Shenacs Work at Home | Page 8

led your wild lad Evan astray. You little know what our
Allister saved him from more than once. But that is not for to-day. I
have this to, say to you, Angus Dhu: you must be content with the half
you have gotten; for not another acre of my father's land shall ever be
yours, though all the elders in Glengarry stood at your back.--I will not
whisht, Hamish. He is to know that he is not to meddle between my
mother and me. It's not or the like of Angus Dhu to say that my
mother's children shall be taken from her in her trouble. Our affairs
may be bad enough, but they'll be none the better for your meddling in
them."
"Shenac," entreated Hamish, "you'll be sorry for speaking that way to
our father's cousin."
"Our father's oppressor rather," she insisted scornfully. But she had said

her say; and, besides, the lads and little Flora had heard their voices,
and were drawing near.
"Children," said Shenac, "you are to come home. And mind, you are
not to set foot on this bank again without our mother's leave. It's Angus
Dhu's land now, he says, and not ours."
The creek--that part of it near which the willows grew, and where the
old ashery used to stand--had been their daily resort every summer-day
all their lives; and they all looked at her with astonishment and dismay,
but none of them spoke.
"Come home to our mother, boys.--Flora, come home." And Shenac
lifted her little sister over the foundation of great stones, and beckoned
to the boys to follow her.
"Come, Hamish, it's time we were home." And Hamish obeyed her as
silently as the rest had done.
"Hamish," said the elder, "speak here, man. You have some sense, and
tales such as yon wild girl is like to tell may do your father's cousin
much harm."
In his heart Hamish knew Shenac to be foolish and wrong to speak as
she had done, but he was true to her all the same, and would hold no
parley with the enemy. So he gave no heed to the elder's words, but
followed the rest through the field. Shenac's steps grew slower as they
approached the house.
"Hamish," she said a little shamefacedly, "there will be no use vexing
our mother by telling her all this."
"That's true enough," said Hamish.
"But mind, Hamish, I'm not sorry that I said it. I have aye meant to say
something to Angus Dhu about the land; though I daresay it would
have been as well to say it when that clattering body, Elder McMillan,
was out of hearing."

"And John and Rory McLean," murmured Hamish.
"Hamish, man, they never could have heard. Not that I am caring,"
continued Shenac. "It's true that Angus Dhu has gotten half our father's
land, and that he is seeking the other half; but that he'll never
get--never!" And she flashed an angry glance towards the spot where
the men were still standing.
Hamish knew it was always best to leave his sister till her anger cooled,
so he said nothing in reply. He grieved for the loss of the land as much
as Shenac did, but he did not resent it like her. Though he believed that
Angus Dhu had been hard on his father, he did not believe that he had
dealt unjustly by him. And he was right. Even in taking half the land he
had taken only what he believed to be his due, and in wishing to
possess himself, of the rest, he believed he was about to do a kindness
to the widow and children of his dead cousin. He believed they could
never get their living from the land. They must give it up, he thought;
and it was far better that it should fall into his hands than into the hands
of a stranger. Had his cousin lived, he would never have wished for the
land; and he said to himself that he would do much for them all, and
that the widow and orphans should never suffer while he could befriend
them.
At the same time, he could not deny that he would be glad to get the
land. When Evan came home, it might keep the lad near him to have
this farm ready for him. He had allowed himself to think a great deal
about this of late. He would not confess to himself that any part of the
uncomfortable feelings that Shenac's outbreak had stirred within him
sprang from disappointment. But he was mistaken. For when the girl
planted her foot on the other side of the new fence, and looked back at
him defiantly, he felt that she would make good her word, and hold the
land, at