The Pirate's Gold by Gordon Stables

"Is there, for honest poverty, / That hangs his head, and a' that; / The coward-slave, we pass him by, / We daur be poor for a' that! / For a' that, and a' that, / Our toil's obscure, and a' that; / The rank is but the guinea stamp, / The man's the gowd for a' that. " -- BURNS.

Bright as the lark that rising from the dewy corn sings high at heaven's gate were Mina and Miguel next morning at breakfast. Romantic language this may seem. Perhaps it is, only it suits me, and it suits the occasion.

Reeves, too, was pleasant and jolly; and I myself felt as happy as a sight of the Highlands in autumn never fails to make me.

Before bidding these good folks good-bye, I had to promise to come back -- nay, not only that, but even to appoint the day.

When I told my friend the minister of my pleasant adventure, he said they had not been there very long. He was very old and somewhat stout, so had put off calling from week to week.

But on the very day after this he did get out his gig and pay them a visit of ceremony; and not only that, but invited the three to dinner.

"And," he added, "I'm rather an old man, as you can see; and if I have one chief pleasure in life, it is music. Might I make so bold as to request this young lady and gentleman to bring their instruments with them?"

The young lady and gentleman would be delighted. And so now introductions were complete; and soon the most perfect and home-like friendship reigned between the manse and The Cañon, as the glen villa was called.

But for his daughter Mina, Captain Reeves would have been a somewhat lonely man, despite the beauty of his gardens and all his wild and romantic surroundings, for his wife had been dead now for some years. He had formerly resided in Aberdeen; but his health breaking down temporarily, he had come here, and was already as well as ever he had been in his life, so strong and life-giving are the breezes that blow over the Highland hills.

I have no great desire to describe little Mina's beauty, though in my eyes she was very charming indeed. But there are different tastes in beauty, just as there are in straw hats or fancy waistcoats. If the reader, then, wonders what Mina was like, let him just imagine to himself the loveliest and most innocent-looking girl he happens to know, and let her pose as Mina.

Of course she and I became great friends, because, whatever else I may be, I am always frank; and I do think children like frankness. Well, I am always _frank_ and I am always _merry_.

But Don Miguel's story is a somewhat strange though not a very unusual one away up north, and I may best tell it briefly here.

I may say this, to begin with, that there really is a kind of freemasonry between sailors, else why should Reeves have told me poor Miguel's history after only a fortnight's acquaintance?

I may mention, too, that the nephew himself had gone away -- I shall tell you whither presently. I happened to see the parting betwixt him and bonnie wee Mina, and it was indeed a sorrowful one.

She hung around his neck in an _abandon_ of childish grief and tears.

"O don't go, Miggie -- don't go! I cannot let you leave me!"

And the lad, with tears in his dark eyes, had really to tear himself away.

Even Reeves himself was affected.

I do not remember ever before having met so happy and bright a young fellow as Miguel. He was very good-looking, rather tall, and though somewhat slender to suit a Highlander's taste, supple and energetic beyond compare.

At the university (Aberdeen) he excelled in all sports that required more agility than strength. He never went in for wrestling, putting the stone, or hammer-throwing. But in racing he needed handicapping. No one was in it with him at the running-high-leap. Sometimes, when sudden "funk" seized him just as he approached the bar, he ran right through under it laughing, and without even bending his neck. But he returned immediately and took it like a hero.