The piper, too asthmatic to run, but not too asthmatic
to walk and play his bagpipes, delighting the heart of Malcolm,
who could not mistake the style, believed he brought up the rear,
but was wrong; for the very last came Mrs Findlay and Lizzy, carrying
between them their little deal kitchen table, for her ladyship to
step out of the boat upon, and Lizzy's child fast asleep on the
top of it.
The foremost ran and ran until they saw that the Psyche had chosen
her couch, and was turning her head to the shore, when they stopped
and stood ready with greased planks and ropes to draw her up.
In a few moments the whole population was gathered, darkening, in
the June midnight, the yellow sands between the tide and dune. The
Psyche was well manned now with a crew of six. On she came under
full sail till within a few yards of the beach, when, in one and
the same moment, every sheet was let go, and she swept softly up
like a summer wave, and lay still on the shore.
The butterfly was asleep. But ere she came to rest, the instant
indeed that her canvas went fluttering away, thirty strong men had
rushed into the water and laid hold of the now broken winged thing.
In a few minutes she was high and dry.
Malcolm leaped on the sand just as the Partaness came bustling up
with her kitchen table between her two hands like a tray.
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