Part 18 (1/2)

”Ay, Sir Keith,” said Hamish. ”And if it was not for that ---- man, John Fraser, there would be no word of this thing. And there is another thing I will hef to speak to you about, Sir Keith; and it is John Fraser, too, who is at the bottom of this, I will know that fine. It is more than two or three times that you will warn the men not to bathe in the bay below the castle; and not for many a day will any one do that, for the Cave bay it is not more as half a mile away. And when you were in London, Sir Keith, it was this man John Fraser he would bathe in the bay below the castle in the morning, and he got one or two of the others to join him; and when I bade him go away, he will say that the sea belongs to no man. And this morning, too--”

”This morning!” Macleod said, jumping to his feet. There was an angry flash in his eyes.

”Ay, sir, this very morning I saw two of them myself--and John Fraser he was one of them--and I went down and said to them, 'It will be a bad day for you,' says I to them, 'if Sir Keith will find you in this bay.'”

”Are they down at the quay now?” Macleod said.

”Ay, they will be in the house now.”

”Come along with me, Hamish. I think we will put this right.”

He lifted his cap and went out into the cool night air, followed by Hamish. They pa.s.sed through the dark fir-wood until they came in sight of the Atlantic again, which was smooth enough to show the troubled reflection of the bigger stars. They went down the hillside until they were close to the sh.o.r.e, and then they followed the rough path to the quay. The door of the square stone building was open; the men were seated on rude stools or on spare coils of rope, smoking. Macleod called them out, and they came to the door.

”Now look here, boys,” said he, ”you know I will not allow any man to bathe in the bay before the house. I told you before; I tell you now for the last time. They that want to bathe can go along to the Cave bay; and the end of it is this--and there will be no more words about it--that the first man I catch in the bay before the house I will take a horsewhip to him, and he will have as good a run as ever he had in his life.”

With that he was turning away, when he heard one of the men mutter, ”_I would like to see you do it!_” He wheeled round instantly--and if some of his London friends could have seen the look of his face at this moment, they might have altered their opinion about the obliteration of certain qualities from the temperament of the Highlanders of our own day.

”Who said that?” he exclaimed.

There was no answer.

”Come out here, you four men!” he said. ”Stand in a line there. Now let the man who said that step out and face me. I will show him who is to be master here. If he thinks he can master me, well; but it is one or the other of us who will be master!”

There was not a sound or a motion; but Macleod sprang forward, caught the man Fraser by the throat, and shook him thrice--as he might have shaken a reed.

”You scoundrel!” he said. ”You coward! Are you afraid to own it was you?

There has been nothing but bad feeling since ever you brought your ugly face among us--well, we've had enough of you!”

He flung him back.

”Hamish,” said he, ”you will pay this man his month's wages to-night.

Pack him off with the Gometra men in the morning; they will take him out to the _Pioneer_. And look you here, sir,” he added, turning to Fraser, ”it will be a bad day for you the day that I see your face again anywhere about Castle Dare.”

He walked off and up to the house again, followed by the reluctant Hamish. Hamish had spoken of this matter only that Macleod should give the men a renewed warning; he had no notion that this act of vengeance would be the result. And where were they to get a man to put in Fraser's place?

It was about an hour later that Hamish again came into the room.

”I beg your pardon, sir,” said he, ”but the men are outside.”

”I cannot see them.”

”They are ferry sorry, sir, about the whole matter, and there will be no more bathing in the front of the house, and the man Fraser they hef brought him up to say he is ferry sorry too.”

”They have brought him up?”

”Ay, sir,” said Hamish, with a grave smile. ”It was for fighting him they were one after the other because he will make a bad speech to you; and he could not fight three men one after the other; and so they hef made him come up to say he is ferry sorry too; and will you let him stay on to the end of the season?”

”No. Tell the men that if they will behave themselves, we can go on as we did before, in peace and friendliness; but I mean to be master in this place. And I will not have a sulky fellow like this Fraser stirring up quarrels. He must pack and be off.”

”It will not be easy to get another man, Sir Keith,” old Hamish ventured to say.