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. Riach 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 . It was no very easy task , for the skiff lay amidships and was full of hamper , and the breaking of the heavier seas continually forced us to give over and hold on ; but we all wrought like horses while we could . Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came clambering out of the fore-scuttle and began to help ; while the rest that lay helpless in their bunks harrowed me with screaming and begging to be saved . The captain took no part . It seemed he was struck stupid . He stood holding by the shrouds , talking to himself and groaning out aloud whenever the ship hammered on the rock . His brig was like wife and child to him ; he had looked on , day by day , at the mishandling of poor Ransome ; but when it came to the brig , he seemed to suffer along with her .
All the time of our working at the boat , I remember only one other thing : that I asked XXXXX , looking across at the shore , what country it was ; and he answered , it was the worst possible for him , for it was a land of the Campbells .
Alan Mull Ransome Riach amidships day fore-scuttle larboard right shrouds