How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
And here I must explain; and the reader would do well to look at a map. On the day when the fog fell and we ran down Alan's boat, we had been running through the Little Minch. At dawn after the battle, we lay becalmed to the east of the Isle of Canna or between that and Isle Eriska in the chain of the Long Island. Now to get from there to the Linnhe Loch, the straight course was through the narrows of the Sound of Mull. But the captain had no chart; he was afraid to trust his brig so deep among the islands; and the wind serving well, he preferred to go by west of Tiree and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull. (12.2)
By telling the reader that she "would do well to look at a map," the narrator is encouraging us to explore this area surrounding the Isle of Mull along with Davie. In other words, this exploration isn't just for Davie; it's for us as well.
Quote #5
Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for the American colonies.
We put the ferry-boat alongside, and the exiles leaned over the bulwarks, weeping and reaching out their hands to my fellow-passengers, among whom they counted some near friends. How long this might have gone on I do not know, for they seemed to have no sense of time: but at last the captain of the ship, who seemed near beside himself (and no great wonder) in the midst of this crying and confusion, came to the side and begged us to depart. (16.4-5)
The downside of exploration: it opens up a desire for expansion into foreign lands. And with colonization comes slavery. For more on indentured servitude in the American colonies, check out our detailed summary of chapter seven: "I Go to Sea in the Brig 'Covenant' of Dysart."
Quote #6
"But mind you," said Alan, "it's no small thing. Ye maun lie bare and hard, and brook many an empty belly. Your bed shall be the moorcock's, and your life shall be like the hunted deer's, and ye shall sleep with your hand upon your weapons. Ay, man, ye shall taigle many a weary foot, or we get clear! I tell ye this at the start, for it's a life that I ken well. But if ye ask what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Either take to the heather with me, or else hang." (18.44)
Alan's not offering Davie much of a choice: either follow him or else get executed. This is a pattern in Davie's explorations. After his first arrogant dreams of traveling to Queensferry to ruin his uncle, when Davie gets kidnapped, each of his subsequent travels seems like acts of fate. Alan is the real engine guiding the exploration and interest of the reader in this novel, because he's the one who actually knows where he's going most of the time.