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Ye wad hae thocht him a cornel at the sma'est, an' me a wheen heerin' guts. But it wad hae garred ye lauch, my lord, to see hoo the body ran whan my blin' gran'father he canna bide onybody interferin' wi' me made at him wi' his braid swoord!" "Ye leein' rascal!" cried Bykes; " me feared at an auld spidder, 'at hasna breath eneuch to fill the bag o' 's pipes!" "Caw canny, Johnny Bykes.
As they went to the House, Bykes was full of threats of which he sought to enhance the awfulness by the indefiniteness; but Will told Malcolm as much as he knew of the matter namely, that the head gamekeeper, having lost some dozen of his sitting pheasants, had enjoined a strict watch; and that Bykes having caught sight of Malcolm in the very act of getting over the wall, had gone and given information against him.
Besides, to get in by that they would have had to rouse the cantankerous Bykes, and what a jar would not that bring into the music of the silence! Instead, therefore, of turning up by the side of the stream where it crossed the shore, he took Clementina once again in his arms unforbidden and carried her over. Then the long sands lay open to their feet.
And not to speak of the wild bees' bykes in them, with their inexpressible honey, like that of Mount Hymettus�-to the recollection of the man, at least�-they are covered with grass, and wild flowers grow all about them, through which the wind harps and carps over your head, filling your sense with the odours of a little modest yellow tufty flower, for which I never heard a name in Scotland: the English call it Ladies' Bedstraw.
"Feared at Johnnie Bykes, my lord! Ha! ha!" "You threatened him a minute ago, and now, when I give you leave to thrash him, you decline the honour!" "The disgrace, my lord. He's an aulder man, an' no abune half the size. But fegs! gien he says anither word agen my gran'father, I will gin 's neck a bit thaw" "Well, well, be off with you both," said the marquis rising.
"Daur ye tell me," cried Bykes, recovering himself, "'at I didna see ye wi' my twa een, loup the dyke aneth the temple ay, an something flutterin' unco like bird wings i' yer han'?" "Oot or in, Johnny Bykes?" "Ow! oot." "I did loup the dyke my lord; but it was oot, no in." "How did you get in then?" asked the marquis. "I gat in, my lord," began Malcolm, and ceased.
"How did you get in?" repeated the marquis. "Ow! there's mony w'ys o' winnin' in, my lord. The last time I cam in but ane, it was 'maist ower the carcass o' Johnny there, wha wad fain hae hauden me oot, only he hadna my blin' daddy ahint him to ile 's jints." "An' dinna ye ca' that brakin' in?" said Bykes.
He sprang to his feet, stepped swiftly to the wall, caught down his broadsword, and rushed to the door, making the huge weapon quiver and whir about his head as if it had been a slip of tin plate. "Where is ta rascal?" he shouted. "She'll cut him town! Show her ta lowlan' thief! She'll cut him town! Who'll be insulting her Malcolm?" But Bykes, at first sight of the weapon, had vanished in dismay.
"We want you, my young man," said the gamekeeper, standing on the threshold, with Bykes peeping over his shoulder, in an attitude indicating one foot already lifted to run. "What for?" "That's as may appear." "Whaur's yer warrant?" "There." "Lay 't doon o' the table, an' gang back to the door, till I get a sklent at it," said Malcolm.
"Weel, I jist winna, my lord. It was a' straucht foret an' fair; an' gien yer lordship war i' my place, ye wadna say mair yersel'." "He's been after one of the girls about the place," whispered the marquis to the gamekeeper. "Speir at him, my lord, gien 't please yer lordship, what it was he hed in 's han' whan he lap the park wa'," said Bykes.
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