midday
The old man was very kind to me , and even put his pipe away lest the smell of the smoke should make me feel sick . One time , when we were so sitting together , I noticed an eagle rise from a ravine in St. John 's Head , and we watched the bird sailing backward and forward on steady outstretched wing and finally disappear amid the shadows of the Red Glen . This suggested a long talk about the eagles that inhabited the solitudes of Hoy Island , and the skipper told many a thrilling story of his own adventures in search of eagles ' nests in the time when rich rewards were offered for every eagle killed . At midday the Falcon was abreast of the Old Man of Hoy -- a curious isolated pinnacle of rock some five hundred feet in height standing out in the sea -- and before the time of sunset we rounded Rora Head and entered a beautiful sheltered bay with a fine stretch of sloping beach , beyond which , on the brown moor , about a dozen tiny houses could be seen snugly nestling together beside a flowing stream that had its source away up amongst the hills . This was Rackwick , one of the chief hamlets of Hoy ; and when the schooner was brought well inshore the anchor was dropped . The captain then ordered Jerry to blow the horn to announce our arrival to the inhabitants far and near . Jerry thereupon took the fog horn and blew it till the noise resounded and echoed for miles around .