On the second day after the conflict with the proas, both ships were ready for sea.
Morning was dawning on the cliffs of that lonely isle, and in great beauty. A long streak of opal-tinted light spread over the horizon; gradually it brightened into amber, and from amber melted into crimson—the deep crimson of sunset, elsewhere as the tall Alloa ship weighed anchor, set her canvas, and began to stand off towards the north-east.
A number of her men were still on board the Hermione, assisting to warp her out. Her courses hung in the clew-lines ready to be let fall; her three jury-topsails were cast loose, and ready for hoisting, and soon she was ready for sea.
Then Ethel and Rose, as they nestled together on their pillows in the cabin below, heard the cheerful notes of a fiddle, the tramp of feet as the capstan bars were shipped, and the Scotch sailors trod merrily round, to the air of "The Boatie Bows," while one sung a song well known on the banks of the Forth; and louder stamped their feet, and louder swelled their hearty voices at the chorus of each verse, of which there were several, like this:—
"I have seen the waves as blue as air,
I have seen them green as grass;
But I never feared their heaving yet,
Frae Grangemouth to the Bass;
I have seen the sea as black as pitch,
I have seen it white as snow;
But I never feared its foaming yet,
Though winds blew high or low."
"Now, boys," shouted Morrison; "chorus—chorus! Heave and rally! Walk away with it! Hurrah!"
Then heavier trod the feet, and louder swelled the fiddle, and all their voices rose together:
"When squalls capsize our wooden walls,
When the French ride at the Nore,
When Leith meets Aberdeen halfway,
We'll go to sea no more.
No more,
We'll go to sea no more."*
* Book of Scottish Song.
The cheerful voice of Captain Phillips was soon heard, ordering: