The Desperate Journey Read Free Page B

mercy!”
    “He has not sent us!” Davie shouted, his temper rising. “Myfather does not know about this paper. We plucked it down before he saw it.”
    “That’s true, sir,” Kirsty added her word. “We came ourselves to ask you to take it back, and – and – to leave us all in peace.” She had remembered Davie’s words and said them for him.
    “You had better take that paper back to your father,” Sellar said coldly. “If you do not, you will find yourselves in trouble for interfering with the law.” He made a move towards his horse.
    “Please, sir, listen to me.” Davie stood deliberately in his path. “My father has been a good tenant, always ready with his rent. It – it would break my mother’s heart to leave Culmailie –”
    “Out of my way, scum! Get back to your pigsty!” Sellar thrust him so roughly aside that Davie stumbled and fell to his knees. Before he could pick himself up, Sellar had his foot in the stirrup and mounted his horse. Kirsty had to jump aside so that she was not under the horse’s hoofs as Sellar turned.
    Davie flung an arm round her. “You are a wicked evil man, Mr Sellar!” he called after the factor.
    “Steady, lad, it is a chancy thing to be calling the factor names,” Calum Ross said. “All the same, he might have taken the time to listen to you.”
    “All that waiting and we have done no good!” Kirsty burst into tears. “Now it is late and our father will be angry and I am so tired.”
    “We were better not to have come at all,” Davie said with regret. “Come, Kirsty lass, we’ll get back to Culmailie.”
    He thrust the paper he held into his pocket and gave a hand to Kirsty.
    “First we must take off our shoes,” Kirsty said, always the practical one. She slipped off her shoes and tucked them under her shawl. “Let us get clear of all these trees before the night falls.” She glanced timidly about her.
    “The moon will be rising soon,” Davie said reassuringly.
    They hurried through the castle lands till they reached the highroad again. They turned left and followed it till they trudged over the bridge that crossed the Golspie Burn and into the village of Golspie. A light shone from the minister’s manse and from the schoolmaster’s house but most of the windows were already dark, for it cost money to burn candles.
    The children were half way through the village when they heard footsteps and saw coming towards them a shadowy figure carrying a lantern. Kirsty clutched Davie.
    “Oh, is it a robber, Davie?”
    “Silly, would a robber be carrying a lantern?” The figure broke into a run towards them.
    “It’s Father!” Davie exclaimed. “It’s Father with the lantern.”
    “Father! Father!” Kirsty cried, throwing herself upon him. “Oh, Father, it’s glad I am to see you!” She burst into tears of relief.
    “Where have you children been?” James Murray demanded sternly.
    “To Dunrobin Castle. We went to speak with the factor,” Davie told him.
    “To speak to Mr Sellar? Why?”
    “Because of this paper we found pinned to the door.” Davie handed the paper to his father, who scrutinised it by the light of the lantern. His face set in hard lines.
    “We thought if we spoke to the factor and I said I was sorry for biting him, he might take the paper back,” Kirsty explained. “But he wouldn’t listen to us though we had waited such a long time, and – I’m so tired –” The tears began to flow again. James Murray folded the paper away in his pocket, then lifted Kirsty on to his shoulder.
    “Come then, my wee lassie! We’ll talk no more about this till we get home. You take the lantern, Davie.”
    When they reached Culmailie, their mother was at the door watching anxiously. “Is it you, James?” she called out.
    “Aye, lass, I’ve got the bairns safe and sound.”
    “Thank God for that!” she cried with all her heart.
    Soon they were seated by the fire, each with a cup of warm milk and bread and cheese, and while they