e, as black as a raven, save for a superb
snow-white shirt-front, which he managed to keep marvellously clean,
and a few touches of golden-brown on his shapely head. He was only a
little slighter than Dour, and as lively and frolicsome as the other
was impassive. Although not quite the equal of Dour, Dandy was an
excellent sheep dog, too, and many a cotter envied Andrew the
possession of the two fine creatures.

Hector loved both dogs dearly, albeit he stood a trifle in awe of Dour.
The dogs were as much members of the family as Ailie and himself. He
would have shared his last bit of bannock or sup of 'parritch' with
either of them, and they fully returned his affection, each in his own
way.

Hector was a 'braw laddie,' in very sooth. From his father, he got the
straightness and strength of body, the deftness of hand and foot, and
the rapidity of thought that made him an unquestioned leader among his
playfellows, and from his mother the light, crisp hair, the laughing
blue eyes, and the happy turn of speech that made the other boys love
as well as obey him.

He stood in much awe of his father, who was as strict as he was just,
but his mother had his whole heart, and many a time did he go to her
for comfort, when reproved by Andrew for some little bit of
heedlessness.

With little Ailie, a dark-eyed, dark-haired sprite, not like either
parent, to protect and pet, the Macraes made up a notably happy family
group, and were the recipients of many attentions from their fellow
passengers, on the long voyage on a slow sailing ship to the bleak
shores of Hudson's Bay.

That voyage out proved far from being a pleasant holiday. Cooped up in
an over-loaded vessel, whose accommodation was scant at best, fed upon
pork and beef that was salter than the sea itself, and hard biscuits
that became alive with weevils ere the ship reached its destination,
all the colonists suffered more or less severely. It spoke well for
the stamina of the Macraes that they bore the privations of the passage
better than the majority, and landed at York Factory in fairly good
trim.

'Eh, but glad I am to put my feet upon the solid ground again!'
exclaimed Andrew Macrae, with heartfelt emphasis, as he sprang out of
the boat and strode up the beach, and, in so saying, he spoke for every
one on board the vessel.

Hector's legs wobbled under him in so absurd a fashion that he tumbled
over several times in his first attempt at running, and even