The Desperate Journey Read Online Free PDF Page B

tell there are so many streets you could get lost in them.”
    Davie whistled. There was something new and exciting in the thought of a city. “Will there be rows and rows of crofts?”
    Kate shook her head. “No. Your father says many of the houses are built on top of each other, without fields or gardens roundthem.”
    Kirsty puckered up her brows. “I wonder if I will like that? When will my father be coming?” she sighed.
    “We do not know, lassie.” Kate stared down the road too. “It may be tonight, or the next night, or the next –” Her voice trailed away unhappily.
    When night fell they huddled under the blankets, the cart giving them shelter. Davie had lighted the lantern and set it beside them. There was still a glow of red from the embers of the burned house.
    “Your father aye said a prayer. Think you that you could say a word in his place, Davie? Maybe we could sing a psalm afterwards,” Kate said.
    “God bless us and keep us this night and always, and bring my father back soon,” Davie said simply. Then he lifted his voice and sang, “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want.” The others joined in, Kate’s voice wavering with grief, and Kirsty’s piping treble. The sound of their voices reached James Murray as he rounded the hill on his horse and saw the glowing embers of what had once been his home. For a moment he reined his horse in, shocked with surprise, then he urged him forward up the hill.
    “There’s Father!” Kirsty cried, as she heard the horse’s hoofs. They broke off singing and scrambled from under the cart, Davie waving the lantern.
    “Are you safe, Kate? Are you and the bairns safe?” James cried in a frenzy as he flung himself from the horse.
    “Aye, James, we’re safe and sound, but oh! James, your house is gone!” Kate flew to her husband and broke into a torrent of sobs, grief she had bottled up all day.
    “Steady, lass, steady! Here, take the horse, Davie!” James Murray’s arms went round his wife.
    “Your mother, James? Is she – Is she –?”
    “Aye, lass, she’s gone. She went peacefully in her sleep, but not before she knew I was there and she spoke to me. I think it was acomfort to her to have me there with John. But to think that all this should happen to you while I was away!” James’ face grew dark as he stared at the improvised shelter and the pitiful heap of his household goods.
    “Did Patrick Sellar do this to my house?”
    “Aye, he did! He put fire to the thatch and mocked at us as it burned.”
    “You gave him my letter, Davie?” Murray asked sharply.
    “Aye, Father, he had it as soon as he came, and when he had read it he flung it to the ground.”
    James Murray clenched his fist and black anger rose in him. “I will go to Dunrobin and deal with Patrick Sellar!”
    Kate held him by the arm. “No, James, stay with us now. If you lay a finger on him, Sellar will have you clapped in gaol. Have we not suffered enough? Must we lose you too?”
    “Don’t go away, Father! Don’t leave us!” Kirsty pleaded.
    “What shall I do with the horse? There is no stable for him now,” Davie asked.
    The practical need for his help put the thought of revenge out of James’s mind. Though his home had gone, his family remained, and it was for him to look after them. “Dinna fash yourself, my lass,” he said to his wife. “I’ll bide here wi’ you. Turn the horse loose in the pasture, Davie. He’ll take no harm there.”
    With the help of the lantern, Kate searched among her household crocks and found some oatcake and cheese which she brought to James.
    “You’ll be hungry after your ride,” she said. As James ate, she asked him, “What shall we do? It’s plain we canna bide here.”
    James looked thoughtful for a minute. “Tomorrow we will set out on our travels just as soon as we have packed our goods in the cart. We will go first to Dornoch. John will find someone to buy our table and chairs and the cupboards. In his work as a