United States or Burkina Faso ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Haud yer tongues. Whaur had we best stow the stanes, Curly?" "In oor yard. They'll never be noticed there." "That'll do. Some time the nicht, ye'll a' carry what stanes ye can get an' min' they're o' a serviceable natur' to Curly's yard. He'll be o' the ootluik for ye. An, I say, Curly, doesna your riggin-stane owerluik the maist o' the toon?" "Ay, General."
'Ye are na a bad hand at flinging stanes, said the lad who first addressed me, as we now returned up the brae; 'your aim is right dangerous, mon, I saw how ye skelpit them, ye maun help us agin thae New Toon blackguards at our next bicker.
"'Mang the Druids' stanes, Mysie, and that's an ill place for a Christian woman to die. God forbid it!" he muttered, as he lit a lantern and went rapidly to the stable; "an evil place! under the vera altar-stane o' Satan. God stay the parting soul till it can hear a word o' his great mercy!" With such a motive to prompt him, Andrew was not long in reaching the ruins of the old Druidical temple.
I'm no ill disposit to ye, and yese get safe hame, man." As he spoke he stooped down, and picking up half-a-dozen big stones from the mountain-side, he gave them to the Laird, saying, "If the gudewife asks ye about the bit stanes, say ye got them in a compliment."
The factor he's there, I ken, an' some constables wi' 'im to see 'at his order 's cairried oot. An' the laads they ha'e been fortifeein' the place as they ca' 't for the last oor. They've howkit a trenk, they tell me, 'at nane but a hunter on 's horse cud win ower, an' they're postit alang the toon side o' 't wi' sticks an' stanes, an' boat heuks, an' guns an' pistils.
My Maister's no o' ae min' wi' you, mem, aboot sic affairs and sae I maun gang, and lea' ye to yer ain opingon! But I would jist remin' ye, mem, that she's at this present i' my hoose, wi my wife; and my wee bit lassie hings aboot her as gien she was an angel come doon to see the bonny place this warl luks frae up there. Eh, puir lammie, the stanes oucht to be feower upo thae hill-sides!"
James, also, good-naturedly complied with the Ambassador's request, and agreed to act as judge on the occasion; and he laughingly remarked to Buckingham "Ye are demented, Steenie, to risk a' those precious stanes with which ye are bedecked on the skill with which ye can yield a frail lance. We may say unto you now in the words of the poet 'Pendebant ter ti gemmata monilia collo;
"Could ye no' try Mysie, too?" he asked, breaking in anxiously. "She's a guid worker, an' she'll be able to pick as many stanes as the weemen. Willn't ye, Mysie?" And he turned to the girl for corroboration with assurance.
Thoroughly ashamed of himself, Donal threw his book from him, and ran to meet Gibbie. "Ye maunna fling stanes, cratur," he said. "Haith! it's no for me to fin' fau't, though," he added, "sittin' readin' buiks like a gowk 'at I am, an' lattin' the beasts rin wull amo' the corn, 'at's weel peyed to haud them oot o' 't! I'm clean affrontit wi' mysel', cratur."
"Dinna gang in there, lad, for ony favor." "Then I shall find the accessories of a picture I have in my head chains with genuine rust and ancient mouldering stones with the stains of time." His eye brightened at the prospect. "You among fiefs, and chains, and stanes! Ye'll break my hairt, laddy, ye'll no be easy till you break my hairt." And this time the tears would not be denied.
Word Of The Day