"Twa!" echoed the drover; "twa! ill luck bides o' some o' ye. Twa craft
a sailing without hand to guide them, in sic a place as this, whar'
eyesight is na guid enough to show the dangers, bodes evil to a' that
luik thereon. Hoot! she's na yearling the tither! Luik, mon! luik! she's
a gallant boat, and a gr'at:" he paused, raised his pack from the
ground, and first giving one searching look at the objects of his
suspicions, he nodded with great sagacity to the listeners, and
continued, as he moved slowly towards the interior of the country, "I
should na wonder if she carried King George's commission aboot her:
weel, weel, I wull journey upward to the town, and ha' a crack wi' the
good mon; for they craft have a suspeecious aspect, and the sma' bit
thing wu'ld nab a mon quite easy, and the big ane wu'ld hold us a' and
no feel we war' in her."

This sagacious warning caused a general movement in the party, for the
intelligence of a hot press was among the rumors of the times. The
husbandmen collected their implements of labor, and retired homewards;
though many a curious eye was bent on the movements of the vessels from
the distant hills, but very few of those not immediately interested in
the mysterious visitors ventured to approach the little rocky cliffs
that lined the bay.

The vessel that occasioned these cautious movements was a gallant ship,
whose huge hull, lofty masts, and square yards loomed in the evening's
haze, above the sea, like a distant mountain rising from the deep. She
carried but little sail, and though she warily avoided the near approach
to the land that the schooner had attempted, the similarity of their
movements was sufficiently apparent to warrant the conjecture that they
were employed on the same duty. The frigate, for the ship belonged to
this class of vessels, floated across the entrance of the little bay,