"But next day I consented to have my darlings buried.
"And there they lie, and my heart lies also in that shallow grave.
"Since then, madam, and until I came to this island, my life has been one of constant wandering by land and on the sea. I am a good sailor, but I have also been gold-miner, treasure-hunter, and pearl-fisher by turns. Anything that could give me excitement and help me to forget was new life to me, so my career has been a chequered one.
"I have made a little money, and that is safe. But at long last an indescribable longing to visit dear old Skye seized me, and I returned to Glasgow. Here I bought a boat, and having been offered a passage as far as Skye in a sailing ship, which, however, did not mean to put in there, I gladly accepted it, buying stores, &c., and feeling that if it were possible I should get a site for a house however humble, and live once more near to baby's and Mary's lonely grave.
"Well, my heart failed me at the last moment, and when the kindly skipper lowered my boat and stores and bade me farewell, instead of rowing to the glen I landed here with my parrot. And here I have been ever since, and here I may remain, madam, till God calls me. I am willing to live, but I am also ready to die.
"And my sonny here,"—he put an arm over Creggan's shoulder as he spoke,—"who came to me in so strange a way, and has been such comfort to me, he, I say, must go out into life soon and see the world.
"Hush, lad, hush! You must have a career—you must be a sailor!
"Why," he added, "you may yet clear up the mystery of your childhood. But come, children, I fear I have saddened you;" and once more this strange mortal put his fiddle under his chin, and dashed off into one of the maddest, merriest airs the Nugents had ever listened to.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Next morning all the hermits were landed, Matty being delighted because Creggan took her, and her only, in his skiff.