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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Glengarry Schooldays, by Ralph Connor
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Glengarry Schooldays
+
+Author: Ralph Connor
+
+Release Date: May 30, 2006 [EBook #3243]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLENGARRY SCHOOLDAYS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+GLENGARRY SCHOOLDAYS
+
+A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS IN GLENGARRY
+
+
+By Ralph Connor
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I.    THE SPELLING-MATCH
+
+II.   THE DEEPOLE
+
+III.  THE EXAMINATION
+
+IV.   THE NEW MASTER
+
+V.    THE CRISIS
+
+VI.   "ONE THAT RULETH WELL HIS OWN HOUSE"
+
+VII.  FOXY
+
+VIII. FOXY'S PARTNER
+
+IX.   HUGHIE'S EMANCIPATION
+
+X.    THE BEAR HUNT
+
+XI.   JOHN CRAVEN'S METHOD
+
+XII.  THE DOWNFALL
+
+XIII. THE FIRST ROUND
+
+XIV.  THE FINAL ROUND
+
+XV.   THE RESULT
+
+
+
+
+
+GLENGARRY SCHOOL DAYS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE SPELLING-MATCH
+
+
+The "Twentieth" school was built of logs hewn on two sides. The cracks
+were chinked and filled with plaster, which had a curious habit of
+falling out during the summer months, no one knew how; but somehow the
+holes always appeared on the boys' side, and being there, were found to
+be most useful, for as looking out of the window was forbidden, through
+these holes the boys could catch glimpses of the outer world--glimpses
+worth catching, too, for all around stood the great forest, the
+playground of boys and girls during noon-hour and recesses; an enchanted
+land, peopled, not by fairies, elves, and other shadowy beings of
+fancy, but with living things, squirrels, and chipmunks, and weasels,
+chattering ground-hogs, thumping rabbits, and stealthy foxes, not
+to speak of a host of flying things, from the little gray-bird that
+twittered its happy nonsense all day, to the big-eyed owl that hooted
+solemnly when the moon came out. A wonderful place this forest, for
+children to live in, to know, and to love, and in after days to long
+for.
+
+It was Friday afternoon, and the long, hot July day was drawing to a
+weary close. Mischief was in the air, and the master, Archibald Munro,
+or "Archie Murro," as the boys called him, was holding himself in with
+a very firm hand, the lines about his mouth showing that he was fighting
+back the pain which had never quite left him from the day he had twisted
+his knee out of joint five years ago, in a wrestling match, and which,
+in his weary moments, gnawed into his vitals. He hated to lose his
+grip of himself, for then he knew he should have to grow stern and
+terrifying, and rule these young imps in the forms in front of him by
+what he called afterwards, in his moments of self-loathing, "sheer brute
+force," and that he always counted a defeat.
+
+Munro was a born commander. His pale, intellectual face, with its square
+chin and firm mouth, its noble forehead and deep-set gray eyes, carried
+a look of such strength and indomitable courage that no boy, however
+big, ever thought of anything but obedience when the word of command
+came. He was the only master who had ever been able to control, without
+at least one appeal to the trustees, the stormy tempers of the young
+giants that used to come to school in the winter months.
+
+The school never forgot the day when big Bob Fraser "answered back" in
+class. For, before the words were well out of his lips, the master, with
+a single stride, was in front of him, and laying two swift, stinging
+cuts from the rawhide over big Bob's back, commanded, "Hold out your
+hand!" in a voice so terrible, and with eyes of such blazing light, that
+before Bob was aware, he shot out his hand and stood waiting the blow.
+The school never, in all its history, received such a thrill as the next
+few moments brought; for while Bob stood waiting, the master's words
+fell clear-cut upon the dead silence, "No, Robert, you are too big to
+thrash. You are a man. No man should strike you--and I apologize." And
+then big Bob forgot his wonted sheepishness and spoke out with a man's
+voice, "I am sorry I spoke back, sir." And then all the girls began
+to cry and wipe their eyes with their aprons, while the master and Bob
+shook hands silently. From that day and hour Bob Fraser would have slain
+any one offering to make trouble for the master, and Archibald Munro's
+rule was firmly established.
+
+He was just and impartial in all his decisions, and absolute in his
+control; and besides, he had the rare faculty of awakening in his pupils
+an enthusiasm for work inside the school and for sports outside.
+
+But now he was holding himself in, and with set teeth keeping back the
+pain. The week had been long and hot and trying, and this day had been
+the worst of all. Through the little dirty panes of the uncurtained
+windows the hot sun had poured itself in a flood of quivering light all
+the long day. Only an hour remained of the day, but that hour was to
+the master the hardest of all the week. The big boys were droning lazily
+over their books, the little boys, in the forms just below his desk,
+were bubbling over with spirits--spirits of whose origin there was no
+reasonable ground for doubt.
+
+Suddenly Hughie Murray, the minister's boy, a very special imp, held up
+his hand.
+
+"Well, Hughie," said the master, for the tenth time within the hour
+replying to the signal.
+
+"Spelling-match!"
+
+The master hesitated. It would be a vast relief, but it was a little
+like shirking. On all sides, however, hands went up in support of
+Hughie's proposal, and having hesitated, he felt he must surrender or
+become terrifying at once.
+
+"Very well," he said; "Margaret Aird and Thomas Finch will act as
+captains." At once there was a gleeful hubbub. Slates and books were
+slung into desks.
+
+"Order! or no spelling-match." The alternative was awful enough to quiet
+even the impish Hughie, who knew the tone carried no idle threat, and
+who loved a spelling-match with all the ardor of his little fighting
+soul.
+
+The captains took their places on each side of the school, and with
+careful deliberation, began the selecting of their men, scanning
+anxiously the rows of faces looking at the maps or out of the windows
+and bravely trying to seem unconcerned. Chivalry demanded that Margaret
+should have first choice. "Hughie Murray!" called out Margaret;
+for Hughie, though only eight years old, had preternatural gifts in
+spelling; his mother's training had done that for him. At four he knew
+every Bible story by heart, and would tolerate no liberties with the
+text; at six he could read the third reader; at eight he was the best
+reader in the fifth; and to do him justice, he thought no better of
+himself for that. It was no trick to read. If he could only run, and
+climb, and swim, and dive, like the big boys, then he would indeed feel
+uplifted; but mere spelling and reading, "Huh! that was nothing."
+
+"Ranald Macdonald!" called Thomas Finch, and a big, lanky boy of fifteen
+or sixteen rose and marched to his place. He was a boy one would look at
+twice. He was far from handsome. His face was long, and thin, and dark,
+with a straight nose, and large mouth, and high cheek-bones; but he had
+fine black eyes, though they were fierce, and had a look in them that
+suggested the woods and the wild things that live there. But Ranald,
+though his attendance was spasmodic, and dependent upon the suitability
+or otherwise of the weather for hunting, was the best speller in the
+school.
+
+For that reason Margaret would have chosen him, and for another which
+she would not for worlds have confessed, even to herself. And do you
+think she would have called Ranald Macdonald to come and stand up beside
+her before all these boys? Not for the glory of winning the match and
+carrying the medal for a week. But how gladly would she have given up
+glory and medal for the joy of it, if she had dared.
+
+At length the choosing was over, and the school ranged in two opposing
+lines, with Margaret and Thomas at the head of their respective forces,
+and little Jessie MacRae and Johnnie Aird, with a single big curl on
+the top of his head, at the foot. It was a point of honor that no blood
+should be drawn at the first round. To Thomas, who had second choice,
+fell the right of giving the first word. So to little Jessie, at the
+foot, he gave "Ox."
+
+"O-x, ox," whispered Jessie, shyly dodging behind her neighbor.
+
+"In!" said Margaret to Johnnie Aird.
+
+"I-s, in," said Johnnie, stoutly.
+
+"Right!" said the master, silencing the shout of laughter. "Next word."
+
+With like gentle courtesies the battle began; but in the second
+round the little A, B, C's were ruthlessly swept off the field with
+second-book words, and retired to their seats in supreme exultation,
+amid the applause of their fellows still left in the fight. After
+that there was no mercy. It was a give-and-take battle, the successful
+speller having the right to give the word to the opposite side. The
+master was umpire, and after his "Next!" had fallen there was no appeal.
+But if a mistake were made, it was the opponent's part and privilege to
+correct with all speed, lest a second attempt should succeed.
+
+Steadily, and amid growing excitement, the lines grew less, till there
+were left on one side, Thomas, with Ranald supporting him, and on the
+other Margaret, with Hughie beside her, his face pale, and his dark eyes
+blazing with the light of battle.
+
+Without varying fortune the fight went on. Margaret, still serene, and
+with only a touch of color in her face, gave out her words with even
+voice, and spelled her opponent's with calm deliberation. Opposite her
+Thomas stood, stolid, slow, and wary. He had no nerves to speak of, and
+the only chance of catching him lay in lulling him off to sleep.
+
+They were now among the deadly words.
+
+"Parallelopiped!" challenged Hughie to Ranald, who met it easily, giving
+Margaret "hyphen" in return.
+
+"H-y-p-h-e-n," spelled Margaret, and then, with cunning carelessness,
+gave Thomas "heifer." ("Hypher," she called it.)
+
+Thomas took it lightly.
+
+"H-e-i-p-h-e-r."
+
+Like lightning Hughie was upon him. "H-e-i-f-e-r."
+
+"F-e-r," shouted Thomas. The two yells came almost together.
+
+There was a deep silence. All eyes were turned upon the master.
+
+"I think Hughie was first," he said, slowly. A great sigh swept over the
+school, and then a wave of applause.
+
+The master held up his hand.
+
+"But it was so very nearly a tie, that if Hughie is willing--"
+
+"All right, sir," cried Hughie, eager for more fight.
+
+But Thomas, in sullen rage, strode to his seat muttering, "I was just as
+soon anyway." Every one heard and waited, looking at the master.
+
+"The match is over," said the master, quietly. Great disappointment
+showed in every face.
+
+"There is just one thing better than winning, and that is, taking defeat
+like a man." His voice was grave, and with just a touch of sadness. The
+children, sensitive to moods, as is the characteristic of children, felt
+the touch and sat subdued and silent.
+
+There was no improving of the occasion, but with the same sad gravity
+the school was dismissed; and the children learned that day one of
+life's golden lessons--that the man who remains master of himself never
+knows defeat.
+
+The master stood at the door watching the children go down the slope to
+the road, and then take their ways north and south, till the forest hid
+them from his sight.
+
+"Well," he muttered, stretching up his arms and drawing a great breath,
+"it's over for another week. A pretty near thing, though."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE DEEPOLE
+
+
+Archibald Munro had a steady purpose in life--to play the man, and to
+allow no pain of his--and pain never left him long--to spoil his work,
+or to bring a shadow to the life of any other. And though he had his
+hard times, no one who could not read the lines about his mouth ever
+knew how hard they were.
+
+It was this struggle for self-mastery that made him the man he was, and
+taught him the secrets of nobleness that he taught his pupils with their
+three "R's"; and this was the best of his work for the Twentieth school.
+
+North and south in front of the school the road ran through the
+deep forest of great pines, with underbrush of balsam and spruce and
+silver-birch; but from this main road ran little blazed paths that led
+to the farm clearings where lay the children's homes. Here and there,
+set in their massive frames of dark green forest, lay the little farms,
+the tiny fenced fields surrounding the little log houses and barns.
+These were the homes of a people simple of heart and manners, but
+sturdy, clean living, and clear thinking, with their brittle Highland
+courage toughened to endurance by their long fight with the forest, and
+with a self-respect born of victory over nature's grimmest of terrors.
+
+A mile straight south of the school stood the manse, which was Hughie's
+home; two miles straight west Ranald lived; and Thomas Finch two miles
+north; while the other lads ought to have taken some of the little
+paths that branched east from the main road. But this evening, with one
+accord, the boys chose a path that led from the school-house clearing
+straight southwest through the forest.
+
+What a path that was! Beaten smooth with the passing of many bare feet,
+it wound through the brush and round the big pines, past the haunts of
+squirrels, black, gray, and red, past fox holes and woodchuck holes,
+under birds' nests and bee-trees, and best of all, it brought up at last
+at the Deep Hole, or "Deepole," as the boys called it.
+
+There were many reasons why the boys should have gone straight home.
+They were expected home. There were cows to get up from the pasture and
+to milk, potatoes that needed hoeing, gardens to weed, not to speak of
+messages and the like. But these were also excellent reasons why the
+boys should unanimously choose the cool, smooth-beaten, sweet-scented,
+shady path that wound and twisted through the trees and brush, but led
+straight to the Deepole. Besides, this was Friday night, it was hot,
+and they were tired out; the mere thought of the long walk home was
+intolerable. The Deepole was only two miles away, and "There was lots
+of time" for anything else. So, with wild whoops, they turned into the
+shady path and sped through the forest, the big boys in front, with
+Ranald easily leading, for there was no runner so swift and tireless in
+all the country-side, and Hughie, with the small boys, panting behind.
+
+On they went, a long, straggling, yelling line, down into the cedar
+swamp, splashing through the "Little Crick" and up again over the beech
+ridge, where, in the open woods, the path grew indistinct and was easy
+to lose; then again among the great pines, where the underbrush was
+so thick that you could not tell what might be just before, till they
+pulled up at the old Lumber Camp. The boys always paused at the ruins of
+the old Lumber Camp. A ruin is ever a place of mystery, but to the old
+Lumber Camp attached an awful dread, for behind it, in the thickest part
+of the underbrush, stood the cabin of Alan Gorrach.
+
+Alan's was a name of terror among all the small children of the section.
+Mothers hushed their crying with, "Alan Gorrach will get you." Alan was
+a small man, short in the legs, but with long, swinging, sinewy arms.
+He had a gypsy face, and tangled, long, black hair; and as he walked
+through the forest he might be heard talking to himself, with wild
+gesticulations. He was an itinerant cooper by trade, and made for the
+farmers' wives their butter-tubs and butter-ladles, mincing-bowls and
+coggies, and for the men, whip-stalks, axe handles, and the like. But
+in the boys' eyes he was guilty of a horrible iniquity. He was
+a dog-killer. His chief business was the doing away with dogs of
+ill-repute in the country; vicious dogs, sheep-killing dogs, egg-sucking
+dogs, were committed to Alan's dread custody, and often he would be seen
+leading off his wretched victims to his den in the woods, whence they
+never returned. It was a current report that he ate them, too. No wonder
+the boys regarded him with horror mingled with fearful awe.
+
+In broad day, upon the high road, the small boys would boldly fling
+taunts and stones at Alan, till he would pull out his long, sharp
+cooper's knife and make at them. But if they met him in the woods they
+would walk past in trembling and respectful silence, or slip off into
+hiding in the bush, till he was out of sight.
+
+It was always part of the programme in the exploring of the Lumber
+Camp for the big boys to steal down the path to Alan's cabin, and peer
+fearfully through the brush, and then come rushing back to the little
+boys waiting in the clearing, and crying in terror-stricken stage
+whispers, "He's coming! He's coming!" set off again through the bush
+like hunted deer, followed by the panting train of youngsters, with
+their small hearts thumping hard against their ribs.
+
+In a few minutes the pine woods, with its old Lumber Camp and Alan's
+fearsome cabin, were left behind; and then down along the flats where
+the big elms were, and the tall ash-trees, and the alders, the flying,
+panting line sped on in a final dash, for they could smell the river. In
+a moment more they were at the Deepole.
+
+O! that Deepole! Where the big creek took a great sweep around before
+it tore over the rapids and down into the gorge. It was always in cool
+shade; the great fan-topped elm-trees hung far out over it, and the
+alders and the willows edged its banks. How cool and clear the dark
+brown waters looked! And how beautiful the golden mottling on their
+smooth, flowing surface, where the sun rained down through the
+over-spreading elm boughs! And the grassy sward where the boys tore off
+their garments, and whence they raced and plunged, was so green and firm
+and smooth under foot! And the music of the rapids down in the gorge,
+and the gurgle of the water where it sucked in under the jam of dead
+wood before it plunged into the boiling pool farther down! Not that
+the boys made note of all these delights accessory to the joys of
+the Deepole itself, but all these helped to weave the spell that the
+swimming-hole cast over them. Without the spreading elms, without
+the mottled, golden light upon the cool, deep waters, and without the
+distant roar of the little rapid, and the soft gurgle at the jam, the
+Deepole would still have been a place of purest delight, but I doubt if,
+without these, it would have stolen in among their day dreams in after
+years, on hot, dusty, weary days, with power to waken in them a vague
+pain and longing for the sweet, cool woods and the clear, brown waters.
+Oh, for one plunge! To feel the hug of the waters, their soothing
+caress, their healing touch! These boys are men now, such as are on the
+hither side of the darker river, but not a man of them can think, on a
+hot summer day, of that cool, shaded, mottled Deepole, without a longing
+in his heart and a lump in his throat.
+
+The last quarter of a mile was always a dead race, for it was a point of
+distinction to be the first to plunge, and the last few seconds of the
+race were spent in the preliminaries of the disrobing. A single brace
+slipped off the shoulder, a flutter of a shirt over the head, a kick
+of the trousers, and whoop! plunge! "Hurrah! first in." The little boys
+always waited to admire the first series of plunges, for there were many
+series before the hour was over, and then they would off to their own
+crossing, going through a similar performance on a small scale.
+
+What an hour it was! What contests of swimming and diving! What water
+fights and mud fights! What careering of figures, stark naked, through
+the rushes and trees! What larks and pranks!
+
+And then the little boys would dress. A simple process, but more
+difficult by far than the other, for the trousers would stick to the
+wet feet--no boy would dream of a towel, nor dare to be guilty of such
+a piece of "stuck-upness"--and the shirt would get wrong side out, or
+would bundle round the neck, or would cling to the wet shoulders till
+they had to get on their knees almost to squirm into it. But that over,
+all was over. The brace, or if the buttons were still there, the braces
+were easily jerked up on the shoulders, and there you were. Coats,
+boots, and stockings were superfluous, collars and ties utterly
+despised.
+
+Then the little ones would gather on the grassy bank to watch the big
+ones get out, which was a process worth watching.
+
+"Well, I'm going out, boys," one would say.
+
+"Oh, pshaw! let's have another plunge."
+
+"All right. But it's the last, though."
+
+Then a long stream of naked figures would scramble up the bank and rush
+for the last place. "First out, last in," was the rule, for the boys
+would much rather jump on some one else than be jumped on themselves.
+After the long line of naked figures had vanished into the boiling
+water, one would be seen quietly stealing out and up the bank kicking
+his feet clean as he stepped off the projecting root onto the grass,
+when, plunk! a mud ball caught him, and back he must come. It took them
+full two hours to escape clean from the water, and woe betide the boy
+last out. On all sides stood boys, little and big, with mud balls ready
+to fling, till, out of sheer pity, he would be allowed to come forth
+clean. Then, when all were dressed, and blue and shivering--for two
+amphibious hours, even on a July day, make one blue--more games would
+begin, leap-frog, or tag, or jumping, or climbing trees, till they were
+warm enough to set out for home.
+
+It was as the little ones were playing tag that Hughie came to grief.
+He was easily king of his company and led the game. Quick as a weasel,
+swift and wary, he was always the last to be caught. Around the trees,
+and out and in among the big boys, he led the chase, much to Tom Finch's
+disgust, who had not forgotten the spelling-match incident. Not that he
+cared for the defeat, but he still felt the bite in the master's final
+words, and he carried a grudge against the boy who had been the occasion
+of his humiliation.
+
+"Keep off!" he cried, angrily, as Hughie swung himself round him.
+But Hughie paid no heed to Tom's growl, unless, indeed, to repeat his
+offense, with the result that, as he flew off, Tom caught him a kick
+that hastened his flight and laid him flat on his back amid the laughter
+of the boys.
+
+"Tom," said Hughie, gravely and slowly, so that they all stood
+listening, "do you know what you kick like?"
+
+The boys stood waiting.
+
+"A h-e-i-p-h-e-r."
+
+In a moment Tom had him by the neck, and after a cuff or two, sent him
+flying, with a warning to keep to himself.
+
+But Hughie, with a saucy answer, was off again on his game, circling as
+near Tom Finch as he dared, and being as exasperating as possible, till
+Tom looked as if he would like a chance to pay him off. The chance
+came, for Hughie, leading the "tag," came flying past Tom and toward the
+water. Hardly realizing what he was doing, Tom stuck out his foot and
+caught him flying past, and before any one knew how it had happened,
+poor Hughie shot far out into the Deepole, lighting fair on his stomach.
+There was a great shout of laughter, but in a moment every one was
+calling, "Swim, Hughie!" "Keep your hands down!" "Don't splash like
+that, you fool!" "Paddle underneath!" But Hughie was far too excited or
+too stunned by his fall to do anything but splash and sputter, and sink,
+and rise again, only to sink once more. In a few moments the affair
+became serious.
+
+The small boys began to cry, and some of the bigger ones to undress,
+when there was a cry from the elm-tree overhanging the water.
+
+"Run out that board, Don. Quick!"
+
+It was Ranald, who had been swinging up in the highest branches, and
+had seen what had happened, and was coming down from limb to limb like
+a squirrel. As he spoke, he dropped from the lowest limb into the water
+close to where Hughie was splashing wildly.
+
+In an instant, as he rose to the surface, Hughie's arms went round his
+neck and pulled his head under water. But he was up again, and tugging
+at Hughie's hands, he cried:
+
+"Don't, Hughie! let go! I'll pull you out. Let go!" But Hughie,
+half-insensible with terror and with the water he had gulped in, clung
+with a death-grip.
+
+"Hughie!" gasped Ranald, "you'll drown us both. Oh, Hughie man, let me
+pull you out, can't you?"
+
+Something in the tone caught Hughie's ear, and he loosed his hold, and
+Ranald, taking him under the chin, looked round for the board.
+
+By this time Don Cameron was in the water and working the board slowly
+toward the gasping boys. But now a new danger threatened. The current
+had gradually carried them toward the log jam, under which the water
+sucked to the falls below. Once under the jam, no power on earth could
+save.
+
+"Hurry up, Don!" called out Ranald, anxiously. Then, feeling Hughie
+beginning to clutch again, he added, cheerily, "It's all right. You'll
+get us." But his face was gray and his eyes were staring, for over his
+shoulder he could see the jam and he could feel the suck of the water on
+his legs.
+
+"Oh, Ranald, you can't do it," sobbed Hughie. "Will I paddle
+underneath?"
+
+"Yes, yes, paddle hard, Hughie," said Ranald, for the jam was just at
+his back.
+
+But as he spoke, there was a cry, "Ranald, catch it!" Over the slippery
+logs of the jam came Tom Finch pushing out a plank.
+
+"Catch it!" he cried, "I'll hold this end solid." And Ranald caught and
+held fast, and the boys on the bank gave a mighty shout. Soon Don
+came up with his board, and Tom, catching the end, hauled it up on the
+rolling logs.
+
+"Hold steady there now!" cried Tom, lying at full length upon the logs;
+"we'll get you in a minute."
+
+By this time the other boys had pulled a number of boards and planks out
+of the jam, and laying them across the logs, made a kind of raft upon
+which the exhausted swimmers were gradually hauled, and then brought
+safe to shore.
+
+"Oh, Ranald," said Tom, almost weeping, "I didn't mean to--I never
+thought--I'm awfully sorry."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Ranald, who was taking off Hughie's shirt preparatory
+to wringing it, "I know. Besides, it was you who pulled us out. You were
+doing your best, Don, of course, but we would have gone under the jam
+but for Tom."
+
+For ten minutes the boys stood going over again the various incidents
+in the recent dramatic scene, extolling the virtues of Ranald, Don, and
+Thomas in turn, and imitating, with screams of laughter, Hughie's gulps
+and splashings while he was fighting for his life. It was their way of
+expressing their emotions of gratitude and joy, for Hughie was dearly
+loved by all, though no one would have dared to manifest such weakness.
+
+As they were separating, Hughie whispered to Ranald, "Come home with
+me, Ranald. I want you." And Ranald, looking down into the little
+white face, went. It would be many a day before he would get rid of the
+picture of the white face, with the staring black eyes, floating on the
+dark brown water beside him, and that was why he went.
+
+When they reached the path to the manse clearing Ranald and Hughie were
+alone. For some minutes Hughie followed Ranald in silence on a dog-trot,
+through the brule, dodging round stumps and roots and climbing over
+fallen trees, till they came to the pasture-field.
+
+"Hold on, Ranald," panted Hughie, putting on a spurt and coming up even
+with his leader.
+
+"Are you warm enough?" asked Ranald, looking down at the little flushed
+face.
+
+"You bet!"
+
+"Are you dry?"
+
+"Huh, huh."
+
+"Indeed, you are not too dry," said Ranald, feeling his wet shirt and
+trousers, "and your mother will be wondering."
+
+"I'll tell her," said Hughie, in a tone of exulting anticipation.
+
+"What!" Ranald stood dead still.
+
+"I'll tell her," replied Hughie. "She'll be awful glad. And she'll be
+awful thankful to you, Ranald."
+
+Ranald looked at him in amazement.
+
+"I think I will jist be going back now," he said, at length. But Hughie
+seized him.
+
+"Oh, Ranald, you must come with me."
+
+He had pictured himself telling his mother of Ranald's exploit, and
+covering his hero with glory. But this was the very thing that Ranald
+dreaded and hated, and was bound to prevent.
+
+"You will not be going to the Deepole again, I warrant you," Ranald
+said, with emphasis.
+
+"Not go to the Deepole?"
+
+"No, indeed. Your mother will put an end to that sort of thing."
+
+"Mother! Why not?"
+
+"She will not be wanting to have you drowned."
+
+Hughie laughed scornfully. "You don't know my mother. She's not afraid
+of--of anything."
+
+"But she will be telling your father."
+
+This was a matter serious enough to give Hughie pause. His father might
+very likely forbid the Deepole.
+
+"There is no need for telling," suggested Ranald. "And I will just go in
+for a minute."
+
+"Will you stay for supper?"
+
+Ranald shook his head. The manse kitchen was a bright place, and to see
+the minister's wife and to hear her talk was to Ranald pure delight. But
+then, Hughie might tell, and that would be too awful to bear.
+
+"Do, Ranald," pleaded Hughie. "I'll not tell."
+
+"I am not so sure."
+
+"Sure as death!"
+
+Still Ranald hesitated. Hughie grew desperate.
+
+"God may kill me on the spot!" he cried, using the most binding of all
+oaths known to the boys. This was satisfactory, and Ranald went.
+
+But Hughie was not skilled in deceiving, and especially in deceiving his
+mother. They were great friends, and Hughie shared all his secrets with
+her and knew that they were safe, unless they ought to be told. And so,
+when he caught sight of his mother waiting for him before the door, he
+left Ranald, and thrilling with the memory of the awful peril through
+which he had passed, rushed at her, and crying, "Oh, mother!" he flung
+himself into her arms. "I am so glad to see you again!"
+
+"Why, Hughie, my boy, what's the matter?" said his mother, holding her
+arms tight about him. "And you are all wet! What is it?" But Hughie held
+her fast, struggling with himself.
+
+"What is it?" she asked again, turning to Ranald.
+
+"We were running pretty fast--and it is a hot day--and--" But the clear
+gray-brown eyes were upon him, and Ranald found it difficult to go on.
+
+"Oh, mother, you mustn't ask," cried Hughie; "I promised not to tell."
+
+"Not to tell me, Hughie?" The surprise in the voice was quite too much
+for Hughie.
+
+"Oh, mother, we did not want to frighten you--and--I promised."
+
+"Then you must keep your promise. Come away in, my boy. Come in,
+Ranald."
+
+It was her boy's first secret from her. Ranald saw the look of pain in
+the sweet face, and could not endure it.
+
+"It was just nothing, Mrs. Murray," he began.
+
+"Did you promise, too, Ranald?"
+
+"No, that I did not. And there is nothing much to tell, only Hughie fell
+into the Deepole and the boys pulled him out!"
+
+"Oh, mother!" exclaimed Hughie, "it was Ranald. He jumped right down
+from the tree right into the water, and kept me up. You told yourself,
+Ranald," he continued, delighted to be relieved of his promise; and on
+he went to give his mother, in his most picturesque style, a description
+of the whole scene, while Ranald stood looking miserable and ashamed.
+
+"And Ranald was ashamed for me to tell you, and besides, he said you
+wouldn't let me go to the Deepole again. But you will, won't you mother?
+And you won't tell father, will you?"
+
+The mother stood listening, with face growing whiter and whiter, till
+he was done. Then she stooped down over the eager face for some moments,
+whispering, "My darling, my darling," and then coming to Ranald she
+held her hand on his shoulder for a moment, while she said, in a voice
+bravely struggling to be calm, "God reward you, Ranald. God grant my boy
+may always have so good and brave a friend when he needs."
+
+And from that day Ranald's life was different, for he had bound to
+him by a tie that nothing could ever break, a friend whose influence
+followed him, and steadied and lifted him up to greatness, long after
+the grave had hidden her from men's sight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE EXAMINATION
+
+
+The two years of Archibald Munro's regime were the golden age of the
+school, and for a whole generation "The Section" regarded that period as
+the standard for comparison in the following years. Munro had a genius
+for making his pupils work. They threw themselves with enthusiasm into
+all they undertook--studies, debate nights, games, and in everything the
+master was the source of inspiration.
+
+And now his last examination day had come, and the whole Section
+was stirred with enthusiasm for their master, and with grief at his
+departure.
+
+The day before examination was spent in "cleaning the school." This
+semi-annual event, which always preceded the examination, was almost as
+enjoyable as the examination day itself, if indeed it was not more
+so. The school met in the morning for a final polish for the morrow's
+recitations. Then after a speech by the master the little ones were
+dismissed and allowed to go home though they never by any chance took
+advantage of this permission. Then the master and the bigger boys and
+girls set to work to prepare the school for the great day. The boys were
+told off in sections, some to get dry cedar boughs from the swamp for
+the big fire outside, over which the iron sugar-kettle was swung to heat
+the scrubbing water; others off into the woods for balsam-trees for the
+evergreen decorations; others to draw water and wait upon the scrubbers.
+
+It was a day of delightful excitement, but this year there was below the
+excitement a deep, warm feeling of love and sadness, as both teacher
+and pupils thought of to-morrow. There was an additional thrill to the
+excitement, that the master was to be presented with a gold watch and
+chain, and that this had been kept a dead secret from him.
+
+What a day it was! With wild whoops the boys went off for the dry cedar
+and the evergreens, while the girls, looking very housewifely with
+skirts tucked back and sleeves rolled up, began to sweep and otherwise
+prepare the room for scrubbing.
+
+The gathering of the evergreens was a delightful labor. High up in the
+balsam-trees the more daring boys would climb, and then, holding by
+the swaying top, would swing themselves far out from the trunk and come
+crashing through the limbs into the deep, soft snow, bringing half the
+tree with them. What larks they had! What chasing of rabbits along their
+beaten runways! What fierce and happy snow fights! And then, the triumph
+of their return, laden with their evergreen trophies, to find the big
+fire blazing under the great iron kettle and the water boiling, and the
+girls well on with the scrubbing.
+
+Then, while the girls scrubbed first the benches and desks, and last of
+all, the floors, the boys washed the windows and put up the evergreen
+decorations. Every corner had its pillar of green, every window had its
+frame of green, the old blackboard, the occasion of many a heartache to
+the unmathematical, was wreathed into loveliness; the maps, with their
+bewildering boundaries, rivers and mountains, capes, bays and islands,
+became for once worlds of beauty under the magic touch of the greenery.
+On the wall just over his desk, the master wrought out in evergreen an
+arching "WELCOME," but later on, the big girls, with some shy blushing,
+boldly tacked up underneath an answering "FAREWELL." By the time the
+short afternoon had faded into the early evening, the school stood,
+to the eyes of all familiar with the common sordidness of its everyday
+dress, a picture of artistic loveliness. And after the master's little
+speech of thanks for their good work that afternoon, and for all their
+goodness to him, the boys and girls went their ways with that strangely
+unnameable heart-emptiness that brings an ache to the throat, but
+somehow makes happier for the ache.
+
+The examination day was the great school event of the year. It was the
+social function of the Section as well. Toward this event all the school
+life moved, and its approach was attended by a deepening excitement,
+shared by children and parents alike, which made a kind of holiday
+feeling in the air.
+
+The school opened an hour later than ordinarily, and the children came
+all in their Sunday clothes, the boys feeling stiff and uncomfortable,
+and regarding each other with looks half shy and half contemptuous,
+realizing that they were unnatural in each other's sight; the girls
+with hair in marvelous frizzes and shiny ringlets, with new ribbons, and
+white aprons over their home-made winsey dresses, carried their unwonted
+grandeur with an ease and delight that made the boys secretly envy but
+apparently despise them. The one unpardonable crime with all the boys
+in that country was that of being "proud." The boy convicted of "shoween
+off," was utterly contemned by his fellows. Hence, any delight in new
+clothes or in a finer appearance than usual was carefully avoided.
+
+Ranald always hated new clothes. He felt them an intolerable burden. He
+did not mind his new homespun, home-made flannel check shirt of mixed
+red and white, but the heavy fulled-cloth suit made by his Aunt Kirsty
+felt like a suit of mail. He moved heavily in it and felt queer, and
+knew that he looked as he felt. The result was that he was in no genial
+mood, and was on the alert for any indication of levity at his expense.
+
+Hughie, on the contrary, like the girls, delighted in new clothes.
+His new black suit, made down from one of his father's, with infinite
+planning and pains by his mother, and finished only at twelve o'clock
+the night before, gave him unmixed pleasure. And handsome he looked in
+it. All the little girls proclaimed that in their shy, admiring glances,
+while the big girls teased and petted and threatened to kiss him. Of
+course the boys all scorned him and his finery, and tried to "take him
+down," but Hughie was so unfeignedly pleased with himself, and moved so
+easily and naturally in his grand attire, and was so cheery and frank
+and happy, that no one thought of calling him "proud."
+
+Soon after ten the sleighloads began to arrive. It was a mild winter
+day, when the snow packed well, and there fluttered down through the
+still air a few lazy flakes, large, soft, and feathery, like bits of the
+clouds floating white against the blue sky. The sleighs were driven up
+to the door with a great flourish and jingle of bells, and while the
+master welcomed the ladies, the fathers and big brothers drove the
+horses to the shelter of the thick-standing pines, and unhitching them,
+tied them to the sleigh-boxes, where, blanketed and fed, they remained
+for the day.
+
+Within an hour the little school-house was packed, the children crowded
+tight into the long desks, and the visitors on the benches along the
+walls and in the seats of the big boys and girls. On the platform were
+such of the trustees as could muster up the necessary courage--old Peter
+MacRae, who had been a dominie in the Old Country, the young minister
+and his wife, and the schoolteacher from the "Sixteenth."
+
+First came the wee tots, who, in wide-eyed, serious innocence, went
+through their letters and their "ox" and "cat" combinations and
+permutations with great gusto and distinction. Then they were dismissed
+to their seats by a series of mental arithmetic questions, sums
+of varying difficulty being propounded, until little white-haired,
+blue-eyed Johnnie Aird, with the single big curl on the top of his head,
+was left alone.
+
+"One and one, Johnnie?" said the master, smiling down at the rosy face.
+
+"Three," promptly replied Johnnie, and retired to his seat amid the
+delighted applause of visitors and pupils, and followed by the proud,
+fond, albeit almost tearful, gaze of his mother. He was her baby, born
+long after her other babies had grown up into sturdy youth, and all the
+dearer for that.
+
+Then up through the Readers, till the Fifth was reached, the examination
+progressed, each class being handed over to the charge of a visitor, who
+forthwith went upon examination as truly as did the class.
+
+"Fifth class!" In due order the class marched up to the chalk line on
+the floor in front of the master's desk, and stood waiting.
+
+The reading lesson was Fitz-Greene Halleck's "Marco Bozzaris," a
+selection of considerable dramatic power, and calling for a somewhat
+spirited rendering. The master would not have chosen this lesson, but he
+had laid down the rule that there was to be no special drilling of the
+pupils for an exhibition, but that the school should be seen doing its
+every-day work; and in the reading, the lessons for the previous day
+were to be those of the examination day. By an evil fortune, the reading
+for the day was the dramatic "Marco Bozzaris." The master shivered
+inwardly as he thought of the possibility of Thomas Finch, with his
+stolidly monotonous voice, being called upon to read the thrilling lines
+recording the panic-stricken death-cry of the Turk: "To arms! They come!
+The Greek! The Greek!" But Thomas, by careful plodding, had climbed to
+fourth place, and the danger lay in the third verse.
+
+"Will you take this class, Mr. MacRae?" said the master, handing him the
+book. He knew that the dominie was not interested in the art of reading
+beyond the point of correct pronunciation, and hence he hoped the class
+might get off easily. The dominie took the book reluctantly. What he
+desired was the "arith-MET-ic" class, and did not care to be "put off"
+with mere reading.
+
+"Well, Ranald, let us hear you," he rather growled. Ranald went at his
+work with quiet confidence; he knew all the words.
+
+"Page 187, Marco Bozzaris.
+
+"At midnight in his guarded tent, The Turk lay dreaming of the hour
+ When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent,
+ Should tremble at his power."
+
+And so on steadily to the end of his verse.
+
+"Next!"
+
+The next was "Betsy Dan," the daughter of Dan Campbell, of "The Island."
+Now, Betsy Dan was very red in hair and face, very shy and very nervous,
+and always on the point of giggles. It was a trial to her to read on
+ordinary days, but to-day it was almost more than she could bear. To
+make matters worse, sitting immediately behind her, and sheltered from
+the eye of the master, sat Jimmie Cameron, Don's youngest brother.
+Jimmie was always on the alert for mischief, and ever ready to go off
+into fits of laughter, which he managed to check only by grabbing tight
+hold of his nose. Just now he was busy pulling at the strings of Betsy
+Dan's apron with one hand, while with the other he was hanging onto his
+nose, and swaying in paroxysms of laughter.
+
+Very red in the face, Betsy Dan began her verse.
+
+"At midnight in the forest shades, Bozzaris--"
+
+Pause, while Betsy Dan clutched behind her.
+
+"--Bozzaris ranged--"
+
+("Tchik! tchik!") a snicker from Jimmie in the rear.
+
+"--his Suliote band, True as the steel of--"
+
+("im-im,") Betsy Dan struggles with her giggles.
+
+"Elizabeth!" The master's voice is stern and sharp.
+
+Betsy Dan bridles up, while Jimmie is momentarily sobered by the
+master's tone.
+
+"True as the steel of their tried blades, Heroes in heart and hand.
+ There had the Persians thousands stood--"
+
+("Tchik! tchik! tchik,") a long snicker from Jimmie, whose nose cannot
+be kept quite in control. It is becoming too much for poor Betsy Dan,
+whose lips begin to twitch.
+
+"There--"
+
+("im-im, thit-tit-tit,") Betsy Dan is making mighty efforts to hold in
+her giggles.
+
+"--had the glad earth (tchik!) drunk their blood, On old Pl-a-a-t-t-e-a-'s day."
+
+Whack! whack!
+
+"Elizabeth Campbell!" The master's tone was quite terrible.
+
+"I don't care! He won't leave me alone. He's just--just (sob)
+pu--pulling at me (sob) all the time."
+
+By this time Betsy's apron was up to her eyes, and her sobs were quite
+tempestuous.
+
+"James, stand up!" Jimmie slowly rose, red with laughter, and covered
+with confusion.
+
+"I-I-I di-dn't touch her!" he protested.
+
+"O--h!" said little Aleck Sinclair, who had been enjoying Jimmie's prank
+hugely; "he was--"
+
+"That'll do, Aleck, I didn't ask you. James is quite able to tell me
+himself. Now, James!"
+
+"I-I-I was only just doing that," said Jimmie, sober enough now, and
+terrified at the results of his mischief.
+
+"Doing what?" said the master, repressing a smile at Jimmie's woebegone
+face.
+
+"Just-just that!" and Jimmie touched gingerly with the point of his
+finger the bows of Betsy Dan's apron-strings.
+
+"Oh, I see. You were annoying Elizabeth while she was reading. No wonder
+she found it difficult. Now, do you think that was very nice?"
+
+Jimmie twisted himself into a semicircle.
+
+"N-o-o."
+
+"Come here, James!" Jimmie looked frightened, came round the class, and
+up to the master.
+
+"Now, then," continued the master, facing Jimmie round in front of Betsy
+Dan, who was still using her apron upon her eyes, "tell Elizabeth you
+are sorry."
+
+Jimmie stood in an agony of silent awkwardness, curving himself in
+varying directions.
+
+"Are you sorry?"
+
+"Y-e-e-s."
+
+"Well, tell her so."
+
+Jimmie drew a long breath and braced himself for the ordeal. He stood a
+moment or two, working his eyes up shyly from Betsy Dan's shoes to
+her face, caught her glancing at him from behind her apron, and began,
+"I-I-I'm (tchik! tchik) sor-ry," (tchik). Betsy Dan's look was too much
+for the little chap's gravity.
+
+A roar swept over the school-house. Even the grim dominie's face
+relaxed.
+
+"Go to your seat and behave yourself," said the master, giving Jimmie a
+slight cuff. "Now, Margaret, let us go on."
+
+Margaret's was the difficult verse. But to Margaret's quiet voice and
+gentle heart, anything like shriek or battle-cry was foreign enough, so
+with even tone, and unmodulated by any shade of passion, she read the
+cry, "To arms! They come! The Greek! The Greek!" Nor was her voice to
+be moved from its gentle, monotonous flow even by the battle-cry of
+Bozzaris, "Strike! till the last armed foe expires!"
+
+"Next," said the dominie, glad to get on with his task.
+
+The master breathed freely, when, alas for his hopes, the minister spoke
+up.
+
+"But, Margaret, do you think Bozzaris cheered his men in so gentle a
+voice as that?"
+
+Margaret smiled sweetly, but remained silent, glad to get over the
+verse.
+
+"Wouldn't you like to try it again?" suggested the minister.
+
+Margaret flushed up at once.
+
+"Oh, no," said his wife, who had noticed Margaret's flushing face.
+"Girls are not supposed to be soldiers, are they, Margaret?"
+
+Margaret flashed a grateful look at her.
+
+"That's a boy's verse."
+
+"Ay! that it is," said the old dominie; "and I would wish very much that
+Mrs. Murray would conduct this class."
+
+But the minister's wife would not hear of it, protesting that the
+dominie could do it much better. The old man, however, insisted, saying
+that he had no great liking for this part of the examination, and
+would wish to reserve himself, with the master's permission, for the
+"arith-MET-ic" class.
+
+Mrs. Murray, seeing that it would please the dominie, took the book,
+with a spot of color coming in her delicate, high-bred face.
+
+"You must all do your best now, to help me," she said, with a smile that
+brought an answering smile flashing along the line. Even Thomas Finch
+allowed his stolid face a gleam of intelligent sympathy, which, however,
+he immediately suppressed, for he remembered that the next turn was
+his, and that he must be getting himself into the appearance of dogged
+desperation which he considered suitable to a reading exercise.
+
+"Now, Thomas," said the minister's wife, sweetly, and Thomas plunged
+heavily.
+
+"They fought like brave men, long--"
+
+"Oh, Thomas, I think we will try that man's verse again, with the cries
+of battle in it, you know. I am sure you can do that well."
+
+It was all the same to Thomas. There were no words he could not spell,
+and he saw no reason why he should not do that verse as well as
+any other. So, with an extra knitting of his eyebrows, he set forth
+doggedly.
+
+"An-hour-passed-on-the-Turk-awoke-that-bright-dream-was-his-last."
+
+Thomas's voice fell with the unvarying regularity of the beat of a
+trip-hammer.
+
+"He-woke-to-hear-his-sentries-shriek-to-arms-they-come-the-Greek
+the-Greek-he-woke--"
+
+"But, Thomas, wait a minute. You see you must speak these words, 'To
+arms! They come!' differently from the others. These words were shrieked
+by the sentries, and you must show that in your reading."
+
+"Speak them out, man," said the minister, sharply, and a little
+nervously, fearing that his wife had undertaken too great a task, and
+hating to see her defeated.
+
+"Now, Thomas," said Mrs. Murray, "try again. And remember the sentries
+shrieked these words, 'To arms!' and so on."
+
+Thomas squared his shoulders, spread his feet apart, added a wrinkle
+to his frown, and a deeper note of desperation to his tone, and began
+again.
+
+"An-hour-passed-on-the-Turk-awoke-that-bright-dream-was--"
+
+The master shuddered.
+
+"Now, Thomas, excuse me. That's better, but we can improve that yet."
+Mrs. Murray was not to be beaten. The attention of the whole school,
+even to Jimmie Cameron, as well as that of the visitors, was now
+concentrated upon the event.
+
+"See," she went on, "each phrase by itself. 'An hour passed on: the Turk
+awoke.' Now, try that far."
+
+Again Thomas tried, this time with complete success. The visitors
+applauded.
+
+"Ah, that's it, Thomas. I was sure you could do it."
+
+Thomas relaxed a little, but not unduly. He was not sure what was yet
+before him.
+
+"Now we will get that 'sentries shriek.' See, Thomas, like this a
+little," and she read the words with fine expression.
+
+"You must put more pith, more force, into those words, Thomas. Speak
+out, man!" interjected the minister, who was wishing it was all over.
+
+"Now, Thomas, I think this will be the last time. You have done very
+well, but I feel sure you can do better."
+
+The minister's wife looked at Thomas as she said this, with so
+fascinating a smile that the frown on Thomas' face deepened into a
+hideous scowl, and he planted himself with a do-or-die expression in
+every angle of his solid frame. Realizing the extreme necessity of the
+moment, he pitched his voice several tones higher than ever before in
+his life inside a house and before people, and made his final attempt.
+
+"An-hour-passed-on: the-Turk-awoke: That-bright-dream-WAS-his-last."
+
+And now, feeling that the crisis was upon him, and confusing speed
+with intensity, and sound with passion, he rushed his words, with
+ever-increasing speed, into a wild yell.
+
+"He-woke-to-hear-his-sentries-shriek-to-arms-they
+come-the-Greek-THE-GREEK!"
+
+There was a moment of startled stillness, then, "tchik! tchik!" It was
+Jimmie again, holding his nose and swaying in a vain effort to control a
+paroxysm of snickers at Thomas' unusual outburst.
+
+It was like a match to powder. Again the whole school burst into a
+roar of uncontrollable laughter. Even the minister, the master, and the
+dominie, could not resist. The only faces unmoved were those of Thomas
+Finch and the minister's wife. He had tried his best, and it was to
+please her, and she knew it.
+
+A swift, shamed glance round, and his eyes rested on her face. That
+face was sweet and grave as she leaned toward him, and said, "Thank you,
+Thomas. That was well done." And Thomas, still looking at her, flushed
+to his hair roots and down the back of his neck, while the scowl on his
+forehead faded into a frown, and then into smoothness.
+
+"And if you always try your best like that, Thomas, you will be a great
+and good man some day."
+
+Her voice was low and soft, as if intended for him alone, but in the
+sudden silence that followed the laughter it thrilled to every heart in
+the room, and Thomas was surprised to find himself trying to swallow a
+lump in his throat, and to keep his eyes from blinking; and in his face,
+stolid and heavy, a new expression was struggling for utterance. "Here,
+take me," it said; "all that I have is thine," and later days brought
+the opportunity to prove it.
+
+The rest of the reading lesson passed without incident. Indeed, there
+pervaded the whole school that feeling of reaction which always succeeds
+an emotional climax. The master decided to omit the geography and
+grammar classes, which should have immediately followed, and have dinner
+at once, and so allow both children and visitors time to recover tone
+for the spelling and arithmetic of the afternoon.
+
+The dinner was an elaborate and appalling variety of pies and cakes,
+served by the big girls and their sisters, who had recently left
+school, and who consequently bore themselves with all proper dignity and
+importance. Two of the boys passed round a pail of water and a tin cup,
+that all the thirsty might drink. From hand to hand, and from lip to
+lip the cup passed, with a fine contempt of microbes. The only point
+of etiquette insisted upon was that no "leavings" should be allowed to
+remain in the cup or thrown back into the pail, but should be carefully
+flung upon the floor.
+
+There had been examination feasts in pre-historic days in the Twentieth
+school, when the boys indulged in free fights at long range, using as
+missiles remnants of pie crust and cake, whose consistency rendered them
+deadly enough to "bloody" a nose or black an eye. But these barbaric
+encounters ceased with Archie Munro's advent, and now the boys vied with
+each other in "minding their manners." Not only was there no snatching
+of food or exhibition of greediness, but there was a severe repression
+of any apparent eagerness for the tempting dainties, lest it should be
+suspected that such were unusual at home. Even the little boys felt that
+it would be bad manners to take a second piece of cake or pie unless
+specially pressed; but their eager, bulging eyes revealed only too
+plainly their heart's desire, and the kindly waiters knew their duty
+sufficiently to urge a second, third, and fourth supply of the toothsome
+currant or berry pie, the solid fruit cake, or the oily doughnut, till
+the point was reached where desire failed.
+
+"Have some more, Jimmie. Have a doughnut," said the master, who had been
+admiring Jimmie's gastronomic achievements.
+
+"He's had ten a'ready," shouted little Aleck Sinclair, Jimmie's special
+confidant.
+
+Jimmie smiled in conscious pride, but remained silent.
+
+"What! eaten ten doughnuts?" asked the master, feigning alarm.
+
+"He's got four in his pocket, too," said Aleck, in triumph.
+
+"He's got a pie in his own pocket," retorted Jimmie, driven to
+retaliate.
+
+"A pie!" exclaimed the master. "Better take it out. A pocket's not the
+best place for a pie. Why don't you eat it, Aleck?"
+
+"I can't," lamented Aleck. "I'm full up."
+
+"He said he's nearly busted," said Jimmie, anxiously. "He's got a
+pain here," pointing to his left eye. The bigger boys and some of the
+visitors who had gathered round shouted with laughter.
+
+"Oh, pshaw, Aleck!" said the master, encouragingly, "that's all right.
+As long as the pain is as high up as your eye you'll recover. I tell you
+what, put your pie down on the desk here, Jimmie will take care of it,
+and run down to the gate and tell Don I want him."
+
+Aleck, with great care and considerable difficulty, extracted from his
+pocket a segment of black currant pie, hopelessly battered, but still
+intact. He regarded it fondly for a moment or two, and then, with a very
+dubious look at Jimmie, ran away on his errand for the master.
+
+It took him some little time to find Don, and meanwhile the master's
+attention was drawn away by his duty to the visitors. The pie left to
+Jimmie's care had an unfortunately tempting fringe of loose pieces about
+it that marred its symmetry. Jimmie proceeded to trim it into shape. So
+absorbed did he become in this trimming process, that before he realized
+what he was about, he woke suddenly to the startling fact that the pie
+had shrunk into a comparatively insignificant size. It would be worse
+than useless to save the mutilated remains for Aleck; there was nothing
+for it now but to get the reproachful remnant out of the way. He was
+so busily occupied with this praiseworthy proceeding that he failed to
+notice Aleck enter the room, flushed with his race, eager and once more
+empty.
+
+Arriving at his seat, he came upon Jimmie engaged in devouring the pie
+left in his charge. With a cry of dismay and rage he flung himself upon
+the little gourmand, and after a short struggle, secured the precious
+pie; but alas, bereft of its most delicious part--it was picked clean
+of its currants. For a moment he gazed, grief-stricken, at the leathery,
+viscous remnant in his hand. Then, with a wrathful exclamation, "Here,
+then, you can just take it then, you big pig, you!" He seized Jimmie by
+the neck, and jammed the sticky pie crust on his face, where it stuck
+like an adhesive plaster. Jimmie, taken by surprise, and rendered
+nerveless by the pangs of an accusing conscience, made no resistance,
+but set up a howl that attracted the attention of the master and the
+whole company.
+
+"Why, Jimmie!" exclaimed the master, removing the doughy mixture from
+the little lad's face, "what on earth are you trying to do? What is
+wrong, Aleck?"
+
+"He ate my pie," said Aleck, defiantly.
+
+"Ate it? Well, apparently not. But never mind, Aleck, we shall get you
+another pie."
+
+"There isn't any more," said Aleck, mournfully; "that was the last
+piece."
+
+"Oh, well, we shall find something else just as good," said the master,
+going off after one of the big girls; and returning with a doughnut
+and a peculiarly deadly looking piece of fruit cake, he succeeded in
+comforting the disappointed and still indignant Aleck.
+
+The afternoon was given to the more serious part of the school
+work--writing, arithmetic, and spelling, while, for those whose
+ambitions extended beyond the limits of the public school, the master
+had begun a Euclid class, which was at once his despair and his
+pride. In the Twentieth school of that date there was no waste of the
+children's time in foolish and fantastic branches of study, in showy
+exercises and accomplishments, whose display was at once ruinous to
+the nerves of the visitors, and to the self-respect and modesty of
+the children. The ideal of the school was to fit the children for the
+struggle into which their lives would thrust them, so that the boy who
+could spell and read and cipher was supposed to be ready for his life
+work. Those whose ambition led them into the subtleties of Euclid's
+problems and theorems were supposed to be in preparation for somewhat
+higher spheres of life.
+
+Through the various classes of arithmetic the examination proceeded, the
+little ones struggling with great seriousness through their addition
+and subtraction sums, and being wrought up to the highest pitch of
+excitement by their contest for the first place. By the time the fifth
+class was reached, the air was heavy with the feeling of battle. Indeed,
+it was amazing to note how the master had succeeded in arousing in the
+whole school an intense spirit of emulation. From little Johnnie Aird up
+to Thomas Finch, the pupils carried the hearts of soldiers.
+
+Through fractions, the "Rule of Three," percentages, and stocks, the
+senior class swept with a trail of glory. In vain old Peter MacRae
+strewed their path with his favorite posers. The brilliant achievements
+of the class seemed to sink him deeper and deeper into the gloom of
+discontent, while the master, the minister and his wife, as well as
+the visitors, could not conceal their delight. As a last resort the old
+dominie sought to stem their victorious career with his famous problem
+in Practice, and to his huge enjoyment, one after another of the class
+had to acknowledge defeat. The truth was, the master had passed lightly
+over this rule in the arithmetic, considering the solution of problems
+by the method of Practice as a little antiquated, and hardly worthy of
+much study. The failure of the class, however, brought the dominie his
+hour of triumph, and so complete had been the success of the examination
+that the master was abundantly willing that he should enjoy it.
+
+Then followed the judging of the copy-books. The best and cleanest book
+in each class was given the proud distinction of a testimonial written
+upon the first blank page, with the date of the examination and the
+signatures of the examiners attached. It was afterwards borne home in
+triumph by the happy owner, to be stored among the family archives,
+and perhaps among the sacred things that mothers keep in their holy of
+holies.
+
+After the copy-books had been duly appraised, there followed an hour
+in which the excitement of the day reached its highest mark. The whole
+school, with such of the visitors as could be persuaded to join, were
+ranged in opposing ranks in the deadly conflict of a spelling-match. The
+master, the teacher from the Sixteenth, and even the minister's wife,
+yielded to the tremendous pressure of public demand that they should
+enter the fray. The contest had a most dramatic finish, and it was felt
+that the extreme possibility of enthusiasm and excitement was reached
+when the minister's wife spelled down the teacher from the Sixteenth,
+who every one knew, was the champion speller of all the country that lay
+toward the Front, and had a special private armory of deadly missiles
+laid up against just such a conflict as this. The tumultuous triumph
+of the children was not to be controlled. Again and again they followed
+Hughie in wild yells, not only because his mother was a great favorite
+with them all, but because she had wrested a victory from the champion
+of the Front, for the Front, in all matters pertaining to culture and
+fashion, thought itself quite superior to the more backwoods country of
+the Twentieth.
+
+It was with no small difficulty that the master brought the school to
+such a degree of order that the closing speeches could be received with
+becoming respect and attention. The trustees, according to custom, were
+invited to express their opinion upon the examination, and upon school
+matters generally. The chairman, John Cameron, "Long John," as he was
+called, broke the ice after much persuasion, and slowly rising from
+the desk into which he had compressed his long, lank form, he made his
+speech. Long John was a great admirer of the master, but for all that,
+and perhaps because of that, he allowed himself no warmer words of
+commendation than that he was well pleased with the way in which
+the children had conducted themselves. "They have done credit to
+themselves," he said, "and to their teacher. And indeed I am sorry he is
+leaving us, for, so far, I have heard no complaints in the Section."
+
+The other trustees followed in the path thus blazed out for them by Long
+John. They were all well pleased with the examination, and they were
+all sorry to lose the master, and they had heard no complaints. It
+was perfectly understood that no words of praise could add to the high
+testimony that they "had heard no complaints."
+
+The dominie's speech was a little more elaborate. Somewhat reluctantly
+he acknowledged that the school had acquitted itself with "very
+considerable credit," especially the "arith-MET-ic" class, and indeed,
+considering all the circumstances, Mr. Munro was to be congratulated
+upon the results of his work in the Section. But the minister's warm
+expression of delight at the day's proceedings, and of regret at the
+departure of the master, more than atoned for the trustees' cautious
+testimony, and the dominie's somewhat grudging praise.
+
+Then came the moment of the day. A great stillness fell upon the school
+as the master rose to make his farewell speech. But before he could
+say a word, up from their seats walked Betsy Dan and Thomas Finch,
+and ranged themselves before him. The whole assemblage tingled with
+suppressed excitement. The great secret with which they had been
+burdening themselves for the past few weeks was now to be out. Slowly
+Thomas extracted the manuscript from his trousers pocket, and smoothed
+out its many folds, while Betsy Dan waited nervously in the rear.
+
+"Oh, why did they set Thomas to this?" whispered the minister's wife,
+who had a profound sense of humor. The truth was, the choice of the
+school had fallen upon Ranald and Margaret Aird. Margaret was quite
+willing to act, but Ranald refused point-blank, and privately persuaded
+Thomas to accept the honor in his stead. To this Thomas agreed, all the
+more readily that Margaret, whom he adored from a respectful distance,
+was to be his partner. But Margaret, who would gladly have been
+associated with Ranald, on the suggestion that Thomas should take his
+place, put up her lower lip in that symbol of scorn so effective with
+girls, but which no boy has ever yet accomplished, and declared that
+indeed, and she would see that Tom Finch far enough, which plainly
+meant "no." Consequently they had to fall back upon Betsy Dan, who, in
+addition to being excessively nervous, was extremely good-natured.
+And Thomas, though he would greatly have preferred Margaret as his
+assistant, was quite ready to accept Betsy Dan.
+
+The interval of waiting while Thomas deliberately smoothed out the
+creases of the paper was exceedingly hard upon Betsy Dan, whose face
+grew redder each moment. Jimmie Cameron, too, who realized that the
+occasion was one of unusual solemnity, was gazing at Thomas with
+intense interest growing into amusement, and was holding his fingers
+in readiness to seize his nose, and so check any explosion of snickers.
+Just as Thomas had got the last fold of his paper straightened out, and
+was turning it right end up, it somehow slipped through his fingers to
+the floor. This was too much for Jimmie, who only saved himself from
+utter disgrace by promptly seizing his nose and holding on for dear
+life. Thomas gave Jimmie a passing glare and straightened himself up
+for his work. With a furious frown he cleared his throat and began in
+a solemn, deep-toned roar, "Dear teacher, learning with regret that you
+are about to sever your connection," etc., etc. All went well until
+he came to the words, "We beg you to accept this gift, not for its
+intrinsic value," etc., which was the cue for Betsy Dan. But Betsy Dan
+was engaged in terrorizing Jimmie, and failed to come in, till, after an
+awful pause, Thomas gave her a sharp nudge, and whispered audibly, "Give
+it to him, you gowk." Poor Betsy Dan, in sudden confusion, whipped her
+hand out from under her apron, and thrusting a box at the master, said
+hurriedly, "Here it is, sir." As Thomas solemnly concluded his address,
+a smile ran round the room, while Jimmie doubled himself up in his
+efforts to suppress a tempest of snickers.
+
+The master, however, seemed to see nothing humorous in the situation,
+but bowing gravely to Thomas and Betsy Dan, he said, kindly, "Thank you,
+Thomas! Thank you, Elizabeth!" Something in his tone brought the school
+to attention, and even Jimmie forgot to have regard to his nose. For
+a few moments the master stood looking upon the faces of his pupils,
+dwelling upon them one by one, till his eyes rested upon the wee tots in
+the front seat, looking at him with eyes of innocent and serious wonder.
+Then he thanked the children for their gift in a few simple words,
+assuring them that he should always wear the watch with pride and
+grateful remembrance of the Twentieth school, and of his happy days
+among them.
+
+But when he came to say his words of farewell, and to thank them for
+their goodness to him, and their loyal backing of him while he was their
+teacher, his voice grew husky, and for a moment wavered. Then, after
+a pause, he spoke of what had been his ideal among them. "It is a good
+thing to have your minds trained and stored with useful knowledge, but
+there are better things than that. To learn honor, truth, and right; to
+be manly and womanly; to be self-controlled and brave and gentle--these
+are better than all possible stores of learning; and if I have taught
+you these at all, then I have done what I most wished to do. I have
+often failed, and I have often been discouraged, and might have given up
+were it not for the help I received at my worst times from our minister
+and from Mrs. Murray, who often saved me from despair."
+
+A sudden flush tinged the grave, beautiful face of the minister's young
+wife. A light filled her eyes as the master said these words, for she
+remembered days when the young man's pain was almost greater than he
+could bear, and when he was near to giving up.
+
+When the master ceased, the minister spoke a few words in appreciation
+of the work he had done in the school, and in the whole Section, during
+his three years' stay among them, and expressed his conviction that many
+a young lad would grow into a better man because he had known Archibald
+Munro, and some of them would never forget what he had done for them.
+
+By this time all the big girls and many of the visitors were openly
+weeping. The boys were looking straight in front of them, their faces
+set in an appearance of savage gloom, for they knew well how near they
+were to "acting like the girls."
+
+After a short prayer by the minister, the children filed out past the
+master, who stood at the door and shook hands with them one by one. When
+the big boys, and the young men who had gone to school in the winter
+months, came to say good by, they shook hands silently, and then stood
+close about him as if hating to let him go. He had caught for them in
+many a close base-ball match; he had saved their goal in many a fierce
+shinny fight with the Front; and while he had ruled them with an iron
+rule, he had always treated them fairly. He had never failed them; he
+had never weakened; he had always been a man among them. No wonder they
+stood close about him and hated to lose him. Suddenly big Bob Fraser
+called out in a husky voice, "Three cheers for the captain!" and every
+one was glad of the chance to let himself out in a roar. And that was
+the last of the farewells.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE NEW MASTER
+
+
+Right in front of the school door, and some little distance from it, in
+the midst of a clump of maples, stood an old beech-tree with a dead top,
+and half-way down where a limb had once been and had rotted off, a
+hole. Inside this hole two very respectable but thoroughly impudent red
+squirrels had made their nest. The hole led into the dead heart of the
+tree, which had been hollowed out with pains so as to make a roomy, cosy
+home, which the squirrels had lined with fur and moss, and which was
+well stored with beechnuts from the tree, their winter's provisions.
+
+Between the boys and the squirrels there existed an armed neutrality. It
+was understood among the boys that nothing worse than snowballs was to
+be used in their war with the squirrels, while with the squirrels it
+was a matter of honor that they should put reasonable limits to their
+profanity. But there were times when the relations became strained, and
+hence the holidays were no less welcome to the squirrels than to the
+boys.
+
+To the squirrels this had been a day of unusual anxiety, for the school
+had taken up again after its two weeks' holidays, and the boys were a
+little more inquisitive than usual, and unfortunately, the snow happened
+to be good for packing. It had been a bad day for nerves, and Mr. Bushy,
+as the boys called him, found it impossible to keep his tail in one
+position for more than one second at a time. It was in vain that his
+more sedate and self-controlled partner in life remonstrated with him
+and urged a more philosophic mind.
+
+"It's all very well for you, my dear," Mr. Bushy was saying, rather
+crossly I am afraid, "to urge a philosophic mind, but if you had the
+responsibility of the family upon you--Goodness gracious! Owls and
+weasels! What in all the woods is that?"
+
+"Can't be the wolves," said Mrs. Bushy, placidly, "it's too early for
+them."
+
+"Might have known," replied her husband, quite crossly; "of course it's
+those boys. I wonder why they let them out of school at all. Why can't
+they keep them in where it is warm? It always seems to me a very silly
+thing anyway, for them to keep rushing out of their hole in that stupid
+fashion. What they do in there I am sure I don't know. It isn't the
+least like a nest. I've seen inside of it. There isn't a thing to eat,
+nor a bit of hair or moss. They just go in and out again."
+
+"Well, my dear," said his wife, soothingly, "you can hardly expect them
+to know as much as people with a wider outlook. We must remember they
+are only ground people."
+
+"That's just it!" grumbled Mr. Bushy. "I only wish they would just keep
+to themselves and on the ground where they belong, but they have the
+impudence to come lumbering up here into our tree."
+
+"Oh, well," replied his partner, calmly, "you must acknowledge they do
+not disturb our nest."
+
+"And a good thing for them, too," chattered Mr. Bushy, fiercely,
+smoothing out his whiskers and showing his sharp front teeth, at which
+Mrs. Bushy smiled gently behind her tail.
+
+"But what are they doing now?" she inquired.
+
+"Oh, they are going off into the woods," said Mr. Bushy, who had
+issued from his hole and was sitting up on a convenient crotch. "And I
+declare!" he said, in amazed tones, "they haven't thrown one snowball at
+me. Something must be badly wrong with them. Wonder what it is? This is
+quite unprecedented."
+
+At this Mrs. Bushy ventured carefully out to observe the extraordinary
+phenomenon, for the boys were actually making their way to the gate, the
+smaller ones with much noisy shouting, but the big boys soberly enough
+engaged in earnest conversation. It was their first day of the new
+master, and such a day as quite "flabbergastrated," as Don Cameron said,
+even the oldest of them. But of course Mr. and Mrs. Bushy knew nothing
+of this, and could only marvel.
+
+"Murdie," cried Hughie to Don's big brother, who with Bob Fraser, Ranald
+Macdonald, and Thomas Finch was walking slowly toward the gate, "you
+won't forget to ask your pa for an excuse if you happen to be late
+to-morrow, will you?"
+
+Murdie paid no attention.
+
+"You won't forget your excuse, Murdie," continued Hughie, poking him in
+the back.
+
+Murdie suddenly turned, caught him by the neck and the seat of his
+trousers, and threw him head first into a drift, from which he emerged
+wrathful and sputtering.
+
+"Well, I hope you do," continued Hughie, "and then you'll catch it. And
+mind you," he went on, circling round to get in front of him, "if you
+want to ask big Bob there for his knife, mind you hold up your hand
+first." Murdie only grinned at him.
+
+The new master had begun the day by enunciating the regulations under
+which the school was to be administered. They made rather a formidable
+list, but two of them seemed to the boys to have gone beyond the limits
+of all that was outrageous and absurd. There was to be no speaking
+during school hours, and if a boy should desire to ask a question of his
+neighbor, he was to hold up his hand and get permission from the master.
+But worse than all, and more absurd than all, was the regulation that
+all late comers and absentees were to bring written excuses from parents
+or guardians.
+
+"Guardian," Thomas Finch had grunted, "what's that?"
+
+"Your grandmother," whispered Don back.
+
+It was not Don's reply that brought Thomas into disgrace this first
+day of the new master's rule, it was the vision of big Murdie Cameron
+walking up to the desk with an excuse for lateness, which he had
+obtained from Long John, his father. This vision breaking suddenly in
+upon the solemnity of Thomas Finch's mind, had sent him into a snort of
+laughter, not more to the surprise of the school than of himself. The
+gravity of the school had not been greatly helped by Thomas sheepish
+answer to the master's indignant question, "What did you do that for,
+sir?"
+
+"I didn't; it did itself."
+
+On the whole, the opening day had not been a success. As a matter of
+fact, it was almost too much to expect that it should be anything but
+a failure. There was a kind of settled if unspoken opinion among the
+children that no master could ever fill Archibald Munro's place in the
+school. Indeed, it was felt to be a kind of impertinence for any man to
+attempt such a thing. And further, there was a secret sentiment among
+the boys that loyalty to the old master's memory demanded an attitude of
+unsympathetic opposition to the one who came to take his place. It did
+not help the situation that the new master was unaware of this state of
+mind. He was buoyed up by the sentiments of enthusiastic admiration
+and approval that he carried with him in the testimonials from his last
+board of trustees in town, with which sentiments he fully agreed, and
+hence he greeted the pupils of the little backwoods school with an airy
+condescension that reduced the school to a condition of speechless and
+indignant astonishment. The school was prepared to tolerate the man who
+should presume to succeed their former master, if sufficiently humble,
+but certainly not to accept airy condescension from him.
+
+"Does he think we're babies?" asked Don, indignantly.
+
+"And did you see him trying to chop at recess?" (REE'cis, Hughie called
+it.) "He couldn't hit twice in the same place."
+
+"And he asked me if that beech there was a maple," said Bob Fraser, in
+deep disgust.
+
+"Oh, shut up your gab!" said Ranald, suddenly. "Give the man a chance,
+anyway."
+
+"Will YOU bring an excuse when you're absent, Ranald?" asked Hughie.
+
+"And where would I be getting it?" asked Ranald, grimly, and all the
+boys realized the absurdity of expecting a written excuse for Ranald's
+absence from his father. Macdonald Dubh was not a man to be bothered
+with such trifles.
+
+"You might get it from your Aunt Kirsty, Ranald," said Don, slyly. The
+boys shouted at the suggestion.
+
+"And she could do it well enough if it would be necessary," said Ranald,
+facing square round on Don, and throwing up his head after his manner
+when battle was in the air, while the red blood showed in his dark cheek
+and his eyes lit up with a fierce gleam. Don read the danger signal.
+
+"I'm not saying she couldn't," he hurried to say, apologetically, "but
+it would be funny, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Well," said Ranald, relenting and smiling a little, "it would be
+keeping her busy at times."
+
+"When the deer are running, eh, Ranald," said Murdie, good-naturedly.
+"But Ranald's right, boys," he continued, "give the man a chance, say
+I."
+
+"There's our bells," cried Thomas Finch, as the deep, musical boom of
+the Finch's sleigh-bells came through the bush. "Come on, Hughie, we'll
+get them at the cross." And followed by Hughie and the boys from the
+north, he set off for the north cross-roads, where they would meet
+the Finch's bob-sleighs coming empty from the saw-mill, to the great
+surprise and unalloyed delight of Mr. and Mrs. Bushy, who from their
+crotch in the old beech had watched with some anxiety the boys' unusual
+conduct.
+
+"There they are, Hughie," called Thomas, as the sleighs came out into
+the open at the crossroads. "They'll wait for us. They know you're
+coming," he yelled, encouragingly, for the big boys had left the smaller
+ones, a panting train, far in the rear, and were piling themselves
+upon the Finch's sleighs, with never a "by your leave" to William
+John--familiarly known as Billy Jack--Thomas' eldest brother, who drove
+the Finch's team.
+
+Thomas' home lay a mile north and another east from the Twentieth
+cross-roads, but the winter road by which they hauled saw-logs to the
+mill, cut right through the forest, where the deep snow packed hard
+into a smooth track, covering roots and logs and mud holes, and making
+a perfect surface for the sleighs, however heavily loaded, except where
+here and there the pitch-holes or cahots came. These cahots, by the way,
+though they became, especially toward the spring, a serious annoyance
+to teamsters, only added another to the delights that a sleigh-ride held
+for the boys.
+
+To Hughie, the ride this evening was blissful to an unspeakable degree.
+He was overflowing with new sensations. He was going to spend the night
+with Thomas, for one thing, and Thomas as his host was quite a new and
+different person from the Thomas of the school. The minister's wife,
+ever since the examination day, had taken a deeper interest in Thomas,
+and determined that something should be made out of the solemn, stolid,
+slow-moving boy. Partly for this reason she had yielded to Hughie's
+eager pleading, backing up the invitation brought by Thomas himself
+and delivered in an agony of red-faced confusion, that Hughie should be
+allowed to go home with him for the night. Partly, too, because she
+was glad that Hughie should see something of the Finch's home, and
+especially of the dark-faced, dark-eyed little woman who so silently and
+unobtrusively, but so efficiently, administered her home, her family,
+and their affairs, and especially her husband, without suspicion on his
+part that anything of the kind was being done.
+
+In addition to the joy that Hughie had in Thomas in his new role as
+host, this winter road was full of wonder and delight, as were all roads
+and paths that wound right through the heart of the bush. The regular
+made-up roads, with the forest cut back beyond the ditches at the sides,
+were a great weariness to Hughie, except indeed, in the springtime, when
+these ditches were running full with sun-lit water, over the mottled
+clay bottom and gravelly ripples. But the bush roads and paths, summer
+and winter, were filled with things of wonder and of beauty, and this
+particular winter road of the Finch's was best of all to Hughie, for it
+was quite new to him, and besides, it led right through the mysterious,
+big pine swamp and over the butternut ridge, beyond which lay the
+Finch's farm. Balsam-trees, tamarack, spruce, and cedar made up the
+thick underbrush of the pine swamp, white birch, white ash, and black
+were thickly sprinkled through it, but high above these lesser trees
+towered the white pines, lifting their great, tufted crests in lonely
+grandeur, seeming like kings among meaner men. Here and there the rabbit
+runways, packed into hard little paths, crossed the road and disappeared
+under the thick spruces and balsams; here and there, the sly, single
+track of the fox, or the deep hoof-mark of the deer, led off into
+unknown depths on either side. Hughie, sitting up on the bolster of the
+front bob beside Billy Jack, for even the big boys recognized his right,
+as Thomas' guest, to that coveted place, listened with eager face and
+wide-open eyes to Billy Jack's remarks upon the forest and its strange
+people.
+
+One thing else added to Hughie's keen enjoyment of the ride. Billy
+Jack's bays were always in the finest of fettle, and pulled hard on the
+lines, and were rarely allowed the rapture of a gallop. But when the
+swamp was passed and the road came to the more open butternut ridge,
+Billy Jack shook the lines over their backs and let them out. Their
+response was superb to witness, and brought Hughie some moments of
+ecstatic rapture. Along the hard-packed road that wound about among the
+big butternuts, the rangey bays sped at a flat gallop, bounding clear
+over the cahots, the booming of the bells and the rattling of the chains
+furnishing an exhilarating accompaniment to the swift, swaying motion,
+while the children clung for dear life to the bob-sleighs and to each
+other. It was all Billy Jack could do to get his team down to a trot by
+the time they reached the clearing, for there the going was perilous,
+and besides, it was just as well that his father should not witness
+any signs on Billy Jack's part of the folly that he was inclined to
+attribute to the rising generation. So steadily enough the bays trotted
+up the lane and between long lines of green cordwood on one side and
+a hay-stack on the other, into the yard, and swinging round the big
+straw-stack that faced the open shed, and was flanked on the right by
+the cow-stable and hog-pen, and on the left by the horse-stable, came to
+a full stop at their own stable door.
+
+"Thomas, you take Hughie into the house to get warm, till I unhitch,"
+said Billy Jack, with the feeling that courtesy to the minister's son
+demanded this attention. But Hughie, rejecting this proposition with
+scorn, pushed Thomas aside and set himself to unhitch the S-hook on the
+outside trace of the nigh bay. It was one of Hughie's grievances, and
+a very sore point with him, that his father's people would insist
+on treating him in the privileged manner they thought proper to his
+father's son, and his chief ambition was to stand upon his own legs
+and to fare like other boys. So he scorned Billy Jack's suggestion, and
+while some of the children scurried about the stacks for a little romp
+before setting off for their homes, which some of them, for the sake of
+the ride, had left far behind, Hughie devoted himself to the unhitching
+of the team with Billy Jack. And so quick was he in his movements,
+and so fearless of the horses, that he had his side unhitched and was
+struggling with the breast-strap before Billy Jack had finished with his
+horse.
+
+"Man! you're a regular farmer," said Billy Jack, admiringly, "only
+you're too quick for the rest of us."
+
+Hughie, still struggling with the breast-strap, found his heart swell
+with pride. To be a farmer was his present dream.
+
+"But that's too heavy for you," continued Billy Jack. "Here, let down
+the tongue first."
+
+"Pshaw!" said Hughie, disgusted at his exhibition of ignorance, "I knew
+that tongue ought to come out first, but I forgot."
+
+"Oh, well, it's just as good that way, but not quite so easy," said
+Billy Jack, with doubtful consistency.
+
+It took Hughie but a few minutes after the tongue was let down to
+unfasten his end of the neck-yoke and the cross-lines, and he was
+beginning at his hame-strap, always a difficult buckle, when Billy Jack
+called out, "Hold on there! You're too quick for me. We'll make them
+carry their own harness into the stable. Don't believe in making a horse
+of myself." Billy Jack was something of a humorist.
+
+The Finch homestead was a model of finished neatness. Order was its law.
+Outside, the stables, barns, stacks, the very wood-piles, evidenced that
+law. Within, the house and its belongings and affairs were perfect
+in their harmonious arrangement. The whole establishment, without and
+within, gave token of the unremitting care of one organizing mind, for,
+from dark to dark, while others might have their moments of rest and
+careless ease, "the little mother," as Billy Jack called her, was ever
+on guard, and all the machinery of house and farm moved smoothly and to
+purpose because of that unsleeping care. She was last to bed and first
+to stir, and Billy Jack declared that she used to put the cats to sleep
+at night, and waken up the roosters in the morning. And through it all
+her face remained serene, and her voice flowed in quiet tones. Billy
+Jack adored her with all the might of his big heart and body. Thomas,
+slow of motion as of expression, found in her the center of his somewhat
+sluggish being. Jessac, the little dark-faced maiden of nine years,
+whose face was the very replica of her mother's, knew nothing in the
+world dearer, albeit in her daily little housewifely tasks she felt
+the gentle pressure of that steadfast mind and unyielding purpose. Her
+husband regarded her with a curious mingling of reverence and defiance,
+for Donald Finch was an obstinate man, with a man's love of authority,
+and a Scotchman's sense of his right to rule in his own house. But while
+he talked much about his authority, and made a great show of absolutism
+with his family, he was secretly conscious that another will than
+his had really kept things moving about the farm; for he had long ago
+learned that his wife was always right, while he might often be wrong,
+and that, withal her soft words and gentle ways, hers was a will like
+steel.
+
+Besides the law of order, another law ruled in the Finch household--the
+law of work. The days were filled with work, for they each had their
+share to do, and bore the sole responsibility for its being well done.
+If the cows failed in their milk, or the fat cattle were not up to the
+mark, the father felt the reproach as his; to Billy Jack fell the care
+and handling of the horses; Thomas took charge of the pigs, and the
+getting of wood and water for the house; little Jessac had her daily
+task of "sorting the rooms," and when the days were too stormy or the
+snow too deep for school, she had in addition her stent of knitting or
+of winding the yarn for the weaver. To the mother fell all the rest. At
+the cooking and the cleaning, and the making and the mending, all fine
+arts with her, she diligently toiled from long before dawn till after
+all the rest were abed. But besides these and other daily household
+duties there were, in their various seasons, the jam and jelly, the
+pumpkin and squash preserves, the butter-making and cheese-making, and
+more than all, the long, long work with the wool. Billy Jack used to say
+that the little mother followed that wool from the backs of her sheep
+to the backs of her family, and hated to let the weaver have his turn
+at it. What with the washing and the oiling of it, the carding and the
+spinning, the twisting and the winding, she never seemed to be done. And
+then, when it came back from the weaver in great webs of fulled-cloth
+and flannel and winsey, there was all the cutting, shaping, and sewing
+before the family could get it on their backs. True, the tailor was
+called in to help, but though he declared he worked no place else as he
+worked at the Finch's, it was Billy Jack's openly expressed opinion that
+"he worked his jaw more than his needle, for at meal-times he gave his
+needle a rest."
+
+But though Hughie, of course, knew nothing of this toiling and moiling,
+he was distinctly conscious of an air of tidiness and comfort and
+quiet, and was keenly alive to the fact that there was a splendid supper
+waiting him when he got in from the stables with the others, "hungry as
+a wild-cat," as Billy jack expressed it. And that WAS a supper! Fried
+ribs of fresh pork, and hashed potatoes, hot and brown, followed by
+buckwheat pancakes, hot and brown, with maple syrup. There was tea for
+the father and mother with their oat cakes, but for the children no such
+luxury, only the choice of buttermilk or sweet milk. Hughie, it is true,
+was offered tea, but he promptly declined, for though he loved it well
+enough, it was sufficient reason for him that Thomas had none. It took,
+however, all the grace out of his declining, that Mr. Finch remarked
+in gruff pleasantry, "What would a boy want with tea!" The supper was
+a very solemn meal. They were all too busy to talk, at least so Hughie
+felt, and as for himself, he was only afraid lest the others should
+"push back" before he had satisfied the terrible craving within him.
+
+After supper the books were taken, and in Gaelic, for though Donald
+Finch was perfectly able in English for business and ordinary affairs
+of life, when it came to the worship of God, he found that only in the
+ancient mother tongue could he "get liberty." As Hughie listened to the
+solemn reading, and then to the prayer that followed, though he could
+understand only a word now and again, he was greatly impressed with the
+rhythmic, solemn cadence of the voice, and as he glanced through his
+fingers at the old man's face, he was surprised to find how completely
+it had changed. It was no longer the face of the stern and stubborn
+autocrat, but of an earnest, humble, reverent man of God; and Hughie,
+looking at him, wondered if he would not be altogether nicer with
+his wife and boys after that prayer was done. He had yet to learn how
+obstinate and even hard a man can be and still have a great "gift in
+prayer."
+
+From the old man's face, Hughie's glance wandered to his wife's, and
+there was held fascinated. For the first time Hughie thought it was
+beautiful, and more than that, he was startled to find that it reminded
+him of his mother's. At once he closed his eyes, for he felt as if he
+had been prying where he had no right.
+
+After the prayer was over they all drew about the glowing polished
+kitchen stove with the open front, and set themselves to enjoy that hour
+which, more than any other, helps to weave into the memory the thoughts
+and feelings that in after days are associated with home. Old Donald
+drew forth his pipe, a pleased expectation upon his face, and after
+cutting enough tobacco from the black plug which he pulled from his
+trousers pocket, he rolled it fine, with deliberation, and packed it
+carefully into his briar-root pipe, from which dangled a tin cap; then
+drawing out some live coals from the fire, he with a quick motion picked
+one up, set it upon the top of the tobacco, and holding it there with
+his bare finger until Hughie was sure he would burn himself, puffed with
+hard, smacking puffs, but with a more comfortable expression than Hughie
+had yet seen him wear. Then, when it was fairly lit, he knocked off the
+coal, packed down the tobacco, put on the little tin cap, and sat back
+in his covered arm-chair, and came as near beaming upon the world as
+ever he allowed himself to come.
+
+"Here, Jessac," he said to the little dark-faced maiden slipping about
+the table under the mother's silent direction. Jessac glanced at her
+mother and hesitated. Then, apparently reading her mother's face, she
+said, "In a minute, da," and seizing the broom, which was much taller
+than herself, she began to brush up the crumbs about the table with
+amazing deftness. This task completed, and the crumbs being thrown into
+the pig's barrel which stood in the woodshed just outside the door,
+Jessac set her broom in the corner, hung up the dust-pan on its proper
+nail behind the stove, and then, running to her father, climbed up
+on his knee and snuggled down into his arms for an hour's luxurious
+laziness before the fire. Hughie gazed in amazement at her temerity, for
+Donald Finch was not a man to take liberties with; but as he gazed,
+he wondered the more, for again the face of the stern old man was
+transformed.
+
+"Be quaet now, lassie. Hear me now, I am telling you," he admonished
+the little girl in his arms, while there flowed over his face a look of
+half-shamed delight that seemed to fill up and smooth out all its severe
+lines.
+
+Hughie was still gazing and wondering when the old man, catching his
+earnest, wide-open gaze, broke forth suddenly, in a voice nearly jovial,
+"Well, lad, so you have taken up the school again. You will be having a
+fine time of it altogether."
+
+The lad, startled more by the joviality of his manner than by the
+suddenness of his speech, hastily replied, "Indeed, we are not, then."
+
+"What! what!" replied the old man, returning to his normal aspect of
+severity. "Do you not know that you have great privileges now?"
+
+"Huh!" grunted Hughie. "If we had Archie Munro again."
+
+"And what is wrong with the new man?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He's not a bit nice. He's--"
+
+"Too many rules," said Thomas, slowly.
+
+"Aha!" said his father, with a note of triumph in his tone; "so that's
+it, is it? He will be bringing you to the mark, I warrant you. And
+indeed it's high time, for I doubt Archie Munro was just a little soft
+with you."
+
+The old man's tone was aggravating enough, but his reference to the old
+master was too much for Hughie, and even Thomas was moved to words more
+than was his wont in his father's presence.
+
+"He has too many rules," repeated Thomas, stolidly, "and they will not
+be kept."
+
+"And he is as proud as he can be," continued Hughie. "Comes along with
+his cane and his stand-up collar, and lifts his hat off to the big
+girls, and--and--och! he's just as stuck-up as anything!" Hughie's
+vocabulary was not equal to his contempt.
+
+"There will not be much wrong with his cane in the Twentieth School, I
+dare say," went on the old man, grimly. "As for lifting his hat, it is
+time some of them were learning manners. When I was a boy we were made
+to mind our manners, I can tell you."
+
+"So are we!" replied Hughie, hotly; "but we don't go shoween off like
+that! And then himself and his rules!" Hughie's disgust was quite
+unutterable.
+
+"Rules!" exclaimed the old man. "Ay, that is what is the trouble."
+
+"Well," said Hughie, with a spice of mischief, "if Thomas is late for
+school he will have to bring a note of excuse."
+
+"Very good indeed. And why should he be late at all?"
+
+"And if any one wants a pencil he can't ask for it unless he gets
+permission from the master."
+
+"Capital!" said the old man, rubbing his hands delightedly. "He's the
+right sort, whatever."
+
+"And if you keep Thomas home a day or a week, you will have to write to
+the master about it," continued Hughie.
+
+"And what for, pray?" said the old man, hastily. "May I not
+keep--but--Yes, that's a very fine rule, too. It will keep the boys from
+the woods, I am thinking."
+
+"But think of big Murdie Cameron holding up his hand to ask leave to
+speak to Bob Fraser!"
+
+"And why not indeed? If he's not too big to be in school he's not too
+big for that. Man alive! you should have seen the master in my school
+days lay the lads over the forms and warm their backs to them."
+
+"As big as Murdie?"
+
+"Ay, and bigger. And what's more, he would send for them to their homes,
+and bring them strapped to a wheel-barrow. Yon was a master for you!"
+
+Hughie snorted. "Huh! I tell you what, we wouldn't stand that. And we
+won't stand this man either."
+
+"And what will you be doing now, Hughie?" quizzed the old man.
+
+"Well," said Hughie, reddening at the sarcasm, "I will not do much, but
+the big boys will just carry him out."
+
+"And who will be daring to do that, Hughie?"
+
+"Well, Murdie, and Bob Fraser, and Curly Ross, and Don, and--and Thomas,
+there," added Hughie, fearing to hurt Thomas' feelings by leaving him
+out.
+
+"Ay," said the old man, shutting his lips tight on his pipestem and
+puffing with a smacking noise, "let me catch Thomas at that!"
+
+"And I would help, too," said Hughie, valiantly, fearing he had exposed
+his friend, and wishing to share his danger.
+
+"Well, your father would be seeing to that," said the old man, with
+great satisfaction, feeling that Hughie's discipline might be safely
+left in the minister's hands.
+
+There was a pause of a few moments, and then a quiet voice inquired
+gently, "He will be a very big man, Hughie, I suppose."
+
+"Oh, just ordinary," said Hughie, innocently, turning to Mrs. Finch.
+
+"Oh, then, they will not be requiring you and Thomas, I am thinking, to
+carry him out." At which Hughie and Billy Jack and Jessac laughed aloud,
+but Thomas and his father only looked stolidly into the fire.
+
+"Come, Thomas," said his mother, "take your fiddle a bit. Hughie will
+like a tune." There was no need of any further discussing the new
+master.
+
+But Thomas was very shy about his fiddle, and besides he was not in
+a mood for it; his father's words had rasped him. It took the united
+persuasions of Billy Jack and Jessac and Hughie to get the fiddle into
+Thomas' hands, but after a few tuning scrapes all shyness and moodiness
+vanished, and soon the reels and strathspeys were dropping from Thomas'
+flying fingers in a way that set Hughie's blood tingling. But when the
+fiddler struck into Money Musk, Billy Jack signed Jessac to him, and
+whispering to her, set her out on the middle of the floor.
+
+"Aw, I don't like to," said Jessac, twisting her apron into her mouth.
+
+"Come away, Jessac," said her mother, quietly, "do your best." And
+Jessac, laying aside shyness, went at her Highland reel with the same
+serious earnestness she gave to her tidying or her knitting. Daintily
+she tripped the twenty-four steps of that intricate, ancient dance of
+the Celt people, whirling, balancing, poising, snapping her fingers,
+and twinkling her feet in the true Highland style, till once more her
+father's face smoothed out its wrinkles, and beamed like a harvest moon.
+Hughie gazed, uncertain whether to allow himself to admire Jessac's
+performance, or to regard it with a boy's scorn, as she was only a
+girl. And yet he could not escape the fascination of the swift, rhythmic
+movement of the neat, twinkling feet.
+
+"Well done, Jessac, lass," said her father, proudly. "But what would the
+minister be saying at such frivolity?" he added, glancing at Hughie.
+
+"Huh! he can do it himself well enough," said Hughie, "and I tell you
+what, I only wish I could do it."
+
+"I'll show you," said Jessac, shyly, but for the first time in his life
+Hughie's courage failed, and though he would have given much to be able
+to make his feet twinkle through the mazes of the Highland reel, he
+could not bring himself to accept teaching from Jessac. If it had only
+been Thomas or Billy Jack who had offered, he would soon enough have
+been on the floor. For a moment he hesitated, then with a sudden
+inspiration, he cried, "All right. Do it again. I'll watch." But the
+mother said quietly, "I think that will do, Jessac. And I am afraid
+your father will be going with cold hands if you don't hurry with those
+mitts." And Jessac put up her lip with the true girl's grimace and went
+away for her knitting, to Hughie's disappointment and relief.
+
+Soon Billy Jack took down the tin lantern, pierced with holes into
+curious patterns, through which the candle-light rayed forth, and went
+out to bed the horses. In spite of protests from all the family, Hughie
+set forth with him, carrying the lantern and feeling very much the
+farmer, while Billy Jack took two pails of boiled oats and barley, with
+a mixture of flax-seed, which was supposed to give to the Finch's team
+their famous and superior gloss. When they returned from the stable they
+found in the kitchen Thomas, who was rubbing a composition of tallow and
+bees-wax into his boots to make them water-proof, and the mother, who
+was going about setting the table for the breakfast.
+
+"Too bad you have to go to bed, mother," said Billy Jack, struggling
+with his boot-jack. "You might just go on getting the breakfast, and
+what a fine start that would give you for the day."
+
+"You hurry, William John, to bed with that poor lad. What would his
+mother say? He must be fairly exhausted."
+
+"I'm not a bit tired," said Hughie, brightly, his face radiant with the
+delight of his new experiences.
+
+"You will need all your sleep, my boy," said the mother, kindly, "for
+we rise early here. But," she added, "you will lie till the boys are
+through with their work, and Thomas will waken you for your breakfast."
+
+"Indeed, no! I'm going to get up," announced Hughie.
+
+"But, Hughie," said Billy Jack, seriously, "if you and Thomas are going
+to carry out that man to-morrow, you will need a mighty lot of sleep
+to-night."
+
+"Hush, William John," said the mother to her eldest son, "you mustn't
+tease Hughie. And it's not good to be saying such things, even in fun,
+to boys like Thomas and Hughie."
+
+"That's true, mother, for they're rather fierce already."
+
+"Indeed, they are not that. And I am sure they will do nothing that will
+shame their parents."
+
+To this Hughie made no reply. It was no easy matter to harmonize the
+thought of his parents with the exploit of ejecting the master from the
+school, so he only said good night, and went off with the silent Thomas
+to bed. But in the visions of his head which haunted him the night long,
+racing horses and little girls with tossing curls and twinkling feet
+were strangely mingled with wild conflicts with the new master; and it
+seemed to him that he had hardly dropped off to sleep, when he was
+awake again to see Thomas standing beside him with a candle in his hand,
+announcing that breakfast was ready.
+
+"Have you been out to the stable?" he eagerly inquired, and Thomas
+nodded. In great disappointment and a little shamefacedly he made his
+appearance at the breakfast-table.
+
+It seemed to Hughie as if it must be still the night before, for it was
+quite dark outside. He had never had breakfast by candle-light before
+in his life, and he felt as if it all were still a part of his dreams,
+until he found himself sitting beside Billy Jack on a load of saw-logs,
+waving good by to the group at the door, the old man, whose face in the
+gray morning light had resumed its wonted severe look, the quiet, little
+dark-faced woman, smiling kindly at him and bidding him come again, and
+the little maid at her side with the dark ringlets, who glanced at him
+from behind the shelter of her mother's skirts, with shy boldness.
+
+As Hughie was saying his good bys, he was thinking most of the twinkling
+feet and the tossing curls, and so he added to his farewells, "Good
+by, Jessac. I'm going to learn that reel from you some day," and then,
+turning about, he straight-way forgot all about her and her reel, for
+Billy Jack's horses were pawing to be off, and rolling their solemn
+bells, while their breath rose in white clouds above their heads,
+wreathing their manes in hoary rime.
+
+"Git-ep, lads," said Billy Jack, hauling his lines taut and flourishing
+his whip. The bays straightened their backs, hung for a few moments
+on their tugs, for the load had frozen fast during the night, and then
+moved off at a smart trot, the bells solemnly booming out, and the
+sleighs creaking over the frosty snow.
+
+"Man!" said Hughie, enthusiastically, "I wish I could draw logs all
+winter."
+
+"It's not too bad a job on a day like this," assented Billy Jack. And
+indeed, any one might envy him the work on such a morning. Over the
+treetops the rays of the sun were beginning to shoot their rosy darts
+up into the sky, and to flood the clearing with light that sparkled and
+shimmered upon the frost particles, glittering upon and glorifying snow
+and trees, and even the stumps and fences. Around the clearing stood the
+forest, dark and still, except for the frost reports that now and then
+rang out like pistol shots. To Hughie, the early morning invested the
+forest with a new beauty and a new wonder. The dim light of the dawning
+day deepened the silence, so that involuntarily he hushed his voice in
+speaking, and the deep-toned roll of the sleigh-bells seemed to smite
+upon that dim, solemn quiet with startling blows. On either side
+the balsams and spruces, with their mantles of snow, stood like
+white-swathed sentinels on guard--silent, motionless, alert. Hughie
+looked to see them move as the team drove past.
+
+As they left the more open butternut ridge and descended into the depths
+of the big pine swamp, the dim light faded into deeper gloom, and Hughie
+felt as if he were in church, and an awe gathered upon him.
+
+"It's awful still," he said to Billy Jack in a low tone, and Billy Jack,
+catching the look in the boy's face, checked the light word upon his
+lips, and gazed around into the deep forest glooms with new eyes. The
+mystery and wonder of the forest had never struck him before. It had
+hitherto been to him a place for hunting or for getting big saw-logs.
+But to-day he saw it with Hughie's eyes, and felt the majesty of its
+beauty and silence. For a long time they drove without a word.
+
+"Say, it's mighty fine, isn't it?" he said, adopting Hughie's low tone.
+
+"Splendid!" exclaimed Hughie. "My! I could just hug those big trees.
+They look at me like--like your mother, don't they, or mine?" But this
+was beyond Billy Jack.
+
+"Like my mother?"
+
+"Yes, you know, quiet and--and--kind, and nice."
+
+"Yes," said Thomas, breaking in for the first time, "that's just it.
+They do look, sure enough, like my mother and yours. They have both got
+that look."
+
+"Git-ep!" said Billy Jack to his team. "These fellows'll be ketchin'
+something bad if we don't get into the open soon. Shouldn't wonder if
+they've got 'em already, making out their mothers like an old white
+pine. Git-ep, I say!"
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Hughie, "you know what I mean."
+
+"Not much I don't. But it don't matter so long as you're feelin' all
+right. This swamp's rather bad for the groojums."
+
+"What?" Hughie's eyes began to open wide as he glanced into the forest.
+
+"The groojums. Never heard of them things? They ketch a fellow in places
+like this when it's gettin' on towards midnight, and about daylight it's
+almost as bad."
+
+"What are they like?" asked Hughie, upon whom the spell of the forest
+lay.
+
+"Oh, mighty queer. Always crawl up on your back, and ye can't help
+twistin' round."
+
+Hughie glanced at Thomas and was at once relieved.
+
+"Oh, pshaw! Billy Jack, you can't fool me. I know you."
+
+"I guess you're safe enough now. They don't bother you much in the
+clearing," said Billy Jack, encouragingly.
+
+"Oh, fiddle! I'm not afraid."
+
+"Nobody is in the open, and especially in the daytime."
+
+"Oh, I don't care for your old groojums."
+
+"Guess you care more for your new boss yonder, eh?" said Billy Jack,
+nodding toward the school-house, which now came into view.
+
+"Oh," said Hughie, with a groan, "I just hate going to-day."
+
+"You'll be all right when you get there," said Billy Jack, cheerfully.
+"It's like goin' in swimmin'."
+
+Soon they were at the cross-roads.
+
+"Good by, Billy Jack," said Hughie, feeling as if he had been on a long,
+long visit. "I've had an awfully good time, and I'd like to go back with
+you."
+
+"Wish you would," said Billy Jack, heartily. "Come again soon. And don't
+carry out the master to-day. It looks like a storm; he might get cold."
+
+"He had better mind out, then," cried Hughie after Billy Jack, and set
+off with Thomas for the school. But neither Hughie nor Thomas had any
+idea of the thrilling experiences awaiting them in the Twentieth School
+before the week was done.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CRISIS
+
+
+The first days of that week were days of strife. Murdie Cameron and
+Bob Fraser and the other big boys succeeded in keeping in line with the
+master's rules and regulations. They were careful never to be late,
+and so saved themselves the degradation of bringing an excuse. But the
+smaller boys set themselves to make the master's life a burden, and
+succeeded beyond their highest expectations, for the master was quick
+of temper, and was determined at all costs to exact full and prompt
+obedience. There was more flogging done those first six days than during
+any six months of Archie Munro's rule. Sometimes the floggings amounted
+to little, but sometimes they were serious, and when those fell upon the
+smaller boys, the girls would weep and the bigger boys would grind their
+teeth and swear.
+
+The situation became so acute that Murdie Cameron and the big boys
+decided that they would quit the school. They were afraid the temptation
+to throw the master out would some day be more than they could bear,
+and for men who had played their part, not without credit, in the Scotch
+River fights, to carry out the master would have been an exploit hardly
+worthy of them. So, in dignified contempt of the master and his rules,
+they left the school after the third day.
+
+Their absence did not help matters much; indeed, the master appeared to
+be relieved, and proceeded to tame the school into submission. It was
+little Jimmie Cameron who precipitated the crisis. Jimmie's nose, upon
+which he relied when struggling with his snickers, had an unpleasant
+trick of failing him at critical moments, and of letting out explosive
+snorts of the most disturbing kind. He had finally been warned that upon
+his next outburst punishment would fall.
+
+It was Friday afternoon, the drowsy hour just before recess, while the
+master was explaining to the listless Euclid class the mysteries of the
+forty-seventh proposition, that suddenly a snort of unusual violence
+burst upon the school. Immediately every eye was upon the master, for
+all had heard and had noted his threat to Jimmie.
+
+"James, was that you, sir?"
+
+There was no answer, except such as could be gathered from Jimmie's very
+red and very shamed face.
+
+"James, stand up!"
+
+Jimmie wriggled to his feet, and stood a heap of various angles.
+
+"Now, James, you remember what I promised you? Come here, sir!"
+
+Jimmie came slowly to the front, growing paler at each step, and stood
+with a dazed look on his face, before the master. He had never been
+thrashed in all his life. At home the big brothers might cuff him
+good-naturedly, or his mother thump him on the head with her thimble,
+but a serious whipping was to him an unknown horror.
+
+The master drew forth his heavy black strap with impressive deliberation
+and ominous silence. The preparations for punishment were so elaborate
+and imposing that the big boys guessed that the punishment itself would
+not amount to much. Not so Jimmie. He stood numb with fear and horrible
+expectation. The master lifted up the strap.
+
+"James, hold out your hand!"
+
+Jimmie promptly clutched his hand behind his back.
+
+"Hold out your hand, sir, at once!" No answer.
+
+"James, you must do as you are told. Your punishment for disobedience
+will be much severer than for laughing." But Jimmie stood pale, silent,
+with his hands tight clasped behind his back.
+
+The master stepped forward, and grasping the little boy's arm, tried to
+pull his hand to the front; but Jimmie, with a roar like that of a young
+bull, threw himself flat on his face on the floor and put his hands
+under him. The school burst into a laugh of triumph, which increased the
+master's embarrassment and rage.
+
+"Silence!" he said, "or it will be a worse matter for some of you than
+for James."
+
+Then turning his attention to Jimmie, be lifted him from the floor and
+tried to pull out his hand. But Jimmie kept his arms folded tight across
+his breast, roaring vigorously the while, and saying over and over, "Go
+away from me! Go away from me, I tell you! I'm not taking anything to do
+with you."
+
+The big boys were enjoying the thing immensely. The master's rage was
+deepening in proportion. He felt it would never do to be beaten. His
+whole authority was at stake.
+
+"Now, James," he reasoned, "you see you are only making it worse for
+yourself. I cannot allow any disobedience in the school. You must hold
+out your hand."
+
+But Jimmie, realizing that he had come off best in the first round,
+stood doggedly sniffing, his arms still folded tight.
+
+"Now, James, I shall give you one more chance. Hold out your hand."
+
+Jimmie remained like a statue.
+
+Whack! came the heavy strap over his shoulders. At once Jimmie set up
+his refrain, "Go away from me, I tell you! I'm not taking anything to do
+with you!"
+
+Whack! whack! whack! fell the strap with successive blows, each heavier
+than the last. There was no longer any laughing in the school. The
+affair was growing serious. The girls were beginning to sob, and the
+bigger boys to grow pale.
+
+"Now, James, will you hold out your hand? You see how much worse you are
+making it for yourself," said the master, who was heartily sick of the
+struggle, which he felt to be undignified, and the result of which he
+feared was dubious.
+
+But Jimmie only kept up his cry, now punctuated with sobs,
+"I'm--not--taking--anything--to do--with--you."
+
+"Jimmie, listen to me," said the master. "You must hold out your hand. I
+cannot have boys refusing to obey me in this school." But Jimmie caught
+the entreaty in the tone, and knowing that the battle was nearly over,
+kept obstinately silent.
+
+"Well, then," said the master, suddenly, "you must take it," and lifting
+the strap, he laid it with such sharp emphasis over Jimmie's shoulders
+that Jimmie's voice rose in a wilder roar than usual, and the girls
+burst into audible weeping.
+
+Suddenly, above all the hubbub, rose a voice, clear and sharp.
+
+"Stop!" It was Thomas Finch, of all people, standing with face white and
+tense, and regarding the master with steady eyes.
+
+The school gazed thunderstruck at the usually slow and stolid Thomas.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" said the master, gladly turning from Jimmie.
+But Thomas stood silent, as much surprised as the master at his sudden
+exclamation.
+
+He stood hesitating for a moment, and then said, "You can thrash me in
+his place. He's a little chap, and has never been thrashed."
+
+The master misunderstood his hesitation for fear, pushed Jimmie aside,
+threw down his strap, and seized a birch rod.
+
+"Come forward, sir! I'll put an end to your insubordination, at any
+rate. Hold out your hand!"
+
+Thomas held out his hand till the master finished one birch rod.
+
+"The other hand, sir!"
+
+Another birch rod was used up, but Thomas neither uttered a sound nor
+made a move till the master had done, then he asked, in a strained
+voice, "Were you going to give Jimmie all that, sir?"
+
+The master caught the biting sneer in the tone, and lost himself
+completely.
+
+"Do you dare to answer me back?" he cried. He opened his desk, took out
+a rawhide, and without waiting to ask for his hand, began to lay the
+rawhide about Thomas's shoulders and legs, till he was out of breath.
+
+"Now, perhaps you will learn your place, sir," he said.
+
+"Thank you," said Thomas, looking him steadily in the eye.
+
+"You are welcome. And I'll give you as much more whenever you show that
+you need it." The slight laugh with which he closed this brutal speech
+made Thomas wince as he had not during his whole terrible thrashing, but
+still he had not a word to say.
+
+"Now, James, come here!" said the master, turning to Jimmie. "You see
+what happens when a boy is insubordinate." Jimmie came trembling. "Hold
+out your hand!" Out came Jimmie's hand at once. Whack! fell the strap.
+
+"The other!"
+
+"Stop it!" roared Thomas. "I took his thrashing."
+
+"The other!" said the master, ignoring Thomas.
+
+With a curious savage snarl Thomas sprung at him. The master, however,
+was on the alert, and swinging round, met him with a straight facer
+between the eyes, and Thomas went to the floor.
+
+"Aha! my boy! I'll teach you something you have yet to learn."
+
+For answer came another cry, "Come on, boys!" It was Ranald Macdonald,
+coming over the seats, followed by Don Cameron, Billy Ross, and some
+smaller boys. The master turned to meet them.
+
+"Come along!" he said, backing up to his desk. "But I warn you it's not
+a strap or a rawhide I shall use."
+
+Ranald paid no attention to his words, but came straight toward him, and
+when at arm's length, sprung at him with the cry, "Horo, boys!"
+
+But before he could lay his hands upon the master, he received a blow
+straight on the bridge of the nose that staggered him back, stunned and
+bleeding. By this time Thomas was up again, and rushing in was received
+in like manner, and fell back over a bench.
+
+"How do you like it, boys?" smiled the master. "Come right along."
+
+The boys obeyed his invitation, approaching him, but more warily, and
+awaiting their chance to rush. Suddenly Thomas, with a savage snarl,
+put his head down and rushed in beneath the master's guard, paid no
+attention to the heavy blow he received on the head, and locking his
+arms round the master's middle, buried his head close into his chest.
+
+At once Ranald and Billy Ross threw themselves upon the struggling pair
+and carried them to the floor, the master underneath. There was a few
+moments of fierce struggling, and then the master lay still, with the
+four boys holding him down for dear life.
+
+It was Thomas who assumed command.
+
+"Don't choke him so, Ranald," he said. "And clear out of the way, all
+you girls and little chaps."
+
+"What are you going to do, Thomas?" asked Don, acknowledging Thomas's
+new-born leadership.
+
+"Tie him up," said Thomas. "Get me a sash."
+
+At once two or three little boys rushed to the hooks and brought one or
+two of the knitted sashes that hung there, and Thomas proceeded to tie
+the master's legs.
+
+While he was thus busily engaged, a shadow darkened the door, and a
+voice exclaimed, "What is all this about?" It was the minister, who
+had been driving past and had come upon the terrified, weeping children
+rushing home.
+
+"Is that you, Thomas? And you, Don?"
+
+The boys let go their hold and stood up, shamed but defiant.
+
+Immediately the master was on his feet, and with a swift, fierce blow,
+caught Thomas on the chin. Thomas, taken off his guard, fell with a thud
+on the floor.
+
+"Stop that, young man!" said the minister, catching his arm. "That's a
+coward's blow."
+
+"Hands off!" said the master, shaking himself free and squaring up to
+him.
+
+"Ye would, would ye?" said the minister, gripping him by the neck and
+shaking him as he might a child. "Lift ye're hand to me, would ye?
+I'll break you're back to ye, and that I will." So saying, the minister
+seized him by the arms and held him absolutely helpless. The master
+ceased to struggle, and put down his hands.
+
+"Ay, ye'd better, my man," said the minister, giving him a fling
+backward.
+
+Meantime Don had been holding snow to Thomas's head, and had brought him
+round.
+
+"Now, then," said the minister to the boys, "what does all this mean?"
+
+The boys were all silent, but the master spoke.
+
+"It is a case of rank and impudent insubordination, sir, and I demand
+the expulsion of those impudent rascals."
+
+"Well, sir," said the minister, "be sure there will be a thorough
+investigation, and I greatly misjudge the case if there are not faults
+on both sides. And for one thing, the man who can strike such a cowardly
+blow as you did a moment ago would not be unlikely to be guilty of
+injustice and cruelty."
+
+"It is none of your business," said the master, insolently.
+
+"You will find that I shall make it my business," said the minister.
+"And now, boys, be off to your homes, and be here Monday morning at nine
+o'clock, when this matter shall be gone into."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"ONE THAT RULETH WELL HIS OWN HOUSE"
+
+
+The news of the school trouble ran through the section like fire through
+a brule. The younger generations when they heard how Thomas Finch had
+dared the master, raised him at once to the rank of hero, but the heads
+of families received the news doubtfully, and wondered what the rising
+generation was coming to.
+
+The next day Billy Jack heard the story in the Twentieth store, and with
+some anxiety waited for the news to reach his father's ears, for to tell
+the truth, Billy Jack, man though he was, held his father in dread.
+
+"How did you come to do it?" he asked Thomas. "Why didn't you let Don
+begin? It was surely Don's business."
+
+"I don't know. It slipped out," replied Thomas. "I couldn't stand
+Jimmie's yelling any longer. I didn't know I said anything till I found
+myself standing up, and after that I didn't seem to care for anything."
+
+"Man! it was fine, though," said Billy Jack. "I didn't think it was in
+you." And Thomas felt more than repaid for all his cruel beating. It was
+something to win the approval of Billy Jack in an affair of this kind.
+
+It was at church on the Sabbath day that Donald Finch heard about his
+son's doings in the school the week before. The minister, in his sermon,
+thought fit to dwell upon the tendency of the rising generation to
+revolt against authority in all things, and solemnly laid upon parents
+the duty and responsibility of seeing to it that they ruled their
+households well.
+
+It was not just the advice that Donald Finch stood specially in need of,
+but he was highly pleased with the sermon, and was enlarging upon it
+in the churchyard where the people gathered between the services, when
+Peter McRae, thinking that old Donald was hardly taking the minister's
+advice to himself as he ought, and not knowing that the old man was
+ignorant of all that had happened in the school, answered him somewhat
+severely.
+
+"It is good to be approving the sermon, but I would rather be seeing you
+make a practical application of it."
+
+"Indeed, that is true," replied Donald, "and it would not be amiss for
+more than me to make application of it."
+
+"Indeed, then, if all reports be true," replied Peter, "it would be well
+for you to begin at home."
+
+"Mr. McRae," said Donald, earnestly, "it is myself that knows well
+enough my shortcomings, but if there is any special reason for your
+remark, I am not aware of it."
+
+This light treatment of what to Peter had seemed a grievous offense
+against all authority incensed the old dominie beyond all endurance.
+
+"And do you not think that the conduct of your son last week calls for
+any reproof? And is it you that will stand up and defend it in the face
+of the minister and his sermon upon it this day?"
+
+Donald gazed at him a few moments as if he had gone mad. At length he
+replied, slowly, "I do not wish to forget that you are an elder of the
+church, Mr. McRae, and I will not be charging you with telling lies on
+me and my family--"
+
+"Tut, tut, man," broke in Long John Cameron, seeing how the matter
+stood; "he's just referring to yon little difference Thomas had with the
+master last week. But it's just nothing. Come away in."
+
+"Thomas?" gasped Donald. "My Thomas?"
+
+"You have not heard, then," said Peter, in surprise, and old Donald only
+shook his head.
+
+"Then it's time you did," replied Peter, severely, "for such things are
+a disgrace to the community."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Long John. "Not a bit of it! I think none the less of
+Thomas for it." But in matters of this kind Long John could hardly be
+counted an authority, for it was not so very long ago since he had been
+beguiled into an affair at the Scotch River which, while it brought
+him laurels at the hands of the younger generation, did not add to his
+reputation with the elders of the church.
+
+It did not help matters much that Murdie Cameron and others of his set
+proceeded to congratulate old Donald, in their own way, upon his son's
+achievement, and with all the more fervor that they perceived that it
+moved the solemn Peter to righteous wrath. From one and another the tale
+came forth with embellishments, till Donald Finch was reduced to such a
+state of voiceless rage and humiliation that when, at the sound of the
+opening psalm the congregation moved into the church for the Gaelic
+service, the old man departed for his home, trembling, silent, amazed.
+
+How Thomas could have brought this disgrace upon him, he could not
+imagine. If it had been William John, who, with all his good nature, had
+a temper brittle enough, he would not have been surprised. And then the
+minister's sermon, of which he had spoken in such open and enthusiastic
+approval, how it condemned him for his neglect of duty toward his
+family, and held up his authority over his household to scorn. It was a
+terrible blow to his pride.
+
+"It is the Lord's judgment upon me," he said to himself, as he tramped
+his way through the woods. "It is the curse of Eli that is hanging over
+me and mine." And with many vows he resolved that, at all costs, he
+would do his duty in this crisis and bring Thomas to a sense of his
+sins.
+
+It was in this spirit that he met his family at the supper-table, after
+their return from the Gaelic service.
+
+"What is this I hear about you, Thomas?" he began, as Thomas came in and
+took his place at the table. "What is this I hear about you, sir?" he
+repeated, making a great effort to maintain a calm and judicial tone.
+
+Thomas remained silent, partly because he usually found speech
+difficult, but chiefly because he dreaded his father's wrath.
+
+"What is this that has become the talk of the countryside and the
+disgrace of my name?" continued the father, in deepening tones.
+
+"No very great disgrace, surely," said Billy Jack, lightly, hoping to
+turn his father's anger.
+
+"Be you silent, sir!" commanded the old man, sternly. "I will ask for
+your opinion when I require it. You and others beside you in this house
+need to learn your places."
+
+Billy Jack made no reply, fearing to make matters worse, though he found
+it hard not to resent this taunt, which he knew well was flung at his
+mother.
+
+"I wonder at you, Thomas, after such a sermon as yon. I wonder you are
+able to sit there unconcerned at this table. I wonder you are not hiding
+your head in shame and confusion." The old man was lashing himself into
+a white rage, while Thomas sat looking stolidly before him, his slow
+tongue finding no words of defense. And indeed, he had little thought of
+defending himself. He was conscious of an acute self-condemnation, and
+yet, struggling through his slow-moving mind there was a feeling that in
+some sense he could not define, there was justification for what he had
+done.
+
+"It is not often that Thomas has grieved you," ventured the mother,
+timidly, for, with all her courage, she feared her husband when he was
+in this mood.
+
+"Woman, be silent!" blazed forth the old man, as if he had been waiting
+for her words. "It is not for you to excuse his wickedness. You are too
+fond of that work, and your children are reaping the fruits of it."
+
+Billy Jack looked up quickly as if to answer, but his mother turned her
+face full upon him and commanded him with steady eyes, giving, herself,
+no sign of emotion except for a slight tightening of the lips and a
+touch of color in her face.
+
+"Your children have well learned their lesson of rebellion and deceit,"
+continued her husband, allowing his passion a free rein. "But I vow unto
+the Lord I will put an end to it now, whatever. And I will give you
+to remember, sir," turning to Thomas, "to the end of your days, this
+occasion. And now, hence from this table. Let me not see your face till
+the Sabbath is past, and then, if the Lord spares me, I shall deal with
+you."
+
+Thomas hesitated a moment as if he had not quite taken in his father's
+words, then, leaving his supper untouched, he rose slowly, and without
+a word climbed the ladder to the loft. The mother followed him a moment
+with her eyes, and then once more turning to Billy Jack, held him with
+calm, steady gaze. Her immediate fear was for her eldest son. Thomas,
+she knew, would in the mean time simply suffer what might be his lot,
+but for many a day she had lived in terror of an outbreak between
+her eldest son and her husband. Again Billy Jack caught her look, and
+commanded himself to silence.
+
+"The fire is low, William John," she said, in a quiet voice. Billy Jack
+rose, and from the wood-box behind the stove, replenished the fire,
+reading perfectly his mother's mind, and resolving at all costs to do
+her will.
+
+At the taking of the books that night the prayer, which was spoken in a
+tone of awful and almost inaudible solemnity, was for the most part an
+exaltation of the majesty and righteousness of the government of God,
+and a lamentation over the wickedness and rebellion of mankind. And
+Billy Jack thought it was no good augury that it closed with a petition
+for grace to maintain the honor of that government, and to uphold that
+righteous majesty in all the relations of life. It was a woeful evening
+to them all, and as soon as possible the household went miserably to
+bed.
+
+Before going to her room the mother slipped up quietly to the loft and
+found Thomas lying in his bunk, dressed and awake. He was still puzzling
+out his ethical problem. His conscience clearly condemned him for his
+fight with the master, and yet, somehow he could not regret having stood
+up for Jimmie and taken his punishment. He expected no mercy at his
+father's hands next morning. The punishment he knew would be cruel
+enough, but it was not the pain that Thomas was dreading; he was dimly
+struggling with the sense of outrage, for ever since the moment he had
+stood up and uttered his challenge to the master, he had felt himself to
+be different. That moment now seemed to belong to the distant years
+when he was a boy, and now he could not imagine himself submitting to
+a flogging from any man, and it seemed to him strange and almost
+impossible that even his father should lift his hand to him.
+
+"You are not sleeping, Thomas," said his mother, going up to his bunk.
+
+"No, mother."
+
+"And you have had no supper at all."
+
+"I don't want any, mother."
+
+The mother sat silent beside him for a time, and then said, quietly,
+"You did not tell me, Thomas."
+
+"No, mother, I didn't like."
+
+"It would have been better that your father should have heard this
+from--I mean, should have heard it at home. And--you might have told me,
+Thomas."
+
+"Yes, mother, I wish now I had. But, indeed, I can't understand how it
+happened. I don't feel as if it was me at all." And then Thomas told his
+mother all the tale, finishing his story with the words, "And I couldn't
+help it, mother, at all."
+
+The mother remained silent for a little, and then, with a little tremor
+in her voice, she replied: "No, Thomas, I know you couldn't help it, and
+I--" here her voice quite broke--"I am not ashamed of you."
+
+"Are you not, mother?" said Thomas, sitting up suddenly in great
+surprise. "Then I don't care. I couldn't make it out well."
+
+"Never you mind, Thomas, it will be well," and she leaned over him and
+kissed him. Thomas felt her face wet with tears, and his stolid reserve
+broke down.
+
+"Oh, mother, mother, I don't care now," he cried, his breath coming in
+great sobs. "I don't care at all." And he put his arms round his mother,
+clinging to her as if he had been a child.
+
+"I know, laddie, I know," whispered his mother. "Never you fear, never
+fear." And then, as if to herself, she added, "Thank the Lord you are
+not a coward, whatever."
+
+Thomas found himself again without words, but he held his mother fast,
+his big body shaking with his sobs.
+
+"And, Thomas," she continued, after a pause, "your father--we must just
+be patient." All her life long this had been her struggle. "And--and--he
+is a good man." Her tears were now flowing fast, and her voice had quite
+lost its calm.
+
+Thomas was alarmed and distressed. He had never in all his life seen his
+mother weep, and rarely had heard her voice break.
+
+"Don't, mother," he said, growing suddenly quiet himself. "Don't you
+mind, mother. It'll be all right, and I'm not afraid."
+
+"Yes," she said, rising and regaining her self-control, "it will be all
+right, Thomas. You go to sleep." And there were such evident reserves of
+strength behind her voice that Thomas lay down, certain that all would
+be well. His mother had never failed him.
+
+The mother went downstairs with the purpose in her heart of having a
+talk with her husband, but Donald Finch knew her ways well, and had
+resolved that he would have no speech with her upon the matter, for he
+knew that it would be impossible for him to persevere in his intention
+to "deal with" Thomas, if he allowed his wife to have any talk with him.
+
+The morning brought the mother no opportunity of speech with her
+husband. He, contrary to his custom, remained until breakfast in his
+room. Outside in the kitchen, he could hear Billy Jack's cheerful tones
+and hearty laugh, and it angered him to think that his displeasure
+should have so little effect upon his household. If the house had
+remained shrouded in gloom, and the family had gone about on tiptoes
+and with bated breath, it would have shown no more than a proper
+appreciation of the father's displeasure; but as Billy Jack's cheerful
+words and laughter fell upon his ear, he renewed his vows to do his duty
+that day in upholding his authority, and bringing to his son a due sense
+of his sin.
+
+In grim silence he ate his breakfast, except for a sharp rebuke to
+Billy Jack, who had been laboring throughout the meal to make cheerful
+conversation with Jessac and his mother. At his father's rebuke Billy
+Jack dropped his cheerful tone, and avoiding his mother's eyes, he
+assumed at once an attitude of open defiance, his tones and words
+plainly offering to his father war, if war he would have.
+
+"You will come to me in the room after breakfast," said his father, as
+Thomas rose to go to the stable.
+
+"There's a meeting of the trustees at nine o'clock at the school-house
+at which Thomas must be present," interposed Billy Jack, in firm, steady
+tones.
+
+"He may go when I have done with him," said his father, angrily, "and
+meantime you will attend to your own business."
+
+"Yes, sir, I will that!" Billy Jack's response came back with fierce
+promptness.
+
+The old man glanced at him, caught the light in his eyes, hesitated a
+moment, and then, throwing all restraint to the winds, thundered out,
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"What I say. I am going to attend to my own business, and that soon."
+Billy Jack's tone was quick, eager, defiant.
+
+Again the old man hesitated, and then replied, "Go to it, then."
+
+"I am going, and I am going to take Thomas to that meeting at nine
+o'clock."
+
+"I did not know that you had business there," said the old man,
+sarcastically.
+
+"Then you may know it now," blazed forth Billy Jack, "for I am going.
+And as sure as I stand here, I will see that Thomas gets fair play there
+if he doesn't at home, if I have to lick every trustee in the section."
+
+"Hold your peace, sir!" said his father, coming nearer him. "Do not give
+me any impertinence, and do not accuse me of unfairness."
+
+"Have you heard Thomas's side of the story?" returned Billy Jack.
+
+"I have heard enough, and more than enough."
+
+"You haven't heard both sides."
+
+"I know the truth of it, whatever, the shameful and disgraceful truth of
+it. I know that the country-side is ringing with it. I know that in the
+house of God the minister held up my family to the scorn of the people.
+And I vowed to do my duty to my house."
+
+The old man's passion had risen to such a height that for a moment
+Billy Jack quailed before it. In the pause that followed the old man's
+outburst the mother came to her son.
+
+"Hush, William John! You are not to forget yourself, nor your duty to
+your father and to me. Thomas will receive full justice in this matter."
+There was a quiet strength and dignity in her manner that commanded
+immediate attention from both men.
+
+The mother went on in a low, even voice, "Your father has his duty to
+perform, and you must not take upon yourself to interfere."
+
+Billy Jack could hardly believe his ears. That his mother should desert
+him, and should support what he knew she felt to be injustice and
+tyranny, was more than he could understand. No less perplexed was her
+husband.
+
+As they stood there looking at each other, uncertain as to the next
+step, there came a knock at the back door. The mother went to open it,
+pausing on her way to push back some chairs and put the room to rights,
+thus allowing the family to regain its composure.
+
+"Good morning, Mrs. Finch. You will be thinking I have slept in your
+barn all night." It was Long John Cameron.
+
+"Come away in, Mr. Cameron. It is never too early for friends to come to
+this house," said Mrs. Finch, her voice showing her great relief.
+
+Long John came in, glanced shrewdly about, and greeted Mr. Finch with
+great heartiness.
+
+"It's a fine winter day, Mr. Finch, but it looks as if we might have a
+storm. You are busy with the logs, I hear."
+
+Old Donald was slowly recovering himself.
+
+"And a fine lot you are having," continued Long John. "I was just saying
+the other day that it was wonderful the work you could get through."
+
+"Indeed, it is hard enough to do anything here," said Donald Finch, with
+some bitterness.
+
+"You may say so," responded Long John, cheerfully. "The snow is that
+deep in the bush, and--"
+
+"You were wanting to see me, Mr. Cameron," interrupted Donald. "I have a
+business on hand which requires attention."
+
+"Indeed, and so have I. For it is--"
+
+"And indeed, it is just as well you and all should know it, for my
+disgrace is well known."
+
+"Disgrace!" exclaimed Long John.
+
+"Ay, disgrace. For is it not a disgrace to have the conduct of your
+family become the occasion of a sermon on the Lord's Day?"
+
+"Indeed, I did not think much of yon sermon, whatever," replied Long
+John.
+
+"I cannot agree with you, Mr. Cameron. It was a powerful sermon, and it
+was only too sorely needed. But I hope it will not be without profit to
+myself."
+
+"Indeed, it is not the sermon you have much need of," said Long John,
+"for every one knows what a--"
+
+"Ay, it is myself that needs it, but with the help of the Lord I will be
+doing my duty this morning."
+
+"And I am very glad to hear that," replied Long John, "for that is why I
+am come."
+
+"And what may you have to do with it?" asked the old man.
+
+"As to that, indeed," replied Long John, coolly, "I am not yet quite
+sure. But if I might ask without being too bold, what is the particular
+duty to which you are referring?"
+
+"You may ask, and you and all have a right to know, for I am about to
+visit upon my son his sins and shame."
+
+"And is it meaning to wheep him you are?"
+
+"Ay," said the old man, and his lips came fiercely together.
+
+"Indeed, then, you will just do no such thing this morning."
+
+"And by what right do you interfere in my domestic affairs?" demanded
+old Donald, with dignity. "Answer me that, Mr. Cameron."
+
+"Right or no right," replied Long John, "before any man lays a finger on
+Thomas there, he will need to begin with myself. And," he added, grimly,
+"there are not many in the county who would care for that job."
+
+Old Donald Finch looked at his visitor in speechless amazement. At
+length Long John grew excited.
+
+"Man alive!" he exclaimed, "it's a quare father you are. You may be
+thinking it disgrace, but the section will be proud that there is a boy
+in it brave enough to stand up for the weak against a brute bully." And
+then he proceeded to tell the tale as he had heard it from Don, with
+such strong passion and such rude vigor, that in spite of himself old
+Donald found his rage vanish, and his heart began to move within him
+toward his son.
+
+"And it is for that," cried Long John, dashing his fist into his open
+palm, "it is for that that you would punish your son. May God forgive
+me! but the man that lays a finger on Thomas yonder, will come into sore
+grief this day. Ay, lad," continued Long John, striding toward Thomas
+and gripping him by the shoulders with both hands, "you are a man, and
+you stood up for the weak yon day, and if you efer will be wanting a
+friend, remember John Cameron."
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Cameron," said old Donald, who was more deeply moved
+than he cared to show, "it maybe as you say. It maybe the lad was not so
+much in the wrong."
+
+"In the wrong?" roared Long John, blowing his nose hard. "In the wrong?
+May my boys ever be in the wrong in such a way!"
+
+"Well," said old Donald, "we shall see about this. And if Thomas has
+suffered injustice it is not his father will refuse to see him righted."
+And soon they were all off to the meeting at the school-house.
+
+Thomas was the last to leave the room. As usual, he had not been able
+to find a word, but stood white and trembling, but as he found himself
+alone with his mother, once more his stolid reserve broke down, and he
+burst into a strange and broken cry, "Oh, mother, mother," but he could
+get no further.
+
+"Never mind, laddie," said his mother, "you have borne yourself well,
+and your mother is proud of you."
+
+At the investigation held in the school-house, it became clear that,
+though the insubordination of both Jimmie and Thomas was undeniable, the
+provocation by the master had been very great. And though the minister,
+who was superintendent of instruction for the district, insisted that
+the master's authority must, at all costs, be upheld, such was the rage
+of old Donald Finch and Long John Cameron that the upshot was that the
+master took his departure from the section, glad enough to escape with
+bones unbroken.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FOXY
+
+
+After the expulsion of the master, the Twentieth School fell upon evil
+days, for the trustees decided that it would be better to try "gurl"
+teachers, as Hughie contemptuously called them; and this policy
+prevailed for two or three years, with the result that the big boys left
+the school, and with their departure the old heroic age passed away, to
+be succeeded by an age soft, law-abiding, and distinctly commercial.
+
+The spirit of this unheroic age was incarnate in the person of "Foxy"
+Ross. Foxy got his name, in the first instance, from the peculiar pinky
+red shade of hair that crowned his white, fat face, but the name stuck
+to him as appropriately descriptive of his tricks and his manners. His
+face was large, and smooth, and fat, with wide mouth, and teeth that
+glistened when he smiled. His smile was like his face, large, and
+smooth, and fat. His eyes, which were light gray--white, Hughie called
+them--were shifty, avoiding the gaze that sought to read them, or
+piercingly keen, according as he might choose.
+
+After the departure of the big boys, Foxy gradually grew in influence
+until his only rival in the school was Hughie. Foxy's father was the
+storekeeper in the Twentieth, and this brought within Foxy's reach
+possibilities of influence that gave him an immense advantage over
+Hughie. By means of bull's-eyes and "lickerish" sticks, Foxy could win
+the allegiance of all the smaller boys and many of the bigger ones,
+while with the girls, both big and small, his willingness to please
+and his smooth manners won from many affection, and from the rest
+toleration, although Betsy Dan Campbell asserted that whenever Foxy Ross
+came near her she felt something creeping up her backbone.
+
+With the teacher, too, Foxy was a great favorite. He gave her worshipful
+reverence and many gifts from his father's store, eloquent of his
+devotion. He was never detected in mischief, and was always ready to
+expose the misdemeanors of the other boys. Thus it came that Foxy was
+the paramount influence within the school.
+
+Outside, his only rival was Hughie, and at times Hughie's rivalry became
+dangerous. In all games that called for skill, activity, and reckless
+daring, Hughie was easily leader. In "Old Sow," "Prisoner's Base,"
+but especially in the ancient and noble game of "Shinny," Hughie shone
+peerless and supreme. Foxy hated games, and shinny, the joy of those
+giants of old, who had torn victory from the Sixteenth, and even from
+the Front one glorious year, was at once Foxy's disgust and terror. As
+a little boy, he could not for the life of him avoid turning his back to
+wait shuddering, with humping shoulders, for the enemy's charge, and in
+anything like a melee, he could not help jumping into the air at every
+dangerous stroke.
+
+And thus he brought upon himself the contempt even of boys much smaller
+than himself, who, under the splendid and heroic example of those who
+led them, had only one ambition, to get a whack at the ball, and
+this ambition they gratified on every possible occasion reckless of
+consequences. Hence, when the last of the big boys, Thomas Finch,
+against whose solid mass hosts had flung themselves to destruction,
+finally left the school, Foxy, with great skill, managed to divert the
+energies of the boys to games less violent and dangerous, and by means
+of his bull's-eyes and his liquorice, and his large, fat smile, he drew
+after him a very considerable following of both girls and boys.
+
+The most interesting and most successful of Foxy's schemes was the game
+of "store," which he introduced, Foxy himself being the storekeeper. He
+had the trader's genius for discovering and catering to the weaknesses
+of people, and hence his store became, for certain days of the week,
+the center of life during the recreation hours. The store itself was a
+somewhat pretentious successor to the little brush cabin with wide open
+front, where in the old days the boys used to gather, and lying upon
+piles of fragrant balsam boughs before the big blazing fire placed in
+front, used to listen to the master talk, and occasionally read.
+
+Foxy's store was built of slabs covered with thick brush, and set off
+with a plank counter and shelves, whereon were displayed his wares.
+His stock was never too large for his personal transportation, but its
+variety was almost infinite, bull's-eyes and liquorice, maple sugar
+and other "sweeties," were staples. Then, too, there were balls of gum,
+beautifully clear, which in its raw state Foxy gathered from the ends
+of the pine logs at the sawmill, and which, by a process of boiling and
+clarifying known only to himself, he brought to a marvelous perfection.
+
+But Foxy's genius did not confine itself to sweets. He would buy and
+sell and "swap" anything, but in swapping no bargain was ever completed
+unless there was money for Foxy in the deal. He had goods second-hand
+and new, fish-hooks and marbles, pot-metal knives with brass handles,
+slate-pencils that would "break square," which were greatly desired by
+all, skate-straps, and buckskin whangs.
+
+But Foxy's financial ability never displayed itself with more brilliancy
+than when he organized the various games of the school so as to have
+them begin and end with the store. When the river and pond were covered
+with clear, black ice, skating would be the rage, and then Foxy's store
+would be hung with skate-straps, and with cedar-bark torches, which
+were greatly in demand for the skating parties that thronged the pond
+at night. There were no torches like Foxy's. The dry cedar bark any one
+could get from the fences, but Foxy's torches were always well soaked
+in oil and bound with wire, and were prepared with such excellent skill
+that they always burned brighter and held together longer than any
+others. These cedar-bark torches Foxy disposed of to the larger boys
+who came down to the pond at night. Foxy's methods of finance were
+undoubtedly marked by ability, and inasmuch as his accounts were never
+audited, the profits were large and sure. He made it a point to purchase
+a certain proportion of his supplies from his father, who was proud of
+his son's financial ability, but whether his purchases always equaled
+his sales no one ever knew.
+
+If the pond and river were covered with snow, then Foxy would organize
+a deer-hunt, when all the old pistols in the section would be brought
+forth, and the store would display a supply of gun caps, by the
+explosion of which deadly ammunition the deer would be dropped in their
+tracks, and drawn to the store by prancing steeds whose trappings had
+been purchased from Foxy.
+
+When the interest in the deer-hunt began to show signs of waning, Foxy
+would bring forth a supply of gunpowder, for the purchase of which
+any boy who owned a pistol would be ready to bankrupt himself. In
+this Hughie took a leading part, although he had to depend upon the
+generosity of others for the thrilling excitement of bringing down his
+deer with a pistol-shot, for Hughie had never been able to save coppers
+enough to purchase a pistol of his own.
+
+But deer-hunting with pistols was forbidden by the teacher from the day
+when Hughie, in his eagerness to bring his quarry down, left his ramrod
+in his pistol, and firing at Aleck Dan Campbell at point-blank range,
+laid him low with a lump on the side of his head as big as a marble. The
+only thing that saved Aleck's life, the teacher declared, was his
+thick crop of black hair. Foxy was in great wrath at Hughie for his
+recklessness, which laid the deer-hunting under the teacher's ban, and
+which interfered seriously with the profits of the store.
+
+But Foxy was far too great a man to allow himself to be checked by any
+such misfortune as this. He was far too astute to attempt to defy the
+teacher and carry on the forbidden game, but with great ability he
+adapted the principles of deer-hunting to a game even more exciting and
+profitable. He organized the game of "Injuns," some of the boys being
+set apart as settlers who were to defend the fort, of which the store
+was the center, the rest to constitute the invading force of savages.
+
+The result was, that the trade in caps and gunpowder was brisker than
+ever, for not only was the powder needed for the pistols, but even
+larger quantities were necessary for the slow-matches which hissed their
+wrath at the approaching enemy, and the mounted guns, for which earthen
+ink-bottles did excellently, set out on a big stump to explode, to the
+destruction of scores of creeping redskins advancing through the bush,
+who, after being mutilated and mangled by these terrible explosions,
+were dragged into the camp and scalped. Foxy's success was phenomenal.
+The few pennies and fewer half-dimes and dimes that the boys had hoarded
+for many long weeks would soon have been exhausted had Hughie not
+wrecked the game.
+
+Hughie alone had no fear of Foxy, but despised him utterly. He had stood
+and yelled when those heroes of old, Murdie and Don Cameron, Curly Ross,
+and Ranald Macdonald, and last but not to be despised Thomas Finch, had
+done battle with the enemy from the Sixteenth or the Front, and he could
+not bring himself to acknowledge the leadership of Foxy Ross, for
+all his bull's-eyes and liquorice. Not but what Hughie yearned for
+bull's-eyes and liquorice with great yearning, but these could not atone
+to him for the loss out of his life of the stir and rush and daring of
+the old fighting days. And it galled him that the boys of the Sixteenth
+could flout the boys of the Twentieth in all places and on all occasions
+with impunity.
+
+But above all, it seemed to him a standing disgrace that the habitant
+teamsters from the north, who in former days found it a necessary and
+wise precaution to put their horses to a gallop as they passed the
+school, in order to escape with sleighs intact from the hordes that
+lined the roadway, now drove slowly past the very gate without an
+apparent tremor. But besides all this, he had an instinctive shrinking
+from Foxy, and sympathized with Betsy Dan in her creepy feeling whenever
+he approached. Hence he refused allegiance, and drew upon himself Foxy's
+jealous hatred.
+
+It was one of Foxy's few errors in judgment that, from his desire to
+humiliate Hughie and to bring him to a proper state of subjection,
+he succeeded in shutting him out from the leadership in the game
+of "Injuns," for Hughie promptly refused a subordinate position and
+withdrew, like Achilles, to his tent. But, unlike Achilles, though he
+sulked, he sulked actively, and to some purpose, for, drawing off with
+him his two faithful henchmen, "Fusie"--neither Hughie nor any one else
+ever knew another name for the little French boy who had drifted into
+the settlement and made his home with the MacLeods--and Davie "Scotch,"
+a cousin of Davie MacDougall, newly arrived from Scotland, he placed
+them in positions which commanded the store entrance, and waited until
+the settlers had all departed upon their expedition against the invading
+Indians. Foxy, with one or two smaller boys, was left in charge of the
+store waiting for trade.
+
+In a few moments Foxy's head appeared at the door, when, whiz! a
+snowball skinned his ear and flattened itself with a bang against the
+slabs.
+
+"Hold on there! Stop that! You're too close up," shouted Foxy, thinking
+that the invaders were breaking the rules of the game.
+
+Bang! a snowball from another quarter caught him fair in the neck.
+
+"Here, you fools, you! Stop that!" cried Foxy, turning in the direction
+whence the snowball came and dodging round to the side of the store.
+But this was Hughie's point of attack, and soon Foxy found that the only
+place of refuge was inside, whither he fled, closing the door after him.
+Immediately the door became a target for the hidden foe.
+
+Meantime, the Indian war was progressing, but now and again a settler
+would return to the fort for ammunition, and the moment he reached the
+door a volley of snowballs would catch him and hasten his entrance. Once
+in it was dangerous to come out.
+
+By degrees Hughie augmented his besieging force from the more
+adventurous settlers and Indians, and placed them in the bush
+surrounding the door.
+
+The war game was demoralized, but the new game proved so much more
+interesting that it was taken up with enthusiasm and prosecuted with
+vigor. It was rare sport. For the whole noon hour Hughie and his
+bombarding force kept Foxy and his friends in close confinement, from
+which they were relieved only by the ringing of the school bell, for at
+the sound of the bell Hughie and his men, having had their game, fled
+from Foxy's wrath to the shelter of the school.
+
+When Foxy appeared it was discovered that one eye was half shut, but the
+light that gleamed from the other was sufficiently baleful to give token
+of the wrath blazing within, and Hughie was not a little anxious to know
+what form Foxy's vengeance would take. But to his surprise, by the time
+recess had come Foxy's wrath had apparently vanished, and he was willing
+to treat Hughie's exploit in the light of a joke. The truth was, Foxy
+never allowed passion to interfere with business, and hence he resolved
+that he must swallow his rage, for he realized clearly that Hughie
+was far too dangerous as a foe, and that he might become exceedingly
+valuable as an ally. Within a week Hughie was Foxy's partner in
+business, enjoying hugely the privilege of dispensing the store goods,
+with certain perquisites that naturally attached to him as storekeeper.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+FOXY'S PARTNER
+
+
+It was an evil day for Hughie when he made friends with Foxy and became
+his partner in the store business, for Hughie's hoardings were never
+large, and after buying a Christmas present for his mother, according
+to his unfailing custom, they were reduced to a very few pennies indeed.
+The opportunities for investment in his new position were many and
+alluring. But all Hughie's soul went out in longing for a pistol which
+Foxy had among his goods, and which would fire not only caps, but powder
+and ball, and his longing was sensibly increased by Foxy generously
+allowing him to try the pistol, first at a mark, which Hughie hit, and
+then at a red squirrel, which he missed. By day Hughie yearned for this
+pistol, by night he dreamed of it, but how he might secure it for his
+own he did not know.
+
+Upon this point he felt he could not consult his mother, his usual
+counselor, for he had an instinctive feeling that she would not approve
+of his having a pistol in his possession; and as for his father, Hughie
+knew he would soon make "short work of any such folly." What would a
+child like Hughie do with a pistol? He had never had a pistol in all his
+life. It was difficult for the minister to realize that young Canada was
+a new type, and he would have been more than surprised had any one told
+him that already Hughie, although only twelve, was an expert with a gun,
+having for many a Saturday during the long, sunny fall roamed the woods,
+at first in company with Don, and afterwards with Don's gun alone, or
+followed by Fusie or Davie Scotch. There was thus no help for Hughie at
+home. The price of the pistol reduced to the lowest possible sum, was
+two dollars and a half, which Foxy declared was only half what he would
+charge any one else but his partner.
+
+"How much have you got altogether?" he asked Hughie one day, when Hughie
+was groaning over his poverty.
+
+"Six pennies and two dimes," was Hughie's disconsolate reply. He had
+often counted them over. "Of course," he went on, "there's my XL knife.
+That's worth a lot, only the point of the big blade's broken."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Foxy, "there's jist the stub left."
+
+"It's not!" said Hughie, indignantly. "It's more than half, then. And
+it's bully good stuff, too. It'll nick any knife in the school"; and
+Hughie dived into his pocket and pulled out his knife with a handful of
+boy's treasures.
+
+"Hullo!" said Foxy, snatching a half-dollar from Hughie's hand, "whose
+is that?"
+
+"Here, you, give me that! That's not mine," cried Hughie.
+
+"Whose is it, then?"
+
+"I don't know. I guess it's mother's. I found it on the kitchen floor,
+and I know it's mother's."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I know well enough. She often puts money on the window, and it fell
+down. Give me that, I tell you!" Hughie's eyes were blazing dangerously,
+and Foxy handed back the half-dollar.
+
+"O, all right. You're a pretty big fool," he said, indifferently.
+"'Losers seekers, finders keepers.' That's my rule."
+
+Hughie was silent, holding his precious half-dollar in his hand, deep in
+his pocket.
+
+"Say," said Foxy, changing the subject, "I guess you had better pay up
+for your powder and caps you've been firing."
+
+"I haven't been firing much," said Hughie, confidently.
+
+"Well, you've been firing pretty steady for three weeks."
+
+"Three weeks! It isn't three weeks."
+
+"It is. There's this week, and last week when the ink-bottle bust too
+soon and burnt Fusie's eyebrows, and the week before when you shot Aleck
+Dan, and it was the week before that you began, and that'll make it
+four."
+
+"How much?" asked Hughie, desperately, resolved to know the worst.
+
+Foxy had been preparing for this. He took down a slate-pencil box with a
+sliding lid, and drew out a bundle of crumbled slips which Hughie, with
+sinking heart, recognized as his own vouchers.
+
+"Sixteen pennies." Foxy had taken care of this part of the business.
+
+"Sixteen!" exclaimed Hughie, snatching up the bunch.
+
+"Count them yourself," said Foxy, calmly, knowing well he could count on
+Hughie's honesty.
+
+"Seventeen," said Hughie, hopelessly.
+
+"But one of those I didn't count," said Foxy, generously. "That's the
+one I gave you to try at the first. Now, I tell you," went on Foxy,
+insinuatingly, "you have got how much at home?" he inquired.
+
+"Six pennies and two dimes." Hughie's tone indicated despair.
+
+"You've got six pennies and two dimes. Six pennies and two dimes. That's
+twenty--that's thirty-two cents. Now if you paid me that thirty-two
+cents, and if you could get a half-dollar anywhere, that would be
+eighty-two. I tell you what I would do. I would let you have that pistol
+for only one dollar more. That ain't much," he said.
+
+"Only a dollar more," said Hughie, calculating rapidly. "But where would
+I get the fifty cents?" The dollar seemed at that moment to Hughie quite
+a possible thing, if only the fifty cents could be got. The dollar was
+more remote, and therefore less pressing.
+
+Foxy had an inspiration.
+
+"I tell you what. You borrow that fifty cents you found, and then you
+can pay me eighty-two cents, and--and--" he hesitated--"perhaps you will
+find some more, or something."
+
+Hughie's eyes were blazing with great fierceness.
+
+Foxy hastened to add, "And I'll let you have the pistol right off, and
+you'll pay me again some time when you can, the other dollar."
+
+Hughie checked the indignant answer that was at his lips. To have the
+pistol as his own, to take home with him at night, and to keep all
+Saturday--the temptation was great, and coming suddenly upon Hughie,
+was too much for him. He would surely, somehow, soon pay back the fifty
+cents, he argued, and Foxy would wait for the dollar. And yet that
+half-dollar was not his, but his mother's, and more than that, if he
+asked her for it, he was pretty sure she would refuse. But then, he
+doubted his mother's judgment as to his ability to use firearms, and
+besides, this pistol at that price was a great bargain, and any of the
+boys might pick it up. Poor Hughie! He did not know how ancient was that
+argument, nor how frequently it had done duty in smoothing the descent
+to the lower regions. The pistol was good to look at, the opportunity
+of securing it was such as might not occur again, and as for the
+half-dollar, there could be no harm in borrowing that for a little
+while.
+
+That was Foxy's day of triumph, but to Hughie it was the beginning of
+many woeful days and nights. And his misery came upon him swift and
+sure, in the very moment that he turned in from the road at the manse
+gate, for he knew that at the end of the lane would be his mother, and
+his winged feet, upon which he usually flew from the gate home, dragged
+heavily.
+
+He found his mother, not at the door, but in the large, pleasant
+living-room, which did for all kinds of rooms in the manse. It was
+dining-room and sewing-room, nursery and playroom, but it was always
+a good room to enter, and in spite of playthings strewn about, or
+snippings of cloth, or other stour, it was always a place of brightness
+and of peace, for it was there the mother was most frequently to be
+found. This evening she was at the sewing-machine busy with Hughie's
+Sunday clothes, with the baby asleep in the cradle beside her in spite
+of the din of the flying wheels, and little Robbie helping to pull
+through the long seam. Hughie shrank from the warm, bright, loving
+atmosphere that seemed to fill the room, hating to go in, but in a
+moment he realized that he must "make believe" with his mother, and the
+pain of it and the shame of it startled and amazed him. He was glad that
+his mother did not notice him enter, and by the time he had put away
+his books he had braced himself to meet her bright smile and her welcome
+kiss.
+
+The mother did not apparently notice his hesitation.
+
+"Well, my boy, home again?" she cried, holding out her hand to him with
+the air of good comradeship she always wore with him. "Are you very
+hungry?"
+
+"You bet!" said Hughie, kissing her, and glad of the chance to get away.
+
+"Well, you will find something pretty nice in the pantry we saved for
+you. Guess what."
+
+"Don't know."
+
+"I know," shouted Robbie. "Pie! It's muzzie's pie. Muzzie tept it for
+'oo."
+
+"Now, Robbie, you were not to tell," said his mother, shaking her finger
+at him.
+
+"O-o-o, I fordot," said Robbie, horrified at his failure to keep his
+promise.
+
+"Never mind. That's a lesson you will have to learn many times, how to
+keep those little lips shut. And the pie will be just as good."
+
+"Thank you, mother," said Hughie. "But I don't want your pie."
+
+"My pie!" said the mother. "Pie isn't good for old women."
+
+"Old women!" said Hughie, indignantly. "You're the youngest and
+prettiest woman in the congregation," he cried, and forgetting for the
+moment his sense of meanness, he threw his arms round his mother.
+
+"Oh, Hughie, shame on you! What a dreadful flatterer you are!" said his
+mother. "Now, run away to your pie, and then to your evening work, my
+boy, and we will have a good lesson together after supper."
+
+Hughie ran away, glad to get out of her presence, and seizing the pie,
+carried it out to the barn and hurled it far into the snow. He felt sure
+that a single bite of it would choke him.
+
+If he could only have seen Foxy any time for the next hour, how gladly
+would he have given him back his pistol, but by the time he had fed
+his cow and the horses, split the wood and carried it in, and prepared
+kindling for the morning's fires, he had become accustomed to his new
+self, and had learned his first lesson in keeping his emotions out of
+his face. But from that night, and through all the long weeks of the
+breaking winter, when games in the woods were impossible by reason
+of the snow and water, and when the roads were deep with mud, Hughie
+carried his burden with him, till life was one long weariness and dread.
+
+And through these days he was Foxy's slave. A pistol without ammunition
+was quite useless. Foxy's stock was near at hand. It was easy to write a
+voucher for a penny's worth of powder or caps, and consequently the pile
+in Foxy's pencil-box steadily mounted till Hughie was afraid to look at
+it. His chance of being free from his own conscience was still remote
+enough.
+
+During these days, too, Foxy reveled in his power over his rival, and
+ground his slave in bitter bondage, subjecting him to such humiliation
+as made the school wonder and Hughie writhe; and if ever Hughie showed
+any sign of resentment or rebellion, Foxy could tame him to groveling
+submission by a single word. "Well, I guess I'll go down to-night to see
+your mother," was all he needed to say to make Hughie grovel again.
+For with Hughie it was not the fear of his father's wrath and heavy
+punishment, though that was terrible enough, but the dread that his
+mother should know, that made him grovel before his tyrant, and wake at
+night in a cold sweat. His mother's tender anxiety for his pale face and
+gloomy looks only added to the misery of his heart.
+
+He had no one in whom he could confide. He could not tell any of the
+boys, for he was unwilling to lose their esteem, besides, it was none
+of their business; he was terrified of his father's wrath, and from his
+mother, his usual and unfailing resort in every trouble of his whole
+life, he was now separated by his terrible secret.
+
+Then Foxy began to insist upon payment of his debts. Spring was at hand,
+the store would soon be closed up, for business was slack in the summer,
+and besides, Foxy had other use for his money.
+
+"Haven't you got any money at all in your house?" Foxy sneered one day,
+when Hughie was declaring his inability to meet his debts.
+
+"Of course we have," cried Hughie, indignantly.
+
+"Don't believe it," said Foxy, contemptuously.
+
+"Father's drawer is sometimes full of dimes and half-dimes. At least,
+there's an awful lot on Mondays, from the collections, you know," said
+Hughie.
+
+"Well, then, you had better get some for me, somehow," said Foxy. "You
+might borrow some from the drawer for a little while."
+
+"That would be stealing," said Hughie.
+
+"You wouldn't mean to keep it," said Foxy. "You would only take it for a
+while. It would just be borrowing."
+
+"It wouldn't," said Hughie, firmly. "It's taking out of his drawer. It's
+stealing, and I won't steal."
+
+"Huh! you're mighty good all at once. What about that half-dollar?"
+
+"You said yourself that wasn't stealing," said Hughie, passionately.
+
+"Well, what's the difference? You said it was your mother's, and this is
+your father's. It's all the same, except that you're afraid to take your
+father's."
+
+"I'm not afraid. At least it isn't that. But it's different to take
+money out of a drawer, that isn't your own."
+
+"Huh! Mighty lot of difference! Money's money, wherever it is. Besides,
+if you borrowed this from your father, you could pay back your mother
+and me. You would pay the whole thing right off."
+
+Once more Hughie argued with himself. To be free from Foxy's hateful
+tyranny, and to be clear again with his mother--for that he would be
+willing to suffer almost anything. But to take money out of that drawer
+was awfully like stealing. Of course he would pay it back, and after all
+it would only be borrowing. Besides, it would enable him to repay what
+he owed to his mother and to Foxy. Through all the mazes of specious
+argument Hughie worked his way, arriving at no conclusion, except that
+he carried with him a feeling that if he could by some means get that
+money out of the drawer in a way that would not be stealing, it would be
+a vast relief, greater than words could tell.
+
+That night brought him the opportunity. His father and mother were away
+at the prayer meeting. There was only Jessie left in the house, and she
+was busy with the younger children. With the firm resolve that he would
+not take a single half-dime from his father's drawer, he went into the
+study. He would like to see if the drawer were open. Yes, it was open,
+and the Sabbath's collection lay there with all its shining invitation.
+He tried making up the dollar and a half out of the dimes and
+half-dimes. What a lot of half-dimes it took! But when he used the
+quarters and dimes, how much smaller the piles were. Only two quarters
+and five dimes made up the dollar, and the pile in the drawer looked
+pretty much the same as before. Another quarter-dollar withdrawn from
+the drawer made little difference. He looked at the little heaps on
+the table. He believed he could make Foxy take that for his whole debt,
+though he was sure he owed him more. Perhaps he had better make certain.
+He transferred two more dimes and a half-dime from the drawer to the
+table. It was an insignificant little heap. That would certainly clear
+off his whole indebtedness and make him a free man.
+
+He slipped the little heaps of money from the table into his pocket, and
+then suddenly he realized that he had never decided to take the money.
+The last resolve he could remember making was simply to see how the
+dollar and a half looked. Without noticing, he had passed the point of
+final decision. Alas! like many another, Hughie found the going easy and
+the slipping smooth upon the down incline. Unconsciously he had slipped
+into being a thief.
+
+Now he could not go back. His absorbing purpose was concealment. Quietly
+shutting the drawer, he was slipping hurriedly up to his own room, when
+on the stairway he met Jessie.
+
+"What are you doing here, Jessie?" he asked, sharply.
+
+"Putting Robbie off to bed," said Jessie, in surprise. "What's the
+matter with you?"
+
+"What's the matter?" echoed Hughie, smitten with horrible fear that
+perhaps she knew. "I just wanted to know," he said, weakly.
+
+He slipped past her, holding his pocket tight lest the coins should
+rattle. When he reached his room he stood listening in the dark to
+Jessie going down the stairs. He was sure she suspected something.
+He would go back and put the money in the drawer again, whenever she
+reached the kitchen. He stood there with his heart-beats filling his
+ears, waiting for the kitchen door to slam.
+
+Then he resolved he would wrap the money up in paper and put it safely
+away, and go down and see if Jessie knew. He found one of his old
+copybooks, and began tearing out a leaf. What a noise it made! Robbie
+would surely wake up, and then Jessie would come back with the light. He
+put the copy-book under the quilt, and holding it down firmly with one
+hand, removed the leaf with the other. With great care he wrapped up the
+dimes and half-dimes by themselves. They fitted better together. Then
+he took up the quarters, and was proceeding to fold them in a similar
+parcel, when he heard Jessie's voice from below.
+
+"Hughie, what are you doing?" She was coming up the stair.
+
+He jumped from the bed to go to meet her. A quarter fell on the floor
+and rolled under the bed. It seemed to Hughie as if it would never stop
+rolling, and as if Jessie must hear it. Wildly he scrambled on the
+floor in the dark, seeking for the quarter, while Jessie came nearer and
+nearer.
+
+"Are you going to bed already, Hughie?" she asked.
+
+Quickly Hughie went out to the hall to meet her.
+
+"Yes," he yawned, gratefully seizing upon her suggestion. "I'm awfully
+sleepy. Give me the candle, Jessie," he said, snatching it from her
+hand. "I want to go downstairs."
+
+"Hughie, you are very rude. What would your mother say? Let me have the
+candle immediately, I want to get Robbie's stockings."
+
+Hughie's heart stood still.
+
+"I'll throw them down, Jessie. I want the candle downstairs just a
+minute."
+
+"Leave that candle with me," insisted Jessie. "There's another on the
+dining-room table you can get."
+
+"I'll not be a minute," said Hughie, hurrying downstairs. "You come
+down, Jessie, I want to ask you something. I'll throw you Robbie's
+stockings."
+
+"Come back here, the rude boy that you are," said Jessie, crossly, "and
+bring me that candle."
+
+There was no reply. Hughie was standing, pale and shaking, in the
+dining-room, listening intently for Jessie's step. Would she go into his
+room, or would she come down? Every moment increased the agony of his
+fear.
+
+At length, with a happy inspiration, he went to the cupboard, opened the
+door noisily, and began rattling the dishes.
+
+"Mercy me!" he heard Jessie exclaim at the top of the stair. "That boy
+will be my death. Hughie," she called, "just shut that cupboard! You
+know your mother doesn't like you to go in there."
+
+"I only want a little," called out Hughie, still moving the dishes, and
+hearing, to his great relief, Jessie's descending step. In desperation
+he seized a dish of black currant preserves which he found on the
+cupboard shelf, and spilled it over the dishes and upon the floor just
+as Jessie entered the room.
+
+"Land sakes alive, boy! Will you never be done your mischief?" she
+cried, rushing toward him.
+
+"Oh!" he said, "I spilt it."
+
+"Spilt it!" echoed Jessie, indignantly, "you needn't be telling me that.
+Bring me a cloth from the kitchen."
+
+"I don't know where it is, Jessie," cried Hughie, slipping upstairs
+again with his candle.
+
+To his great relief he saw that Jessie's attention was so entirely taken
+up with removing the stains of the preserves from the cupboard shelves
+and dishes, that she for the moment forgot everything else, Robbie's
+stockings included.
+
+Hurrying to his room, and shading the candle with his hand lest the
+light should waken his little brother, he hastily seized the money upon
+the bed quilt, and after a few moments' searching under the bed, found
+the strayed quarter.
+
+With these in his hand he passed into his mother's room. Leaving the
+candle there, he came back to the head of the stairs and listened for
+a moment, with great satisfaction, to Jessie muttering to herself while
+she cleaned up the mess he had made. Then he turned, and with trembling
+fingers he swiftly made up the quarter-dollars into another parcel. With
+a great sigh of relief he put the two parcels in his pocket, and seizing
+his candle turned to leave the room. As he did so, he caught sight of
+himself in the glass. With a great shock of surprise he stood gazing at
+the terrified, white face, with the staring eyes.
+
+"What a fool I am!" he said, looking at himself in the glass. "Nobody
+will know, and I'll pay this back soon."
+
+His eyes wandered to a picture which stood on a little shelf beside the
+glass. It was a picture of his mother, the one he loved best of all he
+had ever seen of her.
+
+There was a sudden stab of pain at his heart, his breath came in a great
+sob. For a moment he looked into the eyes that looked back at him so
+full of love and reproach.
+
+"I won't do it," he said, grinding his teeth hard, and forthwith turned
+to go to his father's study.
+
+But as he left the room he saw Jessie half-way up the stairs.
+
+"What are you doing now?" she cried, wrathfully. "Up to some mischief, I
+doubt."
+
+With a sudden, inexplicable rage, Hughie turned toward her.
+
+"It's none of your business! You mind your own business, will you, and
+leave me alone." The terrible emotions of the last few minutes were at
+the back of his rage.
+
+"Just wait, you," said Jessie, "till your mother comes. Then you'll hear
+it."
+
+"You shut your mouth!" cried Hughie, his passion sweeping his whole
+being like a tempest. "You shut your mouth, you old cat, or I'll throw
+this candle at you." He raised the candle high in his hand as he spoke,
+and altogether looked so desperate that Jessie stood in terror lest he
+should make good his threat.
+
+"Stop, now, Hughie," she entreated. "You will be setting the house on
+fire."
+
+Hughie hesitated a moment, and then turned from her, and going into his
+room, banged the door in her face, and Jessie, not knowing what to make
+of it all, went slowly downstairs again, forgetting once more Robbie's
+stockings.
+
+"The old cat!" said Hughie to himself. "She just stopped me. I was going
+to put it back."
+
+The memory that he had resolved to undo his wrong brought him a curious
+sense of relief.
+
+"I was just going to put it back," he said, "when she had to interfere."
+
+He was conscious of a sense of injury against Jessie. It was not his
+fault that that money was not now in the drawer.
+
+"I'll put it back in the morning, anyhow," he said, firmly. But even as
+he spoke he was conscious of an infinality in his determination, while
+he refused to acknowledge to himself a secret purpose to leave the
+question open till the morning. But this determination, inconclusive
+though it was, brought him a certain calm of mind, so that when his
+mother came into his room she found him sound asleep.
+
+She stood beside his bed looking down upon him for a few moments, with
+face full of anxious sadness.
+
+"There's something wrong with the boy," she said to herself, stooping to
+kiss him. "There's something wrong with him," she repeated, as she left
+the room. "He's not the same."
+
+During these weeks she had been conscious that Hughie had changed in
+some way to her. The old, full, frank confidence was gone. There was
+a constraint in his manner she could not explain. "He is no longer
+a child," she would say to herself, seeking to allay the pain in her
+heart. "A boy must have his secrets. It is foolish in me to think
+anything else. Besides, he is not well. He is growing too fast." And
+indeed, Hughie's pale, miserable face gave ground enough for this
+opinion.
+
+"That boy is not well," she said to her husband.
+
+"Which boy?"
+
+"Hughie," she replied. "He is looking miserable, and somehow he is
+different."
+
+"Oh, nonsense! He eats well enough, and sleeps well enough," said her
+husband, making light of her fears.
+
+"There's something wrong," repeated his wife. "And he hates his school."
+
+"Well, I don't wonder at that," said her husband, sharply. "I don't see
+how any boy of spirit could take much pleasure in that kind of a school.
+The boys are just wasting their time, and worse than that, they have
+lost all the old spirit. I must see to it that the policy of those
+close-fisted trustees is changed. I am not going to put up with those
+chits of girls teaching any longer."
+
+"There may be something in what you say," said his wife, sadly, "but
+certainly Hughie is always begging to stay at home from school."
+
+"And indeed, he might as well stay home," answered her husband, "for all
+the good he gets."
+
+"I do wish we had a good man in charge," replied his wife, with a great
+sigh. "It is very important that these boys should have a good, strong
+man over them. How much it means to a boy at Hughie's time of life! But
+so few are willing to come away into the backwoods here for so small a
+salary."
+
+Suddenly her husband laid down his pipe.
+
+"I have it!" he exclaimed. "The very thing! Wouldn't this be the very
+thing for young Craven. You remember, the young man that Professor
+MacLauchlan was writing about."
+
+His wife shook her head very decidedly.
+
+"Not at all," she said. "Didn't Professor MacLauchlan say he was
+dissipated?"
+
+"O, just a little wild. Got going with some loose companions. Out here
+there would be no temptation."
+
+"I am not at all sure of that," said his wife, "and I would not like
+Hughie to be under his influence."
+
+"MacLauchlan says he is a young man of fine disposition and of fine
+parts," argued her husband, "and if temptation were removed from him he
+believes he would turn out a good man."
+
+Mrs. Murray shook her head doubtfully. "He is not the man to put Hughie
+under just now."
+
+"What are we to do with Hughie?" replied her husband. "He is getting no
+good in the school as it is, and we cannot send him away yet."
+
+"Send him away!" exclaimed his wife. "No, no, not a child like that."
+
+"Craven might be a very good man," continued her husband. "He might
+perhaps live with us. I know you have more than enough to do now," he
+added, answering her look of dismay, "but he would be a great help to
+Hughie with his lessons, and might start him in his classics. And then,
+who knows what you might make of the young man."
+
+Mrs. Murray did not respond to her husband's smile, but only replied,
+"I am sure I wish I knew what is the matter with the boy, and I wish he
+could leave school for a while."
+
+"O, the boy is all right," said her husband, impatiently. "Only a little
+less noisy, as far as I can see."
+
+"No, he is not the same," replied his wife. "He is different to me."
+There was almost a cry of pain in her voice.
+
+"Now, now, don't imagine things. Boys are full of notions at Hughie's
+age. He may need a change, but that is all."
+
+With this the mother tried to quiet the tumult of anxious fear and pain
+she found rising in her heart, but long after the house was still, and
+while both her boy and his father lay asleep, she kept pouring forth
+that ancient sacrifice of self-effacing love before the feet of God.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HUGHIE'S EMANCIPATION
+
+
+Hughie rose late next morning, and the hurry and rush of getting off to
+school in time left him no opportunity to get rid of the little packages
+in his pocket, that seemed to burn and sting him through his clothes. He
+determined to keep them safe in his pocket all day and put them back in
+the drawer at night. His mother's face, white with her long watching,
+and sad and anxious in spite of its brave smile, filled him with such
+an agony of remorse that, hurrying through his breakfast, he snatched a
+farewell kiss, and then tore away down the lane lest he should be forced
+to confess all his terrible secret.
+
+The first person who met him in the school-yard was Foxy.
+
+"Have you got that?" was his salutation.
+
+A sudden fury possessed Hughie.
+
+"Yes, you red-headed, sneaking fox," he answered, "and I hope it will
+bring you the curse of luck, anyway."
+
+Foxy hurried him cautiously behind the school, with difficulty
+concealing his delight while Hughie unrolled his little bundles and
+counted out the quarters and dimes and half dimes into his hand.
+
+"There's a dollar, and there's a quarter, and--and--there's another," he
+added, desperately, "and God may kill me on the spot if I give you any
+more!"
+
+"All right, Hughie," said Foxy, soothingly, putting the money into his
+pocket. "You needn't be so mad about it. You bought the pistol and the
+rest right enough, didn't you?"
+
+"I know I did, but--but you made me, you big, sneaking thief--and then
+you--" Hughie's voice broke in his rage. His face was pale, and his
+black eyes were glittering with fierce fury, and in his heart he was
+conscious of a wild longing to fall upon Foxy and tear him to pieces.
+And Foxy, big and tall as he was, glanced at Hughie's face, and saying
+not a word, turned and fled to the front of the school where the other
+boys were.
+
+Hughie followed slowly, his heart still swelling with furious rage, and
+full of an eager desire to be at Foxy's smiling, fat face.
+
+At the school door stood Miss Morrison, the teacher, smiling down
+upon Foxy, who was looking up at her with an expression of such sweet
+innocence that Hughie groaned out between his clenched teeth, "Oh, you
+red-headed devil, you! Some day I'll make you smile out of the other
+side of your big, fat mouth."
+
+"Who are you swearing at?" It was Fusie.
+
+"Oh, Fusie," cried Hughie, "let's get Davie and get into the woods. I'm
+not going in to-day. I hate the beastly place, and the whole gang of
+them."
+
+Fusie, the little, harum-scarum French waif was ready for anything in
+the way of adventure. To him anything was better than the even monotony
+of the school routine. True, it might mean a whipping both from the
+teacher and from Mrs. McLeod; but as to the teacher's whipping, Fusie
+was prepared to stand that for a free day in the woods, and as to the
+other, Fusie declared that Mrs. McLeod's whipping "wouldn't hurt a
+skeeter."
+
+To Davie Scotch, however, playing truant was a serious matter. He had
+been reared in an atmosphere of reverence for established law and order,
+but when Hughie gave command, to Davie there seemed nothing for it but
+to obey.
+
+The three boys watched till the school was called, and then crawling
+along on their stomachs behind the heavy cedar-log fence, they slipped
+into the balsam thicket at the edge of the woods and were safe. Here
+they flung down their schoolbags, and lying prone upon the fragrant bed
+of pine-needles strewn thickly upon the moss, they peered out through
+the balsam boughs at the house of their bondage with an exultant sense
+of freedom and a feeling of pity, if not of contempt, for the unhappy
+and spiritless creatures who were content to be penned inside any house
+on such a day as this, and with such a world outside.
+
+For some minutes they rolled about upon the soft moss and balsam-needles
+and the brown leaves of last year, till their hearts were running over
+with a deep and satisfying delight. It is hard to resist the ministry of
+the woods. The sympathetic silence of the trees, the aromatic airs
+that breathe through the shady spaces, the soft mingling of broken
+lights--these all combine to lay upon the spirit a soothing balm, and
+bring to the heart peace. And Hughie, sensitive at every pore to that
+soothing ministry, before long forgot for a time even Foxy, with his
+fat, white face and smiling mouth, and lying on the broad of his back,
+and looking up at the far-away blue sky through the interlacing branches
+and leaves, he began to feel again that it was good to be alive, and
+that with all his misery there were compensations.
+
+But any lengthened period of peaceful calm is not for boys of the age
+and spirit of Hughie and his companions.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Fusie, the man of adventure.
+
+"Do nothing," said Hughie from his supine position. "This is good enough
+for me."
+
+"Not me," said Fusie, starting to climb a tall, lithe birch, while
+Hughie lazily watched him. Soon Fusie was at the top of the birch, which
+began to sway dangerously.
+
+"Try to fly into that balsam," cried Hughie.
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"Can't do it."
+
+"Oh, pshaw! you can."
+
+"No, nor you either. That's a mighty big jump."
+
+"Come on down, then, and let me try," said Hughie, in scorn. His
+laziness was gone in the presence of a possible achievement.
+
+In a few minutes he had taken Fusie's place a the top of the swaying
+birch. It did not look so easy from the top of the birch as from the
+ground to swing into the balsam-tree. However, he could not go back now.
+
+"Dinna try it, Hughie!" cried Davie to him. "Ye'll no mak it, and ye'll
+come an awfu' cropper, as sure as deith." But Hughie, swaying gently
+back and forth, was measuring the distance of his drop. It was not
+a feat so very difficult, but it called for good judgment and steady
+nerve. A moment too soon or a moment too late in letting go, would mean
+a nasty fall of twenty feet or more upon the solid ground, and one never
+knew just how one would light.
+
+"I wudna dae it, Hughie," urged Davie, anxiously.
+
+But Hughie, swaying high in the birch, heeded not the warning, and
+suddenly swinging out from the slender trunk and holding by his hands,
+he described a parabola, and releasing the birch dropped on to the
+balsam top. But balsam-trees are of uncertain fiber, and not to be
+relied upon, and this particular balsam, breaking off short in Hughie's
+hands, allowed him to go crashing through the branches to the earth.
+
+"Man! man!" cried Davie Scotch, bending over Hughie as he lay white
+and still upon the ground. "Are ye deid? Maircy me! he's deid," sobbed
+Davie, wringing his hands. "Fusie, Fusie, ye gowk! where are ye gone?"
+
+In a moment or two Fusie reappeared through the branches with a capful
+of water, and dashed it into Hughie's face, with the result that the lad
+opened his eyes, and after a gasp or two, sat up and looked about him.
+
+"Och, laddie, laddie, are ye no deid?" said Davie Scotch.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Scottie?" asked Hughie, with a bewildered
+look about him. "And who's been throwing water all over me?" he added,
+wrathfully, as full consciousness returned.
+
+"Man! I'm glad to see ye mad. Gang on wi' ye," shouted Davie, joyously.
+"Ye were deid the noo. Ay, clean deid. Was he no, Fusie?" Fusie nodded.
+
+"I guess not," said Hughie. "It was that rotten balsam top," looking
+vengefully at the broken tree.
+
+"Lie doon, man," said Davie, still anxiously hovering about him. "Dinna
+rise yet awhile."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Hughie, and he struggled to his feet; "I'm all right."
+But as he spoke he sank down upon the moss, saying, "I feel kind of
+queer, though."
+
+"Lie still, then, will ye," said Davie, angrily. "Ye're fair obstinate."
+
+"Get me some water, Fusie," said Hughie, rather weakly.
+
+"Run, Fusie, ye gomeril, ye!"
+
+In a minute Fusie was back with a capful of water.
+
+"That's better. I'm all right now," said Hughie, sitting up.
+
+"Hear him!" said Davie. "Lie ye doon there, or I'll gie ye a crack
+that'll mak ye glad tae keep still."
+
+For half an hour the boys lay on the moss discussing the accident fully
+in all its varying aspects and possibilities, till the sound of wheels
+came up the road.
+
+"Who's that, Fusie?" asked Hughie, lazily.
+
+"Dunno me," said Fusie, peering through the trees.
+
+"Do you, Scotty?"
+
+"No, not I."
+
+Hughie crawled over to the edge of the brush.
+
+"Why, you idiots! it's Thomas Finch. Thomas!" he called, but Thomas
+drove straight on. In a moment Hughie sprang up, forgetting all about
+his weakness, and ran out to the roadside.
+
+"Hello, Thomas!" he cried, waving his hand. Thomas saw him, stopped, and
+looked at him, doubtfully. He, with all the Section, knew how the school
+was going, and he easily guessed what took Hughie there.
+
+"I'm not going to school to-day," said Hughie, answering Thomas's look.
+
+Thomas nodded, and sat silent, waiting. He was not a man to waste his
+words.
+
+"I hate the whole thing!" exclaimed Hughie.
+
+"Foxy, eh?" said Thomas, to whom on other occasions Hughie had confided
+his grievances, and especially those he suffered at the hands of Foxy.
+
+"Yes, Foxy," cried Hughie, in a sudden rage. "He's a fat-faced sneak!
+And the teacher just makes me sick!"
+
+Thomas still waited.
+
+"She just smiles and smiles at him, and he smiles at her. Ugh! I can't
+stand him."
+
+"Not much harm in smiling," said Thomas, solemnly.
+
+"Oh, Thomas, I hate the school. I'm not going to go any more."
+
+Thomas looked gravely down upon Hughie's passionate face for a few
+moments, and then said, "You will do what your mother wants you, I
+guess."
+
+Hughie said nothing in reply, while Thomas sat pondering.
+
+Finally he said, with a sudden inspiration, "Hughie, come along with me,
+and help me with the potatoes."
+
+"They won't let me," grumbled Hughie. "At least father won't. I don't
+like to ask mother."
+
+Thomas's eyes opened in surprise. This was a new thing in Hughie.
+
+"I'll ask your mother," he said, at length. "Get in with me here."
+
+Still Hughie hesitated. To get away from school was joy enough, to go
+with Thomas to the potato planting was more than could be hoped for. But
+still he stood making pictures in the dust with his bare toes.
+
+"There's Fusie," he said, "and Davie Scotch."
+
+"Well," said Thomas, catching sight of those worthies through the trees,
+"let them come, too."
+
+Fusie was promptly willing, but Davie was doubtful. He certainly would
+not go to the manse, where he might meet the minister, and meeting the
+minister's wife under the present circumstances was a little worse.
+
+"Well, you can wait at the gate with Fusie," suggested Hughie, and so
+the matter was settled.
+
+Fortunately for Hughie, his father was not at home. But not Thomas's
+earnest entreaties nor Hughie's eager pleading would have availed with
+the mother, for attendance at school was a sacred duty in her eyes, had
+it not been that her boy's face, paler than usual, and with the dawning
+of a new defiance in it, startled her, and confirmed in her the fear
+that all was not well with him.
+
+"Well, Thomas, he may go with you to the Cameron's for the potatoes, but
+as to going with you to the planting, that is another thing. Your mother
+is not fit to be troubled with another boy, and especially a boy like
+Hughie. And how is she to-day, Thomas?" continued Mrs. Murray, as Thomas
+stood in dull silence before her.
+
+"She's better," said Thomas, answering more quickly than usual, and with
+a certain eagerness in his voice. "She's a great deal better, and Hughie
+will do her no harm, but good."
+
+Mrs. Murray looked at Thomas as he spoke, wondering at the change in his
+voice and manner. The heavy, stolid face had changed since she had last
+seen it. It was finer, keener, than before. The eyes, so often dull,
+were lighted up with a new, strange fire.
+
+"She's much better," said Thomas again, as if insisting against Mrs.
+Murray's unbelief.
+
+"I am glad to hear it, Thomas," she said, gently. "She will soon
+be quite well again, I hope, for she has had a long, long time of
+suffering."
+
+"Yes, a long, long time," replied Thomas. His face was pale, and in his
+eyes was a look of pain, almost of fear.
+
+"And you will come to see her soon?" he added. There was almost a
+piteous entreaty in his tone.
+
+"Yes, Thomas, surely next week. And meantime, I shall let Hughie go with
+you."
+
+A look of such utter devotion poured itself into Thomas's eyes that
+Mrs. Murray was greatly moved, and putting her hand on his shoulder,
+she said, gently, "'He will give His angels charge.' Don't be afraid,
+Thomas."
+
+"Afraid!" said Thomas, with a kind of gasp, his face going white.
+"Afraid! No. Why?" But Mrs. Murray turned from him to hide the tears
+that she could not keep out of her eyes, for she knew what was before
+Thomas and them all.
+
+Meantime Hughie was busy putting into his little carpet-bag what he
+considered the necessary equipment for his visit.
+
+"You must wear your shoes, Hughie."
+
+"Oh, mother, shoes are such an awful bother planting potatoes. They get
+full of ground and everything."
+
+"Well, put them in your bag, at any rate, and your stockings, too. You
+may need them."
+
+By degrees Hughie's very moderate necessities were satisfied, and with a
+hurried farewell to his mother he went off with Thomas. At the gate they
+picked up Fusie and Davie Scotch, and went off to the Cameron's for the
+seed potatoes, Hughie's heart lighter than it had been for many a day.
+And all through the afternoon, and as he drove home with Thomas on
+the loaded bags, his heart kept singing back to the birds in the trees
+overhead.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when they drove into the yard, for the
+roads were still bad in the swamp, where the corduroy had been broken up
+by the spring floods.
+
+Thomas hurried through unhitching, and without waiting to unharness
+he stood the horses in their stalls, saying, "We may need them this
+afternoon again," and took Hughie off to the house straight-way.
+
+The usual beautiful order pervaded the house and its surroundings.
+The back yard, through which the boys came from the barn, was free
+of litter; the chips were raked into neat little piles close to the
+wood-pile, for summer use. On a bench beside the "stoop" door was a row
+of milk-pans, lapping each other like scales on a fish, glittering
+in the sun. The large summer kitchen, with its spotless floor and
+white-washed walls, stood with both its doors open to the sweet air that
+came in from the fields above, and was as pleasant a room to look
+in upon as one could desire. On the sill of the open window stood
+a sweet-scented geranium and a tall fuschia with white and crimson
+blossoms hanging in clusters. Bunches of wild flowers stood on the
+table, on the dresser, and up beside the clock, and the whole room
+breathed of sweet scents of fields and flowers, and "the name of the
+chamber was peace."
+
+Beside the open window sat the little mother in an arm-chair, the
+embodiment of all the peaceful beauty and sweet fragrance of the room.
+
+"Well, mother," said Thomas, crossing the floor to her and laying his
+hand upon her shoulder, "have I been long away? I have brought Hughie
+back with me, you see."
+
+"Not so very long, Thomas," said the mother, her dark face lighting with
+a look of love as she glanced up at her big son. "And I am glad to see
+Hughie. He will excuse me from rising," she added, with fine courtesy.
+
+Hughie hurried toward her.
+
+"Yes, indeed, Mrs. Finch. Don't think of rising." But he could get no
+further. Boy as he was, and at the age when boys are most heartless and
+regardless, he found it hard to keep his lip and his voice steady and to
+swallow the lump in his throat, and in spite of all he could do his eyes
+were filling up with tears as he looked into the little woman's face, so
+worn and weary, so pathetically bright.
+
+It was months since he had seen her, and during these months a great
+change had come to her and to the Finch household. After suffering long
+in secret, the mother had been forced to confess to a severe pain in
+her breast and under her arm. Upon examination the doctor pronounced the
+case to be malignant cancer, and there was nothing for it but removal.
+It was what Dr. Grant called "a very beautiful operation, indeed," and
+now she was recovering her strength, but only slowly, so slowly that
+Thomas at times found his heart sink with a vague fear. But it was not
+the pain of the wound that had wrought that sweet, pathetic look into
+the little woman's face, but the deeper pain she carried in her heart
+for those she loved better than herself.
+
+The mother's sickness brought many changes into the household, but the
+most striking of all the changes was that wrought in the slow and
+stolid Thomas. The father and Billy Jack were busy with the farm matters
+outside, upon little Jessac, now a girl of twelve years, fell the care
+of the house, but it was Thomas that, with the assistance of a neighbor
+at first, but afterwards alone, waited on his mother, dressing the wound
+and nursing her. These weeks of watching and nursing had wrought in him
+the subtle change that stirred Mrs. Murray's heart as she looked at him
+that day, and that made even Hughie wonder. For one thing his tongue
+was loosed, and Thomas talked to his mother of all that he had seen and
+heard on the way to the Cameron's and back, making much of his little
+visit to the manse, and of Mrs. Murray's kindness, and enlarging upon
+her promised visit, and all with such brightness and picturesqueness
+of speech that Hughie listened amazed. For all the years he had known
+Thomas he had never heard from his lips so many words as in the last few
+minutes of talk with his mother. Then, too, Thomas seemed to have found
+his fingers, for no woman could have arranged more deftly and with
+gentler touch the cushions at his mother's back, and no nurse could have
+measured out the medicine and prepared her egg-nog with greater skill.
+Hughie could hardly believe his eyes and ears. Was this Thomas the
+stolid, the clumsy, the heavy-handed, this big fellow with the quick
+tongue and the clever, gentle hand?
+
+Meantime Jessac had set upon the table a large pitcher of rich milk,
+with oat cakes and butter, and honey in the comb.
+
+"Now, Hughie, lad, draw in and help yourself. You and Thomas will be
+too hungry to wait for supper," said the mother. And Hughie, protesting
+politely that he was not very hungry, proceeded to establish the
+contrary, to the great satisfaction of himself and the others.
+
+"Now, Thomas," said the mother, "we had better cut the seed."
+
+"Indeed, and not a seed will you cut, mother," said Thomas,
+emphatically. "You may boss the job, though. I'll bring the potatoes to
+the back door." And this he did, thinking it no trouble to hitch up the
+team to draw the wagon into the back yard so that his mother might have
+a part in the cutting of the seed potatoes, as she had had every year of
+her life on the farm.
+
+Very carefully, and in spite of her protests that she could walk quite
+well, Thomas carried his mother out to her chair in the shade of the
+house, arranging with tender solicitude the pillows at her back and the
+rug at her feet. Then they set to work at the potatoes.
+
+"Mind you have two eyes in every seed, Hughie," said Jessac, severely.
+
+"Huh! I know. I've cut them often enough," replied Hughie, scornfully.
+
+"Well, look at that one, now," said Jessac, picking up a seed that
+Hughie had let fall; "that's only got one eye."
+
+"There's two," said Hughie, triumphantly.
+
+"That's not an eye," said Jessac, pointing to a mark on the potato;
+"that's where the top grew out of, isn't it, mother?"
+
+"It is, isn't it?" appealed Hughie.
+
+Mrs. Finch took the seed and looked at it.
+
+"Well, there's one very good eye, and that will do."
+
+"But isn't that the mark of the top, mother?" insisted Jessac. But the
+mother only shook her head at her.
+
+"That's right, Jessac," said Thomas, driving off with his team; "you
+look after Hughie, and mother will look after you both till I get back,
+and there'll be a grand crop this year."
+
+It was a happy hour for them all. The slanting rays of the afternoon
+sun filled the air with a genial warmth. A little breeze bore from the
+orchard near by a fragrance of apple-blossoms. A matronly hen, tethered
+by the leg to her coop, raised indignant protest against the outrage on
+her personal liberty, or clucked and crooned her invitations, counsels,
+warnings, and encouragements, in as many different tones, to her
+independent, fluffy brood of chicks, while a huge gobbler strutted
+up and down, thrilling with pride in the glossy magnificence of his
+outspread tail and pompous, mighty chest.
+
+Hughie was conscious of a deep and grateful content, but across his
+content lay a shadow. If only that would lift! As he watched Thomas with
+his mother, he realized how far he had drifted from his own mother, and
+he thought with regret of the happy days, which now seemed so far in
+the past, when his mother had shared his every secret. But for him those
+days could never come again.
+
+At supper, Hughie was aware of some subtle difference in the spirit of
+the home. As to Thomas so to his father a change had come. The old man
+was as silent as ever, indeed more so, but there was no asperity in his
+silence. His critical, captious manner was gone. His silence was that
+of a great sorrow, and of a great fear. While there was more cheerful
+conversation than ever at the table, there was through all a new respect
+and a certain tender consideration shown toward the silent old man at
+the head, and all joined in an effort to draw him from his gloom. The
+past months of his wife's suffering had bowed him as with the weight of
+years. Even Hughie could note this.
+
+After supper the old man "took the Books" as usual, but when, as High
+Priest, he "ascended the Mount of Ordinances to offer the evening
+sacrifice," he was as a man walking in thick darkness bewildered and
+afraid. The prayer was largely a meditation on the heinousness of sin
+and the righteous judgments of God, and closed with an exaltation of the
+Cross, with an appeal that the innocent might be spared the punishment
+of the guilty. The conviction had settled in the old man's mind that
+"the Lord was visiting upon him and his family his sins, his pride, his
+censoriousness, his hardness of heart." The words of his prayer fell
+meaningless upon Hughie's English ears, but the boy's heart quivered
+in response to the agony of entreaty in the pleading tones, and he rose
+from his knees awed and subdued.
+
+There was no word spoken for some moments after the prayer. With people
+like the Finches it was considered to be an insult to the Almighty to
+depart from "the Presence" with any unseemly haste. Then Thomas came to
+help his mother to her room, but she, with her eyes upon her husband,
+quietly put Thomas aside and said, "Donald, will you tak me ben?"
+
+Rarely had she called him by his name before the family, and all felt
+that this was a most unusual demonstration of tenderness on her part.
+
+The old man glanced quickly at her from under his overhanging eyebrows,
+and met her bright upward look with an involuntary shake of the head and
+a slight sigh. Comfort was not for him, and he must not delude
+himself. But with a little laugh she put her hand on his arm, and as if
+administering reproof to a little child, she said some words in Gaelic.
+
+"Oh, woman, woman!" said Donald in reply, "if it was yourself we had to
+deal with--"
+
+"Whisht, man! Will you be putting me before your Father in heaven?" she
+said, as they disappeared into the other room.
+
+There was no fiddle that evening. There was no heart for it with
+Thomas, neither was there time, for there was the milking to do, and the
+"sorting" of the pails and pans, and the preparing for churning in the
+morning, so that when all was done, the long evening had faded into the
+twilight and it was time for bed.
+
+Before going upstairs, Thomas took Hughie into "the room" where his
+mother's bed had been placed. Thomas gave her her medicine and made her
+comfortable for the night.
+
+"Is there nothing else now, mother?" he said, still lingering about her.
+
+"No, Thomas, my man. How are the cows doing?"
+
+"Grand; Blossom filled a pail to-night, and Spotty almost twice. She's a
+great milker, yon."
+
+"Yes, and so was her mother. I remember she used to fill two pails when
+the grass was good."
+
+"I remember her, too. Her horns curled right back, didn't they? And she
+always looked so fierce."
+
+"Yes, but she was a kindly cow. And will the churn be ready for the
+morning?"
+
+"Yes, mother, we'll have buttermilk for our porridge, sure enough."
+
+"Well, you'll need to be up early for that, too early, Thomas, lad, for
+a boy like you."
+
+"A boy like me!" said Thomas, feigning indignation, and stretching
+himself to his full height. "Where would you be getting your men,
+mother?"
+
+"You are man enough, laddie," said his mother, "and a good one you will
+come to be, I doubt. And you, too, Hughie, lad," she added, turning to
+him. "You will be like your father."
+
+"I dunno," said Hughie, his face flushing scarlet. He was weary and sick
+of his secret, and the sight of the loving comradeship between Thomas
+and his mother made his burden all the heavier.
+
+"What's wrong with yon laddie?" asked Mrs. Finch, when Hughie had gone
+away to bed.
+
+"Now, mother, you're too sharp altogether. And how do you know anything
+is wrong with him?"
+
+"I warrant you his mother sees it. Something is on his mind. Hughie is
+not the lad he used to be. He will not look at you straight, and that is
+not like Hughie."
+
+"Oh, mother, you're a sharp one," said Thomas. "I thought no one had
+seen that but myself. Yes, there is something wrong with him. It's
+something in the school. It's a poor place nowadays, anyway, and I wish
+Hughie were done with it."
+
+"He must keep at the school, Thomas, and I only wish you could do the
+same." His mother sighed. She had her own secret ambition for Thomas,
+and though she never opened her heart to her son, or indeed to any one,
+Thomas somehow knew that it was her heart's desire to see him "in the
+pulpit."
+
+"Never you mind, mother," he said, brightly. "It'll all come right.
+Aren't you always the one preaching faith to me?"
+
+"Yes, laddie, and it is needed, and sorely at times."
+
+"Now, mither," said Thomas, dropping into her native speech, "ye mauna
+be fashin' yersel. Ye'll jist say 'Now I lay me,' and gang to sleep like
+a bairnie."
+
+"Ay, that's a guid word, laddie, an' a'll tak it. Ye may kiss me guid
+nicht. A'll tak it."
+
+Thomas bent over her and whispered in her ear, "Ay, mither, mither,
+ye're an angel, and that ye are."
+
+"Hoots, laddie, gang awa wi' ye," said his mother, but she held her arms
+about his neck and kissed him once and again. There was no one to see,
+and why should they not give and take their heart's fill of love.
+
+But when Thomas stood outside the room door, he folded his arms tight
+across his breast and whispered with lips that quivered, "Ay, mither,
+mither, mither, there's nane like ye. There's nane like ye." And he was
+glad that when he went upstairs, he found Hughie unwilling to talk.
+
+The next three days they were all busy with the planting of the
+potatoes, and nothing could have been better for Hughie. The sweet,
+sunny air, and the kindly, wholesome earth and honest hard work were
+life and health to mind and heart and body. It is wonderful how the
+touch of the kindly mother earth cleanses the soul from its unwholesome
+humors. The hours that Hughie spent in working with the clean, red earth
+seemed somehow to breathe virtue into him. He remembered the past months
+like a bad dream. They seemed to him a hideous unreality, and he could
+not think of Foxy and his schemes, nor of his own weakness in yielding
+to temptation, without a horrible self-loathing. He became aware of a
+strange feeling of sympathy and kinship with old Donald Finch. He seemed
+to understand his gloom. During those days their work brought those two
+together, for Billy Jack had the running of the drills, and to Thomas
+was intrusted the responsibility of "dropping" the potatoes, so Hughie
+and the old man undertook to "cover" after Thomas.
+
+Side by side they hoed together, speaking not a word for an hour at a
+time, but before long the old man appeared to feel the lad's sympathy.
+Hughie was quick to save him steps, and eager in many ways to anticipate
+his wishes. He was quick, too, with the hoe, and ambitious to do his
+full share of the work, and this won the old man's respect, so that
+by the end of the first day there was established between them a solid
+basis of friendship.
+
+Old Donald Finch was no cheerful companion for Hughie, but it was to
+Hughie a relief, more than anything else, that he was not much with
+either Thomas or Billy Jack.
+
+"You're tired," he ventured, in answer to a deep sigh from the old man,
+toward the close of the day.
+
+"No, laddie," replied the old man, "I know not that I am working. The
+burden of toil is the least of all our burdens." And then, after a
+pause, he added, "It is a terrible thing, is sin."
+
+To an equal in age the old man would never have ventured this
+confidence, but to Hughie, to his own surprise, he found it easy to
+talk.
+
+"A terrible thing," he repeated, "and it will always be finding you
+out."
+
+Hughie listened to him with a fearful sinking of heart, thinking of
+himself and his sin.
+
+"Yes," repeated the old man, with awful solemnity, "it will come up with
+you at last."
+
+"But," ventured Hughie, timidly, "won't God forgive? Won't he ever
+forget?"
+
+The old man looked at him, leaning upon his hoe.
+
+"Yes, he will forgive. But for those who have had great privileges, and
+who have sinned against light--I will not say."
+
+The fear deepened in Hughie's heart.
+
+"Do you mean that God will not forgive a man who has had a good chance,
+an elder, or a minister, or--or--a minister's son, say, like me?"
+
+There was something in Hughie's tone that startled the old man. He
+glanced at Hughie's face.
+
+"What am I saying?" he cried. "It is of myself I am thinking, boy, and
+of no minister or minister's son."
+
+But Hughie stood looking at him, his face showing his terrible anxiety.
+God and sin were vivid realities to him.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the old man to himself, "it is a great gospel. 'As far
+as the east is distant from the west.' 'And plenteous redemption is ever
+found with him.'"
+
+"But, do you think," said Hughie, in a low voice, "God will tell all our
+sins? Will he make them known?"
+
+"God forbid!" cried the old man. "'And their sins and their iniquities
+will I remember no more.' 'The depths of the sea.' No, no, boy, he will
+surely forget, and he will not be proclaiming them."
+
+It was a strange picture. The old man leaning upon the top of his
+hoe looking over at the lad, the gloom of his face irradiated with a
+momentary gleam of hope, and the boy looking back at him with almost
+breathless eagerness.
+
+"It would be great," said Hughie, at last, "if he would forget."
+
+"Yes," said the old man, the gleam in his face growing brighter, "'If we
+confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us,' and forgiving
+with him is forgetting. Ah, yes, it is a great gospel," he continued,
+and standing there he lifted up his hand and broke into a kind of chant
+in Gaelic, of which Hughie could catch no meaning, but the exalted look
+on the old man's face was translation enough.
+
+"Must we always tell?" said Hughie, after the old man had ceased.
+
+"What are you saying, laddie?"
+
+"I say must we always tell our sins--I mean to people?"
+
+The old man thought a moment. "It is not always good to be talking about
+our sins to people. That is for God to hear. But we must be ready to
+make right what is wrong."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Hughie, eagerly, "of course one would be glad to do
+that."
+
+The old man gave him one keen glance, and began hoeing again.
+
+"Ye'd better be asking ye're mother about that. She will know."
+
+"No, no," said Hughie, "I can't."
+
+The old man paused in his work, looked at the boy for a moment or two,
+and then went on working again.
+
+"Speak to my woman," he said, after a few strokes of his hoe. "She's a
+wonderful wise woman." And Hughie wished that he dared.
+
+During the days of the planting they became great friends, and to their
+mutual good. The mother's keen eyes noted the change both in Hughie and
+in her husband, and was glad for it. It was she that suggested to Billy
+Jack that he needed help in the back pasture with the stones. Billy
+Jack, quick to take her meaning, eagerly insisted that help he must
+have, indeed he could not get on with the plowing unless the stones
+were taken off. And so it came that Hughie and the old man, with old Fly
+hitched up in the stone-boat, spent two happy and not unprofitable days
+in the back pasture. Gravely they discussed the high themes of God's
+sovereignty and man's freedom, with all their practical issues upon
+conduct and destiny. Only once, and that very shyly, did the old man
+bring round the talk to the subject of their first conversation that
+meant so much to them both.
+
+"The Lord will not be wanting to shame us beyond what is necessary," he
+said. "There are certain sins which he will bring to light, but there
+are those that, in his mercy, he permits us to hide; provided always,"
+he added, with emphasis, "we are done with them."
+
+"Yes, indeed," assented Hughie, eagerly, "and who wouldn't be done with
+them?"
+
+But the old man shook his head sadly.
+
+"If that were always true a man would soon be rid of his evil heart.
+But," he continued, as if eager to turn the conversation, "you will be
+talking with my woman about it. She's a wonderful wise woman, yon."
+
+Somehow the opportunity came to Hughie to take the old man's advice. On
+Saturday evening, just before leaving for home, he found himself alone
+with Mrs. Finch sitting beside the open window, watching the sun go down
+behind the trees.
+
+"What a splendid sunset!" he cried. He was ever sensitive to the
+majestic drama of nature.
+
+"Ay," said Mrs. Finch, "the clouds and the sun make wonderful beauty
+together, but without the sun the clouds are ugly things."
+
+Hughie quickly took her meaning.
+
+"They are not pleasant," he said.
+
+"No, not pleasant," she replied, "but with the sunlight upon them they
+are wonderful."
+
+Hughie was silent for some moments, and then suddenly burst out, "Mrs.
+Finch, does God forget sins, and will he keep them hid, from people, I
+mean?"
+
+"Ay," she said, with quiet conviction, "he will forget, and he will hide
+them. Why should he lay the burden of our sins upon others? And if he
+does not why should we?"
+
+"Do you mean we need not always tell? I'd like to tell my--some one."
+
+"Ay," she replied, "it's a weary wark and a lanely to carry it oor lane,
+but it's an awfu' grief to hear o' anither's sin. An awfu' grief," she
+repeated to herself.
+
+"But," burst out Hughie, "I'll never be right till I tell my mother."
+
+"Ay, and then it is she would be carrying the weight o' it."
+
+"But it's against her," said Hughie, his hands going up to his face.
+"Oh, Mrs. Finch, it's just awful mean. I don't know how I did it."
+
+"Ye can tell me, laddie, if ye will," said she, kindly, and Hughie
+poured forth the whole burden that had lain so long upon him, but he
+told it laying upon Foxy small blame, for during those days, his
+own part had come to bulk so large with him that Foxy's was almost
+forgotten.
+
+For some moments after he had done Mrs. Finch sat in silence, leaning
+forward and patting the boy's bowed head.
+
+"Ay, but he is rightly named," she said, at length.
+
+"Who?" asked Hughie, surprised.
+
+"Yon store-keepin' chiel." Then she added, "But ye're done wi' him and
+his tricks, and ye'll stand up against him and be a man for the wee
+laddies."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Hughie, too sick at heart and too penetrated
+with the miserable sense of his own meanness and cowardice, to make any
+promise.
+
+"And as tae ye're mither, laddie," went on Mrs. Finch, "it will be
+a sair burden for her." When Mrs. Finch was greatly moved she always
+dropped into her broadest Scotch.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know," said Hughie, his voice now broken with sobs, "and
+that's the worst of it. If I didn't have to tell her! She'll just
+break her heart, I know. She thinks I'm so--oh, oh--" The long pent up
+feelings came flooding forth in groans and sobs.
+
+For some moments Mrs. Finch sat quietly, and then she said, "Listen,
+laddie. There is Another to be thought of first."
+
+"Another?" asked Hughie. "Oh, yes, I know. But He knows already, and
+indeed I have often told Him. But besides, you say He will forget, and
+take it away. But mother doesn't know, and doesn't suspect."
+
+"Well, then, laddie," said Mrs. Finch, with quiet firmness, "let her
+tell ye what to do. Mak ye're offer to tell her, and warn her that it'll
+grieve ye baith, and then let her say."
+
+"Yes, I'll do it. I'll do it to-night, and if she says so, then I'll
+tell her."
+
+And so he did, and when he came back to the Finch's on Monday morning,
+for his mother saw that leaving school for a time would be no serious
+loss, and a week or two with the Finches might be a great gain, he came
+radiant to Mrs. Finch, and finding her in her chair by the open window
+alone, he burst forth, "I told her, and she wouldn't let me. She didn't
+want to know so long as I said it was all made right. And she promised
+she would trust me just the same. Oh, she's splendid, my mother! And
+she's coming this week to see you. And I tell you I just feel like--like
+anything! I can't keep still. I'm like Fido when he's let off his chain.
+He just goes wild."
+
+Then, after a pause, he added, in a graver tone, "And mother read
+Zaccheus to me. And isn't it fine how He never said a word to
+him?"--Hughie was too excited to be coherent--"but stood up for him,
+and"--here Hughie's voice became more grave--"I'm going to restore
+fourfold. I'm going to work at the hay, and I fired that old pistol into
+the pond, and I'm not afraid of Foxy any more, not a bit."
+
+Hughie rushed breathlessly through his story, while the dark face before
+him glowed with intelligent sympathy, but she only said, when he had
+done, "It is a graund thing to be free, is it no'?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BEAR HUNT
+
+
+"Is Don round, Mrs. Cameron?"
+
+"Mercy me, Hughie! Did ye sleep in the woods? Come away in. Ye're a
+sight for sore eyes. Come away in. And how's ye're mother and all?"
+
+"All right, thank you. Is Don in?"
+
+"Don? He's somewhere about the barn. But come away, man, there's a bit
+bannock here, and some honey."
+
+"I'm in a hurry, Mrs. Cameron, and I can't very well wait," said Hughie,
+trying to preserve an evenness of tone and not allow his excitement to
+appear.
+
+"Well, well! What's the matter, whatever?" When Hughie refused a "bit
+bannock" and honey, something must be seriously wrong.
+
+"Nothing at all, but I'm just wanting Don for a--for something."
+
+"Well, well, just go to the old barn and cry at him."
+
+Hughie found Don in the old barn, busy "rigging up" his plow, for the
+harvest was in and the fall plowing was soon to begin.
+
+"Man, Don!" cried Hughie, in a subdued voice, "it's the greatest thing
+you ever heard!"
+
+"What is it now, Hughie? You look fairly lifted. Have you seen a ghost?"
+
+"A ghost? No, something better than that, I can tell you."
+
+Hughie drew near and lowered his voice, while Don worked on
+indifferently.
+
+"It's a bear, Don."
+
+Don dropped his plow. His indifference vanished. The Camerons were great
+hunters, and many a bear had they, with their famous black dogs, brought
+home in their day, but not for the past year or two; and never had Don
+bagged anything bigger than a fox or a coon.
+
+"Where did you see him?"
+
+"I didn't see him." Don looked disgusted. "But he was in our house last
+night."
+
+"Look here now, stop that!" said Don, gripping Hughie by the jacket and
+shaking him.
+
+But Hughie's summer in the harvest-field had built up his muscles, and
+so he shook himself free from Don's grasp, and said, "Look out there!
+I'm telling you the truth. Last night father was out late and the supper
+things were left on the table--some honey and stuff--and after father
+had been asleep for a while he was wakened by some one tramping about
+the house. He got up, came out of his room, and called out, 'Jessie,
+where are the matches?' And just then there was an awful crash, and
+something hairy brushed past his leg in the dark and got out of the
+door. We all came down, and there was the table upset, the dishes all on
+the floor, and four great, big, deep scratches in the table."
+
+"Pshaw! It must have been Fido."
+
+"Fido was in the barn, and just mad to get out; and besides, the tracks
+are there yet behind the house. It was a bear, sure enough, and I'm
+going after him."
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes, and I want you to come with the dogs."
+
+"Oh, pshaw! Dear knows where he'll be now," said Don, considering.
+
+"Like enough in the Big Swamp or in McLeod's beech bush. They're awful
+fond of beechnuts. But the dogs can track him, can't they?"
+
+"By jingo! I'd like to get him," said Don, kindling under Hughie's
+excitement. "Wait a bit now. Don't say a word. If Murdie hears he'll
+want to come, sure, and we don't want him. You wait here till I get the
+gun and the dogs."
+
+"Have you got any bullets or slugs?"
+
+"Yes, lots. Why? Have you a gun?"
+
+"Yes, you just bet! I've got our gun. What did you think I was going to
+do? Put salt on his tail? I've got it down the lane."
+
+"All right, you wait there for me."
+
+"Don't be long," said Hughie, slipping away.
+
+It was half an hour before Don appeared with the gun and the dogs.
+
+"What in the world kept you? I thought you were never coming," said
+Hughie, impatiently.
+
+"I tell you it's no easy thing to get away with mother on hand, but it's
+all right. Here's your bullets and slugs. I've brought some bannocks and
+cheese. We don't know when we'll get home. We'll pick up the track in
+your brule. Does any one know you're going?"
+
+"No, only Fusie. He wanted to come, but I wouldn't have it. Fusie gets
+so excited." Hughie's calmness was not phenomenal. He could hardly stand
+still for two consecutive seconds.
+
+"Well, let's go," and Don set off on a trot, with one of the black dogs
+in leash and the other following, and after him came Hughie running
+lightly.
+
+In twenty minutes they were at the manse clearing.
+
+"Now," said Don, pulling up, "where did you say you saw his track?"
+
+"Just back of the house there, and round the barn, and then straight for
+the brule."
+
+The boys stood looking across the fallen timber toward the barn.
+
+"There's Fido barking," said Hughie. "I bet he's on the scent now."
+
+"Yes," answered Don, "and there's your father, too."
+
+"Gimmini crickets! so it is," said Hughie, slowly. "I don't think it's
+worth while going up there to get that track. Can't we get it just as
+well in the woods here?" There were always things to do about the house,
+and besides, the minister knew nothing of Hughie's familiarity with the
+gun, and hence would soon have put a stop to any such rash venture as
+bear-hunting.
+
+The boys waited, listening to Fido, who was running back and forward
+between the brule and the house barking furiously. The minister seemed
+interested in Fido's manoeuvres, and followed him a little way.
+
+"Man!" said Hughie, in a whisper, "perhaps he'll go and look for the gun
+himself. And Fido will find us, sure. I say, let's go."
+
+"Let's wait a minute," said Don, "to see what direction Fido takes, and
+then we'll put our dogs on."
+
+In a few minutes Hughie breathed more freely, for his father seemed to
+lose his interest in Fido, and returned slowly to the house.
+
+"Now," said Hughie, "let's get down into the brule as near Fido as we
+can get."
+
+Cautiously the boys made their way through the fallen timber, keeping as
+much as possible under cover of the underbrush. But though they hunted
+about for some time, the dogs evidently got no scent, for they remained
+quite uninterested in the proceedings.
+
+"We'll have to get up closer to where Fido is," said Don, "and the
+sooner we get there the better."
+
+"I suppose so," said Hughie. "I suppose I had better go. Fido will
+stop barking for me." So, while Don lay hid with the dogs in the brule,
+Hughie stole nearer and nearer to Fido, who was still chasing down
+toward the brule and back to the house, as if urging some one to come
+forth and investigate the strange scent he had discovered. Gradually
+Hughie worked his way closer to Fido until within calling distance.
+
+Just as he was about to whistle for the dog, the back door opened and
+forth came the minister again. By this time Fido had passed into the
+brule a little way, and could not be seen from the house. It was an
+anxious moment for Hughie. He made a sudden desperate resolve. He must
+secure Fido now, or else give up the chance of getting on the trail of
+the bear. So he left his place of hiding, and bending low, ran swiftly
+forward until Fido caught sight of him, and hearing his voice, came to
+him, barking loudly and making every demonstration of excitement and
+joy. He seized the dog by the collar and dragged him down, and after
+holding him quiet for a moment, hauled him back to Don.
+
+"We'll have to take him with us," he said. "I'll put this string on his
+collar, and he'll go all right." And to this Don agreed, though very
+unwillingly, for he had no confidence in Fido's hunting ability.
+
+"I tell you he's a great fighter," said Hughie, "if we should ever get
+near that bear."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Don, "he may fight dogs well enough, but when it comes
+to a bear, it's a different thing. Every dog is scared of a bear the
+first time he sees him."
+
+"Well, I bet you Fido won't run from anything," said Hughie,
+confidently.
+
+To their great relief they saw the minister set off in the opposite
+direction across the fields.
+
+"Thank goodness! He's off to the McRae's," said Hughie.
+
+"Now, then," said Don, "we'll go back to the track there, and put the
+dogs on. You go on with Fido." And Hughie set off with Fido pulling
+eagerly upon the string.
+
+When they reached the spot where Fido had been seized by Hughie,
+suddenly the black dog who had been following Don at some distance,
+stopped short and began to growl. In a moment his mate threw up his nose
+and began sniffing about, the hair rising stiff upon his back.
+
+"He's catching it," said Don, in an excited tone. "Here, you hold him. I
+must get the other one, or he'll be off." He was not a minute too soon,
+for the other dog, who had been ranging about, suddenly found the trail,
+and with a fierce, short bark, was about to dash off when Don threw
+himself upon him. In a few moments both dogs were on the leash, and set
+off upon the scent at a great pace. The trail was evidently plain enough
+to the dogs, for they followed hard, leading the boys deeper and deeper
+into the bush.
+
+"He's making for the Big Swamp," said Don, and on they went, with eyes
+and ears on the alert, expecting every moment to hear the snort of a
+bear, or to meet him on the further side of every bunch of underbrush.
+
+For an hour they went on at a steady trot, over and under fallen logs,
+splashing through water holes, crashing over dead brushwood, and tearing
+through the interlacing boughs of the thick underbrush of spruce and
+balsam. The black dogs never hesitated. They knew well what was their
+business there, and that they kept strictly in mind. Fido, on the other
+hand, who loved to roam the woods in an aimless hunt for any and every
+wild thing that might cross his nose, but who never had seriously hunted
+anything in particular, trotted good-naturedly behind Hughie with rather
+a bored expression on his face.
+
+The trail, which had led them steadily north, all at once turned west
+and away from the swamp.
+
+"Say," said Don, "he's making for Alan Gorrach's cabin."
+
+"Man!" said Hughie, "that would be fine, to get him there. It's good and
+open, too."
+
+"Too open by a long way," grunted Don. "We'd never get him there."
+
+Sure enough, the dogs led up from the swamp and along the path to Alan's
+cabin. The door stood open, and in answer to Don's "Horo!" Alan came
+out.
+
+"What now?" he said, glowering at Don.
+
+"You won't be wanting any dogs to-day, Alan?" said Don, politely.
+
+Alan glanced at him suspiciously, but said not a word.
+
+"These are very good dogs, indeed, Alan."
+
+"Go on your ways, now," said Alan.
+
+"These black ones are not in very good condition, but Fido there is a
+good, fat dog."
+
+Alan's wrath began to rise.
+
+"Will you be going on, now, about your business?"
+
+"Better take them, Alan, there's a hard winter coming on."
+
+"Mac an' Diabhoil!" cried Alan, in a shrill voice, suddenly bursting
+into fury. "I will be having your heart's blood," he cried, rushing into
+his cabin.
+
+"Come on, Hughie," cried Don, and away they rushed, following the black
+dogs upon the trail of the bear.
+
+Deeper and deeper into the swamp the dogs led the way, the going
+becoming more difficult and the underbrush thicker at every step. After
+an hour or two of hard work, the dogs began to falter, and ran hither
+and thither, now on one scent and then on another, till tired out and
+disgusted, Don held them in, and threw himself down upon the soft moss
+that lay deep over everything.
+
+"We're on his old tracks here," said Don, savagely, "and you can't pick
+out the new from the old."
+
+"His hole must be somewhere not too far away," said Hughie.
+
+"Yes, perhaps it is, but then again it may be across the ridge. At any
+rate, we'll have some grub."
+
+As they ate the bannocks and cheese, they pictured to themselves what
+they should do if they ever should come up with the bear.
+
+"One thing we've got to be careful of," said Don, "and that is, not to
+lose our heads."
+
+"That's so," assented Hughie, feeling quite cool and self-possessed at
+the time.
+
+"Because if you lose your head you're done for," continued Don.
+"Remember Ken McGregor?"
+
+"No," said Hughie.
+
+"Didn't you ever hear that? Why, he ran into a bear, and made a drive at
+him with his axe, but the bear, with one paw knocked the axe clear out
+of his hand, and with one sweep of the other tore his insides right out.
+They're mighty cute, too," went on Don. "They'll pretend to be almost
+dead just to coax you near enough, and then they'll spin round on their
+hind legs like a rooster. If they ever do catch you, the only thing
+to do is to lie still and make believe you're dead, and then, unless
+they're very hungry, they won't hurt you much."
+
+After half an hour's rest, the hunting instinct awoke again within them,
+and the boys determined to make another attempt. After circling about
+the swamp for some time, the boys came upon a beaten track which led
+straight through the heart of the swamp.
+
+"I say," said Don, "this is going to strike the ridge somewhere just
+about there," pointing northeast, "and if we don't see anything between
+here and the ridge, we'll strike home that way. It'll be better walking
+than this cursed swamp, anyway. Are you tired?"
+
+Hughie refused to acknowledge any weariness.
+
+"Well, then, I am," said Don.
+
+The trail was clear enough, and they were able to follow at a good
+pace, so that in a few minutes, as they had expected, they struck the
+northeast end of the swamp. Here again they called a halt, and tying
+up the dogs, lay down upon the dry, brown leaves, lazily eating the
+beechnuts and discussing their prospects of meeting the bear, and their
+plans for dealing with him.
+
+"Well, let's go on," at length said Don. "There's just a chance of our
+meeting him on this ridge. He's got a den somewhere down in the swamp,
+and he may be coming home this way. Besides, it'll take us all our time,
+now, to get home before dark. I guess there's no use keeping the dogs
+any longer. We'll just let them go." So saying, Don let the black dogs
+go free, but after a little skirmishing through the open beech woods,
+the dogs appeared to lose all interest in the expedition, and kept close
+to Don's heels.
+
+Fido, on the other hand, followed, ranging the woods on either side,
+cheerfully interested in scaring up rabbits, ground-hogs, and squirrels.
+He had never known the rapture of bringing down big game, and so was
+content with whatever came his way.
+
+At length the hunters reached the main trail where their paths
+separated; but a little of the swamp still remained, and on the other
+side was the open clearing.
+
+"This is your best way," said Don, pointing out the path to Hughie. "We
+had bad luck to-day, but we'll try again. We may meet him still, you
+know, so don't fire at any squirrel or anything. If I hear a shot I'll
+come to you, and you do the same by me."
+
+"I say," said Hughie, "where does this track of mine come out? Is it
+below the Deepole there, or is it on the other side of the clearing?"
+
+"Why, don't you know?" said Don. "This runs right up to the back of the
+Fisher's berry patch, and through the sugar-bush to your own clearing.
+I'll go with you if you like."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Hughie, "I'll find it all right. Come on, Fido." But
+Fido had disappeared. "Good night, Don."
+
+"Good night," said Don. "Mind you don't fire unless it's at a bear. I'll
+do the same."
+
+In a few minutes Hughie found himself alone in the thick underbrush of
+the swamp. The shadows were lying heavy, and the sunlight that still
+caught the tops of the tall trees was quite lost in the gloom of the low
+underbrush. Deep moss under foot, with fallen trees and thick-growing
+balsam and cedars, made the walking difficult, and every step Hughie
+wished himself out in the clearing. He began to feel, too, the
+oppression of the falling darkness. He tried whistling to keep up his
+courage, but the sound seemed to fill the whole woods about him, and he
+soon gave it up.
+
+After a few minutes he stood still and called for Fido, but the dog had
+gone on some hunt of his own, and with a sense of deeper loneliness,
+he set himself again to his struggle with the moss and brush and fallen
+trees. At length he reached firmer ground, and began with more cheerful
+heart to climb up to the open.
+
+Suddenly he heard a rustle, and saw the brush in front of him move.
+
+"Oh, there you are, you brute," he cried, "come in here. Come in, Fido.
+Here, sir!"
+
+He pushed the bushes aside, and his heart jumped and filled his mouth.
+A huge, black shape stood right across his path not ten paces away. A
+moment they gazed at each other, and then, with a low growl, the bear
+began to sway awkwardly toward him. Hughie threw up his gun and fired.
+The bear paused, snapping viciously and tearing at his wounded shoulder,
+and then rushed on Hughie without waiting to rise on his hind legs.
+
+Like a flash Hughie dodged behind the brush, and then fled like the wind
+toward the open. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the bear shambling
+after him at a great pace, and gaining at every jump, and his heart
+froze with terror. The balsams and spruces were all too low for safety.
+A little way before him he saw a small birch. If he could only make that
+he might escape. Summoning all his strength he rushed for the tree,
+the bear closing fast upon him. Could he spring up out of reach of the
+bear's awful claws?
+
+Two yards from the tree he heard an angry snap and snarl at his heels.
+With a cry, he dropped his gun, and springing for the lowest bough, drew
+up his legs quickly after him with the horrible feeling of having
+them ripped asunder. To his amazement he found that the bear was not
+scrambling up the tree after him, but was still some paces off, with
+Fido skirmishing at long range. It was Fido's timely nip that had
+brought him to a sudden halt, and allowed Hughie to make his climb in
+safety.
+
+"Good dog, Fido. Sic him! Sic him, old fellow!" cried out Hughie, but
+Fido was new to this kind of warfare, and at every jump of the raging
+brute he fled into the brush with his tail between his legs, returning,
+however, to the attack as the bear retired.
+
+After driving Fido off, the bear rushed at the tree, and in a fury began
+tearing up its roots. Then, as if realizing the futility of this, he
+flung himself upon its trunk and began shaking it with great violence
+from side to side.
+
+Hughie soon saw that the tree would not long stand such an attack. He
+slipped down to the lowest bough so that his weight might be taken from
+the swaying top, and encouraging Fido, awaited results.
+
+He found himself singularly cool. Having escaped immediate danger, the
+hunter's instinct awoke within him, and he longed to get that bear.
+If he only had his gun, he would soon settle him, but the bear,
+unfortunately, had possession of that. He began hurriedly to cut off as
+stout a branch as he could to make himself a club. He was not a moment
+too soon, for the bear, realizing that he could neither tear up the tree
+by the roots nor shake his enemy out of it, decided, apparently, to go
+up for him.
+
+He first set himself to get rid of Fido, which he partially succeeded
+in doing by chasing him a long distance off. Then, with a great rush, he
+flew at the tree, and with amazing rapidity began to climb.
+
+Hughie, surprised by this swift attack, hastened to climb to the higher
+branches, but in a moment he saw that this would be fatal. Remembering
+that the bear is like the dog in his sensitive parts, he descended to
+meet his advancing foe, and reaching down, hit him a sharp blow on
+the snout. With a roar of rage and surprise the bear let go his
+hold, slipped to the ground, and began to tear up the earth, sneezing
+violently.
+
+"Oh, if I only had that gun," groaned Hughie, "I'd get him. And if he
+gets away after Fido again, I believe I'll try it."
+
+The bear now set himself to plan some new form of attack. He had been
+wounded, but only enough to enrage him, and his fury served to fix more
+firmly in his head the single purpose of getting into his grip this
+enemy of his in the tree, whom he appeared to have so nearly at his
+mercy.
+
+Whatever his new plan might be, a necessary preliminary was getting rid
+of Fido, and this he proceeded to do. Round about the trees he pursued
+him, getting farther and farther away from the birch, till Hughie,
+watching his chance, slipped down the tree and ran for his gun. But no
+sooner had he stooped for it than the bear saw the move, and with an
+angry roar rushed for him.
+
+Once more Hughie sprang for his branch, but the gun caught in the boughs
+and he slipped to the ground, the bear within striking distance. With a
+cry he sprang again, reached his bough and drew himself up, holding his
+precious gun safe, wondering how he had escaped. Again it was Fido that
+had saved him, for as the bear had gathered himself to spring, Fido,
+seeing his chance, rushed boldly in, and flinging himself upon the hind
+leg of the enraged brute, held fast. It was the boy's salvation, but
+alas! it was Fido's destruction, for wheeling suddenly, the bear struck
+a swift downward blow with his powerful front paw, and tore the whole
+side of the faithful brute wide open. With a howl, poor Fido dragged
+himself away out of reach and lay down, moaning pitifully.
+
+The bear, realizing that he had got rid of one foe, now proceeded more
+cautiously to deal with the other, and began warily climbing the tree,
+keeping his wicked little eyes fixed upon Hughie.
+
+Meantime, Hughie was loading his gun with all speed. He emptied his
+powder-horn into the muzzle, and with the bear coming slowly nearer,
+began to search for his bullets. Through one pocket after another his
+trembling fingers flew, while with the butt of his gun he menaced his
+approaching enemy.
+
+"Where are those bullets?" he groaned. "Ah, here they are!" diving into
+his trousers pocket. "Fool of a place to keep them, too!"
+
+He took a handful of slugs and bullets, poured them into his gun, rammed
+down a wadding of leaves upon all, retreating as he did so to the higher
+limbs, the bear following him steadily. But just as he had his cap
+securely fixed upon the nipple, the bear suddenly revealed his plan.
+Holding by his front paws, he threw his hind legs off from the trunk. It
+was his usual method of felling trees. The tree swayed and bent till the
+top almost touched the ground. But Hughie, with his legs wreathed round
+the trunk, brought his gun to his shoulder, and with its muzzle almost
+touching the breast of the hanging brute, pulled the trigger.
+
+There was a terrific report, the bear dropped in a heap from the tree,
+and Hughie was hurled violently to the ground some distance away,
+partially stunned. He raised himself to see the bear struggle up to a
+sitting position, and gnashing his teeth, and flinging blood and foam
+from his mouth, begin to drag himself toward him. He was conscious of
+a languid indifference, and found himself wondering how long the bear
+would take to cover the distance.
+
+But while he was thus cogitating there was a sharp, quick bark, and a
+great black form hurled itself at the bear's throat and bore the fierce
+brute to the ground.
+
+Drawing a long sigh, Hughie sank back to the ground, with the sound of a
+far-away shot in his ears, and darkness veiling his eyes.
+
+He was awakened by Don's voice anxiously calling him.
+
+"Are you hurt much, Hughie? Did he squeeze you?"
+
+Hughie sat up, blinking stupidly.
+
+"What?" he asked. "Who?"
+
+"Why, the bear, of course."
+
+"The bear? No. Man! It's too bad you weren't here, Don," he went on,
+rousing himself. "He can't be gone far."
+
+"Not very," said Don, laughing loud. "Yonder he lies."
+
+Hughie turned his head and gazed, wondering, at the great black mass
+over which Don's black dogs were standing guard, and sniffing with
+supreme satisfaction.
+
+Then all came back to him.
+
+"Where's Fido?" he asked, rising. "Yes, it was Fido saved me, for sure.
+He tackled the bear every time he rushed at me, and hung onto him just
+as I climbed the tree the second time."
+
+As he spoke he walked over to the place where he had last seen the
+dog. A little farther on, behind a spruce-tree, they found poor Fido,
+horribly mangled and dead.
+
+Hughie stooped down over him. "Poor old boy, poor old Fido," he said, in
+a low voice, stroking his head.
+
+Don turned away and walked whistling toward the bear. As he sat beside
+the black carcass his two dogs came to him. He threw his arms round
+them, saying, "Poor old Blackie! Poor Nigger!" and he understood how
+Hughie was feeling behind the spruce-tree beside the faithful dog that
+had given him his life.
+
+As he sat there waiting for Hughie, he heard voices.
+
+"Horo!" he shouted.
+
+"Where are you? Is that you, Don?" It was his father's voice.
+
+"Yes, here we are."
+
+"Is Hughie there?" inquired another voice.
+
+"Losh me! that's the minister," said Don. "Yes, all right," he cried
+aloud, as up came Long John Cameron and the minister, with Fusie and a
+stranger bringing up the rear.
+
+"Fine work, this. You're fine fellows, indeed," cried Long John,
+"frightening people in this way."
+
+"Where is Hughie?" said the minister, sternly.
+
+Hughie came from behind the brush, hurriedly wiping his eyes. "Here,
+father," he said.
+
+"And what are you doing here at this hour of the night, pray?" said the
+minister, angrily, turning toward him.
+
+"I couldn't get home very well," replied Hughie.
+
+"And why not, pray? Don't begin any excuses with me, sir." Nothing
+annoyed the minister as an attempt to excuse ill-doing.
+
+"I guess he would have been glad enough to have got home half an hour
+ago, sir," broke in Don, laughing. "Look there." He pointed to the bear
+lying dead, with Nigger standing over him.
+
+"The Lord save us!" said Long John Cameron, himself the greatest among
+the hunters of the county. "What do you say? And how did you get him?
+Jee-ru-piter! he's a grand one."
+
+The old man, the minister, and Don walked about the bear in admiring
+procession.
+
+"Yon's a terrible gash," said Long John, pointing to a gaping wound in
+the breast. "Was that your Snider, Don?"
+
+"Not a bit of it, father. The bear's Hughie's. He killed him himself."
+
+"Losh me! And you don't tell me! And how did you manage that, Hughie?"
+
+"He chased me up that tree, and I guess would have got me only for
+Fido."
+
+The minister gasped.
+
+"Got you? Was he as near as that?"
+
+"He wasn't three feet away," said Hughie, and with that he proceeded to
+give, in his most graphic style, a description of his great fight with
+the bear.
+
+"When I heard the first shot," said Don, "I was away across the swamp.
+I tell you I tore back here, and when I came, what did I see but Hughie
+and Mr. Bear both sitting down and looking coolly at each other a few
+yards apart. And then Nigger downed him and I put a bullet into his
+heart." Don was greatly delighted, and extremely proud of Hughie's
+achievement.
+
+"And how did you know about it?" asked Don of his father.
+
+"It was the minister here came after me."
+
+"Yes," said the minister, "it was Fusie told me you had gone off on a
+bear hunt, and so I went along to the Cameron's with Mr. Craven here, to
+see if you had got home."
+
+Meantime, Mr. Craven had been looking Hughie over.
+
+"Mighty plucky thing," he said. "Great nerve," and he lapsed into
+silence, while Fusie could not contain himself, but danced from one foot
+to the other with excited exclamations.
+
+The minister had come out intending, as he said, "to teach that boy a
+lesson that he would remember," but as he listened to Hughie's story,
+his anger gave place to a great thankfulness.
+
+"It was a great mercy, my boy," he said at length, when he was quite
+sure of his voice, "that you had Fido with you."
+
+"Yes, indeed, father," said Hughie. "It was Fido saved me."
+
+"It was the Lord's goodness," said the minister, solemnly.
+
+"And a great mercy," said Long John, "that your lad kept his head and
+showed such courage. You have reason to be proud of him."
+
+The minister said nothing just then, but at home, when recounting the
+exploit to the mother, he could hardly contain his pride in his son.
+
+"Never thought the boy would have a nerve like that, he's so excitable.
+I had rather he killed that bear than win a medal at the university."
+
+The mother sat silent through all the story, her cheek growing more and
+more pale, but not a word did she say until the tale was done, and then
+she said, "'Who delivereth thee from destruction.'"
+
+"A little like David, mother, wasn't it?" said Hughie; but though there
+was a smile on his face, his manner and tone were earnest enough.
+
+"Yes," said his mother, "a good deal like David, for it was the same God
+that delivered you both."
+
+"Rather hard to cut Fido out of his share of the glory," said Mr.
+Craven, "not to speak of a cool head and a steady nerve."
+
+Mrs. Murray regarded him for a moment or two in silence, as if
+meditating an answer, but finally she only said, "We shall cut no one
+out of the glory due to him."
+
+At the supper-table the whole affair was discussed in all its bearings.
+In this discussion Hughie took little part, making light of his exploit,
+and giving most of the credit to Fido, and the mother wondered at the
+unusual reserve and gravity that had fallen upon her boy. Indeed, Hughie
+was wondering at himself. He had a strange new feeling in his heart.
+He had done a man's deed, and for the first time in his life he felt it
+unnecessary to glory in his deeds. He had come to a new experience, that
+great deeds need no voice to proclaim them. During the thrilling moments
+of that terrible hour he had entered the borderland of manhood, and the
+awe of that new world was now upon his spirit.
+
+It was chiefly this new experience of his that was sobering him, but it
+helped him not a little to check his wonted boyish exuberance that
+at the table opposite him sat a strange young man, across whose dark,
+magnetic face there flitted, now and then, a lazy, cynical smile.
+Hughie feared that lazy smile, and he felt that it would shrivel into
+self-contempt any feeling of boastfulness.
+
+The mother and Hughie said little to each other, waiting to be alone,
+and after Hughie had gone to his room his mother talked long with him,
+but when Mr. Craven, on his way to bed, heard the low, quiet tones of
+the mother's voice through the shut door, he knew it was not to Hughie
+she was speaking, and the smile upon his face lost a little of its
+cynicism.
+
+Next day there was no smile when he stood with Hughie under the
+birch-tree, watching the lad hew flat one side, but gravely enough he
+took the paper on which Hughie had written, "Fido, Sept. 13th, 18--,"
+saying as he did so, "I shall cut this for you. It is good to remember
+brave deeds."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+JOHN CRAVEN'S METHOD
+
+
+Mr. John Craven could not be said to take his school-teaching seriously;
+and indeed, any one looking at his face would hardly expect him to take
+anything seriously, and certainly those who in his college days followed
+and courted and kept pace with Jack Craven, and knew his smile, would
+have expected from him anything other than seriousness. He appeared
+to himself to be enacting a kind of grim comedy, exile as he was in a
+foreign land, among people of a strange tongue.
+
+He knew absolutely nothing of pedagogical method, and consequently he
+ignored all rules and precedents in the teaching and conduct of the
+school. His discipline was of a most fantastic kind. He had a feeling
+that all lessons were a bore, therefore he would assign the shortest and
+easiest of tasks. But having assigned the tasks, he expected perfection
+in recitation, and impressed his pupils with the idea that nothing less
+would pass. His ideas of order were of the loosest kind, and hence the
+noise at times was such that even the older pupils found it unbearable;
+but when the hour for recitation came, somehow a deathlike stillness
+fell upon the school, and the unready shivered with dread apprehension.
+And yet he never thrashed the boys; but his fear lay upon them, for his
+eyes held the delinquent with such an intensity of magnetic, penetrating
+power that the unhappy wretch felt as if any kind of calamity might
+befall him.
+
+When one looked at John Craven's face, it was the eyes that caught and
+held the attention. They were black, without either gleam or glitter,
+indeed almost dull--a lady once called them "smoky eyes." They looked,
+under lazy, half-drooping lids, like things asleep, except in moments
+of passion, when there appeared, far down, a glowing fire, red and
+terrible. At such moments it seemed as if, looking through these, one
+were catching sight of a soul ablaze. They were like the dull glow of a
+furnace through an inky night.
+
+He was constitutionally and habitually lazy, but in a reading lesson he
+would rouse himself at times, and by his utterance of a single line
+make the whole school sit erect. Friday afternoon he gave up to what he
+called "the cultivation of the finer arts." On that afternoon he would
+bring his violin and teach the children singing, hear them read and
+recite, and read for them himself; and no greater punishment could be
+imposed upon the school than the loss of this afternoon.
+
+"Man alive! Thomas, he's mighty queer," Hughie explained to his friend.
+"When he sits there with his feet on the stove smoking away and reading
+something or other, and letting them all gabble like a lot of ducks,
+it just makes me mad. But when he wakes up he puts the fear of death on
+you, and when he reads he makes you shiver through and through. You know
+that long rigmarole, 'Friends, Romans, countrymen'? I used to hate
+it. Well, sir, he told us about it last Friday. You know, on Friday
+afternoons we don't do any work, but just have songs and reading, and
+that sort of thing. Well, sir, last Friday he told us about the big row
+in Rome, and how Caesar was murdered, and then he read that thing to
+us. By gimmini whack! it made me hot and cold. I could hardly keep from
+yelling, and every one was white. And then he read that other thing, you
+know, about Little Nell. Used to make me sick, but, my goodness alive!
+do you know, before he got through the girls were wiping their eyes, and
+I was almost as bad, and you could have heard a pin drop. He's mighty
+queer, though, lazy as the mischief, and always smiling and smiling, and
+yet you don't feel like smiling back."
+
+"Do you like him?" asked Thomas, bluntly.
+
+"Dunno. I'd like to, but he won't let you, somehow. Just smiles at you,
+and you feel kind of small."
+
+The reports about the master were conflicting and disquieting, and
+although Hughie was himself doubtful, he stood up vehemently for him at
+home.
+
+"But, Hughie," protested the minister, discussing these reports, "I am
+told that he actually smokes in school."
+
+Hughie was silent.
+
+"Answer me! Does he smoke in school hours?"
+
+"Well," confessed Hughie, reluctantly, "he does sometimes, but only
+after he gives us all our work to do."
+
+"Smoke in school hours!" ejaculated Mrs. Murray, horrified.
+
+"Well, what's the harm in that? Father smokes."
+
+"But he doesn't smoke when he is preaching," said the mother.
+
+"No, but he smokes right afterwards."
+
+"But not in church."
+
+"Well, perhaps not in church, but school's different. And anyway, he
+makes them read better, and write better too," said Hughie, stoutly.
+
+"Certainly," said his father, "he is a most remarkable man. A most
+unusual man."
+
+"What about your sums, Hughie?" asked his mother.
+
+"Don't know. He doesn't bother much with that sort of thing, and I'm
+just as glad."
+
+"You ought really to speak to him about it," said Mrs. Murray, after
+Hughie had left the room.
+
+"Well, my dear," said the minister, smiling, "you heard what Hughie
+said. It would be rather awkward for me to speak to him about smoking. I
+think, perhaps, you had better do it."
+
+"I am afraid," said his wife, with a slight laugh, "it would be just as
+awkward for me. I wonder what those Friday afternoons of his mean," she
+continued.
+
+"I am sure I don't know, but everywhere throughout the section I hear
+the children speak of them. We'll just drop in and see. I ought to visit
+the school, you know, very soon."
+
+And so they did. The master was surprised, and for a moment appeared
+uncertain what to do. He offered to put the classes through their
+regular lessons, but at once there was a noisy outcry against this on
+the part of the school, which, however, was effectually and immediately
+quelled by the quiet suggestion on the master's part that anything but
+perfect order would be fatal to the programme. And upon the minister
+requesting that the usual exercises proceed, the master smilingly
+agreed.
+
+"We make Friday afternoons," he said, "at once a kind of reward day for
+good work during the week, and an opportunity for the cultivation of
+some of the finer arts."
+
+And certainly he was a master in this business. He had strong dramatic
+instincts, and a remarkable power to stimulate and draw forth the
+emotions.
+
+When the programme of singing, recitations, and violin-playing was
+finished, there were insistent calls on every side for "Mark Antony." It
+appeared to be the 'piece de resistance' in the minds of the children.
+
+"What does this mean?" inquired the minister, as the master stood
+smiling at his pupils.
+
+"Oh, they are demanding a little high tragedy," he said, "which I
+sometimes give them. It assists in their reading lessons," he explained,
+apologetically, and with that he gave them what Hughie called, "that
+rigmarole beginning, 'Friends, Romans, countrymen,'" Mark Antony's
+immortal oration.
+
+"Well," said the minister, as they drove away from the school, "what do
+you think of that, now?"
+
+"Marvelous!" exclaimed his wife. "What dramatic power, what insight,
+what interpretation!"
+
+"You may say so," exclaimed her husband. "What an actor he would make!"
+
+"Yes," said his wife, "or what a minister he would make! I understand,
+now, his wonderful influence over Hughie, and I am afraid."
+
+"O, he can't do Hughie any harm with things like that," replied her
+husband, emphatically.
+
+"No, but Hughie now and then repeats some of his sayings about--about
+religion and religious convictions, that I don't like. And then he is
+hanging about that Twentieth store altogether too much, and I fancied
+I noticed something strange about him last Friday evening when he came
+home so late."
+
+"O, nonsense," said the minister. "His reputation has prejudiced you,
+and that is not fair, and your imagination does the rest."
+
+"Well, it is a great pity that he should not do something with himself,"
+replied his wife. "There are great possibilities in that young man."
+
+"He does not take himself seriously enough," said her husband. "That is
+the chief trouble with him."
+
+And this was apparently Jack Craven's opinion of himself, as is evident
+from his letter to his college friend, Ned Maitland.
+
+
+"Dear Ned:--
+
+"For the last two months I have been seeking to adjust myself to my
+surroundings, and find it no easy business. I have struck the land
+of the Anakim, for the inhabitants are all of 'tremenjous' size, and
+indeed, 'tremenjous' in all their ways, more particularly in their
+religion. Religion is all over the place. You are liable to come upon a
+boy anywhere perched on a fence corner with a New Testament in his hand,
+and on Sunday the 'tremenjousness' of their religion is overwhelming.
+Every other interest in life, as meat, drink, and dress, are purely
+incidental to the main business of the day, which is the delivering,
+hearing, and discussing of sermons.
+
+"The padre, at whose house I am very happily quartered, is a
+'tremenjous' preacher. He has visions, and gives them to me. He gives
+me chills and thrills as well, and has discovered to me a conscience, a
+portion of my anatomy that I had no suspicion of possessing.
+
+"The congregation is like the preacher. They will sit for two hours,
+and after a break of a few minutes they will sit again for two hours,
+listening to sermons; and even the interval is somewhat evenly divided
+between their bread and cheese in the churchyard and the discussion of
+the sermon they have just listened to. They are great on theology. One
+worthy old party tackled me on my views of the sermon we had just heard;
+after a little preliminary sparring I went to my corner. I often wonder
+in what continent I am.
+
+"The school, a primitive little log affair, has much run to seed, but
+offers opportunity for repose. I shall avoid any unnecessary excitement
+in this connection.
+
+"In private life the padre is really very decent. We have great smokes
+together, and talks. On all subjects he has very decided opinions, and
+in everything but religion, liberal views. I lure him into philosophic
+discussions, and overwhelm him with my newest and biggest metaphysical
+terms, which always reduce his enormous cocksureness to more reasonable
+dimensions.
+
+"The minister's wife is quite another proposition. She argues, too,
+but unfortunately she asks questions, in the meekest way possible
+acknowledging her ignorance of my big terms, and insisting upon
+definitions and exact meanings, and then it's all over with me. How
+she ever came to this far land, heaven knows, and none but heaven can
+explain such waste. Having no kindred soul to talk with, I fancy she
+enjoys conversation with myself, (sic) revels in music, is transported
+to the fifth heaven by my performance on the violin, but evidently
+pities me and regards me as dangerous. But, my dear Maitland, after
+a somewhat wide and varied experience of fine ladies, I give you my
+verdict that here among the Anakim, and in this wild, woody land, is
+a lady fine and fair and saintly. She will bother me, I know. Her son
+Hughie (he of the bear), of whom I told you, the lad with the face of
+an angel and the temper of an angel, but of a different color--her son
+Hughie she must make into a scholar. And no wonder, for already he has
+attained a remarkable degree of excellence, by the grace, not of the
+little log school, however, I venture to shy. His mother has been at
+him. But now she feels that something more is needed, and for that
+she turns to me. You will be able to see the humor of it, but not the
+pathos. She wants to make a man out of her boy, 'a noble, pure-hearted
+gentleman,' and this she lays upon me! Did I hear you laugh? Smile not,
+it is the most tragic of pathos. Upon me, Jack Craven, the despair of
+the professors, the terror of the watch, the--alas! you know only too
+well. My tongue clave to the roof of my mouth, and before I could cry,
+'Heaven forbid that I should have a hand in the making of your boy!'
+she accepted my pledge to do her desire for her young angel with the
+OTHER-angelic temper.
+
+"And now, my dear Ned, is it for my sins that I am thus pursued? What
+is awaiting me I know not. What I shall do with the young cub I have
+not the ghostliest shadow of an idea. Shall I begin by thrashing him
+soundly? I have refrained so far; I hate the role of executioner. Or
+shall I teach him boxing? The gloves are a great educator, and are at
+times what the padre would call 'means of grace.'
+
+"But what will become of me? Shall I become prematurely aged, or shall I
+become a saint? Expect anything from your most devoted, but most sorely
+bored and perplexed,
+
+"J. C."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DOWNFALL
+
+
+In one point the master was a great disappointment to Hughie; he could
+not be persuaded to play shinny. The usual challenge had come up from
+the Front, with its more than usual insolence, and Hughie, who now
+ranked himself among the big boys, felt the shame and humiliation to be
+intolerable. By the most strenuous exertions he started the game
+going with the first fall of snow, but it was difficult to work up
+any enthusiasm for the game in the face of Foxy's very determined and
+weighty opposition, backed by the master's lazy indifference. For,
+in spite of Hughie's contempt and open sneers, Foxy had determined to
+reopen his store with new and glowing attractions. He seemed to have a
+larger command of capital than ever, and he added several very important
+departments to his financial undertaking.
+
+The rivalry between Hughie and Foxy had become acute, but besides this,
+there was in Hughie's heart a pent-up fierceness and longing for revenge
+that he could with difficulty control. And though he felt pretty certain
+that in an encounter with Foxy he would come off second best, and though
+in consequence he delayed that encounter as long as possible, he never
+let Foxy suspect his fear of him, and waited with some anxiety for the
+inevitable crisis.
+
+Upon one thing Hughie was resolved, that the challenge from the Front
+should be accepted, and that they should no longer bear the taunt of
+cowardice, but should make a try, even though it meant certain defeat.
+
+His first step had been the organization of the shinny club. His next
+step was to awaken the interest of the master. But in vain he enlarged
+upon the boastfulness and insolence of the Front; in vain he recounted
+the achievements of their heroes of old, who in those brave days had won
+victory and fame over all comers for their school and county; the master
+would not be roused to anything more than a languid interest in the
+game. And this was hardly to be wondered at, for shinny in the snow upon
+the roadway in front of the school was none too exciting. But from
+the day when the game was transferred to the mill-pond, one Saturday
+afternoon when the North and South met in battle, the master's
+indifference vanished, for it turned out that he was an enthusiastic
+skater, and as Hughie said, "a whirlwind on the ice."
+
+After that day shinny was played only upon the ice, and the master,
+assuming the position of coach, instituted a more scientific style of
+game, and worked out a system of combined play that made even small
+boys dangerous opponents to boys twice their size and weight. Under his
+guidance it was that the challenge to the Front was so worded as to
+make the contest a game on ice, and to limit the number of the team to
+eleven. Formerly the number had been somewhat indefinite, varying from
+fifteen to twenty, and the style of play a general melee. Hughie was
+made captain of the shinny team, and set himself, under the master's
+direction, to perfect their combination and team play.
+
+The master's unexpected interest in the shinny game was the first and
+chief cause of Foxy's downfall as leader of the school, and if Hughie
+had possessed his soul in patience he might have enjoyed the
+spectacle of Foxy's overthrow without involving himself in the painful
+consequences which his thirst for vengeance and his vehement desire to
+accomplish Foxy's ruin brought upon him.
+
+The story of the culmination of the rivalry between Hughie and Foxy is
+preserved in John Craven's second letter to his friend Edward Maitland.
+The letter also gives an account of the master's own undoing--an undoing
+which bore fruit to the end of his life.
+
+
+"Dear Ned:--
+
+"I hasten to correct the false impression my previous letter must have
+conveyed to you. It occurs to me that I suggested that this school
+afforded unrivaled opportunities for repose. Further acquaintance
+reveals to me the fact that it is the seething center of the most
+nerve-racking excitement. The life of the school is reflected in the
+life of the community, and the throbs of excitement that vibrate from
+the school are felt in every home of the section. We are in the thick
+of preparations for a deadly contest with the insolent, benighted,
+boastful, but hitherto triumphant Front, in the matter of shinny. You
+know my antipathy to violent sports, and you will find some difficulty
+in picturing me an enthusiastic trainer and general director of the
+Twentieth team, flying about, wildly gesticulating with a club, and
+shrieking orders, imprecations, cautions, encouragements, in the most
+frantic manner, at as furious a company of little devils as ever went
+joyously to battle.
+
+"Then, as if this were not excitement enough, I am made the unwitting
+spectator of a truly Homeric contest, bloodier by far than many of those
+fought on the plains of windy Troy, between the rival leaders of the
+school, to wit, Hughie of the angelic face and OTHER-angelic temper, and
+an older and much heavier boy, who rejoices in the cognomen of 'Foxy,'
+as being accurately descriptive at once of the brilliance of his foliage
+and of his financial tactics.
+
+"It appears that for many months this rivalry has existed, but I
+am convinced that there is more in the struggle than appears on the
+surface. There is some dark and deadly mystery behind it all that only
+adds, of course, to the thrilling interest it holds for me.
+
+"Long before I arrived on the arena, which was an open space in the
+woods in front of what Foxy calls his store, wild shrieks and yells fell
+upon my ears, as if the aboriginal denizens of the forest had returned.
+Quietly approaching, I soon guessed the nature of the excitement, and
+being unwilling to interfere until I had thoroughly grasped the ethical
+and other import of the situation, I shinned up a tree, and from this
+point of vantage took in the spectacle. It appeared from Foxy's violent
+accusations that Hughie had been guilty of wrecking the store, which,
+by the way, the latter utterly despises and contemns. The following
+interesting and striking conversation took place:
+
+"'What are you doing in my store, anyway?' says he of the brilliant
+foliage. 'You're just a thief, that's what you are, and a sneaking
+thief.'
+
+"Promptly the lie comes back. 'I wasn't touching your rotten stuff!' and
+again the lie is exchanged.
+
+"Immediately there is demand from the spectators that the matter be
+argued to a demonstration, and thereupon one of the larger boys, wishing
+to precipitate matters and to furnish a casus belli, puts a chip upon
+Hughie's shoulder and dares Foxy to knock it off. But Hughie flings the
+chip aside.
+
+"'Go away with yourself and your chip. I'm not going to fight for any
+chip.'
+
+"Yells of derision, 'Cowardy, cowardy, custard,' 'Give him a good
+cuffing, Foxy,' 'He's afraid,' and so forth. And indeed, Hughie appears
+none too anxious to prove his innocence and integrity upon the big and
+solid body of his antagonist.
+
+"Foxy, much encouraged by the clamor of his friends, deploys in force in
+front of his foe, shouting, 'Come on, you little thief!'
+
+"'I'm not a thief! I didn't touch one of your things!'
+
+"'Whether you touched my things or not, you're a thief, anyway, and you
+know you are. You stole money, and I know it, and you know it yourself.'
+
+"To this Hughie strangely enough makes no reply, wherein lies the
+mystery. But though he makes no reply he faces up boldly to Foxy and
+offers battle. This is evidently a surprise to Foxy, who contents
+himself with threats as to what he can do with his one hand tied behind
+his back, and what he will do in a minute, while Hughie waits, wasting
+no strength upon words.
+
+"Finally Foxy strides to his store door, and apparently urged to frenzy
+by the sight of the wreckage therein, comes back and lands a sharp cuff
+on his antagonist's ear.
+
+"It is all that is needed. As if he had touched a spring, Hughie flew
+at him wildly, inconsequently making a windmill of his arms. But
+fortunately he runs foul of one of Foxy's big fists, and falls back
+with spouting nose. Enthusiastic yells from Foxy's following. And Foxy,
+having done much better than he expected, is encouraged to pursue his
+advantage.
+
+"Meantime the blood is being mopped off Hughie's face with a snowball,
+his tears flowing equally with his blood.
+
+"'Wait till to-morrow,' urges Fusie, his little French fidus Achates.
+
+"'To-morrow!' yells Hughie, suddenly. 'No, but now! I'll kill the lying,
+sneaking, white-faced beast now, or I'll die myself!' after which heroic
+resolve he flings himself, blood and tears, upon the waiting Foxy, and
+this time with better result, for Foxy, waiting the attack with arms up
+and eyes shut, finds himself pummeled all over the face, and after a few
+moments of ineffectual resistance, turns, and in quite the Homeric way
+seeks safety in flight, followed by the furious and vengeful Achilles,
+and the jeering shouts of the bloodthirsty but disappointed rabble.
+
+"As I have said, the mystery behind it remains unsolved, but Foxy's
+reign is at an end, and with him goes the store, for which I am devoutly
+thankful.
+
+"I would my tale ended here with the downfall of Foxy, but, my dear Ned,
+I have to record a sadder and more humiliating downfall than that--the
+abject and utter collapse of my noble self. I have once more played
+the fool, and played into the hands of the devil, mine own familiar and
+well-beloved devil.
+
+"The occasion I need not enlarge upon; it always waits. A long day's
+skate, a late supper with some of the wilder and more reckless outcasts
+of this steady-going community that frequent the back store, results in
+my appearing at the manse door late at night, very unsteady of leg and
+incoherent of speech. By a most unhappy chance, a most scurvy trick
+my familiar devil played upon me, the door is opened by the minister's
+wife. I can see her look of fear, horror, and loathing yet. It did
+more to pull me together than a cold bath, so that I saved myself the
+humiliation of speech and escaped to my room.
+
+"And now, what do you think? Reproaches, objurgations, and final
+dismissal on the part of the padre, tearful exhortations to repentance
+on the part of his wife? Not a bit. If you believe me, sir, my unhappy
+misadventure remains a secret with her. She told not a soul. Remarkably
+fine, I call that. And what more, think you? A cold and haughty reserve,
+or a lofty pity, with the fearful expectation of judgment? Not in
+the least. Only a little added kindness, a deeper note to the frank,
+sympathetic interest she has always shown, and that is all. My dear
+chap, I offered to leave, but when she looked at me with those great
+hazel-brown eyes of hers and said, 'Why should you go? Would it be
+better for you any place else?' I found myself enjoying the luxury of
+an entirely new set of emotions, which I shall not analyze to you. But
+I feel more confident than ever that I shall either die early or end in
+being a saint.
+
+"And now, do you know, she persists in ignoring that anything has taken
+place, talks to me about her young men and her hopes for them, the work
+she would do for them, and actually asks my assistance! It appears that
+ever since their Great Revival, which is the beginning of days to them,
+events being dated from before the Great Revival or after, some of
+these young men have a desire to be ministers, or think they have. It is
+really her desire, I suspect, for them. The difficulty is, preparation
+for college. In this she asks my help. The enormous incongruity of
+the situation does not appear to strike her, that I, the--too many
+unutterable things--should be asked to prepare these young giants, with
+their 'tremenjous' religious convictions, for the ministry; nevertheless
+I yield myself to do anything and everything she lays upon me. I repeat,
+I shall without doubt end in being a saint myself, and should not be
+surprised to find myself with these 'tremenjous' young men on the way
+to Holy Orders. Fancy the good Doctor's face! He would suspect a lurking
+pleasantry in it all.
+
+"This letter, I know, will render chaotic all your conceptions of me,
+and in this chaos of mind I can heartily sympathize. What the next
+chapter will be, God only knows! It depends upon how my familiar devil
+behaves himself. Meantime, I am parleying with him, and with some
+anxiety as to the result subscribe myself,
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"J. C."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE FIRST ROUND
+
+
+The challenge from the Front was for the best two out of three, the
+first game to be played the last day of the year. Steadily, under
+Craven's coaching, the Twentieth team were perfected in their systematic
+play; for although Craven knew nothing of shinny, he had captained the
+champion lacrosse team of the province of Quebec, and the same general
+rules of defense and attack could be applied with equal success to the
+game of shinny. The team was greatly strengthened by the accession of
+Thomas Finch and Don Cameron, both of whom took up the school again with
+a view to college. With Thomas in goal, Hughie said he felt as if a big
+hole had been filled up behind him.
+
+The master caused a few preliminary skirmishes with neighboring teams
+to be played by way of practice, and by the time the end of the year had
+come, he felt confident that the team would not disgrace their school.
+His confidence was not ill-founded.
+
+"We have covered ourselves with glory," he writes to his friend Ned
+Maitland, "for we have whipped to a finish the arrogant and mighty
+Front. I am more than ever convinced that I shall have to take a few
+days off and get away to Montreal, or some other retired spot, to
+recover from the excitement of the last week.
+
+"Under my diligent coaching, in which, knowing nothing whatever of
+shinny, I have striven to introduce something of the lacrosse method,
+our team got into really decent fighting trim. Under the leadership of
+their captain, who has succeeded in infusing his own fierce and furious
+temper into his men, they played like little demons, from the drop of
+the ball till the game was scored. 'Furious' is the word, for they and
+their captain play with headlong fury, and that, I might say, is about
+their only defect, for if they ever should run into a bigger team, who
+had any semblance of head about them, and were not merely feet, they
+would surely come to grief.
+
+"I cannot stay to recount our victory. Let it suffice that we were
+driven down in two big sleigh-loads by Thomas Finch, the back wall of
+our defense, and Don Cameron, who plays in the right of the forward
+line, both great, strapping fellows, who are to be eventually, I
+believe, members of my preparatory class.
+
+"The Front came forth, cheerful, big, confident, trusting in the might
+of their legs. We are told that the Lord taketh no pleasure in the legs
+of man, and this is true in the game of shinny. Not legs alone, but
+heart and head win, with anything like equal chances.
+
+"Game called, 2:30; Captain Hughie has the drop; seizes the ball, passes
+it to Fusie, who rushes, passes back to Hughie, who has arrived in the
+vicinity of the enemy's goal, and shoots, swift and straight, a goal.
+Time, 30 seconds.
+
+"Again and again my little demons pierce the heavy, solid line of the
+Front defense, and score, the enemy, big and bewildered, being chiefly
+occupied in watching them do it. By six o'clock that evening I had them
+safe at the manse in a condition of dazed jubilation, quite unable to
+realize the magnificence of their achievement. They had driven twelve
+miles down, played a two hours' game of shinny, score eight to two,
+and were back safe and sound, bearing with them victory and some broken
+shins, equally proud of both.
+
+"There is a big supper at the manse, prepared, I believe, with the view
+of consolation, but transformed into a feast of triumph, the minister
+being enthusiastically jubilant over the achievement of his boys, his
+wife, if possible, even more so. The heroes feed themselves to fullness,
+amazing and complete, the minister holds a thanksgiving service, in
+which I have no doubt my little demons most earnestly join, after which
+they depart to shed the radiance of their glory throughout the section.
+
+"And now I have to recount another experience of mine, quite unique and
+altogether inexplicable. It appears that in this remarkable abode--I
+would call it 'The Saint's Rest' were it not for the presence of others
+than saints, and for the additional fact that there is little rest for
+the saint who makes her dwelling here--in this abode there prevails the
+quaint custom of watching the death of the old year and the birth of the
+new. It is made the occasion of religious and heart-searching rite. As
+the solemn hour of midnight draws on, a silence falls upon the family,
+all of whom, with the exception of the newest infant, are present. It is
+the family festival of the year.
+
+"'And what will they be doing at your home, Mr. Craven?' inquires the
+minister. The contrast that rose before my mind was vivid enough, for
+having received my invitation to a big dance, I knew my sweet sisters
+would be having a jolly wild time about that moment. My answer, given I
+feel in a somewhat flippant tone, appears to shock my shinny captain of
+the angelic face, who casts a honor-stricken glance at his mother, and
+waits for the word of reproof that he thinks is due from the padre's
+lips.
+
+"But before it falls the mother interposes with 'They will miss
+you greatly this evening.' It was rather neatly done, and I think I
+appreciated it.
+
+"The rite proceeds. The initial ceremony is the repeating of a verse of
+Scripture all round, and to save my life nothing comes to my mind but
+the words, 'Remember Lot's wife.' As I cannot see the appropriateness of
+the quotation, I pass.
+
+"Five minutes before the stroke of twelve, they sing the Scottish
+paraphrase beginning, 'O God of Bethel.' I do not suppose you ever heard
+it, but it is a beautiful hymn, and singularly appropriate to the
+hour. In this I lend assistance with my violin, the tune being the very
+familiar one of 'Auld Lang Syne,' associated in my mind, however, with
+occasions somewhat widely diverse from this. I assure you I am thankful
+that my part is instrumental, for the whole business is getting onto my
+emotions in a disturbing manner, and especially when I allow my eyes to
+linger for a moment or two on the face of the lady, the center of the
+circle, who is deliberately throwing away her fine culture and her
+altogether beautiful soul upon the Anakim here, and with a beautiful
+unconsciousness of anything like sacrifice, is now thanking God for the
+privilege of doing so. I have some moments of rare emotional luxury,
+those moments that are next to tears.
+
+"Then the padre offers one of those heart-racking prayers of his that,
+whether they reach anything outside or not, somehow get down into
+one's vitals, and stir up remorses, and self-condemnings, and longings
+unutterable. Then they all kiss the mother and wish her a Happy
+New-Year.
+
+"My boy, my dear boy, I have never known deeper moments than those.
+And when I went to shake hands with her, she seemed so like a queen
+receiving homage, that without seeming to feel I was making a fool
+of myself, I did the Queen Victoria act, and saluted her hand. It is
+wonderful how great moments discover the lady to you. She must have
+known how I was feeling, for with a very beautiful grace, she said, 'Let
+me be your mother for to-night,' and by Jove, she kissed me. I have been
+kissed before, and have kissed some women in my time, but that is the
+only kiss I can remember, and s'help me Bob, I'll never kiss another
+till I kiss my wife.
+
+"And then and there, Maitland, I swore by all that I knew of God, and by
+everything sacred in life, that I'd quit the past and be worthy of her
+trust; for the mischief of it is, she will persist in trusting you, puts
+you on your honor noblesse oblige business, and all that. I think I told
+you that I might end in being a saint. That dream I have surrendered,
+but, by the grace of heaven, I'm going to try to be a man. And I am
+going to play shinny with those boys, and if I can help them to win that
+match, and the big game of life, I will do it.
+
+"As witness my hand and seal, this first day of January, 18--
+
+"J. C."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE FINAL ROUND
+
+
+After the New-Year the school filled up with big boys, some of whom had
+returned with the idea of joining the preparatory class for college,
+which the minister had persuaded John Craven to organize.
+
+Shinny, however, became the absorbing interest for all the boys, both
+big and little. This interest was intensified by the rumors that came up
+from the Front, for it was noised through the Twentieth section that Dan
+Munro, whose father was a cousin of Archie Munro, the former teacher,
+had come from Marrintown and taken charge of the Front school, and that,
+being used to the ice game, and being full of tricks and swift as
+a bird, he was an exceedingly dangerous man. More than that, he was
+training his team with his own tricks, and had got back to school some
+of the old players, among whom were no less renowned personages than Hec
+Ross and Jimmie "Ben." Jimmie Ben, to wit, James son of Benjamin McEwen,
+was more famed for his prowess as a fighter than for his knowledge
+of the game of shinny, but every one who saw him play said he was "a
+terror." Further, it was rumored that there was a chance of them
+getting for goal Farquhar McRae, "Little Farquhar," or "Farquhar Bheg"
+(pronounced "vaick"), as he was euphoniously called, who presumably had
+once been little, but could no longer claim to be so, seeing that he was
+six feet, and weighed two hundred pounds.
+
+It behooved the Twentieth team, therefore, to bestir themselves with all
+diligence, and in this matter Hughie gave no rest either to himself or
+to any one else likely to be of use in perfecting his team. For Hughie
+had been unanimously chosen captain, in spite of his protests that the
+master or one of the big boys should hold that place. But none of the
+big boys knew the new game as perfectly as Hughie, and the master had
+absolutely refused, saying, "You beat them once, Hughie, and you can do
+it again." And as the days and weeks went on, Hughie fully justified the
+team's choice of him as captain. He developed a genius for organization,
+a sureness of judgment, and a tact in management, as well as a skill and
+speed in play, that won the confidence of every member of his team. He
+set himself resolutely to banish any remaining relics of the ancient
+style of play. In the old game every one rushed to hit the ball without
+regard to direction or distance, and the consequence was, that from end
+to end of the field a mob of yelling, stick-waving players more or less
+aimlessly followed in the wake of the ball. But Hughie and the master
+changed all that, forced the men to play in their positions, training
+them never to drive wildly forward, but to pass to a man, and to keep
+their clubs down and their mouths shut.
+
+The striking characteristic of Hughie's own playing was a certain
+fierceness, amounting almost to fury, so that when he was in the attack
+he played for every ounce there was in him. His chief weakness lay in
+his tempestuous temper, which he found difficult to command, but as he
+worked his men from day to day, and week to week, the responsibility of
+his position and the magnitude of the issues at stake helped him to a
+self-control quite remarkable in him.
+
+As the fateful day drew near the whole section was stirred with an
+intense interest and excitement, in which even the grave and solemn
+elders shared, and to a greater degree, the minister and his wife.
+
+At length the day, as all days great and small, actually arrived. A big
+crowd awaited the appearance of "the folks from the Front." They were
+expected about two, but it was not till half-past that there was heard
+in the distance the sound of the bagpipes.
+
+"Here they are! That's Alan the cooper's pipes," was the cry, and
+before long, sure enough there appeared Alphonse le Roque driving his
+French-Canadian team, the joy and pride of his heart, for Alphonse was
+a born horse-trainer, and had taught his French-Canadians many
+extraordinary tricks. On the dead gallop he approached the crowd till
+within a few yards, when, at a sudden command, they threw themselves
+upon their haunches, and came almost to a standstill. With a crack of
+his long whip Alphonse gave the command, "Deesplay yousef!" At once his
+stout little team began to toss their beautiful heads, and broke into
+a series of prancing curves that would not have shamed a pair of
+greyhounds. Then, as they drew up to the stopping-point, he gathered
+up his lines, and with another crack of his whip, cried, "Salute ze
+ladies!" when, with true equine courtesy, they rose upon their hind legs
+and gracefully pawed the empty air. Finally, after depositing his load
+amid the admiring exclamations of the crowd, he touched their tails with
+the point of his whip, gave a sudden "Whish!" and like hounds from the
+leash his horses sprang off at full gallop.
+
+One after another the teams from the Front swung round and emptied their
+loads.
+
+"Man! what a crowd!" said Hughie to Don. "There must be a hundred at
+least."
+
+"Yes, and there's Hec Ross and Jimmie Ben," said Don, "and sure enough,
+Farquhar Begh. We'll be catching it to-day, whatever," continued Don,
+cheerfully.
+
+"Pshaw! we licked as big men before. It isn't size," said Hughie, with
+far more confidence than he felt.
+
+It was half an hour before the players were ready to begin. The rules of
+the game were few and simple. The play was to be one hour each way,
+with a quarter of an hour rest between. There was to be no tripping,
+no hitting on the shins when the ball was out of the scrimmage, and all
+disputes were to be settled by the umpire, who on this occasion was the
+master of the Sixteenth school.
+
+"He's no good," grumbled Hughie to his mother, who was even more excited
+than her boy himself. "He can't play himself, and he's too easy scared."
+
+"Never mind," said his mother, brightly; "perhaps he won't have much to
+do."
+
+"Much to do! Well, there's Jimmie Ben, and he's an awful fighter, but
+I'm not going to let him frighten me," said Hughie, savagely; "and
+there's Dan Munro, too, they say he's a terror, and Hec Ross. Of course
+we've got just as good men, but they won't fight. Why, Johnnie 'Big
+Duncan' and Don, there, are as good as any of them, but they won't
+fight."
+
+The mother smiled a little.
+
+"What a pity! But why should they fight? Fighting is not shinny."
+
+"No, that's what the master says. And he's right enough, too, but it's
+awful hard when a fellow doesn't play fair, when he trips you up or
+clubs you on the shins when you're not near the ball. You feel like
+hitting him back."
+
+"Yes, but that's the very time to show self-control."
+
+"I know. And that's what the master says."
+
+"Of course it is," went on his mother. "That's what the game is for, to
+teach the boys to command their tempers. You remember 'he that ruleth
+his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.'
+
+"O, it's all right," said Hughie, "and easy enough to talk about."
+
+"What's easy enough to talk about?" asked the master, coming up.
+
+"Taking a city," said Mrs. Murray, smiling at him.
+
+The master looked puzzled.
+
+"Mother means," said Hughie, "keeping one's temper in shinny. But I'm
+telling her it's pretty hard when a fellow clubs you on the shins when
+you're away from the ball."
+
+"Yes, of course it's hard," said the master, "but it's better than being
+a cad," which brought a quick flush to Hughie's face, but helped him
+more than anything else to keep himself in hand that day.
+
+"Can't understand a man," said the master, "who goes into a game and
+then quits it to fight. If it's fighting, why fight, but if it's shinny,
+play the game. Big team against us, eh, captain?" he continued, looking
+at the Front men, who were taking a preliminary spin upon the ice, "and
+pretty swift, too."
+
+"If they play fair, I don't mind," said Hughie. "I'm not afraid of them;
+but if they get slugging--"
+
+"Well, if they get slugging," said the master, "we'll play the game and
+win, sure."
+
+"Well, it's time to begin," said Hughie, and with a good by to his
+mother he turned away.
+
+"Remember, take a city," she called out after him.
+
+"All right, muzzie, I'll remember."
+
+In a few moments the teams were in position opposite each other. The
+team from the Front made a formidable show in weight and muscle. At the
+right of the forward line stood the redoubtable Dan Munro, the stocky,
+tricky, fierce captain of the Front team, and with him three rather
+small boys in red shirts. The defense consisted of Hec Ross, the
+much-famed and much-feared Jimmie Ben, while in goal, sure enough, stood
+the immense and solid bulk of Farquhar Bheg. The center was held by four
+boys of fair size and weight.
+
+In the Twentieth team the forward line was composed of Jack Ross, Curly
+Ross's brother, Fusie, Davie Scotch, and Don Cameron. The center was
+played by Hughie, with three little chaps who made up for their lack of
+weight by their speed and skill. The defense consisted of Johnnie "Big
+Duncan," to wit, John, the son of Big Duncan Campbell, on the left hand,
+and the master on the right, backed up by Thomas Finch in goal, who much
+against his will was in the game that day. His heart was heavy within
+him, for he saw, not the gleaming ice and the crowding players, but "the
+room" at home, and his mother, with her pale, patient face, sitting in
+her chair. His father, he knew, would be beside her, and Jessac would be
+flitting about. "But for all that, she'll have a long day," he said to
+himself, for only his loyalty to the school and to Hughie had brought
+him to the game that day.
+
+When play was called, Hughie, with Fusie immediately behind him, stood
+facing Dan in the center with one of the little Red Shirts at his back.
+It was Dan's drop. He made a pass or two, then shot between his legs
+to a Red Shirt, who, upon receiving, passed far out to Red Shirt number
+three, who flew along the outer edge and returned swiftly to Dan, now
+far up the other side. Like the wind Dan sped down the line, dodged
+Johnnie Big Duncan easily, and shot from the corner, straight, swift,
+and true, a goal.
+
+"One for the Front!" Eleven shinny-sticks went up in the air, the
+bagpipes struck up a wild refrain, big Hec Ross and Jimmie Ben danced a
+huge, unwieldy, but altogether jubilant dance round each other, and then
+settled down to their places, for it was Hughie's drop.
+
+Hughie took the ball from the umpire and faced Dan with some degree of
+nervousness, for Dan was heavy and strong, and full of confidence. After
+a little manoeuvering he dropped the ball between Dan's legs, but Dan,
+instead of attending to the ball, charged full upon him and laid him
+flat, while one of the Red Shirts, seizing the ball, flew off with
+it, supported by a friendly Red Shirt on either side of him, with Dan
+following hard.
+
+Right through the crowd dodged the Red Shirts till they came up to the
+Twentieth line of defense, when forth came Johnnie Big Duncan in swift
+attack. But the little Red Shirt who had the ball, touching it slightly
+to the right, tangled himself up in Johnnie Big Duncan's legs and sent
+him sprawling, while Dan swiped the ball to another Red Shirt who had
+slipped in behind the master, for there was no such foolishness as
+off-side in that game. Like lightning the Red Shirt caught the ball, and
+rushing at Thomas, shot furiously at close quarters. Goal number two for
+the Front!
+
+Again on all sides rose frantic cheers. "The Front! The Front! Murro
+forever!" Two games had been won, and not a Twentieth man had touched
+the ball. With furtive, uncertain glances the men of the Twentieth
+team looked one at the other, and all at their captain, as if seeking
+explanation of this extraordinary situation.
+
+"Well," said Hughie, in a loud voice, to the master, and with a careless
+laugh, though at his heart he was desperate, "they are giving us a
+little taste of our own medicine."
+
+The master dropped to buckle his skate, deliberately unwinding the
+strap, while the umpire allowed time.
+
+"Give me a hand with this, Hughie," he called, and Hughie skated up to
+him.
+
+"Well," said Craven, smiling up into Hughie's face, "that's a good,
+swift opening, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, it's terrible," groaned Hughie. "They're going to lick us off the
+ice."
+
+"Well," replied the master, slowly, "I wouldn't be in a hurry to say
+so. We have a hundred minutes and more to win in yet. Now, don't you see
+that their captain is their great card. Suppose you let the ball go for
+a game or two, and stick to Dan. Trail him, never let him shake you. The
+rest of us will take care of the game."
+
+"All right," said Hughie, "I'll stick to him," and off he set for the
+center.
+
+As the loser, Hughie again held the drop. He faced Dan with
+determination to get that ball out to Fusie, and somehow he felt in his
+bones that he should succeed in doing this. Without any preliminary he
+dropped, and knocked the ball toward Fusie.
+
+But this was evidently what Dan expected, for as soon as Hughie made the
+motion to drop he charged hard upon the waiting Fusie. Hughie, however,
+had his plan as well, for immediately upon the ball leaving his stick,
+he threw himself in Dan's way, checking him effectually, and allowing
+Fusie, with Don and Scotchie following, to get away.
+
+The Front defense, however, was too strong, and the ball came shooting
+back toward the line of Reds, one of whom, making a short run, passed
+far out to Dan on the right. But before the latter could get up speed,
+Hughie was upon him, and ignoring the ball, blocked and bothered and
+checked him, till one of the Twentieth centers, rushing in, secured it
+for his side.
+
+"Ha! well done, captain!" came Craven's voice across the ice, and
+Hughie felt his nerve come back. If he could hold Dan, that deadly Front
+combination might be broken.
+
+Meantime Don had secured the ball from Craven, and was rushing up his
+right wing.
+
+"Here you are, Hughie," he cried, shooting across the Front goal.
+
+Hughie sprang to receive, but before he could shoot Dan was upon him,
+checking so hard that Hughie was sent sprawling to the ice, while Dan
+shot away with the ball.
+
+But before he had gone very far Hughie was after him like a whirlwind,
+making straight for his own goal, so that by the time Dan had arrived at
+shooting distance, Hughie was again upon him, and while in the very act
+of steadying himself for his try at the goal, came crashing into him
+with such fierceness of attack that Dan was flung aside, while Johnnie
+Big Duncan, capturing the ball, sent it across to the master.
+
+It was the master's first chance for the day. With amazing swiftness
+and dexterity he threaded the outer edge of the ice, and with a sudden
+swerve across, avoided the throng that had gathered to oppose him, and
+then with a careless ease, as if it were a matter of little importance,
+he dodged in between the heavy Front defense, shot his goal, and skated
+back coolly to his place.
+
+The Twentieth's moment had come, and both upon the ice and upon the
+banks the volume and fierceness of the cheering testified to the
+intensity of the feeling that had been so long pent up.
+
+That game had revealed to Hughie two important facts: the first, that he
+was faster than Dan in a straight race; and the second, that it would be
+advisable to feed the master, for it was clearly apparent that there was
+not his equal upon the ice in dodging.
+
+"That was well done, captain," said Craven to Hughie, as he was coolly
+skating back to his position.
+
+"A splendid run, sir," cried Hughie, in return.
+
+"Oh, the run was easy. It was your check there that did the trick.
+That's the game," he continued, lowering his voice. "It's hard on you,
+though. Can you stand it?"
+
+"Well, I can try for a while," said Hughie, confidently.
+
+"If you can," said the master, "we've got them," and Hughie settled down
+into the resolve that, cost what it might, he would stick like a leech
+to Dan.
+
+He imparted his plan to Fusie, adding, "Now, whenever you see me tackle
+Dan, run in and get the ball. I'm not going to bother about it."
+
+Half an hour had gone. The score stood two to one in favor of the Front,
+but the result every one felt to be still uncertain. That last attack of
+Hughie's, and the master's speedy performance, gave some concern to the
+men of the Front, and awakened a feeling of confidence in the Twentieth
+team.
+
+But Dan, wise general that he was, saw the danger, and gave his commands
+ere he faced off for the new game.
+
+"When that man Craven gets it," he said to the men of the center, "make
+straight for the goal. Never mind the ball."
+
+The wisdom of this order became at once evident, for when in the
+face-off he secured the ball, Hughie clung so tenaciously to his heels
+and checked him so effectually, that he was forced to resign it to the
+Reds, who piercing the Twentieth center, managed to scurry up the ice
+with the ball between them. But when, met by Craven and Johnnie Big
+Duncan, they passed across to Dan, Hughie again checked so fiercely that
+Johnnie Big Duncan secured the ball, passed back to the master, who with
+another meteoric flash along the edge of the field broke through the
+Front's defense, and again shot.
+
+It was only Farquhar Bheg's steady coolness that saved the goal. It was
+a near enough thing, however, to strike a sudden chill to the heart of
+the Front goal-keeper, and to make Dan realize that something must be
+done to check these dangerous rushes of Craven.
+
+"Get in behind the defense there, and stay there," he said to two of his
+centers, and his tone indicated that his serene confidence in himself
+and his team was slightly shaken. Hughie's close checking was beginning
+to chafe him, for his team in their practice had learned to depend
+unduly upon him.
+
+Noticing Dan's change in the disposition of his men, Hughie moved up two
+of his centers nearer to the Front defense.
+
+"Get into their way," he said "and give the master a clear field."
+
+But this policy only assisted Dan's plan of defense, for the presence
+of so many players before the Front goal filled up the ice to such an
+extent that Craven's rushes were impeded by mere numbers.
+
+For some time Dan watched the result of his tactics well satisfied,
+remaining himself for the time in the background. During one of the
+pauses, when the ball was out of play, he called one of the little Reds
+to him.
+
+"Look here," he said, "you watch this. Right after one of those rushes
+of Craven's, don't follow him down, but keep up to your position. I'll
+get the ball to you somehow, and then you'll have a chance to shoot.
+No use passing to me, for this little son of a gun is on my back like a
+flea on a dog." Dan was seriously annoyed.
+
+The little Red passed the word around and patiently waited his chance.
+Once and again the plan failed, chiefly because Dan could not get the
+ball out of the scrimmage, but at length, when Hughie had been tempted
+to rush in with the hope of putting in a shot, the ball slid out of the
+scrimmage, and Dan, swooping down upon it, passed swiftly to the waiting
+Red who immediately shot far out to his alert wing, and then rushing
+down the center and slipping past Johnnie Big Duncan, who had gone forth
+to meet Dan coming down the right, and the master who was attending to
+the little Red on the wing, received the ball, and putting in a short,
+swift shot, scored another goal for the Front, amid a tempest of
+hurrahings from the team and their supporters.
+
+The game now stood three to one in favor of the Front, and up to the end
+of the first hour no change was made in this score.
+
+And now there was a scene of the wildest enthusiasm and confusion. The
+Front people flocked upon the ice and carried off their team to their
+quarter of the shanty, loading them with congratulations and refreshing
+them with various drinks.
+
+"Better get your men together, captain," suggested Craven, and Hughie
+gathered them into the Twentieth corner of the shanty.
+
+In spite of the adverse score Hughie found his team full of fight. They
+crowded about him and the master, eager to listen to any explanation of
+the present defeat that might be offered for their comfort, or to any
+plans by which the defeat might be turned into victory. Some
+minutes they spent in excitedly discussing the various games, and in
+good-naturedly chaffing Thomas Finch for his failure to prevent a score.
+But Thomas had nothing to say in reply. He had done his best, and he had
+a feeling that they all knew it. No man was held in higher esteem by the
+team than the goal-keeper.
+
+"Any plan, captain?" asked the master, after they had talked for some
+minutes, and all grew quiet.
+
+"What do you think, sir?" said Hughie.
+
+"O, let us hear from you. You're the captain."
+
+"Well," said Hughie, slowly, and with deliberate emphasis, "I think we
+are going to win." (Yells from all sides.) "At any rate we ought to
+win, for I think we have the better team." (More yells.) "What I mean is
+this, I think we are better in combination play, and I don't think they
+have a man who can touch the master."
+
+Enthusiastic exclamations, "That's right!" "Better believe it!" "Horo!"
+
+"But we have a big fight before us. And that Dan Munro's a terror. The
+only change I can think of is to open out more and fall back from their
+goal for a little while. And then, if I can hold Dan--"
+
+Cries of "You'll hold him all right!" "You are the lad!"
+
+"Everybody should feed the master. They can't stop him, any of them.
+But I would say for the first while, anyway, play defense. What do you
+think, sir?" appealing to the master.
+
+"I call that good tactics. But don't depend too much upon me; if any man
+has a chance for a run and a shot, let him take it. And don't give up
+your combination in your forward line. The captain is quite right in
+seeking to draw them away from their goal. Their defense territory is
+too full now. Now, what I have noticed is this, they mainly rely upon
+Dan Munro and upon their three big defense men. For the first fifteen
+minutes they will make their hardest push. Let us take the captain's
+advice, fall back a little, and so empty their defense. But on the
+whole, keep your positions, play to your men, and," he added, with a
+smile, "don't get too mad."
+
+"I guess they will be making some plans, too," said Thomas Finch,
+slowly, and everybody laughed.
+
+"That's quite right, Thomas, but we'll give them a chance for the first
+while to show us what they mean to do."
+
+At this point the minister came in, looking rather gloomy.
+
+"Well, Mr. Craven, rather doubtful outlook, is it not?"
+
+"O, not too bad, sir," said the master, cheerfully.
+
+"Three to one. What worse do you want?"
+
+"Well, six to one would be worse," replied the master. "Besides, their
+first two games were taken by a kind of fluke. We didn't know
+their play. You will notice they have taken only one in the last
+three-quarters of an hour."
+
+"I doubt they are too big for you," continued the minister.
+
+"Isn't altogether size that wins in shinny," said Mr. Craven. "Hughie
+there isn't a very big man, but he can hold any one of them."
+
+"Well, I hope you may be right," said the minister. "I am sorry I have
+to leave the game to see a sick man up Kenyon way."
+
+"Sorry you can't stay, sir, to see us win," said Craven, cheerfully,
+while Hughie slipped out to see his mother before she went.
+
+"Well, my boy," said his mother, "you are playing a splendid game, and
+you are getting better as you go on."
+
+"Thanks, mother. That's the kind of talk we like," said Hughie, who
+had been a little depressed by his father's rather gloomy views. "I'm
+awfully sorry you can't stay."
+
+"And so am I, but we must go. But we shall be back in time for supper,
+and you will ask all the team to come down to celebrate their victory."
+
+"Good for you, mother! I'll tell them, and I bet they'll play."
+
+Meantime the team from the Front had been having something of a
+jollification in their quarters. They were sure of victory, and in spite
+of their captain's remonstrances had already begun to pass round the
+bottle in the way of celebration.
+
+"They're having something strong in there," said little Mac McGregor.
+"Wish they'd pass some this way."
+
+"Let them have it," said Johnnie Big Duncan, whose whole family ever
+since the revival had taken a total abstinence pledge, although this
+was looked upon as a very extreme position indeed, by almost all the
+community. But Big Duncan Campbell had learned by very bitter experience
+that for him, at least, there was no safety in a moderate use of "God's
+good creature," as many of his fellow church-members designated the
+"mountain dew," and his sons had loyally backed him up in this attitude.
+
+"Quite, right!" said the master, emphatically. "And if they had any
+sense they would know that with every drink they are throwing away a big
+chance of winning."
+
+"Horo, you fellows!" shouted big Hec Ross across to them, "aren't you
+going to play any more? Have you got enough of it already?"
+
+"We will not be caring for any more of yon kind," said Johnnie Big
+Duncan, good-naturedly, "and we were thinking of giving you a change."
+
+"Come away and be at it, then," said Hec, "for we're all getting cold."
+
+"That's easily cured," said Dan, as they sallied forth to the ice again,
+"for I warrant you will not be suffering from the cold in five minutes."
+
+When the teams took up their positions, it was discovered that Dan had
+fallen back to the center, and Hughie was at a loss to know how to meet
+this new disposition of the enemy's force.
+
+"Let them go on," said the master, with whom Hughie was holding a
+hurried consultation. "You stick to him, and we'll play defense till
+they develop their plan."
+
+The tactics of the Front became immediately apparent upon the drop of
+the ball, and proved to be what the master had foretold. No sooner had
+the game begun than the big defense men advanced with the centers to the
+attack, and when Hughie followed up his plan of sticking closely to Dan
+Munro and hampering him, he found Jimmie Ben upon him, swiping furiously
+with his club at his shins, with evident intention of intimidating
+him, as well as of relieving Dan from his attentions. But if Jimmie Ben
+thought by his noisy shouting and furious swiping to strike terror to
+the heart of the Twentieth captain, he entirely misjudged his man; for
+without seeking to give him back what he received in kind, Hughie played
+his game with such skill and pluck, that although he was considerably
+battered about the shins, he was nevertheless able to prevent Dan from
+making any of his dangerous rushes.
+
+Craven, meantime, if he noticed Hughie's hard case, was so fully
+occupied with the defense of the goal that he could give no thought to
+anything else. Shot after shot came in upon Thomas at close range,
+and so savage and reckless was the charge of the Front that their big
+defense men, Hec Ross and Jimmie Ben, abandoning their own positions,
+were foremost in the melee before the Twentieth goal.
+
+For fully fifteen minutes the ball was kept in the Twentieth territory,
+and only the steady coolness of Craven and Johnnie Big Duncan, backed
+by Hughie's persistent checking of the Front captain and the magnificent
+steadiness of Thomas in goal, saved the game.
+
+At length, as the fury of the charge began to expend itself a little,
+Craven got his chance. The ball had been passed out to Dan upon the left
+wing of the Front forward line. At once Hughie was upon him, but Jimmie
+Ben following hard, with a cruel swipe at Hughie's skates, laid him
+flat, but not until he had succeeded in hindering to some degree Dan's
+escape with the ball. Before the Front captain could make use of his
+advantage and get clear away, the master bore down upon him like a
+whirlwind, hurled him clear off his feet, secured the ball, dashed up
+the open field, and eluding the two centers, who had been instructed to
+cover the goal, easily shot between the balsam-trees.
+
+For a few moments the Twentieth men went mad, for they all felt that a
+crisis had been passed. The failure of the Front in what had evidently
+been a preconcerted and very general attack was accepted as an omen of
+victory.
+
+The Front men, on the other hand, were bitterly chagrined. They had come
+so near it, and yet had failed. Jimmie Ben was especially savage. He
+came down the ice toward the center, yelling defiance and threats of
+vengeance. "Come on here! Don't waste time. Let us at them. We'll knock
+them clear off the ice."
+
+It was Dan's drop. As he was preparing to face off, the master skated up
+and asked the umpire for time. At once the crowd gathered round.
+
+"What's the matter?" "What's up?" "What do you want?" came on all sides
+from the Front team, now thoroughly aroused and thirsting for vengeance.
+
+"Mr. Umpire," said the master, "I want to call your attention to a bit
+of foul play that must not be allowed to go on"; and then he described
+Jimmie Ben's furious attack upon Hughie.
+
+"It was a deliberate trip, as well as a savage swipe at a man's shins
+when the ball was not near."
+
+At once Jimmie Ben gave him the lie, and throwing down his club, slammed
+his cap upon the ice and proceeded to execute a war-dance about it.
+
+For a few moments there was a great uproar, and then the master's voice
+was heard again addressing the umpire.
+
+"I want to know your ruling upon this, Mr. Umpire"; and somehow his
+voice commanded a perfect stillness.
+
+"Well," said the umpire, hesitating, "of course--if a man trips it is
+foul play, but--I did not see any tripping. And of course--swiping at
+a man's shins is not allowed, although sometimes--it can't very well be
+helped in a scrimmage."
+
+"I merely want to call your attention to it," said the master. "My
+understanding of our arrangements, Mr. Munro," he said, addressing the
+Front captain, "is that we are here to play shinny. You have come up
+here, I believe, to win the game by playing shinny, and we are here to
+prevent you. If you have any other purpose, or if any of your men have
+any other purpose, we would be glad to know it now, for we entered this
+game with the intention of playing straight, clean shinny."
+
+"That's right!" called out Hec Ross; "that's what we're here for." And
+his answer was echoed on every side, except by Jimmie Ben, who continued
+to bluster and offer fight.
+
+"O, shut your gab!" finally said Farquhar Bheg, impatiently. "If you
+want to fight, wait till after the game is done."
+
+"Here's your cap, Jimmie," piped a thin, little voice. "You'll take cold
+in your head." It was little French Fusie, holding up Jimmie's cap on
+the end of his shinny club, and smiling with the utmost good nature, but
+with infinite impudence, into Jimmie's face.
+
+At once there was a general laugh at Jimmie Ben's expense, who with a
+growl, seized his cap, and putting it on his head, skated off to his
+place.
+
+"Now," said Hughie, calling his men together for a moment, "let us crowd
+them hard, and let's give the master every chance we can."
+
+"No," said the master, "they are waiting for me. Suppose you leave Dan
+to me for a while. You go up and play your forward combination. They are
+not paying so much attention to you. Make the attack from your wing."
+
+At the drop Dan secured the ball, and followed by Fusie, flew up the
+center with one of the Reds on either hand. Immediately the master
+crossed to meet him, checked him hard, and gave Fusie a chance, who,
+seizing the ball, passed far up to Hughie on the right.
+
+Immediately the Twentieth forward line rushed, and by a beautiful hit
+of combined play, brought the ball directly before the Front goal, when
+Don, holding it for a moment till Hughie charged in upon Farquhar Bheg,
+shot, and scored.
+
+The result of their combination at once inspired the Twentieth team with
+fresh confidence, and proved most disconcerting to their opponents.
+
+"That's the game, boys," said the master, delightedly. "Keep your heads,
+and play your positions." And so well did the forward line respond that
+for the next ten minutes the game was reduced to a series of attacks
+upon the Front goal, and had it not been for the dashing play of their
+captain and the heavy checking of the Front defense, the result would
+have been most disastrous to them.
+
+Meantime, the Twentieth supporters, lined along either edge, became more
+and more vociferous as they began to see that their men were getting the
+game well into their own hands. That steady, cool, systematic play of
+man to man was something quite new to those accustomed to the old style
+of game, and aroused the greatest enthusiasm.
+
+Gradually the Front were forced to fall back into their territory, and
+to play upon the defensive, while the master and Johnnie Big Duncan,
+moving up toward the center, kept their forward line so strongly
+supported, and checked so effectually any attempts to break through,
+that thick and fast the shots fell upon the enemy's goal.
+
+There remained only fifteen minutes to play. The hard pace was beginning
+to tell upon the big men, and the inevitable reaction following their
+unwise "celebrating" began to show itself in their stale and spiritless
+play. On the other hand, the Twentieth were as fresh as ever, and
+pressed the game with greater spirit every moment.
+
+"Play out toward the side," urged Dan, despairing of victory, but
+determined to avert defeat, and at every opportunity the ball was
+knocked out of play. But like wolves the Twentieth forwards were upon
+the ball, striving to keep it in play, and steadily forcing it toward
+the enemy's goal.
+
+Dan became desperate. He was wet with perspiration, and his breath was
+coming in hard gasps. He looked at his team. The little Reds were fit
+enough, but the others were jaded and pumped out. Behind him stood
+Jimmie Ben, savage, wet, and weary.
+
+At one of the pauses, when the ball was out of play, Dan dropped on his
+knee.
+
+"Hold on there a minute," he cried; "I want to fix this skate of mine."
+
+Very deliberately he removed his strap, readjusted his skate, and began
+slowly to set the strap in place again.
+
+"They want a rest, I guess. Better take off the time, umpire," sang out
+Fusie, dancing as lively as a cricket round Jimmie Ben, who looked as if
+he would like to devour him bodily.
+
+"Shut up, Fusie!" said Hughie. "We've got all the time we need."
+
+"You have, eh?" said Jimmie Ben, savagely.
+
+"Yes," said Hughie, in sudden anger, for he had not forgotten Jimmie
+Ben's cruel swipe. "We don't need any more time than we've got, and we
+don't need to play any dirty tricks, either. We're going to beat you.
+We've got you beaten now."
+
+"Blank your impudent face! Wait you! I'll show you!" said Jimmie Ben.
+
+"You can't scare me, Jimmie Ben," said Hughie, white with rage. "You
+tried your best and you couldn't do it."
+
+"Play the game, Hughie," said the master, in a low tone, skating round
+him, while Hec Ross said, good-naturedly, "Shut up Jimmie Ben. You'll
+need all your wind for your heels," at which all but Jimmie Ben laughed.
+
+For a moment Dan drew his men together.
+
+"Our only chance," he said, "is in a rush. Now, I want every man to make
+for that goal. Never mind the ball. I'll get the ball there. And then
+you, Jimmie Ben, and a couple of you centers, make right back here on
+guard."
+
+"They're going to rush," said Hughie to his team. "Don't all go back.
+Centers fall back with me. You forwards keep up."
+
+At the drop Dan secured the ball, and in a moment the Front rush came.
+With a simultaneous yell the whole ten men came roaring down the ice,
+waving their clubs and flinging aside their lightweight opponents. It
+was a dangerous moment, but with a cry of "All steady, boys!" Hughie
+threw himself right into Dan's way. But just for such a chance Jimmie
+Ben was watching, and rushing upon Hughie, caught him fairly with his
+shoulder and hurled him to the ice, while the attacking line swept over
+him.
+
+For a single moment Hughie lay dazed, but before any one could offer
+help he rose slowly, and after a few deep breaths, set off for the
+scrimmage.
+
+There was a wild five minutes. Eighteen or twenty men were massed in
+front of the Twentieth goal, striking, shoving, yelling, the solid
+weight of the Front defense forcing the ball ever nearer the goal. In
+the center of the mass were Craven, Johnnie Big Duncan, and Don fighting
+every inch.
+
+For a few moments Hughie hovered behind his goal, his heart full of
+black rage, waiting his chance. At length he saw an opening. Jimmie Ben,
+slashing heavily, regardless of injury to himself or any others, had
+edged the ball toward the Twentieth left. Taking a short run, Hughie,
+reckless of consequences, launched himself head first into Jimmie Ben's
+stomach, swiping viciously at the same time at the ball. For a moment
+Jimmie Ben was flung back, and but for Johnnie Big Duncan would have
+fallen, but before he could regain his feet, the ball was set free of
+the scrimmage and away. Fusie, rushing in, had snapped it up and had
+gone scuttling down the ice, followed by Hughie and the master.
+
+Before Fusie had got much past center, Dan, who had been playing in the
+rear of the scrimmage, overtook him, and with a fierce body check upset
+the little Frenchman and secured the ball. Wheeling, he saw both Hughie
+and Craven bearing down swiftly upon him.
+
+"Rush for the goal!" he shouted to Jimmie Ben, who was following Hughie
+hard. Jimmie Ben hesitated.
+
+"Back to your defense!" yelled Dan, cutting across and trying to escape
+between Hughie and Craven.
+
+It was in vain. Both of the Twentieth men fell upon him, and the master,
+snatching the ball, sped like lightning down the ice.
+
+The crowd went wild.
+
+"Get back! Get back there!" screamed Hughie to the mob crowding in upon
+the ice. "Give us room! Give us a show!"
+
+At this moment Craven, cornered by Hec Ross and two of the Red Shirts,
+with Dan hard upon his heels, passed clear across the ice to Hughie.
+With a swift turn Hughie caught the ball, dodged Jimmie Ben's fierce
+spring at him, and shot. But even as he shot, Jimmie Ben, recovering his
+balance, reached him and struck a hard, swinging blow upon his ankle.
+There was a sharp crack, and Hughie fell to the ice. The ball went wide.
+
+"Time, there, umpire!" cried the master, falling on his knees beside
+Hughie. "Are you hurt, Hughie?" he asked, eagerly. "What is it, my boy?"
+
+"Oh, master, it's broken, but don't stop. Don't let them stop. We must
+win this game. We've only a few minutes. Take me back to goal and send
+Thomas out."
+
+The eager, hurried whisper, the intense appeal in the white face and
+dark eyes, made the master hesitate in his emphatic refusal.
+
+"You can't--"
+
+"Oh, don't stop! Don't stop it for me," cried Hughie, gripping the
+master's arm. "Help me up and take me back."
+
+The master swore a fierce oath.
+
+"We'll do it, my boy. You're a trump. Here, Don," he called aloud,
+"we'll let Hughie keep goal for a little," and they ran Hughie back to
+the goal on one skate.
+
+"You go out, Thomas," gasped Hughie. "Don't talk. We've only five
+minutes."
+
+"They have broken his leg," said the master, with a sob in his voice.
+
+"Nothing wrong, I hope," said Dan, skating up.
+
+"No; play the game," said the master, fiercely. His black eyes were
+burning with a deep, red glow.
+
+"Is it hurting much?" asked Thomas, lingering about Hughie.
+
+"Oh, you just bet! But don't wait. Go on! Go on down! You've got to get
+this game!"
+
+Thomas glanced at the foot hanging limp, and then at the white but
+resolute face. Then saying with slow, savage emphasis, "The brute beast!
+As sure as death I'll do for him," he skated off to join the forward
+line.
+
+It was the Front knock-off from goal. There was no plan of attack, but
+the Twentieth team, looking upon the faces of the master and Thomas,
+needed no words of command.
+
+The final round was shot, short, sharp, fierce. A long drive from
+Farquhar Bheg sent the ball far up into the Twentieth territory. It was
+a bad play, for it gave Craven and Thomas their chance.
+
+"Follow me close, Thomas," cried the master, meeting the ball and
+setting off like a whirlwind.
+
+Past the little Reds, through the centers, and into the defense line
+he flashed, followed hard by Thomas. In vain Hec Ross tried to check,
+Craven was past him like the wind. There remained only Dan and Jimmie
+Ben. A few swift strides, and the master was almost within reach of
+Dan's club. With a touch of the ball to Thomas he charged into his
+waiting foe, flung him aside as he might a child, and swept on.
+
+"Take the man, Thomas," he cried, and Thomas, gathering himself up in
+two short, quick strikes, dashed hard upon Jimmie Ben, and hurled him
+crashing to the ice.
+
+"Take that, you brute, you!" he said, and followed after Craven.
+
+Only Farquhar Bheg was left.
+
+"Take no chances," cried Craven again. "Come on!" and both of them
+sweeping in upon the goal-keeper, lifted him clear through the goal and
+carried the ball with them.
+
+"Time!" called the umpire. The great game was won.
+
+Then, before the crowd had realized what had happened, and before they
+could pour in upon the ice, Craven skated back toward Jimmie Ben.
+
+"The game is over," he said, in a low, fierce tone. "You cowardly
+blackguard, you weren't afraid to hit a boy, now stand up to a man, if
+you dare."
+
+Jimmie Ben was no coward. Dropping his club he came eagerly forward, but
+no sooner had he got well ready than Craven struck him fair in the face,
+and before he could fall, caught him with a straight, swift blow on the
+chin, and lifting him clear off his skates, landed him back on his head
+and shoulders on the ice, where he lay with his toes quivering.
+
+"Serve him right," said Hec Ross.
+
+There was no more of it. The Twentieth crowds went wild with joy and
+rage, for their great game was won, and the news of what had befallen
+their captain had got round.
+
+"He took his city, though, Mrs. Murray," said the master, after the
+great supper in the manse that evening, as Hughie lay upon the sofa,
+pale, suffering, but happy. "And not only one, but a whole continent of
+them, and," he added, "the game as well."
+
+With sudden tears and a little break in her voice, the mother said,
+looking at her boy, "It was worth while taking the city, but I fear the
+game cost too much."
+
+"Oh, pshaw, mother," said Hughie, "it's only one bone, and I tell you
+that final round was worth a leg."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE RESULT
+
+
+"How many did you say, Craven, of those Glengarry men of yours?"
+Professor Gray was catechizing his nephew.
+
+"Ten of them, sir, besides the minister's son, who is going to take the
+full university course."
+
+"And all of them bound for the ministry?"
+
+"So they say. And judging by the way they take life, and the way, for
+instance, they play shinny, I have a notion they will see it through."
+
+"They come of a race that sees things through," answered the professor.
+"And this is the result of this Zion Hill Academy I have been hearing so
+much about?"
+
+"Well, sir, they put in a good year's work, I must say."
+
+"You might have done worse, sir. Indeed, you deserve great credit, sir."
+
+"I? Not a bit. I simply showed them what to do and how to do it. But
+there's a woman up there that the world ought to know about. For love of
+her--"
+
+"Oh, the world!" snorted the professor. "The world, sir! The Lord
+deliver us! It might do the world some good, I grant."
+
+"It is for love of her these men are in for the ministry."
+
+"You are wrong, sir. That is not their motive."
+
+"No, perhaps it is not. It would be unfair to say so, but yet she--"
+
+"I know, sir. I know, sir. Bless my soul, sir. I know her. I knew her
+before you were born. But--yes, yes--" the professor spoke as if to
+himself--"for love of her men would attempt great things. You have
+these names, Craven? Ah! Alexander Stewart, Donald Cameron, Thomas
+Finch--Finch, let me see--ah, yes, Finch. His mother died after a long
+illness. Yes, I remember. A very sad case, a very sad case, indeed."
+
+"And yet not so sad, sir," put in Craven. "At any rate, it did not
+seem so at the time. That night it seemed anything but sad. It was
+wonderful."
+
+The professor laid down his list and sat back in his chair.
+
+"Go on, sir," he said, gazing curiously at Craven. "I have heard a
+little about it. Let me see, it was the night of the great match, was it
+not?"
+
+"Did you know about that? Who told you about the match, sir?"
+
+"I hear a great many things, and in curious ways. But go on, sir, go
+on."
+
+Craven sat silent, and from the look in his eyes his thoughts were far
+away.
+
+"Well, sir, it's a thing I have never spoken about. It seems to me, if I
+may say so, something quite too sacred to speak of lightly."
+
+Again Craven paused, while the professor waited.
+
+"It was Hughie sent me there. There was a jubilation supper at
+the manse, you understand. Thomas Finch, the goal-keeper, you
+know--magnificent fellow, too--was not at the supper. A messenger had
+come for him, saying that his mother had taken a bad turn. Hughie was
+much disappointed, and they were all evidently anxious. I offered to
+drive over and inquire, and of course the minister's wife, though she
+had been on the go all day long, must needs go with me. I can never
+forget that night. I suppose you have noticed, sir, there are times
+when one is more sensitive to impressions from one's surroundings than
+others. There are times with me, too, when I seem to have a very vital
+kinship with nature. At any rate, during that drive nature seemed to get
+close to me. The dark, still forest, the crisp air, the frost sparkling
+in the starlight on the trees--it all seemed to be part of me. I fear I
+am not explaining myself."
+
+Craven paused again, and his eyes began to glow. The professor still
+waited.
+
+"When we reached the house we found them waiting for death. The
+minister's wife went in, I waited in the kitchen. By and by Billy Jack,
+that's her eldest son, you know, came out. 'She is asking for you,' he
+said, and I went in. I had often seen her before, and I rather think
+she liked me. You see, I had been able to help Thomas along pretty well,
+both in school and with his night work, and she was grateful for what I
+had done, absurdly grateful when one considers how little it was. I had
+seen death before, and it had always been ghastly, but there was nothing
+ghastly in death that night. The whole scene is before me now, I suppose
+always will be."
+
+His dead, black eyes were beginning to show their deep, red fire.
+
+The professor looked at him for a moment or two, and then said,
+"Proceed, if you please," and Craven drew a long breath, as if recalling
+himself, and went on.
+
+"The old man was there at one side, with his gray head down on the
+bed, his little girl kneeling beside him with her arm round his neck,
+opposite him the minister's wife, her face calm and steady, Billy Jack
+standing at the foot of the bed--he and little Jessac the only ones in
+the room who were weeping--and there at the head, Thomas, supporting
+his mother, now and then moistening her lips and giving her sips of
+stimulant, and so quick and steady, gentle as a woman, and smiling
+through it all. I could hardly believe it was the same big fellow who
+three hours before had carried the ball through the Front defense. I
+tell you, sir, it was wonderful.
+
+"There was no fuss or hysterical nonsense in that room. The mother lay
+there quite peaceful, pain all gone--and she had had enough of it in
+her day. She was quite a beautiful woman, too, in a way. Fine eyes,
+remarkable eyes, splendidly firm mouth, showing great nerve, I should
+say. All her life, I understand, she lived for others, and even now her
+thought was not of herself. When I came in she opened her eyes. They
+were like stars, actually shining, and her smile was like the sudden
+breaking of light through a cloud. She put out her hand for mine, and
+said--and I value these words, sir--'Mr. Craven, I give you a mither's
+thanks and a mither's blessing for a' you have done for ma laddie.' She
+was Lowland Scotch, you know. My voice went all to pieces. I tried to
+say it was nothing, but stuck. Thomas helped me out, and without a shake
+or quiver in his voice, he answered for me.
+
+"'Yes, indeed, mother, we'll not forget it.'
+
+"'And perhaps you can help him a bit still. He will be needing it,' she
+added.
+
+"I assure you, sir, that quiet steadiness of Thomas and herself braced
+me up, and I was able to make my promise. And then she said, with a look
+that somehow reminded me of the deep, starlit night outside, through
+which I had just come, 'And you, Mr. Craven, you will give your life to
+God?'
+
+"Again my voice failed me. It was so unexpected, and quite overwhelming.
+Once more Thomas answered for me.
+
+"'Yes, mother, he will, sure,' and she seemed to take it as my promise,
+for she smiled again at me, and closed her eyes.
+
+"I had read of triumphant death-bed scenes, and all that before, without
+taking much stock in them, but believe me, sir, that room was full of
+glory. The very faces of those people, it seemed to me, were alight. It
+may be imagination, but even now, as I think of it, it seems real. There
+were no farewells, no wailing, and at the very last, not even tears.
+Thomas, who had nursed her for more than a year, still supported her,
+the smile on his face to the end. And the end"--Craven's voice grew
+unsteady--"it is difficult to speak of. The minister's wife repeated the
+words about the house with many mansions, and those about the valley
+of the shadow, and said a little prayer, and then we all waited for the
+end--for myself, I confess with considerable fear and anxiety. I had
+no need to fear. After a long silence she sat up straight, and in her
+Scotch tongue, she said, with a kind of amazed joy in her tone, 'Ma
+fayther! Ma fayther! I am here.' Then she settled herself back in her
+son's arms, drew a deep breath, and was still. All through the night
+and next day the glory lingered round me. I went about as in a strange
+world. I am afraid you will be thinking me foolish, sir."
+
+The stern old professor was openly wiping his eyes. He seemed quite
+unable to find his voice. At length he took up the list again, and began
+to read it mechanically.
+
+"What! What's this?" he said, suddenly, pointing to a name on the list.
+
+"That, sir, is John Craven."
+
+"Do you mean that you, too--"
+
+"Yes, I mean it, if you think I am fit."
+
+"Fit, Jack, my boy! None of us are fit. But what--how did this come?"
+The professor blew his nose like a trumpet.
+
+"That I can hardly tell myself," said Craven, with a kind of wonder
+in his voice; "but at any rate it is the result of my Glengarry School
+Days."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Glengarry Schooldays, by Ralph Connor
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