"Give me the ax," said Macdonald Bhain. He mounted the tree as his brother stepped down, and swung his ax deep into the wood with a mighty blow. Then he remembered, and stopped. He would not add to his brother's bitterness by an exhibition of his mighty, unshaken strength. He stuck the ax into the log, and standing up, looked over the brule. "It is a fine bit of ground, Hugh, and will raise a good crop of potatoes.""Aye," said Macdonald Dubh, sadly. "It has lain like this for three years, and ought to have been cleared long ago, if I had been doing my duty.""Indeed, it will burn all the better for that," said his brother, cheerfully. "And as for the potatoes, there is a bit of my clearing that Ranald might as well use."But Black Hugh shook his head. "Ranald will use no man's clearing but his own," he said. "I am afraid he has got too much of his father in him for his own good."Macdonald Bhain glanced at his brother's face with a look of mingled pity and admiration. "Ah," he said, "Hugh, it's a proud man you are. Macdonalds have plenty of that, whatever, and we come by it good enough. Do you remember at home, when our father"--and he went off into a reminiscence of their boyhood days, talking in gentle, kindly, loving tones, till the shadow began to lift from his brother's face, and he, too, began to talk. They spoke of their father, who had always been to them a kind of hero; and of their mother, who had lived, and toiled, and suffered for her family with uncomplaining patience.
"She was a good woman," said Macdonald Bhain, with a note of tenderness in his voice. "And it was the hard load she had to bear, and I would to God she were living now, that I might make up to her something of what she suffered for me.""And I am thankful to God," said his brother, bitterly, "that she is not here to see me now, for it would but add to the heavy burden I often laid upon her.""You will not be saying that," said Macdonald Bhain. "But I am saying that the Lord will be honored in you yet.""Indeed, there is not much for me," said his brother, gloomily, "but the sick-bed and six feet or more of the damp earth.""Hugh, man," said his brother, hastily, "you must not be talking like that. It is not the speech of a brave man. It is the speech of a man that is beaten in his fight.""Beaten!" echoed his brother, with a kind of cry. "You have said the word. Beaten it is, and by a man that is no equal of mine.
You know that," he said, appealing, almost anxiously, to his brother. "You know that well. You know that I am brought to this"--he held up his gaunt, bony hands--"by a man that is no equal of mine, and I will never be able to look him in the face and say as much to him. But if the Almighty would send him to hell, Iwould be following him there."
"Whisht, Hugh," said Macdonald Bhain, in a voice of awe. "It is a terrible word you have said, and may the Lord forgive you.""Forgive me!" echoed his brother, in a kind of frenzy. "Indeed, he will not be doing that. Did not the minister's wife tell me as much?""No, no," said his brother. "She would not be saying that.""Indeed, that is her very word," said Black Hugh.
"She could not say that," said his brother, "for it is not the Word of God.""Indeed," replied Black Hugh, like a man who had thought it all out, "she would be reading it out of the Book to me that unless Iwould be forgiving, that--that--" he paused, not being able to find a word, but went on--"then I need not hope to be forgiven my own self.""Yes, yes. That is true," assented Macdonald Bhain. "But, by the grace of God, you will forgive, and you will be forgiven.""Forgive!" cried Black Hugh, his face convulsed with passion.
"Hear me!"--he raised his hand to heaven.--"If I ever forgive--"But his brother caught his arm and drew it down swiftly, saying:
"Whisht, man. Don't tempt the Almighty." Then he added, "You would not be shutting yourself out from the presence of the Lord and from the presence of those he has taken to himself?"His brother stood silent a few moments, his hard, dark face swept with a storm of emotions. Then he said, brokenly: "It is not for me, I doubt."But his brother caught him by the arm and said to him, "Hear me, Hugh. It is for you."They walked on in silence till they were near the house. Ranald and Yankee were driving their teams into the yard.
"That is a fine lad," said Macdonald Bhain, pointing to Ranald.
"Aye," said his brother; "it is a pity he has not a better chance.
He is great for his books, but he has no chance whatever, and he will be a bowed man before he has cleared this farm and paid the debt on it.""Never you fear," said his brother. "Ranald will do well. But, man, what a size he is!""He is that," said his father, proudly. "He is as big as his father, and I doubt some day he may be as good a man as his uncle.""God grant he may be a better!" said Macdonald Bhain, reverently.
"If he be as good," said his brother, kindly, "I will be content;but I will not be here to see it."
"Whisht, man," said his brother, hastily. "You are not to speak such things, nor have them in your mind.""Ah," said Macdonald Dubh, sadly, "my day is not far off, and that I know right well."Macdonald Bhain flung his arm hastily round his brother's shoulder.
"Do not speak like that, Hugh," he said, his voice breaking suddenly. And then he drew away his arm as if ashamed of his emotion, and said, with kindly dignity, "Please God, you will see many days yet, and see your boy come to honor among men."But Black Hugh only shook his head in silence.
Before they came to the door, Macdonald Bhain said, with seeming indifference, "You have not been to church since you got up, Hugh.
You will be going to-morrow, if it is a fine day?""It is too long a walk, I doubt," answered his brother.
"That it is, but Yankee will drive you in his buckboard," said Macdonald Bhain.
"In the buckboard?" said Macdonald Dubh. "And, indeed, I was never in a buckboard in my life.""It is not too late to begin to-morrow," said his brother, "and it will do you good.""I doubt that," said Black Hugh, gloomily. "The church will not be doing me much good any more.""Do not say such a thing; and Yankee will drive you in his buckboard to-morrow."His brother did not promise, but next day the congregation received a shock of surprise to see Macdonald Dubh walk down the aisle to his place in the church. And through all the days of the spring and summer his place was never empty; and though the shadow never lifted from his face, the minister's wife felt comforted about him, and waited for the day of his deliverance.
