many a day will any one do that, for
the Cave bay it is not more as half a mile away. And when you were in
London, Sir Keith, it was this man John Fraser he would bathe in the bay
below the castle in the morning, and he got one or two of the others to
join him; and when I bade him go away, he will say that the sea belongs
to no man. And this morning, too--"

"This morning!" Macleod said, jumping to his feet. There was an angry
flash in his eyes.

"Ay, sir, this very morning I saw two of them myself--and John Fraser he
was one of them--and I went down and said to them, 'It will be a bad day
for you,' says I to them, 'if Sir Keith will find you in this bay.'"

"Are they down at the quay now?" Macleod said.

"Ay, they will be in the house now."

"Come along with me, Hamish. I think we will put this right."

He lifted his cap and went out into the cool night air, followed by
Hamish. They passed through the dark fir-wood until they came in sight
of the Atlantic again, which was smooth enough to show the troubled
reflection of the bigger stars. They went down the hillside until they
were close to the shore, and then they followed the rough path to the
quay. The door of the square stone building was open; the men were
seated on rude stools or on spare coils of rope, smoking. Macleod called
them out, and they came to the door.

"Now look here, boys," said he, "you know I will not allow any man to
bathe in the bay before the house. I told you before; I tell you now for
the last time. They that want to bathe can go along to the Cave bay; and
the end of it is this--and there will be no more words about it--that
the first man I catch in the bay before the house I will take a
horsewhip to him, and he will have as good a run as ever he had in his
life."

With that he was turning away, when he heard one of the men mutter, "_I
would like to see you do it!_" He wheeled round instantly--and if some
of his London friends could have seen the look of his face at this
moment, they might have altered their opinion about the obliteration of
certain qualities from the temperament of the Highlanders of our own
day.

"Who said that?" he exclaimed.

There was no answer.

"Come out here, you four men!" he said. "Stand in a line there. Now let
the man who said that step out and face me. I will show him who is to be
master here. If he thinks he can master me, well; but it is one or the
other of us who will be master!"

There was not