United States or United States Virgin Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
With this he set to work to howk the turf away, and found it light to work, for it had been loosely shovelled in, and came away with ease. Working incessantly, at four feet below the excavated turf, he saw an object lying loose, which he seized in excited, trembling hands, and surveyed in the moonlight.
Mair by token, Monkbarns, if ye howk up the bourock, as ye seem to have began, yell find, if ye hae not fund it already, a stane that ane o' the mason-callants cut a ladle on to have a bourd at the bridegroom, and he put four letters on't, that's A. D. L. L. Aiken Drum's Lang Ladle for Aiken was ane o' the kale-suppers o' Fife."
"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o' ten meenuts tae howk him 'an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o' ten meenuts tae howk him 'an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
O Meg, woman, I think o' ye i' the mornin' afore the Lord's Prayer, I sair misdoot! Guid forgie me! I find mysel' whiles wonderin' gin I'll see ye the day afore I can gang ower in my mind the graves that's to howk, or gin Birsie's oats are dune. O Meg, Meg, I'm that fell fond o' ye that I gruppit that thrawn speldron Birsie's hint leg juist i' the fervour o' thinkin' o' ye."
When the main line went north through Skeighan and Poltandie, there was a great deal of building on the far side, and Gourlay simply coined the money. He could not have exhausted the quarry had he tried he would have had to howk down a hill but he took thousands of loads from it for the Skeighan folk; and the commission he paid the laird on each was ridiculously small.
He began to howk and dig under the bank; an' God be near me, thought I, this maun be the unblessed spirit of Auld Adam Gowdgowpin, the miser, who is doomed to dig for shipwrecked treasure, and count how many millions are hidden forever from man's enjoyment.
"Aweel, it may be sae; but we canna howk fort enow we hae nae shules, for they hae taen them a' awa and it's like some o' them will be sent back to fling the earth into the hole, and mak a' things trig again.
The shock moved me to my feet, and I ran down the slope to where Jobson stood rubbing his eyes. "That's done the job. Now we maun get up the tree roots. We've no time to howk. We'll just blast the feck o' them." The work of destruction went on, but I was coming back to my senses. I forced myself to be practical and reasonable.
"An it's a guid thing," added Saunders, "that there's a new cemetery a-makkin'. There's no room for anither dizzen in yer auld kailyaird onyway an' that I'm tellin' ye. An' I'm promised the new job too. Ye can howk yer ain graves yersel's."
Word Of The Day