Eight cousins : or, The aunt-hill

234 EIGHT COUSINS.Then every one sat round and heard all about thevoyage home, — how the Captain had set his heart ongetting there in time to keep Christmas; how everything had conspired to thwart his plan ; and how, atthe very last minute, he had managed to do it, andhad sent a telegram to Archie, bidding him keep thesecret, and be ready for his father at any moment, forthe ship got into another port, and he might be late.Then Archie told how that telegram liad burnt inhis pocket all dinner-time ; how he had to take Phebeinto his confidence, and how clever she was to keej) theCaptain back till the speech was over, and he couldcome in with effect.The elders would have sat and talked all the evening,but the young folks were bent on having theirusual Christmas frolic ; so, after an hour of pleasantchat, they began toget restless, and having consultedtogetlier in dumb show, tliey devised a way to veryeffectually break up the family council.Steve vanished, and, sooner than the boys imaginedDandy could get himself up, the skirl of the bag-pipewas heard in the hall, and the bonny })iper came tolead Clan Campbell to the revel." Draw it mild, Stenie, my man ;ye play unco weel,but ye mak a most infernal din," cried Uncle Jem,with liis hands over his ears, for this accomplishmentwas new to him, and " took him all aback," as he expressedit.So Steve droned out a Highland reel as softly ascould, and the boys danced it to a circle of admiringrelations. Captain Jem was a true sailor, however,and could not stand idle while any thing lively washe