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"Are ye no weel, Cosmo?" she asked. "Weel eneuch, Aggie," he answered. "What gars ye speir?" "Ye're haudin' yer tongue sae sair. And," she added, for she caught sight of the bailiff approaching, "ye hae lost the last inch or twa o' yer stroke." "I'll tell ye a' aboot it as we gang hame," he answered, swinging his scythe in the arc of a larger circle. The bailiff came up.
Whan I gang to my sheep-fold, an' tak the best an' the fittest, my ears are deavt an' my hert torn wi' the clamours the bleatin', an' ba'in' o' my sheep my ain sheep! compleenin' sair agen me; an' me feedin' them, an' cleedin' them, an' haudin' the tod frae them, a' their lives, frae the first to the last! It's some oongratefu', an' some sair to bide.
It's no muckle I can du for you or for him, but there's ae thing I'm set upo', and that's haudin ye frae Francie Gordon the nicht. He'll be awa the morn! 'Wha tellt ye that? returned Phemy with a start. 'Jist yer ain aunt, honest woman! answered Kirsty, 'and sair she grat as she telled me, but it wasna at his gaein! 'She micht hae held the tongue o' her till he was gane!
'Lassie, are ye dementit? her mother almost screamed. 'We're this minute come frae there! 'He is wi' Phemy, mother. The Lord canna surely hae pairtit them, gangin in maist haudin hans! 'Kirsty, I haud ye accoontable for my Steenie! cried Marion, sinking on a chair, and covering her face with her hands.
He's jist a Jonah in oor ship, an Achan in oor camp. But I sudna speyk sae to ane that's no a member." "Never ye min'. I'm auld eneuch to hae learned to haud my tongue. But we'll turn till a better subjec'. Jist tell me hoo ye made Alec peril's life for conscience sake. Ye dinna burn fowk here for nae freely haudin' by the shorter Carritchis, do ye?" And hereupon followed the story of the flood.
Thrice it was done, Drumsheugh ever bringing up colder water from the spring, and twice MacLure was silent; but after the third time there was a gleam in his eye. "We're haudin' oor ain; we're no bein' maistered, at ony rate; mair a' canna say for three oors. "We 'ill no need the water again, Drumsheugh; gae oot and tak a breath o' air; a'm on gaird masel."
"Weel, did you ever?" said Mistress Kenawee, haudin' up her hands. "No!" said Sandy, turnin' to her gey ill-natured like. "Did you?" "That's a type o' what ye ca' your men," says Mysie. "Weel, weel; they're scarce o' cloots that mend their hose wi' dockens." "Bliss my hert, Sandy, she'll be awa' wi' the till atore ye get back," I said. "Rin awa' yont as fest as your feet'll cairry ye."
"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin' a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
"Ca' ye that haudin' o' 't richt, to temp' me to wrang 'im?" said Aggie, going steadily on at her gathering, while the grieve kept following her step by step. "Ye're unco short wi' a body, Aggie!" "I weel may be, whan a body wad hae me neglec' my paid wark." "Weel, I reckon ye're i' the richt o' 't efter a', sae I'll jist fa' tu, an' len' ye a han'."
Three months o' tongue haudin', an' there 's yer five poun'; an' Maister Soutar o' Duff Harbour 'ill pay 't intill yer ain han'. But brak troth wi' me, an' ye s' hear o' 't; for gien ye war hangt, the warl' wad be but the cleaner. Noo quit the hoose, an' never lat me see ye aboot the place again. But afore ye gang, I gie ye fair warnin' 'at I mean to win at a' yer byganes."
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