"Ah, well, Wat," said Kate, "that is not my thought of it, as well you know. But I do not love you so little, lad, that I could think the less of you for standing by your colors, even though with your own eyes ye have seen that king make of Scotland little better than a hunting-field."
"James Stuart is my king as surely as Kate McGhie is my love," said Wat, mighty gravely. "I argue as little about one as the other."
Kate touched his arm gently.
"Dear love—no," she said. "Do not let us dispute any more. You are you, and so you love me true. You shall fight for what king you will, only keep safe your heart and life for me—for they are all I have."
They had reached the great chamber in the cliff which lay open to the north, and in which Jack Scarlett already had his cooking-fire of charcoal alight for the evening meal. A hundred yards from the entrance there met them a sweet and appetizing smell of fresh sea-fish broiling in the ashes. For Wise Jan lay most of his spare time fishing out on a jutting rock, where the swirl of the Suck sent a back-spang of current careering anglewise along the northern edge of the Fiara.
"Jack," said Wat, as they came in, "I think that we should get away from the island as soon as we can."
"And has it taken you all this time to come to that conclusion?" cried old Jack, without looking up, plowtering discontentedly in the red embers with a burned stick.
"The new moon will now give us nearly three hours' light—enough for our purpose," said Wat, "and Wise Jan here can help us to put our old boat in readiness."
"Why not the new and brave one you hid in the water-passage? I suppose it is there in safety still?" said Scarlett.
"Aye," replied Wat, "but unless you want to be cast away the second time in the tumble of the Suck, you will most carefully leave that boat alone; for the current races by at either end, and except for those who have spent their lives in piloting their way through the intricate passages of the reefs and know their every glide and swirl, it is impossible to reach the open sea from the Sound of Suliscanna."