Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-03-30
WHAT RAB rOrNn IN TIE !

! Robert M'Quhirr, the youngest of the
! five sons of the farmtown Of Drumquhat
was no coward. The family did not
/ breed them. The blood of Drumclog and
! Boutwell, Brig was vet no ways degen-
crate. Since Clayers had ridden over
| them in vain. two more centuries of that
stern gray land and the hardy arbtra-
ment of farm work Oh nkindly soil had
we0ded out the uver-tender plants So
Rab had no intention of being easily
| "feYed" fTightenedl. He had slept in
the barn bcfore-for his health-but he
| generally avoided that necessity in win
ter time as far as he could. He was
what is known as "steerin' loon" and
more than occasionally he had to learn
the tome qualities of hazel oil Life
was paternal in the Galloway uplands,
and many Il son took a thrashing from
his father after he was ''man-muckle"
and thought himself all the better for it,
| Of course Rab preferred to do without it
| If he could-but he bore no ill-will to
his father in any case. 1t was his faith
er's duty (f0r which he had to answer to
| the minister to discipline his family. 1t
was his own to keep whole skin. On
both sides it was without prejudice, as
the lawyers say. SO he proceeded to
make himself comfortable in the barn on
the top of the cornmuW Is best he could.
He wished that he had been small enough
to creep through the triangular wicket
into that eXcavated cave ut the back OF
the NOV which Waffle had diligently
made for himself; but No one could get
through the WicketS except Walter, SO
he had to content himself with the bed
temporarily made in the NOW. His moth
en- came TO the house door two or three
times. and called ''Rab,' lie would have
fixed 10 come out at her caIl, for the barn
wa d mo
not even like the thought of the dead
bul10clI's horns and hide lying out
side the barn door. where he
had thrown them. He heard Aleck
speaking 70 his mother from within the
house. and he knew that she was being
reasSured that he was perfectly safe,
and told that when he was tired of stop
ping out-why. then. he would come in,
Aleck was believer in laissez faire,
Rab knew that the outer door would not
be locked that night, and that his mother
would sleep with one ear SCI towards the
click Of its latch
Rab went to the stable and fetched q
comfortable rug. in which he wrapped
himself. and inserting his long body in
to Il pit dug diagonally in the now he
drew a corn sack or two about him. and
made all taut. There was nothing alarm
ing about sleeping in the barn to a lad
Of his inches and experience. Rats he
held in contempt, and their constant rust
ling among the Sheaves and their squeak
ing Scuffies on the floor Of the barn only
soothed him to sleep. Rats had been
everywhere about the farm since ever
Rab could remember. and he minded
them no more than flies. The upper half
of the barn door he left open. though the
chill frosty air came in-partly that the
darkness might not be 50 oppressive. and
partly that he might be able to see along
the narrow arcade through the snow
which he had helped 10 make through the
snowdrift TO the front door. When he
lay down first his feet had been cold and
his brain hot. III a little, as his feet
warmed and the cold air cooled his brain.
he became brewster. till the stars began
to waver and sway from side to side as
if he had been seeing their reflection in
ripping water. Rab cleared his eyes n
time or two said his prayers, and dived
into n dark-bue sea Of sleep, deep as the
midnight sky above him.
How long he slept he could not tell,
but all Of a sudden he came wide awake
with q suppressed gasp. and feeling
that something had taken him by the
throat. For a moment he couli not re-
member what he was doirg in lac barn,
and he was about 10 call out. thinking
il must he Aleck or his mother come to
seek him. when the sense Of something
mysterious struck him silent. He glanced
at the stars. striving with the craft OF
the intelligent shepherd to get some idea
Of what time il was from Gods great
illuminated clock. This art is mostly lost
now in Galloway. The Waterbury watch
has killed it. but thirty years ago it was
not uncommon. But what Rab saw
made MIN forget the stars. The lower
half. Of the great barn door was now
open. and just outside the threshold. on
the narrow snowcOvered pavement Of
rough cobhle stones. lay something black.
which had rough resemblance to the
Rabs hear stilled within MIN as another
consciousness grew TO certainty. There
was someone else in the barn--man or
thing-something that moved stealthily.
breathlessly. that shufied it's feet, and
CROPPED and CROPPED in the dark. Rab's
blood concealed This was worse than
his fathers stick. 1t was terrible to be