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diff --git a/old/bobby10.txt b/old/bobby10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1ea730 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bobby10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7228 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Greyfriars Bobby, Eleanor Atkinson + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +*It must legally be the first thing seen when opening the book.* +In fact, our legal advisors said we can't even change margins. + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 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 beer +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 Etext of Greyfriars Bobby, Eleanor Atkinson + diff --git a/old/bobby10.zip b/old/bobby10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2c22c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bobby10.zip |