Middletown transcript., 1920-08-21
CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.
The Corriemuir Peel Tower.
Well, it would weary me, and / am
very sure that it would weary you also
If / were to attempt TO tell you how
life went with us after this man came
under our roof, or the way In which
he gradually came to win the affec
tions of everyone Of us. With the
women it was quick work enough, but
soon he had thawed my father. too
which was no such easy matter. and
had gained Jim Horscroft's good will
as well as my own.
One of his first acts was to give
my father the boat in which he had
come, reserving only the right to have
it back in case he should have need
Of It. The herring were down on the
coast that autumn. and my uncle, be-
fore he died, had given US fine set
Of nets. so the gift was worth many
pound to us. Sometimes De Ls",
would 60 out In the boat alone,
have seen him for whole summer
day rowing slowly along, and stopping
every half-doZen strokes to throw over
stone at the end Of string.
could not think what he was doing. un-
til he told me Of his own free will.
Il am fond of studying all that has
to do with the military" said he,
"and 1 never lose a chance. l was
wondering if it would be difficult
matter for the commander Of an army
corps to throw his men ashore here. "
IF the wind were not from the
east" said I.
"Ah, quite so. If the wind were not
from the east. Have you taken sound
ings here?"
mo"
"Your ine-of-battleships would have
to lie outside. but there is water
enough for forty-gun frigate right up
within musket range. Cram your
boats with tirailleurs, deploy them be
hind these sand-hills, then back with
the launches for more and a stream Of
grape over their heads from the frig-
ate. It could be done! 1t could
be done" His mustaches bristled out
more like cats than ever, and l
could see by the flash of his eyes that
he was carried away by his dream.
you forget that our soldiers would
be upon the beach," said I Indignantly.
''Ta, ia, tar he cried. "Of course.
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Let us see now! Let us work it out
What could you GET together? Shall
we say twenty thirty thousand? A
few regiments Of good troops. The
rest, pouf !-conscripts, bourgeois with
arms, how do you call them-volun-
teers."
r'Brave men," shouted.
"Oh yes, very brave men, but i'm
becile; ah. mon Dieu, it is incredible
how imbecile they would be. Not
troops. War must be learned, my
young friend, just the same as the
farming of sheep"
"Pooh!'' said |, not to be outcrowed
| by foreigner. IF we had thirty
thousand men on the line Of the hill
yonder you would come to be very glad
that you had your boats behind you"
Sometimes, when he talked. I
thought he was Joking, and at other
times it was not quite so easy to say.
I well remember one evening that
summer when he was sitting in the
kitchen with my father, Jim, and me,
after the women had gone to bed, he
began about Scotland and its relation
to England.
You used to have your own king,
and your own laws made at Edin-
burgh,' said he; "does it not fill you
with rage and despair when you think
that it all comes to you from London
now?"
Jim took his pipe out Of his mouth.
1T was we who put our king over
the English, 50 If there's any rage
it should have been over yonder,"
said he.
This was clearly news to the
stranger, and it silenced him for the
moment.
"Well, but your laws are made
down there, and surely that is not
good" he said at last.
mo; it would be well to have q
parliament back in Edinburgh" said
my father; "but 1 am kept so busy
with the sheep that I have little
enough time to think Of such things"
1T is for fine young men like you
two to think Of it." said De Lapp
"When country is injured 1t is to it's
young men that 1t looks to avenge it. !"
"Aye, the English take too much
upon themselves sometimes" said Jim.
"Well, If there are many Of that
way of thinking about, why should
we not form them into battalions and
march them upon London?" cried De
| l.app.
.That would be rare little picnic" !"
suid I. laughing !; and Whc would
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