High on a Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page A

Lomond. The track
made an abrupt turn around the foot of a hill, and ahead of the
herd, he saw a flock of small Highland sheep. A red-haired girl was
herding them across the trail toward the loch shore.
    The sheep saw the cattle coming and ran in
alarm. Some of them continued in the direction they were being
driven but the others ran back the way they had come, despite the
frantic efforts of the girl. Ailean sprinted to her side to help
her. Together, they drove all the sheep across the trail before the
lead steer reached them.
    “Thank you,” the girl said as she looked up
at him with the most brilliant blue eyes he’d ever seen. “I…I
sometimes bring them down to this glen to graze. I didn’t expect…”
Her voice trailed off as she lowered her gaze and took a step
backward.
    “I…we-we’ve never…come this way…be-before,”
he stammered, overwhelmed by a rush of unfamiliar feelings and
unable to think or speak coherently.
    The girl didn’t reply, and he searched for
something else to say to her, anything that would make her look at
him with those eyes once more.
    “This is…it’s our first drive to…to
Dumbarton. We usually go to Crieff,” he said.
    She still didn’t say anything, kept her eyes
lowered and backed farther away.
    “I’m sorry we scared your sheep.”
    She looked up at him again, and a shy smile
brightened her face. “Thank you for…helping me.”
    He brushed his long, reddish-brown hair back
from his face and tugged the right side of his bonnet lower.
Delicious emotions flowed through him, lifted the corners of his
mouth and spread a foolish grin across his lips.
    “Ailean!” his father called, and he
remembered he had a job to do.
    “Goodbye,” he said and ran back to the herd,
looking over his shoulder at the red-haired girl.
    ____________
     
    “Your idea was a good one, Aodh,” Gabhran
said with a smile, putting his money into his sporan .
“Eachann Cambeul will never get a coin from me again.
    “Aye,” Boisil agreed. “I wonder what he’ll
think when he doesn’t get his crossing money from us this
year.”
    All the men laughed at the thought of having
outwitted Eachann and Latharn.
    They left Dumbarton as soon as the sale of
their cattle was complete that afternoon. They were unwilling to
spend more time than necessary among the Lowlanders, who viewed the
poor Highlanders, barefoot and dressed in tunics and féileadh-mòr , with contempt. The men chose a more direct but
rougher route for the homeward journey, since they didn’t have
cattle to consider.
    Except for Ailean and Coinneach.
    “I don’t know why I let you talk me into
coming back this way,” Coinneach grumbled. “I could have been home
by now if I’d gone with the others.”
    “You know you came along so you could be free
a little while longer.”
    Coinneach gave his younger brother a mock
punch on the arm, and they both laughed.
    When they neared the place where he’d met the
red-haired girl, Ailean slowed his pace as he scanned the area on
both sides of the trail. When he spotted her in the glen below, he
stopped and stared.
    “Ah. Now I know why you had me come this
long, weary way. Why are you standing there? Go see if she would
welcome a word from you.” Coinneach gave Ailean a little shove and
sat on the grass beside the trail to wait.
    Ailean’s steps slowed as he neared the girl.
He didn’t know what he should say, what he should do. He only knew
this was the loveliest girl he’d ever seen, and he was drawn to
her. The mere thought of her aroused feelings in Ailean he couldn’t
quell.
    The sheep watched him approach, looking as if
they were ready to run. Their wariness alerted the girl to his
presence, and she turned toward him, alarm widening her eyes. She
took a step away from him, and Ailean thought she might take flight
at any moment.
    Ailean stopped and said, “Please, don’t be
afraid. I mean you no harm.”
    She didn’t run, but her posture told Ailean
that any small thing