But it 's a kittle thing to decide what folk 'll bear , and what they will not . Or why would Red Colin be riding his horse all over my poor country of Appin , and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him ? '' * Careful . And with this Alan fell into a muse , and for a long time sate very sad and silent . I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend , that he was skilled in all kinds of music , but principally pipe-music ; was a well-considered poet in his own tongue ; had read several books both in French and English ; was a dead shot , a good angler , and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his own particular weapon . For his faults , they were on his face , and I now knew them all . But the worst of them , his childish propensity to take offence and to pick quarrels , he greatly laid aside in my case , out of regard for the battle of the round-house . But whether it was because I had done well myself , or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess , is more than I can tell . For though he had a great taste for courage in other men , yet he admired it most in Alan Breck . CHAPTER XIII THE LOSS OF THE BRIG It was already late at night , and as dark as it ever would be at that season of the year -LRB- and that is to say , it was still pretty bright -RRB- , when Hoseason clapped his head into the round-house door . `` Here , '' said he , `` come out and see if ye can pilot . '' `` Is this one of your tricks ? '' asked Alan . `` Do I look like tricks ? '' cries the captain . `` I have other things to think of -- my brig 's in danger ! '' By the concerned look of his face , and , above all , by the sharp tones in which he spoke of his brig , it was plain to both of us he was in deadly earnest ; and so Alan and I , with no great fear of treachery , stepped on deck . The sky was clear ; it blew hard , and was bitter cold ; a great deal of daylight lingered ; and the moon , which was nearly full , shone brightly . The brig was close hauled , so as to round the southwest corner of the Island of Mull , the hills of which -LRB- and Ben More above them all , with a wisp of mist upon the top of it -RRB- lay full upon the lar-board bow . Though it was no good point of sailing for the Covenant , she tore through the seas at a great rate , pitching and straining , and pursued by the westerly swell .
Altogether it was no such ill XXXXX to keep the seas in ; and I had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the captain , when the brig rising suddenly on the top of a high swell , he pointed and cried to us to look .
Appin Ben Breck Colin French Hoseason fencer moon night offence