Ralph Connor

“ Before two weeks were over, Yankee, with the horses, and Ranald, with the oxen, had finished the plowing, and in another ten days the fields lay smooth and black, with the seed harrowed safely in, waiting for the rain.
Yankee's visit had been a godsend, not only to Ranald with his work, but also to Macdonald Dubh. He would talk to the grim, silent man by the hour, after the day's work was done, far into the night, till at length he managed to draw from him the secret of his misery.
"I will never be a man again," he said, bitterly, to Yankee. "And there is the farm all to pay for. ”

“ He found him down in the brûle, where he spent most of his days toiling hard with his ax, in spite of the earnest entreaties of Ranald. He was butting a big tree that the fire had laid prone, but the ax was falling with the stroke of a weak man.
As he finished his cut, his brother called to him, "That is no work for you, Hugh; that is no work for a man who has been for six weeks in his bed."
"It is work that must be done, however," Black Hugh answered, bitterly.
"Give me the ax," said Macdonald Bhain. ”

“ Ranald and Yankee were driving their teams into the yard.
"That is a fine lad," said Macdonald Bhain, pointing to Ranald.
"Aye," said his brother; "it is a pity he has not a better chance. He is great for his books, but he has no chance whatever, and he will be a bowed man before he has cleared this farm and paid the debt on it."
"Never you fear," said his brother. "Ranald will do well. But, man, what a size he is!"
"He is that," said his father, proudly. "He is as big as his father, and I doubt some day he may be as good a man as his uncle." ”