`` 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 -LRB- like a living thing -RRB- struggle against and drive them back . This would have been the greater danger had not the sea been for some while free of obstacles . Mr. Riach , besides , announced from the top that he saw clear water ahead . `` Ye were right , '' said Hoseason to Alan . `` Ye have saved the brig , sir . I 'll mind that when we come to clear accounts . '' And I believe he not only meant what he said , but would have done it ; so high a place did the Covenant hold in his affections . But this is matter only for conjecture , things having gone otherwise than he forecast . `` Keep her away a point , '' sings out Mr. Riach . `` Reef to windward ! '' And just at the same time the tide caught the brig , and threw the wind out of her sails . She came round into the wind like a top , and the next moment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck , and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast . I was on my feet in a minute . The reef on which we had struck was close in under the southwest end of Mull , off a little isle they call Earraid , which lay low and black upon the larboard . Sometimes the swell broke clean over us ; sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef , so that we could hear her beat herself to pieces ; and what with the great noise of the sails , and the singing of the wind , and the flying of the spray in the moonlight , and the sense of danger , I think my head must have been partly turned , for I could scarcely understand the things I saw .
Presently I observed Mr. XXXXX and the seamen busy round the skiff , and , still in the same blank , ran over to assist them ; and as soon as I set my hand to work , my mind came clear again .
Alan Covenant Hoseason Iona Mull Riach dunch larboard minute right