Danny had written a couple of the lines when he turned to Jack. "I don't want to tell Roddy. Robbie trusted me."

"It's not about trust Danny, it's about what's right. And it's right that you tell him about the gun. He needs to know. No arguments. You won't like the consequences." Danny scowled at him. Jack was being all bossy again. This sucked. "Lines," and he pointed to the piece of paper.

He started to write again. He hated this, all these childish punishments and he was sure Jack just loved being able to tell him what to do. However he wasn't stupid enough to complain, he'd already pushed his luck too far already.

Danny tried to do the lines quickly but his handwriting wasn't very neat. He heard Jack come over and look at them, " Too messy, rub that one out and do it again." Damn Jack. He just had to be in charge. Danny rubbed it out and wrote it again. "Much better." If looks could kill Jack would be lying on the ground dead.

There was a knock at the door, Jack let Roddy in. "It's good to see you Danny, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Rose went off to make some tea and coffee. She brought out some milk for the boys and some pieces of Mrs. Murray's chocolate cake. Danny had managed to finish the lines to Jack's satisfaction. He'd made Danny bring them over to him to make sure they were done correctly. He saw Roddy looking at them and he went red. This was so embarrassing.

He let Danny have his cake and milk before he said," Danny I want you to tell Roddy about the gun."

Danny tried to stall but Jack was having none of it so Danny began by telling Roddy about how Robbie felt. Roddy looked genuinely shocked. "But I thought he was happy at school. He seems to have lots of friends."

"He just feels a bit left out. He said that his mum and dad don't have much to do with him."

"Well I have to say that neither of them is very fond of any of their children, they're too busy visiting friends and going to parties. That's why I like the children here for holidays. Murdo loves having them around. But what has this got to do with the gun?"

Danny looked at Jack but he said nothing. Danny continued," It was Robbie's gun."

"Robbie's? But where would he get it? We don't have guns like that on the estate. We have shotguns for hunting, that's all."

"He said it was his dad's and he found it with some of his things. He just wanted to have some of his things."

"I remember Mairhi had a box of things but I never dreamed there was a gun in them. My God anything could have happened. Where did he have it?"

"He's got a secret place he keeps things in." Danny didn't want to say more.

"You mean the cave in the hill?"

"You know about it?"

"Of course that's where I used to play when I was younger. My brothers and I hid things there as well. It's well hidden."

"Please don't be too angry with him. I was the one who took the gun. He knew nothing about that."

"It was loaded," Jack said. "he could have been killed or hurt someone seriously."

"Don't worry, I'll deal with this when I get home."

Robbie was going to hate him, Danny thought. Why could Jack not leave things alone.

"Thank you for the tea and cake," Roddy said as he got up, " We're having a ceilidh on Friday night. I just wondered if you'd like to come. It's for family and workers on the estate."

"We'd love to," Rose said.

"Do we have to wear kilts?" Johnny asked.

"Only if you want to. We have kilts at the house that belonged to the boys when they were younger, you can wear them."

"It'll be like Braveheart," Johnny said.

"Well I hope no one will start a battle in the house." Johnny laughed.

"Can we paint our faces like William Wallace did?"

"No," John said. "Definitely not." Johnny sighed. Grown ups spoil all the fun.

"What are you doing tomorrow? Having a quiet day after all your adventures," Roddy asked as he opened the door.

"Only Danny had an adventure, he wouldn't let me go with him," Johnny said.

"Just as well for you," John said.

"We haven't decided where to go yet."

They said good bye.

"Any where you want to go then?" Jack asked.

"I'd like to go to Orkney. I'd like to see Scara Brae, it's a Stone Age village but Orkney is quite a distance away," Danny said.

"We could make it an all day trip," Jack said seeing Danny's face fall.

"You would?"

"Of course, we came here to see the country. If we leave early we can take the car. There must be a ferry to take you over."

"There is, it's at a place called Scrabster. You'll really take me?" Danny said.

"Yes." A small body flew into his arms. "You're great Jack. I take back all I've said about you." Or thought he said to himself. Jack wasn't all bad. Not all the time. Jack tickled him and soon had him giggling and begging for him to stop.

"If he wets himself you can clean it up," Rose said.

"Grandma I'm not a baby," Danny said. Johnny started to tickle Jack to try and get him to let go of Danny.

"Help! I'm being attacked," Jack said to his dad who just ignored him. "Can't get good fathers these days," he said to the boys who giggled. He lifted them up and threw them onto the large settee.

"Dinner," Rose said. "Go get cleaned up," the two boys got up. "You too," she said to Jack. The boys laughed.

"Coming to get you and he chased after the two boys who ran in front of him up the stairs.

"Which one is the biggest child?" John asked as he heard squeals from up stairs.

"Let them have fun," Rose said.

TBC