"I dinna ken aboot that," replied his cousin. "The minister tells us it's a' nonsense aboot haunted places and the like; but it's said that Swarta Stack was an ill place when the folk were no' ower particular o' the way they got prül[1] frae the sea."
"You mean there were wreckers hereabout?" Yaspard asked, and Gloy answered, "I've heard sae."
"I wish I could meet them. I just wish I could catch a wrecker at his evil work. Wouldn't I pitch into him!" exclaimed the Viking-boy; whereat Harry, laughing, said, "That's all done with now. Wreckers went after the Vikings, didn't they?"
"With the exception of fule-Tammy," retorted Yaspard.
"And yourself," said Tom.
"Maybe they left as bad behind them," Yaspard said quickly. "Men who cheat in trade, who scamp work, evade taxes, rack-rent the poor, are no better than pirates and wreckers."
"Here we are at the Stack," Harry exclaimed. "Look out there with the sail! Captain, mind your helm. There now; you nearly had her aground! I declare we've skimmed over a bau!—we may thank our stars we didn't capsize on it—all through your jabber about wreckers who left this planet a century ago."
They landed on Swarta Stack, and made themselves comfortable for the night not far from the geo where the Osprey was moored. It was too late to explore the Stack that night, so after supper all rolled themselves up in rugs, as had been their wont for a week, and were soon in the mysterious land of dreamless sleep.
[1] Odds and ends, or plunder.