"And ever as the year returns,
The charm-bound sailors knows the day;
For sadly still the Mermaid mourns
The lovely chief of Colonsay."
And is he listening now for the wild sound of her singing? Or is he thinking of the brave Macphail, who went back after seven long months of absence, and found the maid of Colonsay still true to him? The ruby ring she had given him had never paled. There was one woman who could remain true to her absent lover.
Hamish came forward.
"Will we go on now, sir?" said he, in the Gaelic.
"No."
Hamish looked round. The shining clear evening looked very calm, notwithstanding the tossing of the blue-black waves. And it seemed wasteful to the old sailor to keep the yacht lying-to or aimlessly sailing this way and that while this favorable wind remained to them.
"I am not sure that the breeze will last, Sir Keith."
"Are you sure of anything, Hamish?" Macleod said, quite absently. "Well, there is one thing we can all make sure of. But I have told you, Hamish, I am not going up the Sound of Iona in daylight: why, there is not a man in all the islands who would not know of our coming by to-morrow morning. We will go up the Sound as soon as it is dark. It is a new moon to-night; and I think we can go without lights, Hamish."
"Dunara is coming south to-night, Sir Keith," the old man said.
"Why, Hamish, you seem to have lost all your courage as soon as you put Colin Laing ashore."