It showed me, too, the face of the captain as he stood by the steersman, now on one foot, now on the other, and sometimes blowing in his hands, but still listening and looking and as steady as steel.

Neither he nor Mr.Riach had shown well in the fighting; but I saw they were brave in their own trade, and admired them all the more because I found Alan very white.
"Ochone, David," says he, "this is no the kind of death I fancy!" "What, Alan!" I cried, "you're not afraid ?" "No," said he, wetting his lips, "but you'll allow, yourself, it's a cold ending." By this time, now and then sheering to one side or the other to avoid a reef, but still hugging the wind and the land, we had got round Iona and begun to come alongside Mull.

The tide at the tail of the land ran very strong, and threw the brig about.

Two hands were put to the helm, and Hoseason himself would sometimes lend a help; and it was strange to see three strong men throw their weight upon the tiller, and it (like a living thing) struggle against and drive them back.

This would have been the greater danger had not the sea been for some while free of obstacles.