High on a Mountain Read Online Free

superiority. He
would be a man of substance.
    He scanned the croft below. When Coinneach
married Una, he built a cottage for her beside Da’s. Ailean
expected to do the same when he married. After he had led a
glorious and adventurous life. There, on the other side of Da’s
cottage, that was the site where his own cottage would stand, where
he would live with a wife who loved him, who would be happy to do
his bidding, who…
    He heard a small noise and turned to see his
father standing behind him.
    “I thought I’d find you here,” Da said, his
voice rasping with exasperation.
    “Look, Da. Doesn’t the croft look beautiful
from up here?”
    Aodh was silent for a moment. He passed a
glance over the land below. “Aye.” He turned to Ailean and looked
into his eyes. “It looks beautiful from up here on the mountain,
but you must remember that your life is lived down there in the
glen. And sometimes, life isn’t so lovely when you’re there in the
midst of it.”
    “But—”
    “Ailean, you walked away and left your work
for others to do. A man doesn’t do that if he’s any kind of an
honorable man. He shoulders his share of the burdens and pulls his
own weight when there’s work to be done.”
    Ailean looked down in shame at his bare feet.
His spirits, which had lifted when he viewed the beauty of his
homeland, plummeted at Da’s words.
    ____________
     
    “You should have seen him run,” Latharn said.
He chuckled and took another sip of whisky.
    “I suppose it was amusing,” his father
said.
    “More than amusing, it was gratifying. I just
wish you had been there to see it.” He laughed again.
    Eachann moved his foot on the stool where it
was propped and winced. Latharn saw his father’s discomfort and
frowned.
    “Do you need another cushion?” he asked.
    “Yes, if you will get one, please.”
    Latharn brought a pillow, lifted his father’s
foot and arranged the padding under it.
    “Will that do?”
    “Yes. Much better, thank you.” He shifted in
his chair and grimaced again. “Much better. I’m looking forward to
seeing that doctor in Edinburgh. I hope he’ll be able to do
something for me.”
    “He’d better.”
    “I understand from Ualraig that he’s done
things akin to miracles for some of his patients. But perhaps I
shouldn’t get my hopes up.” He sighed. “Now. What was it you were
telling me about?”
    “As I was saying,” Latharn went on. “I wish
all our crofters had seen MacLachlainn run, not just Odhran. But
he’ll tell of it, and that will be almost as good.”
    “Well, you administered a retribution of
sorts for the camanachd defeat,” Eachann said. “Now let’s
see how they like the way I avenge the humiliation of my
clansmen.”
    Latharn looked at his father with a question
in his eyes that became a smile on his lips. “A new rate of passage
for their cattle?”
    Eachann smiled and nodded.
    ____________
     
    When all the families completed the move from
the airigh to the croft, Aodh asked the men to gather at his
cottage for a discussion of the upcoming cattle drive.
    “Latharn Cambeul is taking over more
responsibility for his father’s holdings of late. I don’t like
having to deal with him,” Aodh said.
    “Me, either,” Gabhran MacEòghainn said.
“There’s something about the man I don’t care for.”
    “Yesterday, I sent Ailean to find a cow that
had wandered off, and he had an encounter with Latharn. He insulted
Ailean, made some accusations, and he and the man with him drew
their swords. I don’t want to have a dispute with the Cambeuls, but
I think Latharn is determined to make one.”
    “Latharn Cambeul is trouble dressed in a féileadh-mòr and bonnet,” Coinneach said, and all the men
laughed.
    “I have a proposal,” Aodh said. “It may be a
good idea, or it may be a bad one. If we discuss it, maybe we can
decide if it is as good as it seems to me.”
    Boisil MacLachlainn said, “Let’s hear
it.”
    “Each year, Eachann charges us