Afterward he inquired, frowning: “Where’s
McTee? I met him an’ he started back to
find you.”
“He’s gone off with his thoughts, Dan.”
Harrigan sighed, looking up to the stainless blue
of the sky: “Aye, that’s the way
of the Scotch. When they’re happy in love,
they go off by themselves an’ brood like a dog
that’s thinking of a fight. But were I
he, I’d never be leavin’ your side, colleen.”
His head tilted back in the way she had come to know,
and she waited for the soft dialect: “I’d
be singin’ songs av love an’ war-r-r, an’
braggin’ me hear-rt out, an’ talkin’
av the sea-green av your eyes, colleen. Look
at him now!”
For the great form of McTee left the circle of the
trees and approached them.
“He’s got his head down between his shoulders
like a whipped cur. He’s broodin’,
an’ his soul is thick in a fog.”
“Dan, I trust you to cheer him up; but you’ll
not speak of me?”
“Not I. He’s a proud man, Black McTee,
an’ he’d be angered to the core of him
if he thought you’d talked about him an’
his love to Harrigan. Whisht, Kate, I’ll
handle him like fire!
“The wood,” he began, as McTee came in.
“Did you find it on top of the hill, lad?”
McTee rumbled after a pause, and without looking at
Harrigan: “There’s plenty of it there.
I made a little heap of the driest on the crown of
the hill.”
“Then the next thing is to move our fire up
there.”
“Move our fire?” cried Kate. “How
can you carry the fire?”
“Easy. Take two pieces of burnin’
wood an’ walk along holdin’ them close
together. That way they burn each other an’
the flame keeps goin’. Watch!”
He selected two good-sized brands from the fire and
raised them, holding one in either hand and keeping
the ignited portions of the sticks together.
McTee looked from Kate to Harrigan.
“Sit down and talk to Kate. I’ll
carry the sticks; I know where the pile of timber
is.”
Harrigan made a significant and covert nod and winked
at McTee with infinite understanding.
“Stay here yourself, lad. I wouldn’t
be robbing you——”
Kate coughed for warning, and he broke off sharply.
“You’ve made one trip to the hill.
This is my turn. Besides, you wouldn’t
know how to keep the stick burnin’. I’ve
done it before.”
McTee stared, agape with astonishment. The meaning
of that wink still puzzled his brain. He turned
to Kate for explanation, and she beckoned him to stay.
When Harrigan disappeared, he said: “What’s
the meaning? Doesn’t Harrigan want to be
with you?”
She allowed her eyes to wander dreamily after Harrigan.
“Don’t you see? He’s like a
big boy. He’s overflowing with happiness
and he has to go off to play by himself.”
McTee watched her with deep suspicion.
“It’s queer,” he pondered.
“I know the Irish like a book, and when they’re
in love, they’re always singing and shouting
and raising the devil. It looked to me as if
Harrigan was making himself be cheerful.”
