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diff --git a/old/ggysd10.txt b/old/ggysd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae323c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ggysd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7775 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Glengarry Schooldays, by Ralph Connor +#3 in our series by Ralph Connor + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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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 Project Gutenberg Etext of Glengarry Schooldays, by Ralph Connor + |