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He well knew that this provocative speech
would make Mrs. MacLeod go and guard the storehouse
door in person; and so she did, with great dispatch
and sat herself down in the doorway: "If you break down
this door Campbell, it will prove to be a dear job for
you, clever as you are or think you are." In this way
did Campbell divert Mrs. MacLeod's attention, while
his boat's crew were removing the meal on the other
side of the storehouse and carrying it to the boat.
When the forty bags were safely stowed on board, one
of the crew came to say that all was ready. Campbell
then told Mrs. MacLeod that she could sit there and
scold on until she was tired, but that his meal was
safe in his own boat: "You, Mrs. MacLeod, told Black
Kenneth that with all his arts he could not accomplish
that. You may call me black, Madam, or otherwise; I
assume either colour occasionally as the case requires,
and however black I may be, Madam, the more I should
resemble you in principle. But I hope you will in future
better choose your time - as well as your man ere you
throw out such bitter language and invective."
The woman's husband then came out and took Campbell
up to his house and they took a dram together. He and
Campbell were relatives. Mr. Campbell went home from
this expedition as well as from every other that he
undertook; he made a deal of money and lived to a good
age.
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