A Stranger Came Ashore Read Online Free PDF Page A

hair?”
    Now this was such a very old Shetland riddle that no one outside the islands could possibly guess the meaning of it. Or so everyone thought, anyway; yet even so, Finn Learson took only a moment to think before he answered, “There’s no hair on the head of a fish; and so that is the reading of your riddle – the fish!”
    There was a burst of applause at this. Even Nicol applauded, for he was most certainly not the kind of man to hold on to ill-feeling . Moreover, Finn Learson had spoken in the most friendly and pleasant way, and so now Nicol answered him with his usual big sun-burst of a smile.
    â€œYou’ve earned your place in the boat,” he agreed, and then turned to tell Peter, “Give your toast, man!”
    â€œI will that!” exclaimed Peter, relieved at this pleasant outcome of an awkward moment. Then, raising his glass high, he shouted, “Here we go then, boys. It’s off to the
haaf
, and ‘Death to the head that wears no hair!’”
    â€œDeath to the head that wears no hair!”
the whole crew echoed, shouting; and drained their glasses on the words.
    â€œAnd a tune or two before the night is out!” added Peter, reaching for his fiddle and starting up a reel.
    So the celebration began for everyone except Robbie, who was still puzzling over the way Finn Learson had solved the riddle; and under cover of all the noise, he said to Old Da, “There’s no one outside the islands has ever managed to read that riddle, Old Da.And so how did
he
guess the answer?”
    Now Old Da had been forming his own idea about this, just as he had slowly been forming ideas about other matters concerning Finn Learson – particularly those of the gold coin he had brought ashore, and also his love of dancing. Old Da’s thoughts on such matters, however, were all very sober ones which he had no intention of telling to anyone at that moment. Least of all did he mean to tell them to Robbie; and so now he got out of the situation by saying, “Maybe he already knew the answer to it, Robbie. Or maybe he guessed it just because he’s a clever man.”
    â€œAye, maybe,” Robbie agreed; but he was not satisfied with this, and he went to his bed still puzzling over it.
    The next day when all the men had gone to the
haaf
, he was still thinking about it; and this kept his eyes going to the only reminder of Finn Learson that was now left in the house – the gold coin on the mantelpiece.
    Finn Learson had never actually denied that it had come from a sunken treasure ship, he told himself. And so, where and how it had been picked up on his travels was still a mystery. Moreover, Finn Learson himself was still a mystery, for no one knew a thing more about him than they had when he first arrived on the island. And that was six weeks ago, Robbie thought; which did indeed make him a clever man – much more clever, in fact, than anyone except himself seemed to have realised!
    There was his smile, too – that strange little smile which made him look as if he had some secret to hide …
    Robbie stared at the coin as if staring by itself could tell him how Finn Learson had come by it. But the more he stared, the less he could think of an answer to this, and the more the coin seemed to wink back at him like an ancient golden eye that had its own secret to keep.

5. The Selkie Summer
    There was little to do on the croft once the men had gone, but Robbie and Old Da were still kept busy in various ways.
    The eggs and young of seabirds were in season, and these were needed to provide something extra for the pot. The different kinds of moss that Janet and Elspeth used for dyeing cloth had also to be picked at that time of the year; and of course, there was always fishing to be done. It happened to be an unusually fine summer that year, however, so that Robbie and Old Da were soon having a high old time to themselves.
    For days at a time the weather