of green left in the garden. They can hop right over the wall,
even if we do stop up the hole."

"Aye," answered his father solemnly, "and that's a serious
question, my lad. They get worse every year, and syne we'll have
no tatties for the winter, let alone other vegetables. A deer
came into Andrew Crumpet's garden one night last week and left
not a green sprout in it by the morning. The creatures must live
that idle gentlemen may shoot them for pleasure, even though they
eat our food and leave us to go hungry." His brow darkened and a
long-smouldering wrath burst forth into words. "There's no
justice in it," he declared, thumping the table with his fist
till the spoons danced, "Lairds or no Lairds, Anguses or no
Anguses."

The Twins had never before heard their father speak like that,
and they were a little frightened. They were too young to know
the long years of injustice in such matters that stretched far
back into the history of Scotland.

For a few minutes after this outburst the Shepherd remained
silent, gazing into the fire; then he roused himself from his
brown study and said: "I've been keeping something from you, my
bairns. Mr. Craigie told me last week that the Auld Laird has
taken a whim to turn all this region into a game preserve, and
that he will not renew our lease when the time is up. It has till
autumn to run, and then, God help us, we'll have to be turned out
of this house where I've lived all my life and my forebears
before me, and seek some other place to live and some other work
to do."