part of the Spaniard's treasure, and had been lost upon the Ross of

Grisapol; but in what particular spot, the wild tribes of that place and

period would give no information to the king's inquiries. Putting one

thing with another, and taking our island tradition together with this

note of old King Jamie's perquisitions after wealth, it had come strongly

on my mind that the spot for which he sought in vain could be no other

than the small bay of Sandag on my uncle's land; and being a fellow of a

mechanical turn, I had ever since been plotting how to weigh that good

ship up again with all her ingots, ounces, and doubloons, and bring back

our house of Darnaway to its long-forgotten dignity and wealth.

This was a design of which I soon had reason to repent. My mind was

sharply turned on different reflections; and since I became the witness

of a strange judgment of God's, the thought of dead men's treasures has

been intolerable to my conscience. But even at that time I must acquit

myself of sordid greed; for if I desired riches, it was not for their own

sake, but for the sake of a person who was dear to my heart--my uncle's

daughter, Mary Ellen. She had been educated well, and had been a time to

school upon the mainland; which, poor girl, she would have been happier

without. For Aros was no place for her, with old Rorie the servant, and

her father, who was one of the unhappiest men in Scotland, plainly bred

up in a country place among Cameronians, long a skipper sailing out of

the Clyde about the islands, and now, with infinite discontent, managing

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