Yet what a scene for a carouse, what an incredible vice.
56 THE MEEET MEW.
was this that the poor man had chosen ! I have always
thought drunkenness a wild and almost fearful pleasure,
rather demoniacal than human ; but drunkenness, out
here in the roaring blackness, on the edge of a cliff
above that hell of waters, the man's head spinning like
the Eoost, his foot tottering on the edge of death, his
ear watching for the signs of shipwreck, surely that, if
it were credible in any one, was morally impossible in a
man like my uncle, whose mind was set upon a damna-
tory creed and haunted by the darkest superstitions.
Yet so it was ; and, as we reached the bight of shelter
and could breathe again, I saw the man's eyes shining
in the night with an unholy glimmer.
" Eh, Charlie, man, it's grand ! " he cried. " See to
them ! " he continued, dragging mci to the edge of the
abyss from whence arose that deafening clamour and
those clouds of spray ; "see to them dancin', man ! Is
that no wicked ? "

He pronounced the word with gusto, and I thought it
suited with the scene.
" They're yowlin' for thon schooner," he went on, his
thin, insane Toice clearly audible in the shelter of the
bank, "an' she's comin' aye nearer, aye nearer, aye
nearer an' nearer an' nearer ; an' they ken't, the folk
kens it, they ken weel it's by wi' them. Charlie, lad,
they're a' drunk in yon schooner, a' dozened wi' drink.
