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diff --git a/2693.txt b/2693.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddf1b12 --- /dev/null +++ b/2693.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6830 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Greyfriars Bobby, by Eleanor Atkinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Greyfriars Bobby + +Author: Eleanor Atkinson + +Posting Date: December 8, 2008 [EBook #2693] +Release Date: July, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREYFRIARS BOBBY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteeer + + + + + +GREYFRIARS BOBBY + +By Eleanor Atkinson + + + + +I. + +When the time-gun boomed from Edinburgh Castle, Bobby gave a startled +yelp. He was only a little country dog--the very youngest and smallest +and shaggiest of Skye terriers--bred on a heathery slope of the Pentland +hills, where the loudest sound was the bark of a collie or the tinkle +of a sheep-bell. That morning he had come to the weekly market with Auld +Jock, a farm laborer, and the Grassmarket of the Scottish capital lay in +the narrow valley at the southern base of Castle Crag. Two hundred +feet above it the time-gun was mounted in the half-moon battery on an +overhanging, crescent-shaped ledge of rock. In any part of the city +the report of the one-o'clock gun was sufficiently alarming, but in +the Grassmarket it was an earth-rending explosion directly overhead. +It needed to be heard but once there to be registered on even a little +dog's brain. Bobby had heard it many times, and he never failed to yelp +a sharp protest at the outrage to his ears; but, as the gunshot was +always followed by a certain happy event, it started in his active +little mind a train of pleasant associations. + +In Bobby's day of youth, and that was in 1858, when Queen Victoria was a +happy wife and mother, with all her bairns about her knees in Windsor +or Balmoral, the Grassmarket of Edinburgh was still a bit of the Middle +Ages, as picturesquely decaying and Gothic as German Nuremberg. Beside +the classic corn exchange, it had no modern buildings. North and south, +along its greatest length, the sunken quadrangle was faced by tall, old, +timber-fronted houses of stone, plastered like swallows' nests to the +rocky slopes behind them. + +Across the eastern end, where the valley suddenly narrowed to the +ravine-like street of the Cowgate, the market was spanned by the +lofty, crowded arches of George IV Bridge. This high-hung, viaduct +thoroughfare, that carried a double line of buildings within its +parapet, leaped the gorge, from the tall, old, Gothic rookeries on High +Street ridge, just below the Castle esplanade. It cleared the roofs +of the tallest, oldest houses that swarmed up the steep banks from the +Cowgate, and ran on, by easy descent, to the main gateway of Greyfriars +kirkyard at the lower top of the southern rise. + +Greyfriars' two kirks formed together, under one continuous roof, a +long, low, buttressed building without tower or spire. The new kirk was +of Queen Anne's day, but the old kirk was built before ever the Pilgrims +set sail for America. It had been but one of several sacred buildings, +set in a monastery garden that sloped pleasantly to the open valley of +the Grassmarket, and looked up the Castle heights unhindered. In Bobby's +day this garden had shrunk to a long, narrow, high-piled burying-ground, +that extended from the rear of the line of buildings that fronted on the +market, up the slope, across the hilltop, and to where the land began +to fall away again, down the Burghmuir. From the Grassmarket, kirk and +kirkyard lay hidden behind and above the crumbling grandeur of noble +halls and mansions that had fallen to the grimiest tenements of +Edinburgh's slums. From the end of the bridge approach there was a +glimpse of massive walls, of pointed windows, and of monumental tombs +through a double-leafed gate of wrought iron, that was alcoved and +wedged in between the ancient guildhall of the candlemakers and a row of +prosperous little shops in Greyfriars Place. + +A rock-rimmed quarry pit, in the very heart of Old Edinburgh, the +Grassmarket was a place of historic echoes. The yelp of a little dog +there would scarce seem worthy of record. More in harmony with its +stirring history was the report of the time-gun. At one o'clock every +day, there was a puff of smoke high up in the blue or gray or squally +sky, then a deafening crash and a back fire fusillade of echoes. The +oldest frequenter of the market never got used to it. On Wednesday, as +the shot broke across the babel of shrill bargaining, every man in +the place jumped, and not one was quicker of recovery than wee Bobby. +Instantly ashamed, as an intelligent little dog who knew the import +of the gun should be, Bobby denied his alarm in a tiny pink yawn of +boredom. Then he went briskly about his urgent business of finding Auld +Jock. + +The market was closed. In five minutes the great open space was as empty +of living men as Greyfriars kirkyard on a week-day. Drovers and hostlers +disappeared at once into the cheap and noisy entertainment of the White +Hart Inn that fronted the market and set its squalid back against Castle +Rock. Farmers rapidly deserted it for the clean country. Dwellers in the +tenements darted up wynds and blind closes, climbed twisting turnpike +stairs to windy roosts under the gables, or they scuttled through noble +doors into foul courts and hallways. Beggars and pickpockets swarmed +under the arches of the bridge, to swell the evil smelling human river +that flowed at the dark and slimy bottom of the Cowgate. + +A chill November wind tore at the creaking iron cross of the Knights of +St. John, on the highest gable of the Temple tenements, that turned its +decaying back on the kirkyard of the Greyfriars. Low clouds were tangled +and torn on the Castle battlements. A few horses stood about, munching +oats from feed-boxes. Flocks of sparrows fluttered down from timbered +galleries and rocky ledges to feast on scattered grain. Swallows wheeled +in wide, descending spirals from mud villages under the cornices to +catch flies. Rats scurried out of holes and gleaned in the deserted corn +exchange. And 'round and 'round the empty market-place raced the frantic +little terrier in search of Auld Jock. + +Bobby knew, as well as any man, that it was the dinner hour. With the +time-gun it was Auld Jock's custom to go up to a snug little restaurant; +that was patronized chiefly by the decent poor small shopkeepers, +clerks, tenant farmers, and medical students living in cheap +lodgings--in Greyfriars Place. There, in Ye Olde Greyfriars +Dining-Rooms, owned by Mr. John Traill, and four doors beyond the +kirkyard gate, was a cozy little inglenook that Auld Jock and Bobby +had come to look upon as their own. At its back, above a recessed oaken +settle and a table, a tiny paned window looked up and over a retaining +wall into the ancient place of the dead. + +The view of the heaped-up and crowded mounds and thickets of old slabs +and throughstones, girt all about by time-stained monuments and vaults, +and shut in on the north and east by the backs of shops and lofty +slum tenements, could not be said to be cheerful. It suited Auld Jock, +however, for what mind he had was of a melancholy turn. From his place +on the floor, between his master's hob-nailed boots, Bobby could not see +the kirkyard, but it would not, in any case, have depressed his spirits. +He did not know the face of death and, a merry little ruffian of a +terrier, he was ready for any adventure. + +On the stone gate pillar was a notice in plain English that no dogs were +permitted in Greyfriars. As well as if he could read, Bobby knew +that the kirkyard was forbidden ground. He had learned that by bitter +experience. Once, when the little wicket gate that held the two tall +leaves ajar by day, chanced to be open, he had joyously chased a cat +across the graves and over the western wall onto the broad green lawn of +Heriot's Hospital. + +There the little dog's escapade bred other mischief, for Heriot's +Hospital was not a hospital at all, in the modern English sense of being +a refuge for the sick. Built and christened in a day when a Stuart king +reigned in Holyrood Palace, and French was spoken in the Scottish +court, Heriot's was a splendid pile of a charity school, all towers +and battlements, and cheerful color, and countless beautiful windows. +Endowed by a beruffed and doubleted goldsmith, "Jinglin' Geordie" +Heriot, who had "nae brave laddie o' his ain," it was devoted to the +care and education of "puir orphan an' faderless boys." There it +had stood for more than two centuries, in a spacious park, like the +country-seat of a Lowland laird, but hemmed in by sordid markets and +swarming slums. The region round about furnished an unfailing supply +of "puir orphan an' faderless boys" who were as light-hearted and +irresponsible as Bobby. + +Hundreds of the Heriot laddies were out in the noon recess, playing +cricket and leap-frog, when Bobby chased that unlucky cat over the +kirkyard wall. He could go no farther himself, but the laddies took up +the pursuit, yelling like Highland clans of old in a foray across the +border. The unholy din disturbed the sacred peace of the kirkyard. +Bobby dashed back, barking furiously, in pure exuberance of spirits. He +tumbled gaily over grassy hummocks, frisked saucily around terrifying +old mausoleums, wriggled under the most enticing of low-set table tombs +and sprawled, exhausted, but still happy and noisy, at Auld Jock's feet. + +It was a scandalous thing to happen in any kirkyard! The angry caretaker +was instantly out of his little stone lodge by the gate and taking Auld +Jock sharply to task for Bobby's misbehavior. The pious old shepherd, +shocked himself and publicly disgraced, stood, bonnet in hand, humbly +apologetic. Seeing that his master was getting the worst of it, Bobby +rushed into the fray, an animated little muff of pluck and fury, and +nipped the caretaker's shins. There was a howl of pain, and a "maist +michty" word that made the ancient tombs stand aghast. Master and dog +were hustled outside the gate and into a rabble of jeering slum gamin. + +What a to-do about a miserable cat! To Bobby there was no logic at all +in the denouement to this swift, exciting drama. But he understood Auld +Jock's shame and displeasure perfectly. Good-tempered as he was gay and +clever, the little dog took his punishment meekly, and he remembered +it. Thereafter, he passed the kirk yard gate decorously. If he saw a cat +that needed harrying he merely licked his little red chops--the outward +sign of a desperate self-control. And, a true sport, he bore no malice +toward the caretaker. + +During that first summer of his life Bobby learned many things. He +learned that he might chase rabbits, squirrels and moor-fowl, and +sea-gulls and whaups that came up to feed in plowed fields. Rats and +mice around byre and dairy were legitimate prey; but he learned that he +must not annoy sheep and sheep-dogs, nor cattle, horses and chickens. +And he discovered that, unless he hung close to Auld Jock's heels, his +freedom was in danger from a wee lassie who adored him. He was no lady's +lap-dog. From the bairnie's soft cosseting he aye fled to Auld Jock +and the rough hospitality of the sheep fold. Being exact opposites in +temperaments, but alike in tastes, Bobby and Auld Jock were inseparable. +In the quiet corner of Mr. Traill's crowded dining-room they spent the +one idle hour of the week together, happily. Bobby had the leavings of a +herring or haddie, for a rough little Skye will eat anything from smoked +fish to moor-fowl eggs, and he had the tidbit of a farthing bone to +worry at his leisure. Auld Jock smoked his cutty pipe, gazed at the fire +or into the kirk-yard, and meditated on nothing in particular. + +In some strange way that no dog could understand, Bobby had been +separated from Auld Jock that November morning. The tenant of Cauldbrae +farm had driven the cart in, himself, and that was unusual. Immediately +he had driven out again, leaving Auld Jock behind, and that was quite +outside Bobby's brief experience of life. Beguiled to the lofty and +coveted driver's seat where, with lolling tongue, he could view this +interesting world between the horse's ears, Bobby had been spirited out +of the city and carried all the way down and up to the hilltop toll-bar +of Fairmilehead. It could not occur to his loyal little heart that this +treachery was planned nor, stanch little democrat that he was, that +the farmer was really his owner, and that he could not follow a humbler +master of his own choosing. He might have been carried to the distant +farm, and shut safely in the byre with the cows for the night, but for +an incautious remark of the farmer. With the first scent of the native +heather the horse quickened his pace, and, at sight of the purple slopes +of the Pentlands looming homeward, a fond thought at the back of the +man's mind very naturally took shape in speech. + +"Eh, Bobby; the wee lassie wull be at the tap o' the brae to race ye +hame." + +Bobby pricked his drop ears. Within a narrow limit, and concerning +familiar things, the understanding of human speech by these intelligent +little terriers is very truly remarkable. At mention of the wee lassie +he looked behind for his rough old friend and unfailing refuge. Auld +Jock's absence discovered, Bobby promptly dropped from the seat of honor +and from the cart tail, sniffed the smoke of Edinboro' town and faced +right about. To the farmer's peremptory call he returned the spicy +repartee of a cheerful bark. It was as much as to say: + +"Dinna fash yersel'! I ken what I'm aboot." + +After an hour's hard run back over the dipping and rising country road +and a long quarter circuit of the city, Bobby found the high-walled, +winding way into the west end of the Grassmarket. To a human being +afoot there was a shorter cut, but the little dog could only retrace +the familiar route of the farm carts. It was a notable feat for a small +creature whose tufted legs were not more than six inches in length, +whose thatch of long hair almost swept the roadway and caught at every +burr and bramble, and who was still so young that his nose could not be +said to be educated. + +In the market-place he ran here and there through the crowd, hopefully +investigating narrow closes that were mere rifts in precipices of +buildings; nosing outside stairs, doorways, stables, bridge arches, +standing carts, and even hob-nailed boots. He yelped at the crash of the +gun, but it was another matter altogether that set his little heart to +palpitating with alarm. It was the dinner-hour, and where was Auld Jock? + +Ah! A happy thought: his master had gone to dinner! + +A human friend would have resented the idea of such base desertion +and sulked. But in a little dog's heart of trust there is no room for +suspicion. The thought simply lent wings to Bobby's tired feet. As +the market-place emptied he chased at the heels of laggards, up the +crescent-shaped rise of Candlemakers Row, and straight on to the +familiar dining-rooms. Through the forest of table and chair and human +legs he made his way to the back, to find a soldier from the Castle, in +smart red coat and polished boots, lounging in Auld Jock's inglenook. + +Bobby stood stock still for a shocked instant. Then he howled +dismally and bolted for the door. Mr. John Traill, the smooth-shaven, +hatchet-faced proprietor, standing midway in shirtsleeves and white +apron, caught the flying terrier between his legs and gave him a +friendly clap on the side. + +"Did you come by your ainsel' with a farthing in your silky-purse ear to +buy a bone, Bobby? Whaur's Auld Jock?" + +A fear may be crowded back into the mind and stoutly denied so long as +it is not named. At the good landlord's very natural question "Whaur's +Auld Jock?" there was the shape of the little dog's fear that he had +lost his master. With a whimpering cry he struggled free. Out of the +door he went, like a shot. He tumbled down the steep curve and doubled +on his tracks around the market-place. + +At his onslaught, the sparrows rose like brown leaves on a gust of wind, +and drifted down again. A cold mist veiled the Castle heights. From +the stone crown of the ancient Cathedral of St. Giles, on High Street, +floated the melody of "The Bluebells of Scotland." No day was too bleak +for bell-ringer McLeod to climb the shaking ladder in the windy tower +and play the music bells during the hour that Edinburgh dined. Bobby +forgot to dine that day, first in his distracted search, and then in his +joy of finding his master. + +For, all at once, in the very strangest place, in the very strangest +way, Bobby came upon Auld Jock. A rat scurrying out from a foul and +narrow passage that gave to the rear of the White Hart Inn, pointed the +little dog to a nook hitherto undiscovered by his curious nose. Hidden +away between the noisy tavern and the grim, island crag was the old +cock-fighting pit of a ruder day. There, in a broken-down carrier's +cart, abandoned among the nameless abominations of publichouse refuse, +Auld Jock lay huddled in his greatcoat of hodden gray and his shepherd's +plaid. On a bundle of clothing tied in a tartan kerchief for a pillow, +he lay very still and breathing heavily. + +Bobby barked as if he would burst his lungs. He barked so long, so loud, +and so furiously, running 'round and 'round the cart and under it and +yelping at every turn, that a slatternly scullery maid opened a door and +angrily bade him "no' to deave folk wi' 'is blatterin'." Auld Jock she +did not see at all in the murky pit or, if she saw him, thought him some +drunken foreign sailor from Leith harbor. When she went in, she slammed +the door and lighted the gas. + +Whether from some instinct of protection of his helpless master in that +foul and hostile place, or because barking had proved to be of no use +Bobby sat back on his haunches and considered this strange, disquieting +thing. It was not like Auld Jock to sleep in the daytime, or so soundly, +at any time, that barking would not awaken him. A clever and resourceful +dog, Bobby crouched back against the farthest wall, took a running leap +to the top of the low boots, dug his claws into the stout, home knitted +stockings, and scrambled up over Auld Jock's legs into the cart. In an +instant he poked his little black mop of a wet muzzle into his master's +face and barked once, sharply, in his ear. + +To Bobby's delight Auld Jock sat up and blinked his eyes. The old eyes +were brighter, the grizzled face redder than was natural, but such +matters were quite outside of the little dog's ken. It was a dazed +moment before the man remembered that Bobby should not be there. +He frowned down at the excited little creature, who was wagging +satisfaction from his nose-tip to the end of his crested tail, in a +puzzled effort to remember why. + +"Eh, Bobby!" His tone was one of vague reproof. "Nae doot ye're fair +satisfied wi' yer ainsel'." + +Bobby's feathered tail drooped, but it still quivered, all ready to wag +again at the slightest encouragement. Auld Jock stared at him stupidly, +his dizzy head in his hands. A very tired, very draggled little dog, +Bobby dropped beside his master, panting, subdued by the reproach, but +happy. His soft eyes, veiled by the silvery fringe that fell from his +high forehead, were deep brown pools of affection. Auld Jock forgot, by +and by, that Bobby should not be there, and felt only the comfort of his +companionship. + +"Weel, Bobby," he began again, uncertainly. And then, because his +Scotch peasant reticence had been quite broken down by Bobby's shameless +devotion, so that he told the little dog many things that he cannily +concealed from human kind, he confided the strange weakness and +dizziness in the head that had overtaken him: "Auld Jock is juist fair +silly the day, bonny wee laddie." + +Down came a shaking, hot old hand in a rough caress, and up a gallant +young tail to wave like a banner. All was right with the little dog's +world again. But it was plain, even to Bobby, that something had gone +wrong with Auld Jock. It was the man who wore the air of a culprit. A +Scotch laborer does not lightly confess to feeling "fair silly," nor +sleep away the busy hours of daylight. The old man was puzzled and +humiliated by this discreditable thing. A human friend would have +understood his plight, led the fevered man out of that bleak and fetid +cul-de-sac, tucked him into a warm bed, comforted him with a hot drink, +and then gone swiftly for skilled help. Bobby knew only that his master +had unusual need of love. + +Very, very early a dog learns that life is not as simple a matter to his +master as it is to himself. There are times when he reads trouble, that +he cannot help or understand, in the man's eye and voice. Then he +can only look his love and loyalty, wistfully, as if he felt his own +shortcoming in the matter of speech. And if the trouble is so great that +the master forgets to eat his dinner; forgets, also, the needs of his +faithful little friend, it is the dog's dear privilege to bear neglect +and hunger without complaint. Therefore, when Auld Jock lay down again +and sank, almost at once, into sodden sleep, Bobby snuggled in the +hollow of his master's arm and nuzzled his nose in his master's neck. + + + + +II. + +While the bells played "There Grows a Bonny Briarbush in Our Kale Yard," +Auld Jock and Bobby slept. They slept while the tavern emptied itself +of noisy guests and clattering crockery was washed at the dingy, +gas-lighted windows that overlooked the cockpit. They slept while the +cold fell with the falling day and the mist was whipped into driving +rain. Almost a cave, between shelving rock and house wall, a gust of +wind still found its way in now and then. At a splash of rain Auld Jock +stirred uneasily in his sleep. Bobby merely sniffed the freshened air +with pleasure and curled himself up for another nap. + +No rain could wet Bobby. Under his rough outer coat, that was parted +along the back as neatly as the thatch along a cottage ridge-pole, was +a dense, woolly fleece that defied wind and rain, snow and sleet to +penetrate. He could not know that nature had not been as generous in +protecting his master against the weather. Although of a subarctic +breed, fitted to live shelterless if need be, and to earn his living by +native wit, Bobby had the beauty, the grace, and the charming manners of +a lady's pet. In a litter of prick-eared, wire-haired puppies Bobby was +a "sport." + +It is said that some of the ships of the Spanish Armada, with French +poodles in the officers' cabins, were blown far north and west, and +broken up on the icy coasts of The Hebrides and Skye. Some such crossing +of his far-away ancestry, it would seem, had given a greater length +and a crisp wave to Bobby's outer coat, dropped and silkily fringed his +ears, and powdered his useful, slate-gray color with silver frost. But +he had the hardiness and intelligence of the sturdier breed, and the +instinct of devotion to the working master. So he had turned from a +soft-hearted bit lassie of a mistress, and the cozy chimney corner of +the farm-house kitchen, and linked his fortunes with this forlorn old +laborer. + +A grizzled, gnarled little man was Auld Jock, of tough fiber, but +worn out at last by fifty winters as a shepherd on the bleak hills +of Midlothian and Fife, and a dozen more in the low stables and +storm-buffeted garrets of Edinburgh. He had come into the world unnoted +in a shepherd's lonely cot. With little wit of mind or skill of hand he +had been a common tool, used by this master and that for the roughest +tasks, when needed, put aside, passed on, and dropped out of mind. +Nothing ever belonged to the man but his scant earnings. Wifeless, +cotless, bairnless, he had slept, since early boyhood, under strange +roofs, eaten the bread of the hireling, and sat dumb at other men's +firesides. If he had another name it had been forgotten. In youth he was +Jock; in age, Auld Jock. + +In his sixty-third summer there was a belated blooming in Auld Jock's +soul. Out of some miraculous caprice Bobby lavished on him a riotous +affection. Then up out of the man's subconscious memory came words +learned from the lips of a long-forgotten mother. They were words not +meant for little dogs at all, but for sweetheart, wife and bairn. Auld +Jock used them cautiously, fearing to be overheard, for the matter was +a subject of wonder and rough jest at the farm. He used them when Bobby +followed him at the plow-tail or scampered over the heather with him +behind the flocks. He used them on the market-day journeyings, and on +summer nights, when the sea wind came sweetly from the broad Firth and +the two slept, like vagabonds, on a haycock under the stars. The purest +pleasure Auld Jock ever knew was the taking of a bright farthing from +his pocket to pay for Bobby's delectable bone in Mr. Traill's place. + +Given what was due him that morning and dismissed for the season to +find such work as he could in the city, Auld Jock did not question the +farmer's right to take Bobby "back hame." Besides, what could he do with +the noisy little rascal in an Edinburgh lodging? But, duller of wit than +usual, feeling very old and lonely, and shaky on his legs, and dizzy in +his head, Auld Jock parted with Bobby and with his courage, together. +With the instinct of the dumb animal that suffers, he stumbled into +the foul nook and fell, almost at once, into a heavy sleep. Out of that +Bobby roused him but briefly. + +Long before his master awoke, Bobby finished his series of refreshing +little naps, sat up, yawned, stretched his short, shaggy legs, sniffed +at Auld Jock experimentally, and trotted around the bed of the cart on +a tour of investigation. This proving to be of small interest and no +profit, he lay down again beside his master, nose on paws, and waited +Auld Jock's pleasure patiently. A sweep of drenching rain brought the +old man suddenly to his feet and stumbling into the market place. The +alert little dog tumbled about him, barking ecstatically. The fever was +gone and Auld Jock's head quite clear; but in its place was a weakness, +an aching of the limbs, a weight on the chest, and a great shivering. + +Although the bell of St. Giles was just striking the hour of five, it +was already entirely dark. A lamp-lighter, with ladder and torch, was +setting a double line of gas jets to flaring along the lofty parapets +of the bridge. If the Grassmarket was a quarry pit by day, on a night +of storm it was the bottom of a reservoir. The height of the walls was +marked by a luminous crown from many lights above the Castle head, and +by a student's dim candle, here and there, at a garret window. The huge +bulk of the bridge cast a shadow, velvet black, across the eastern half +of the market. + +Had not Bobby gone before and barked, and run back, again and again, +and jumped up on Auld Jock's legs, the man might never have won his way +across the drowned place, in the inky blackness and against the slanted +blast of icy rain. When he gained the foot of Candlemakers Row, a +crescent of tall, old houses that curved upward around the lower end +of Greyfriars kirkyard, water poured upon him from the heavy timbered +gallery of the Cunzie Neuk, once the royal mint. The carting office that +occupied the street floor was closed, or Auld Jock would have sought +shelter there. He struggled up the rise, made slippery by rain and +grime. Then, as the street turned southward in its easy curve, there was +some shelter from the house walls. But Auld Jock was quite exhausted +and incapable of caring for himself. In the ancient guildhall of the +candlemakers, at the top of the Row, was another carting office and +Harrow Inn, a resort of country carriers. The man would have gone in +there where he was quite unknown or, indeed, he might even have lain +down in the bleak court that gave access to the tenements above, but for +Bobby's persistent and cheerful barking, begging and nipping. + +"Maister, maister!" he said, as plainly as a little dog could speak, +"dinna bide here. It's juist a stap or two to food an' fire in' the cozy +auld ingleneuk." + +And then, the level roadway won at last, there was the railing of the +bridge-approach to cling to, on the one hand, and the upright bars of +the kirkyard gate on the other. By the help of these and the urging of +wee Bobby, Auld Jock came the short, steep way up out of the market, to +the row of lighted shops in Greyfriars Place. + +With the wind at the back and above the housetops, Mr. Traill stood +bare-headed in a dry haven of peace in his doorway, firelight behind +him, and welcome in his shrewd gray eyes. If Auld Jock had shown any +intention of going by, it is not impossible that the landlord of Ye Olde +Greyfriars Dining-Rooms might have dragged him in bodily. The storm had +driven all his customers home. For an hour there had not been a soul in +the place to speak to, and it was so entirely necessary for John Traill +to hear his own voice that he had been known, in such straits, to talk +to himself. Auld Jock was not an inspiring auditor, but a deal better +than naething; and, if he proved hopeless, entertainment was to be found +in Bobby. So Mr. Traill bustled in before his guests, poked the open +fire into leaping flames, and heaped it up skillfully at the back with +fresh coals. The good landlord turned from his hospitable task to find +Auld Jock streaming and shaking on the hearth. + +"Man, but you're wet!" he exclaimed. He hustled the old shepherd out of +his dripping plaid and greatcoat and spread them to the blaze. Auld Jock +found a dry, knitted Tam-o'-Shanter bonnet in his little bundle and set +it on his head. It was a moment or two before he could speak without the +humiliating betrayal of chattering teeth. + +"Ay, it's a misty nicht," he admitted, with caution. + +"Misty! Man, it's raining like all the seven deils were abroad." Having +delivered himself of this violent opinion, Mr. Traill fell into his +usual philosophic vein. "I have sma' patience with the Scotch way of +making little of everything. If Noah had been a Lowland Scot he'd 'a' +said the deluge was juist fair wet."' + +He laughed at his own wit, his thin-featured face and keen gray eyes +lighting up to a kindliness that his brusque speech denied in vain. +He had a fluency of good English at command that he would have thought +ostentatious to use in speaking with a simple country body. + +Auld Jock stared at Mr. Traill and pondered the matter. By and by he +asked: "Wasna the deluge fair wet?" + +The landlord sighed but, brought to book like that, admitted that +it was. Conversation flagged, however, while he busied himself with +toasting a smoked herring, and dragging roasted potatoes from the little +iron oven that was fitted into the brickwork of the fireplace beside the +grate. + +Bobby was attending to his own entertainment. The familiar place wore a +new and enchanting aspect, and needed instant exploration. By day it was +fitted with tables, picketed by chairs and all manner of boots. Noisy +and crowded, a little dog that wandered about there was liable to be +trodden upon. On that night of storm it was a vast, bright place, so +silent one could hear the ticking of the wag-at-the-wa' clock, the crisp +crackling of the flames, and the snapping of the coals. The uncovered +deal tables were set back in a double line along one wall, with the +chairs piled on top, leaving a wide passage of freshly scrubbed and +sanded oaken floor from the door to the fireplace. Firelight danced on +the dark old wainscoting and high, carved overmantel, winked on rows of +drinking mugs and metal covers over cold meats on the buffet, and even +picked out the gilt titles on the backs of a shelf of books in Mr. +Traill's private corner behind the bar. + +Bobby shook himself on the hearth to free his rain-coat of surplus +water. To the landlord's dry "We're no' needing a shower in the house. +Lie down, Bobby," he wagged his tail politely, as a sign that he heard. +But, as Auld Jock did not repeat the order, he ignored it and scampered +busily about the room, leaving little trails of wet behind him. + +This grill-room of Traill's place was more like the parlor of a country +inn, or a farm-house kitchen if there had been a built-in bed or two, +than a restaurant in the city. There, a humble man might see his herring +toasted, his bannocks baked on the oven-top, or his tea brewed to his +liking. On such a night as this the landlord would pull the settle out +of the inglenook to the hearth, set before the solitary guest a small table, +and keep the kettle on the hob. + +"Spread yoursel' on both sides o' the fire, man. There'll be nane to +keep us company, I'm thinking. Ilka man that has a roof o' his ain will +be wearing it for a bonnet the nicht." + +As there was no answer to this, the skilled conversational angler +dropped a bit of bait that the wariest man must rise to. + +"That's a vera intelligent bit dog, Auld Jock. He was here with the +time-gun spiering for you. When he didna find you he greeted like a +bairn." + +Auld Jock, huddled in the corner of the settle, so near the fire that +his jacket smoked, took so long a time to find an answer that Mr. Traill +looked at him keenly as he set the wooden plate and pewter mug on the +table. + +"Man, you're vera ill," he cried, sharply. In truth he was shocked and +self-accusing because he had not observed Auld Jock's condition before. + +"I'm no' so awfu' ill," came back in irritated denial, as if he had been +accused of some misbehavior. + +"Weel, it's no' a dry herrin' ye'll hae in my shop the nicht. It's a hot +mutton broo wi' porridge in it, an' bits o' meat to tak' the cauld oot +o' yer auld banes." + +And there, the plate was whisked away, and the cover lifted from a +bubbling pot, and the kettle was over the fire for the brewing of tea. +At a peremptory order the soaked boots and stockings were off, and dry +socks found in the kerchief bundle. Auld Jock was used to taking orders +from his superiors, and offered no resistance to being hustled after +this manner into warmth and good cheer. Besides, who could have +withstood that flood of homely speech on which the good landlord came +right down to the old shepherd's humble level? Such warm feeling was +established that Mr. Traill quite forgot his usual caution and certain +well-known prejudices of old country bodies. + +"Noo," he said cheerfully, as he set the hot broth on the table, "ye +maun juist hae a doctor." + +A doctor is the last resort of the unlettered poor. The very threat of +one to the Scotch peasant of a half-century ago was a sentence of death. +Auld Jock blanched, and he shook so that he dropped his spoon. Mr. +Traill hastened to undo the mischief. + +"It's no' a doctor ye'll be needing, ava, but a bit dose o' physic an' a +bed in the infirmary a day or twa." + +"I wullna gang to the infairmary. It's juist for puir toon bodies that +are aye ailin' an' deein'." Fright and resentment lent the silent old +man an astonishing eloquence for the moment. "Ye wadna gang to the +infairmary yer ainsel', an' tak' charity." + +"Would I no'? I would go if I so much as cut my sma' finger; and I would +let a student laddie bind it up for me." + +"Weel, ye're a saft ane," said Auld Jock. + +It was a terrible word--"saft!" John Traill flushed darkly, and relapsed +into discouraged silence. Deep down in his heart he knew that a regiment +of soldiers from the Castle could not take him alive, a free patient, +into the infirmary. + +But what was one to do but "lee," right heartily, for the good of this +very sick, very poor, homeless old man on a night of pitiless storm? +That he had "lee'd" to no purpose and got a "saft" name for it was a +blow to his pride. + +Hearing the clatter of fork and spoon, Bobby trotted from behind the bar +and saved the day of discomfiture. Time for dinner, indeed! Up he came +on his hind legs and politely begged his master for food. It was the +prettiest thing he could do, and the landlord delighted in him. + +"Gie 'im a penny plate o' the gude broo," said Auld Jock, and he took +the copper coin from his pocket to pay for it. He forgot his own meal +in watching the hungry little creature eat. Warmed and softened by Mr. +Traill's kindness, and by the heartening food, Auld Jock betrayed a +thought that had rankled in the depths of his mind all day. + +"Bobby isna ma ain dog." His voice was dull and unhappy. + +Ah, here was misery deeper than any physical ill! The penny was his, a +senseless thing; but, poor, old, sick, hameless and kinless, the little +dog that loved and followed him "wasna his ain." To hide the huskiness +in his own voice Mr. Traill relapsed into broad, burry Scotch. + +"Dinna fash yersel', man. The wee beastie is maist michty fond o' ye, +an' ilka dog aye chooses 'is ain maister." + +Auld Jock shook his head and gave a brief account of Bobby's perversity. +On the very next market-day the little dog must be restored to the +tenant of Cauldbrae farm and, if necessary, tied in the cart. It was +unlikely, young as he was, that he would try to find his way back, all +the way from near the top of the Pentlands. In a day or two he would +forget Auld Jock. + +"I canna say it wullna be sair partin'--" And then, seeing the sympathy +in the landlord's eye and fearing a disgraceful breakdown, Auld Jock +checked his self betrayal. During the talk Bobby stood listening. At the +abrupt ending, he put his shagged paws up on Auld Jock's knee, wistfully +inquiring about this emotional matter. Then he dropped soberly, and +slunk away under his master's chair. + +"Ay, he kens we're talkin' aboot 'im." + +"He's a knowing bit dog. Have you attended to his sairous education, +man?" + +"Nae, he's ower young." + +"Young is aye the time to teach a dog or a bairn that life is no' all +play. Man, you should put a sma' terrier at the vermin an' mak' him +usefu'." + +"It's eneugh, gin he's gude company for the wee lassie wha's fair fond +o' 'im," Auld Jock answered, briefly. This was a strange sentiment from +the work-broken old man who, for himself, would have held ornamental +idleness sinful. He finished his supper in brooding silence. At last he +broke out in a peevish irritation that only made his grief at parting +with Bobby more apparent to an understanding man like Mr. Traill. + +"I dinna ken what to do wi' 'im i' an Edinburgh lodgin' the nicht. +The auld wifie I lodge wi' is dour by the ordinar', an' wadna bide 'is +blatterin'. I couldna get 'im past 'er auld een, an' thae terriers are +aye barkin' aboot naethin' ava." + +Mr. Traill's eyes sparkled at recollection of an apt literary story +to which Dr. John Brown had given currency. Like many Edinburgh +shopkeepers, Mr. Traill was a man of superior education and an +omnivorous reader. And he had many customers from the near-by University +to give him a fund of stories of Scotch writers and other worthies. + +"You have a double plaid, man?" + +"Ay. Ilka shepherd's got a twa-fold plaidie." It seemed a foolish +question to Auld Jock, but Mr. Traill went on blithely. + +"There's a pocket in the plaid--ane end left open at the side to mak' a +pouch? Nae doubt you've carried mony a thing in that pouch?" + +"Nae, no' so mony. Juist the new-born lambs." + +"Weel, Sir Walter had a shepherd's plaid, and there was a bit lassie he +was vera fond of Syne, when he had been at the writing a' the day, and +was aff his heid like, with too mony thoughts, he'd go across the town +and fetch the bairnie to keep him company. She was a weel-born lassie, +sax or seven years auld, and sma' of her age, but no' half as sma' as +Bobby, I'm thinking." He stopped to let this significant comparison sink +into Auld Jock's mind. "The lassie had nae liking for the unmannerly +wind and snaw of Edinburgh. So Sir Walter just happed her in the pouch +of his plaid, and tumbled her out, snug as a lamb and nane the wiser, in +the big room wha's walls were lined with books." + +Auld Jock betrayed not a glimmer of intelligence as to the personal +bearing of the story, but he showed polite interest. "I ken naethin' +aboot Sir Walter or ony o' the grand folk." Mr. Traill sighed, cleared +the table in silence, and mended the fire. It was ill having no one to +talk to but a simple old body who couldn't put two and two together and +make four. + +The landlord lighted his pipe meditatively, and he lighted his cruisey +lamp for reading. Auld Jock was dry and warm again; oh, very, very warm, +so that he presently fell into a doze. The dining-room was so compassed +on all sides but the front by neighboring house and kirkyard wall and by +the floors above, that only a murmur of the storm penetrated it. It was +so quiet, indeed, that a tiny, scratching sound in a distant corner was +heard distinctly. A streak of dark silver, as of animated mercury, Bobby +flashed past. A scuffle, a squeak, and he was back again, dropping a big +rat at the landlord's feet and, wagging his tail with pride. + +"Weel done, Bobby! There's a bite and a bone for you here ony time +o' day you call for it. Ay, a sensible bit dog will attend to his ain +education and mak' himsel' usefu'." + +Mr. Traill felt a sudden access of warm liking for the attractive little +scrap of knowingness and pluck. He patted the tousled head, but Bobby +backed away. He had no mind to be caressed by any man beside his +master. After a moment the landlord took "Guy Mannering" down from the +book-shelf. Knowing his "Waverley" by heart, he turned at once to the +passages about Dandie Dinmont and his terriers--Mustard and Pepper and +other spicy wee rascals. + +"Ay, terriers are sonsie, leal dogs. Auld Jock will have ane true +mourner at his funeral. I would no' mind if--" + +On impulse he got up and dropped a couple of hard Scotch buns, very good +dog-biscuit, indeed, into the pocket of Auld Jock's greatcoat for Bobby. +The old man might not be able to be out the morn. With the thought in +his mind that some one should keep a friendly eye on the man, he mended +the fire with such an unnecessary clattering of the tongs that Auld Jock +started from his sleep with a cry. + +"Whaur is it you have your lodging, Jock?" the landlord asked, sharply, +for the man looked so dazed that his understanding was not to be reached +easily. He got the indefinite information that it was at the top of one +of the tall, old tenements "juist aff the Coogate." + +"A lang climb for an auld man," John Traill said, compassionately; then, +optimistic as usual, "but it's a lang climb or a foul smell, in the poor +quarters of Edinburgh." + +"Ay. It's weel aboon the fou' smell." With some comforting thought that +he did not confide to Mr. Traill but that ironed lines out of his old +face, Auld Jock went to sleep again. Well, the landlord reflected, he +could remain there by the fire until the closing hour or later, if need +be, and by that time the storm might ease a bit, so that he could get to +his lodging without another wetting. + +For an hour the place was silent, except for the falling clinkers from +the grate, the rustling of book-leaves, and the plumping of rain on the +windows, when the wind shifted a point. Lost in the romance, Mr. Traill +took no note of the passing time or of his quiet guests until he felt a +little tug at his trouser-leg. + +"Eh, laddie?" he questioned. Up the little dog rose in the begging +attitude. Then, with a sharp bark, he dashed back to his master. + +Something was very wrong, indeed. Auld Jock had sunk down in his seat. +His arms hung helplessly over the end and back of the settle, and his +legs were sprawled limply before him. The bonnet that he always wore, +outdoors and in, had fallen from his scant, gray locks, and his head had +dropped forward on his chest. His breathing was labored, and he muttered +in his sleep. + +In a moment Mr. Traill was inside his own greatcoat, storm boots and +bonnet. At the door he turned back. The shop was unguarded. Although +Greyfriars Place lay on the hilltop, with the sanctuary of the kirkyard +behind it, and the University at no great distance in front, it was but +a step up from the thief-infested gorge of the Cowgate. The landlord +locked his moneydrawer, pushed his easy-chair against it, and roused +Auld Jock so far as to move him over from the settle. The chief +responsibility he laid on the anxious little dog, that watched his every +movement. + +"Lie down, Bobby, and mind Auld Jock. And you're no' a gude dog if you +canna bark to waken the dead in the kirkyard, if ony strange body comes +about." + +"Whaur are ye gangin'?" cried Auld Jock. He was wide awake, with +burning, suspicious eyes fixed on his host. + +"Sit you down, man, with your back to my siller. I'm going for a +doctor." The noise of the storm, as he opened the door, prevented his +hearing the frightened protest: + +"Dinna ging!" + +The rain had turned to sleet, and Mr. Traill had trouble in keeping his +feet. He looked first into the famous Book Hunter's Stall next door, on +the chance of finding a medical student. The place was open, but it had +no customers. He went on to the bridge, but there the sheriff's court, +the Martyr's church, the society halls and all the smart shops were +closed, their dark fronts lighted fitfully by flaring gas-lamps. The +bitter night had driven all Edinburgh to private cover. + +From the rear came a clear whistle. Some Heriot laddie who, being not +entirely a "puir orphan," but only "faderless" and, therefore, living +outside the school with his mother, had been kept after nightfall +because of ill-prepared lessons or misbehavior. Mr. Traill turned, +passed his own door, and went on southward into Forest Road, that +skirted the long arm of the kirkyard. + +From the Burghmuir, all the way to the Grassmarket and the Cowgate, was +downhill. So, with arms winged, and stout legs spread wide and braced, +Geordie Ross was sliding gaily homeward, his knitted tippet a gallant +pennant behind. Here was a Mercury for an urgent errand. + +"Laddie, do you know whaur's a doctor who can be had for a shulling or +two for a poor auld country body in my shop?" + +"Is he so awfu' ill?" Geordie asked with the morbid curiosity of lusty +boyhood. + +"He's a' that. He's aff his heid. Run, laddie, and dinna be standing +there wagging your fule tongue for naething." + +Geordie was off with speed across the bridge to High Street. Mr. Traill +struggled back to his shop, against wind and treacherous ice, thinking +what kind of a bed might be contrived for the sick man for the night. In +the morning the daft auld body could be hurried, willy-nilly, to a bed +in the infirmary. As for wee Bobby he wouldn't mind if-- + +And there he ran into his own wide-flung door. A gale blew through the +hastily deserted place. Ashes were scattered about the hearth, and the +cruisey lamp flared in the gusts. Auld Jock and Bobby were gone. + + + + +III. + +Although dismayed and self-accusing for having frightened Auld Jock into +taking flight by his incautious talk of a doctor, not for an instant did +the landlord of Greyfriars Dining-Rooms entertain the idea of following +him. The old man had only to cross the street and drop down the incline +between the bridge approach and the ancient Chapel of St. Magdalen to +be lost in the deepest, most densely peopled, and blackest gorge in +Christendom. + +Well knowing that he was safe from pursuit, Auld Jock chuckled as he +gained the last low level. Fever lent him a brief strength, and the cold +damp was grateful to his hot skin. None were abroad in the Cowgate; and +that was lucky for, in this black hole of Edinburgh, even so old and +poor a man was liable to be set upon by thieves, on the chance of a few +shillings or pence. + +Used as he was to following flocks up treacherous braes and through +drifted glens, and surefooted as a collie, Auld Jock had to pick his way +carefully over the slimy, ice-glazed cobble stones of the Cowgate. He +could see nothing. The scattered gas-lamps, blurred by the wet, only +made a timbered gallery or stone stairs stand out here and there or +lighted up a Gothic gargoyle to a fantastic grin. The street lay so deep +and narrow that sleet and wind wasted little time in finding it out, +but roared and rattled among the gables, dormers and chimney-stacks +overhead. Happy in finding his master himself again, and sniffing fresh +adventure, Bobby tumbled noisily about Auld Jock's feet until reproved. +And here was strange going. Ancient and warring smells confused and +insulted the little country dog's nose. After a few inquiring and +protesting barks Bobby fell into a subdued trot at Auld Jock's heels. + +To this shepherd in exile the romance of Old Edinburgh was a sealed +book. It was, indeed, difficult for the most imaginative to believe +that the Cowgate was once a lovely, wooded ravine, with a rustic burn +babbling over pebbles at its bottom, and along the brook a straggling +path worn smooth by cattle on their driven way to the Grassmarket. Then, +when the Scottish nobility was crowded out of the piled-up mansions, on +the sloping ridge of High Street that ran the mile from the Castle to +Holyrood Palace, splendor camped in the Cowgate, in villas set in fair +gardens, and separated by hedge-rows in which birds nested. + +In time this ravine, too, became overbuilt. Houses tumbled down both +slopes to the winding cattle path, and the burn was arched over to make +a thoroughfare. Laterally, the buildings were crowded together, until +the upper floors were pushed out on timber brackets for light and air. +Galleries, stairs and jutting windows were added to outer walls, and the +mansions climbed, story above story, until the Cowgate was an undercut +canon, such as is worn through rock by the rivers of western America. +Lairds and leddies, powdered, jeweled and satin-shod, were borne in +sedan chairs down ten flights of stone stairs and through torch-lit +courts and tunnel streets, to routs in Castle or Palace and to tourneys +in the Grassmarket. + +From its low situation the Cowgate came in the course of time to smell +to heaven, and out of it was a sudden exodus of grand folk to the +northern hills. The lowest level was given over at once to the poor and +to small trade. The wynds and closes that climbed the southern slope +were eagerly possessed by divines, lawyers and literary men because of +their nearness to the University. Long before Bobby's day the well-to-do +had fled from the Cowgate wynds to the hilltop streets and open squares +about the colleges. A few decent working-men remained in the decaying +houses, some of which were at least three centuries old. But there +swarmed in upon, and submerged them, thousands of criminals, beggars, +and the miserably poor and degraded of many nationalities. Businesses +that fatten on misfortune--the saloon, pawn, old clothes and cheap food +shops-lined the squalid Cowgate. Palaces were cut up into honeycombs of +tall tenements. Every stair was a crowded highway; every passage a +place of deposit for filth; almost every room sheltered a half famished +family, in darkness and ancient dirt. Grand and great, pious and wise, +decent, wretched and terrible folk, of every sort, had preceded Auld +Jock to his lodging in a steep and narrow wynd, and nine gusty flights +up under a beautiful, old Gothic gable. + +A wrought-iron lantern hanging in an arched opening, lighted the +entrance to the wynd. With a hand outstretched to either wall, Auld Jock +felt his way up. Another lantern marked a sculptured doorway that gave +to the foul court of the tenement. No sky could be seen above the open +well of the court, and the carved, oaken banister of the stairs had +to be felt for and clung to by one so short of breath. On the seventh +landing, from the exertion of the long climb, Auld Jock was shaken +into helplessness, and his heart set to pounding, by a violent fit of +coughing. Overhead a shutter was slammed back, and an angry voice bade +him stop "deaving folk." + +The last two flights ascended within the walls. The old man stumbled +into the pitch-black, stifling passage and sat down on the lowest step +to rest. On the landing above he must encounter the auld wifie of a +landlady, rousing her, it might be, and none too good-tempered, from +sleep. Unaware that he added to his master's difficulties, Bobby leaped +upon him and licked the beloved face that he could not see. + +"Eh, laddie, I dinna ken what to do wi' ye. We maun juist hae to sleep +oot." It did not occur to Auld Jock that he could abandon the little +dog. And then there drifted across his memory a bit of Mr. Traill's talk +that, at the time, had seemed to no purpose: "Sir Walter happed the +wee lassie in the pocket of his plaid--" He slapped his knee in silent +triumph. In the dark he found the broad, open end of the plaid, and the +rough, excited head of the little dog. + +"A hap, an' a stap, an' a loup, an' in ye gang. Loup in, laddie." + +Bobby jumped into the pocket and turned 'round and 'round. His little +muzzle opened for a delighted bark at this original play, but Auld Jock +checked him. + +"Cuddle doon noo, an' lie canny as pussy." With a deft turn he brought +the weighted end of the plaid up under his arm so there would be no +betraying drag. "We'll pu' the wool ower the auld wifie's een," he +chuckled. + +He mounted the stairs almost blithely, and knocked on one of the three +narrow doors that opened on the two-by-eight landing. It was opened a +few inches, on a chain, and a sordid old face, framed in straggling +gray locks and a dirty mutch cap, peered suspiciously at him through the +crevice. + +Auld Jock had his money in hand--a shilling and a sixpence--to pay for a +week's lodging. He had slept in this place for several winters, and the +old woman knew him well, but she held his coins to the candle and bit +them with her teeth to test them. Without a word of greeting she shoved +the key to the sleeping-closet he had always fancied, through the crack +in the door, and pointed to a jug of water at the foot of the attic +stairs. On the proffer of a halfpenny she gave him a tallow candle, +lighted it at her own and fitted it into the neck of a beer bottle. + +"Ye hae a cauld." she said at last, with some hostility. "Gin ye wauken +yer neebors yell juist hae to fecht it oot wi' 'em." + +"Ay, I ken a' that," Auld Jock answered. He smothered a cough in his +chest with such effort that it threw him into a perspiration. In some +way, with the jug of water and the lighted candle in his hands and the +hidden terrier under one arm, the old man mounted the eighteen-inch +wide, walled-in attic stairs and unlocked the first of a number of +narrow doors on the passage at the top. + +"Weel aboon the fou' smell," indeed; "weel worth the lang climb!" Around +the loose frames of two wee southward-looking dormer windows, that +jutted from the slope of the gable, came a gush of rain-washed air. Auld +Jock tumbled Bobby, warm and happy and "nane the wiser," out into the +cold cell of a room that was oh, so very, very different from the high, +warm, richly colored library of Sir Walter! This garret closet in the +slums of Edinburgh was all of cut stone, except for the worn, oaken +floor, a flimsy, modern door, and a thin, board partition on one side +through which a "neebor" could be heard snoring. Filling all of the +outer wall between the peephole, leaded windows and running-up to the +slope of the ceiling, was a great fireplace of native white freestone, +carved into fluted columns, foliated capitals, and a flat pediment of +purest classic lines. The ballroom of a noble of Queen Mary's day +had been cut up into numerous small sleeping closets, many of them +windowless, and were let to the chance lodger at threepence the night. +Here, where generations of dancing toes had been warmed, the chimney +vent was bricked up, and a boxed-in shelf fitted, to serve for a bed, +a seat and a table, for such as had neither time nor heart for dancing. +For the romantic history and the beauty of it, Auld Jock had no mind at +all. But, ah! he had other joy often missed by the more fortunate. + +"Be canny, Bobby," he cautioned again. + +The sagacious little dog understood, and pattered about the place +silently. Exhausting it in a moment, and very plainly puzzled and bored, +he sat on his haunches, yawned wide, and looked up inquiringly to his +master. Auld Jock set the jug and the candle on the floor and slipped +off his boots. He had no wish to "wauken 'is neebors." With nervous +haste he threw back one of the windows on its hinges, reached across +the wide stone ledge and brought in-wonder of wonders, in such a place a +tiny earthen pot of heather! + +"Is it no' a bonny posie?" he whispered to Bobby. With this cherished +bit of the country that he had left behind him the April before in his +hands, he sat down in the fireplace bed and lifted Bobby beside him. +He sniffed at the red tuft of purple bloom fondly, and his old face +blossomed into smiles. It was the secret thought of this, and of the +hillward outlook from the little windows, that had ironed the lines +from his face in Mr. Traill's dining-room. Bobby sniffed at the starved +plant, too, and wagged his tail with pleasure, for a dog's keenest +memories are recorded by the nose. + +Overhead, loose tiles and finials rattled in the wind, that was dying +away in fitful gusts; but Auld Jock heard nothing. In fancy he was away +on the braes, in the shy sun and wild wet of April weather. Shepherds +were shouting, sheepdogs barking, ewes bleating, and a wee puppy, still +unnamed, scampering at his heels in the swift, dramatic days of lambing +time. And so, presently, when the forlorn hope of the little pot had +been restored to the ledge, master and dog were in tune with the open +country, and began a romp such as they often had indulged in behind the +byre on a quiet, Sabbath afternoon. + +They had learned to play there like two well-brought-up children, in +pantomime, so as not to scandalize pious countryfolk. Now, in obedience +to a gesture, a nod, a lifted eyebrow, Bobby went through all his pretty +tricks, and showed how far his serious education had progressed.. He +rolled over and over, begged, vaulted the low hurdle of his master's +arm, and played "deid." He scampered madly over imaginary pastures; +ran, straight as a string, along a stone wall; scrambled under a thorny +hedge; chased rabbits, and dug foxes out of holes; swam a burn, flushed +feeding curlews, and "froze" beside a rat-hole. When the excitement was +at its height and the little dog was bursting with exuberance, Auld +Jock forgot his caution. Holding his bonnet just out of reach, he cried +aloud: + +"Loup, Bobby!" + +Bobby jumped for the bonnet, missed it, jumped again and barked-the +high-pitched, penetrating yelp of the terrier. + +Instantly their little house of joy tumbled about their ears. There was +a pounding on the thin partition wall, an oath and a shout "Whaur's +the deil o' a dog?" Bobby flew at the insulting clamor, but Auld Jock +dragged him back roughly. In a voice made harsh by fear for his little +pet, he commanded: + +"Haud yer gab or they'll hae ye oot." + +Bobby dropped like a shot, cringing at Auld Jock's feet. The most +sensitive of four-footed creatures in the world, the Skye terrier is +utterly abased by a rebuke from his master. The whole garret was soon in +an uproar of vile accusation and shrill denial that spread from cell to +cell. + +Auld Jock glowered down at Bobby with frightened eyes. In the winters he +had lodged there he had lived unmolested only because he had managed to +escape notice. Timid old country body that he was, he could not "fecht +it oot" with the thieves and beggars and drunkards of the Cowgate. By +and by the brawling died down. In the double row of little dens this one +alone was silent, and the offending dog was not located. + +But when the danger was past, Auld Jock's heart was pounding in his +chest. His legs gave way under him, when he got up to fetch the candle +from near the door and set it on a projecting brick in the fireplace. +By its light he began to read in a small pocket Bible the Psalm that had +always fascinated him because he had never been able to understand it. + +"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." + +So far it was plain and comforting. "He maketh me to lie down in green +pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters." + +Nae, the pastures were brown, or purple and yellow with heather and +gorse. Rocks cropped out everywhere, and the peaty tarps were mostly +bleak and frozen. The broad Firth was ever ebbing and flowing with the +restless sea, and the burns bickering down the glens. The minister of +the little hill kirk had said once that in England the pastures were +green and the lakes still and bright; but that was a fey, foreign +country to which Auld Jock had no desire to go. He wondered, wistfully, +if he would feel at home in God's heaven, and if there would be room +in that lush silence for a noisy little dog, as there was on the rough +Pentland braes. And there his thoughts came back to this cold prison +cell in which he could not defend the right of his one faithful little +friend to live. He stooped and lifted Bobby into the bed. Humble, and +eager to be forgiven for an offense he could not understand, the +loving little creature leaped to Auld Jock's arms and lavished frantic +endearments upon him. + +Lying so together in the dark, man and dog fell into a sleep that was +broken by Auld Jock's fitful coughing and the abuse of his neighbors. +It was not until the wind had long died to a muffled murmur at the +casements, and every other lodger was out, that Auld Jock slept soundly. +He awoke late to find Bobby waiting patiently on the floor and the +bare cell flooded with white glory. That could mean but one thing. He +stumbled dizzily to his feet and threw a sash aback. Over the huddle of +high housetops, the University towers and the scattered suburbs beyond, +he looked away to the snow-clad slopes of the Pentlands, running up to +heaven and shining under the pale winter sunshine. + +"The snaw! Eh, Bobby, but it's a bonny sicht to auld een!" he cried, +with the simple delight of a child. He stooped to lift Bobby to the +wonder of it, when the world suddenly went black and roaring around in +his head. Staggering back he crumpled up in a pitiful heap on the floor. + +Bobby licked his master's face and hands, and then sat quietly down +beside him. So many strange, uncanny things had happened within the +last twenty-four hours that the little dog was rapidly outgrowing his +irresponsible puppyhood. After a long time Auld Jock opened his eyes and +sat up. Bobby put his paws on his master's knees in anxious sympathy. +Before the man had got his wits about him the time-gun boomed from the +Castle. Panic-stricken that he should have slept in his bed so late, and +then lain senseless on the floor for he knew not how long, Auld Jock got +up and struggled into his greatcoat, bonnet and plaid. In feeling for +his woolen mittens he discovered the buns that Mr. Trail had dropped +into his pocket for Bobby. + +The old man stared and stared at them in piteous dismay. Mr. Traill had +believed him to be so ill that he "wouldna be oot the morn." It was a +staggering thought. + +The bells of St. Giles broke into "Over the Hills and Far Away." The +melody came to Auld Jock clearly, unbroken by echoes, for the garret was +on a level with the cathedral's crown on High Street. It brought to him +again a vision of the Midlothian slopes, but it reminded Bobby that it +was dinner-time. He told Auld Jock so by running to the door and back +and begging him, by every pretty wile at his command, to go. The old man +got to his feet and then fell back, pale and shaken, his heart hammering +again. Bobby ate the bun soberly and then sat up against Auld Jock's +feet, that dangled helplessly from the bed. The bells died away from +the man's ears before they had ceased playing. Both the church and the +University bells struck the hour of two then three then four. Daylight +had begun to fail when Auld Jock stirred, sat up, and did a strange +thing: taking from his pocket a leather bag-purse that was closed by a +draw-string, he counted the few crowns and shillings in it and the many +smaller silver and copper coins. + +"There's eneugh," he said. There was enough, by careful spending, to pay +for food and lodging for a few weeks, to save himself from the charity +of the infirmary. By this act he admitted the humiliating and fearful +fact that he was very ill. The precious little hoard must be hidden from +the chance prowler. He looked for a loose brick in the fireplace, but +before he found one, he forgot all about it, and absent-mindedly heaped +the coins in a little pile on the open Bible at the back of the bed. + +For a long time Auld Jock sat there with his head in his hands before +he again slipped back to his pillow. Darkness stole into the quiet room. +The lodgers returned to their dens one after one, tramping or slipping +or hobbling up the stairs and along the passage. Bobby bristled and +froze, on guard, when a stealthy hand tried the latch. Then there +were sounds of fighting, of crying women, and the long, low wailing +of-wretched children. The evening drum and bugle were heard from the +Castle, and hour after hour was struck from the clock of St. Giles while +Bobby watched beside his master. + +All night Auld Jock was "aff 'is heid." When he muttered in his sleep or +cried out in the delirium of fever, the little dog put his paws upon the +bed-rail. He scratched on it and begged to be lifted to where he could +comfort his master, for the shelf was set too high for him to climb into +the bed. Unable to get his master's attention, he licked the hot hand +that hung over the side. Auld Jock lay still at last, not coughing any +more, but breathing rapid, shallow breaths. Just at dawn he turned his +head and gazed in bewilderment at the alert and troubled little creature +that was instantly upon the rail. After a long time he recognized the +dog and patted the shaggy little head. Feeling around the bed, he found +the other bun and dropped it on the floor. Presently he said, between +strangled breaths: + +"Puir--Bobby! Gang--awa'--hame--laddie." + +After that it was suddenly very still in the brightening room. Bobby +gazed and gazed at his master--one long, heartbroken look, then dropped +to all fours and stood trembling. Without another look he stretched +himself upon the hearthstone below the bed. + +Morning and evening footsteps went down and came up on the stairs. +Throughout the day--the babel of crowded tenement strife; the crying of +fishwives and fagot-venders in the court; the striking of the hours; the +boom of the time gun and sweet clamor of music bells; the failing of the +light and the soaring note of the bugle--he watched motionless beside +his master. + +Very late at night shuffling footsteps came up the stairs. The "auld +wifie" kept a sharp eye on the comings and goings of her lodgers. It was +"no' canny" that this old man, with a cauld in his chest, had gone up +full two days before and had not come down again. To bitter complaints +of his coughing and of his strange talking to himself she gave scant +attention, but foul play was done often enough in these dens to make +her uneasy. She had no desire to have the Burgh police coming about +and interfering with her business. She knocked sharply on the door and +called: + +"Auld Jock!" + +Bobby trotted over to the door and stood looking at it. In such a strait +he would naturally have welcomed the visitor, scratching on the panel, +and crying to any human body without to come in and see what had +befallen his master. But Auld Jock had bade him "haud 'is gab" there, +as in Greyfriars kirkyard. So he held to loyal silence, although the +knocking and shaking of the latch was insistent and the lodgers were +astir. The voice of the old woman was shrill with alarm. + +"Auld Jock, can ye no' wauken?" And, after a moment, in which the +unlatched casement window within could be heard creaking on its hinges +in the chill breeze, there was a hushed and frightened question: + +"Are ye deid?" + +The footsteps fled down the stairs, and Bobby was left to watch through +the long hours of darkness. + +Very early in the morning the flimsy door was quietly forced by +authority. The first man who entered--an officer of the Crown from the +sheriff's court on the bridge--took off his hat to the majesty that +dominated that bare cell. The Cowgate region presented many a startling +contrast, but such a one as this must seldom have been seen. The classic +fireplace, and the motionless figure and peaceful face of the pious old +shepherd within it, had the dignity and beauty of some monumental tomb +and carved effigy in old Greyfriars kirkyard. Only less strange was the +contrast between the marks of poverty and toil on the dead man and the +dainty grace of the little fluff of a dog that mourned him. + +No such men as these--officers of her Majesty the Queen, Burgh +policemen, and learned doctors from the Royal Infirmary--had ever been +aware of Auld Jock, living. Dead, and no' needing them any more, they +stood guard over him, and inquired sternly as to the manner in which +he had died. There was a hysterical breath of relief from the crowd +of lodgers and tenants when the little pile of coins was found on the +Bible. There had been no foul play. Auld Jock had died of heart failure, +from pneumonia and worn-out old age. + +"There's eneugh," a Burgh policeman said when the money was counted. He +meant much the same thing Auld Jock himself had meant. There was enough +to save him from the last indignity a life of useful labor can thrust +upon the honest poor--pauper burial. But when inquiries were made for +the name and the friends of this old man there appeared to be only "Auld +Jock" to enter into the record, and a little dog to follow the body to +the grave. It was a Bible reader who chanced to come in from the Medical +Mission in the Cowgate who thought to look in the fly-leaf of Auld +Jock's Bible. + +"His name is John Gray." + +He laid the worn little book on Auld Jock's breast and crossed the +work-scarred hands upon it. "It's something by the ordinar' to find +a gude auld country body in such a foul place." He stooped and patted +Bobby, and noted the bun, untouched, upon the floor. Turning to a wild +elf of a barefooted child in the crowd he spoke to her. "Would you share +your gude brose with the bit dog, lassie?" + +She darted down the stairs, and presently returned with her own scanty +bowl of breakfast porridge. Bobby refused the food, but he looked at her +so mournfully that the first tears of pity her unchildlike eyes had ever +shed welled up. She put out her hand timidly and stroked him. + +It was just before the report of the time-gun that two policemen cleared +the stairs, shrouded Auld Jock in his own greatcoat and plaid, and +carried him down to the court. There they laid him in a plain box of +white deal that stood on the pavement, closed it, and went away down the +wynd on a necessary errand. The Bible-reader sat on an empty beer keg to +guard the box, and Bobby climbed on the top and stretched himself above +his master. The court was a well, more than a hundred feet deep. What +sky might have been visible above it was hidden by tier above tier of +dingy, tattered washings. The stairway filled again, and throngs of +outcasts of every sort went about their squalid businesses, with only a +curious glance or so at the pathetic group. + +Presently the policemen returned from the Cowgate with a motley +assortment of pallbearers. There was a good-tempered Irish laborer from +a near-by brewery; a decayed gentleman, unsteady of gait and blear-eyed, +in greasy frock-coat and broken hat; a flashily dressed bartender +who found the task distasteful; a stout, bent-backed fagot-carrier; a +drunken fisherman from New Haven, suddenly sobered by this uncanny +duty, and a furtive, gaol-bleached thief who feared a trap and tried to +escape. + +Tailed by scuffling gamins, the strange little procession moved quickly +down the wynd and turned into the roaring Cowgate. The policemen went +before to force a passage through the press. The Bible-reader followed +the box, and Bobby, head and tail down, trotted unnoticed, beneath +it. The humble funeral train passed under a bridge arch into the empty +Grassmarket, and went up Candlemakers Row to the kirkyard gate. Such as +Auld Jock, now, by unnumbered thousands, were coming to lie among the +grand and great, laird and leddy, poet and prophet, persecutor and +martyr, in the piled-up, historic burying-ground of old Greyfriars. + +By a gesture the caretaker directed the bearers to the right, past the +church, and on down the crowded slope to the north, that was circled +about by the backs of the tenements in the Grassmarket and Candlemakers +Row. The box was lowered at once, and the pall-bearers hastily departed +to delayed dinners. The policemen had urgent duties elsewhere. Only the +Bible reader remained to see the grave partly filled in, and to try to +persuade Bobby to go away with him. But the little dog resisted with +such piteous struggles that the man put him down again. The grave digger +leaned on his spade for a bit of professional talk. + +"Many a dog gangs daft an' greets like a human body when his maister +dees. They're aye put oot, a time or twa, an' they gang to folic that +ken them, an' syne they tak' to ithers. Dinna fash yersel' aboot 'im. He +wullna greet lang." + +Since Bobby would not go, there was nothing to do but leave him there; +but it was with many a backward look and disturbing doubt that the +good man turned away. The grave-digger finished his task cheerfully, +shouldered his tools, and left the kirkyard. The early dark was coming +on when the caretaker, in making his last rounds, found the little +terrier flattened out on the new-made mound. + +"Gang awa' oot!" he ordered. Bobby looked up pleadingly and trembled, +but he made no motion to obey. James Brown was not an unfeeling man, and +he was but doing his duty. From an impulse of pity for this bonny wee +bit of loyalty and grief he picked Bobby up, carried him all the way to +the gate and set him over the wicket on the pavement. + +"Gang awa' hame, noo," he said, kindly. "A kirkya'rd isna a place for a +bit dog to be leevin'." + +Bobby lay where he had been dropped until the caretaker was out of +sight. Then, finding the aperture under the gate too small for him +to squeeze through, he tried, in his ancestral way, to enlarge it by +digging. He scratched and scratched at the unyielding stone until his +little claws were broken and his toes bleeding, before he stopped and +lay down with his nose under the wicket. + + Just before the closing hour a carriage stopped at the +kirkyard gate. A black-robed lady, carrying flowers, hurried through the +wicket. Bobby slipped in behind her and disappeared. + +After nightfall, when the lamps were lighted on the bridge, when Mr. +Traill had come out to stand idly in his doorway, looking for some one +to talk to, and James Brown had locked the kirkyard yard gate for the +night and gone into his little stone lodge to supper, Bobby came out of +hiding and stretched himself prone across Auld Jock's grave. + + + + +IV. + +Fifteen minutes after the report of the time-gun on Monday, when the +bells were playing their merriest and the dining-rooms were busiest, +Mr. Traill felt such a tiny tug at his trouser-leg that it was repeated +before he gave it attention. In the press of hungry guests Bobby had +little more than room to rise in his pretty, begging attitude. The +landlord was so relieved to see him again, after five conscience +stricken days, that he stooped to clap the little dog on the side and to +greet him with jocose approval. + +"Gude dog to fetch Auld Jock--" + +With a faint and piteous cry that was heard by no one but Mr. Traill, +Bobby toppled over on the floor. It was a limp little bundle that the +landlord picked up from under foot and held on his arm a moment, while +he looked around for the dog's master. Shocked at not seeing Auld Jock, +by a kind of inspiration he carried the little dog to the inglenook +and laid him down under the familiar settle. Bobby was little more than +breathing, but he opened his silkily veiled brown eyes and licked the +friendly hand that had done this refinement of kindness. It took Mr. +Traill more than a moment to realize the nature of the trouble. A dog +with so thick a fleece of wool, under so crisply waving an outer coat +as Bobby's, may perish for lack of food and show no outward sign of +emaciation. + +"The sonsie, wee--why, he's all but starved!" + +Pale with pity, Mr. Traill snatched a plate of broth from the hands of +a gaping waiter laddie, set it under Bobby's nose, and watched him begin +to lap the warm liquid eagerly. In the busy place the incident passed +unnoticed. With his usual, brisk decision Mr. Traill turned the backs of +a couple of chairs over against the nearest table, to signify that the +corner was reserved, and he went about his duties with unwonted silence. +As the crowd thinned he returned to the inglenook to find Bobby asleep, +not curled up in a tousled ball, as such a little dog should be, but +stretched on his side and breathing irregularly. + +If Bobby was in such straits, how must it be with Auld Jock? This was +the fifth day since the sick old man had fled into the storm. With new +disquiet Mr. Traill remembered a matter that had annoyed him in the +morning, and that he had been inclined to charge to mischievous Heriot +boys. Low down on the outside of his freshly varnished entrance door +were many scratches that Bobby could have made. He may have come for +food on the Sabbath day when the place was closed. + +After an hour Bobby woke long enough to eat a generous plate of that +delectable and highly nourishing Scotch dish known as haggis. He fell +asleep again in an easier attitude that relieved the tension on the +landlord's feelings. Confident that the devoted little dog would lead +him straight to his master, Mr. Traill closed the door securely, that he +might not escape unnoticed, and arranged his own worldly affairs so he +could leave them to hirelings on the instant. In the idle time between +dinner and supper he sat down by the fire, lighted his pipe, repented +his unruly tongue, and waited. As the short day darkened to its close +the sunset bugle was blown in the Castle. At the first note, Bobby crept +from under the settle, a little unsteady on his legs as yet, wagged his +tail for thanks, and trotted to the door. + +Mr. Traill had no trouble at all in keeping the little dog in sight to +the kirkyard gate, for in the dusk his coat shone silvery white. Indeed, +by a backward look now and then, Bobby seemed to invite the man to +follow, and waited at the gate, with some impatience, for him to +come up. Help was needed there. By rising and tugging at Mr. Traill's +clothing and then jumping on the wicket Bobby plainly begged to have it +opened. He made no noise, neither barking nor whimpering, and that was +very strange for a dog of the terrier breed; but each instant of delay +he became more insistent, and even frantic, to have the gate unlatched. +Mr. Traill refused to believe what Bobby's behavior indicated, and +reproved him in the broad Scotch to which the country dog was used. + +"Nae, Bobby; be a gude dog. Gang doon to the Coogate noo, an' find Auld +Jock." + +Uttering no cry at all, Bobby gave the man such a woebegone look and +dropped to the pavement, with his long muzzle as far under the wicket +as he could thrust it, that the truth shot home to Mr. Traill's +understanding. He opened the gate. Bobby slipped through and stood just +inside a moment, and looking back as if he expected his human friend +to follow. Then, very suddenly, as the door of the lodge opened and the +caretaker came out, Bobby disappeared in the shadow of the church. + +A big-boned, slow-moving man of the best country house-gardener type, +serviceably dressed in corduroy, wool bonnet, and ribbed stockings, +James Brown collided with the small and wiry landlord, to his own very +great embarrassment. + +"Eh, Maister Traill, ye gied me a turn. It's no' canny to be proolin' +aboot the kirkyaird i' the gloamin'." + +"Whaur did the bit dog go, man?" demanded the peremptory landlord. + +"Dog? There's no' ony dog i' the kirkyaird. It isna permeetted. Gin it's +a pussy ye're needin', noo--" + +But Mr. Traill brushed this irrelevant pleasantry aside. + +"Ay, there's a dog. I let him in my ainsel'." + +The caretaker exploded with wrath: "Syne I'll hae the law on ye. Can ye +no' read, man?" + +"Tut, tut, Jeemes Brown. Don't stand there arguing. It's a gude and +necessary regulation, but it's no' the law o' the land. I turned the dog +in to settle a matter with my ain conscience, and John Knox would have +done the same thing in the bonny face o' Queen Mary. What it is, is nae +beesiness of yours. The dog was a sma' young terrier of the Highland +breed, but with a drop to his ears and a crinkle in his frosty coat--no' +just an ordinar' dog. I know him weel. He came to my place to be fed, +near dead of hunger, then led me here. If his master lies in this +kirkyard, I'll tak' the bit dog awa' with me." + +Mr. Traill's astonishing fluency always carried all walls of resistance +before it with men of slower wit and speech. Only a superior man could +brush time-honored rules aside so curtly and stand on his human rights +so surely. James Brown pulled his bonnet off deferentially, scratched +his shock head and shifted his pipe. Finally he admitted: + +"Weel, there was a bit tyke i' the kirkyaird twa days syne. I put 'im +oot, an' haena seen 'im aboot ony main" He offered, however, to show the +new-made mound on which he had found the dog. Leading the way past the +church, he went on down the terraced slope, prolonging the walk with +conversation, for the guardianship of an old churchyard offers very +little such lively company as John Traill's. + +"I mind, noo, it was some puir body frae the Coogate, wi' no' ony +mourners but the sma' terrier aneath the coffin. I let 'im pass, no' +to mak' a disturbance at a buryin'. The deal box was fetched up by the +police, an' carried by sic a crew o' gaol-birds as wad mak' ye turn ower +in yer ain God's hole. But he paid for his buryin' wi' his ain siller, +an' noo lies as canny as the nobeelity. Nae boot here's the place, +Maister Traill; an' ye can see for yer ainsel' there's no' any dog." + +"Ay, that would be Auld Jock and Bobby would no' be leaving him," +insisted the landlord, stubbornly. He stood looking down at the rough +mound of frozen clods heaped in a little space of trampled snow. + +"Jeemes Brown," Mr. Trail said, at last, "the man wha lies here was a +decent, pious auld country body, and I drove him to his meeserable death +in the Cowgate." + +"Man, ye dinna ken what ye're sayin'!" was the shocked response. + +"Do I no'? I'm canny, by the ordinar', but my fule tongue will get me +into trouble with the magistrates one of these days. It aye wags at both +ends, and is no' tied in the middle." + +Then, stanch Calvinist that he was, and never dreaming that he was +indulging in the sinful pleasure of confession, Mr. Traill poured out +the story of Auld Jock's plight and of his own shortcomings. It was a +bitter, upbraiding thing that he, an uncommonly capable man, had meant +so well by a humble old body, and done so ill. And he had failed again +when he tried to undo the mischief. The very next morning he had gone +down into the perilous Cowgate, and inquired in every place where it +might be possible for such a timid old shepherd to be known. But there! +As well look for a burr thistle in a bin of oats, as look for a human +atom in the Cowgate and the wynds "juist aff." + +"Weel, noo, ye couldna hae dune aething wi' the auld body, ava, gin he +wouldna gang to the infairmary." The caretaker was trying to console the +self-accusing man. + +"Could I no'? Ye dinna ken me as weel as ye micht." The disgusted +landlord tumbled into broad Scotch. "Gie me to do it ance mair, an' I'd +chairge Auld Jock wi' thievin' ma siller, wi' a wink o' the ee at the +police to mak' them ken I was leein'; an' syne they'd hae hustled 'im +aff, willy-nilly, to a snug bed." + +The energetic little man looked so entirely capable of any daring deed +that he fired the caretaker into enthusiastic search for Bobby. It was +not entirely dark, for the sky was studded with stars, snow lay in broad +patches on the slope, and all about the lower end of the kirkyard supper +candles burned at every rear window of the tall tenements. + +The two men searched among the near-by slabs and table-tombs and +scattered thorn bushes. They circled the monument to all the martyrs who +had died heroically, in the Grassmarket and elsewhere, for their faith. +They hunted in the deep shadows of the buttresses along the side of the +auld kirk and among the pillars of the octagonal portico to the new. At +the rear of the long, low building, that was clumsily partitioned across +for two pulpits, stood the ornate tomb of "Bluidy" McKenzie. But Bobby +had not committed himself to the mercy of the hanging judge, nor yet +to the care of the doughty minister, who, from the pulpit of Greyfriars +auld kirk, had flung the blood and tear stained Covenant in the teeth of +persecution. + +The search was continued past the modest Scott family burial plot and +on to the west wall. There was a broad outlook over Heriot's Hospital +grounds, a smooth and shining expanse of unsullied snow about the early +Elizabethan pile of buildings. Returning, they skirted the lowest wall +below the tenements, for in the circling line of courtyarded vaults, +where the "nobeelity" of Scotland lay haughtily apart under timestained +marbles, were many shadowy nooks in which so small a dog could stow +himself away. Skulking cats were flushed there, and sent flying over +aristocratic bones, but there was no trace of Bobby. + +The second tier of windows of the tenements was level with the kirkyard +wall, and several times Mr. Traill called up to a lighted casement where +a family sat at a scant supper. + +"Have you seen a bit dog, man?" + +There was much cordial interest in his quest, windows opening and faces +staring into the dusk; but not until near the top of the Row was a clue +gained. Then, at the query, an unkempt, illclad lassie slipped from her +stool and leaned out over the pediment of a tomb. She had seen a "wee, +wee doggie jinkin' amang the stanes." It was on the Sabbath evening, +when the well-dressed folk had gone home from the afternoon services. +She was eating her porridge at the window, "by her lane," when he +"keeked up at her so knowing, and begged so bonny," that she balanced +her bit bowl on a lath, and pushed it over on the kirkyard wall. As she +finished the story the big, blue eyes of the little maid, who doubtless +had herself known what it was to be hungry, filled with tears. + +"The wee tyke couldna loup up to it, an' a deil o' a pussy got it a'. He +was so bonny, like a leddy's pet, an' syne he fell ower on the snaw an' +creepit awa'. He didna cry oot, but he was a' but deid wi' hunger." +At the memory of it soft-hearted Ailie Lindsey sobbed on her mother's +shoulder. + +The tale was retold from one excited window to another, all the way +around and all the way up to the gables, so quickly could some incident +of human interest make a social gathering in the populous tenements. +Most of all, the children seized upon the touching story. Eager and +pinched little faces peered wistfully into the melancholy kirkyard. + +"Is he yer ain dog?" crippled Tammy Barr piped out, in his thin treble. +"Gin I had a bonny wee dog I'd gie 'im ma ain brose, an' cuddle 'im, an' +he couldna gang awa'." + +"Nae, laddie, he's no' my dog. His master lies buried here, and the leal +Highlander mourns for him." With keener appreciation of its pathos, Mr. +Traill recalled that this was what Auld Jock had said: "Bobby isna ma +ain dog." And he was conscious of wishing that Bobby was his own, with +his unpurchasable love and a loyalty to face starvation. As he mounted +the turfed terraces he thought to call back: + +"If you see him again, lassie, call him 'Bobby,' and fetch him up to +Greyfriars Dining-Rooms. I have a bright siller shulling, with the +Queen's bonny face on it, to give the bairn that finds Bobby." + +There was excited comment on this. He must, indeed, be an attractive +dog to be worth a shilling. The children generously shared plans for +capturing Bobby. But presently the windows were closed, and supper was +resumed. The caretaker was irritable. + +"Noo, ye'll hae them a' oot swarmin' ower the kirkyaird. There's nae +coontin' the bairns o' the neeborhood, an' nane o' them are so weel +broucht up as they micht be." + +Mr. Traill commented upon this philosophically: "A bairn is like a dog +in mony ways. Tak' a stick to one or the other and he'll misbehave. The +children here are poor and neglected, but they're no' vicious like the +awfu' imps of the Cowgate, wha'd steal from their blind grandmithers. +Get on the gude side of the bairns, man, and you'll live easier and die +happier." + +It seemed useless to search the much longer arm of the kirkyard that ran +southward behind the shops of Greyfriars Place and Forest Road. If Bobby +was in the enclosure at all he would not be far from Auld Jock's grave. +Nearest the new-made mound were two very old and dark table-tombs. The +farther one lay horizontally, on its upright "through stanes," some +distance above the earth. The supports of the other had fallen, and the +table lay on their thickness within six inches of the ground. Mr. Traill +and the caretaker sat upon this slab, which testified to the piety and +worth of one Mistress Jean Grant, who had died "lang syne." + +Encroached upon, as it was, by unlovely life, Greyfriars kirkyard was +yet a place of solitude and peace. The building had the dignity +that only old age can give. It had lost its tower by an explosion +of gunpowder stored there in war time, and its walls and many of the +ancient tombs bore the marks of fire and shot. Within the last decade +some of the Gothic openings had been filled with beautiful memorial +windows. Despite the horrors and absurdities and mutilation of much of +the funeral sculpturing, the kirkyard had a sad distinction, such as +became its fame as Scotland's Westminster. And, there was one heavenward +outlook and heavenly view. Over the tallest decaying tenement one could +look up to the Castle of dreams on the crag, and drop the glance all the +way down the pinnacled crest of High Street, to the dark and deserted +Palace of Holyrood. After nightfall the turreted heights wore a luminous +crown, and the steep ridge up to it twinkled with myriad lights. After a +time the caretaker offered a well-considered opinion. + +"The dog maun hae left the kirkyaird. Thae terriers are aye barkin'. +It'd be maist michty noo, gin he'd be so lang i' the kirkyaird, an' no' +mak' a blatterin'." + +As a man of superior knowledge Mr. Traill found pleasure in upsetting +this theory. "The Highland breed are no' like ordinar' terriers. Noisy +enough to deave one, by nature, give a bit Skye a reason and he'll lie +a' the day under a whin bush on the brae, as canny as a fox. You gave +Bobby a reason for hiding here by turning him out. And Auld Jock was a +vera releegious man. It would no' be surprising if he taught Bobby to +hold his tongue in a kirkyard." + +"Man, he did that vera thing." James Brown brought his fist down on his +knee; for suddenly he identified Bobby as the snappy little ruffian +that had chased the cat and bitten his shins, and Auld Jock as the +scandalized shepherd who had rebuked the dog so bitterly. He related the +incident with gusto. + +"The auld man cried oot on the misbehavin' tyke to haud 'is gab. Syne, +ye ne'er saw the bit dog's like for a bairn that'd haen a lickin'. He'd +'a' gaen into a pit, gin there'd been ane, an' pu'd it in ahind 'im. +I turned 'em baith oot, an' told 'em no' to come back. Eh, man, it's +fearsome hoo ilka body comes to a kirkyaird, toes afore 'im, in a long +box." + +Mr. Brown was sobered by this grim thought and then, in his turn, he +confessed a slip to this tolerant man of the world. "The wee deil o' a +sperity dog nipped me so I let oot an aith." + +"Ay, that's Bobby. He would no' be afraid of onything with hide or hair +on it. Man, the Skye terriers go into dens of foxes and wildcats, and +worry bulls till they tak' to their heels. And Bobby's sagacious by the +ordinar'." He thought intently for a moment, and then spoke naturally, +and much as Auld Jock himself might have spoken to the dog. + +"Whaur are ye, Bobby? Come awa' oot, laddie!" + +Instantly the little dog stood before him like some conjured ghost. He +had slipped from under the slab on which they were sitting. It lay +so near the ground, and in such a mat of dead grass, that it had +not occurred to them to look for him there. He came up to Mr. Traill +confidently, submitted to having his head patted, and looked pleadingly +at the caretaker. Then, thinking he had permission to do so, he lay down +on the mound. James Brown dropped his pipe. + +"It's maist michty!" he said. + +Mr. Traill got to his feet briskly. "I'll just tak' the dog with me, +Mr. Brown. On marketday I'll find the farmer that owns him and send +him hame. As you say, a kirkyard's nae place for a dog to be living +neglected. Come awa', Bobby." + +Bobby looked up, but, as he made no motion to obey, Mr. Traill stooped +and lifted him. + +From sheer surprise at this unexpected move the little dog lay still a +moment on the man's arm. Then, with a lithe twist of his muscular body +and a spring, he was on the ground, trembling, reproachful for the +breach of faith, but braced for resistance. + +"Eh, you're no' going?" Mr. Traill put his hands in his pockets, looked +down at Bobby admiringly, and sighed. "There's a dog after my ain heart, +and he'll have naething to do with me. He has a mind of his ain. I'll +just have to be leaving him here the two days, Mr. Brown." + +"Ye wullna leave 'im! Ye'll tak' 'im wi' ye, or I'll hae to put 'im oot. +Man, I couldna haud the place gin I brak the rules." + +"You--will--no'--put--the--wee--dog--out!" Mr. Traill shook a playful, +emphatic finger under the big man's nose. + +"Why wull I no'?" + +"Because, man, you have a vera soft heart, and you canna deny it." It +was with a genial, confident smile that Mr. Traill made this terrible +accusation. + +"Ma heart's no' so saft as to permit a bit dog to scandalize the deid." + +"He's been here two days, you no' knowing it, and he has scandalized +neither the dead nor the living. He's as leal as ony Covenanter here, +and better conducted than mony a laird. He's no the quarrelsome kind, +but, man, for a principle he'd fight like auld Clootie." Here the +landlord's heat gave way to pure enjoyment of the situation. "Eh, I'd +like to see you put him out. It would be another Flodden Field." + +The angry caretaker shrugged his broad shoulders. + +"Ye can see it, gin ye stand by, in juist one meenit. Fecht as he may, +it wull soon be ower." + +Mr. Traill laughed easily, and ventured the opinion that Mr. Brown's +bark was worse than his bite. As he went through the gateway he could +not resist calling back a challenge: "I daur you to do it." + +Mr. Brown locked the gate, went sulkily into the lodge, lighted his +cutty pipe, and smoked it furiously. He read a Psalm with deliberation, +poked up an already bright fire, and glowered at his placid gude wife. +It was not to be borne--to be defied by a ten-inch-high terrier, and +dared, by a man a third under his own weight, to do his duty. After an +hour or so he worked himself up to the point of going out and slamming +the door. + +At eight o'clock Mr. Traill found Bobby on the pavement outside the +locked gate. He was not sorry that the fortunes of unequal battle +had thrown the faithful little dog on his hospitality. Bobby begged +piteously to be put inside, but he seemed to understand at last that +the gate was too high for Mr. Traill to drop him over. He followed +the landlord up to the restaurant willingly. He may have thought this +champion had another solution of the difficulty, for when he saw the man +settle comfortably in a chair he refused to lie on the hearth. He ran to +the door and back, and begged and whined to be let out. For a long time +he stood dejectedly. He was not sullen, for he ate a light supper and +thanked his host with much polite wagging, and he even allowed himself +to be petted. Suddenly he thought of something, trotted briskly off to a +corner and crouched there. + +Mr. Traill watched the attractive little creature with interest and +growing affection. Very likely he indulged in a day-dream that, perhaps, +the tenant of Cauldbrae farm could be induced to part with Bobby for +a consideration, and that he himself could win the dog to transfer his +love from a cold grave to a warm hearth. + +With a spring the rat was captured. A jerk of the long head and there +was proof of Bobby's prowess to lay at his good friend's feet. Made much +of, and in a position to ask fresh favors, the little dog was off to the +door with cheerful, staccato barks. His reasoning was as plain as print: +"I hae done ye a service, noo tak' me back to the kirkyaird." + +Mr. Traill talked to him as he might have reasoned with a bright bairn. +Bobby listened patiently, but remained of the same mind. At last +he moved away, disappointed in this human person, discouraged, but +undefeated in his purpose. He lay down by the door. Mr. Traill watched +him, for if any chance late comer opened the door the masterless little +dog would be out into the perils of the street. Bobby knew what doors +were for and, very likely, expected some such release. He waited a long +time patiently. Then he began to run back and forth. He put his paws +upon Mr. Traill and whimpered and cried. Finally he howled. + +It was a dreadful, dismal, heartbroken howl that echoed back from the +walls. He howled continuously, until the landlord, quite distracted, and +concerned about the peace of his neighbors, thrust Bobby into the dark +scullery at the rear, and bade him stop his noise. For fully ten minutes +the dog was quiet. He was probably engaged in exploring his new quarters +to find an outlet. Then he began to howl again. It was truly astonishing +that so small a dog could make so large a noise. + +A battle was on between the endurance of the man and the persistence of +the terrier. Mr. Traill was speculating on which was likely to be victor +in the contest, when the front door was opened and the proprietor of the +Book Hunter's Stall put in a bare, bald head and the abstracted face of +the book-worm that is mildly amused. + +"Have you tak'n to a dog at your time o' life, Mr. Traill?" + +"Ay, man, and it would be all right if the bit dog would just tak' to +me." + +This pleasantry annoyed a good man who had small sense of humor, and he +remarked testily "The barkin' disturbs my customers so they canna read." +The place was a resort for student laddies who had to be saving of +candles. + +"That's no' right," the landlord admitted, sympathetically. "'Reading +mak'th a full man.' Eh, what a deeference to the warld if Robbie Burns +had aye preferred a book to a bottle." The bookseller refused to be +beguiled from his just cause of complaint into the flowery meads of +literary reminiscences and speculations. + +"You'll stop that dog's cleaving noise, Mr. Traill, or I'll appeal to +the Burgh police." + +The landlord returned a bland and child-like smile. "You'd be weel +within your legal rights to do it, neebor." + +The door was shut with such a business-like click that the situation +suddenly became serious. Bobby's vocal powers, however, gave no signs of +diminishing. Mr. Traill quieted the dog for a few moments by letting him +into the outer room, but the swiftness and energy with which he renewed +his attacks on the door and on the man's will showed plainly that the +truce was only temporary. He did not know what he meant to do except +that he certainly had no intention of abandoning the little dog. To gain +time he put on his hat and coat, picked Bobby up, and opened the door. +The thought occurred to him to try the gate at the upper end of the +kirkyard or, that failing, to get into Heriot's Hospital grounds and put +Bobby over the wall. As he opened the door, however, he heard Geordie +Ross's whistle around the bend in Forest Road. + +"Hey, laddie!" he called. "Come awa' in a meenit." When the sturdy boy +was inside and the door safely shut, he began in his most guileless and +persuasive tone: "Would you like to earn a shulling, Geordie?" + +"Ay, I would. Gie it to me i' pennies an' ha'pennies, Maister Traill. It +seems mair, an' mak's a braw jinglin' in a pocket." + +The price was paid and the tale told. The quick championship of the +boy was engaged for the gallant dog, and Geordie's eyes sparkled at the +prospect of dark adventure. Bobby was on the floor listening, ears and +eyes, brambly muzzle and feathered tail alert. He listened with his +whole, small, excited body, and hung on the answer to the momentous +question. + +"Is there no' a way to smuggle the bit dog into the kirkyard?" + +It appeared that nothing was easier, "aince ye ken hoo." Did Mr. Traill +know of the internal highway through the old Cunzie Neuk at the bottom +of the Row? One went up the stairs on the front to the low, timbered +gallery, then through a passage as black as "Bluidy" McKenzie's heart. +At the end of that, one came to a peep-hole of a window, set out on +wooden brackets, that hung right over the kirkyard wall. From that +window Bobby could be dropped on a certain noble vault, from which he +could jump to the ground. + +"Twa meenits' wark, stout hearts, sleekit footstaps, an' the fearsome +deed is done," declared twelve-year-old Geordie, whose sense of the +dramatic matched his daring. + +But when the deed was done, and the two stood innocently on the brightly +lighted approach to the bridge, Mr. Traill had his misgivings. A +well-respected business man and church-member, he felt uneasy to be at +the mercy of a laddie who might be boastful. + +"Geordie, if you tell onybody about this I'll have to give you a +licking." + +"I wullna tell," Geordie reassured him. "It's no' so respectable, an' +syne ma mither'd gie me anither lickin', an' they'd gie me twa more +awfu' aces, an' black marks for a month, at Heriot's." + + + + +V. + +Word had been left at all the inns and carting offices about both +markets for the tenant of Cauldbrae farm to call at Mr. Traill's +place for Bobby. The man appeared Wednesday afternoon, driving a big +Clydesdale horse to a stout farm cart. The low-ceiled dining-room +suddenly shrank about the big-boned, long legged hill man. The fact +embarrassed him, as did also a voice cultivated out of all proportion to +town houses, by shouting to dogs and shepherds on windy shoulders of the +Pentlands. + +"Hae ye got the dog wi' ye?" + +Mr. Train pointed to Bobby, deep in a blissful, after dinner nap under +the settle. + +The farmer breathed a sigh of relief, sat at a table, and ate a +frugal meal of bread and cheese. As roughly dressed as Auld Jock, in +a metal-buttoned greatcoat of hodden gray, a woolen bonnet, and the +shepherd's twofold plaid, he was a different species of human being +altogether. A long, lean, sinewy man of early middle age, he had a +smooth-shaven, bony jaw, far-seeing gray eyes under furzy brows, and a +shock of auburn hair. When he spoke, it was to give bits out of his own +experience. + +"Thae terriers are usefu' eneugh on an ordinar' fairm an' i' the toon to +keep awa' the vermin, but I wadna gie a twa-penny-bit for ane o' them on +a sheep-fairm. There's a wee lassie at Cauldbrae wha wants Bobby for a +pet. It wasna richt for Auld Jock to win 'im awa' frae the bairn." + +Mr. Traill's hand was lifted in rebuke. "Speak nae ill, man; Auld Jock's +dead." + +The farmer's ruddy face blanched and he dropped his knife. "He's no' +buried so sane?" + +"Ay, he's buried four days since in Greyfriars kirkyard, and Bobby has +slept every night on the auld man's grave." + +"I'll juist tak' a leuk at the grave, moil, gin ye'll hae an ee on the +dog." + +Mr. Traill cautioned him not to let the caretaker know that Bobby had +continued to sleep in the kirkyard, after having been put out twice. The +farmer was back in ten minutes, with a canny face that defied reading. +He lighted his short Dublin pipe and smoked it out before he spoke +again. + +"It's ower grand for a puir auld shepherd body to be buried i' +Greyfriars." + +"No' so grand as heaven, I'm thinking." Mr. Traill's response was dry. + +"Ay, an' we're a' coontin' on gangin' there; but it's a prood thing to +hae yer banes put awa' in Greyfriars, ance ye're through wi' 'em!" + +"Nae doubt the gude auld man would rather be alive on the Pentland braes +than dead in Greyfriars." + +"Ay," the farmer admitted. "He was fair fond o' the hills, an' no' +likin' the toon. An', moil, he was a wonder wi' the lambs. He'd gang wi' +a collie ower miles o' country in roarin' weather, an' he'd aye fetch +the lost sheep hame. The auld moil was nane so weel furnished i' the +heid, but bairnies and beasts were unco' fond o' 'im. It wasna his fau't +that Bobby was aye at his heels. The lassie wad 'a' been after'im, gin +'er mither had permeeted it." + +Mr. Traill asked him why he had let so valuable a man go, and the farmer +replied at once that he was getting old and could no longer do the +winter work. To any but a Scotchman brought up near the sheep country +this would have sounded hard, but Mr. Traill knew that the farmers on +the wild, tipped-up moors were themselves hard pressed to meet rent +and taxes. To keep a shepherd incapacitated by age and liable to lose a +flock in a snow-storm, was to invite ruin. And presently the man showed, +unwittingly, how sweet a kernel the heart may lie under the shell of +sordid necessity. + +"I didna ken the auld man was fair ill or he micht hae bided at the +fairm an' tak'n 'is ain time to dee at 'is ease." + +As Bobby unrolled and stretched to an awakening, the farmer got up, took +him unaware and thrust him into a covered basket. He had no intention of +letting the little creature give him the slip again. Bobby howled at the +indignity, and struggled and tore at the stout wickerwork. It went to +Mr. Traill's heart to hear him, and to see the gallant little dog so +defenseless. He talked to him through the latticed cover all the way +out to the cart, telling him Auld Jock meant for him to go home. At that +beloved name, Bobby dropped to the bottom of the basket and cried in +such a heartbroken way that tears stood in the landlord's eyes, and even +the farmer confessed to a sudden "cauld in 'is heid." + +"I'd gie 'im to ye, mon, gin it wasna that the bit lassie wad greet her +bonny een oot gin I didna fetch 'im hame. Nae boot the bit tyke wad 'a' +deed gin ye hadna fed 'im." + +"Eh, man, he'll no' bide with me, or I'd be bargaining for him. And +he'll no' be permitted to live in the kirkyard. I know naething in this +life more pitiful than a masterless, hameless dog." And then, to delay +the moment of parting with Bobby, who stopped crying and began to lick +his hand in frantic appeal through a hole in the basket, Mr. Traill +asked how Bobby came by his name. + +"It was a leddy o' the neeborhood o' Swanston. She cam' drivin' by +Cauldbrae i' her bit cart wi' shaggy Shetlands to it an' stapped at the +dairy for a drink o' buttermilk frae the kirn. Syne she saw the sonsie +puppy loupin' at Auld Jock's heels, bonny as a poodle, but mair knowin'. +The leddy gied me a poond note for 'im. I put 'im up on the seat, an' +she said that noo she had a smart Hieland groom to match 'er Hieland +steeds, an' she flicked the ponies wi' 'er whup. Syne the bit dog was on +the airth an' flyin' awa' doon the road like the deil was after 'im. An' +the leddy lauched an' lauched, an' went awa' wi'oot 'im. At the fut o' +the brae she was still lauchin', an' she ca'ed back: 'Gie 'im the name +o' Bobby, gude mon. He's left the plow-tail an's aff to Edinburgh to +mak' his fame an' fortune.' I didna ken what the leddy meant." + +"Man, she meant he was like Bobby Burns." + +Here was a literary flavor that gave added attraction to a man who sat +at the feet of the Scottish muses. The landlord sighed as he went back +to the doorway, and he stood there listening to the clatter of the cart +and rough-shod horse and to the mournful howling of the little dog, +until the sounds died away in Forest Road. + +Mr. Traill would have been surprised to know, perhaps, that the confines +of the city were scarcely passed before Bobby stopped protesting and +grieving and settled down patiently to more profitable work. A human +being thus kidnapped and carried away would have been quite helpless. +But Bobby fitted his mop of a black muzzle into the largest hole of his +wicker prison, and set his useful little nose to gathering news of his +whereabouts. + +If it should happen to a dog in this day to be taken from Ye Olde +Greyfriars Dining-Rooms and carried southward out of Edinburgh there +would be two miles or more of city and suburban streets to be traversed +before coming to the open country. But a half century or more ago +one could stand at the upper gate of Greyfriars kirkyard or Heriot's +Hospital grounds and look down a slope dotted with semi-rustic houses, +a village or two and water-mills, and then cultivated farms, all the way +to a stone-bridged burn and a toll-bar at the bottom of the valley. This +hillside was the ancient Burghmuir where King James of old gathered a +great host of Scots to march and fight and perish on Flodden Field. + +Bobby had not gone this way homeward before, and was puzzled by the +smell of prosperous little shops, and by the park-like odors from +college campuses to the east, and from the well-kept residence park +of George Square. But when the cart rattled across Lauriston Place he +picked up the familiar scents of milk and wool from the cattle and +sheep market, and then of cottage dooryards, of turned furrows and of +farmsteads. + +The earth wears ever a threefold garment of beauty. The human person +usually manages to miss nearly everything but the appearance of things. +A few of us are so fortunate as to have ears attuned to the harmonies +woven on the wind by trees and birds and water; but the tricky weft of +odors that lies closest of all, enfolding the very bosom of the earth, +escapes us. A little dog, traveling with his nose low, lives in another +stratum of the world, and experiences other pleasures than his master. +He has excitements that he does his best to share, and that send him +flying in pursuit of phantom clues. + +From the top of the Burghmuir it was easy going to Bobby. The snow had +gone off in a thaw, releasing a multitude of autumnal aromas. There was +a smell of birch and beech buds sealed up in gum, of berries clotted on +the rowan-trees, and of balsam and spice from plantations of Highland +firs and larches. The babbling water of the burn was scented with the +dead bracken of glens down which it foamed. Even the leafless hedges had +their woody odors, and stone dykes their musty smell of decaying mosses +and lichens. + +Bobby knew the pause at the toll-bar in the valley, and the mixed odors +of many passing horses and men, there. He knew the smells of poultry +and cheese at a dairy-farm; of hunting dogs and riding-leathers at a +sportsman's trysting inn, and of grist and polluted water at a mill. +And after passing the hilltop toll-bar of Fairmilehead, dipping across a +narrow valley and rounding the base of a sentinel peak, many tame odors +were left behind. At the buildings of the large, scattered farms there +were smells of sheep, and dogs and barn yards. But, for the most part, +after the road began to climb over a high shoulder of the range, there +was just one wild tang of heather and gorse and fern, tingling with salt +air from the German Ocean. + +When they reached Cauldbrae farm, high up on the slope, it was entirely +dark. Lights in the small, deep-set windows gave the outlines of a low, +steep-roofed, stone farm-house. Out of the darkness a little wind blown +figure of a lassie fled down the brae to meet the cart, and an eager +little voice, as clear as a hill-bird's piping, cried out: + +"Hae ye got ma ain Bobby, faither?" + +"Ay, lassie, I fetched 'im hame," the farmer roared back, in his big +voice. + +Then the cart was stopped for the wee maid to scramble up over a +wheel, and there were sweet little sounds of kissing and muffled little +cuddlings under the warm plaid. When these soft endearments had been +attended to there was time for another yearning. + +"May I haud wee Bobby, faither?" + +"Nae, lassie, a bonny bit bairnie couldna haud 'im in 'er sma' airms. +Bobby's a' for gangin' awa' to leev in a grand kirkyaird wi' Auld Jock." + +A little gasp, and a wee sob, and an awed question: "Is gude Auld Jock +deid, daddy?" + +Bobby heard it and answered with a mournful howl. The lassie snuggled +closer to the warm, beating heart, hid her eyes in the rough plaid, and +cried for Auld Jock and for the grieving little dog. + +"Niest to faither an' mither an' big brither Wattie I lo'e Auld Jock an' +Bobby." The bairnie's voice was smothered in the plaidie. Because it was +dark and none were by to see, the reticent Scot could overflow in tender +speech. His arm tightened around this one little ewe lamb of the human +fold on cold slope farm. He comforted the child by telling her how +they would mak' it up to Bobby, and how very soon a wee dog forgets the +keenest sorrow and is happy again. + +The sheep-dogs charged the cart with as deafening a clamor of welcome as +if a home-coming had never happened before, and raced the horse across +the level. The kitchen door flared open, a sudden beacon to shepherds +scattered afar on these upland billows of heath. In a moment the basket +was in the house, the door snecked, and Bobby released on the hearth. + +It was a beautiful, dark old kitchen, with a homely fire of peat that +glowed up to smoke-stained rafters. Soon it was full of shepherds, come +in to a supper of brose, cheese, milk and bannocks. Sheep-dogs sprawled +and dozed on the hearth, so that the gude wife complained of their being +underfoot. But she left them undisturbed and stepped over them, for, +tired as they were, they would have to go out again to drive the sheep +into the fold. + +Humiliated by being brought home a prisoner, and grieving for the +forsaken grave in Greyfriars, Bobby crept away to a corner bench, on +which Auld Jock had always sat in humble self-effacement. He lay down +under it, and the little four year-old lassie sat on the floor close +beside him, understanding, and sorry with him. Her rough brother Wattie +teased her about wanting her supper there on one plate with Bobby. + +"I wadna gang daft aboot a bit dog, Elsie." + +"Leave the bairn by 'er lane," commanded the farmer. The mither patted +the child's bright head, and wiped the tears from the bluebell eyes. And +there was a little sobbing confidence poured into a sympathetic ear. + +Bobby refused to eat at first, but by and by he thought better of it. A +little dog that has his life to live and his work to do must have fuel +to drive the throbbing engine of his tiny heart. So Bobby very sensibly +ate a good supper in the lassie's company and, grateful for that and for +her sympathy, submitted to her shy petting. But after the shepherds and +dogs were gone and the farmer had come in again from an overseeing look +about the place the little dog got up, trotted to the door, and lay down +by it. The lassie followed him. With two small, plump hands she pushed +Bobby's silver veil back, held his muzzle and looked into his sad, brown +eyes. + +"Oh, mither, mither, Bobby's greetin'," she cried. + +"Nae, bonny wee, a sma' dog canna greet." + +"Ay, he's greetin' sair!" A sudden, sweet little sound was dropped on +Bobby's head. + +"Ye shouldna kiss the bit dog, bairnie. He isna like a human body." + +"Ay, a wee kiss is gude for 'im. Faither, he greets so I canna thole +it." The child fled to comforting arms in the inglenook and cried +herself to sleep. The gude wife knitted, and the gude mon smoked by the +pleasant fire. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the wag at +the wa' clock, for burning peat makes no noise at all, only a pungent +whiff in the nostrils, the memory of which gives a Scotch laddie abroad +a fit of hamesickness. Bobby lay very still and watchful by the door. +The farmer served his astonishing news in dramatic bits. + +"Auld Jock's deid." Bobby stirred at that, and flattened out on the +floor. + +"Ay, the lassie told that, an' I wad hae kenned it by the dog. He is +greetin' by the ordinar'." + +"An' he's buried i' the kirkyaird o' auld Greyfriars." Ah, that fetched +her! The gude wife dropped her knitting and stared at him. + +"There's a gairdener, like at the country-hooses o' the gentry, leevin' +in a bit lodge by the gate. He has naethin' to do, ava, but lock the +gate at nicht, put the dogs oot, an' mak' the posies bloom i' the +simmer. Ay, it's a bonny place." + +"It's ower grand for Auld Jock." + +"Ye may weel say that. His bit grave isna so far frae the martyrs' +monument." When the grandeur of that had sunk in he went on to other +incredibilities. + +Presently he began to chuckle. "There's a bit notice on the gate +that nae dogs are admittet, but Bobby's sleepit on Auld Jock's grave +ane--twa--three--fower nichts, an' the gairdener doesna ken it, ava. +He's a canny beastie." + +"Ay, he is. Folk wull be comin' frae miles aroond juist to leuk at +thesperity bit. Ilka body aboot kens Auld Jock. It'll be maist +michty news to tell at the kirk on the Sabbath, that he's buried i' +Greyfriars." + +Through all this talk Bobby had lain quietly by the door, in the +expectation that it would be unlatched. Impatient of delay, he began to +whimper and to scratch on the panel. The lassie opened her blue eyes at +that, scrambled down, and ran to him. Instantly Bobby was up, tugging +at her short little gown and begging to be let out. When she clasped her +chubby arms around his neck and tried to comfort him he struggled free +and set up a dreadful howling. + +"Hoots, Bobby, stap yer havers!" shouted the farmer. + +"Eh, lassie, he'll deave us a'. We'll juist hae to put 'im i' the byre +wi' the coos for the nicht," cried the distracted mither. + +"I want Bobby i' the bed wi' me. I'll cuddle 'im an' lo'e 'im till he +staps greetin'." + +"Nae, bonny wee, he wullna stap." The farmer picked the child up on one +arm, gripped the dog under the other, and the gude wife went before with +a lantern, across the dark farmyard to the cow-barn. When the stout door +was unlatched there was a smell of warm animals, of milk, and cured hay, +and the sound of full, contented breathings that should have brought a +sense of companionship to a grieving little creature. + +"Bobby wullna be lanely here wi' the coos, bairnie, an' i' the morn ye +can tak' a bit rope an' haud it in a wee hand so he canna brak awa', +an' syne, in a day or twa, he'll be forgettin' Auld Jock. Ay, ye'll hae +grand times wi' the sonsie doggie, rinnin' an' loupin' on the braes." + +This argument was so convincing and so attractive that the little maid +dried her tears, kissed Bobby on the head again, and made a bed of +heather for him in a corner. But as they were leaving the byre fresh +doubts assailed her. + +"He'll gang awa' gin ye dinna tie 'im snug the nicht, faither." + +"Sic a fulish bairn! Wi' fower wa's aroond 'im, an' a roof to 'is heid, +an' a floor to 'is fut, hoo could a sma' dog mak' a way oot?" + +It was a foolish notion, bred of fond anxiety, and so, reassured, the +child went happily back to the house and to rosy sleep in her little +closet bed. + +Ah! here was a warm place in a cold world for Bobby. A soft-hearted +little mistress and merry playmate was here, generous food, and human +society of a kind that was very much to a little farm dog's liking. Here +was freedom--wide moors to delight his scampering legs, adventures with +rabbits, foxes, hares and moor-fowl, and great spaces where no one's +ears would be offended by his loudest, longest barking. Besides, Auld +Jock had said, with his last breath, "Gang--awa'--hame--laddie!" It is +not to be supposed Bobby had forgotten that, since he remembered +and obeyed every other order of that beloved voice. But there, +self-interest, love of liberty, and the instinct of obedience, even, +sank into the abysses of the little creature's mind. Up to the top rose +the overmastering necessity of guarding the bit of sacred earth that +covered his master. + +The byre was no sooner locked than Bobby began, in the pitch darkness, +to explore the walls. The single promise of escape that was offered was +an inch-wide crack under the door, where the flooring stopped short and +exposed a strip of earth. That would have appalled any but a desperate +little dog. The crack was so small as to admit but one paw, at first, +and the earth was packed as hard as wood by generations of trampling +cattle. + +There he began to dig. He came of a breed of dogs used by farmers and +hunters to dig small, burrowing animals out of holes, a breed whose +courage and persistence know no limit. He dug patiently, steadily, hour +after hour, enlarging the hole by inches. Now and then he had to stop +to rest. When he was able to use both forepaws he made encouraging +progress; but when he had to reach under the door, quite the length of +his stretched legs, and drag every bit of earth back into the byre, the +task must have been impossible to any little creature not urged by utter +misery. But Skye terriers have been known to labor with such fury that +they have perished of their own exertions. Bobby's nose sniffed liberty +long before he could squeeze his weasel-like body through the tunnel. +His back bruised and strained by the struggle through a hole too small, +he stood, trembling with exhaustion, in the windy dawn. + +An opening door, a barking sheep-dog, the shuffle of the moving flock, +were signs that the farm day was beginning, although all the stars had +not faded out of the sky. A little flying shadow, Bobby slipped out of +the cow-yard, past the farm-house, and literally tumbled down the brae. +From one level to another he dropped, several hundred feet in a very few +minutes, and from the clear air of the breezy hilltop to a nether world +that was buried fathoms deep in a sea-fog as white as milk. + +Hidden in a deep fold of the spreading skirts of the range, and some +distance from the road, lay a pool, made by damming a burn, and used, in +the shearing season, for washing sheep. Surrounded by brushy woods, and +very damp and dark, at other seasons it was deserted. Bobby found this +secluded place with his nose, curled up under a hazel thicket and fell +sound asleep. And while he slept, a nipping wind from the far, northern +Highlands swooped down on the mist and sent it flying out to sea. The +Lowlands cleared like magic. From the high point where Bobby lay the +road could be seen to fall, by short rises and long descents, all the +way to Edinburgh. From its crested ridge and flanking hills the city +trailed a dusky banner of smoke out over the fishing fleet in the Firth. + +A little dog cannot see such distant views. Bobby could only read and +follow the guide-posts of odors along the way. He had begun the ascent +to the toll-bar when he heard the clatter of a cart and the pounding +of hoofs behind him. He did not wait to learn if this was the Cauldbrae +farmer in pursuit. Certain knowledge on that point was only to be gained +at his peril. He sprang into the shelter of a stone wall, scrambled over +it, worked his way along it a short distance, and disappeared into a +brambly path that skirted a burn in a woody dell. + +Immediately the little dog was lost in an unexplored country. The narrow +glen was musical with springs, and the low growth was undercut with a +maze of rabbit runs, very distracting to a dog of a hunting breed. Bobby +knew, by much journeying with Auld Jock, that running water is a natural +highway. Sheep drift along the lowest level until they find an outlet +down some declivity, or up some foaming steep, to new pastures. + +But never before had Bobby found, above such a rustic brook, a many +chimneyed and gabled house of stone, set in a walled garden and swathed +in trees. Today, many would cross wide seas to look upon Swanston +cottage, in whose odorous old garden a whey-faced, wistful-eyed laddie +dreamed so many brave and laughing dreams. It was only a farm-house +then, fallen from a more romantic history, and it had no attraction +for Bobby. He merely sniffed at dead vines of clematis, sleeping briar +bushes, and very live, bright hedges of holly, rounded a corner of its +wall, and ran into a group of lusty children romping on the brae, below +the very prettiest, thatch roofed and hill-sheltered hamlet within many +a mile of Edinboro' town. The bairns were lunching from grimy, mittened +hands, gypsy fashion, life being far too short and playtime too brief +for formal meals. Seeing them eating, Bobby suddenly discovered that he +was hungry. He rose before a well-provided laddie and politely begged +for a share of his meal. + +Such an excited shouting of admiration and calling on mithers to come +and see the bonny wee dog was never before heard on Swanston village +green. Doors flew open and bareheaded women ran out. Then the babies had +to be brought, and the' old grandfaithers and grandmithers. Everybody +oh-ed and ah-ed and clapped hands, and doubled up with laughter, for, +a tempting bit held playfully just out of reach, Bobby rose, again and +again, jumped for it, and chased a teasing laddie. Then he bethought him +to roll over and over, and to go through other winsome little tricks, +as Auld Jock had taught him to do, to win the reward. All this had one +quite unexpected result. A shrewd-eyed woman pounced upon Bobby and +captured him. + +"He's no' an ordinar' dog. Some leddy has lost her pet. I'll juist shut +'im up, an' syne she'll pay a shullin' or twa to get 'im again." + +With a twist and a leap Bobby was gone. He scrambled straight up the +steep, thorn-clad wall of the glen, where no laddie could follow, and +was over the crest. It was a narrow escape, made by terrific effort. +His little heart pounding with exhaustion and alarm, he hid under a whin +bush to get his breath and strength. The sheltered dell was windless, +but here a stiff breeze blew. Suddenly shifting a point, the wind +brought to the little dog's nose a whiff of the acrid coal smoke of +Edinburgh three miles away. + +Straight as an arrow he ran across country, over roadway and wall, +plowed fields and rippling burns. He scrambled under hedges and dashed +across farmsteads and cottage gardens. As he neared the city the hour +bells aided him, for the Skye terrier is keen of hearing. It was growing +dark when he climbed up the last bank and gained Lauriston Place. There +he picked up the odors of milk and wool, and the damp smell of the +kirkyard. + +Now for something comforting to put into his famished little body. A +night and a day of exhausting work, of anxiety and grief, had used up +the last ounce of fuel. Bobby raced down Forest Road and turned the +slight angle into Greyfriars Place. The lamp lighter's progress toward +the bridge was marked by the double row of lamps that bloomed, one after +one, on the dusk. The little dog had come to the steps of Mr. Traill's +place, and lifted himself to scratch on the door, when the bugle began +to blow. He dropped with the first note and dashed to the kirkyard gate. + +None too soon! Mr. Brown was setting the little wicket gate inside, +against the wall. In the instant his back was turned, Bobby slipped +through. After nightfall, when the caretaker had made his rounds, he +came out from under the fallen table-tomb of Mistress Jean Grant. + +Lights appeared at the rear windows of the tenements, and families sat +at supper. It was snell weather again, the sky dark with threat of +snow, and the windows were all closed. But with a sharp bark beneath the +lowest of them Bobby could have made his presence and his wants known. +He watched the people eating, sitting wistfully about on his haunches +here and there, but remaining silent. By and by there were sounds of +crying babies, of crockery being washed, and the ringing of church +bells far and near. Then the lights were extinguished, and huge bulks of +shadow, of tenements and kirk, engulfed the kirkyard. + +When Bobby lay down on Auld Jock's grave, pellets of frozen snow were +falling and the air had hardened toward frost. + + + + +VI. + +Sleep alone goes far to revive a little dog, and fasting sharpens the +wits. Bobby was so tired that he slept soundly, but so hungry that he +woke early, and instantly alert to his situation. It was so very early +of a dark winter morning that not even the sparrows were out foraging in +the kirkyard for dry seeds. The drum and bugle had not been sounded from +the Castle when the milk and dustman's carts began to clatter over the +frozen streets. With the first hint of dawn stout fishwives, who had +tramped all the way in from the piers of Newhaven with heavily laden +creels on their heads, were lustily crying their "caller herrin'." +Soon fagot men began to call up the courts of tenements, where fuel was +bought by the scant bundle: "Are ye cauld?" + +Many a human waif in the tall buildings about the lower end of +Greyfriars kirkyard was cold, even in bed, but, in his thick underjacket +of fleece, Bobby was as warm as a plate of breakfast toast. With a +vigorous shaking he broke and scattered the crust of snow that burdened +his shaggy thatch. Then he lay down on the grave again, with his nose +on his paws. Urgent matters occupied the little dog's mind. To deal with +these affairs he had the long head of the canniest Scot, wide and high +between the ears, and a muzzle as determined as a little steel trap. +Small and forlorn as he was, courage, resource and purpose marked him. + +As soon as the door of the caretaker's lodge opened he would have to +creep under the fallen slab again. To lie in such a cramped position, +hour after hour, day after day, was enough to break the spirit of any +warm blooded creature that lives. It was an exquisite form of torture +not long to be endured. And to get his single meal a day at Mr. Traill's +place Bobby had to watch for the chance opening of the wicket to slip in +and out like a thief. The furtive life is not only perilous, it outrages +every feeling of an honest dog. It is hard for him to live at all +without the approval and the cordial consent of men. The human order +hostile, he quickly loses his self-respect and drops to the pariah +class. Already wee Bobby had the look of the neglected. His pretty coat +was dirty and unkempt. In his run across country, leaves, twigs and +burrs had become entangled in his long hair, and his legs and underparts +were caked with mire. + +Instinctively any dog struggles to escape the fate of the outcast. By +every art he possesses he ingratiates himself with men. One that has his +usefulness in the human scheme of things often is able to make his own +terms with life, to win the niche of his choice. Bobby's one talent that +was of practical value to society was his hunting instinct for every +small animal that burrows and prowls and takes toll of men's labor. +In Greyfriars kirkyard was work to be done that he could do. For quite +three centuries rats and mice had multiplied in this old sanctuary +garden from which cats were chased and dogs excluded. Every breeze that +blew carried challenges to Bobby's offended nose. Now, in the crisp gray +dawn, a big rat came out into the open and darted here and there over +the powdering of dry snow that frosted the kirkyard. + +A leap, as if released from a spring, and Bobby captured it. A snap of +his long muzzle, a jerk of his stoutly set head, and the victim hung +limp from his grip. And he followed another deeply seated instinct when +he carried the slain to Auld Jock's grave. Trophies of the chase were +always to be laid at the feet of the master. + +"Gude dog! eh, but ye're a bonny wee fechter!" Auld Jock had always said +after such an exploit; and Bobby had been petted and praised until he +nearly wagged his crested tail off with happiness and pride. Then he had +been given some choice tidbit of food as a reward for his prowess. The +farmer of Cauldbrae had on such occasions admitted that Bobby might be +of use about barn and dairy, and Mr. Traill had commended his capture of +prowlers in the dining-room. But Bobby was "ower young" and had not been +"put to the vermin" as a definite business in life. He caught a rat, +now and then, as he chased rabbits, merely as a diversion. When he +had caught this one he lay down again. But after a time he got up +deliberately and trotted down to the encircling line of old courtyarded +tombs. There were nooks and crannies between and behind these along the +wall into which the caretaker could not penetrate with sickle, rake and +spade, that formed sheltered runways for rodents. + +A long, low, weasel-like dog that could flatten himself on the ground, +Bobby squeezed between railings and pedestals, scrambled over fallen +fragments of sculptured urns, trumpets, angels' wings, altars, skull and +cross-bones, and Latin inscribed scrolls. He went on his stomach under +holly and laurel shrubs, burdocks, thistles, and tangled, dead vines. +Here and there he lay in such rubbish as motionless as the effigies +careen on marble biers. With the growing light grew the heap of the +slain on Auld Jock's grave. + +Having done his best, Bobby lay down again, worse in appearance than +before, but with a stouter heart. He did not stir, although the shadows +fled, the sepulchers stood up around the field of snow, and slabs and +shafts camped in ranks on the slope. Smoke began to curl up from high, +clustered chimney-pots; shutters were opened, and scantily clad women +had hurried errands on decaying gallery and reeling stairway. Suddenly +the Castle turrets were gilded with pale sunshine, and all the little +cells in the tall, old houses hummed and buzzed and clacked with life. +The University bell called scattered students to morning prayers. +Pinched and elfish faces of children appeared at the windows overlooking +the kirkyard. The sparrows had instant news of that, and the little +winged beggars fluttered up to the lintels of certain deep-set +casements, where ill-fed bairns scattered breakfasts of crumbs. + +Bobby watched all this without a movement. He shivered when the lodge +door was heard to open and shut and heavy footsteps crunched on the +gravel and snow around the church. "Juist fair silly" on his quaking +legs he stood up, head and tail drooped. But he held his ground bravely, +and when the caretaker sighted him he trotted to meet the man, lifted +himself on his hind legs, his short, shagged fore paws on his breast, +begging attention and indulgence. Then he sprawled across the great +boots, asking pardon for the liberty he was taking. At last, all in a +flash, he darted back to the grave, sniffed at it, and stood again, head +up, plumy tail crested, all excitement, as much as to say: + +"Come awa' ower, man, an' leuk at the brave sicht." + +If he could have barked, his meaning would have carried more +convincingly, but he "hauded 'is gab" loyally. And, alas, the caretaker +was not to be beguiled. Mr. Traill had told him Bobby had been sent +back to the hill farm, but here he was, "perseestent" little rascal, and +making some sort of bid for the man's favor. Mr. Brown took his pipe out +of his mouth in surprised exasperation, and glowered at the dog. + +"Gang awa' oot wi' ye!" + +But Bobby was back again coaxing undauntedly, abasing himself before +the angry man, insisting that he had something of interest to show. The +caretaker was literally badgered and cajoled into following him. One +glance at the formidable heap of the slain, and Mr. Brown dropped to a +seat on the slab. + +"Preserve us a'!" + +He stared from the little dog to his victims, turned them over with his +stout stick and counted them, and stared again. Bobby fixed his pleading +eyes on the man and stood at strained attention while fate hung in the +balance. + +"Guile wark! Guile wark! A braw doggie, an' an unco' fechter. Losh! but +ye're a deil o' a bit dog!" + +All this was said in a tone of astonished comment, so non-committal of +feeling that Bobby's tail began to twitch in the stress of his anxiety. +When the caretaker spoke again, after a long, puzzled frowning, it was +to express a very human bewilderment and irritation. + +"Noo, what am I gangin' to do wi' ye?" + +Ah, that was encouraging! A moment before, he had ordered Bobby out in +no uncertain tone. After another moment he referred the question to a +higher court. + +"Jeanie, woman, come awa' oot a meenit, wull ye?" + +A hasty pattering of carpet-slippered feet on the creaking snow, around +the kirk, and there was the neatest little apple-cheeked peasant woman +in Scotland, "snod" from her smooth, frosted hair, spotless linen mutch +and lawn kerchief, to her white, lamb's wool stockings. + +"Here's the bit dog I was tellin' ye aboot; an' see for yersel' what +he's done noo." + +"The wee beastie couldna do a' that! It's as muckle as his ain wecht in +fou' vermin!" she cried. + +"Ay, he did. Thae terriers are sperity, by the ordinar'. Ane o' them, +let into the corn exchange a murky nicht, killed saxty in ten meenits, +an' had to be dragged awa' by the tail. Noo, what I am gangin' to do wi' +the takin' bit I dinna ken." + +It is very certain that simple Mistress Jean Brown had never heard of +Mr. Dick's advice to Miss Betsy Trotwood on the occasion when young +David Copperfield presented himself, travel-stained and weary, before +his good aunt. But out of her experience of wholesome living she brought +forth the same wise opinion. + +"I'd gie him a gude washin' first of a', Jamie. He leuks like some +puir, gaen-aboot dog." And she drew her short, blue-stuff gown back from +Bobby's grateful attentions. + +Mr. Brown slapped his corduroy-breeked knee and nodded his grizzled +head. "Richt ye are. It's maist michty, noo, I wadna think o' that. When +I was leevin' as an under gairdener wi' a laird i' Argyleshire I was aye +aboot the kennels wi' the gillies. That was lang syne. The sma' terrier +dogs were aye washed i' claes tubs wi' warm water an' soap. Come awa', +Bobby." + +The caretaker got up stiffly, for such snell weather was apt to give +him twinges in his joints. In him a youthful enthusiasm for dogs had +suddenly revived. Besides, although he would have denied it, he was +relieved at having the main issue, as to what was to be done with this +four-footed trespasser, side-tracked for a time. Bobby followed him to +the lodge at an eager trot, and he dutifully hopped into the bath that +was set on the rear doorstep. Mr. Brown scrubbed him vigorously, +and Bobby splashed and swam and churned the soapy water to foam. He +scrambled out at once, when told to do so, and submitted to being dried +with a big, tow-linen towel. This was all a delightful novelty to Bobby. +Heretofore he had gone into any convenient tam or burn to swim, and then +dried himself by rolling on the heather and running before the wind. +Now he was bundled up ignominiously in an old flannel petticoat, carried +across a sanded kitchen floor and laid on a warm hearth. + +"Doon wi' ye!" was the gruff order. Bobby turned around and around on +the hearth, like some little wild dog making a bed in the jungle, before +he obeyed. He kept very still during the reading of a chapter and the +singing of a Psalm, as he had been taught to do at the farm by many +a reminder from Auld Jock's boot. And he kept away from the +breakfast-table, although the walls of his stomach were collapsed as +flat as the sides of an empty pocket. + +It was such a clean, shining little kitchen, with the scoured deal +table, chairs and cupboard, and the firelight from the grate winked +so on pewter mugs, copper kettle, willow-patterned plates and diamond +panes, that Bobby blinked too. Flowers bloomed in pots on the casement +sills, and a little brown skylark sang, fluttering as if it would soar, +in a gilded cage. After the morning meal Mr. Brown lighted his pipe +and put on his bonnet to go out again, when he bethought him that Bobby +might be needing something to eat. + +"What'll ye gie 'im, Jeanie? At the laird's, noo, the terriers were aye +fed wi' bits o' livers an' cheese an' moor fowls' eggs, an' sic-like, +fried." + +"Havers, Jamie, it's no' releegious to feed a dog better than puir +bairns. He'll do fair weel wi' table-scraps." + +She set down a plate with a spoonful of porridge on it, a cold potato, +some bread crusts, and the leavings of a broiled caller herrin'. It was +a generous breakfast for so small a dog, but Bobby had been without food +for quite forty hours, and had done an amazing amount of work in the +meantime. When he had eaten all of it, he was still hungry. As a polite +hint, he polished the empty plate with his pink tongue and looked up +expectantly; but the best-intentioned people, if they have had little to +do with dogs, cannot read such signs. + +"Ye needna lick the posies aff," the wifie said, good humoredly, as she +picked the plate up to wash it. She thought to put down a tin basin of +water. Bobby lapped a' it so eagerly, yet so daintily, that she added: +"He's a weel-broucht-up tyke, Jamie." + +"He is so. Noo, we'll see hoo weel he can leuk." In a shamefaced way he +fetched from a tool-box a long-forgotten, strong little currycomb, such +as is used on shaggy Shetland ponies. With that he proceeded to give +Bobby such a grooming as he had never had before. It was a painful +operation, for his thatch was a stubborn mat of crisp waves and knotty +tangles to his plumy tail and down to his feathered toes. He braced +himself and took the punishment without a whimper, and when it was done +he stood cascaded with dark-silver ripples nearly to the floor. + +"The bonny wee!" cried Mistress Jeanie. "I canna tak' ma twa een aff o' +'im." + +"Ay, he's bonny by the ordinar'. It wad be grand, noo, gin the +meenister'd fancy 'im an' tak' 'im into the manse." + +The wifie considered this ruefully. "Jamie, I was wishin' ye didna hae +to--" + +But what she wished he did not have to do, Mr. Brown did not stop to +hear. He suddenly clapped his bonnet on his head and went out. He had +an urgent errand on High Street, to buy grass and flower seeds and tools +that would certainly be needed in April. It took him an hour or more +of shrewd looking about for the best bargains, in a swarm of little +barnacle and cellar shops, to spend a few of the kirk's shillings. When +he found himself, to his disgust, looking at a nail studded collar for +a little dog he called himself a "doited auld fule," and tramped back +across the bridge. + +At the kirkyard gate he stopped and read the notice through twice: "No +dogs permitted." That was as plain as "Thou shalt not." To the pious +caretaker and trained servant it was the eleventh commandment. He shook +his head, sighed, and went in to dinner. Bobby was not in the house, and +the master of it avoided inquiring for him. He also avoided the +wifie's wistful eye, and he busied himself inside the two kirks all the +afternoon. + +Because he was in the kirks, and the beautiful memorial windows of +stained glass were not for the purpose of looking out, he did not see a +dramatic incident that occurred in the kirkyard after three o'clock in +the afternoon. The prelude to it really began with the report of the +timegun at one. Bobby had insisted upon being let out of the lodge +kitchen, and had spent the morning near Auld Jock's grave and in nosing +about neighboring slabs and thorn bushes. When the time-gun boomed he +trotted to the gate quite openly and waited there inside the wicket. + +In such nipping weather there were no visitors to the kirkyard and the +gate was not opened. The music bells ran the gamut of old Scotch airs +and ceased, while he sat there and waited patiently. Once a man stopped +to look at the little dog, and Bobby promptly jumped on the wicket, +plainly begging to have it unlatched. But the passer-by decided that +some lady had left her pet behind, and would return for him. So he +patted the attractive little Highlander on the head and went on about +his business. + +Discouraged by the unpromising outlook for dinner that day, Bobby went +slowly back to the grave. Twice afterward he made hopeful pilgrimages +to the gate. For diversion he fell noiselessly upon a prowling cat and +chased it out of the kirkyard. At last he sat upon the table-tomb. He +had escaped notice from the tenements all the morning because the view +from most of the windows was blocked by washings, hung out and dripping, +then freezing and clapping against the old tombs. It was half-past three +o'clock when a tiny, wizened face popped out of one of the rude little +windows in the decayed Cunzie Neuk at the bottom of Candlemakers Row. +Crippled Tammy Barr called out in shrill excitement, + +"Ailie! O-o-oh, Ailie Lindsey, there's the wee doggie!" + +"Whaur?" The lassie's elfin face looked out from a low, rear window of +the Candlemakers' Guildhall at the top of the Row. + +"On the stane by the kirk wa'." + +"I see 'im noo. Isna he bonny? I wish Bobby could bide i' the kirkyaird, +but they wadna let 'im. Tammy, gin ye tak' 'im up to Maister Traill, +he'll gie ye the shullin'!" + +"I couldna tak' 'im by ma lane," was the pathetic confession. "Wad ye +gang wi' me, Ailie? Ye could drap ower an' catch 'im, an' I could come +by the gate. Faither made me some grand crutches frae an' auld chair +back." + +Tears suddenly drowned the lassie's blue eyes and ran down her pinched +little cheeks. "Nae, I couldna gang. I haena ony shoon to ma feet." + +"It's no' so cauld. Gin I had twa guile feet I could gang the bit way +wi'oot shoon." + +"I ken it isna so cauld," Ailie admitted, "but for a lassie it's no' +respectable to gang to a grand place barefeeted." + +That was undeniable, and the eager children fell silent and tearful. But +oh, necessity is the mother of makeshifts among the poor! Suddenly Ailie +cried: "Bide a meenit, Tammy," and vanished. Presently she was back, +with the difficulty overcome. "Grannie says I can wear her shoon. She +doesna wear 'em i' the hoose, ava." + +"I'll gie ye a saxpence, Ailie," offered Tammy. + +The sordid bargain shocked no feeling of these tenement bairns +nor marred their pleasure in the adventure. Presently there was a +tap-tap-tapping of crutches on the heavy gallery that fronted the Cunzie +Neuk, and on the stairs that descended from it to the steep and curving +row. The lassie draped a fragment of an old plaid deftly over her thinly +clad shoulders, climbed through the window, to the pediment of the +classic tomb that blocked it, and dropped into the kirkyard. To her +surprise Bobby was there at her feet, frantically wagging his tail, +and he raced her to the gate. She caught him on the steps of the dining +room, and held his wriggling little body fast until Tammy came up. + +It was a tumultuous little group that burst in upon the astonished +landlord: barking fluff of an excited dog, flying lassie in clattering +big shoes, and wee, tapping Tammy. They literally fell upon him when he +was engaged in counting out his money. + +"Whaur did you find him?" asked Mr. Traill in bewilderment. + +Six-year-old Ailie slipped a shy finger into her mouth, and looked to +the very much more mature five-year old crippled laddie to answer, + +"He was i' the kirkyaird." + +"Sittin' upon a stane by 'is ainsel'," added Ailie. + +"An' no' hidin', ava. It was juist like he was leevin' there." + +"An' syne, when I drapped oot o' the window he louped at me so bonny, +an' I couldna keep up wi' 'im to the gate." + +Wonder of wonders! It was plain that Bobby had made his way back from +the hill farm and, from his appearance and manner, as well as from this +account, it was equally clear that some happy change in his fortunes +had taken place. He sat up on his haunches listening with interest and +lolling his tongue! And that was a thing the bereft little dog had not +done since his master died. In the first pause in the talk he rose and +begged for his dinner. + +"Noo, what am I to pay? It took ane, twa, three o' ye to fetch ane sma' +dog. A saxpence for the laddie, a saxpence for the lassie, an' a bit +meal for Bobby." + +While he was putting the plate down under the settle Mr. Traill heard +an amazed whisper "He's gien the doggie a chuckie bane." The landlord +switched the plate from under Bobby's protesting little muzzle and +turned to catch the hungry look on the faces of the children. Chicken, +indeed, for a little dog, before these ill-fed bairns! Mr. Traill had a +brilliant thought. + +"Preserve me! I didna think to eat ma ain dinner. I hae so muckle to eat +I canna eat it by ma lane." + +The idea of having too much to eat was so preposterously funny that +Tammy doubled up with laughter and nearly tumbled over his crutches. Mr. +Traill set him upright again. + +"Did ye ever gang on a picnic, bairnies?" And what was a picnic? Tammy +ventured the opinion that it might be some kind of a cart for lame +laddies to ride in. + +"A picnic is when ye gang gypsying in the summer," Mr. Traill explained. +"Ye walk to a bonny green brae, an' sit doon under a hawthorntree a' +covered wi' posies, by a babblin' burn, an' ye eat oot o' yer ain hands. +An' syne ye hear a throstle or a redbreast sing an' a saucy blackbird +whustle." + +"Could ye tak' a dog?" asked Tammy. + +"Ye could that, mannie. It's no' a picnic wi'oot a sonsie doggie to rin +on the brae wi' ye." + +"Oh!" Ailie's blue eyes slowly widened in her pallid little face. "But +ye couldna hae a picnic i' the snawy weather." + +"Ay, ye could. It's the bonniest of a' when ye're no' expectin' it. +I aye keep a picnic hidden i' the ingleneuk aboon." He suddenly swung +Tammy up on his shoulder, and calling, gaily, "Come awa'," went out +the door, through another beside it, and up a flight of stairs to the +dining-room above. A fire burned there in the grate, the tables were +covered with linen, and there were blooming flowers in pots in the front +windows. Patrons from the University, and the well-to-do streets and +squares to the south and east, made of this upper room a sort of club in +the evenings. At four o'clock in the afternoon there were no guests. + +"Noo," said Mr. Traill, when his overcome little guests were seated at +a table in the inglenook. "A picnic is whaur ye hae onything ye fancy +to eat; gude things ye wullna be haein' ilka day, ye mind." He rang a +call-bell, and a grinning waiter laddie popped up so quickly the lassie +caught her breath. + +"Eneugh broo for aince," said Tammy. + +"Porridge that isna burned," suggested Ailie. Such pitiful poverty of +the imagination! + +"Nae, it's bread, an' butter, an' strawberry jam, an' tea wi' cream an' +sugar, an' cauld chuckie at a snawy picnic," announced Mr. Traill. And +there it was, served very quickly and silently, after some manner of +magic. Bobby had to stand on the fourth chair to eat his dinner, and +when he had despatched it he sat up and viewed the little party with the +liveliest interest and happiness. + +"Tammy," Ailie said, when her shyness had worn off, "it's like the grand +tales ye mak' up i' yer heid." + +"Preserve me! Does the wee mannie mak' up stories?" + +"It's juist fulish things, aboot haein' mair to eat, an' a sonsie doggie +to play wi', an' twa gude legs to tak' me aboot. I think 'em oot at +nicht when I canna sleep." + +"Eh, laddie, do ye noo?" Mr. Traill suddenly had a terrible "cauld in +'is heid," that made his eyes water. "Hoo auld are ye?" + +"Five, gangin' on sax." + +"Losh! I thoucht ye war fifty, gangin' on saxty." Laughter saved the day +from overmoist emotions. And presently Mr. Traill was able to say in a +business-like tone: + +"We'll hae to tak' ye to the infirmary. An' if they canna mak' yer legs +ower ye'll get a pair o' braw crutches that are the niest thing to gude +legs. An' syne we'll see if there's no' a place in Heriot's for a sma' +laddie that mak's up bonny tales o' his ain in the murky auld Cunzie +Neuk." + +Now the gay little feast was eaten, and early dark was coming on. If Mr. +Traill had entertained the hope that Bobby had recovered from his grief +and might remain with him, he was disappointed. The little dog began to +be restless. He ran to the door and back; he begged, and he scratched +on the panel. And then he yelped! As soon as the door was opened he shot +out of it, tumbled down the stairway and waited at the foot impatiently +for the lower door to be unlatched. Ailie's thin, swift legs were left +behind when Bobby dashed to the kirkyard. + +Tammy followed at a surprising pace on his rude crutches, and Mr. Traill +brought up the rear. If the children could not smuggle the frantic +little dog inside, the landlord meant to put him over the wicket and, if +necessary, to have it out with the caretaker, and then to go before the +kirk minister and officers with his plea. He was still concealed by the +buildings, from the alcoved gate, when he heard Mr. Brown's gruff voice +taking the frightened bairns to task. + +"Gie me the dog; an' dinna ye tak' him oot ony mair wi'oot spierin' me." + +The children fled. Peeping around the angle of the Book Hunter's Stall, +Mr. Traill saw the caretaker lift Bobby over the wicket to his arms, and +start with him toward the lodge. He was perishing with curiosity about +this astonishing change of front on the part of Mr. Brown, but it was a +delicate situation in which it seemed best not to meddle. He went slowly +back to the restaurant, begrudging Bobby to the luckier caretaker. + +His envy was premature. Mr. Brown set Bobby inside the lodge kitchen and +announced briefly to his wife: "The bit dog wull sleep i' the hoose +the nicht." And he went about some business at the upper end of the +kirkyard. When he came in an hour later Bobby was gone. + +"I couldna keep 'im in, Jamie. He didna blatter, but he greeted so sair +to be let oot, an syne he scratched a' the paint aff the door." + +Mr. Brown glowered at her in exasperation. "Woman, they'll hae me up +afore kirk sessions for brakin' the rules, an' syne they'll turn us a' +oot i' the cauld warld togither." + +He slammed the door and stormed angrily around the kirk. It was still +light enough to see the little creature on the snowy mound and, indeed, +Bobby got up and wagged his tail in friendly greeting. At that all the +bluster went out of the man, and he began to argue the matter with the +dog. + +"Come awa', Bobby. Ye canna be leevin' i' the kirkyaird." + +Bobby was of a different opinion. He turned around and around, +thoughtfully, several times, then sat up on the grave. Entirely willing +to spend a social hour with his new friend, he fixed his eyes hospitably +upon him. Mr. Brown dropped to the slab, lighted his pipe, and smoked +for a time, to compose his agitated mind. By and by he got up briskly +and stooped to lift the little dog. At that Bobby dug his claws in the +clods and resisted with all his muscular body and determined mind. He +clung to the grave so desperately, and looked up so piteously, that the +caretaker surrendered. And there was snod Mistress Jeanie, forgetting +her spotless gown and kneeling in the snow. + +"Puir Bobby, puir wee Bobby!" she cried, and her tears fell on the +little tousled head. The caretaker strode abruptly away and waited for +the wifie in the shadow of the auld kirk. Bobby lifted his muzzle and +licked the caressing hand. Then he curled himself up comfortably on the +mound and went to sleep. + + + + +VIII. + +In no part of Edinburgh did summer come up earlier, or with more lavish +bloom, than in old Greyfriars kirkyard. Sheltered on the north and east, +it was open to the moist breezes of the southwest, and during all the +lengthening afternoons the sun lay down its slope and warmed the +rear windows of the overlooking tenements. Before the end of May the +caretaker had much ado to keep the growth in order. Vines threatened +to engulf the circling street of sepulchers in greenery and bloom, and +grass to encroach on the flower plots. + +A half century ago there were no rotary lawnmowers to cut off clover +heads; and, if there had been, one could not have been used on these +dropping terraces, so populous with slabs and so closely set with turfed +mounds and oblongs of early flowering annuals and bedding plants. Mr. +Brown had to get down on his hands and knees, with gardener's shears, +to clip the turfed borders and banks, and take a sickle to the hummocks. +Thus he could dig out a root of dandelion with the trowel kept ever in +his belt, consider the spreading crocuses and valley lilies, whether +to spare them, give a country violet its blossoming time, and leave a +screening burdock undisturbed until fledglings were out of their nests +in the shrubbery. + +Mistress Jeanie often brought out a little old milking stool on balmy +mornings, and sat with knitting or mending in one of the narrow aisles, +to advise her gude-mon in small matters. Bobby trotted quietly about, +sniffing at everything with the liveliest interest, head on this side or +that, alertly. His business, learned in his first summer in Greyfriars, +was to guard the nests of foolish skylarks, song-thrushes, redbreasts +and wrens, that built low in lilac, laburnum, and flowering currant +bushes, in crannies of wall and vault, and on the ground. It cannot +but be a pleasant thing to be a wee young dog, full of life and good +intentions, and to play one's dramatic part in making an old garden of +souls tuneful with bird song. A cry of alarm from parent or nestling +was answered instantly by the tiny, tousled policeman, and there was a +prowler the less, or a skulking cat was sent flying over tomb and wall. + +His duty done, without noise or waste of energy, Bobby returned to lie +in the sun on Auld Jock's grave. Over this beloved mound a coverlet of +rustic turf had been spread as soon as the frost was out of the ground, +and a bonny briar bush planted at the head. Then it bore nature's own +tribute of flowers, for violets, buttercups, daisies and clover blossoms +opened there and, later, a spike or so of wild foxglove and a knot of +heather. Robin redbreasts and wrens foraged around Bobby, unafraid; +swallows swooped down from their mud villages, under the dizzy dormers +and gables, to flush the flies on his muzzle, and whole flocks of little +blue titmice fluttered just overhead, in their rovings from holly and +laurel to newly tasseled firs and yew trees. + +The click of the wicket gate was another sort of alarm altogether. At +that the little dog slipped under the fallen table-tomb and lay hidden +there until any strange visitor had taken himself away. Except for two +more forced returns and ingenious escapes from the sheepfarm on the +Pentlands, Bobby had lived in the kirkyard undisturbed for six months. +The caretaker had neither the heart to put him out nor the courage to +face the minister and the kirk officers with a plea for him to remain. +The little dog's presence there was known, apparently, only to Mr. +Traill, to a few of the tenement dwellers, and to the Heriot boys. If +his life was clandestine in a way, it was as regular of hour and duty +and as well ordered as that of the garrison in the Castle. + +When the time-gun boomed, Bobby was let out for his midday meal at Mr. +Traill's and for a noisy run about the neighborhood to exercise his +lungs and legs. On Wednesdays he haunted the Grassmarket, sniffing at +horses, carts and mired boots. Edinburgh had so many shaggy little +Skye and Scotch terriers that one more could go about unremarked. Bobby +returned to the kirkyard at his own good pleasure. In the evening he was +given a supper of porridge and broo, or milk, at the kitchen door of the +lodge, and the nights he spent on Auld Jock's grave. The morning drum +and bugle woke him to the chase, and all his other hours were spent in +close attendance on the labors of the caretaker. The click of the wicket +gate was the signal for instant disappearance. + +A scramble up the wall from Heriot's Hospital grounds, or the patter +of bare feet on the gravel, however, was notice to come out and greet +a friend. Bobby was host to the disinherited children of the tenements. +Now, at the tap-tap-tapping of Tammy Barr's crutches, he scampered up +the slope, and he suited his pace to the crippled boy's in coming down +again. Tammy chose a heap of cut grass on which to sit enthroned and +play king, a grand new crutch for a scepter, and Bobby for a courtier. +At command, the little dog rolled over and over, begged, and walked on +his hind legs. He even permitted a pair of thin little arms to come near +strangling him, in an excess of affection. Then he wagged his tail and +lolled his tongue to show that he was friendly, and trotted away about +his business. Tammy took an oat-cake from his pocket to nibble, and +began a conversation with Mistress Jeanie. + +"I broucht a picnic wi' me." + +"Did ye, noo? An' hoo did ye ken aboot picnics, laddie?" + +"Maister Traill was tellin' Ailie an' me. There's ilka thing to mak' +a picnic i' the kirkyaird. They couldna mak' my legs gude i' the +infairmary, but I'm gangin' to Heriot's. I'll juist hae to airn ma +leevin' wi' ma heid, an' no' remember aboot ma legs, ava. Is he no' a +bonny doggie?" + +"Ay, he's bonny. An' ye're a braw laddie no' to fash yersel' aboot what +canna be helped." + +The wifie took his ragged jacket and mended it, dropped a tear in an +impossible hole, and a ha'penny in the one good pocket. And by and by +the pale laddie slept there among the bright graves, in the sun. After +another false alarm from the gate she asked her gude-mon, as she had +asked many times before: + +"What'll ye do, Jamie, when the meenister kens aboot Bobby, an' ca's ye +up afore kirk sessions for brakin' the rule?" + +"We wullna cross the brig till we come to the burn, woman," he +invariably answered, with assumed unconcern. Well he knew that the +bridge might be down and the stream in flood when he came to it. But +Mr. Traill was a member of Greyfriars auld kirk, too, and a companion in +guilt, and Mr. Brown relied not a little on the landlord's fertile mind +and daring tongue. And he relied on useful, well-behaving Bobby to plead +his own cause. + +"There's nae denyin' the doggie is takin' in 'is ways. He's had twa +gude hames fair thrown at 'is heid, but the sperity bit keeps to 'is ain +mind. An' syne he's usefu', an' hauds 'is gab by the ordinar'." He often +reinforced his inclination with some such argument. + +With all their caution, discovery was always imminent. The kirkyard was +long and narrow and on rising levels, and it was cut almost across by +the low mass of the two kirks, so that many things might be going on at +one end that could not be seen from the other. On this Saturday noon, +when the Heriot boys were let out for the half-holiday, Mr. Brown +kept an eye on them until those who lived outside had dispersed. When +Mistress Jeanie tucked her knitting-needles in her belt, and went up +to the lodge to put the dinner over the fire, the caretaker went down +toward Candlemakers Row to trim the grass about the martyrs' monument. +Bobby dutifully trotted at his heels. Almost immediately a half-dozen +laddies, led by Geordie Ross and Sandy McGregor, scaled the wall from +Heriot's grounds and stepped down into the kirkyard, that lay piled +within nearly to the top. They had a perfectly legitimate errand there, +but no mission is to be approached directly by romantic boyhood. + +"Hist!" was the warning, and the innocent invaders, feeling delightfully +lawless, stole over and stormed the marble castle, where "Bluidy" +McKenzie slept uneasily against judgment day. Light-hearted lads can do +daring deeds on a sunny day that would freeze their blood on a dark and +stormy night. So now Geordie climbed nonchalantly to a seat over the old +persecutor, crossed his stout, bare legs, filled an imaginary pipe, and +rattled the three farthings in his pocket. + +"I'm 'Jinglin' Geordie' Heriot," he announced. + +"I'll show ye hoo a prood goldsmith ance smoked wi' a'." Then, jauntily: +"Sandy, gie a crack to 'Bluidy' McKenzie's door an' daur the auld hornie +to come oot." + +The deed was done amid breathless apprehensions, but nothing disturbed +the silence of the May noon except the lark that sprang at their feet +and soared singing into the blue. It was Sandy who presently whistled +like a blackbird to attract the attention of Bobby. + +There were no blackbirds in the kirkyard, and Bobby understood the +signal. He scampered up at once and dashed around the kirk, all +excitement, for he had had many adventures with the Heriot boys at +skating and hockey on Duddingston Lock in the winter, and tramps over +the country and out to Leith harbor in the spring. The laddies prowled +along the upper wall of the kirks, opened and shut the wicket, to give +the caretaker the idea that they had come in decorously by the gate, and +went down to ask him, with due respect and humility, if they could take +Bobby out for the afternoon. They were going to mark the places where +wild flowers might be had, to decorate "Jinglin' Geordie's" portrait, +statue and tomb at the school on Founder's Day. Mr. Brown considered +them with a glower that made the boys nudge each other knowingly. +"Saturday isna the day for 'im to be gaen aboot. He aye has a washin' +an' a groomin' to mak' 'im fit for the Sabbath. An', by the leuk o' ye, +ye'd be nane the waur for soap an' water yer ainsel's." + +"We'll gie 'im 'is washin' an' combin' the nicht," they volunteered, +eagerly. + +"Weel, noo, he wullna hae 'is dinner till the time-gun." + +Neither would they. At that, annoyed by their persistence, Mr. Brown +denied authority. + +"Ye ken weel he isna ma dog. Ye'll hae to gang up an' spier Maister +Traill. He's fair daft aboot the gude-for-naethin' tyke." + +This was understood as permission. As the boys ran up to the gate, with +Bobby at their heels, Mr. Brown called after them: "Ye fetch 'im hame +wi' the sunset bugle, an' gin ye teach 'im ony o' yer unmannerly ways +I'll tak' a stick to yer breeks." + +When they returned to Mr. Traill's place at two o'clock the landlord +stood in shirt-sleeves and apron in the open doorway with Bobby, the +little dog gripping a mutton shank in his mouth. + +"Bobby must tak' his bone down first and hide it awa'. The Sabbath in +a kirkyard is a dull day for a wee dog, so he aye gets a catechism of a +bone to mumble over." + +'The landlord sighed in open envy when the laddies and the little dog +tumbled down the Row to the Grassmarket on their gypsying. His eyes +sought out the glimpse of green country on the dome of Arthur's Seat, +that loomed beyond the University towers to the east. There are times +when the heart of a boy goes ill with the sordid duties of the man. + +Straight down the length of the empty market the laddies ran, through +the crooked, fascinating haunt of horses and jockeys in the street +of King's Stables, then northward along the fronts of quaint little +handicrafts shops that skirted Castle Crag. By turning westward into +Queensferry Street a very few minutes would have brought them to a bit +of buried country. But every expedition of Edinburgh lads of spirit of +that day was properly begun with challenges to scale Castle Rock from +the valley park of Princes Street Gardens on the north. + +"I daur ye to gang up!" was all that was necessary to set any group of +youngsters to scaling the precipice. By every tree and ledge, by every +cranny and point of rock, stoutly rooted hazel and thorn bush and clump +of gorse, they climbed. These laddies went up a quarter or a third +of the way to the grim ramparts and came cautiously down again. Bobby +scrambled higher, tumbled back more recklessly and fell, head over heels +and upside down, on the daisied turf. He righted himself at once, +and yelped in sharp protest. Then he sniffed and busied himself with +pretenses, in the elaborate unconcern with which a little dog denies +anything discreditable. There were legends of daring youth having +climbed this war-like cliff and laying hands on the fortress wall, but +Geordie expressed a popular feeling in declaring these tales "a' lees." + +"No' ony laddie could gang a' the way up an' come doon wi' 'is heid +no' broken. Bobby couldna do it, an' he's mair like a wild fox than an +ordinar' dog. Noo, we're the Light Brigade at Balaklava. Chairge!" + +The Crimean War was then a recent event. Heroes of Sebastopol answered +the summons of drum and bugle in the Castle and fired the hearts of +Edinburgh youth. Cannon all around them, and "theirs not to reason why," +this little band stormed out Queensferry Street and went down, hand +under hand, into the fairy underworld of Leith Water. + +All its short way down from the Pentlands to the sea, the Water of Leith +was then a foaming little river of mills, twisting at the bottom of a +gorge. One cliff-like wall or the other lay to the sun all day, so that +the way was lined with a profusion of every wild thing that turns green +and blooms in the Lowlands of Scotland. And it was filled to the brim +with bird song and water babble. + +A crowd of laddies had only to go inland up this gorge to find wild and +tame bloom enough to bury "Jinglin' Geordie" all over again every year. +But adventure was to be had in greater variety by dropping seaward with +the bickering brown water. These waded along the shallow margin, walked +on shelving sands of gold, and, where the channel was filled, they clung +to the rocks and picked their way along dripping ledges. Bobby missed no +chance to swim. If he could scramble over rough ground like a squirrel +or a fox, he could swim like an otter. Swept over the low dam at Dean +village, where a cup-like valley was formed, he tumbled over and over in +the spray and was all but drowned. As soon as he got his breath and his +bearings he struck out frantically for the bank, shook the foam from +his eyes and ears, and barked indignantly at the saucy fall. The white +miller in the doorway of the gray-stone, red-roofed mill laughed, and +anxious children ran down from a knot of storybook cottages and gay +dooryards. "I'll gie ye ten shullin's for the sperity bit dog," the +miller shouted, above the clatter of the' wheel and the swish of the +dam. + +"He isna oor ain dog," Geordie called back. "But he wullna droon. He's +got a gude heid to 'im, an' wullna be sic a bittie fule anither time." + +Indeed he had a good head on him! Bobby never needed a second lesson. At +Silver Mills and Canon Mills he came out and trotted warily around the +dam. Where the gorge widened to a valley toward the sea they all climbed +up to Leith Walk, that ran to the harbor, and came out to a wonder-world +of water-craft anchored in the Firth. Each boy picked out his ship to go +adventuring. + +"I'm gangin' to Norway!" + +Geordie was scornful. "Hoots, ye tame pussies. Ye're fleid o' gettin' +yer feet wat. I'll be rinnin' aff to be a pirate. Come awa' doon." + +They followed the leader along shore and boarded an abandoned and +evil-smelling fishingboat. There they ran up a ragged jacket for a black +flag. But sailing a stranded craft palled presently. + +"Nae, I'm gangin' to be a Crusoe. Preserve me! If there's no' a futprint +i' the sand! Bobby's ma sma' man Friday." + +Away they ran southward to find a castaway's shelter in a hollow on the +golf links. Soon this was transformed into a wrecker's den, and +then into the hiding-place of a harried Covenanter fleeing religious +persecution. Daring things to do swarmed in upon their minds, for +Edinburgh laddies live in a city of romantic history, of soldiers, of +near-by mountains, and of sea rovings. No adventure served them five +minutes, and Bobby was in every one. Ah, lucky Bobby, to have such gay +playfellows on a sunny afternoon and under foot the open country! + +And fortunate laddies to have such a merry rascal of a wee dog with +them! To the mile they ran, Bobby went five, scampering in wide circles +and barking and louping at butterflies and whaups. He made a detour to +the right to yelp saucily at the red-coated sentry who paced before the +Gothic gateway to the deserted Palace of Holyrood, and as far to the +left to harry the hoofs of a regiment of cavalry drilling before the +barracks at Piershill. He raced on ahead and swam out to scatter the +fleet of swan sailing or the blue mirror of Duddingston Loch. + +The tired boys lay blissfully up the sunny side of Arthur's Seat in +a thicket of hazel while Geordie carried out a daring plan for which +privacy was needed. Bobby was solemnly arraigned before a court on the +charge of being a seditious Covenanting meenister, and was required to +take the oath of loyalty to English King and Church on pain of being +hanged in the Grassmarket. The oath had been duly written out on paper +and greased with mutton tallow to make it more palatable. Bobby licked +the fat off with relish. Then he took the paper between his sharp little +teeth and merrily tore it to shreds. And, having finished it, he barked +cheerful defiance at the court. The lads came near rolling down the +slope with laughter, and they gave three cheers for the little hero. +Sandy remarked, "Ye wadna think, noo, sic a sonsie doggie wad be leevin' +i' the murky auld kirkyaird." + +Bobby had learned the lay of the tipped-up and scooped-out and jumbled +auld toon, and he led the way homeward along the southern outskirts of +the city. He turned up Nicolson Street, that ran northward, past the +University and the old infirmary. To get into Greyfriars Place from the +east at that time one had to descend to the Cowgate and climb out again. +Bobby darted down the first of the narrow wynds. + +Suddenly he turned 'round and 'round in bewilderment, then shot through +a sculptured door way, into a well-like court, and up a flight of stone +stairs. The slamming of a shutter overhead shocked him to a standstill +on the landing and sent him dropping slowly down again. What memories +surged back to his little brain, what grief gripped his heart, as he +stood trembling on a certain spot in the pavement where once a long deal +box had rested! + +"What ails the bittie dog?" There was something here that sobered the +thoughtless boys. "Come awa', Bobby!" + +At that he came obediently enough. But he trotted down the very +middle of the wynd, head and tail low, and turned unheeding into the +Saturday-evening roar of the Cowgate. He refused to follow them up +the rise between St. Magdalen's Chapel and the eastern parapet of the +bridge, but kept to his way under the middle arch into the Grassmarket. +By way of Candlemakers Row he gained the kirkyard gate, and when the +wicket was opened he disappeared around the church. When Bobby failed +to answer calls, Mr. Brown grumbled, but went after him. The little dog +submitted to his vigorous scrubbing and grooming, but he refused his +supper. Without a look or a wag of the tail he was gone again. + +"Noo, what hae ye done to'im? He's no' like 'is ainsel' ava." + +They had done nothing, indeed. They could only relate Bobby's strange +behavior in College Wynd and the rest of the way home. Mistress Jeanie +nodded her head, with the wisdom of women that is of the heart. + +"Eh, Jamie, that wad be whaur 'is maister deed sax months syne." And +having said it she slipped down the slope with her knitting and sat on +the mound beside the mourning little dog. + +When the awe-struck lads asked for the story Mr. Brown shook his head. +"Ye spier Maister Traill. He kens a' aboot it; an' syne he can talk like +a beuk." + +Before they left the kirkyard the laddies walked down to Auld Jock's +grave and patted Bobby on the head, and they went away thoughtfully to +their scattered homes. + +As on that first morning when his grief was new, Bobby woke to a +Calvinistic Sabbath. There were no rattling carts or hawkers crying +their wares. Steeped in sunshine, the Castle loomed golden into the +blue. Tenement dwellers slept late, and then moved about quietly. +Children with unwontedly clean faces came out to galleries and stairs to +study their catechisms. Only the birds were unaware of the seventh day, +and went about their melodious business; and flower buds opened to the +sun. + +In mid-morning there suddenly broke on the sweet stillness that clamor +of discordant bells that made the wayfarer in Edinburgh stop his ears. +All the way from Leith Harbor to the Burghmuir eight score of warring +bells contended to be heard. Greyfriars alone was silent in that +babblement, for it had lost tower and bell in an explosion of gunpowder. +And when the din ceased at last there was a sound of military music. The +Castle gates swung wide, and a kilted regiment marched down High +Street playing "God Save the Queen." When Bobby was in good spirits the +marching music got into his legs and set him to dancing scandalously. +The caretaker and his wifie always came around the kirk on pleasant +mornings to see the bonny sight of the gay soldiers going to church. + +To wee Bobby these good, comfortable, everyday friends of his must have +seemed strange in their black garments and their serious Sunday faces. +And, ah! the Sabbath must, indeed, have been a dull day to the little +dog. He had learned that when the earliest comer clicked the wicket he +must go under the table-tomb and console himself with the extra bone +that Mr. Traill never failed to remember. With an hour's respite for +dinner at the lodge, between the morning and afternoon services, he lay +there all day. The restaurant was closed, and there was no running about +for good dogs. In the early dark of winter he could come out and trot +quietly about the silent, deserted place. + +As soon as the crocuses pushed their green noses through the earth in +the spring the congregation began to linger among the graves, for to +see an old burying ground renew its life is a peculiar promise of the +resurrection. By midsummer visitors were coming from afar, some even +from over-sea, to read the quaint inscriptions on the old tombs, or to +lay tributes of flowers on the graves of poets and religious heroes. It +was not until the late end of such a day that Bobby could come out of +hiding to stretch his cramped legs. Then it was that tenement children +dropped from low windows, over the tombs, and ate their suppers of oat +cake there in the fading light. + +When Mr. Traill left the kirkyard in the bright evening of the last +Sunday in May he stopped without to wait for Dr. Lee, the minister of +Greyfriars auld kirk, who had been behind him to the gate. Now he was +nowhere to be seen. With Bobby ever in the background of his mind, at +such times of possible discovery, Mr. Traill reentered the kirkyard. +The minister was sitting on the fallen slab, tall silk hat off, with Mr. +Brown standing beside him, uncovered and miserable of aspect, and Bobby +looking up anxiously at this new element in his fate. + +"Do you think it seemly for a dog to be living in the churchyard, Mr. +Brown?" The minister's voice was merely kind and inquiring, but the +caretaker was in fault, and this good English was disconcerting. +However, his conscience acquitted him of moral wrong, and his sturdy +Scotch independence came to the rescue. + +"Gin a bit dog, wha hands 'is gab, isna seemly, thae pussies are the +deil's ain bairns." + +The minister lifted his hand in rebuke. "Remember the Sabbath Day. And I +see no cats, Mr. Brown." + +"Ye wullna see ony as lang as the wee doggie is leevin' i' the +kirkyaird. An' the vermin hae sneekit awa' the first time sin' Queen +Mary's day. An' syne there's mair singin' birdies than for mony a year." + +Mr. Traill had listened, unseen. Now he came forward with a gay +challenge in broad Scotch to put the all but routed caretaker at his +ease. + +"Doctor, I hae a queistion to spier ye. Which is mair unseemly: a +weel-behavin' bittie tyke i' the kirkyaird or a scandalous organ i' the +kirk?" + +"Ah, Mr. Traill, I'm afraid you're a sad, irreverent young dog yourself, +sir." The minister broke into a genial laugh. "Man, you've spoiled a bit +of fun I was having with Mr. Brown, who takes his duties 'sairiously."' +He sat looking down at the little dog until Bobby came up to him and +stood confidingly under his caressing hand. Then he added: "I have +suspected for some months that he was living in the churchyard. It is +truly remarkable that an active, noisy little Skye could keep so still +about it." + +At that Mr. Brown retreated to the martyrs' monument to meditate on +the unministerial behavior of this minister and professor of Biblical +criticism in the University. Mr. Traill, however, sat himself down +on the slab for a pleasant probing into the soul of this courageous +dominie, who had long been under fire for his innovations in the kirk +services. + +"I heard of Bobby first early in the winter, from a Bible-reader at the +Medical Mission in the Cowgate, who saw the little dog's master buried. +He sees many strange, sad things in his work, but nothing ever shocked +him so as the lonely death of that pious old shepherd in such a +picturesque den of vice and misery." + +"Ay, he went from my place, fair ill, into the storm. I never knew whaur +the auld man died." + +The minister looked at Mr. Traill, struck by the note of remorse in his +tone. + +"The missionary returned to the churchyard to look for the dog that had +refused to leave the grave. He concluded that Bobby had gone away to +a new home and master, as most dogs do go sooner or later. Some weeks +afterward the minister of a small church in the hills inquired for him +and insisted that he was still here. This last week, at the General +Assembly, I heard of the wee Highlander from several sources. The tales +of his escapes from the sheep-farm have grown into a sort of Odyssey of +the Pentlands. I think, perhaps, if you had not continued to feed him, +Mr. Traill, he might have remained at his old home." + +"Nae, I'm no' thinking so, and I was no' willing to risk the starvation +of the bonny, leal Highlander." + +Until the stars came out Mr. Traill sat there telling the story. At +mention of his master's name Bobby returned to the mound and stretched +himself across it. "I will go before the kirk officers, Doctor Lee, +and tak' full responseebility. Mr. Brown is no' to blame. It would have +tak'n a man with a heart of trap-rock to have turned the woeful bit dog +out." + +"He is well cared for and is of a hardy breed, so he is not likely to +suffer; but a dog, no more than a man, cannot live on bread alone. His +heart hungers for love." + +"Losh!" cried Mr. Brown. "Are ye thinkin' he isna gettin' it? Oor bairns +are a' oot o' the hame nest, an' ma woman, Jeanie, is fair daft aboot +Bobby, aye thinkin' he'll tak' the measles. An' syne, there's a' the +tenement bairns cryin' oot on 'im ilka meenit, an' ane crippled laddie +he een lets fondle 'im." + +"Still, it would be better if he belonged to some one master. +Everybody's dog is nobody's dog," the minister insisted. "I wish you +could attach him to you, Mr. Traill." + +"Ay, it's a disappointment to me that he'll no' bide with me. Perhaps, +in time--" + +"It's nae use, ava," Mr. Brown interrupted, and he related the incident +of the evening before. "He's cheerfu' eneugh maist o' the time, an' +likes to be wi' the laddies as weel as ony dog, but he isna forgettin' +Auld Jock. The wee doggie cam' again to 'is maister's buryin'. Man, ye +ne'er saw the like o' it. The wifie found 'im flattened oot to a furry +door-mat, an' greetin' to brak 'is heart." + +"It's a remarkable story; and he's a beautiful little dog, and a leal +one." The minister stooped and patted Bobby, and he was thoughtful all +the way to the gate. + +"The matter need not be brought up in any formal way. I will speak +to the elders and deacons about it privately, and refer those wanting +details to you, Mr. Traill. Mr. Brown," he called to the caretaker who +stood in the lodge door, "it cannot be pleasing to God to see the little +creature restrained. Give Bobby his liberty on the Sabbath." + + + + +VIII. + +It was more than eight years after Auld Jock fled from the threat of a +doctor that Mr. Traill's prediction, that his tongue would get him into +trouble with the magistrates, was fulfilled; and then it was because of +the least-considered slip in speaking to a boyhood friend who happened +to be a Burgh policeman. + +Many things had tried the landlord of Ye Olde Greyfriars Dining-Rooms. +After a series of soft April days, in which lilacs budded and birds sang +in the kirkyard, squalls of wind and rain came up out of the sea-roaring +east. The smoky old town of Edinburgh was so shaken and beaten upon and +icily drenched that rattling finials and tiles were torn from ancient +gables and whirled abroad. Rheumatic pains were driven into the joints +of the elderly. Mr. Brown took to his bed in the lodge, and Mr. Traill +was touchy in his temper. + +A sensitive little dog learns to read the human barometer with a degree +of accuracy rarely attained by fellowmen and, in times of low pressure, +wisely effaces himself. His rough thatch streaming, Bobby trotted in +blithely for his dinner, ate it under the settle, shook himself dry, and +dozed half the afternoon. + +To the casual observer the wee terrier was no older than when his master +died. As swift of foot and as sound of wind as he had ever been, he +could tear across country at the heels of a new generation of Heriot +laddies and be as fresh as a daisy at nightfall. Silvery gray all over, +the whitening hairs on his face and tufted feet were not visible. His +hazel-brown eyes were still as bright and soft and deep as the sunniest +pools of Leith Water. It was only when he opened his mouth for a tiny, +pink cavern of a yawn that the points of his teeth could be seen to be +wearing down; and his after-dinner nap was more prolonged than of old. +At such times Mr. Traill recalled that the longest life of a dog is no +more than a fifth of the length of days allotted to man. + +On that snarling April day, when only himself and the flossy ball of +sleeping Skye were in the place, this thought added to Mr. Traill's +discontent. There had been few guests. Those who had come in, soaked and +surly, ate their dinner in silence and discomfort and took themselves +away, leaving the freshly scrubbed floor as mucky as a moss-hag on the +moor. Late in the afternoon a sergeant, risen from the ranks and cocky +about it, came in and turned himself out of a dripping greatcoat, dapper +and dry in his red tunic, pipe-clayed belt, and winking buttons. He +ordered tea and toast and Dundee marmalade with an air of gay well-being +that was no less than a personal affront to a man in Mr. Traill's frame +of mind. Trouble brewed with the tea that Ailie Lindsey, a tall lassie +of fifteen, but shy and elfish as of old, brought in on a tray from the +scullery. + +When this spick-and-span non-commissioned officer demanded Mr. Traill's +price for the little dog that took his eye, the landlord replied curtly +that Bobby was not for sale. The soldier was insolently amused. + +"That's vera surprisin'. I aye thoucht an Edinburgh shopkeeper wad sell +ilka thing he had, an' tak' the siller to bed wi' 'im to keep 'im snug +the nicht." + +Mr. Traill returned, with brief sarcasm, that "his lairdship" had been +misinformed. + +"Why wull ye no' sell the bit dog?" the man insisted. + +The badgered landlord turned upon him and answered at length, after the +elaborate manner of a minister who lays his sermon off in sections, + +"First: he's no' my dog to sell. Second: he's a dog of rare +discreemination, and is no' like to tak' you for a master. Third: you +soldiers aye have with you a special brand of shulling-a-day impudence. +And, fourth and last, my brither: I'm no' needing your siller, and I can +manage to do fair weel without your conversation." + +As this bombardment proceeded, the sergeant's jaw dropped. When it was +finished he laughed heartily and slapped his knee. "Man, come an' brak +bread wi' me or I'll hae to brak yer stiff neck." + +A truce was declared over a cozy pot of tea, and the two became at +least temporary friends. It was such a day that the landlord would have +gossiped with a gaol bird; and when a soldier who has seen years of +service, much of it in strange lands, once admits a shopkeeper to +equality, he can be affable and entertaining "by the ordinar'." Mr. +Traill sketched Bobby's story broadly, and to a sympathetic listener; +and the soldier told the landlord of the animals that had lived and died +in the Castle. + +Parrots and monkeys and strange dogs and cats had been brought there by +regiments returning from foreign countries and colonies. But most of the +pets had been native dogs--collies, spaniels and terriers, and animals +of mixed breeds and of no breed at all, but just good dogs. No one knew +when the custom began, but there was an old and well-filled cemetery +for the Castle pets. When a dog died a little stone was set up, with +the name of the animal and the regiment to which it had belonged on it. +Soldiers often went there among the tiny mounds and told stories of the +virtues and taking ways of old favorites. And visitors read the names of +Flora and Guy and Dandie, of Prince Charlie and Rob Roy, of Jeanie and +Bruce and Wattie. It was a merry life for a dog in the Castle. He +was petted and spoiled by homesick men, and when he died there were a +thousand mourners at his funeral. + +"Put it to the bit Skye noo. If he tak's the Queen's shullin' he belongs +to the army." The sergeant flipped a coin before Bobby, who was wagging +his tail and sniffing at the military boots with his ever lively +interest in soldiers. + +He looked up at the tossed coin indifferently, and when it fell to the +floor he let it lie. "Siller" has no meaning to a dog. His love can be +purchased with nothing less than his chosen master's heart. The soldier +sighed at Bobby's indifference. He introduced himself as Sergeant Scott, +of the Royal Engineers, detailed from headquarters to direct the work +in the Castle crafts shops. Engineers rank high in pay and in +consideration, and it was no ordinary Jack of all trades who had expert +knowledge of so many skilled handicrafts. Mr. Traill's respect and +liking for the man increased with the passing moments. + +As the sergeant departed he warned Mr. Traill, laughingly, that he meant +to kidnap Bobby the very first chance he got. The Castle pet had died, +and Bobby was altogether too good a dog to be wasted on a moldy auld +kirkyard and thrown on a dust-cart when he came to die. + +Mr. Traill resented the imputation. "He'll no' be thrown on a +dust-cart!" + +The door was shut on the mocking retort "Hoo do ye ken he wullna?" + +And there was food for gloomy reflection. The landlord could not know, +in truth, what Bobby's ultimate fate might be. But little over nine +years of age, he should live only five or six years longer at most. Of +his friends, Mr. Brown was ill and aging, and might have to give place +to a younger man. He himself was in his prime, but he could not be +certain of living longer than this hardy little dog. For the first +time he realized the truth of Dr. Lee's saying that everybody's dog was +nobody's dog. The tenement children held Bobby in a sort of community +affection. He was the special pet of the Heriot laddies, but a class was +sent into the world every year and was scattered far. Not one of all the +hundreds of bairns who had known and loved this little dog could give +him any real care or protection. + +For the rest, Bobby had remained almost unknown. Many of the +congregations of old and new Greyfriars had never seen or heard of him. +When strangers were about he seemed to prefer lying in his retreat under +the fallen tomb. His Sunday-afternoon naps he usually took in the lodge +kitchen. And so, it might very well happen that his old age would be +friendless, that he would come to some forlorn end, and be carried away +on the dustman's cart. It might, indeed, be better for him to end +his days in love and honor in the Castle. But to this solution of the +problem Mr. Traill himself was not reconciled. + +Sensing some shifting of the winds in the man's soul, Bobby trotted over +to lick his hand. Then he sat up on the hearth and lolled his tongue, +reminding the good landlord that he had one cheerful friend to bear him +company on the blaw-weary day. It was thus they sat, companionably, +when a Burgh policeman who was well known to Mr. Traill came in to +dry himself by the fire. Gloomy thoughts were dispelled at once by the +instinct of hospitality. + +"You're fair wet, man. Pull a chair to the hearth. And you have a bit +smut on your nose, Davie." + +"It's frae the railway engine. Edinburgh was a reekie toon eneugh +afore the engines cam' in an' belched smuts in ilka body's faces." The +policeman was disgusted and discouraged by three days of wet clothing, +and he would have to go out into the rain again before he got dry. +Nothing occurred to him to talk about but grievances. + +"Did ye ken the Laird Provost, Maister Chambers, is intendin' to knock +a lang hole aboon the tap o' the Coogate wynds? It wull mak' a braid +street ye can leuk doon frae yer doorway here. The gude auld days +gangin' doon in a muckle dust!" + +"Ay, the sun will peep into foul places it hasn't seen sin' Queen Mary's +day. And, Davie, it would be more according to the gude auld customs +you're so fond of to call Mr. William Chambers 'Glenormiston' for his +bit country place." + +"He's no' a laird." + +"Nae; but he'll be a laird the next time the Queen shows her bonny face +north o' the Tweed. Tak' 'a cup o' kindness' with me, man. Hot tay will +tak' the cauld out of vour disposeetion." Mr. Traill pulled a bell-cord +and Ailie, unused as yet to bells, put her startled little face in at +the door to the scullery. At sight of the policeman she looked more than +ever like a scared rabbit, and her hands shook when she set the tray +down before him. A tenement child grew up in an atmosphere of hostility +to uniformed authority, which seldom appeared except to interfere with +what were considered personal affairs. + +The tea mollified the dour man, but there was one more rumbling. "I'm +no' denyin' the Provost's gude-hearted. Ance he got up a hame for +gaen-aboot dogs, an' he had naethin' to mak' by that. But he canna keep +'is spoon oot o' ilka body's porridge. He's fair daft to tear doon the +wa's that cut St. Giles up into fower, snod, white kirks, an' mak' it +the ane muckle kirk it was in auld Papist days. There are folk that say, +gin he doesna leuk oot, anither kale wifie wull be throwin' a bit stool +at 'is meddlin' heid." + +"Eh, nae doubt. There's aye a plentifu' supply o' fules in the warld." + +Seeing his good friend so well entertained, and needing his society no +longer, Bobby got up, wagged his tail in farewell, and started toward +the door. Mr. Traill summoned the little maid and spoke to her kindly: +"Give Bobby a bone, lassie, and then open the door for him." + +In carrying out these instructions Ailie gave the policeman as wide +leeway as possible and kept a wary eye upon him. The officer's duties +were chiefly up on High Street. He seldom crossed the bridge, and it +happened that he had never seen Bobby before. Just by way of making +conversation he remarked, "I didna ken ye had a dog, John." + +Ailie stopped stock still, the cups on the tray she was taking out +tinkling from her agitation. It was thus policemen spoke at private +doors in the dark tenements: "I didna ken ye had the smallpox." But +Mr. Traill seemed in no way alarmed. He answered with easy indulgence +"That's no' surprising. There's mony a thing you dinna ken, Davie." + +The landlord forgot the matter at once, but Ailie did not, for she saw +the officer flush darkly and, having no answer ready, go out in silence. +In truth, the good-humored sarcasm rankled in the policeman's breast. An +hour later he suddenly came to a standstill below the clock tower of the +Tron kirk on High Street, and he chuckled. + +"Eh, John Traill. Ye're unco' weel furnished i' the heid, but there's +ane or twa things ye dinna ken yer ainsel'." + +Entirely taken up with his brilliant idea, he lost no time in putting it +to work. He dodged among the standing cabs and around the buttresses of +St. Giles that projected into the thoroughfare. In the mid-century +there was a police office in the middle of the front of the historic old +cathedral that had then fallen to its lowest ebb of fortune. There the +officer reported a matter that was strictly within the line of his duty. + +Very early the next morning he was standing before the door of Mr. +Traill's place, in the fitful sunshine of clearing skies, when the +landlord appeared to begin the business of the day. + +"Are ye Maister John Traill?" + +"Havers, Davie! What ails you, man? You know my name as weel as you know +your ain." + +"It's juist a formality o' the law to mak' ye admit yer identity. Here's +a bit paper for ye." He thrust an official-looking document into Mr. +Traill's hand and took himself away across the bridge, fair satisfied +with his conduct of an affair of subtlety. + +It required five minutes for Mr. Traill to take in the import of the +legal form. Then a wrathful explosion vented itself on the unruly key +that persisted in dodging the keyhole. But once within he read the +paper again, put it away thoughtfully in an inner pocket, and outwardly +subsided to his ordinary aspect. He despatched the business of the day +with unusual attention to details and courtesy to guests, and when, in +mid afternoon, the place was empty, he followed Bobby to the kirkyard +and inquired at the lodge if he could see Mr. Brown. + +"He isna so ill, noo, Maister Traill, but I wadna advise ye to hae +muckle to say to 'im." Mistress Jeanie wore the arch look of the wifie +who is somewhat amused by a convalescent husband's ill humors. "The +pains grupped 'im sair, an' noo that he's easier he'd see us a' hanged +wi' pleesure. Is it onything by the ordinar'?" + +"Nae. It's just a sma' matter I can attend to my ainsel'. Do you think +he could be out the morn?" + +"No' afore a week or twa, an' syne, gin the bonny sun comes oot to bide +a wee." + +Mr. Traill left the kirkyard and went out to George Square to call upon +the minister of Greyfriars auld kirk. The errand was unfruitful, and he +was back in ten minutes, to spend the evening alone, without even the +consolation of Bobby's company, for the little dog was unhappy outside +the kirkyard after sunset. And he took an unsettling thought to bed with +him. + +Here was a pretty kettle of fish, indeed, for a respected member of a +kirk and middle-aged business man to fry in. Through the legal verbiage +Mr. Traill made out that he was summoned to appear before whatever +magistrate happened to be sitting on the morrow in the Burgh court, to +answer to the charge of owning, or harboring, one dog, upon which he had +not paid the license tax of seven shillings. + +For all its absurdity it was no laughing matter. The municipal court of +Edinburgh was of far greater dignity than the ordinary justice court +of the United Kingdom and of America. The civic bench was occupied, in +turn, by no less a personage than the Lord Provost as chief, and by +five other magistrates elected by the Burgh council from among its own +membership. Men of standing in business, legal and University circles, +considered it an honor and a duty to bring their knowledge and +responsibility to bear on the pettiest police cases. + +It was morning before Mr. Traill had the glimmer of an idea to take with +him on this unlucky business. An hour before the opening of court he +crossed the bridge into High Street, which was then as picturesquely +Gothic and decaying and overpopulated as the Cowgate, but high-set, +wind-swept and sun-searched, all the way up the sloping mile from +Holyrood Palace to the Castle. The ridge fell away steeply, through +rifts of wynds and closes, to the Cowgate ravine on the one hand, and to +Princes Street's parked valley on the other. Mr. Traill turned into the +narrow descent of Warriston Close. Little more than a crevice in the +precipice of tall, old buildings, on it fronted a business house whose +firm name was known wherever the English language was read: "W. and R. +Chambers, Publishers." + +From top to bottom the place was gas-lit, even on a sunny spring +morning, and it hummed and clattered with printing-presses. No one was +in the little anteroom to the editorial offices beside a young clerk, +but at sight of a red-headed, freckle-faced Heriot laddie of Bobby's +puppyhood days Mr. Traill's spirits rose. + +"A gude day to you, Sandy McGregor; and whaur's your auld twin +conspirator, Geordie Ross?" + +"He's a student in the Medical College, Mr. Traill. He went by this +meenit to the Botanical Garden for herbs my grandmither has aye known +without books." Sandy grinned in appreciation of this foolishness, +but he added, with Scotch shrewdness, "It's gude for the book-prenting +beesiness." + +"It is so," the landlord agreed, heartily. "But you must no' be +forgetting that the Chambers brothers war book readers and sellers +before they war publishers. You are weel set up in life, laddie, and +Heriot's has pulled the warst of the burrs from your tongue. I'm wanting +to see Glenormiston." + +"Mr. William Chambers is no' in. Mr. Robert is aye in, but he's no' +liking to be fashed about sma' things." + +"I'll no' trouble him. It's the Lord Provost I'm wanting, on ofeecial +beesiness." He requested Sandy to ask Glenormiston, if he came in, to +come over to the Burgh court and spier for Mr. Traill. + +"It's no' his day to sit as magistrate, and he's no' like to go unless +it's a fair sairious matter." + +"Ay, it is, laddie. It's a matter of life and death, I'm thinking!" +He smiled grimly, as it entered his head that he might be driven to do +violence to that meddling policeman. The yellow gas-light gave his face +such a sardonic aspect that Sandy turned pale. + +"Wha's death, man?" + +Mr. Traill kept his own counsel, but at the door he turned: "You'll no' +be remembering the bittie terrier that lived in the kirkyard?" + +The light of boyhood days broke in Sandy's grin. "Ay, I'll no' be +forgetting the sonsie tyke. He was a deil of a dog to tak' on a holiday. +Is he still faithfu' to his dead master?" + +"He is that; and for his faithfu'ness he's like to be dead himsel'. The +police are takin' up masterless dogs an' putting them out o' the way. +I'll mak' a gude fight for Bobby in the Burgh court." + +"I'll fight with you, man." The spirit of the McGregor clan, though +much diluted and subdued by town living, brought Sandy down from a +three-legged stool. He called another clerk to take his place, and made +off to find the Lord Provost, powerful friend of hameless dogs. Mr. +Traill hastened down to the Royal Exchange, below St. Giles and on the +northern side of High Street. + +Less than a century old, this municipal building was modern among +ancient rookeries. To High Street it presented a classic front of +four stories, recessed by flanking wings, around three sides of a +quadrangular courtyard. Near the entrance there was a row of barber +shops and coffee-rooms. Any one having business with the city offices +went through a corridor between these places of small trade to the +stairway court behind them. On the floor above, one had to inquire of +some uniformed attendant in which of the oaken, ante-roomed halls the +Burgh court was sitting. And by the time one got there all the pride of +civic history of the ancient royal Burgh, as set forth in portrait and +statue and a museum of antiquities, was apt to take the lime out of +the backbone of a man less courageous than Mr. Traill. What a car of +juggernaut to roll over one, small, masterless terrier! + +But presently the landlord found himself on his feet, and not so ill at +ease. A Scottish court, high or low, civil or criminal, had a flavor all +its own. Law points were threshed over with gusto, but counsel, client, +and witness gained many a point by ready wit, and there was no lack of +dry humor from the bench. About the Burgh court, for all its stately +setting, there was little formality. The magistrate of the day sat +behind a tall desk, with a clerk of record at his elbow, and the officer +gave his testimony briefly: Edinburgh being quite overrun by stray and +unlicensed dogs, orders had recently been given the Burgh police to +report such animals. In Mr. Traill's place he had seen a small terrier +that appeared to be at home there; and, indeed, on the dog's going out, +Mr. Traill had called a servant lassie to fetch a bone, and to open the +door for him. He noticed that the animal wore no collar, and felt it his +duty to report the matter. + +By the time Mr. Traill was called to answer to the charge a number of +curious idlers had gathered on the back benches. He admitted his name +and address, but denied that he either owned or was harboring a dog. +The magistrate fixed a cold eye upon him, and asked if he meant to +contradict the testimony of the officer. + +"Nae, your Honor; and he might have seen the same thing ony week-day of +the past eight and a half years. But the bit terrier is no' my ain +dog." Suddenly, the memory of the stormy night, the sick old man and the +pathos of his renunciation of the only beating heart in the world that +loved him--"Bobby isna ma ain dog!" swept over the remorseful landlord. +He was filled with a fierce championship of the wee Highlander, whose +loyalty to that dead master had brought him to this strait. + +To the magistrate Mr. Traill's tossed-up head had the effect of +defiance, and brought a sharp rebuke. "Don't split hairs, Mr. Traill. +You are wasting the time of the court. You admit feeding the dog. Who is +his master and where does he sleep?" + +"His master is in his grave in auld Greyfriars kirkyard, and the dog has +aye slept there on the mound." + +The magistrate leaned over his desk. "Man, no dog could sleep in the +open for one winter in this climate. Are you fond of romancing, Mr. +Traill?" + +"No' so overfond, your Honor. The dog is of the subarctic breed of Skye +terriers, the kind with a thick under-jacket of fleece, and a weather +thatch that turns rain like a crofter's cottage roof." + +"There should be witnesses to such an extraordinary story. The dog could +not have lived in this strictly guarded churchyard without the +consent of those in authority." The magistrate was plainly annoyed and +skeptical, and Mr. Traill felt the sting of it. + +"Ay, the caretaker has been his gude friend, but Mr. Brown is ill +of rheumatism, and can no' come out. Nae doubt, if necessary, his +deposeetion could be tak'n. Permission for the bit dog to live in the +kirkyard was given by the meenister of Greyfriars auld kirk, but Doctor +Lee is in failing health and has gone to the south of France. The +tenement children and the Heriot laddies have aye made a pet of Bobby, +but they would no' be competent witnesses." + +"You should have counsel. There are some legal difficulties here." + +"I'm no' needing a lawyer. The law in sic a matter can no' be so +complicated, and I have a tongue in my ain head that has aye served +me, your Honor." The magistrate smiled, and the spectators moved to the +nearer benches to enjoy this racy man. The room began to fill by that +kind of telepathy that causes crowds to gather around the human drama. +One man stood, unnoticed, in the doorway. Mr. Traill went on, quietly: +"If the court permits me to do so, I shall be glad to pay for Bobby's +license, but I'm thinking that carries responsibeelity for the bit dog." + +"You are quite right, Mr. Traill. You would have to assume +responsibility. Masterless dogs have become a serious nuisance in the +city." + +"I could no' tak' responsibeelity. The dog is no' with me more than a +couple of hours out of the twenty-four. I understand that most of his +time is spent in the kirkyard, in weel-behaving, usefu' ways, but I +could no' be sure." + +"But why have you fed him for so many years? Was his master a friend?" + +"Nae, just a customer, your Honor; a simple auld shepherd who ate his +market-day dinner in my place. He aye had the bit dog with him, and +I was the last man to see the auld body before he went awa' to his +meeserable death in a Cowgate wynd. Bobby came to me, near starved, +to be fed, two days after his master's burial. I was tak'n by the wee +Highlander's leal spirit." + +And that was all the landlord would say. He had no mind to wear his +heart upon his sleeve for this idle crowd to gape at. + +After a moment the magistrate spoke warmly: "It appears, then, that the +payment of the license could not be accepted from you. Your humanity is +commendable, Mr. Traill, but technically you are in fault. The minimum +fine should be imposed and remitted." + +At this utterly unlooked-for conclusion Mr. Traill seemed to gather +his lean shoulders together for a spring, and his gray eyes narrowed to +blades. + +"With due respect to your Honor, I must tak' an appeal against sic a +deceesion, to the Lord Provost and a' the magistrates, and then to the +Court of Sessions." + +"You would get scant attention, Mr. Traill. The higher judiciary have +more important business than reviewing dog cases. You would be laughed +out of court." + +The dry tone stung him to instant retort. "And in gude company I'd +be. Fifty years syne Lord Erskine was laughed down in Parliament for +proposing to give legal protection to dumb animals. But we're getting a +bit more ceevilized." + +"Tut, tut, Mr. Traill, you are making far too much of a small matter." + +"It's no' a sma' matter to be entered in the records of the Burgh court +as a petty law-breaker. And if I continued to feed the dog I would be in +contempt of court." + +The magistrate was beginning to feel badgered. "The fine carries the +interdiction with it, Mr. Traill, if you are asking for information." + +"It was no' for information, but just to mak' plain my ain line of +conduct. I'm no' intending to abandon the dog. I am commended here for +my humanity, but the bit dog I must let starve for a technicality." +Instantly, as the magistrate half rose from the bench, the landlord +saw that he had gone too far, and put the court on the defensive. In an +easy, conversational tone, as if unaware of the point he had scored, +he asked if he might address his accuser on a personal matter. "We knew +each other weel as laddies. Davie, when you're in my neeborhood again on +a wet day, come in and dry yoursel' by my fire and tak' another cup o' +kindness for auld lang syne. You'll be all the better man for a lesson +in morals the bit dog can give you: no' to bite the hand that feeds +you." + +The policeman turned purple. A ripple of merriment ran through the room. +The magistrate put his hand up to his mouth, and the clerk began to drop +pens. Before silence was restored a messenger laddie ran up with a note +for the bench. The magistrate read it with a look of relief, and nodded +to the man who had been listening from the doorway, but who disappeared +at once. + +"The case is ordered continued. The defendant will be given time to +secure witnesses, and notified when to appear. The next case is called." + +Somewhat dazed by this sudden turn, and annoyed by the delayed +settlement of the affair, Mr. Traill hastened from the court-room. As he +gained the street he was overtaken by the messenger with a second note. +And there was a still more surprising turn that sent the landlord off up +swarming High Street, across the bridge, and on to his snug little place +of business, with the face and the heart of a school-boy. When Bobby, +draggled by three days of wet weather, came in for his dinner, Mr. +Traill scanned him critically and in some perplexity. At the end of +the day's work, as Ailie was dropping her quaint curtsy and giving her +adored employer a shy "gude nicht," he had a sudden thought that made +him call her back. + +"Did you ever give a bit dog a washing, lassie?" + +"Ye mean Bobby, Maister Traill? Nae, I didna." Her eyes sparkled. "But +Tammy's hauded 'im for Maister Brown, an' he says it's sonsie to gie the +bonny wee a washin'." + +"Weel, Mr. Brown is fair ill, and there has been foul weather. Bobby's +getting to look like a poor 'gaen aboot' dog. Have him at the kirkyard +gate at a quarter to eight o'clock the morn looking like a leddy's pet +and I'll dance a Highland fling at your wedding." + +"Are ye gangin' to tak' Bobby on a picnic, Maister Traill?" + +He answered with a mock solemnity and a twinkle in his eyes that +mystified the little maid. "Nae, lassie; I'm going to tak' him to a +meeting in a braw kirk." + + + + +IX + +When Ailie wanted to get up unusually early in the morning she made +use of Tammy for an alarm-clock. A crippled laddie who must "mak' +'is leevin' wi' 'is heid" can waste no moment of daylight, and in the +ancient buildings around Greyfriars the maximum of daylight was to be +had only by those able and willing to climb to the gables. Tammy, having +to live on the lowest, darkest floor of all, used the kirkyard for a +study, by special indulgence of the caretaker, whenever the weather +permitted. + +From a window he dropped his books and his crutches over the wall. Then, +by clasping his arms around a broken shaft that blocked the casement, he +swung himself out, and scrambled down into an enclosed vault yard. +There he kept hidden Mistress Jeanie's milking stool for a seat; and a +table-tomb served as well, for the laddie to do his sums upon, as it +had for the tearful signing of the Covenant more than two hundred +years before. Bobby, as host, greeted Tammy with cordial friskings and +waggings, saw him settled to his tasks, and then went briskly about his +own interrupted business of searching out marauders. Many a spring dawn +the quiet little boy and the swift and silent little dog had the shadowy +garden all to themselves, and it was for them the song-thrushes and +skylarks gave their choicest concerts. + +On that mid-April morning, when the rising sun gilded the Castle turrets +and flashed back from the many beautiful windows of Heriot's Hospital, +Tammy bundled his books under the table-tomb of Mistress Jean Grant, +went over to the rear of the Guildhall at the top of the Row, and threw +a handful of gravel up to Ailie's window. Because of a grandmither, +Ailie, too, dwelt on a low level. Her eager little face, lighted by +sleep-dazzled blue eyes, popped out with the surprising suddenness of +the manikins in a Punch-and-Judy show. + +"In juist ane meenit, Tammy," she whispered, "no' to wauken the +grandmither." It was in so very short a minute that the lassie climbed +out onto the classic pediment of a tomb and dropped into the kirkyard +that her toilet was uncompleted. Tammy buttoned her washed-out cotton +gown at the back, and she sat on a slab to lace her shoes. If the fun +of giving Bobby his bath was to be enjoyed to the full there must be no +unnecessary delay. This consideration led Tammy to observe: + +"Ye're no' needin' to comb yer hair, Ailie. It leuks bonny eneugh." + +In truth, Ailie was one of those fortunate lassies whose crinkly, +gold-brown mop really looked best when in some disorder; and of that +advantage the little maid was well aware. + +"I ken a' that, Tammy. I aye gie it a lick or twa wi' a comb the nicht +afore. Ca' the wee doggie." + +Bobby fully understood that he was wanted for some serious purpose, but +it was a fresh morning of dew and he, apparently, was in the highest of +spirits. So he gave Ailie a chase over the sparkling grass and under the +showery shrubbery. When he dropped at last on Auld Jock's grave +Tammy captured him. The little dog could always be caught there, in a +caressable state of exhaustion or meditation, for, sooner or later, he +returned to the spot from every bit of work or play. No one would have +known it for a place of burial at all. Mr. Brown knew it only by the +rose bush at its head and by Bobby's haunting it, for the mound had +sunk to the general level of the terrace on which it lay, and spreading +crocuses poked their purple and gold noses through the crisp spring +turf. But for the wee, guardian dog the man who lay beneath had long +lost what little identity he had ever possessed. + +Now, as the three lay there, the lassie as flushed and damp as some +water-nymph, Bobby panting and submitting to a petting, Tammy took the +little dog's muzzle between his thin hands, parted the veil, and looked +into the soft brown eyes. + +"Leak, Ailie, Bobby's wantin' somethin', an' is juist haudin' 'imsel'." + +It was true. For all his gaiety in play and his energy at work Bobby's +eyes had ever a patient, wistful look, not unlike the crippled laddie's. +Ah, who can say that it did not require as much courage and gallant +bravado on the part of that small, bereft creature to enable him to live +at all, as it did for Tammy to face his handicapped life and "no' to +remember 'is bad legs"? + +In the bath on the rear steps of the lodge Bobby swam and splashed, and +scattered foam with his excited tail. He would not stand still to be +groomed, but wriggled and twisted and leaped upon the children, putting +his shaggy wet paws roguishly in their faces. But he stood there at +last, after the jolliest romp, in which the old kirkyard rang with +laughter, and oh! so bonny, in his rippling coat of dark silver. No +sooner was he released than he dashed around the kirk and back again, +bringing his latest bone in his mouth. To his scratching on the stone +sill, for he had been taught not to scratch on the panel, the door +was opened by snod and smiling Mistress Jeanie, who invited these slum +bairns into such a cozy, spotless kitchen as was not possible in the +tenements. Mr. Brown sat by the hearth, bundled in blue and white +blankets of wonderfully blocked country weaving. Bobby put his fore paws +on the caretaker's chair and laid his precious bone in the man's lap. + +"Eh, ye takin' bit rascal; loup!" Bobby jumped to the patted knee, +turned around and around on the soft bed that invited him, licked the +beaming old face to show his sympathy and friendliness, and jumped down +again. Mr. Brown sighed because Bobby steadily but amiably refused to be +anybody's lap-dog. The caretaker turned to the admiring children. + +"Ilka morn he fetches 'is bit bane up, thinkin' it a braw giftie for an +ill man. An' syne he veesits me twa times i' the day, juist bidin' a +wee on the hearthstane, lollin' 'is tongue an' waggin' 'is tail, +cheerfu'-like. Bobby has mair gude sense in 'is heid than mony a man wha +comes ben the hoose, wi' a lang face, to let me ken I'm gangin' to dee. +Gin I keep snug an' canny it wullna gang to the heart. Jeanie, woman, +fetch ma fife, wull ye?" + +Then there were strange doings in the kirkyard lodge. James Brown "wasna +gangin' to dee" before his time came, at any rate. In his youth, as +under-gardener on a Highland estate, he had learned to play the piccolo +flute, and lately he had revived the pastoral art of piping just because +it went so well with Bobby's delighted legs. To the sonsie air of +"Bonnie Dundee" Bobby hopped and stepped and louped, and he turned +about on his hind feet, his shagged fore paws drooped on his breast as +daintily as the hands in the portraits of early Victorian ladies. The +fire burned cheerily in the polished grate, and winked on every shining +thing in the room; primroses bloomed in the diamond-paned casement; the +skylark fluttered up and sang in its cage; the fife whistled as gaily as +a blackbird, and the little dog danced with a comic clumsiness that made +them all double up with laughter. The place was so full of brightness, +and of kind and merry hearts, that there was room for nothing else. Not +one of them dreamed that the shadow of the law was even then over this +useful and lovable little dog's head. + +A glance at the wag-at-the-wa' clock reminded Ailie that Mr. Traill +might be waiting for Bobby. + +Curious about the mystery, the children took the little dog down to the +gate, happily. They were sobered, however, when Mr. Traill appeared, +looking very grand in his Sabbath clothes. He inspected Bobby all over +with anxious scrutiny, and gave each of the bairns a threepenny-bit, +but he had no blithe greeting for them. Much preoccupied, he went off at +once, with the animated little muff of a dog at his heels. In truth, Mr. +Traill was thinking about how he might best plead Bobby's cause with the +Lord Provost. The note that was handed him, on leaving the Burgh court +the day before, had read: + +"Meet me at the Regent's Tomb in St. Giles at eight o'clock in the +morning, and bring the wee Highlander with you.--Glenormiston." + +On the first reading the landlord's spirits had risen, out of all +proportion to the cause, owing to his previous depression. But, after +all, the appointment had no official character, since the Regent's Tomb +in St. Giles had long been a sort of town pump for the retailing of +gossip and for the transaction of trifling affairs of all sorts. The +fate of this little dog was a small matter, indeed, and so it might be +thought fitting, by the powers that be, that it should be decided at the +Regent's Tomb rather than in the Burgh court. + +To the children, who watched from the kirkyard gate until Mr. Traill and +Bobby were hidden by the buildings on the bridge, it was no' canny. The +busy landlord lived mostly in shirt-sleeves and big white apron, ready +to lend a hand in the rush hours, and he never was known to put on +his black coat and tall hat on a week-day, except to attend a funeral. +However, there was the day's work to be done. Tammy had a lesson +still to get, and returned to the kirkyard, and Ailie ran up to the +dining-rooms. On the step she collided with a red headed, freckle-faced +young man who asked for Mr. Traill. + +"He isna here." The shy lassie was made almost speechless by +recognizing, in this neat, well-spoken clerk, an old Heriot boy, once as +poor as herself. + +"Do you wark for him, lassie? Weel, do you know how he cam' out in the +Burgh court about the bit dog?" + +There was only one "bit dog" in the world to Ailie. Wild eyed with alarm +at mention of the Burgh court, in connection with that beloved little +pet, she stammered: "It's--it's--no' a coort he gaed to. Maister +Traill's tak'n Bobby awa' to a braw kirk." + +Sandy nodded his head. "Ay, that would be the police office in St. +Giles. Lassie, tell Mr. Traill I sent the Lord Provost, and if he's +needing a witness to ca' on Sandy McGregor." + +Ailie stared after him with frightened eyes. Into her mind flashed that +ominous remark of the policeman two days before: "I didna ken ye had a +dog, John?" She overtook Sandy in front of the sheriff's court on the +bridge. + +"What--what hae the police to do wi' bittie dogs?" + +"If a dog has nae master to pay for his license the police can tak' him +up and put him out o' the way." + +"Hoo muckle siller are they wantin'?" + +"Seven shullings. Gude day, lassie; I'm fair late." Sandy was not really +alarmed about Bobby since the resourceful Mr. Traill had taken up +his cause, and he had no idea of the panic of grief and fright that +overwhelmed this forlorn child. + +Seven shullings! It was an enormous sum to the tenement bairn, whose +half-blind grandmither knitted and knitted in a dimly lighted room, and +hoarded halfpennies and farthings to save herself from pauper burial. +Seven shullings would pay a month's rent for any one of the crowded +rooms in which a family lived. Ailie herself, an untrained lassie who +scarcely knew the use of a toasting-fork, was overpaid by generous Mr. +Traill at sixpence a day. Seven shullings to permit one little dog to +live! It did not occur to Ailie that this was a sum Mr. Traill could +easily pay. No' onybody at all had seven shullings all at once! But, oh! +everybody had pennies and halfpennies and farthings, and she and Tammy +together had a sixpence. + +Darting back to the gate, to catch the laddie before he could be off to +school, she ran straight into the policeman, who stood with his hand on +the wicket. He eyed her sharply. + +"Eh, lassie, I was gangin' to spier at the lodge, gin there's a bit dog +leevin' i' the kirkyaird." + +"I--I--dinna ken." Her voice was unmanageable. She had left to her only +the tenement-bred instinct of concealment of any and all facts from an +officer of the law. + +"Ye dinna ken! Maister Traill said i' the coort a' the bairns aboot +kenned the dog. Was he leein'?" + +The question stung her into angry admission. "He wadna be leein'. +But--but--the bittie--dog--isna here noo." + +"Syne, whaur is he? Oot wi' it!" + +"I--dinna--ken!" She cowered in abject fear against the wall. She could +not know that this officer was suffering a bad attack of shame for his +shabby part in the affair. Satisfied that the little dog really did +live in the kirkyard, he turned back to the bridge. When Tammy came +out presently he found Ailie crumpled up in a limp little heap in the +gateway alcove. In a moment the tale of Bobby's peril was told. The +laddie dropped his books and his crutches on the pavement, and his head +in his helpless arms, and cried. He had small faith in Ailie's suddenly +conceived plan to collect the seven shullings among the dwellers in the +tenements. + +"Do ye ken hoo muckle siller seven shullin's wad be? It's auchty-fower +pennies, a hundred an' saxty-aucht ha'pennies an'--an'--I canna think +hoo mony farthings." + +"I dinna care a bittie bit. There's mair folk aroond the kirkyaird than +there's farthings i' twa, three times seven shullin's. An' maist ilka +body kens Bobby. An' we hae a saxpence atween us noo." + +"Maister Brown wad gie us anither saxpence gin he had ane," Tammy +suggested, wistfully. + +"Nae, he's fair ill. Gin he doesna keep canny it wull gang to 'is heart. +He'd be aff 'is heid, aboot Bobby. Oh, Tammy, Maister Traill gaed to +gie 'im up! He was wearin' a' 'is gude claes an' a lang face, to gang to +Bobby's buryin'." + +This dreadful thought spurred them to instant action. By way of mutual +encouragement they went together through the sculptured doorway, that +bore the arms of the ancient guild of the candlemakers on the lintel, +and into the carting office on the front. + +"Do ye ken Greyfriars Bobby?" Tammy asked, timidly, of the man in +charge. + +He glowered at the laddie and shook his head. "Havers, mannie; there's +no' onybody named for an auld buryin' groond." + +The children fled. There was no use at all in wasting time on folk who +did not know Bobby, for it would take too long to explain him. But, +alas, they soon discovered that "maist ilka body" did not know the +little dog, as they had so confidently supposed. He was sure to be known +only in the rooms at the rear that overlooked the kirkyard, and, as one +went upward, his identity became less and less distinct. He was such +a wee, wee, canny terrier, and so many of the windows had their views +constantly shut out by washings. Around the inner courts, where unkempt +women brought every sort of work out to the light on the galleries and +mended worthless rags, gossiped, and nursed their babies on the stairs, +Bobby had sometimes been heard of, but almost never seen. Children often +knew him where their elders did not. By the time Ailie and Tammy had +worked swiftly down to the bottom of the Row other children began to +follow them, moved by the peril of the little dog to sympathy and eager +sacrifice. + +"Bide a wee, Ailie!" cried one, running to overtake the lassie. "Here's +a penny. I was gangin' for milk for the porridge. We can do wi'oot the +day." + +And there was the money for the broth bone, and the farthing that +would have filled the gude-man's evening pipe, and the ha'penny for the +grandmither's tea. It was the world-over story of the poor helping the +poor. The progress of Ailie and Tammy through the tenements was like +that of the piper through Hamelin. The children gathered and gathered, +and followed at their heels, until a curiously quiet mob of threescore +or more crouched in the court of the old hall of the Knights of St. +John, in the Grassmarket, to count the many copper coins in Tammy's +woolen bonnet. + +"Five shullin's, ninepence, an' a ha'penny," Tammy announced. And then, +after calculation on his fingers, "It'll tak' a shullin' an' twapenny +ha'penny mair." + +There was a gasping breath of bitter disappointment, and one wee laddie +wailed for lost Bobby. At that Ailie dashed the tears from her own eyes +and sprang up, spurred to desperate effort. She would storm the all but +hopeless attic chambers. Up the twisting turnpike stairs on the outer +wall she ran, to where the swallows wheeled about the cornices, and she +could hear the iron cross of the Knights Templars creak above the gable. +Then, all the way along a dark passage, at one door after another, she +knocked, and cried, + +"Do ye ken Greyfriars Bobby?" + +At some of the doors there was no answer. At others students stared out +at the bairn, not in the least comprehending this wild crying. Tears of +anger and despair flooded the little maid's blue eyes when she beat on +the last door of the row with her doubled fist. + +"Do ye ken Greyfriars Bobby? The police are gangin' to mak' 'im be +deid--" As the door was flung open she broke into stormy weeping. + +"Hey, lassie. I know the dog. What fashes you?" + +There stood a tall student, a wet towel about his head, and, behind +him, the rafters of the dormer-lighted closet were as thickly hung +with bunches of dried herbs from the Botanical Garden as any auld witch +wife's kitchen. + +"Oh, are ye kennin' 'im? Isna he bonny an' sonsie? Gie me the shullin' +an' twapenny ha' penny we're needin', so the police wullna put 'im +awa'." + +"Losh! It's a license you're wanting? I wish I had as many shullings +as I've had gude times with Bobby, and naething to pay for his braw +company." + +For this was Geordie Ross, going through the Medical College with the +help of Heriot's fund that, large as it was, was never quite enough +for all the poor and ambitious youths of Edinburgh. And so, although +provided for in all necessary ways, his pockets were nearly as empty as +of old. He could spare a sixpence if he made his dinner on a potato and +a smoked herring. That he was very willing to do, once he had heard +the tale, and he went with Ailie to the lodgings of other students, and +demanded their siller with no explanation at all. + +"Give the lassie what you can spare, man, or I'll have to give you a +licking," was his gay and convincing argument, from door to door, until +the needed amount was made up. Ailie fled recklessly down the stairs, +and cried triumphantly to the upward-looking, silent crowd that had +grown and grown around Tammy, like some host of children crusaders. + +While Ailie and Tammy were collecting the price of his ransom Bobby was +exploring the intricately cut-up interior of old St. Giles, sniffing at +the rifts in flimsily plastered partitions that the Lord Provost pointed +out to Mr. Traill. Rats were in those crumbling walls. If there had been +a hole big enough to admit him, the plucky little dog would have gone +in after them. Forbidden to enlarge one, Bobby could only poke his +indignant muzzle into apertures, and brace himself as for a fray. And, +at the very smell of him, there were such squeakings and scamperings in +hidden runways as to be almost beyond a terrier's endurance. The Lord +Provost watched him with an approving eye. + +"When these partitions are tak'n down Bobby would be vera useful in +ridding our noble old cathedral of vermin. But that will not be in this +wee Highlander's day nor, I fear, in mine." About the speech of this +Peebles man, who had risen from poverty to distinction, learning, +wealth, and many varieties of usefulness, there was still an engaging +burr. And his manner was so simple that he put the humblest at his ease. + +There had been no formality about the meeting at all. Glenormiston was +standing in a rear doorway of the cathedral near the Regent's Tomb, +looking out into the sunny square of Parliament Close, when Mr. Traill +and Bobby appeared. Near seventy, at that time, a backward sweep of +white hair and a downward flow of square-cut, white beard framed a +boldly featured face and left a generous mouth uncovered. + +"Gude morning, Mr. Traill. So that is the famous dog that has stood +sentinel for more than eight years. He should be tak'n up to the Castle +and shown to young soldiers who grumble at twenty-four hours' guard +duty. How do you do, sir!" The great man, whom the Queen knighted later, +and whom the University he was too poor to attend as a lad honored with +a degree, stooped from the Regent's Tomb and shook Bobby's lifted paw +with grave courtesy. Then, leaving the little dog to entertain himself, +he turned easily to his own most absorbing interest of the moment. + +"Do you happen to care for Edinburgh antiquities, Mr. Traill? +Reformation piety made sad havoc of art everywhere. Man, come here!" + +Down into the lime dust the Lord Provost and the landlord went, in their +good black clothes, for a glimpse of a bit of sculpturing on a tomb that +had been walled in to make a passage. A loose brick removed, behind and +above it, the sun flashed through fragments of emerald and ruby glass +of a saint's robe, in a bricked up window. Such buried and forgotten +treasure, Glenormiston explained, filled the entire south transept. In +the High Kirk, that then filled the eastern end of the cathedral, they +went up a cheap wooden stairway, to the pew-filled gallery that was +built into the old choir, and sat down. Mr. Traill's eyes sparkled. +Glenormiston was a man after his own heart, and they were getting along +famously; but, oh! it began to seem more and more unlikely that a Lord +Provost, who was concerned about such braw things as the restoration of +the old cathedral and letting the sun into the ancient tenements, should +be much interested in a small, masterless dog. + +"Man, auld John Knox will turn over in his bit grave in Parliament Close +if you put a 'kist o' whustles' in St. Giles." Mr. Traill laughed. + +"I admit I might have stopped short of the organ but for the courageous +example of Doctor Lee in Greyfriars. It was from him that I had a quite +extravagant account of this wee, leal Highlander a few years ago. I have +aye meant to go to see him; but I'm a busy man and the matter passed out +of mind. Mr. Traill, I'm your sadly needed witness: I heard you from the +doorway of the court-room, and I sent up a note confirming your story +and asking, as a courtesy, that the case be turned over to me for some +exceptional disposal. Would you mind telling another man the tale that +so moved Doctor Lee? I've aye had a fondness for the human document." + +So there, above the pulpit of the High Kirk of St. Giles, the tale was +told again, so strangely did this little dog's life come to be linked +with the highest and lowest, the proudest and humblest in the Scottish +capital. Now, at mention of Auld Jock, Bobby put his shagged paws up +inquiringly on the edge of the pew, so that Mr. Traill lifted him. He +lay down flat between the two men, with his nose on his paws, and his +little tousled head under the Lord Provost's hand. + +Auld Jock lived again in that recital. Glenormiston, coming from the +country of the Ettrick shepherd, knew such lonely figures, and the +pathos of old age and waning powers that drove them in to the poor +quarters of towns. There was pictured the stormy night and the simple +old man who sought food and shelter, with the devoted little dog that +"wasna 'is ain." Sick unto death he was, and full of ignorant prejudices +and fears that needed wise handling. And there was the well-meaning +landlord's blunder, humbly confessed, and the obscure and tragic result +of it, in a foul and swarming rookery "juist aff the Coogate." + +"Man, it was Bobby that told me of his master's condition. He begged me +to help Auld Jock, and what did I do but let my fule tongue wag about +doctors. I nae more than turned my back than the auld body was awa' to +his meeserable death. It has aye eased my conscience a bit to feed the +dog." + +"That's not the only reason why you have fed him." There was a twinkle +in the Lord Provost's eye, and Mr. Traill blushed. + +"Weel, I'll admit to you that I'm fair fulish about Bobby. Man, I've +courted that sma' terrier for eight and a half years. He's as polite +and friendly as the deil, but he'll have naething to do with me or with +onybody. I wonder the intelligent bit doesn't bite me for the ill turn I +did his master." + +Then there was the story of Bobby's devotion to Auld Jock's memory to be +told--the days when he faced starvation rather than desert that grave, +the days when he lay cramped under the fallen table-tomb, and his +repeated, dramatic escapes from the Pentland farm. His never broken +silence in the kirkyard was only to be explained by the unforgotten +orders of his dead master. His intelligent effort to make himself useful +to the caretaker had won indulgence. His ready obedience, good temper, +high spirits and friendliness had made him the special pet of the +tenement children and the Heriot laddies. At the very last Mr. Traill +repeated the talk he had had with the non-commissioned officer from the +Castle, and confessed his own fear of some forlorn end for Bobby. It was +true he was nobody's dog; and he was fascinated by soldiers and military +music, and so, perhaps-- + +"I'll no' be reconciled to parting--Eh, man, that's what Auld Jock +himsel' said when he was telling me that the bit dog must be returned to +the sheep-farm: 'It wull be sair partin'.'" Tears stood in the unashamed +landlord's eyes. + +Glenormiston was pulling Bobby's silkily fringed ears thoughtfully. +Through all this talk about his dead master the little dog had not +stirred. For the second time that day Bobby's veil was pushed back, +first by the most unfortunate laddie in the decaying tenements about +Greyfriars, and now by the Lord Provost of the ancient royal burgh and +capital of Scotland. And both made the same discovery. Deep-brown pools +of love, young Bobby's eyes had dwelt upon Auld Jock. Pools of sad +memories they were now, looking out wistfully and patiently upon a +masterless world. + +"Are you thinking he would be reconciled to be anywhere away from that +grave? Look, man!" + +"Lord forgive me! I aye thought the wee doggie happy enough." + +After a moment the two men went down the gallery stairs in silence. +Bobby dropped from the bench and fell into a subdued trot at their +heels. As they left the cathedral by the door that led into High Street +Glenormiston remarked, with a mysterious smile: + +"I'm thinking Edinburgh can do better by wee Bobby than to banish him to +the Castle. But wait a bit, man. A kirk is not the place for settling a +small dog's affairs." + +The Lord Provost led the way westward along the cathedral's front. On +High Street, St. Giles had three doorways. The middle door then gave +admittance to the police office; the western opened into the Little +Kirk, popularly known as Haddo's Hole. It was into this bare, +whitewashed chapel that Glenormiston turned to get some restoration +drawings he had left on the pulpit. He was explaining them to Mr. Traill +when he was interrupted by a murmur and a shuffle, as of many voices and +feet, and an odd tap-tap-tapping in the vestibule. + +Of all the doorways on the north and south fronts of St. Giles the one +to the Little Kirk was nearest the end of George IV Bridge. Confused by +the vast size and imposing architecture of the old cathedral, these slum +children, in search of the police office, went no farther, but ventured +timidly into the open vestibule of Haddo's Hole. Any doubts they might +have had about this being the right place were soon dispelled. Bobby +heard them and darted out to investigate. And suddenly they were all +inside, overwrought Ailie on the floor, clasping the little dog and +crying hysterically. + +"Bobby's no' deid! Bobby's no' deid! Oh, Maister Traill, ye wullna hae +to gie 'im up to the police! Tammy's got the seven shullin's in 'is +bonnet!" + +And there was small Tammy, crutches dropped and pouring that offering +of love and mercy out at the foot of an altar in old St. Giles. Such an +astonishing pile of copper coins it was, that it looked to the landlord +like the loot of some shopkeeper's change drawer. + +"Eh, puir laddie, whaur did ye get it a' noo?" he asked, gravely. + +Tammy was very self-possessed and proud. "The bairnies aroond the +kirkyaird gie'd it to pay the police no' to mak' Bobby be deid." + +Mr. Traill flashed a glance at Glenormiston. It was a look at once of +triumph and of humility over the Herculean deed of these disinherited +children. But the Lord Provost was gazing at that crowd of pale bairns, +products of the Old Town's ancient slums, and feeling, in his own +person, the civic shame of it. And he was thinking, thinking, that he +must hasten that other project nearest his heart, of knocking holes in +solid rows of foul cliffs, in the Cowgate, on High Street, and around +Greyfriars. It was an incredible thing that such a flower of affection +should have bloomed so sweetly in such sunless cells. And it was a new +gospel, at that time, that a dog or a horse or a bird might have its +mission in this world of making people kinder and happier. + +They were all down on the floor, in the space before the altar, +unwashed, uncombed, unconscious of the dirty rags that scarce covered +them; quite happy and self-forgetful in the charming friskings and +friendly lollings of the well-fed, carefully groomed, beautiful little +dog. Ailie, still so excited that she forgot to be shy, put Bobby +through his pretty tricks. He rolled over and over, he jumped, he danced +to Tammy's whistling of "Bonnie Dundee," he walked on his hind legs and +louped at a bonnet, he begged, he lifted his short shagged paw and shook +hands. Then he sniffed at the heap of coins, looked up inquiringly at +Mr. Traill, and, concluding that here was some property to be guarded, +stood by the "siller" as stanchly as a soldier. It was just pure +pleasure to watch him. + +Very suddenly the Lord Provost changed his mind. A sacred kirk was the +very best place of all to settle this little dog's affairs. The offering +of these children could not be refused. It should lie there, below the +altar, and be consecrated to some other blessed work; and he would do +now and here what he had meant to do elsewhere and in a quite different +way. He lifted Bobby to the pulpit so that all might see him, and he +spoke so that all might understand. + +"Are ye kennin' what it is to gie the freedom o' the toon to grand +folk?" + +"It's--it's when the bonny Queen comes an' ye gie her the keys to the +burgh gates that are no' here ony mair." Tammy, being in Heriot's, was a +laddie of learning. + +"Weel done, laddie. Lang syne there was a wa' aroond Edinburgh wi' gates +in it." Oh yes, all these bairnies knew that, and the fragment of it +that was still to be seen outside and above the Grassmarket, with +its sentry tower by the old west port. "Gin a fey king or ither grand +veesitor cam', the Laird Provost an' the maigestrates gied 'im the keys +so he could gang in an' oot at 'is pleesure. The wa's are a' doon noo, +an' the gates no' here ony mair, but we hae the keys, an' we mak' a show +o' gien' 'em to veesitors wha are vera grand or wise or gude, or juist +usefu' by the ordinar'." + +"Maister Gladstane," said Tammy. + +"Ay, we honor the Queen's meenisters; an' Miss Nightingale, wha nursed +the soldiers i' the war; an' Leddy Burdett-Coutts, wha gies a' her +siller an' a' her heart to puir folk an' is aye kind to horses and dogs +an' singin' birdies; an' we gie the keys to heroes o' the war wha +are brave an' faithfu'. An' noo, there's a wee bit beastie. He's +weel-behavin', an' isna makin' a blatterin' i' an auld kirkyaird. He +aye minds what he's bidden to do. He's cheerfu' an' busy, keepin' the +proolin' pussies an' vermin frae the sma' birdies i' the nests. He mak's +friends o' ilka body, an' he's faithfu'. For a deid man he lo'ed he's +gaun hungry; an' he hasna forgotten 'im or left 'im by 'is lane at +nicht for mair years than some o' ye are auld. An' gin ye find 'im lyin' +canny, an' ye tak' a keek into 'is bonny brown een, ye can see he's aye +greetin'. An' so, ye didna ken why, but ye a' lo'ed the lanely wee--" + +"Bobby!" It was an excited breath of a word from the wide-eyed bairns. + +"Bobby! Havers! A bittie dog wadna ken what to do wi' keys." + +But Glenormiston was smiling, and these sharp witted slum bairns +exchanged knowing glances. "Whaur's that sma'--?" He dived into this +pocket and that, making a great pretense of searching, until he found a +narrow band of new leather, with holes in one end and a stout buckle +on the other, and riveted fast in the middle of it was a shining brass +plate. Tammy read the inscription aloud: + + GREYFRIARS BOBBY + + FROM THE LORD PROVOST + + 1867 Licensed + +The wonderful collar was passed from hand to hand in awed silence. The +children stared and stared at this white-haired and bearded man, who +"wasna grand ava," but who talked to them as simply and kindly as a +grandfaither. He went right on talking to them in his homely way to put +them at their ease, telling them that nobody at all, not even the bonny +Queen, could be more than kind and well-behaving and faithful to duty. +Wee Bobby was all that, and so "Gin dizzens an' dizzens o' bairns war +kennin' 'im, an' wad fetch seven shullin's i' their ha'pennies to a +kirk, they could buy the richt for the braw doggie to be leevin', the +care o' them a', i' the auld kirkyaird o' Greyfriars. An' he maun hae +the collar so the police wull ken 'im an' no' ever tak' 'im up for a +puir, gaen-aboot dog." + +The children quite understood the responsibility they assumed, and their +eyes shone with pride at the feeling that, if more fortunate friends +failed, this little creature must never be allowed to go hungry. And +when he came to die--oh, in a very, very few years, for they must +remember that "a doggie isna as lang-leevin' as folk"--they must not +forget that Bobby would not be permitted to be buried in the kirkyard. + +"We'll gie 'im a grand buryin'," said Tammy. "We'll find a green brae +by a babblin' burn aneath a snawy hawthorn, whaur the throstle sings an' +the blackbird whustles." For the crippled laddie had never forgotten Mr. +Traill's description of a proper picnic, and that must, indeed, be a wee +dog's heaven. + +"Ay, that wull do fair weel." The collar had come back to him by this +time, and the Lord Provost buckled it securely about Bobby's neck. + + + + +X. + +The music of bagpipe, fife and drum brought them all out of Haddo's Hole +into High Street. It was the hour of the morning drill, and the soldiers +were marching out of the Castle. From the front of St. Giles, that +jutted into the steep thoroughfare, they could look up to where the +street widened to the esplanade on Castle Hill. Rank after rank of +scarlet coats, swinging kilts and sporrans, and plumed bonnets appeared. +The sun flashed back from rifle barrels and bayonets and from countless +bright buttons. + +A number of the older laddies ran up the climbing street. Mr. Traill +called Bobby back and, with a last grip of Glenormiston's hand, set off +across the bridge. To the landlord the world seemed a brave place to be +living in, the fabric of earth and sky and human society to be woven of +kindness. Having urgent business of buying supplies in the markets at +Broughton and Lauriston, Mr. Traill put Bobby inside the kirkyard gate +and hurried away to get into his everyday clothing. After dinner, or +tea, he promised himself the pleasure of an hour at the lodge, to tell +Mr. Brown the wonderful news, and to show him Bobby's braw collar. + +When, finally, he was left alone, Bobby trotted around the kirk, to +assure himself that Auld Jock's grave was unmolested. There he turned +on his back, squirmed and rocked on the crocuses, and tugged at the +unaccustomed collar. His inverted struggles, low growlings and furry +contortions set the wrens to scolding and the redbreasts to making +nervous inquiries. Much nestbuilding, tuneful courtship, and masculine +blustering was going on, and there was little police duty for Bobby. +After a time he sat up on the table-tomb, pensively. With Mr. Brown +confined, to the lodge, and Mistress Jeanie in close attendance upon him +there, the kirkyard was a lonely place for a sociable little dog; and +a soft, spring day given over to brooding beside a beloved grave, was +quite too heart-breaking a thing to contemplate. Just for cheerful +occupation Bobby had another tussle with the collar. He pulled it so far +under his thatch that no one could have guessed that he had a collar on +at all, when he suddenly righted himself and scampered away to the gate. + +The music grew louder and came nearer. The first of the route-marching +that the Castle garrison practiced on occasional, bright spring +mornings was always a delightful surprise to the small boys and dogs +of Edinburgh. Usually the soldiers went down High Street and out to +Portobello on the sea. But a regiment of tough and wiry Highlanders +often took, by preference, the mounting road to the Pentlands to get a +whiff of heather in their nostrils. + +On they came, band playing, colors flying, feet moving in unison with a +march, across the viaduct bridge into Greyfriars Place. Bobby was up on +the wicket, his small, energetic body quivering with excitement from his +muzzle to his tail. If Mr. Traill had been there he would surely have +caught the infection, thrown care to this sweet April breeze for +once, and taken the wee terrier for a run on the Pentland braes. The +temptation was going by when a preoccupied lady, with a sheaf of Easter +lilies on her sable arm, opened the wicket. Her ample Victorian skirts +swept right over the little dog, and when he emerged there was the gate +slightly ajar. Widening the aperture with nose and paws, Bobby was off, +skirmishing at large on the rear and flanks of the troops, down the +Burghmuir. + +It may never have happened, in the years since Auld Jock died and the +farmer of Cauldbrae gave up trying to keep him on the hills, that Bobby, +had gone so far back on this once familiar road; and he may not +have recognized it at first, for the highways around Edinburgh were +everywhere much alike. This one alone began to climb again. Up, up it +toiled, for two weary miles, to the hilltop toll-bar of Fairmilehead, +and there the sounds and smells that made it different from other roads +began. + +Five miles out of the city the halt was called, and the soldiers flung +themselves on the slope. Many experiences of route-marching had taught +Bobby that there was an interval of rest before the return, so, with +his nose to the ground, he started up the brae on a pilgrimage to old +shrines, just as in his puppyhood days, at Auld Jock's heels, there was +much shouting of men, barking of collies, and bleating of sheep all the +way up. Once he had to leave the road until a driven flock had passed. +Behind the sheep walked an old laborer in hodden-gray, woolen bonnet, +and shepherd's two-fold plaid, with a lamb in the pouch of it. Bobby +trembled at the apparition, sniffed at the hob-nailed boots, and then, +with drooped head and tail, trotted on up the slope. + +Men and dogs were all out on the billowy pastures, and the farm-house +of Cauldbrae lay on the level terrace, seemingly deserted and steeped in +memories. A few moments before, a tall lassie had come out to listen +to the military music. A couple of hundred feet below, the coats of the +soldiers looked to her like poppies scattered on the heather. At the +top of the brae the wind was blowing a cold gale, so the maidie went up +again, and around to a bit of tangled garden on the sheltered side of +the house. The "wee lassie Elsie" was still a bairn in short skirts +and braids, who lavished her soft heart, as yet, on briar bushes and +daisies. + +Bobby made a tour of the sheepfold, the cowyard and byre, and he +lingered behind the byre, where Auld Jock had played with him on Sabbath +afternoons. He inspected the dairy, and the poultry-house where hens +were sitting on their nests. By and by he trotted around the house and +came upon the lassie, busily clearing winter rubbish from her posie bed. +A dog changes very little in appearance, but in eight and a half years a +child grows into a different person altogether. Bobby barked politely to +let this strange lassie know that he was there. In the next instant he +knew her, for she whirled about and, in a kind of glad wonder, cried +out: + +"Oh, Bobby! hae ye come hame? Mither, here's ma ain wee Bobby!" For she +had never given up the hope that this adored little pet would some day +return to her. + +"Havers, lassie, ye're aye seein' Bobby i' ilka Hielan' terrier, an' +there's mony o' them aboot." + +The gude-wife looked from an attic window in the steep gable, and then +hurried down. "Weel, noo, ye're richt, Elsie. He wad be comin' wi' the +regiment frae the Castle. Bittie doggies an' laddies are fair daft aboot +the soldiers. Ay, he's bonny, an' weel cared for, by the ordinar'. I +wonder gin he's still leevin' i' the grand auld kirkyaird." + +Wary of her remembered endearments, Bobby kept a safe distance from the +maidie, but he sat up and lolled his tongue, quite willing to pay her a +friendly visit. From that she came to a wrong conclusion: "Sin' he cam' +o' his ain accord he's like to bide." Her eyes were blue stars. + +"I wadna be coontin' on that, lassie. An' I wadna speck a door on 'im +anither time. Grin he wanted to get oot he'd dig aneath a floor o' +stane. Leuk at that, noo! The bonny wee is greetin' for Auld Jock." + +It was true, for, on entering the kitchen, Bobby went straight to the +bench in the corner and lay down flat under it. Elsie sat beside him, +just as she had done of old. Her eyes overflowed so in sympathy that the +mother was quite distracted. This would not do at all. + +"Lassie, are ye no' rememberin' Bobby was fair fond o' moor-hens' eggs +fried wi' bits o' cheese? He wullna be gettin' thae things; an' it wad +be maist michty, noo, gin ye couldna win the bittie dog awa' frae the +reekie auld toon. Gang oot wi' 'im an' rin on the brae an' bid 'im find +the nests aneath the whins." + +In a moment they were out on the heather, and it seemed, indeed, as +if Bobby might be won. He frisked and barked at Elsie's heels, chased +rabbits and flushed the grouse; and when he ran into a peat-darkened +tarp, rimmed with moss, he had such a cold and splashy swim as quite to +give a little dog a distaste for warm, soapy water in a claes tub. He +shook and ran himself dry, and he raced the laughing child until they +both dropped panting on the wind-rippled heath. Then he hunted on the +ground under the gorse for those nests that had a dozen or more eggs in +them. He took just one from each in his mouth, as Auld Jock had taught +him to do. On the kitchen hearth he ate the savory meal with much +satisfaction and polite waggings. But when the bugle sounded from below +to form ranks, he pricked his drop ears and started for the door. + +Before he knew what had happened he was inside the poultry-house. In +another instant he was digging frantically in the soft earth under the +door. When the lassie lay down across the crack he stopped digging, in +consternation. His sense of smell told him what it was that shut out the +strip of light; and a bairn's soft body is not a proper object of attack +for a little dog, no matter how desperate the emergency. There was no +time to be lost, for the drums began to beat the march. Having to get +out very quickly, Bobby did a forbidden thing: swiftly and noisily he +dashed around the dark place, and there arose such wild squawkings and +rushings of wings as to bring the gude-wife out of the house in alarm. + +"Lassie, I canna hae the bittie dog in wi the broodin' chuckies!" + +She flung the door wide. Bobby shot through, and into Elsie's +outstretched arms. She held to him desperately, while he twisted and +struggled and strained away; and presently something shining worked into +view, through the disordered thatch about his neck. The mother had come +to the help of the child, and it was she who read the inscription on the +brazen plate aloud. + +"Preserve us a'! Lassie, he's been tak'n by the Laird Provost an' gien +the name o' the auld kirkyaird. He's an ower grand doggie. Ma puir +bairnie, dinna greet so sair!" For the little girl suddenly released the +wee Highlander and sobbed on her mother's shoulder. + +"He isna ma ain Bobby ony mair!" She "couldna thole" to watch him as he +tumbled down the brae. + +On the outward march, among the many dogs and laddies that had +followed the soldiers, Bobby escaped notice. But most of these had gone +adventuring in Swanston Dell, to return to the city by the gorge of +Leith Water. Now, traveling three miles to the soldiers' one, scampering +in wide circles over the fields, swimming burns, scrambling under +hedges, chasing whaups into piping cries, barking and louping in +pure exuberance of spirits, many eyes looked upon him admiringly, and +discontented mouths turned upward at the corners. It is not the least +of a little dog's missions in life to communicate his own irresponsible +gaiety to men. + +If the return had been over George IV Bridge Bobby would, no doubt, have +dropped behind at Mr. Traill's or at the kirkyard. But on the Burghmuir +the troops swung eastward until they rounded Arthur's Seat and met +the cavalry drilling before the barracks at Piershill. Such pretty +maneuvering of horse and foot took place below Holyrood Palace as quite +to enrapture a terrier. When the infantry marched up the Canongate and +High Street, the mounted men following and the bands playing at full +blast, the ancient thoroughfare was quickly lined with cheering +crowds, and faces looked down from ten tiers of windows on a beautiful +spectacle. Bobby did not know when the bridge-approach was passed; and +then, on Castle Hill, he was in an unknown region. There the street +widened to the great square of the esplanade. The cavalry wheeled and +dashed down High Street, but the infantry marched on and up, over the +sounding drawbridge that spanned a dry moat of the Middle Ages, and +through a deep-arched gateway of masonry. + +The outer gate to the Castle was wider than the opening into many an +Edinburgh wynd; but Bobby stopped, uncertain as to where this narrow +roadway, that curved upward to the right, might lead. It was not a dark +fissure in a cliff of houses, but was bounded on the outer side by a +loopholed wall, and on the inner by a rocky ledge of ascending levels. +Wherever the shelf was of sufficient breadth a battery of cannon was +mounted, and such a flood of light fell from above and flashed +on polished steel and brass as to make the little dog blink in +bewilderment. And he whirled like a rotary sweeper in the dusty road and +yelped when the time-gun, in the half-moon battery at the left of the +gate and behind him, crashed and shook the massive rock. + +He barked and barked, and dashed toward the insulting clamor. The +dauntless little dog and his spirited protest were so out of proportion +to the huge offense that the guard laughed, and other soldiers ran out +of the guard houses that flanked the gate. They would have put the noisy +terrier out at once, but Bobby was off, up the curving roadway into the +Castle. The music had ceased, and the soldiers had disappeared over the +rise. Through other dark arches of masonry he ran. On the crest were +two ways to choose--the roadway on around and past the barracks, and a +flight of steps cut steeply in the living rock of the ledge, and leading +up to the King's Bastion. Bobby took the stairs at a few bounds. + +On the summit there was nothing at all beside a tiny, ancient stone +chapel with a Norman arched and sculptured doorway, and guarding it +an enormous burst cannon. But these ruins were the crown jewels of the +fortifications--their origins lost in legends--and so they were cared +for with peculiar reverence. Sergeant Scott of the Royal Engineers +himself, in fatigue-dress, was down on his knees before St. Margaret's +oratory, pulling from a crevice in the foundations a knot of grass that +was at its insidious work of time and change. As Bobby dashed up to the +citadel, still barking, the man jumped to his feet. Then he slapped his +thigh and laughed. Catching the animated little bundle of protest the +sergeant set him up for inspection on the shattered breeching of Mons +Meg. + +"Losh! The sma' dog cam' by 'is ainsel'! He could no' resist the braw +soldier laddies. 'He's a dog o' discreemination,' eh? Gin he bides a +wee, noo, it wull tak' the conceit oot o' the innkeeper." He turned to +gather up his tools, for the first dinner bugle was blowing. Bobby knew +by the gun that it was the dinner-hour, but he had been fed at the farm +and was not hungry. He might as well see a bit more of life. He sat +upon the cannon, not in the least impressed by the honor, and lolled his +tongue. + +In Edinburgh Castle there was nothing to alarm a little dog. A dozen +or more large buildings, in three or four groups, and representing +many periods of architecture, lay to the south and west on the lowest +terraces, and about them were generous parked spaces. Into the largest +of the buildings, a long, four-storied barracks, the soldiers had +vanished. And now, at the blowing of a second bugle, half a hundred +orderlies hurried down from a modern cook-house, near the summit, with +cans of soup and meat and potatoes. The sergeant followed one of these +into a room on the front of the barracks. In their serge fatigue-tunics +the sixteen men about the long table looked as different from the gay +soldiers of the march as though so many scarlet and gold and bonneted +butterflies had turned back into sad-colored grubs. + +"Private McLean," he called to his batman who, for one-and-six a week, +cared for his belongings, "tak' chairge o' the dog, wull ye, an' fetch +'im to the non-com mess when ye come to put ma kit i' gude order." + +Before he could answer the bombardment of questions about Bobby the door +was opened again. The men dropped their knives and forks and stood at +attention. The officer of the day was making the rounds of the forty +or fifty such rooms in the barracks to inquire of the soldiers if their +dinner was satisfactory. He recognized at once the attractive little +Skye that had taken the eyes of the men on the march, and asked about +him. Sergeant Scott explained that Bobby had no owner. He was living, by +permission, in Greyfriars kirkyard, guarding the grave of a long-dead, +humble master, and was fed by the landlord of the dining-rooms near the +gate. If the little dog took a fancy to garrison life, and the regiment +to him, he thought Mr. Traill, who had the best claim upon him, might +consent to his transfer to the Castle. After orders, at sunset, he would +take Bobby down to the restaurant himself. + +"I wish you good luck, Sergeant." The officer whistled, and Bobby leaped +upon him and off again, and indulged in many inconsequent friskings. +"Before you take him home fetch him over to the officers' mess at +dinner. It is guest night, and he is sure to interest the gentlemen. A +loyal little creature who has guarded his dead master's grave for more +than eight years deserves to have a toast drunk to him by the officers +of the Queen. But it's an extraordinary story, and it doesn't sound +altogether probable. Jolly little beggar!" He patted Bobby cordially on +the side, and went out. + +The news of his advent and fragments of his story spread so quickly +through the barracks that mess after mess swarmed down from the upper +moors and out into the roadway to see Bobby. Private McLean stood in the +door, smoking a cutty pipe, and grinning with pride in the merry little +ruffian of a terrier, who met the friendly advances of the soldiers more +than half-way. Bobby's guardian would have liked very well to have +sat before the canteen in the sun and gossiped about his small charge. +However, in the sergeant's sleeping-quarters above the mess-room, he had +the little dog all to himself, and Bobby had the liveliest interest +in the boxes and pots, brushes and sponges, and in the processes of +polishing, burnishing, and pipe-claying a soldier's boots and buttons +and belts. As he worked at his valeting, the man kept time with his foot +to rude ballads that he sang in such a hissing Celtic that Bobby +barked, scandalized by a dialect that had been music in the ears of his +ancestors. At that Private McLean danced a Highland fling for him, and +wee Bobby came near bursting with excitement. When the sergeant came up +to make a magnificent toilet for tea and for the evening in town, the +soldier expressed himself with enthusiasm. + +"He iss a deffle of a dog, sir!" + +He was thought to be a "deffle of a dog" in the mess, where the non-com +officers had tea at small writing and card tables. They talked and +laughed very fast and loud, tried Bobby out on all the pretty tricks he +knew, and taught him to speak and to jump for a lump of sugar balanced +on his nose. They did not fondle him, and this rough, masculine style of +pampering and petting was very much to his liking. It was a proud thing, +too, for a little dog, to walk out with the sergeant's shining boots +and twirled walkingstick, and be introduced into one strange place after +another all around the Castle. + +From tea to tattoo was playtime for the garrison. Many smartly dressed +soldiers, with passes earned by good behavior, went out to find +amusement in the city. Visitors, some of them tourists from America, +made the rounds under the guidance of old soldiers. The sergeant +followed such a group of sight-seers through a postern behind the armory +and out onto the cliff. There he lounged under a fir-tree above St. +Margaret's Well and smoked a dandified cigar, while Bobby explored the +promenade and scraped acquaintance with the strangers. + +On the northern and southern sides the Castle wall rose from the very +edge of sheer precipices. Except for loopholes there were no openings. +But on the west there was a grassy terrace without the wall, and below +that the cliff fell away a little less steeply. The declivity was +clothed sparsely with hazel shrubs, thorns, whins and thistles; and now +and then a stunted fir or rowan tree or a group of white-stemmed birks +was stoutly rooted on a shelving ledge. Had any one, the visitors asked, +ever escaped down this wild crag? + +Yes, Queen Margaret's children, the guide answered. Their father dead, +in battle, their saintly mother dead in the sanctuary of her tiny +chapel, the enemy battering at the gate, soldiers had lowered the royal +lady's body in a basket, and got the orphaned children down, in safety +and away, in a fog, over Queen's Ferry to Dunfirmline in the Kingdom +of Fife. It was true that a false step or a slip of the foot would +have dashed them to pieces on the rocks below. A gentleman of the party +scouted the legend. Only a fox or an Alpine chamois could make that +perilous descent. + +With his head cocked alertly, Bobby had stood listening. Hearing this +vague talk of going down, he may have thought these people meant to go, +for he quietly dropped over the edge and went, head over heels, ten feet +down, and landed in a clump of hazel. A lady screamed. Bobby righted +himself and barked cheerful reassurance. The sergeant sprang to his feet +and ordered him to come back. + +Now, the sergeant was pleasant company, to be sure; but he was not a +person who had to be obeyed, so Bobby barked again, wagged his crested +tail, and dropped lower. The people who shuddered on the brink could see +that the little dog was going cautiously enough; and presently he looked +doubtfully over a sheer fall of twenty feet, turned and scrambled back +to the promenade. He was cried and exclaimed over by the hysterical +ladies, and scolded for a bittie fule by the sergeant. To this Bobby +returned ostentatious yawns of boredom and nonchalant lollings, for +it seemed a small matter to be so fashed about. At that a gentleman +remarked, testily, to hide his own agitation, that dogs really had very +little sense. The sergeant ordered Bobby to precede him through the +postern, and the little dog complied amiably. + +All the afternoon bugles had been blowing. For each signal there was a +different note, and at each uniformed men appeared and hurried to new +points. Now, near sunset, there was the fanfare for officers' orders for +the next day. The sergeant put Bobby into Queen Margaret's Chapel, bade +him remain there, and went down to the Palace Yard. The chapel on the +summit was a convenient place for picking the little dog up on his way +to the officers' mess. Then he meant to have his own supper cozily at +Mr. Traill's and to negotiate for Bobby. + +A dozen people would have crowded this ancient oratory, but, small as +it was, it was fitted with a chancel rail and a font for baptizing the +babies born in the Castle. Through the window above the altar, where the +sainted Queen was pictured in stained glass, the sunlight streamed and +laid another jeweled image on the stone floor. Then the colors faded, +until the holy place became an austere cell. The sun had dropped behind +the western Highlands. + +Bobby thought it quite time to go home. By day he often went far +afield, seeking distraction, but at sunset he yearned for the grave in +Greyfriars. The steps up which he had come lay in plain view from the +doorway of the chapel. Bobby dropped down the stairs, and turned into +the main roadway of the Castle. At the first arch that spanned it a +red-coated guard paced on the other side of a closed gate. It would +not be locked until tattoo, at nine thirty, but, without a pass, no one +could go in or out. Bobby sprang on the bars and barked, as much as to +say: "Come awa', man, I hae to get oot." + +The guard stopped, presented arms to this small, peremptory terrier, +and inquired facetiously if he had a pass. Bobby bristled and yelped +indignantly. The soldier grinned with amusement. Sentinel duty was +lonesome business, and any diversion a relief. In a guardhouse asleep +when Bobby came into the Castle, he had not seen the little dog before +and knew nothing about him. He might be the property of one of the +regiment ladies. Without orders he dared not let Bobby out. A furious +and futile onslaught on the gate he met with a jocose feint of his +bayonet. Tiring of the play, presently, the soldier turned his back and +paced to the end of his beat. + +Bobby stopped barking in sheer astonishment. He gazed after the stiff, +retreating back, in frightened disbelief that he was not to be let out. +He attacked the stone under the barrier, but quickly discovered its +unyielding nature. Then he howled until the sentinel came back, but when +the man went by without looking at him he uttered a whimpering cry and +fled upward. The roadway was dark and the dusk was gathering on the +citadel when Bobby dashed across the summit and down into the brightly +lighted square of the Palace Yard. + +The gas-lamps were being lighted on the bridge, and Mr. Traill was +getting into his streetcoat for his call on Mr. Brown when Tammy put his +head in at the door of the restaurant. The crippled laddie had a warm, +uplifted look, for Love had touched the sordid things of life, and a +miracle had bloomed for the tenement dwellers around Greyfriars. + +"Maister Traill, Mrs. Brown says wull ye please send Bobby hame. Her +gude-mon's frettin' for 'im; an' syne, a' the folk aroond the kirkyaird +hae come to the gate to see the bittie dog's braw collar. They wullna +believe the Laird Provost gied it to 'im for a chairm gin they dinna see +it wi' their gin een." + +"Why, mannie, Bobby's no' here. He must be in the kirkyard." + +"Nae, he isna. I ca'ed, an' Ailie keeked in ilka place amang the +stanes." + +They stared at each other, the landlord serious, the laddie's lip +trembling. Mr. Traill had not returned from his numerous errands about +the city until the middle of the afternoon. He thought, of course, that +Bobby had been in for his dinner, as usual, and had returned to the +kirkyard. It appeared, now, that no one about the diningrooms had seen +the little dog. Everybody had thought that Mr. Traill had taken Bobby +with him. He hurried down to the gate to find Mistress Jeanie at the +wicket, and a crowd of tenement women and children in the alcove and +massed down Candlemakers Row. Alarm spread like a contagion. In eight +years and more Bobby had not been outside the kirkyard gate after the +sunset bugle. Mrs. Brown turned pale. + +"Dinna say the bittie dog's lost, Maister Traill. It wad gang to the +heart o' ma gudemon." + +"Havers, woman, he's no' lost." Mr. Traill spoke stoutly enough. "Just +go up to the lodge and tell Mr. Brown I'm--weel, I'll just attend to +that sma' matter my ainsel'." With that he took a gay face and a set-up +air into the lodge to meet Mr. Brown's glowering eye. + +"Whaur's the dog, man? I've been deaved aboot 'im a' the day, but I +haena seen the sonsie rascal nor the braw collar the Laird Provost gied +'im. An' syne, wi' the folk comin' to spier for 'im an' swarmin' ower +the kirkyaird, ye'd think a warlock was aboot. Bobby isna your dog--" + +"Haud yoursel', man. Bobby's a famous dog, with the freedom of Edinburgh +given to him, and naething will do but Glenormiston must show him to a +company o' grand folk at his bit country place. He's sending in a cart +by a groom, and I'm to tak' Bobby out and fetch him hame after a braw +dinner on gowd plate. The bairns meant weel, but they could no' give +Bobby a washing fit for a veesit with the nobeelity. I had to tak' him +to a barber for a shampoo." + +Mr. Brown roared with laughter. "Man, ye hae mair fule notions i' yer +heid. Ye'll hae to pay a shullin' or twa to a barber, an' Bobby'll be +sae set up there'll be nae leevin' wi' 'im. Sit ye doon an' tell me +aboot the collar, man." + +"I can no' stop now to wag my tongue. Here's the gude-wife. I'll just +help her get you awa' to your bed." + +It was dark when he returned to the gate, and the Castle wore its +luminous crown. The lights from the street lamps flickered on the +up-turned, anxious faces. Some of the children had begun to weep. Women +offered loud suggestions. There were surmises that Bobby had been run +over by a cart in the street, and angry conjectures that he had been +stolen. Then Ailie wailed: + +"Oh, Maister Traill, the bittie dog's deid!" + +"Havers, lassie! I'm ashamed o' ye for a fulish bairn. Bobby's no' deid. +Nae doot he's amang the stanes i' the kirkyaird. He's aye scramblin' +aboot for vermin an' pussies, an' may hae hurt himsel', an' ye a' ken +the bonny wee wadna cry oot i' the kirkyaird. Noo, get to wark, an' +dinna stand there greetin' an' waggin' yer tongues. The mithers an' +bairns maun juist gang hame an' stap their havers, an' licht a' the +candles an' cruisey lamps i' their hames, an' set them i' the windows +aboon the kirkyaird. Greyfriars is murky by the ordinar', an' ye couldna +find a coo there wi'oot the lichts." + +The crowd suddenly melted away, so eager were they all to have a hand in +helping to find the community pet. Then Mr. Traill turned to the boys. + +"Hoo mony o' ye laddies hae the bull's-eye lanterns?" + +Ah! not many in the old buildings around the kirkyard. These japanned +tin aids to dark adventures on the golf links on autumn nights cost a +sixpence and consumed candles. Geordie Ross and Sandy McGregor, coming +up arm in arm, knew of other students and clerks who still had these +cherished toys of boyhood. With these heroes in the lead a score or more +of laddies swarmed into the kirkyard. + +The tenements were lighted up as they had not been since nobles held +routs and balls there. Enough candles and oil were going up in smoke +to pay for wee Bobby's license all over again, and enough love shone +in pallid little faces that peered into the dusk to light the darkest +corner in the heart of the world. Rays from the bull's-eyes were thrown +into every nook and cranny. Very small laddies insinuated themselves +into the narrowest places. They climbed upon high vaults and let +themselves down in last year's burdocks and tangled vines. It was all +done in silence, only Mr. Traill speaking at all. He went everywhere +with the searchers, and called: + +"Whaur are ye, Bobby? Come awa' oot, laddie!" + +But no gleaming ghost of a tousled dog was conjured by the voice of +affection. The tiniest scratching or lowest moaning could have been +heard, for the warm spring evening was very still, and there were, as +yet, few leaves to rustle. Sleepy birds complained at being disturbed +on their perches, and rodents could be heard scampering along their +runways. The entire kirkyard was explored, then the interior of the +two kirks. Mr. Traill went up to the lodge for the keys, saying, +optimistically, that a sexton might unwittingly have locked Bobby in. +Young men with lanterns went through the courts of the tenements, around +the Grassmarket, and under the arches of the bridge. Laddies dropped +from the wall and hunted over Heriot's Hospital grounds to Lauriston +market. Tammy, poignantly conscious of being of no practical use, sat +on Auld Jock's grave, firm in the conviction that Bobby would return to +that spot his ainsel' And Ailie, being only a maid, whose portion it +was to wait and weep, lay across the window-sill, on the pediment of the +tomb, a limp little figure of woe. + +Mr. Traill's heart was full of misgiving. Nothing but death or stone +walls could keep that little creature from this beloved grave. But, in +thinking of stone walls, he never once thought of the Castle. Away over +to the east, in Broughton market, when the garrison marched away and at +Lauriston when they returned, Mr. Traill did not know that the soldiers +had been out of the city. Busy in the lodge Mistress Jeanie had not seen +them go by the kirkyard, and no one else, except Mr. Brown, knew the +fascination that military uniforms, marching and music had for wee +Bobby. A fog began to drift in from the sea. Suddenly the grass was +sheeted and the tombs blurred. A curtain of gauze seemed to be hung +before the lighted tenements. The Castle head vanished, and the sounds +of the drum and bugle of the tattoo came down muffled, as if through +layers of wool. The lights of the bull's-eyes were ruddy discs that cast +no rays. Then these were smeared out to phosphorescent glows, like the +"spunkies" that everybody in Scotland knew came out to dance in old +kirkyards. + +It was no' canny. In the smother of the fog some of the little boys were +lost, and cried out. Mr. Traill got them up to the gate and sent them +home in bands, under the escort of the students. Mistress Jeanie was out +by the wicket. Mr. Brown was asleep, and she "couldna thole it to +sit there snug." When a fog-horn moaned from the Firth she broke into +sobbing. Mr. Traill comforted her as best he could by telling her a +dozen plans for the morning. By feeling along the wall he got her to the +lodge, and himself up to his cozy dining-rooms. + +For the first time since Queen Mary the gate of the historic garden of +the Greyfriars was left on the latch. And it was so that a little dog, +coming home in the night might not be shut out. + + + + +XI. + +It was more than two hours after he left Bobby in Queen Margaret's +Chapel that the sergeant turned into the officers' mess-room and tried +to get an orderly to take a message to the captain who had noticed the +little dog in the barracks. He wished to report that Bobby could not be +found, and to be excused to continue the search. + +He had to wait by the door while the toast to her Majesty was proposed +and the band in the screened gallery broke into "God Save the Queen"; +and when the music stopped the bandmaster came in for the usual +compliments. + +The evening was so warm and still, although it was only mid-April, that +a glass-paneled door, opening on the terrace, was set ajar for air. In +the confusion of movement and talk no one noticed a little black mop of +a muzzle that was poked through the aperture. From the outer darkness +Bobby looked in on the score or more of men doubtfully, ready for +instant disappearance on the slightest alarm. Desperate was the +emergency, forlorn the hope that had brought him there. At every turn +his efforts to escape from the Castle had been baffled. He had been +imprisoned by drummer boys and young recruits in the gymnasium, detained +in the hospital, captured in the canteen. + +Bobby went through all his pretty tricks for the lads, and then begged +to be let go. Laughed at, romped with, dragged back, thrown into the +swimming-pool, expected to play and perform for them, he rebelled at +last. He scarred the door with his claws, and he howled so dismally +that, hearing an orderly corporal coming, they turned him out in a rough +haste that terrified him. In the old Banqueting Hall on the Palace +Yard, that was used as a hospital and dispensary, he went through that +travesty of joy again, in hope of the reward. + +Sharply rebuked and put out of the hospital, at last, because of his +destructive clawing and mournful howling, Bobby dashed across the +Palace Yard and into a crowd of good-humored soldiers who lounged in the +canteen. Rising on his hind legs to beg for attention and indulgence, he +was taken unaware from behind by an admiring soldier who wanted to romp +with him. Quite desperate by that time, he snapped at the hand of his +captor and sprang away into the first dark opening. Frightened by +the man's cry of pain, and by the calls and scuffling search for him +without, he slunk to the farthest corner of a dungeon of the Middle +Ages, under the Royal Lodging. + +When the hunt for him ceased, Bobby slipped out of hiding and made his +way around the sickle-shaped ledge of rock, and under the guns of the +half-moon battery, to the outer gate. Only a cat, a fox, or a low, +weasel-like dog could have done it. There were many details that would +have enabled the observant little creature to recognize this barrier as +the place where he had come in. Certainly he attacked it with fury, and +on the guards he lavished every art of appeal that he possessed. But +there he was bantered, and a feint was made of shutting him up in the +guard-house as a disorderly person. With a heart-broken cry he escaped +his tormentors, and made his way back, under the guns, to the citadel. + +His confidence in the good intentions of men shaken, Bobby took to +furtive ways. Avoiding lighted buildings and voices, he sped from shadow +to shadow and explored the walls of solid masonry. Again and again he +returned to the postern behind the armory, but the small back gate that +gave to the cliff was not opened. Once he scrambled up to a loophole in +the fortifications and looked abroad at the scattered lights of the city +set in the void of night. But there, indeed, his stout heart failed him. + +It was not long before Bobby discovered that he was being pursued. A +number of soldiers and drummer boys were out hunting for him, contritely +enough, when the situation was explained by the angry sergeant. Wherever +he went voices and footsteps followed. Had the sergeant gone alone and +called in familiar speech, "Come awa' oot, Bobby!" he would probably +have run to the man. But there were so many calls--in English, in +Celtic, and in various dialects of the Lowlands--that the little dog +dared not trust them. From place to place he was driven by fear, and +when the calling stopped and the footsteps no longer followed, he lay +for a time where he could watch the postern. A moment after he gave up +the vigil there the little back gate was opened. + +Desperation led him to take another chance with men. Slipping into the +shadow of the old Governor's House, the headquarters of commissioned +officers, on the terrace above the barracks, he lay near the open door +to the mess-room, listening and watching. + +The pretty ceremony of toasting the bandmaster brought all the company +about the table again, and the polite pause in the conversation, on his +exit, gave an opportunity for the captain to speak of Bobby before the +sergeant could get his message delivered. + +"Gentlemen, your indulgence for a moment, to drink another toast to +a little dog that is said to have slept on his master's grave in +Greyfriars churchyard for more than eight years. Sergeant Scott, of the +Royal Engineers, vouches for the story and will present the hero." + +The sergeant came forward then with the word that Bobby could not be +found. He was somewhere in the Castle, and had made persistent and +frantic efforts to get out. Prevented at every turn, and forcibly held +in various places by well-meaning but blundering soldiers, he had been +frightened into hiding. + +Bobby heard every word, and he must have understood that he himself was +under discussion. Alternately hopeful and apprehensive, he scanned +each face in the room that came within range of his vision, until one +arrested and drew him. Such faces, full of understanding, love and +compassion for dumb animals, are to be found among men, women and +children, in any company and in every corner of the world. Now, with +the dog's instinct for the dog-lover, Bobby made his way about the room +unnoticed, and set his short, shagged paws up on this man's knee. + +"Bless my soul, gentlemen, here's the little dog now, and a beautiful +specimen of the drop-eared Skye he is. Why didn't you say that the +'bittie' dog was of the Highland breed, Sergeant? You may well believe +any extravagant tale you may hear of the fidelity and affection of the +Skye terrier." + +And with that wee Bobby was set upon the polished table, his own silver +image glimmering among the reflections of candles and old plate. He +kept close under the hand of his protector, but waiting for the moment +favorable to his appeal. The company crowded around with eager interest, +while the man of expert knowledge and love of dogs talked about Bobby. + +"You see he's a well-knit little rascal, long and low, hardy and strong. +His ancestors were bred for bolting foxes and wildcats among the rocky +headlands of the subarctic islands. The intelligence, courage and +devotion of dogs of this breed can scarcely be overstated. There is some +far away crossing here that gives this one a greater beauty and grace +and more engaging manners, making him a 'sport' among rough farm +dogs--but look at the length and strength of the muzzle. He's as +determined as the deil. You would have to break his neck before you +could break his purpose. For love of his master he would starve, or he +would leap to his death without an instant's hesitation." + +All this time the man had been stroking Bobby's head and neck. Now, +feeling the collar under the thatch, he slipped it out and brought the +brass plate up to the light. + +"Propose your toast to Greyfriars Bobby, Captain. His story is vouched +for by no less a person than the Lord Provost. The 'bittie' dog seems to +have won a sort of canine Victoria Cross." + +The toast was drunk standing, and, a cheer given. The company pressed +close to examine the collar and to shake Bobby's lifted paw. Then, +thinking the moment had come, Bobby rose in the begging attitude, +prostrated himself before them, and uttered a pleading cry. His new +friend assured him that he would be taken home. + +"Bide a wee, Bobby. Before he goes I want you all to see his beautiful +eyes. In most breeds of dogs with the veil you will find the hairs of +the face discolored by tears, but the Skye terrier's are not, and +his eyes are living jewels, as sunny a brown as cairngorms in pebble +brooches, but soft and deep and with an almost human intelligence." + +For the third time that day Bobby's veil was pushed back. One shocked +look by this lover of dogs, and it was dropped. "Get him back to that +grave, man, or he's like to die. His eyes are just two cairngorms of +grief." + +In the hush that fell upon the company the senior officer spoke sharply: +"Take him down at once, Sergeant. The whole affair is most unfortunate, +and you will please tender my apologies at the churchyard and the +restaurant, as well as your own, and I will see the Lord Provost." + +The military salute was given to Bobby when he leaped from the table at +the sergeant's call: "Come awa', Bobby. I'll tak' ye to Auld Jock i' the +kirkyaird noo." + +He stepped out onto the lawn to wait for his pass. Bobby stood at his +feet, quivering with impatience to be off, but trusting in the man's +given word. The upper air was clear, and the sky studded with stars. +Twenty minutes before the May Light, that guided the ships into the +Firth, could be seen far out on the edge of the ocean, and in every +direction the lamps of the city seemed to fall away in a shower of +sparks, as from a burst meteor. But now, while the stars above were as +numerous and as brilliant as before, the lights below had vanished. As +the sergeant looked, the highest ones expired in the rising fog. The +Island Rock appeared to be sinking in a waveless sea of milk. + +A startled exclamation from the sergeant brought other men out on the +terrace to see it. The senior officer withheld the pass in his hand, and +scouted the idea of the sergeant's going down into the city. As the drum +began to beat the tattoo and the bugle to rise on a crescendo of lovely +notes, soldiers swarmed toward the barracks. Those who had been out in +the town came running up the roadway into the Castle, talking loudly of +adventures they had had in the fog. The sergeant looked down at anxious +Bobby, who stood agitated and straining as at a leash, and said that he +preferred to go. + +"Impossible! A foolish risk, Sergeant, that I am unwilling you should +take. Edinburgh is too full of pitfalls for a man to be going about on +such a night. Our guests will sleep in the Castle, and it will be safer +for the little dog to remain until morning." + +Bobby did not quite understand this good English, but the excited talk +and the delay made him uneasy. He whimpered piteously. He lay across +the sergeant's feet, and through his boots the man could feel the little +creature's heart beat. Then he rose and uttered his pleading cry. The +sergeant stooped and patted the shaggy head consolingly, and tried to +explain matters. + +"Be a gude doggie noo. Dinna fash yersel' aboot what canna be helped. I +canna tak' ye to the kirkyaird the nicht." + +"I'll take charge of Bobby, Sergeant." The dog-loving guest ran out +hastily, but, with a wild cry of reproach and despair, Bobby was gone. + +The group of soldiers who had been out on the cliff were standing in the +postern a moment to look down at the opaque flood that was rising around +the rock. They felt some flying thing sweep over their feet and caught a +silvery flash of it across the promenade. The sergeant cried to them to +stop the dog, and he and the guest were out in time to see Bobby go over +the precipice. + +For a time the little dog lay in a clump of hazel above the fog, between +two terrors. He could see the men and the lights moving along the top +of the cliff, and he could hear the calls. Some one caught a glimpse of +him, and the sergeant lay down on the edge of the precipice and talked +to him, saying every kind and foolish thing he could think of to +persuade Bobby to come back. Then a drummer boy was tied to a rope and +let down to the ledge to fetch him up. But at that, without any sound at +all, Bobby dropped out of sight. + +Through the smother came the loud moaning of fog-horns in the Firth. +Although nothing could be seen, and sounds were muffled as if the ears +of the world were stuffed with wool, odors were held captive and mingled +in confusion. There was nothing to guide a little dog's nose, everything +to make him distrust his most reliable sense. The smell of every plant +on the crag was there; the odors of leather, of paint, of wood, of iron, +from the crafts shops at the base. Smoke from chimneys in the valley was +mixed with the strong scent of horses, hay and grain from the street of +King's Stables. There was the smell of furry rodents, of nesting birds, +of gushing springs, of the earth itself, and something more ancient +still, as of burned-out fires in the Huge mass of trap-rock. + +Everything warned Bobby to lie still in safety until morning and the +world was restored to its normal aspects. But ah! in the highest type +of man and dog, self-sacrifice, and not self-preservation, is the first +law. A deserted grave cried to him across the void, the anguish of +protecting love urged him on to take perilous chances. Falling upon a +narrow shelf of rock, he had bounded off and into a thicket of thorns. +Bruised and shaken and bewildered, he lay there for a time and tried to +get his bearings. + +Bobby knew only that the way was downward. He put out a paw and felt for +the edge of the shelf. A thorn bush rooted below tickled his nose. He +dropped into that and scrambled out again. Loose earth broke under his +struggles and carried him swiftly down to a new level. He slipped in the +wet moss of a spring before he heard the tinkle of the water, lost his +foothold, and fell against a sharp point of rock. The shadowy spire of a +fir-tree looming in a parting of the vapor for an instant, Bobby leaped +to the ledge upon which it was rooted. + +Foot by foot he went down, with no guidance at all. It is the nature +of such long, low, earth dogs to go by leaps and bounds like foxes, +calculating distances nicely when they can see, and tearing across the +roughest country with the speed of the wild animals they hunt. And where +the way is very steep they can scramble up or down any declivity that is +at a lesser angle than the perpendicular. Head first they go downward, +setting the fore paws forward, the claws clutching around projections +and in fissures, the weight hung from the stout hindquarters, the body +flattened on the earth. + +Thus Bobby crept down steep descents in safety, but his claws were +broken in crevices and his feet were torn and pierced by splinters of +rock and thorns. Once he went some distance into a cave and had to back +up and out again. And then a promising slope shelving under suddenly, +where he could not retreat, he leaped, turned over and over in the air, +and fell stunned. His heart filled with fear of the unseen before him, +the little dog lay for a long time in a clump of whins. He may even have +dozed and dreamed, to be awakened with starts by his misery of longing, +and once by the far-away barking of a dog. It came up deadened, as if +from fathoms below. He stood up and listened, but the sound was not +repeated. His lacerated feet burned and throbbed; his bruised muscles +had begun to stiffen, so that every movement was a pain. + +In these lower levels there was more smoke, that smeared out and +thickened the mist. Suddenly a breath of air parted the fog as if it +were a torn curtain. Like a shot Bobby went down the crag, leaping from +rock to rock, scrambling under thorns and hazel shrubs, dropping over +precipitous ledges, until he looked down a sheer fall on which not even +a knot of grass could find a foothold. He took the leap instantly, and +his thick fleece saved him from broken bones; but when he tried to get +up again his body was racked with pain and his hind legs refused to +serve him. + +Turning swiftly, he snarled and bit, at them in angry disbelief that his +good little legs should play false with his stout heart. Then he quite +forgot his pain, for there was the sharp ring of iron on an anvil and +the dull glow of a forge fire, where a smith was toiling in the early +hours of the morning. A clever and resourceful little dog, Bobby made +shift to do without legs. Turning on his side, he rolled down the last +slope of Castle Rock. Crawling between two buildings and dropping from +the terrace on which they stood, he fell into a little street at the +west end and above the Grassmarket. + +Here the odors were all of the stables. He knew the way, and that it was +still downward. The distance he had to go was a matter of a quarter of a +mile, or less, and the greater part of it was on the level, through +the sunken valley of the Grassmarket. But Bobby had literally to drag +himself now; and he had still to pull him self up by his fore paws over +the wet and greasy cobblestones of Candlemakers Row. Had not the great +leaves of the gate to the kirkyard been left on the latch, he would +have had to lie there in the alcove, with his nose under the bars, until +morning. But the gate gave way to his push, and so, he dragged himself +through it and around the kirk, and stretched himself on Auld Jock's +grave. + +It was the birds that found him there in the misty dawn. They were used +to seeing Bobby scampering about, for the little watchman was awake and +busy as early as the feathered dwellers in the kirkyard. But, in what +looked to be a wet and furry door-mat left out overnight on the grass, +they did not know him at all. The throstles and skylarks were shy of it, +thinking it might be alive. The wrens fluffed themselves, scolded it, +and told it to get up. The blue titmice flew over it in a flock again +and again, with much sweet gossiping, but they did not venture nearer. A +redbreast lighted on the rose bush that marked Auld Jock's grave, cocked +its head knowingly, and warbled a little song, as much as to say: "If +it's alive that will wake it up." + +As Bobby did not stir, the robin fluttered down, studied him from all +sides, made polite inquiries that were not answered, and concluded that +it would be quite safe to take a silver hair for nest lining. Then, +startled by the animal warmth or by a faint, breathing movement, it +dropped the shining trophy and flew away in a shrill panic. At that, all +the birds set up such an excited crying that they waked Tammy. + +From the rude loophole of a window that projected from the old Cunzie +Neuk, the crippled laddie could see only the shadowy tombs and the long +gray wall of the two kirks, through the sunny haze. But he dropped his +crutches over, and climbed out onto the vault. Never before had Bobby +failed to hear that well-known tap-tap-tapping on the graveled path, nor +failed to trot down to meet it with friskings of welcome. But now he lay +very still, even when a pair of frail arms tried to lift his dead weight +to a heaving breast, and Tammy's cry of woe rang through the kirkyard. +In a moment Ailie and Mistress Jeanie were in the wet grass beside them, +half a hundred casements flew open, and the piping voices of tenement +bairns cried-down: + +"Did the bittie doggie come hame?" + +Oh yes, the bittie doggie had come hame, indeed, but down such perilous +heights as none of them dreamed; and now in what a woeful plight! + +Some murmur of the excitement reached an open dormer of the Temple +tenements, where Geordie Ross had slept with one ear of the born doctor +open. Snatching up a case of first aids to the injured, he ran down the +twisting stairs to the Grassmarket, up to the gate, and around the kirk, +to find a huddled group of women and children weeping over a limp little +bundle of a senseless dog. He thrust a bottle of hartshorn under +the black muzzle, and with a start and a moan Bobby came back to +consciousness. + +"Lay him down flat and stop your havers," ordered the business-like, +embryo medicine man. "Bobby's no' dead. Laddie, you're a braw soldier +for holding your ain feelings, so just hold the wee dog's head." Then, +in the reassuring dialect: "Hoots, Bobby, open the bit mou' noo, an' +tak' the medicine like a mannie!" Down the tiny red cavern of a throat +Geordie poured a dose that galvanized the small creature into life. + +"Noo, then, loup, ye bonny rascal!" + +Bobby did his best to jump at Geordie's bidding. He was so glad to be at +home and to see all these familiar faces of love that he lifted himself +on his fore paws, and his happy heart almost put the power to loup into +his hind legs. But when he tried to stand up he cried out with the pains +and sank down again, with an apologetic and shamefaced look that was +worthy of Auld Jock himself. Geordie sobered on the instant. + +"Weel, now, he's been hurt. We'll just have to see what ails the sonsie +doggie." He ran his hand down the parting in the thatch to discover if +the spine had been injured. When he suddenly pinched the ball of a hind +toe Bobby promptly resented it by jerking his head around and looking at +him reproachfully. The bairns were indignant, too, but Geordie grinned +cheerfully and said: "He's no' paralyzed, at ony rate." He turned as +footsteps were heard coming hastily around the kirk. + +"A gude morning to you, Mr. Traill. Bobby may have been run over by a +cart and got internal injuries, but I'm thinking it's just sprains and +bruises from a bad fall. He was in a state of collapse, and his claws +are as broken and his toes as torn as if he had come down Castle Rock." + +This was such an extravagant surmise that even the anxious landlord +smiled. Then he said, drily: + +"You're a braw laddie, Geordie, and gudehearted, but you're no' a doctor +yet, and, with your leave, I'll have my ain medical man tak' a look at +Bobby." + +"Ay, I would," Geordie agreed, cordially. "It's worth four shullings to +have your mind at ease, man. I'll just go up to the lodge and get a warm +bath ready, to tak' the stiffness out of his muscles, and brew a tea +from an herb that wee wild creatures know all about and aye hunt for +when they're ailing." + +Geordie went away gaily, to take disorder and evil smells into Mistress +Jeanie's shining kitchen. + +No sooner had the medical student gone up to the lodge, and the children +had been persuaded to go home to watch the proceedings anxiously from +the amphitheater of the tenement windows, than the kirkyard gate was +slammed back noisily by a man in a hurry. It was the sergeant who, in +the splendor of full uniform, dropped in the wet grass beside Bobby. + +"Lush! The sma' dog got hame, an' is still leevin'. Noo, God forgie +me--" + +"Eh, man, what had you to do with Bobby's misadventure?" + +Mr. Traill fixed an accusing eye on the soldier, remembering suddenly +his laughing threat to kidnap Bobby. The story came out in a flood of +remorseful words, from Bobby's following of the troops so gaily into the +Castle to his desperate escape over the precipice. + +"Noo," he said, humbly, "gin it wad be ony satisfaction to ye, I'll gang +up to the Castle an' put on fatigue dress, no' to disgrace the unifarm +o' her Maijesty, an' let ye tak' me oot on the Burghmuir an' gie me a +gude lickin'." + +Mr. Traill shrugged his shoulders. "Naething would satisfy me, man, but +to get behind you and kick you over the Firth into the Kingdom of Fife." + +He turned an angry back on the sergeant and helped Geordie lift Bobby +onto Mrs. Brown's braided hearth-rug and carry the improvised litter up +to the lodge. In the kitchen the little dog was lowered into a hot bath, +dried, and rubbed with liniments under his fleece. After his lacerated +feet had been cleaned and dressed with healing ointments and tied up, +Bobby was wrapped in Mistress Jeanie's best flannel petticoat and laid +on the hearth-rug, a very comfortable wee dog, who enjoyed his breakfast +of broth and porridge. + +Mr. Brown, hearing the commotion and perishing of curiosity, demanded +that some one should come and help him out of bed. As no attention +was paid to him he managed to get up himself and to hobble out to the +kitchen just as Mr. Traill's ain medical man came in. Bobby's spine was +examined again, the tail and toes nipped, the heart tested, and all the +soft parts of his body pressed and punched, in spite of the little dog's +vigorous objections to these indignities. + +"Except for sprains and bruises the wee dog is all right. Came down +Castle Crag in the fog, did he? He's a clever and plucky little chap, +indeed, and deserving of a hero medal to hang on the Lord Provost's +collar. You've done very well, Mr. Ross. Just take as good care of him +for a week or so and he could do the gallant deed again." + +Mr. Brown listened to the story of Bobby's adventures with a mingled +look of disgust at the foolishness of men, pride in Bobby's prowess, +and resentment at having been left out of the drama of the night before. +"It's maist michty, noo, Maister Traill, that ye wad tak' the leeberty +o' leein' to me," he complained. + +"It was a gude lee or a bad nicht for an ill man. Geordie will tell +you that a mind at ease is worth four shullings, and I'm charging you +naething. Eh, man, you're deeficult to please." As he went out into the +kirkyard Mr. Traill stopped to reflect on a strange thing: "'You've done +very well, Mr. Ross.' Weel, weel, how the laddies do grow up! But I'm +no' going to admit it to Geordie." + +Another thought, over which he chuckled, sent him off to find the +sergeant. The soldier was tramping gloomily about in the wet, to the +demoralization of his beautiful boots. + +"Man, since a stormy nicht eight years ago last November I've aye been +looking for a bigger weel meaning fule than my ain sel'. You're the man, +so if you'll just shak' hands we'll say nae more about it." + +He did not explain this cryptic remark, but he went on to assure the +sorry soldier that Bobby had got no serious hurt and would soon be as +well as ever. They had turned toward the gate when a stranger with a +newspaper in his hand peered mildly around the kirk and inquired "Do ye +ken whaur's the sma' dog, man?" As Mr. Traill continued to stare at him +he explained, patiently: "It's Greyfriars Bobby, the bittie terrier the +Laird Provost gied the collar to. Hae ye no' seen 'The Scotsman' the +day?" + +The landlord had not. And there was the story, Bobby's, name heading +quite a quarter of a broad column of fine print, and beginning with: +"A very singular and interesting occurrence was brought to light in the +Burgh court by the hearing of a summons in regard to a dog tax." +Bobby was a famous dog, and Mr. Traill came in for a goodly portion of +reflected glory. He threw up his hands in dismay. + +"It's all over the toon, Sergeant." Turning to the stranger, he assured +him that Bobby was not to be seen. "He hurt himsel' coming down Castle +Rock in the nicht, and is in the lodge with the caretaker, wha's fair +ill. Hoo do I ken?" testily. "Weel, man, I'm Mr. Traill." + +He saw at once how unwise was that admission, for he had to shake hands +with the cordial stranger. And after dismissing him there was another at +the gate who insisted upon going up to the lodge to see the little hero. +Here was a state of things, indeed, that called upon all the powers of +the resourceful landlord. + +"All the folk in Edinburgh will be coming, and the poor woman be deaved +with their spiering." And then he began to laugh. "Did you ever hear o' +sic a thing as poetic justice, Sergeant? Nae, it's no' the kind you'll +get in the courts of law. Weel, it's poetic justice for a birkie +soldier, wha claims the airth and the fullness thereof, to have to tak' +his orders from a sma' shopkeeper. Go up to the police office in St. +Gila now and ask for an officer to stand at the gate here to answer +questions, and to keep the folk awa' from the lodge." + +He stood guard himself, and satisfied a score of visitors before the +sergeant came back, and there was another instance of poetic justice, in +the crestfallen Burgh policeman who had been sent with instructions to +take his orders from the delighted landlord. + +"Eh, Davie, it's a lang lane that has nae turning. Ye're juist to stand +here a' the day an' say to ilka body wha spiers for the dog: 'Ay, sir, +Greyfriars Bobby's been leevin' i' the kirkyaird aucht years an' mair, +an' Maister Traill's aye fed 'im i' the dining-rooms. Ay, the case was +dismissed i' the Burgh coort. The Laird Provost gied a collar to the bit +Skye because there's a meddlin' fule or twa amang the Burgh police wha'd +be takin' 'im up. The doggie's i' the lodge wi' the caretaker, wha's +fair ill, an' he canna be seen the day. But gang aroond the kirk an' ye +can see Auld Jock's grave that he's aye guarded. There's nae stave to +it, but it's neist to the fa'en table-tomb o' Mistress Jean Grant. A +gude day to ye.' Hae ye got a' that, man? Weel, cheer up. Yell hae to +say it nae mair than a thousand times or twa, atween noo an' nichtfa'." + +He went away laughing at the penance that was laid upon his foe. The +landlord felt so well satisfied with the world that he took another +jaunty crack at the sergeant: "By richts, man, you ought to go to gaol, +but I'll just fine you a shulling a month for Bobby's natural lifetime, +to give the wee soldier a treat of a steak or a chop once a week." + +Hands were struck heartily on the bargain, and the two men parted good +friends. Now, finding Ailie dropping tears in the dish-water, Mr. Traill +sent her flying down to the lodge with instructions to make herself +useful to Mrs. Brown. Then he was himself besieged in his place of +business by folk of high and low degree who were disappointed by their +failure to see Bobby in the kirkyard. Greyfriars Dining-Rooms had more +distinguished visitors in a day than they had had in all the years since +Auld Jock died and a little dog fell there at the landlord's feet "a' +but deid wi' hunger." + +Not one of all the grand folk who, inquired for Bobby at the kirkyard +or at the restaurant got a glimpse of him that day. But after they +were gone the tenement dwellers came up to the gate again, as they had +gathered the evening before, and begged that they might just tak' a look +at him and his braw collar. "The bonny bit is the bairns' ain doggie, +an' the Laird Provost himsel' told 'em he wasna to be neglectet," was +one mother's plea. + +Ah! that was very true. To the grand folk who had come to see him, Bobby +was only a nine-days' wonder. His story had touched the hearts of all +orders of society. For a time strangers would come to see him, and then +they would forget all about him or remember him only fitfully. It was to +these poor people around the kirkyard, themselves forgotten by the more +fortunate, that the little dog must look for his daily meed of affection +and companionship. Mr. Traill spoke to them kindly. + +"Bide a wee, noo, an' I'll fetch the doggie doon." + +Bobby had slept blissfully nearly all the day, after his exhausting +labors and torturing pains. But with the sunset bugle he fretted to be +let out. Ailie had wept and pleaded, Mrs. Brown had reasoned with him, +and Mr. Brown had scolded, all to the end of persuading him to sleep in +"the hoose the nicht." But when no one was watching him Bobby crawled +from his rug and dragged himself to the door. He rapped the floor with +his tail in delight when Mr. Traill came in and bundled him up on the +rug, so he could lie easily, and carried him down to the gate. + +For quite twenty minutes these neighbors and friends of Bobby filed by +silently, patted the shaggy little head, looked at the grand plate with +Bobby's and the Lord Provost's names upon it, and believed their own +wondering een. Bobby wagged his tail and lolled his tongue, and now and +then he licked the hand of a baby who had to be lifted by a tall brother +to see him. Shy kisses were dropped on Bobby's head by toddling bairns, +and awkward caresses by rough laddies. Then they all went home quietly, +and Mr. Traill carried the little dog around the kirk. + +And there, ah! so belated, Auld Jock's grave bore its tribute of +flowers. Wreaths and nosegays, potted daffodils and primroses and +daisies, covered the sunken mound so that some of them had to be moved +to make room for Bobby. He sniffed and sniffed at them, looked up +inquiringly at Mr. Traill; and then snuggled down contentedly among +the blossoms. He did not understand their being there any more than +he understood the collar about which everybody made such a to-do. The +narrow band of leather would disappear under his thatch again, and would +be unnoticed by the casual passer-by; the flowers would fade and never +be so lavishly renewed; but there was another more wonderful gift, now, +that would never fail him. + +At nightfall, before the drum and bugle sounded the tattoo to call the +scattered garrison in the Castle, there took place a loving ceremony +that was never afterward omitted as long as Bobby lived. Every child +newly come to the tenements learned it, every weanie lisped it among his +first words. Before going to bed each bairn opened a casement. Sometimes +a candle was held up--a little star of love, glimmering for a moment on +the dark; but always there was a small face peering into the melancholy +kirkyard. In midsummer, and at other seasons if the moon rose full and +early and the sky was clear, Bobby could be seen on the grave. And when +he recovered from these hurts he trotted about, making the circuit below +the windows. He could not speak there, because he had been forbidden, +but he could wag his tail and look up to show his friendliness. And +whether the children saw him or not they knew he was always there after +sunset, keeping watch and ward, and "lanely" because his master had gone +away to heaven; and so they called out to him sweetly and clearly: + +"A gude nicht to ye, Bobby." + + + + +XII. + +In one thing Mr. Traill had been mistaken: the grand folk did not forget +Bobby. At the end of five years the leal Highlander was not only still +remembered, but he had become a local celebrity. + +Had the grave of his haunting been on the Pentlands or in one of the +outlying cemeteries of the city Bobby must have been known to few of his +generation, and to fame not at all. But among churchyards Greyfriars was +distinguished. One of the historic show-places of Edinburgh, and in +the very heart of the Old Town, it was never missed by the most hurried +tourist, seldom left unvisited, from year to year, by the oldest +resident. Names on its old tombs had come to mean nothing to those +who read them, except as they recalled memorable records of love, +of inspiration, of courage, of self-sacrifice. And this being so, it +touched the imagination to see, among the marbles that crumbled toward +the dust below, a living embodiment of affection and fidelity. Indeed, +it came to be remarked, as it is remarked to-day, although four decades +have gone by, that no other spot in Greyfriars was so much cared for as +the grave of a man of whom nothing was known except that the life and +love of a little dog was consecrated to his memory. + +At almost any hour Bobby might be found there. As he grew older he +became less and less willing to be long absent, and he got much of his +exercise by nosing about among the neighboring thorns. In fair weather +he took his frequent naps on the turf above his master, or he sat on +the fallen table-tomb in the sun. On foul days he watched the grave from +under the slab, and to that spot he returned from every skirmish against +the enemy. Visitors stopped to speak to him. Favored ones were permitted +to read the inscription on his collar and to pat his head. It seemed, +therefore, the most natural thing in the world when the greatest lady in +England, beside the Queen, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, came all the way +from London to see Bobby. + +Except that it was the first Monday in June, and Founder's Day at +Heriot's Hospital, it was like any other day of useful work, innocent +pleasure, and dreaming dozes on Auld Jock's grave to wee Bobby. As years +go, the shaggy little Skye was an old dog, but he was not feeble or +blind or unhappy. A terrier, as a rule, does not live as long as more +sluggish breeds of dogs, but, active to the very end, he literally +wears himself out tearing around, and then goes, little soldier, very +suddenly, dying gallantly with his boots on. + +In the very early mornings of the northern summer Bobby woke with the +birds, a long time before the reveille was sounded from the Castle. He +scampered down to the circling street of tombs at once, and not until +the last prowler had been dispatched, or frightened into his burrow, did +he return for a brief nap on Auld Jock's grave. + +All about him the birds fluttered and hopped and gossiped and foraged, +unafraid. They were used, by this time, to seeing the little dog lying +motionless, his nose on his paws. Often some tidbit of food lay there, +brought for Bobby by a stranger. He had learned that a Scotch bun +dropped near him was a feast that brought feathered visitors about and +won their confidence and cheerful companionship. When he awoke he lay +there lolling and blinking, following the blue rovings of the titmice +and listening to the foolish squabbles of the sparrows and the shrewish +scoldings of the wrens. He always started when a lark sprang at his feet +and a cataract of melody tumbled from the sky. + +But, best of all, Bobby loved a comfortable and friendly robin +redbreast--not the American thrush that is called a robin, but the +smaller Old World warbler. It had its nest of grass and moss and +feathers, and many a silver hair shed by Bobby, low in a near-by thorn +bush. In sweet and plaintive talking notes it told its little dog +companion all about the babies that had left the nest and the new brood +that would soon be there. On the morning of that wonderful day of the +Grand Leddy's first coming, Bobby and the redbreast had a pleasant visit +together before the casements began to open and the tenement bairns +called down their morning greeting: + +"A gude day to ye, Bobby." + +By the time all these courtesies had been returned Tammy came in at the +gate with his college books strapped on his back. The old Cunzic +Neuk had been demolished by Glenormiston, and Tammy, living in better +quarters, was studying to be a teacher at Heriot's. Bobby saw him +settled, and then he had to escort Mr. Brown down from the lodge. The +caretaker made his way about stiffly with a cane and, with the aid of +a young helper who exasperated the old gardener by his cheerful +inefficiency, kept the auld kirkyard in beautiful order. + +"Eh, ye gude-for-naethin' tyke," he said to Bobby, in transparent +pretense of his uselessness. "Get to wark, or I'll hae a young dog in to +gie ye a lift, an' syne whaur'll ye be?" + +Bobby jumped on him in open delight at this, as much as to say: "Ye may +be as dour as ye like, but ilka body kens ye're gude-hearted." + +Morning and evening numerous friends passed the gate, and the wee +dog waited for them on the wicket. Dr. George Ross and Mr. Alexander +McGregor shook Bobby's lifted paw and called him a sonsie rascal. Small +merchants, students, clerks, factory workers, house servants, laborers +and vendors, all honest and useful people, had come up out of these old +tenements within Bobby's memory; and others had gone down, alas! into +the Cowgate. But Bobby's tail wagged for these unfortunates, too, and +some of them had no other friend in the world beside that uncalculating +little dog. + +When the morning stream of auld acquaintance had gone by, and none +forgot, Bobby went up to the lodge to sit for an hour with Mistress +Jeanie. There he was called "croodlin' doo"--which was altogether +absurd--by the fond old woman. As neat of plumage, and as busy and +talkative about small domestic matters as the robin, Bobby loved to +watch the wifie stirring savory messes over the fire, watering her +posies, cleaning the fluttering skylark's cage, or just sitting by the +hearth or in the sunny doorway with him, knitting warm stockings for her +rheumatic gude-mon. + +Out in the kirkyard Bobby trotted dutifully at the caretaker's heels. +When visitors were about he did not venture to take a nap in the open +unless Mr. Brown was on guard, and, by long and close companionship with +him, the aging man could often tell what Bobby was dreaming about. At +a convulsive movement and a jerk of his head the caretaker would say to +the wifie, if she chanced to be near: + +"Leuk at that, noo, wull ye? The sperity bit was takin' thae fou' +vermin." And again, when the muscles of his legs worked rhythmically, +"He's rinnin' wi' the laddies or the braw soldiers on the braes." + +Bobby often woke from a dream with a start, looked dazed, and then +foolish, at the vivid imaginings of sleep. But when, in a doze, he half +stretched himself up on his short, shagged fore paws, flattened out, and +then awoke and lay so, very still, for a time, it was Mistress Jeanie +who said: + +"Preserve us a'! The bonny wee was dreamin' o' his maister's deith, an' +noo he's greetin' sair." + +At that she took her little stool and sat on the grave beside him. But +Mr. Brown bit his teeth in his pipe, limped away, and stormed at his +daft helper laddie, who didn't appear to know a violet from a burdock. + +Ah! who can doubt that, so deeply were scene and word graven on his +memory, Bobby often lived again the hour of his bereavement, and heard +Auld Jock's last words: + +"Gang--awa'--hame--laddie!" + +Homeless on earth, gude Auld Jock had gone to a place prepared for him. +But his faithful little dog had no home. This sacred spot was merely +his tarrying place, where he waited until such a time as that mysterious +door should open for him, perchance to an equal sky, and he could slip +through and find his master. + +On the morning of the day when the Grand Leddy came Bobby watched the +holiday crowd gather on Heriot's Hospital grounds. The mothers and +sisters of hundreds of boys were there, looking on at the great match +game of cricket. Bobby dropped over the wall and scampered about, taking +a merry part in the play. When the pupils' procession was formed, and +the long line of grinning and nudging laddies marched in to service in +the chapel and dinner in the hall, he was set up over the kirkyard wall, +hundreds of hands were waved to him, and voices called back: "Fareweel, +Bobby!" Then the time-gun boomed from the Castle, and the little dog +trotted up for his dinner and nap under the settle and his daily visit +with Mr. Traill. + +In fair weather, when the last guest had departed and the music bells of +St. Giles had ceased playing, the landlord was fond of standing in his +doorway, bareheaded and in shirt-sleeves and apron, to exchange opinions +on politics, literature and religion, or to tell Bobby's story to what +passers-by he could beguile into talk. At his feet, there, was a fine +place for a sociable little dog to spend an hour. When he was ready to +go Bobby set his paws upon Mr. Traill and waited for the landlord's hand +to be laid on his head and the man to say, in the dialect the little +dog best understood: "Bide a wee. Ye're no' needin' to gang sae sune, +laddie!" + +At that he dropped, barked politely, wagged his tail, and was off. If +Mr. Traill really wanted to detain Bobby he had only to withhold the +magic word "laddie," that no one else had used toward the little dog +since Auld Jock died. But if the word was too long in coming, Bobby +would thrash his tail about impatiently, look up appealingly, and +finally rise and beg and whimper. + +"Weel, then, bide wi' me, an' ye'll get it ilka hour o' the day, ye +sonsie, wee, talon' bit! What are ye hangin' aroond for? Eh--weel--gang +awa' wi' ye--laddie!" The landlord sighed and looked down reproachfully. +With a delighted yelp, and a lick of the lingering hand, Bobby was off. + +It was after three o'clock on this day when he returned to the kirkyard. +The caretaker was working at the upper end, and the little dog was +lonely. But; long enough absent from his master, Bobby lay down on the +grave, in the stillness of the mid-afternoon. The robin made a brief +call and, as no other birds were about, hopped upon Bobby's back, +perched on his head, and warbled a little song. It was then that the +gate clicked. Dismissing her carriage and telling the coachman to return +at five, Lady Burdett-Coutts entered the kirkyard. + +Bobby trotted around the kirk on the chance of meeting a friend. He +looked up intently at the strange lady for a moment, and she stood still +and looked down at him. She was not a beautiful lady, nor very young. +Indeed, she was a few years older than the Queen, and the Queen was a +widowed grandmother. But she had a sweet dignity and warm serenity--an +unhurried look, as if she had all the time in the world for a wee dog; +and Bobby was an age-whitened muff of a plaintive terrier that captured +her heart at once. Very certain that this stranger knew and cared about +how he felt, Bobby turned and led her down to Auld Jock's grave. And +when she was seated on the table-tomb he came up to her and let her look +at his collar, and he stood under her caress, although she spoke to +him in fey English, calling him a darling little dog. Then, entirely +contented with her company, he lay down, his eyes fixed upon her and +lolling his tongue. + +The sun was on the green and flowery slope of Greyfriars, warming the +weathered tombs and the rear windows of the tenements. The Grand Leddy +found a great deal there to interest her beside Bobby and the robin that +chirped and picked up crumbs between the little dog's paws. Presently +the gate was opened again and a housemaid from some mansion in George +Square came around the kirk. Trained by Mistress Jeanie, she was a neat +and pretty and pleasant-mannered housemaid, in a black gown and white +apron, and with a frilled cap on her crinkly, gold-brown hair that had +had more than "a lick or twa the nicht afore." + +"It's juist Ailie," Bobby seemed to say, as he stood a moment with +crested neck and tail. "Ilka body kens Ailie." + +The servant lassie, with an hour out, had stopped to speak to Bobby. She +had not meant to stay long, but the lady, who didn't look in the least +grand, began to think friendly things aloud. + +"The windows of the tenements are very clean." + +"Ay. The bairnies couldna see Bobby gin the windows warna washed." The +lassie was pulling her adored little pet's ears, and Bobby was nuzzling +up to her. + +"In many of the windows there is a box of flowers, or of kitchen herbs +to make the broth savory." + +"It wasna so i' the auld days. It was aye washin's clappin' aboon the +stanes. Noo, mony o' the mithers hang the claes oot at nicht. Ilka thing +is changed sin' I was a wean an' leevin' i' the auld Guildhall, the +bairnies haen Bobby to lo'e, an' no' to be neglectet." She continued the +conversation to include Tammy as he came around the kirk on his tapping +crutches. + +"Hoo mony years is it, Tammy, sin' Bobby's been leevin' i' the auld +kirkyaird? At Maister Traill's snawy picnic ye war five gangin' on sax." +They exchanged glances in which lay one of the happy memories of sad +childhoods. + +"Noo I'm nineteen going on twenty. It's near fourteen years syne, +Ailie." Nearly all the burrs had been pulled from Tammy's tongue, but +he used a Scotch word now and then, no' to shame Ailie's less cultivated +speech. + +"So long?" murmured the Grand Leddy. "Bobby is getting old, very old for +a terrier." + +As if to deny that, Bobby suddenly shot down the slope in answer to a +cry of alarm from a song thrush. Still good for a dash, when he came +back he dropped panting. The lady put her hand on his rippling coat +and felt his heart pounding. Then she looked at his worn down teeth and +lifted his veil. Much of the luster was gone from Bobby's brown eyes, +but they were still soft and deep and appealing. + +From the windows children looked down upon the quiet group and, without +in the least knowing why they wanted to be there, too, the tenement +bairns began to drop into the kirkyard. Almost at once it rained--a +quick, bright, dashing shower that sent them all flying and laughing up +to the shelter of the portico to the new kirk. Bobby scampered up, too, +and with the bairns in holiday duddies crowding about her, and the wee +dog lolling at her feet, the Grand Leddy talked fairy stories. + +She told them all about a pretty country place near London. It was +called Holly Lodge because its hedges were bright with green leaves +and red berries, even in winter. A lady who had no family at all lived +there, and to keep her company she had all sorts of pets. Peter and +Prince were the dearest dogs, and Cocky was a parrot that could say the +most amusing things. Sir Garnet was the llama goat, or sheep--she +didn't know which. There was a fat and lazy old pony that had long been +pensioned off on oats and clover, and--oh yes--the white donkey must not +be forgotten! + +"O-o-o-oh! I didna ken there wad be ony white donkeys!" cried a big-eyed +laddie. + +"There cannot be many, and there's a story about how the lady came to +have this one. One day, driving in a poor street, she saw a coster--that +is a London peddler--beating his tired donkey that refused to pull the +load. The lady got out of her carriage, fed the animal some carrots from +the cart, talked kindly to him right into his big, surprised ear, and +stroked his nose. Presently the poor beast felt better and started off +cheerfully with the heavy cart. When many costers learned that it was +not only wicked but foolish to abuse their patient animals, they hunted +for a white donkey to give the lady. They put a collar of flowers about +his neck, and brought him up on a platform before a crowd of people. +Everybody laughed, for he was a clumsy and comical beast to be decorated +with roses and daisies. But the lady is proud of him, and now that +pampered donkey has nothing to do but pull her Bath chair about, when +she is at Holly Lodge, and kick up his heels on a clover pasture." + +"Are ye kennin' anither tale, Leddy?" + +"Oh, a number of them. Prince, the fox terrier, was ill once, and the +doctor who came to see him said his mistress gave him too much to eat. +That was very probable, because that lady likes to see children and +animals have too much to eat. There are dozens and dozens of poor +children that the lady knows and loves. Once they lived in a very dark +and dirty and crowded tenement, quite as bad as some that were torn down +in the Cowgate and the Grassmarket." + +"It mak's ye fecht ane anither," said one laddie, soberly. "Gin they had +a sonsie doggie like Bobby to lo'e, an' an auld kirkyaird wi' posies an' +birdies to leuk into, they wadna fecht sae muckle." + +"I'm very sure of that. Well, the lady built a new tenement with plenty +of room and light and air, and a market so they can get better food more +cheaply, and a large church, that is also a kind of school where big +and little people can learn many things. She gives the children of +the neighborhood a Christmas dinner and a gay tree, and she strips the +hedges of Holly Lodge for them, and then she takes Peter and Prince, +and Cocky the parrot, to help along the fun, and she tells her newest +stories. Next Christmas she means to tell the story of Greyfriars Bobby, +and how all his little Scotch friends are better-behaving and cleaner +and happier because they have that wee dog to love." + +"Ilka body lo'es Bobby. He wasna ever mistreatet or neglectet," said +Ailie, thoughtfully. + +"Oh--my--dear! That's the very best part of the story!" The Grand Leddy +had a shining look. + +The rain had ceased and the sun come out, and the children began to be +called away. There was quite a little ceremony of lingering leave-taking +with the lady and with Bobby, and while this was going on Ailie had a +"sairious" confidence for her old playfellow. + +"Tammy, as the leddy says, Bobby's gettin' auld. I ken whaur's a snawy +hawthorn aboon the burn in Swanston Dell. The throstles nest there, +an' the blackbirds whustle bonny. It isna so far but the bairnies could +march oot wi' posies." She turned to the lady, who had overheard her. +"We gied a promise to the Laird Provost to gie Bobby a grand funeral. Ye +ken he wullna be permittet to be buried i' the kirkyaird." + +"Will he not? I had not thought of that." Her tone was at once hushed +and startled. + +Then she was down in the grass, brooding over the little dog, and Bobby +had the pathetic look of trying to understand what this emotional talk, +that seemed to concern himself, was about. Tammy and Ailie were down, +too. + +"Are ye thinkin' Bobby wall be kennin' the deeference?" Ailie's bluebell +eyes were wide at the thought of pain for this little pet. + +"I do not know, my dear. But there cannot well be more love in this +world than there is room for in God's heaven." + +She was silent all the way to the gate, some thought in her mind already +working toward a gracious deed. At the last she said: "The little dog +is fond of you both. Be with him all you can, for I think his beautiful +life is near its end." After a pause, during which her face was lighted +by a smile, as if from a lovely thought within, she added: "Don't let +Bobby die before my return from London." + +In a week she was back, and in the meantime letters and telegrams had +been flying, and many wheels set in motion in wee Bobby's affairs. When +she returned to the churchyard, very early one morning, no less a person +than the Lord Provost himself was with her. Five years had passed, but +Mr.--no, Sir William--Chambers, Laird of Glenormiston, for he had been +knighted by the Queen, was still Lord Provost of Edinburgh. + +Almost immediately Mr. Traill appeared, by appointment, and was made +all but speechless for once in his loquacious life by the honor of being +asked to tell Bobby's story to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. But not even +a tenement child or a London coster could be ill at ease with the Grand +Leddy for very long, and presently the three were in close conference in +the portico. Bobby welcomed them, and then dozed in the sun and visited +with the robin on Auld Jock's grave. Far from being tongue-tied, the +landlord was inspired. What did he not remember, from the pathetic +renunciation, "Bobby isna ma ain dog," down to the leal Highlander's +last, near tragic reminder to men that in the nameless grave lay his +unforgotten master. + +He sketched the scene in Haddo's Hole, where the tenement bairns poured +out as pure a gift of love and mercy and self-sacrifice as had ever +been laid at the foot of a Scottish altar. He told of the search for the +lately ransomed and lost terrier, by the lavish use of oil and candles; +of Bobby's coming down Castle Rock in the fog, battered and bruised for +a month's careful tending by an old Heriot laddie. His feet still showed +the scars of that perilous descent. He himself, remorseful, had gone +with the Biblereader from the Medical Mission in the Cowgate to the +dormer-lighted closet in College Wynd, where Auld Jock had died. Now he +described the classic fireplace of white freestone, with its boxed-in +bed, where the Pentland shepherd lay like some effigy on a bier, with +the wee guardian dog stretched on the flagged hearth below. + +"What a subject for a monument!" The Grand Leddy looked across the top +of the slope at the sleeping Skye. "I suppose there is no portrait of +Bobby." + +"Ay, your Leddyship; I have a drawing in the dining rooms, sketched +by Mr. Daniel Maclise. He was here a year or twa ago, just before his +death, doing some commission, and often had his tea in my bit place. I +told him Bobby's story, and he made the sketch for me as a souvenir of +his veesit." + +"I am sure you prize it, Mr. Traill. Mr. Maclise was a talented artist, +but he was not especially an animal painter. There really is no one +since Landseer paints no more." + +"I would advise you, Baroness, not to make that remark at an Edinburgh +dinner-table." Glenormiston was smiling. "The pride of Auld Reekie just +now is Mr. Gourlay Stelle, who was lately commanded to Balmoral Castle +to paint the Queen's dogs." + +"The very person! I have seen his beautiful canvas--'Burns and the Field +Mouse.' Is he not a younger brother of Sir John Stelle, the sculptor +of the statue and character figures in the Scott monument?" Her eyes +sparkled as she added: "You have so much talent of the right, sorts here +that it would be wicked not to employ it in the good cause." + +What "the good cause" was came out presently, in the church, where +she startled even Glenormiston and Mr. Traill by saying quietly to the +minister and the church officers of Greyfriars auld kirk: "When Bobby +dies I want him laid in the grave with his master." + +Every member of both congregations knew Bobby and was proud of his fame, +but no official notice had ever been taken of the little dog's presence +in the churchyard. The elders and deacons were, in truth, surprised that +such distinguished attention should be directed to him now, and they +were embarrassed by it. It was not easy for any body of men in the +United Kingdom to refuse anything to Lady Burdett-Coutts, because she +could always count upon having the sympathy of the public. But this, +they declared, could not be considered. To propose to bury a dog in +the historic churchyard would scandalize the city. To this objection +Glenormiston said, seriously: "The feeling about Bobby is quite +exceptional. I would be willing to put the matter to the test of heading +a petition." + +At that the church officers threw up their hands. They preferred to +sound public sentiment themselves, and would consider it. But if Bobby +was permitted to be buried with his master there must be no notice taken +of it. Well, the Heriot laddies might line up along the wall, and the +tenement bairns look down from the windows. Would that satisfy her +ladyship? + +"As far as it goes." The Grand Leddy was smiling, but a little tremulous +about the mouth. + +That was a day when women had little to say in public, and she meant to +make a speech, and to ask to be allowed to do an unheard-of thing. + +"I want to put up a monument to the nameless man who inspired such love, +and to the little dog that was capable of giving it. Ah gentlemen, do +not refuse, now." She sketched her idea of the classic fireplace bier, +the dead shepherd of the Pentlands, and the little prostrate terrier. +"Immemorial man and his faithful dog. Our society for the prevention of +cruelty to animals is finding it so hard to get people even to admit the +sacredness of life in dumb creatures, the brutalizing effects of abuse +of them on human beings, and the moral and practical worth to us of +kindness. To insist that a dog feels, that he loves devotedly and with +less calculation than men, that he grieves at a master's death and +remembers him long years, brings a smile of amusement. Ah yes! Here in +Scotland, too, where your own great Lord Erskine was a pioneer of pity +two generations ago, and with Sir Walter's dogs beloved of the literary, +and Doctor Brown's immortal 'Rab,' we find it uphill work. + +"The story of Greyfriars Bobby is quite the most complete and remarkable +ever recorded in dog annals. His lifetime of devotion has been witnessed +by thousands, and honored publicly, by your own Lord Provost, with the +freedom of the city, a thing that, I believe, has no precedent. All +the endearing qualities of the dog reach their height in this loyal +and lovable Highland terrier; and he seems to have brought out the best +qualities of the people who have known him. Indeed, for fourteen years +hundreds of disinherited children have been made kinder and happier by +knowing Bobby's story and having that little dog to love." + +She stopped in some embarrassment, seeing how she had let herself go, in +this warm championship, and then she added: + +"Bobby does not need a monument, but I think we need one of him, that +future generations may never forget what the love of a dog may mean, to +himself and to us." + +The Grand Leddy must have won her plea, then and there, but for the fact +that the matter of erecting a monument of a public character anywhere +in the city had to come up before the Burgh council. In that body the +stubborn opposition of a few members unexpectedly developed, and, in +spite of popular sympathy with the proposal, the plan was rejected. +Permission was given, however, for Lady Burdett-Coutts to put up a +suitable memorial to Bobby at the end of George IV Bridge, and opposite +the main gateway to the kirkyard. + +For such a public place a tomb was unsuitable. What form the memorial +was to take was not decided upon until, because of two chance happenings +of one morning, the form of it bloomed like a flower in the soul of the +Grand Leddy. She had come down to the kirkyard to watch the artist at +work. Morning after morning he had sketched there. He had drawn Bobby +lying down, his nose on his paws, asleep on the grave. He had drawn him +sitting upon the table-tomb, and standing in the begging attitude in +which he was so irresistible. But with every sketch he was dissatisfied. + +Bobby was a trying and deceptive subject. He had the air of curiosity +and gaiety of other terriers. He saw no sense at all in keeping still, +with his muzzle tipped up or down, and his tail held just so. He brushed +all that unreasonable man's suggestions aside as quite unworthy of +consideration. Besides, he had the liveliest interest in the astonishing +little dog that grew and disappeared, and came back, in some new +attitude, on the canvas. He scraped acquaintance with it once or twice +to the damage of fresh brush-work. He was always jumping from his pose +and running around the easel to see how the latest dog was coming on. + +After a number of mornings Bobby lost interest in the man and his +occupation and went about his ordinary routine of life as if the artist +was not there at all. One morning the wee terrier was found sitting on +the table-tomb, on his haunches, looking up toward the Castle, where +clouds and birds were blown around the sun-gilded battlements. + +His attitude might have meant anything or nothing, for the man who +looked at him from above could not see his expression. And all at once +he realized that to see Bobby a human being must get down to his level. +To the scandal of the children, he lay on his back on the grass and did +nothing at all but look up at Bobby until the little dog moved. Then he +set the wee Highlander up on an altar-topped shaft just above the level +of the human eye. Indifferent at the moment as to what was done to him, +Bobby continued to gaze up and out, wistfully and patiently, upon this +masterless world. As plainly as a little dog could speak, Bobby said: + +"I hae bided lang an' lanely. Hoo lang hae I still to bide? An' syne, +wull I be gangin' to Auld Jock?" + +The Grand Leddy saw that at once, and tears started to her eyes when +she came in to find the artist sketching with feverish rapidity. She +confessed that she had looked into Bobby's eyes, but she had never truly +seen that mourning little creature before. He had only to be set up so, +in bronze, and looking through the kirkyard gate, to tell his own story +to the most careless passerby. The image of the simple memorial was +clear in her mind, and it seemed unlikely that anything could be added +to it, when she left the kirkyard. + +As she was getting into her carriage a noble collie, but one with a +discouraged tail and hanging tongue, came out of Forest Road. He had +done a hard morning's work, of driving a flock from the Pentlands to the +cattle and sheep market, and then had hunted far and unsuccessfully +for water. He nosed along the gutter, here and there licking from the +cobblestones what muddy moisture had not drained away from a recent +rain. The same lady who had fed the carrots to the coster's donkey in +London turned hastily into Ye Olde Greyfriars Dining-Rooms, and asked +Mr. Traill for a basin of water. The landlord thought he must have +misunderstood her. "Is it a glass of water your Leddyship's wanting?" + +"No, a basin, please; a large one, and very quickly." + +She took it from him, hurried out, and set it under the thirsty animal's +nose. The collie lapped it eagerly until the water was gone, then looked +up and, by waggings and lickings, asked for more. Mr. Traill brought out +a second basin, and he remarked upon a sheep-dog's capacity for water. + +"It's no' a basin will satisfy him, used as he is to having a tam on the +moor to drink from. This neeborhood is noted for the dogs that are aye +passing. On Wednesdays the farm dogs come up from the Grassmarket, and +every day there are weel-cared-for dogs from the residence streets, dogs +of all conditions across the bridge from High Street, and meeserable +waifs from the Cowgate. Stray pussies are about, too. I'm a gude-hearted +man, and an unco' observant one, your Leddyship, but I was no' thinking +that these animals must often suffer from thirst." + +"Few people do think of it. Most men can love some one dog or cat or +horse and be attentive to its wants, but they take little thought +for the world of dumb animals that are so dependent upon us. It is no +special credit to you, Mr. Traill, that you became fond of an attractive +little dog like Bobby and have cared for him so tenderly." + +The landlord gasped. He had taken not a little pride in his stanch +championship and watchful care of Bobby, and his pride had been +increased by the admiration that had been lavished on him for years by +the general public. Now, as he afterward confessed to Mr. Brown: + +"Her leddyship made me feel I'd done naething by the ordinar', but +maistly to please my ainsel'. Eh, man, she made me sing sma'." + +When the collie had finished drinking, he looked up gratefully, rubbed +against the good Samaritans, waved his plumed tail like a banner, and +trotted away. After a thoughtful moment Lady Burdett-Coutts said: + +"The suitable memorial here, Mr. Traill, is a fountain, with a low +basin level with the curb, and a higher one, and Bobby sitting on an +altar-topped central column above, looking through the kirkyard gate. It +shall be his mission to bring men and small animals together in sympathy +by offering to both the cup of cold water." + +She was there once again that year. On her way north she stopped in +Edinburgh over night to see how the work on the fountain had progressed. +It was in Scotland's best season, most of the days dry and bright and +sharp. But on that day it was misting, and yellow leaves were dropping +on the wet tombs and beaded grass, when the Grand Leddy appeared at the +kirkyard late in the afternoon with a wreath of laurel to lay on Auld +Jock's grave. + +Bobby slipped out, dry as his own delectable bone, from under the tomb +of Mistress Jean Grant, and nearly wagged his tail off with pleasure. +Mistress Jeanie was set in a proud flutter when the Grand Leddy rang at +the lodge kitchen and asked if she and Bobby could have their tea there +with the old couple by the cozy grate fire. + +They all drank tea from the best blue cups, and ate buttered scones and +strawberry jam on the scoured deal table. Bobby had his porridge and +broth on the hearth. The coals snapped in the grate and the firelight +danced merrily on the skylark's cage and the copper kettle. Mr. Brown +got out his fife and played "Bonnie Dundee." Wee, silver-white Bobby +tried to dance, but he tumbled over so lamentably once or twice that he +hung his head apologetically, admitting that he ought to have the sense +to know that his dancing days were done. He lay down and lolled and +blinked on the hearth until the Grand Leddy rose to go. + +"I am on my way to Braemar to visit for a few days at Balmoral Castle. I +wish I could take Bobby with me to show him to the dear Queen." + +"Preserve me!" cried Mistress Jeanie, and Mr. Brown's pet pipe was in +fragments on the hearth. + +Bobby leaped upon her and whimpered, saying "Dinna gang, Leddy!" as +plainly as a little dog could say anything. He showed the pathos at +parting with one he was fond of, now, that an old and affectionate +person shows. He clung to her gown, rubbed his rough head under her +hand, and trotted disconsolately beside her to her waiting carriage. At +the very last she said, sadly: + +"The Queen will have to come to Edinburgh to see Bobby." + +"The bonny wee wad be a prood doggie, yer Leddyship," Mistress Jeanie +managed to stammer, but Mr. Brown was beyond speech. + +The Grand Leddy said nothing. She looked at the foundation work of +Bobby's memorial fountain, swathed in canvas against the winter, and +waiting--waiting for the spring, when the waters of the earth should +be unsealed again; waiting until finis could be written to a story on a +bronze table-tomb; waiting for the effigy of a shaggy Skye terrier to be +cast and set up; waiting-- + +When the Queen came to see Bobby it was unlikely that he would know +anything about it. + +He would know nothing of the crowds to gather there on a public +occasion, massing on the bridge, in Greyfriars Place, in broad Chambers +Street, and down Candlemakers Row--the magistrates and Burgh council, +professors and students from the University, soldiers from the Castle, +the neighboring nobility in carriages, farmers and shepherds from the +Pentlands, the Heriot laddies marching from the school, and the tenement +children in holiday duddies--all to honor the memory of a devoted little +dog. He would know nothing of the military music and flowers, the prayer +of the minister of Greyfriars auld kirk, the speech of the Lord Provost; +nothing of the happy tears of the Grand Leddy when a veil should fall +away from a little bronze dog that gazed wistfully through the kirkyard +gate, and water gush forth for the refreshment of men and animals. + +"Good-by, good-by, good-by, Bobby; most loving and lovable, darlingest +wee dog in the world!" she cried, and a shower of bright drops and sweet +little sounds fell on Bobby's tousled head. Then the carriage of the +Grand Leddy rolled away in the rainy dusk. + +The hour-bell of St. Giles was rung, and the sunset bugle blown in the +Castle. It took Mr. Brown a long time to lift the wicket, close the tall +leaves and lock the gate. The wind was rising, and the air hardening. +One after one the gas lamps flared in the gusts that blew on the bridge. +The huge bulk of shadow lay, velvet black, in the drenched quarry pit of +the Grassmarket. The caretaker's voice was husky with a sudden "cauld in +'is heid." + +"Ye're an auld dog, Bobby, an' ye canna deny it. Ye'll juist hae to +sleep i' the hoose the misty nicht." + +Loath to part with them, Bobby went up to the lodge with the old couple +and saw them within the cheerful kitchen. But when the door was held +open for him, he wagged his tail in farewell and trotted away around +the kirk. All the concession he was willing to make to old age and bad +weather was to sleep under the fallen table-tomb. + +Greyfriars on a dripping autumn evening! A pensive hour and season, +everything memorable brooded there. Crouched back in shadowy ranks, the +old tombs were draped in mystery. The mist was swirled by the wind and +smoke smeared out, over their dim shapes. Where families sat close about +scant suppers, the lights of candles and cruisey lamps were blurred. The +faintest halo hung above the Castle head. Infrequent footsteps hurried +by the gate. There was the rattle of a belated cart, the ring of a +distant church bell. But even on such nights the casements were opened +and little faces looked into the melancholy kirkyard. Candles glimmered +for a moment on the murk, and sweetly and clearly the tenement bairns +called down: + +"A gude nicht to ye, Bobby." + +They could not see the little dog, but they knew he was there. They knew +now that he would still be there when they could see him no more--his +body a part of the soil, his memory a part of all that was held dear and +imperishable in that old garden of souls. They could go up to the lodge +and look at his famous collar, and they would have his image in bronze +on the fountain. And sometime, when the mysterious door opened for +them, they might see Bobby again, a sonsie doggie running on the green +pastures and beside the still waters, at the heels of his shepherd +master, for: + +If there is not more love in this world than there is room for in God's +heaven, Bobby would just have "gaen awa' hame." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Greyfriars Bobby, by Eleanor Atkinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREYFRIARS BOBBY *** + +***** This file should be named 2693.txt or 2693.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/2693/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteeer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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