, get ready that wee boat o' yours, wi' the spitfire foresail, and the wee trisail.'
"Then we said: 'You're not going, Alan Donn.'
"'Who's to stop me?' says he. All this time we had to shout on account of the great wind was in it.
"'We think too much of you, Alan Donn, to let you go.'
"'If one o' you stinking badgers lays a finger on me to stop me, I'll break his God-damned neck.'
"Says Hughie Rafferty to us—you know Hughie Rafferty, a silent man, a wise man—says he: 'He'll get out fifty yards, a hundred yards from shore and be stuck. And he'll say: "Well, I've done my best. Good-by and to hell with ye, and die like men!" And he'll come back. And if the boat turns over,' says Hughie Rafferty, 'he can swim like a rat, and he'll be back among us cursing, like his ain kind sel', within a wheen o' minutes.'
"Says Hughie Rafferty, says he: 'I'll go wi' your Honor's Lordship, Alan Donn.'