clasped his hands behind his back and said
calmly,
"Tallisker, you'll be sorry enough for your temper erelong. You hae
gien way mair than I did. Ye ken how you feel about it."
"I feel ashamed o' mysel', laird. You'll no lay the blame o' it to my
office, but to Dugald Tallisker his ain sel'. There's a deal o'
Dugald Tallisker in me yet, laird; and whiles he is o'er much for
Dominie Tallisker."
They were at the gate by this time, and Crawford held out his hand and
said,
"Come in, dominie."
"No; I'll go hame, laird, and gie mysel' a talking to. Tell Mr. Selwyn
I want to see him."
CHAPTER III.
Alas, how often do Christ's words, "I come not to bring peace, but a
sword," prove true. George Selwyn went away, but the seed he had
dropped in this far-off corner of Scotland did not bring forth
altogether the peaceable fruits of righteousness. In fact, as we have
seen, it had scarcely begun to germinate before the laird and the
dominie felt it to be a root of bitterness between them. For if
Crawford knew anything he knew that Tallisker would never relinquish
his new work, and perhaps if he yielded to any reasonable object
Tallisker would stand by him in his project.
He did not force the emigration plan upon his notice. The summer was
far advanced; it would be unjustifiable to send the clan to Canada at
the beginning of winter. And, as it happened, the subject was opened
with the dominie in a very favorable manner. They were returning from
the moors one day and met a party of six men. They were evidently
greatly depressed, but they lifted their bonnets readily to the chief.
There was a hopeless, unhappy look about them that was very painful.
"You have been unsuccessful on the hills, Archie, I fear."
"There's few red deer left," said the man gloomily. "It used to be
deer and men; it is sheep and dogs now."
After a painful silence the dominie said,
"Something ought to be done for those braw fellows. They canna ditch
and delve like an Irish peasant. It would be like harnessing stags in
a plough."
Then Crawford spoke cautiously of his intention, and to his delight
the dominie approved it.
"I'll send them out in Read & Murray's best ships. I'll gie each head
o' a family what you think right, Tallisker, and I'll put L100 in your
hands for special cases o' help. And you will speak to the men and
their wives for me, for it is a thing I canna bear to do."
But the men too listened eagerly to the propo
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