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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/30089-0.txt b/30089-0.txt index 5b3632b..8b4c878 100644 --- a/30089-0.txt +++ b/30089-0.txt @@ -1,7049 +1,7049 @@ -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***
-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WAS STANDING IN THE CENTRE OF THE LARGE ENTRANCE
-HALL."]
-
-
-
- YOUNG
- BARBARIANS
-
- _By_
- IAN MACLAREN
- Author of "_Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush_"
-
- ILLUSTRATED
-
- NEW YORK
- Dodd, Mead and Company
- 1910
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1899 and 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company,
- as
- A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
-
- Copyright, 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company.
-
- Copyright, 1901,
- By Dodd, Mead and Company.
-
- _First Edition, Published October, 1901_
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- I
- PAGE
-
- "SPEUG" 1
-
- II
-
- BULLDOG 21
-
- III
-
- NESTIE 39
-
- IV
-
- A FAMOUS VICTORY 59
-
- V
-
- HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY 85
-
- VI
-
- THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES 103
-
- VII
-
- THE COUNT 121
-
- VIII
-
- A TOURNAMENT 139
-
- IX
-
- MOOSSY 163
-
- X
-
- A LAST RESOURCE 183
-
- XI
-
- A PLEASANT SIN 205
-
- XII
-
- GUERILLA WARFARE 223
-
- XIII
-
- THE FALL OF GOLIATH 245
-
- XIV
-
- THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE 261
-
- XV
-
- THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY 281
-
- XVI
-
- BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE 305
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- "Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
- entrance hall." Frontispiece
-
- "Peter dared not lift his head." 36
-
- "'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'" 50
-
- "Seized an excellent position behind two Russian
- guns." 66
-
- "Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear." 92
-
- "Speug was dragged along the walk." 96
-
- "They were so friendly that they gathered
- round the party." 114
-
- "They were brought in a large spring cart." 118
-
- "Watching a battle royal between the tops." 134
-
- "Before the hour the hall was packed." 158
-
- "Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor." 170
-
- "The school fell over benches and over another." 174
-
- "His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority." 202
-
- "They drank without any cup." 218
-
- "Before him stood London John bearing the seductive
- advertisement." 240
-
- "A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held
- to the patient's nose." 252
-
-
-
-
-"SPEUG"
-
-I
-
-
-Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building of the classical order,
-facing the north meadow and commanding from its upper windows a fine
-view of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon its gravel bed.
-Behind the front building was the paved court where the boys played
-casual games in the breaks of five minutes between the hours of study,
-and this court had an entrance from a narrow back street along which, in
-snow time, a detachment of the enemy from the other schools might steal
-any hour and take us by disastrous surprise. There were those who wished
-that we had been completely walled up at the back, for then we had met
-the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But the braver souls
-of our commonwealth considered that this back way, affording
-opportunities for ambushes, sallies, subtle tactics, and endless
-vicissitudes, lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the whole
-winter through and most of the summer, and brought it nearer to the
-condition of Red Indian fighting, which was our favourite reading and
-our example of heroism. Again and again we studied the adventures of
-Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not only on account of his hairbreadth
-escapes when he eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and
-detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning of a leaf on the
-ground, but also in order to find out new methods of deceit by which we
-could allure our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods of attack
-by which we could successfully outflank them on the broader street and
-drive them into their own retreats with public ignominy.
-
-Within the building the glory of the Seminary was a massive stone stair,
-circular in shape, and having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by
-a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the masters descended at
-nine o'clock for the opening of the school, with Bulldog, who was the
-mathematical master and the awful pride of the school, at their head,
-and it was strictly forbidden that any boy, should be found within the
-"well." As it was the most tempting of places for the deposit of
-anything in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to little boys,
-and especially as any boy found in the well was sure to be caned, there
-was an obvious and irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter
-McGuffie, commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch tongue "Speug," and
-one of the two heads of our commonwealth, used to wait with an
-expression of such demureness that it ought to have been a danger
-signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and a row of boys were
-standing in expectation with their backs to the forbidden place. Then,
-passing swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and threw them
-over, and suddenly seizing a tempting urchin landed him on the bed of
-caps which had been duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth
-of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog as he passed
-made a mental note of the prisoner's name, and identified the various
-bonnetless boys, and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the day,
-attended to each culprit separately and carefully. If any person, from
-the standpoint of this modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some
-innocent victim did not state his case and lay the blame upon the
-guilty, then it is enough to say that that person had never been a
-scholar at Muirtown Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge of the
-character and methods of Peter McGuffie. Had any boy of our time given
-information to a master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he
-would have had the coldest reception at the hands of Bulldog, and when
-his conduct was known to the school he might be assured of such constant
-and ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he would have been
-ready to drown himself in the Tay rather than continue his studies at
-Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the Scots Midlands, and a
-sporting man of established repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced,
-loud-voiced, clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head, whose
-calves and whose manner were the secret admiration of Muirtown. Quiet
-citizens of irreproachable respectability and religious orthodoxy
-regarded him with a pride which they would never confess; not because
-they would have spoken or acted as he did for a king's ransom, and not
-because they would have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to
-die--considering, as they did, that the future of a horsedealer and an
-owner of racing horses was dark in the extreme--but because he was a
-perfect specimen of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to be
-known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie McCallum, for instance,
-could have no dealings with McGuffie senior, and would have been
-scandalised had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his shop
-and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the Bailie used to chuckle
-after an appreciative fashion at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate
-with much inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits--how he
-had encountered southern horsedealers and sent them home humbled with
-defeat, and had won hopeless races over the length and breadth of the
-land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark, "and McGuffie is
-no' the man for an elder; but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him
-at a bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was a local hero, and
-on their way home from school they loitered to study him, standing in
-the gateway of his stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and
-shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends at the distance of
-half a street. When he was in good humour he would nod to the lads and
-wink to them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted to
-perform the same feat all the way home and were filled with despair. It
-did not matter that we were fed, by careful parents, with books
-containing the history of good men who began life with 2_s._ 11_d._, and
-died leaving a quarter of a million, made by selling soft goods and
-attending church, and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of
-boys who died young and, before they died, delighted society with
-observations of the most edifying character on the shortness of life. We
-had rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.
-
-Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model of all the virtues that
-were worthy of a boy's imitation, and his son with undisguised envy,
-because he had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because he had the
-run of the stables, because he was on terms of easy familiarity with his
-father's grooms, and because he was encouraged to do those things which
-we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted to do those things which
-he hated to do. All the good advice we ever got, and all the examples of
-those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons of the Rev. Dr.
-Dowbiggin, were blown to the winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in
-the high dogcart beside his father, while that talented man was showing
-off to Muirtown a newly broken horse. Speug's position on that seat of
-unique dignity was more than human, and none of us would have dared to
-recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter was quite unspoiled
-by his privileges, and would wink to his humble friends upon the street
-after his most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved him his
-father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive society were not
-failings either of Mr. McGuffie senior or of his hopeful son. Both were
-willing to fight any person of their own size (or, indeed, much bigger),
-as well as to bargain with anybody, and at any time, about anything,
-from horses to marbles.
-
-Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during her lifetime was a woman of
-decided character, whom the grooms regarded with more terror than they
-did her husband, and whom her husband himself treated with great
-respect, a respect which grew into unaffected reverence when he was
-returning from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional
-duties, to a late hour in the evening. As her afflicted husband refused
-to marry again, in decided terms, Peter, their only child, had been
-brought up from an early age among grooms and other people devoted to
-the care and study of horses. In this school he received an education
-which was perhaps more practical and varied than finished and polite. It
-was not to be wondered, therefore, that his manners were simple and
-natural to a degree, and that he was never the prey, either in any
-ordinary circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although a motherless
-lad, he was never helpless, and from the first was able to hold his own
-and to make his hands keep his head.
-
-His orphan condition excited the compassion of respectable matrons, but
-their efforts to tend him in his loneliness were not always successful,
-nor even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie. When Mrs.
-Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in what was called the "work among
-children," and who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity on
-Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to play with her boys,
-who were a head taller and paragons of excellence, the result was
-unfortunate, and afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an
-exhortation. Peter was brought back to the parental mansion by Dr.
-Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour, and received a cordial welcome from a
-congregation of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at the Manse
-with much detail and agreeable humour. During the brief space at his
-disposal he had put every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of
-repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with burnt cork so that
-their mother did not recognise her children. He had also taught them a
-negro melody of a very taking description, and had reinforced their
-vocabulary with the very cream of the stable. From that day Mrs.
-Dowbiggin warned the mothers of Muirtown against allowing their boys to
-associate with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on the street
-without an expression of open delight.
-
-When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being then ten years old, to
-the Seminary for admittance, it was a chance that he was not refused and
-that we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's profession and
-reputation were a stumbling-block to the rector, who was a man of
-austere countenance and strict habits of life, and Peter himself was a
-very odd-looking piece of humanity and had already established his own
-record. He was under-sized and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in
-countenance, and with beady black eyes which on occasion lit up his face
-as when one illuminates the front of a house, but the occasions were
-rarely those which would commend themselves to the headmaster of a
-public school. How the dealer in horses removed the rector's
-difficulties was never accurately known, but boys passing the door of
-the rector's retiring-room when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie
-overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown was able to
-understand the situation. It was understood that in a conflict of words
-the rector, an absent-minded scholar of shrinking manner, was not
-likely to come off best, and it is certain that the head of the school
-ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie as "a man of great resolution
-of character and endowed with the gift of forcible speech." As regards
-the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief directions before
-leaving, and in the presence of his fellow-scholars, of which this only
-was overheard, and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance: "Never
-give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting words Mr. McGuffie
-senior departed through the front door amid a hush of admiration,
-leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well" which was to be the
-scene of many of his future waggeries.
-
-With the progress of civilisation school life in Scotland has taken on a
-high degree of refinement, and rumour has it--but what will people not
-say?--that a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary and will receive
-a respectful welcome from the generation following Peter, and that the
-whole school will devote itself to his comfort for days--showing him
-where to hang his cap, initiating him into games, assisting him with his
-lessons, and treating his feelings with delicate respect. It has been my
-own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former barbarian age, to read
-the rules, which, I believe, are now printed in black letters with red
-capitals and hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings will
-not allow me to give them all, but the following have moved me almost to
-tears:--
-
-Rule 1.--That every boy attending this school is expected to behave
-himself in speech and deed as a gentleman.
-
-Rule 2.--That anyone writing upon a wall, or in any way marking the
-school furniture, will be considered to have committed an offence, and
-will be punished.
-
-Rule 3.--That every boy is exhorted to treat every other with courtesy,
-and anyone guilty of rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to
-the headmaster.
-
-Rule 4.--That it is expected of every boy to cultivate neatness of
-appearance, and especially to see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and
-other articles of clothing be not soiled.
-
-These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere and one very different
-from that in which we passed our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this
-kind softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan simplicity.
-The very sight of a newcomer in a speckless suit, with an irreproachable
-tie and both tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound emotion
-in the school and carried it beyond self-control. What could be expected
-of a fellow so bedecked and preserved as if he had just stepped out of a
-bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his pride and perfection--the
-very beginning of a Pharisee--he would only go from bad to worse and
-come at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists, but
-we did feel it was our duty to rescue this lad. It might be, of course,
-that we could not finally save him, but he ought at least to have a
-chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction in at once removing
-the two offensive tails by one vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a
-collar was a work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy is
-successful with all cases, and we had our failures, which we think about
-unto this day, and which have only justified our sad predictions. Boys
-like the two Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given up in
-despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed day by day and their
-faces remaining in all circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month
-the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of conventionality, and
-was only outdone by Peter himself in studied negligence of attire.
-
-Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it did not last long,
-for certain practical reasons.
-
-"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?" was the
-encouraging salutation offered by a solicitor's son to the stumpy little
-figure bereft of its father and left to fight its battles alone.
-
-"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o' a thievin' lawyer,"
-and although Peter was four years younger and small for his age, he
-showed that he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms without
-profit, and his opponent attended no more classes that day. This
-encounter excited the deepest interest and revived the whole life of the
-school. One lad after another experimented on Peter and made as much of
-it as drawing a badger. He was often hurt, but he never uttered any cry.
-He gave rather more than he got, and lads going home in the afternoon
-could see him giving an account of the studies of the day to an admiring
-audience in the stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone, and
-for the impudence of him, and his courage, and his endurance, and his
-general cockiness, and his extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was
-called "Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively
-expressed the admiration of the school.
-
-It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter was a scholar, or,
-indeed, gave any voluntary attention to the course of learning laid down
-by the authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed at the foot of
-every class, maintaining a certain impenetrable front when a question
-came his length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never risking his
-position in the school by exposing himself to contempt. When Thomas John
-Dowbiggin was distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by
-translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's History, Speug used
-to watch him with keen interest, and employ his leisure time in
-arranging some little surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas
-John's life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so inconsistent,
-that as often as Duncan Robertson answered more promptly than Thomas
-John, and obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with unaffected
-delight, and he was even known to smack his lips audibly. When the
-rector's back was turned he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas
-John's discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the united class
-did him homage, and even Thomas John was shaken out of his equanimity;
-but then Duncan Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment,
-and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and had not in his Highland body
-the faintest trace of a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing
-reproof of everything that was said and done outside of lesson time in
-Muirtown School.
-
-Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating adventures none
-was to be compared with him. Was it not Speug who floated down the
-tunnel through which a swift running stream of clean water reached the
-Tay, and allured six others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were
-drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception of the
-Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black mouth of the tunnel and reward
-his success with a cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's
-military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work in a pit at the
-top of the Meadow, which was called the Redan and was blown up with
-gunpowder one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily buried
-beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing both eyebrows? And when an
-old lady living next the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug
-and some other genial spirits for having broken one of her windows in a
-snowball fight, he made no sign and uttered no threat, but in the
-following autumn he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy
-in the four upper forms--except the Dowbiggins, who declined
-politely--and to distribute a handful for a scramble among the little
-boys. There was much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity,
-and it certainly was remarkable that the pear was of the same kind as
-the old lady cultivated with much pride, and that her fruit was gathered
-for her in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable of anything
-except telling a lie. He could swim the Tay at its broadest and almost
-at its swiftest, could ride any horse in his father's stable, could
-climb any tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game, from
-marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based on smuggling, to football,
-where he was a very dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting
-was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There was nothing he could not
-do with his hands, and no one whom he was not ready to face.
-
-Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and the exact type of a
-turbulent Lowland Scot, without whom the Seminary had missed its life
-and colour, and who by sheer force of courage and strength asserted
-himself as our chief captain. After many years have passed, Speug stands
-out a figure of size and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other
-poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried off medals,
-prizes, certificates of merit, and everything else which could be
-obtained in Muirtown Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted
-all evening at next day's work. The town was weary of seeing Thomas John
-and his brother--each wearing the same smug expression, and each in
-faultlessly neat attire--processing up in turn to receive their honours
-from the hands of the Lord Provost, and the town would cheer with
-enthusiasm when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance, being
-glad to escape from the oppression of the Dowbiggin _régime_. Nor was
-the town altogether wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at
-their own value, and declining to believe that the strength of the
-country was after their fashion. When Thomas John reached the University
-he did not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family, and by the
-time he reached the pulpit no one could endure his unredeemed dulness.
-When last I heard of him he was secretary to a blameless society which
-has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten Tribes, and it occurs
-to me that it would have been a good thing for Thomas John to have been
-blown up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have become a man.
-
-After the Seminary had done its best for Speug he retired upon his
-laurels and went to assist his father in the business of horsedealing,
-to which he brought an invincible courage and a large experience in
-bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw him breaking in young
-horses on the roads round Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in
-a steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland. When Mr. McGuffie
-senior was killed by an Irish mare, Peter sold the establishment and
-went into foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at intervals
-of five years from Australia, Texas, the Plate, Cape of Good Hope,
-assured and reckless as ever, but always straightforward, masterful,
-open-handed, and gallant. His exploits are over now, and all England
-read his last, how he sent on in safety a settler's household through a
-narrow pass in Matabele Land, and with a handful of troopers held the
-savages in check until pursuit was vain.
-
-"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote the war correspondent,
-"that Captain McGuffie, of the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men
-had been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his back to a
-rock in a narrow place he defended himself with such skill and courage
-that the Matabele declared him the best fighting man they had ever met,
-and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet." Only last week two
-Seminary men were reading that account together and recalling Peter, and
-such is the inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death (from
-apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would have been much less lamented.
-"That is just how Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved a
-fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient memories of Peter's
-boyhood, and read the despatch of the commanding officer, with his
-reference to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and then they
-looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated papers, the eyes as bold
-and mischievous as ever. "Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of
-divinity--may he be forgiven!--"well done, Speug, a terrier of the old
-Scots breed."
-
-Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was Duncan Ronald
-Stewart Robertson, commonly known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything
-except honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite of Peter
-McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor
-in Rannoch, with half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed,
-and certainly since history began. For hundreds of years they had been
-warriors, fighting other clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for
-Prince Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for England as
-officers in the Highland regiments. The present laird had been in the
-Crimean war and the Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was
-colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to our examination in full
-uniform, having first inspected the local garrison on the meadow, it was
-the greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he came in, counting
-the medals on his breast, amidst which we failed not to notice the
-Victoria Cross. We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him when
-he mounted his horse outside and rode along the terrace, and Peter led a
-detachment by the back way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one
-cheer more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad, with red
-hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not handsome, but carrying himself
-with much dignity and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting
-trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson wore the kilt and
-never looked anything else but a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the
-shabbiest, and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners were those
-of his blood, but a freer and heartier and more harum-scarum fellow
-never lived. It is a pleasant remembrance, after many years, to see
-again a group of lads round the big fire in the winter time, and to hear
-Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad, "How Horatius kept the bridge
-in the brave days of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and
-proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's Academy and
-simply compel a conflict. Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell
-at Tel-el-Kebir, and there is one Seminary man at least who keeps the
-portraits of the two captains--Peter McGuffie, the Scot, the
-horsedealer's son, and a very vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan
-Robertson, the Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself from
-head to foot--in remembrance of a school which was rough and
-old-fashioned, where, indeed, softness and luxury were impossible, but
-where men were made who had the heart in them to live and die for their
-country.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG
-
-II
-
-
-The headmaster of a certain great English school is accustomed to
-enlarge in private on the secret of boy management, and this is the sum
-of his wisdom--Be kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put your
-foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This deliverance must, of
-course, as its eminent author intends, be read with sense, and with any
-modification it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but it is
-confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong in character and
-scholarship, lay himself out to be a boy's friend--using affectionate
-language, overseeing his health, letting him off impositions, sparing
-the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence--and the boy will
-respond, without any doubt, but it will be after his own fashion. The
-boy will take that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity; he will
-call him by some disparaging nickname, with an unholy approximation to
-truth; he will concoct tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will
-fling back his benefits with contempt; he will make his life a misery,
-and will despise him as long as he lives. Let a man of masculine
-character and evident ability set himself to rule and drill boys,
-holding no unnecessary converse with them, working them to the height of
-their powers, insisting on the work being done, not fearing to punish
-with severity, using terrible language on occasion, dealing with every
-boy alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise with
-enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking sarcasm--which boys hate
-and never forgive--and he will have his reward. They will rage against
-him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go home in companies,
-but ever with an intense appreciation of his masterliness; they will
-recall with keen enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity on
-prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine his achievements, and
-pass it down to the generation following; they will dog his steps on the
-street with admiration, all the truer because mingled with awe. And the
-very thrashings of such a man will be worth the having, and become the
-subject of boasting in after years.
-
-There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary whose career was short and
-inglorious, as well as very disappointing to those who believed in the
-goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs. Dowbiggin his idea of a
-schoolmaster's duty, and won the heart of that estimable person,
-although the Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards
-hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not quite grasped the boy
-nature, at least in Muirtown.
-
-"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love for boys--for I was the
-youngest of our family, and the rest were girls--seven dear girls,
-gentle and sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you think that
-boys, as well as older people, are ruled by kindness and not by force?
-When I remember how I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would
-wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you please. I dote on muffins!
-So I am a schoolmaster."
-
-"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can tell you, for the
-place is just a den of savages! Will you believe me, that a boy rolled
-James on the ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday--and James is
-so particular about being neat!--and when I complained to Mr. MacKinnon,
-he laughed in my face and told me that it would do the laddie good?
-There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me that he is called
-'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve of disrespect, I must say it is
-an excellent name for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the Doctor,
-'If the masters are like that, what can you expect of the boys?'"
-
-"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will soon be some improvement;
-and it will not be my fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a
-master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will feel as to a mother,
-to whom they will confide their difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles'
-face had a soft, tender, far-away look.
-
-It was only for one winter that he carried on his mission, but it
-remains a green and delectable memory with old boys of the Seminary. How
-he would not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he explained,
-but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour, during which time he
-remonstrated with Peter for his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom
-he had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted compatriots
-climbed up one by one to the window and viewed him under Mr. Byles'
-ministrations with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them by signs
-that they would have to pay handsomely for their treat. How he would
-come on Jock Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously
-refusing even to button his coat, and would insist on affording him the
-shelter of an umbrella, to Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that
-Peter was following with derisive criticism. How, by way of
-conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his coat-tail pocket and
-offer them at unsuitable times to the leading anarchists, who regarded
-this imbecility as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr. Byles'
-sudden resignation was largely due to an engineering feat of Peter's,
-who had many outrages to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less
-than three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely that an
-exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the delighted school, had its due
-effect.
-
-"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no peppermint drops nor pats on
-the head that'll rule Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on
-the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll take my advice,
-Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation in a lassies' school. Ye're ower
-dainty for Muirtown Seminary."
-
-This was not a charge which his worst enemy could bring against Mr.
-Dugald MacKinnon, and because he was the very opposite--a most
-unflinching, resolute, iron man--he engraved himself on the hearts of
-three generations of Muirtown men. They were a dour, hard-headed,
-enterprising lot--a blend from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the
-stiff carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with some good south
-country stuff--and there are not many big cities on either side of the
-Atlantic where two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be found. They
-always carry in their hearts the "Fair City"--which lieth in a basin
-among the hills, beside the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots
-Florence; and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon their home,
-but the terminus of recollection is ever the same. When they have
-dallied with the swimming in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which
-looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and the golf on the
-meadows, and the mighty snow fights in days where there were men (that
-is, boys) in the land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly
-says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with long-drawn pleasure, as one
-tasting a delicate liquor; and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a
-world of joy lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing
-themselves, and then conversation really begins, and being excited, they
-drop into the Scots tongue.
-
-"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at his desk in the
-mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in ower the top o' his spectacles,
-an' juist considerin' wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that
-day."
-
-"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the second, "an' as
-straight as a rush, though a'm thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty,
-some threipit (insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him--div ye
-mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward in his head--oscillatin'
-like? Sall, they were fearsome."
-
-"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o' nine"--the third man
-cannot be restrained--"an' the crack o' his cane on the desk an'
-'Silence'; man, ye micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the
-prayer."
-
-"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids, Jock?"
-
-"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt. "Ae day I pit a
-peen into that smooth-faced wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna
-bear the look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig. Did
-Bulldog open his een an' look?"
-
-The audience has no remembrance of such a humiliating descent.
-
-"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist repeated the first
-sentence o' the prayer ower again in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes
-dune, doon he comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"
-
-"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating the sequel.
-
-"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin. 'Who asked you to
-join in the prayer?' an' ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street.
-Bulldog hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent admiration
-for a space.
-
-"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord deliver the laddies
-before Thee from lying----'"
-
-"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.
-
-"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.
-
-"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes Jock.
-
-"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased to put common
-sense in their heads, and Thy fear in their hearts, and----'"
-
-"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days of their life,'" chant
-the other two together.
-
-"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard a better, lads; he
-walkit up to his words, did Bulldog, an' he did his wark well." And as
-they thought of that iron age, the railway president and the big banker
-and the corn merchant--for that is what the fellows have come to--smack
-their lips with relish and kindly regret.
-
-It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that the human history
-of the ages is repeated in the individual, and the natural boy is a
-savage, with the aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to
-circumstances, stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible passion
-for fighting, unfeigned admiration for strength, and slavish respect for
-the strong man. By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and
-settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable--will be
-concerned about his own boys having wet feet, and will preside at
-meetings for the prevention of cruelty to animals; but he has to go
-through his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian stage a
-philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy. His master must have the
-qualities of a brigand chief, an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and
-an iron hand. On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol from
-his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the audacious rebel dead on the
-spot. So perfectly did Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had
-an unholy turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume and arms of
-Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief of prodigious valour and marvellous
-exploits. This likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested
-and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's possession, and
-although Jock paid the penalty, as was most due, yet it was believed
-that Bulldog was much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the
-picture in his desk.
-
-His achievements in his own field, which extended from the supervision
-of handwriting to instruction in mathematics, were sustained and
-marvellous. When a boy was committed to his care at or about the age of
-eight, before which age he attended a girls' school and fed his
-imagination on what was in store for him under Bulldog, the great man
-wrote at the head of his copy-book, in full text and something better
-than copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." With this
-animating sentiment the neophyte made a fearful beginning, and his
-master assisted him to transcribe it for years to come through half text
-and small text, till he could accomplish it with such delicate
-up-strokes and massive down-strokes, such fine curves and calculated
-distances, that the writing could hardly be distinguished from the
-original, and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and bailies at the
-annual examination. It is said now that no school of any name in the
-land would condescend to teach writing, and that boys coming from such
-high places can compass their own signatures with difficulty, and are
-quite illegible after a gentlemanly fashion; but it was otherwise in one
-old grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy produced at the
-Seminary that Muirtown bankers, lawyers, and other great personages used
-to drop in of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master, would go
-over the copy-books and pick out suitable lads for their offices. And it
-is a solemn fact that one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London
-without a single introduction and obtained a situation in the great firm
-of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater & Co., on the strength of a letter
-and sheet of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose reason was
-giving way under the scrawling of the junior clerks. Bulldog considered
-that his pupils' handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of their
-departure. When they came to see him at school from Glasgow, London, and
-beyond the sea, as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides
-giving them an affectionate welcome, which began at the door and ended
-at the desk, he never failed to produce their letters and point out the
-decadence in careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.
-
-Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose father insisted on the higher
-education, was allured into geometry and raised to the dignity of the
-blackboard, where he did his work in face of the school with fear and
-trembling. This was public life, and carried extremes of honour and
-disgrace. When Willie Pirie appeared at the board--who is now a
-Cambridge don of such awful learning that his juniors, themselves
-distinguished persons, can only imagine where he is in pure
-mathematics--the school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to
-see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing in an angle here and
-a circle there, and utilising half the alphabet for signs, while he
-maintained the reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice,
-Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one hand and in the other a
-cloth with which at a time he would wipe his forehead till it was white
-with chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When the end came,
-Bulldog would seize the word out of Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D.,
-Q ... E ... D. Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff
-profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the pointer under the other.
-"William Pirie, ye'll be a wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance.
-Splendid!"
-
-It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to indicate the nature of an
-isosceles triangle and confused it with a square, supporting his
-artistic efforts with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid to
-one general ruin. For a while the master explained and corrected, then
-he took refuge in an ominous silence, after which, at each new
-development, he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock, seeing him
-make for the cane, modestly withdrew, but did not reach his place of
-retreat without assistance and much plain truth.
-
-"It's a shame to take any fee from your father, Jock Howieson, and it's
-little use trying to give ye any education. Ye've the thickest head and
-the least sense in all the schule. Man, they should take you home and
-set ye on eggs to bring out chickens; ye micht manage that wi' care. The
-first three propositions, Jock, before ye leave this room, without a
-slip, or _ma certes_!" and Jock understood that if he misused his time
-his instructor would make good use of his.
-
-It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty schoolroom for ten minutes
-before the reassembling at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should
-be late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen present and
-forty-three absent, he could only look at Dowbiggin, and when that
-exemplary youth explained that the school had gone up to the top of the
-Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still enjoying themselves,
-Bulldog was much lifted.
-
-"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for the mind, but it's
-necessary to bring a glow to the skin aifterwards, or there micht be a
-chill," and he searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the
-treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.
-
-It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and a procession of forty-two
-entered panting and breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried
-his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by Peter, whose hair
-was like unto that of a drowned rat, and whose unconcealed desire was
-for obscurity. The nineteen could only smack their lips with
-expectation and indicate by signs the treat awaiting their comrades.
-
-"I've had chairge of the departments of writing, arithmetic, and
-mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary," began Bulldog, "for fifty-five
-years laist Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae passed
-through my hands. Some o' them were gude and some were bad"--Mr.
-MacKinnon spoke with a judicial calmness that was awful--"some were yir
-grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set of impudent,
-brazen-faced little scoundrels----" Then his composure failed him as he
-looked at the benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves, for it
-will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"
-
-For a while no one moved, and then Dunc Robertson rose in his place and
-made speech for his fellows like a gentleman's son.
-
-"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not our blame; we had been
-bathing in the golfers' pool, and were dressing to run down to school in
-good time. Little Nestie--I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir--had stayed in a
-little longer, and someone cried, 'Nestie's drowning!' and there the
-little chap was, being carried away by the current."
-
-"Is 'Nestie'--drowned?" and they all noticed the break in Bulldog's
-voice, and remembered that if he showed indulgence to anyone it was to
-the little English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as one out of
-due place.
-
-"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have taken him home; but he was
-very nearly gone," and Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man,
-and--and it would have been terrible to see him die before our eyes."
-
-"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white, and Jock swore afterwards
-the tears were in his eyes--but that we did not believe.
-
-"It was one of the boys, sir"--Robertson's voice was very proud--"and it
-was a gallant deed; but I can't give his name, because he made me
-promise not to tell."
-
-The master looked round the school, and there was a flush on his cheek.
-
-"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal, and Jock stood in
-his place.
-
-"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."
-
-"It was Speug, sir, an'--it wes michty; but a' wudna hae telt had ye no
-askit, an'--it's no my blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where
-Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and Peter, who had obeyed this
-order in other circumstances with an immovable countenance, now
-presented the face of one who had broken a till.
-
-"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word of it, that each laddie in
-this room may remember it as lang as he lives."
-
-"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us had started for school ...
-and when I got back McGuffie had jumped and was out in the current
-waiting for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last, white on the
-water, and shouted to Peter, and ... he had him in a minute, and ...
-made for shore; big swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it
-except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to rub Nestie till he came
-round, and ... he smiled to us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to
-trouble you chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick, and ...
-that's all, sir."
-
-"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly broke out Speug, goaded
-beyond endurance; "ye helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle
-tae blame as me."
-
-"All I did, sir"--and Robertson's face was burning red--"was to meet
-Peter and take Nestie off his hands quite near the bank; he had the
-danger; I ... did nothing--was too late, in fact, to be of use."
-
-Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt at exculpation, but
-Bulldog was himself again and gripped the reins of authority.
-
-"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder; "no arguing in my
-presence. You're an impudent fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all
-your days, the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie in
-Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien was that of a dog with a
-bad conscience.
-
-"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought with snowballs; ye've
-played truant times without number; and as for your tricks in school,
-they're beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the capper on the
-concern wi' this business!
-
-"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence is plain"--and now
-Bulldog began to speak with great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie
-out of his depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not lift his
-head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)
-
-"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers, but, instead
-of acting like ony quiet, decent, well-brought-up laddie, and walking
-down to the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed that
-the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin), "ye jumped clothes and
-all into the Tay." (There was evidently no extenuating feature, and
-Peter's expression was hopeless.)
-
-"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's in ye, Peter McGuffie,
-made ye swim out where the river was running strongest and an
-able-bodied man wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget yirsel
-and risk yer life?" But for the first time there was no bravery left in
-Peter to answer; his wickedness was beyond excuse, as he now felt.
-
-[Illustration: "PETER DARED NOT LIFT HIS HEAD."]
-
-"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death. And ye did it,
-peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've dune since ye came into muirtown
-academy? as for you, duncan robertson, ye may say what ye like, but it's
-my opinion that ye're no one grain better. Peter got in first, for he's
-a perfect genius for mischief--he's aye on the spot--but ye were after
-him as soon as ye could--you're art and part, baith o' ye, in the
-exploit." it was clear now that dunc was in the same condemnation and
-would share the same reward; whereat peter's heart was lifted, for
-robertson's treachery cried to heaven for judgment.
-
-"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"--and Bulldog pointed to
-the lists in gold of the former pupils who had distinguished themselves
-over the world--prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers, preachers,
-lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and an honour to have a place in
-it, and there are two new names to be added.
-
-"Laddies"--and Bulldog came down from his desk and stood opposite the
-culprits, whose one wish was that the floor might open beneath them and
-swallow them up--"you are the sons of men, and I knew you had the
-beginnings of men in you. I am proud ... to shake hands with you, and to
-be ... your master. Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes and
-change yir clothes, and be back inside half an hour, or it will be the
-worse for ye! And, look ye here, I would like to know ... how Nestie
-is."
-
-His walk through the room was always full of majesty, but on that day it
-passed imagination, and from time to time he could be heard in a
-soliloquy, "A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands, though, men of
-their hands! Their fathers' sons! Well done, Peter!" To which the
-benches listened with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after this
-fashion.
-
-When the school assembled next Monday morning the boys read in fresh,
-shining letters--
-
-"Peter McGuffie and Duncan R. S. Robertson, who at the risk of their own
-lives saved a schoolfellow from drowning."
-
-It stood before the school, so that all could see; but if anyone dared
-to make a sign in that direction as he passed Speug's desk, his life was
-not worth living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug never
-completely recovered from the moral disgrace of that day.
-
-
-
-
-NESTIE
-
-III
-
-
-It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead and that his father was
-the Baptist minister of Muirtown--a denomination whose adherents were
-few and whose practices were vaguely associated with the mill lade--and
-for two years before he appeared at school Nestie and his father were
-quite familiar to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies'
-school, not far from the Seminary, where he was much petted by the big
-girls, and his father could be seen waiting for him every afternoon at
-dismissal time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on being spoken
-to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion of lasting sorrow in his
-eyes, Mr. Molyneux would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia
-MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was a simple fact that when,
-meditating his sermon one day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
-midst and his son insisted on introducing him to the boarders and to
-Miss Letitia, the poor man went home to bed and left the pulpit next
-Sunday to an amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to arrive on
-the opposite side of the terrace about a quarter to three, and, as the
-hour drew near, reconnoitre the door from behind a clump of bushes at
-the foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance with a
-bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him shamelessly, and then, catching
-sight of the anxious face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
-down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, disappear round the
-corner. The minister used to take a hasty survey lest they should become
-a sport to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss his boy
-was synonymous with mental incapacity, and then--it was a cat of a girl
-who oversaw the meeting--they hugged one another for the space of a
-whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what can be done if your
-heart is in it and your hat is allowed to go without care. Had a
-Seminary boy seen the sight--but the savages were caged at that
-hour--his feet would have been glued to the ground with amazement, and
-he had gone away full of silent gratitude that Providence had cast his
-lot north of the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that the
-father and son had been separated for, say, six whole hours--or
-almost--and it was necessary to re-establish relations. When this had
-been done satisfactorily the two crossed a wooden bridge into the Meadow
-arm-in-arm--Mr. Molyneux unconsciously wearing his hat with a rakish air
-on the side of his head. Between this hour and sunset was their
-pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did were varied and
-remarkable. Sometimes they would disappear into the woods above
-Muirtown, and return home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden with
-wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they planted in their tiny
-garden and watered together with tender solicitude. Other times they
-played what was supposed to be golf over a course of their own selection
-and creation at the top of the Meadow, and if by any chance the minister
-got a ball into a hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
-apologised for his insolent success. Times there were--warm, summer
-days--when the minister would bring a book with him and read to Nestie
-as they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these days they would
-fall a-talking, and it would end in a photograph being taken from a
-case, and after they had studied it together, both would kiss the face,
-which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular frequenters of the
-North Meadow began to take an interest in the pair, so that the golfers
-would cry "Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the way of the
-balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the chief of the salmon-fishers
-and a man of rosy countenance, rowed them up to Woody Island, and then
-allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the North Meadow and
-beneath the two bridges, and landed them at the South Meadow, refusing
-all recompense with fierce words. Motherly old ladies whose families
-were off their hands, and who took in the situation at a glance, used to
-engage Mr. Molyneux in conversation in order to warn him about Nestie's
-flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp at nightfall. And many who
-never spoke to them, and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment
-with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the tears of things as the
-pair, strange and lonely, yet contented and happy, passed them in the
-evening.
-
-When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss Letitia's, his father
-began to hang round the Seminary taking observations, and his heart was
-heavy within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at football--a dozen
-of the aboriginal savages fighting together in a heap, a mass of legs,
-arms, heads--and been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians
-and English, from which he emerged without his hat, umbrella, or book,
-and after he had been eyewitness of an encounter between Jock Howieson
-and Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered to teach
-Nestie at home.
-
-"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie, and I am not sure
-whether you are quite ... fit for their ... habits. There is a master,
-too, called ... Bulldog, and I am afraid----" and Mr. Molyneux looked
-wistfully at his boy.
-
-"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't d-deserve two lumps of
-sugar," for ever since they were alone he had taken his mother's place
-and poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward? A boy must learn to
-play games, you know, and they won't be hard on a little chap at first.
-I'll soon learn f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a
-little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother was as bwave as ... a
-s-soldier?"
-
-"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux fell into the innocent
-little snare. "If you had only seen the pony your mother used to ride on
-her father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do you know, nobody
-could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress. It r-reared and ... k-kicked,
-Nestie"--the little man spoke with awe--"and once ran away; but your
-mother could always manage it. She looked so handsome on 'Gypsy'; and
-you have her spirit. I'm very ... t-timid."
-
-"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's real d-danger."
-Nestie was now on his father's knee, with a hand round his neck. "Who
-faced the cow on the meadows when she was charging, and the nurse had
-left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the truth."
-
-"That was because ... the poor little man would have been killed ...
-anyone would have d-done that, and ... I d-did not think what I was
-d-doing...."
-
-"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father shamefully, even unto his
-face; "and everybody read in the paper how the child wasn't near the
-cow, and the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you ... ran away;
-for shame, now!
-
-"Did you go to the people that had the dip ... dip ... in the throat, or
-not?--that's a word I can't manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and
-the girls say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic--Victoria
-Cwoss."
-
-"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."
-
-"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary, pater;" and so he went.
-
-"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall where his father had left him, a neat, slim little figure
-in an Eton suit and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads in
-kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland bonnets in various
-stages of roughness and decay.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he looked round with a
-bright little smile, although inwardly very nervous.
-
-"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague sense that Nestie, with
-his finished little manner, his English accent, his unusual dress, and
-his high-sounding name, was an offence to the Seminary. "Get yir hat oot
-o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's straw skimming into the forbidden
-"well."
-
-Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited the temper which
-mistressed "Gypsy," and boys who remembered Speug's first exploit
-expected to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.
-
-"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an instant later, and he
-recovered his hat very neatly. "I can leap a little, you know, not
-m-much yet," and again he smiled round the ring.
-
-Nothing quite like this had happened before in the Seminary, and there
-was a pause in the proceedings, which was the salvation of Nestie, and
-far more of Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first sight of
-Nestie and had been considering the whole situation in silence. Peter
-had a sudden inspiration.
-
-"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost kindly accent,
-moving a little forward as for purposes of identification.
-
-"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but perhaps you would like
-to say Molyneux. What is your name?"
-
-"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it runs on the
-tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie, or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi'
-ye gie's a cry." And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter sent
-the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well" just as Bulldog came down
-to his room.
-
-"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the owner of the bonnet
-and passed on to his class-room. "In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore
-the schule comes."
-
-"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that worthy followed him
-mechanically, while the school held their breath; "it would be kind of
-you to intwodoosh--it's a little difficult that word--me to the
-master."
-
-"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog at the sight of the two,
-for speech was paralysed in Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.
-
-"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna mind it ... Nestie ...
-he dinna know the way...." And Speug broke down and cast a despairing
-look at the cane.
-
-"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who were making fun of me, and
-I asked him to bwing me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."
-
-"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion with unconcealed
-delight; "that is quite his public character in this school, and there's
-nobody better known. My advice"--here Bulldog stopped, and looked from
-Speug to Nestie as one who was about to say something and had changed
-his mind--"is to ... be friends with Peter."
-
-So when the school took their places Nestie was seated next to Speug,
-and it was understood in a week that Nestie was ready to take his fair
-share in any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the baser
-sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie, he had to balance
-accounts with Speug, and that the last farthing would be faithfully
-exacted.
-
-As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that Speug was a young
-gentleman of high conduct and excellent manners--and Nestie, with all
-his sweetness, was as obstinate as a mule--nothing remained for Speug
-but to act as far as he could up to his new character. With this example
-of diligence by his side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged
-from long division and plunged into the rule of three, while Nestie
-marvelled at his accomplishments--"for I'm not a clever chap like you,
-P-Peter." Speug had also accumulated a considerable collection of pencil
-sketches, mostly his own, in which life at Muirtown Seminary was treated
-very broadly indeed, and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be
-appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have some scruple in having
-his own name connected with it, it was consigned to the flames, and any
-offer of an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur in
-Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence. His personal habits
-had been negligent to a fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his
-hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances he had
-overlooked, and would indeed have exposed himself to scathing criticism
-had it not been that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as it
-went, of a markedly practical turn.
-
-As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of chivalry, and all the
-virtues which he had discovered at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see
-him, and so Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening--an
-invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward confusion of face.
-All the time which could be saved that day from the sermons was devoted
-by Mr. Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it was pretty to
-see the Molyneuxs going from shop to shop collecting the feast. With
-much cunning Nestie had drawn from Speug that fried sausages (pork) with
-mashed potatoes, followed up by jam tarts and crowned with (raisin)
-cake, was a meal to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and
-marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was not watching at the
-upper window for Peter's coming he was gloating over the table, and
-pater, putting last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran out
-and in to see that nothing had been forgotten, for they did not give
-many feasts, and this was one of gratitude. Peter was late, because he
-had gathered his whole establishment to dress him, including the old
-groom, who wished him to go in corduroy breeches and top boots, and
-Speug was polished to the extent of shining. He was also so modest that
-he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie began to discourse on
-his goodness he cast glances at the door and perspired visibly, on which
-occasions he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief. Amid all
-his experiences on land and water, on horseback and among boys--_i. e._,
-savages--he had never yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist,
-and he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced, however, to
-trifle with the tea, and in the end did very fairly, regaining his
-native composure so far as to describe a new horse his father had
-bought, and the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables.
-Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and showed him his various
-treasures--a writing-desk with a secret drawer; _The Sandalwood Traders_
-by Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks complete; and
-then he uncovered something hidden in a case, whereat Speug was utterly
-astonished.
-
-"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and some day I'll wear it,
-you know; your mother's g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"
-
-"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her." And then, anxious to
-change the subject, he produced a new knife with six blades. Before
-leaving he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to guide him
-in their upbringing after a proper fashion. Without having ventured into
-the field of sentiment, there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a
-way to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such an account of the
-tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that night, that the horsedealer, although
-not given to Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the little
-Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping through the sermon, but
-putting five shillings in the plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely
-at his father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's
-Academy and turned various things over in his mind.
-
-If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had gone out of Peter
-through his friendship with Nestie, he erred greatly, and this Robert
-Cosh learned to his cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and
-very likely he did not know himself, but he must needs waylay Nestie in
-Breadalbane Street one day after schooltime and speak opprobriously to
-him, finishing up--
-
-"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering (stammering) dookie
-(Baptist) minister."
-
-"My father's one of the best men living"--Nestie was in an honourable
-temper--"and you are an ill-bred c-cad."
-
-Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before Cosh had done with him
-had not Speug arrived on the scene, having been in the gundy (candy)
-shop not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh had a poor
-chance at any time with Peter, but now that worthy's arm was nerved with
-fierce indignation, and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh, whose
-appearance on arriving home was remarkable. His story was even more so,
-and was indeed so affecting, not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh
-came into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards to settle
-matters.
-
-"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones charged with dignity,
-"to explain the cause of my son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a
-poultice on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself for
-days."
-
-[Illustration: "'YOU ARE AN ILL-BRED C-CAD.'"]
-
-"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons, a' can tell ye,
-Bailie; ye're richt to bring him back as sune as ye could; was't
-toothache?"
-
-"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of your scholars, the
-maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating scoondrel in Muirtown."
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed Bulldog's practical
-acquaintance with affairs. "Did ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"
-
-No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction that was beyond all
-evidence.
-
-"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had ye a justification?"
-
-Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour had one article at
-least--never to tell on a fellow.
-
-"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw the preparations for
-Peter's punishment and could not contain himself.
-
-"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't tell me that there were
-two at puir Robert, Bailie; if Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic
-a veeciously inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'
-
-"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation. Robert Cosh, what
-have ye to say? Speak up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be
-sure o' that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
-the truth."
-
-Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the smallest morsel of truth in
-any shape or form, and, in spite of strong encouragement from the
-magistrate, preserved an impenetrable silence.
-
-"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance, "is mair than ordinary
-modesty; we 'ill take another witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got
-to say?"
-
-"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my t-temper, and ... and
-... I said things ... the pater's ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me
-once or twice--but I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir, wanted
-to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but that was how it happened."
-
-"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head taller and much broader
-and four years older. Ye called his father names, and then cut his lip
-when he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little scratches on yir
-own face. That would be Peter. Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain,
-and we 'ill go to judgment.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and it does not matter two
-brass peens what Robert Cosh says about him, and ye're no an
-ill-disposed laddie yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what doesna concern ye, and ye
-seem to think that Providence gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye
-pull him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o' the hands o'
-Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark sae neatly this time that I havena
-the heart to thrash ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma
-man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but yir heart is richt;
-see that ye always use yir fists as well as ye did that day.
-
-"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have been convicted of
-three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled a good man--for that three
-strokes with the cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the
-whole school--for that three strokes; and, lastly, being moved of the
-devil, ye went home and told lies to a magistrate--for that six strokes.
-Three on each hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count.
-Right hand first."
-
-"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."
-
-"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate; "would ye interfere with
-the course o' justice in another man's jureesdiction, and you a
-magistrate?" And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome manner.
-
-The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had changed his mind, and
-Robert, who had expected great things from the magistrate's protection,
-abandoned himself to despair and walked humbly for many days to come.
-
-Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog, growing uneasy,
-called on his way home.
-
-"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the minor key of Scots
-sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox (for such an outlandish name was ever a
-trial) is far through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to come
-an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation is the feenish.
-
-"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an' he's verra sober
-(weak); but his head's clear, an' the laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae
-(sorry) for him, for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm
-dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."
-
-The gentle little minister was not far from his end, and Nestie was
-nursing him as best he could. He sponged his father's face--threatening
-to let the soap get into his eyes if he were not obedient--and dried it
-with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin brown hair slowly and
-caressingly, as he had often done on Sundays when his father was weary.
-Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of being afraid, Nestie
-smiled a pathetic welcome, which showed either what a poor actor the
-master was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar was a very
-shrewd little man.
-
-"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he was n-naughty and got
-cold, and he has been so ill; but he must get better, for you know there
-are ... just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely without the
-pater."
-
-"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon, for we h-have been
-... dear friends, that's how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is
-a ... brave little man, as you know, and mother and I will not forget
-him ... you came to ask for Nestie, and it was God's will, for I h-have
-a f-favour to ask of you."
-
-Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but said nothing. Only he
-took the minister's hand in his and waited. He also put his other arm
-round Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.
-
-"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are all dead; there is
-nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie, and he cannot live alone. C-could you
-get some family who would be ... where he might be at ... h-home?
-
-"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a little, for Nestie is a
-famous little house-k-keeper; and maybe there's enough to keep him ...
-till he grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank, and you'll
-... manage for him, won't you?"
-
-Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not find his voice--for a
-wonder, but his hand tightened on the minister's, and he drew Nestie
-nearer to him.
-
-"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have no c-claim on you, for we
-are strangers in Muirtown, and you ... have many boys. But you've been
-kind to Nestie, and he ... loves you."
-
-The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his eyes.
-
-"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice, "I'm willing to manage
-Nestie's estate, big or small, and I'll give an account of all
-intromissions to the Court, but I must decline to look out a home for
-Nestie.
-
-"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and some of them are very
-comforting) "are good freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster
-and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like to hear a young
-voice."
-
-Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner than ever--in sound.
-
-"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and maybe so is mine (Nestie
-nodded), so if the wee man wouldna be feared to live wi' ...
-Bulldog--oh, I know fine what the rascals call me--he 'ill have a heart
-welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father and mother, for yir
-laddie at the Day o' Judgment."
-
-"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all His benefits?' I
-cannot thank you ... (the minister was now very weak); but you will not
-... miss your reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me, Nestie."
-
-For a short while he slept, and they watched for any sign of
-consciousness.
-
-"It was too soon"--he was speaking, but not to them--"for Nestie ... to
-come, Maud; he must stay ... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his
-master will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be a man,
-dear."
-
-The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing the face he loved
-and had lost awhile.
-
-"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute later he was weeping
-bitterly and clinging with all his might to the schoolmaster, who came
-perilously near to tears himself.
-
-"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and mother to ye, Nestie,"
-said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary,
-and known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown lads.
-
-
-
-
-A FAMOUS VICTORY
-
-IV
-
-
-The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides our two chief enemies,
-the "Pennies" and McIntyres, there were, in the holes and corners of the
-town, obscure schools where little companies of boys got some kind of
-education and were not quite devoid of proper spirit. During a really
-respectable snow-storm--which lasted for a month and gave us an
-opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement with our
-rivals, so that the town of Muirtown was our own for the next seven
-days--a scouting party from the Seminary in search of adventures had an
-encounter with a Free Kirk school, which was much enjoyed and spoken
-about for weeks beside the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out a
-permanent campaign by which the boys going home southwards could look in
-from time to time on the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness
-to take charge of the operation. It was also said that an Episcopal or
-Papist school--we made no subtile direct distinctions at the
-Seminary--in the northern district might afford some sport, and the
-leadership in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the other
-captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not last the whole year round even
-in a Scots town; but it was wonderful what could be done in summer by
-the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and Lennie's English
-Grammar, and at the worst there always remained our fists. The pleasure
-of planning these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it seemed
-to us that by spreading our forces we might have perpetual warfare from
-January to December and over the length and breadth of the town, so that
-no one would be compelled to return to his home of an evening without
-the hope of a battle, and every street of the town would be
-distinguished by conflict. Nothing came, however, of those spirited
-enterprises that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their mutual
-quarrels, which, we understood, were very bitter, and entering
-into a covenant of falsehood--their lying filled us with holy
-indignation--attacked us front and rear while we were having an innocent
-game of Russians and English on the North Meadow. Although taken
-unawares and poorly provided with weapons we made a good fight; but in
-the end we were scattered so completely that Speug never reached the
-school again that day, for which he was thrashed by Bulldog next
-morning, and Dunc came in with a front tooth gone and one black eye,
-for which he was soundly thrashed at once.
-
-During all that summer we denounced the amazing meanness of the other
-side, and turned over plans for splitting the alliance, so that we might
-deal with each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted a
-negotiation--watchfully and across the street, for the treachery of the
-other side was beyond description--and tried to come to terms with the
-representative of our least hated opponent. He even thought, and Peter
-was not guileless, that he had secured their neutrality, when they
-suddenly burst forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
-school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. His feelings were not
-much hurt by the talk, in which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after
-he had abandoned negotiation and had settled down to vituperation, but
-Seminary boys whose homeward route took them past the hostile
-territories had to be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time of
-bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, and might have
-finally broken its spirit had it not have been for the historical battle
-in the beginning of November, when McGuffie and Robertson led us to
-victory, and the power of the allies was smashed for years. So great,
-indeed, was their defeat that in early spring Peter has been known to
-withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the season and of his own
-personal profit, for the simple purpose of promenading through the
-enemies' sphere of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult in
-at their gates.
-
-One of the schools must have been a charity for the education of poor
-lads, since it was known to us as the "Penny School," and it was a
-familiar cry ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The Pennies are
-coming!" when we promptly turned out to give them the welcome which, to
-do them justice, they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny a week
-or a penny a month we did not know, or whether, indeed, they paid a
-penny at all, but it pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
-beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came at last to wear it
-proudly, like many other people who have been called by nicknames and
-turned the nickname into an honour, for they would follow up a
-particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's a penny for ye!"
-They were sturdy varlets, quite indifferent as to boots and stockings,
-and equally so as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
-Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary--whose boys had given
-pledges to respectability, and who had to answer searching questions as
-to their personal appearance every evening--had it not been for
-stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a horsedealer, did not
-apply an over strict standard of judgment to his son's manners or
-exploits, and Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a soldier's
-son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline for the Army.
-
-Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, but it was as
-nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's school, which called itself an
-academy, and had a Latin master and held examinations and affected
-social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew that the Seminary had
-existed in the time of Queen Mary, and some said went back to the days
-of William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to whether the
-present building was then in existence. Everyone also knew that
-McIntyre's whole concern belonged to himself, and that he collected the
-fees in every class on Friday morning, that he took home what was over
-after paying his assistants, and that butcher meat for the McIntyre
-family next week depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies from
-the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going in to get a new pair of
-boots at Meiklewham's would have a fine sense of pride in being measured
-by an old opponent whose face had often looked out on him from the mist
-of battle. This pretentious and windy institution even attempted the
-absurdity of a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost sitting
-in state and glaring before him with a Horace in his hands upside down,
-McIntyre's minister would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and
-courtesy and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary boy been
-offered the painful choice, he would almost as soon have gone to the
-Pennies as to McIntyre, for in that case he had not been an impostor and
-a fraud.
-
-For a week the weather had been hovering on frost, and on Wednesday
-afternoon the snow began to fall with that quiet and steady downpour
-which means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great spirits, declaring
-to an admiring circle of junior boys that if Providence were kind and
-the snow continued there would be something worth living for at the
-dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a serious affair, and was
-conducted after a scientific fashion, it never commenced until there was
-a good body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could be gathered up
-without earth and stones. The unpardonable sin of our warfare was
-slipping a stone into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the
-wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime was cast out from
-every school. There was a general understanding between parties that the
-mercies were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to refrain
-themselves until there was a fair and lasting supply of ammunition. It
-was still snowing on Thursday morning, and there were some who said that
-war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson, ever a daring and rash
-spirit, declared we should repent it if we were not ready against one
-o'clock. Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing was likely
-to take place that day except desultory skirmishes, and that the whole
-day ought to be spent in accumulating a store of snowballs against
-Friday, when there was no question that we should have to face the
-united schools in a decisive battle. This was the only instance where
-our captains ever made a mistake, and they atoned for their error of
-judgment by the valour and skill with which they retrieved what seemed a
-hopeless defeat.
-
-As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could be seen glancing
-anxiously out at the window, and he secured an opportunity with Dunc for
-a hasty conference during the geometry lesson. About a quarter to one he
-turned from his slate and cocked his ear, and in two minutes afterwards
-every boy in Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had begun and
-that we had been taken by surprise. Scouts from McIntyre's, as we
-afterwards learned, had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a
-school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our playground. They
-had carried back news that we were not yet prepared for battle, and our
-firm opinion was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's had
-allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in order to take us at a
-disadvantage. Before the bell rang and the senior classes were dismissed
-the Seminary knew that our enemies had seized the field of battle, but
-we did not know until we came out the extent of the disaster.
-
-The Pennies had come down the back street and had established
-themselves opposite the narrow entrance between two sheds through which
-three only could walk abreast from our playground to the street. They
-had also sent a daring body of their lighter and more agile lads to the
-top of the sheds which separated our playground from the street, and
-they had conveyed down an enormous store of ammunition, so that the
-courtyard was absolutely at their mercy, and anyone emerging from the
-corridor was received with a shower of well-made and hard snowballs
-against which there was no standing. Even if we ran this risk and
-crossed the open space we could then be raked by the fire from the shed,
-and a charge through the narrow passage to the street would be in the
-last degree hazardous. There were twelve feet of passage, and there were
-not many who would care to face a stream of snowballs driven by the
-vigorous hands of the Pennies down this passage as through a pipe.
-Instead of meeting our enemies on the street, we had been penned up
-within our own school. McIntyre's had come down the terrace and seized
-an excellent position behind two Russian guns which stood opposite our
-school and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They had made
-these guns into a kind of fort, from behind whose shelter, reinforced by
-a slight barricade of jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had
-driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless discomfiture. It came
-upon us that we had been shut up back and front, and shut up with the
-poorest supply of snowballs and very little snow with which to repair
-our resources.
-
-[Illustration: "SEIZED AN EXCELLENT POSITION BEHIND TWO RUSSIAN GUNS."]
-
-While the younger boys raged and stormed in the safety of the corridors,
-Dunc and Speug retired for consultation. In two minutes they came out
-and gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered together round the
-"well" and in the "well," and on the stairs and along the corridors. It
-was at this moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name which he covered
-with glory before the close of the day. As he had no class between
-twelve and one, he had been observing events, and with the aid of two or
-three other little boys had done what he could to repair the neglect of
-yesterday. In spite of a rain of snowballs he had availed himself of a
-sheltered corner in the playground and had worked without ceasing at the
-preparation of the balls. Every ball as it was made was dipped into a
-pail of water and then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was
-soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two hundred balls
-ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head on his shoulders. Now," said Speug,
-speaking from halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for a
-beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to the open. As soon as
-we've cleared the background every ane o' the two junior classes is to
-mak' balls as hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the fighting
-line.
-
-"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions; Dunc will take
-thirty of ye and drive McIntyre frae the guns and along the terrace till
-ye turn them into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye--and I want nae
-Dowbiggins--'ll come with me, and we'll bring the Pennies aff the shed
-quicker than they got up, and drive them up the back streets till we
-land them wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors 'ill keep
-us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and me will ken the reason at two
-o'clock.
-
-"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows that can run and are
-no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll rin round by the North Street and the
-Cathedral and come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut off
-McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools. Dae nothin' till ye see
-Dunc and me drivin' the lot up Breadalbane Street, then come down from
-the back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin' they'll be
-wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a' be done."
-
-Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch, each boy supplied with
-two balls and with twenty youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's
-balls were falling on the front wall and coming in through the porch.
-One of them struck Dunc on the side of the head, but he forbade any
-return fire.
-
-"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the better for us";
-and then, looking round, "Are ye ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary!
-Seminary!" he led his division across the terrace and fell upon
-McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short, sharp scrimmage, during
-which Dunc levelled the leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began
-to retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand encounter
-and scuffle on the snow. As soon as Dunc's division had cleared the
-front, Jock Howieson collected his lads and started along the terrace in
-the opposite direction at a sharp run, carrying no balls, for they
-intended to make them on the scene of operation. When the other two
-divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful band. "MacFarlane, take
-six birkies, climb up the waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed,
-couping the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad at the
-fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o' the left-hand shed, and
-'gin ye can clout that Penny that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach
-him to keep in the street next day.
-
-"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie and Jamie Johnston 'ill
-lead ye down the passage. We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak'
-'em, and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in yir hand. Pit
-yir bonnits in yir pocket--they'll no be muckle use--button yir jackets,
-and when the three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow close
-in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug, who was in his glory that
-day. "I'll need a laddie to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a
-laddie that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time." Below thirty
-of the junior school were waiting and looking at Speug like dogs for a
-biscuit. He threw his eye over the group, any one of which would have
-given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown in a cricket bat
-and his last kite, to have been chosen.
-
-"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white and ye're terrible
-polite, but there's a sperit in ye. Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and
-noo, you juniors, aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's
-well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a ball when we drive
-the Pennies down the back road." Then Speug moved to the back corridor
-and arranged his division, with Nestie behind him, and Bauldie and Jamie
-Johnston on the right hand and on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's
-detachments close behind, who were to turn off to the right hand and the
-left as they emerged from the corridor; the rest were to follow Speug
-through the passage of danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in
-the hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see that they
-would leave a mark when they struck a Penny. The third he took in his
-right hand, and Nestie had the reserve.
-
-"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better gae in and sit doun
-beside the fire with the Dowbiggins," and since nobody responded to this
-genial invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and in a minute
-was across the playground and at the mouth of the passage, while
-Mackenzie and MacFarlane were already scrambling up the walls of the
-sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and sending his first ball
-direct into the face of the foremost Penny, and following it up with a
-second and a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a catapolt,
-and receiving anything from twelve to twenty balls between him and
-Bauldie and Johnston, the three led the way down the passage, Nestie
-close behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls. They met at
-the outer end of the passage--the Pennies and Speug's lot--and for about
-thirty seconds they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting, shouting
-boy life, and then, so steady was the play of Speug's fists, so able the
-assistance of the other two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so
-rapid the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among the Pennies, the
-Pennies gave way and Speug and his band burst into the back street, the
-leader with his jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars
-of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the balls behind him.
-
-The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face to face in the back
-street, with a space of about ten yards between, and both parties made
-arrangements for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies could be
-seen bringing balls from Breadalbane Street, and the Pennies themselves
-made such hasty readjustments of their negligent attire as were
-rendered necessary by the vigour of the last fighting. Their commander
-was a sturdy lad about fifteen years of age, with a great shock of red
-hair and fists like iron. His favourite method of charge was to lead his
-army in the form of an inverted V, he being himself at the apex, and to
-force his way through the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug
-did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself in the centre and
-threw out his two lieutenants far out on the right hand and on the left,
-so that when the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his
-division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right and left
-flanks--tactics which in Speug's experience always caused dismay in the
-attacking force. The younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample
-resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers without jackets now
-or bonnets, and as they brought out the supplies of balls through the
-passage of victory they received nods of approval from Speug, each nod
-being something like a decoration. It was fine to see Speug examining
-the balls to see that they were properly made and of a hardness which
-would give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.
-
-Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude. When the
-Seminary lads fought their way through the passage they cut off the
-retreat of three Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on the
-top of the right-hand shed.
-
-"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with ironic politeness;
-"that's no' the ordinar' road into the Seminary;" and then, as they
-hesitated on the edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in
-these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he said, "naebody 'ill
-touch ye"; and then he ordered an open passage to be made through the
-ranks of the Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate Pennies
-walked, no one laying a hand upon them, but various humourists
-expressing their hopes that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that
-it wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a black eye, that they
-hoped one of them hadn't lost his jacket on the roof of the shed, and
-that they were none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected
-to meet them later on--which gracious salutations the Pennies received
-in bitter silence as they ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped
-clear of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the two armies they
-turned round with insulting gestures, and one of them cried, "Ye'll get
-yir paiks (thrashing) for this or the day be done!"
-
-Their arrival among their friends and the slight commotion which it
-caused in the front ranks of the Pennies was a chance for Speug, who
-gave the signal for the charge and made himself directly for the leader
-of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of time can describe the
-conflict between the two leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at
-close distance, every one going to its mark, and one leaving an
-indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous forehead. They then came to
-close grip, and there was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for
-many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual, they fell upon
-wrestling, and here it seemed that Redhead must have the advantage, for
-he was taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During the wrestle
-there was something like a lull in the fighting, and both Pennies and
-Seminaries, now close together, held their hands till Speug, with a
-cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by an English groom in
-his father's stable, got the advantage, and the two champions came down
-in the snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a shout of triumph,
-and the scouts running to and fro with the balls behind joined in with,
-"Well done, Speug!"
-
-Speug had all the instincts of a true general and was not the man to
-spend his time in unprofitable exultation. It was a great chance to take
-the Pennies when they were without their leader and discomfited by his
-fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving his way through the midst
-of the enemy, who were now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and
-Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on either side and were
-attacking them in parallel lines. MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down
-from the shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear of the
-Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but was almost helpless in the
-confusion, and thought it the best strategy to make a rush to the clear
-ground in the rear of his position, calling his followers after him; and
-now the Pennies gathered at the far end of the street, beaten in tactics
-and in fighting, but ever strong in heart, and full of insolence.
-"That," said Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief
-which he carried in his trousers pocket, and hastily attending to some
-of his wounds, "that wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit
-close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties as Bauldie and
-Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie, all bearing scars, clustered round
-their commander with expressions of admiration. "Yon was a bonny twirl,
-and you coupit him weel." "Sall, they've gotten their licks," while
-Speug modestly disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the
-Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and that Redhead nearly
-got the mastery.
-
-At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was heard in the rear of the
-Pennies, and Speug knew that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the
-full length of the terrace and was now fighting them in Breadalbane
-Street. "Forward!" cried Speug. "Dunc's on the back of them," and
-Redhead at the same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering his
-retreat with a shower of balls, and united with McIntyre's, who were
-retiring before Robertson and the second division of the Seminaries.
-Amid cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan met where the back
-street opens into Breadalbane Street, and their divisions amalgamated,
-exchanging notes on the battle and examining one another's personal
-appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen, and not many jackets,
-which had either been left behind or thrown off or torn off in personal
-conflict with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but that no one
-could tell, and there were some whose waistcoats were now held by one
-button. Two or three also had been compelled to drop out of active
-battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their faces with snow and
-trusting to be able to see clear enough for the final charge; and still
-the juniors were making their balls and had established a new magazine
-at the end of the terrace. Several of these impenitent little wretches
-had themselves been in the thick of the fight, and could be seen
-pointing proudly to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What a
-time certain mothers would have that evening when their warriors came
-home, some of them without caps, which would never be recovered, most of
-them with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of them with
-disfigured faces, all of them drenched to the skin, and every one of
-them full of infinite satisfaction and gladness of heart! Their fathers,
-who had heard about the battle before they came home and had not failed
-to discover who had won, being all Seminary lads themselves, would also
-be much lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the savagery
-of their boys, would wonder where the police were, would threaten their
-sons with all manner of punishments if this ever happened again, and
-would declare their intention of laying a complaint before the chief
-constable. As, however, it was absolutely necessary in the interests of
-justice that the whole facts should be known before they took action,
-they would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative, with every
-personal conflict and ruse of war, from their sons, and only when the
-last incident had been related would announce their grave and final
-displeasure.
-
-As for the police, who were not numerous in Muirtown, and who lived on
-excellent good terms with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have
-a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming on, and were detained
-by important duty in distant streets. It was always, however, believed
-by the Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at the
-distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at the far extremity of
-Breadalbane Street, following the fight with rapt attention, and in the
-case of the Pennies winning, which had been their own school, smacking
-their lips and slapping their hands under pretence of warming themselves
-in the cold weather, and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching
-off in opposite directions, lest they should be tempted to interfere,
-which they would have considered contrary to the rules of fair play,
-and giving their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some ingenuous
-modern person will ask, "What were the masters of the Seminary about
-during this hour?" The Rector was sitting by the fire in his
-retiring-room, reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint sounds of
-war reached his ears he would stir the fire and lament, like the quiet
-old scholar that he was, that Providence had made him ruler of such a
-band of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope that his
-barbarians would not come off second. As for Bulldog, his mind was torn
-between two delights--the anticipation of the exercise which he would
-have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were having to-day--and
-nothing more entirely endeared Bulldog to his savages than the fact
-that, instead of going home to dinner during this hour, which was his
-usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit. He was obliged to buy
-it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane Street, from which he could command
-a perfect view of the whole battle, especially as he happened to stand
-in the doorway of the shop, and never returned to school till the crisis
-of war was over. He was careful to explain to the school that he had
-himself gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders in mischief,
-and it was on such an occasion that Speug, keeping his right cheek
-immovable towards Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with
-irresistible effect.
-
-Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown Seminary, who had been a
-sergeant in the Black Watch and had been wounded three times in the
-Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector and reinforced by all
-law-abiding parents, were to prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the
-school for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such an
-unfortunate affair take place he was directed to plunge into the midst
-and by force of arm to bring the Seminaries home to their own fireside,
-leaving rough and rude schools like the Pennies and McIntyre's to fight
-at their wicked will. For did not the Seminary lads move in polite
-society, except Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have
-become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to say nothing of bailies
-on the bench and elders of the Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal
-McGlashan carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter as in
-the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations which Speug and
-he had together in anticipation of the snow time, when you may believe
-if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting Speug to obedience
-and gentleness, or if you please that he was giving the commander of the
-Seminary certain useful hints which he himself had picked up from the
-"red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that when the Seminaries went out
-that day in battle array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires with
-great diligence, so that he was not able to see them depart. Afterwards
-it was the merest duty for him to stand at the end of the passage of
-victory, lest the Pennies or any other person should venture on another
-outrage; and if he was late in calling his boys back from Breadalbane
-Street, that was only because the cold had made his wounds to smart
-again, and he could only follow them in the rear till the battle was
-over. When the evil was done there was no use of vain regret, and in the
-afternoon the sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts of
-the battle from one and another, and then he would declare that there
-were lads in Muirtown Seminary who would have done well at Inkermann and
-the storming of the Redan.
-
-Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight, with the back road to
-the Seminary on the right hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the
-Pennies on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations, for it
-gave opportunity for deploying in divisions, for front attack and for
-flank, as well as for royal charges which extended across the street.
-McIntyres and Pennies had been recruited from their several schools and
-supplied afresh with ammunition. Redhead took command of the united
-force and arranged them across the street in his favourite wedge, with
-the base resting on the home street, and this time he gave the signal,
-and so impetuous was their charge that they drove their way almost
-through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself, through sheer
-weight of attack, was laid flat in the middle of the street. Robertson
-and his officers rallied their forces, but it was possible that the
-Seminaries might have lost the day had it not been for the masterly
-foresight of Speug and the opportune arrival of Jock Howieson. That
-worthy had taken his division by a circuitous route, in which they had
-been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal school which wanted a fight on
-its own account and had to receive some passing attention. A little
-late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then, judging it better not to
-come down Breadalbane Street, where his attack would have been exposed,
-he made his way on the right of the street by passages known only to
-himself, and having supplied his division with ammunition from a
-snow-drift in a back entry, he came into the home street, which was the
-only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them off from their base.
-Leaving a handful of lads to prevent the scouts coming out from the
-Pennies or the McIntyres with information, and driving before him the
-ammunition train of the enemy, he came round into Breadalbane Street
-with twenty-five tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and
-just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting man to have spent
-something like half an hour wandering round circuitous streets and
-holding ridiculous conflicts with unknown schools when the battle of
-Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown, was hanging in the
-balance.
-
-Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the new division they were
-upon his rear, and a play of snowballs fell upon the back of the
-Pennies. This was more than even veteran forces could endure, and in
-spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired his balls alternately
-back and forward, his forces fell into a panic. They broke and drove
-their way through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment from
-balls fired at a distance of a few feet, and then, in spite of the
-efforts of their officers, who fought till they were black and blue, but
-chiefly red, the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping the
-rearguard of Howieson's before them like straws in a stream, made for
-their respective schools. The Seminaries in one united body, headed by
-the three commanders and attended by the whole junior school, visited
-the Pennies' school first, whose gates were promptly closed, and having
-challenged the Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and fight like
-men--Redhead being offered the chance of single combat with Dunc or
-Speug or Jock Howieson--the Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's
-Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning had no gate, Speug led
-the Seminaries into the centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys
-having no spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-rooms.
-As they would not come out, in spite of a shower of courteous
-invitations, Speug stood in the centre of their courtyard and called the
-gods to witness that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries
-had won. A marvellous figure was he, without bonnet, without collar,
-without tie, without jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but
-a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers, but glorious in
-victory. Taking a snowball from Nestie, who was standing by his side,
-openly and in face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window, he sent
-it with unerring aim through the largest pane of glass in McIntyre's own
-room. "That," said Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here."
-Then he collected his forces and led them home down the cross street and
-into Breadalbane Street, down the middle of Breadalbane Street, and
-round the terrace, and in by the front door into the Seminary. As they
-came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and the juniors, who had rushed on
-before, met them at the door and gave three cheers, first for Speug,
-then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson, which homage and tribute of
-victory Speug received with affected contempt but great pride of heart.
-In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful henchman,
-little Nestie Molyneux, who, always a delicate-looking little laddie,
-was now an altogether abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping
-hair, and battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of the whole
-school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and although since then he has
-been in many places and has had various modest triumphs, that still
-remains the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.
-
-
-
-
-HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY
-
-V
-
-
-It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents to live in public
-and shake hands with every person; but absolute monarchs, who govern
-with an iron hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public
-mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had walked homeward with
-his boys in an affectionate manner, and inquired after their sisters,
-like his temporary assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting
-babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp, the drawing-master--Augustus de
-Lacy Topp--who wore a brown velvet jacket and represented sentiment in a
-form verging on lunacy; or if he had invited his classes to drink coffee
-in a very shabby little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to
-Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson, the stupidest lad in
-the Seminary, would have been shocked, and would have felt that the
-Creation was out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog was
-polite conversation, or private hospitality. His speech was confined to
-the class-room, and there was most practical; and his hospitality,
-which was generous and widespread, was invariably public. His _rôle_ was
-to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted above feeling, and had it not
-been for Nestie he had sustained it to the day of his death.
-
-Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting that he had
-approached his century, others being content with "Weel on to eighty."
-None hinted at less than seventy. No one could remember his coming to
-Muirtown, and none knew whence he came. His birthplace was commonly
-believed to be the West Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing
-with a case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic. Bailie
-McCallum used to refer in convivial moments to his schooldays under
-Bulldog, and always left it to be inferred that had it not been for that
-tender, fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in Muirtown.
-Fathers of families who were elders in the kirk, and verging on grey
-hair, would hear no complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the
-yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with profit--they now
-said--was good enough for their children. He seemed to us in those days
-like Melchizedek, without father or mother, beginning or end of days;
-and now that Bulldog has lain for many a year in a quiet Perthshire
-kirkyard, it is hardly worth while visiting Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the bridge at 8.45, with
-such rigid punctuality that the clerks in the Post Office checked the
-clock by him, and he returned by the way he had gone, over the North
-Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom to close the
-administration of discipline at the same hour as the teaching,
-considering with justice that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather
-take the cane than be kept in, where from the windows he could see the
-North Meadow in its greenness, and the river running rapidly on an
-afternoon. It would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in a
-Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked and could not have
-maintained his necessary reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house
-upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown from the other side
-of the river. It was a hill which began with wood and ended in a lofty
-crag; and even from his house, halfway up and among the trees, Bulldog
-could look down upon Muirtown, compactly built together on the plain
-beneath, and thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily from
-its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that Bulldog gave himself to
-poetry, but having once varied his usual country holiday by a visit to
-Italy, he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that Muirtown
-reminded him of Florence as you saw that city from Fiesole, with the
-ancient kirk of St. John rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay
-instead of the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage in her
-cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that the Arno was but a poor,
-shrunken river compared with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been
-born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown, and always
-believed that there was no river to be found anywhere like unto the Tay.
-His garden was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance was by a
-wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within these walls no one knew, but
-many had imagined. Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced
-Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the archway, and then it was
-in their plan to form a ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from
-the top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior and observe
-Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's courage failed at the critical
-moment, and they returned without news to the disappointed school.
-
-Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in those days, but the
-hardest heart was touched with compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his
-father and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced in their
-master; but it was with trembling, and the thought of spending the
-evening hours and all one's spare time in his genial company excited our
-darkest imagination. To write our copy-books and do our problems under
-Bulldog's eye was a bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to
-life, but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond words.
-
-As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog was never perfectly
-happy except when he was plying the cane, it was taken for granted that
-Nestie would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the afternoon of
-one day to the morning of the next, and when Nestie appeared, on the
-third morning after his change of residence, the school was waiting to
-receive him.
-
-His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side, with his hands in his
-pockets, talking at his ease and laughing lightly, amazed us on first
-sight, but did not count for much, because we considered this manner a
-policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy. After all, he was
-only doing what every one of us would have done in the same
-circumstances--conciliating the tyrant and covering his own sufferings.
-We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with his guardian, and
-then we closed in round him and licked our lips, for the story that
-Nestie could tell would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.
-
-Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with questions which came in
-a fine confusion from many voices, and to which he was hardly expected
-to give an immediate answer.
-
-"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has Bulldog tawse in the
-house?" "Div ye catch it regular?" "Does he come after you to your
-bedroom?" "Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden door locked?" "Could
-ye climb over the wall if he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let
-ye bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons a' night?" "What
-does Bulldog eat for his dinner?" "Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he
-ever say onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog sleeping?"
-"Are ye feared to be with him?" "Would the police take ye away if he was
-hurting ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?" "Would he let ye
-make gundy (candy) by the kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at
-yir books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?" "What do ye call him in
-the house?" "Would ye call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy
-if the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in the garden?" "Would
-ye daur to lay a finger on them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?"
-"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?" And then Speug
-interfered, and commanded silence that Nestie might satisfy the
-curiosity of the school.
-
-"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite form of address. "Noo,
-Nestie, come awa' wi' yir evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"
-
-"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm getting on with
-Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with fun, for he'd a nice little sense
-of humour, and never could resist the temptation of letting it play upon
-our slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare you seem to
-know all about what h-happens. I'll j-just tell you something about it,
-but it'll make you creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round
-Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and if I'm not down at
-half-past, Bulldog comes for me with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point
-rubbed himself behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six 'p-props'
-from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions" (a groan from the school): "for
-breakfast we've porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with
-Bulldog--one, two, three, four--with the spoonfuls. He's got the c-cane
-on the table." ("Gosh" from a boy at the back, and general sympathy.)
-"He has the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy." ("It cowes
-all.") "There are three regular c-canings every day, one in the morning,
-and one in the afternoon, and one before you go to bed." At this point
-Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to Nestie's account, and
-knew that he had a luxuriant imagination, interfered.
-
-"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little scoundrel, and ye're
-telling lees straicht forward," and the school went into the class-room
-divided in opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been feeding
-their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but others were inclined to
-believe anything of Bulldog's household arrangements. During the hour
-Speug studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in the break he
-laid hold of that ingenious young gentleman by the ear and led him apart
-into a quiet corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth. Nestie
-whispered something in Speug's ear which shook even that worthy's
-composure.
-
-"Did ye say rabbits?"
-
-"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, and Speug was more
-confounded than he had ever been in all his blameless life.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if ye tell lees."
-
-"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell lies, but sometimes I
-compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, and he feeds them himself."
-
-"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"--for this was with us the final test
-of truth.
-
-"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon Speug had so much to
-think about that he gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him with
-nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably correct drawing of
-two lop-eared rabbits.
-
-Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow together after school, and
-before they parted at the bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit
-in his new home that evening from Speug; but, although modesty was not
-Speug's prevailing characteristic, he would on no account accept the
-flattering invitation. Maybe he was going to drive with his father, who
-was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was going out on the river in a
-boat, or maybe the stable gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose
-for a run, or maybe----
-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WHISPERED SOMETHING IN SPEUG'S EAR."]
-
-"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons, Speug, for once in your
-life," said Nestie, who, his head on one side, was studying Speug's
-embarrassment.
-
-"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug, turning a dark red at
-this insult. "Nane o' yir impidence."
-
-"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie, and dodged at the same
-time behind a lamp-post. "Why, Speug, I didn't know you were
-f-frightened of anything."
-
-"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it had been Jock Howieson
-said that, I'd black his eyes. What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable
-little shrimp?"
-
-"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but just let me g-guess. It
-might be climbing the hill; or did you think you might meet one of the
-'Pennies,' and he would fight you; or, Speug--an idea occurs to me--do
-you feel as if you did not want to spend an hour--just a nice, quiet
-hour--all alone with Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in
-the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm ashamed of you, when poor
-little me has to live with him now every day."
-
-"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll learn ye to give me
-chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog, and I dinna care if he chases me
-round the garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."
-
-"You _are_ afraid, Speug; you _dare_ not come." And Nestie kept
-carefully out of Speug's reach.
-
-"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this very night at seven
-o'clock, but I'll no come in unless ye're at the garden door."
-
-Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day, and was afraid neither
-of man nor beast, but his heart sank within him for the first time in
-his life when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to the
-residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing but his pledged word, and a
-reputation for courage which must not be tarnished, since it rested on
-nothing else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door. He was before
-his time, and Nestie had not yet come to meet him, and he could allow
-his imagination to picture what was within the walls, and what might
-befall his unfortunate self before he went down that lane again. His one
-consolation and support was in the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the
-case, as Nestie had sworn with an oath which never had been broken at
-the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that dreadful enclosure,
-there was hope for him; for if he knew about anything, he knew about
-rabbits, and if anyone had to do with rabbits--and although it was
-incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?--there must be
-some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog. Speug began to speculate whether
-he might not be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits and
-examine thoroughly into their condition, and escape from the garden
-without a personal interview with its owner; and at the thought thereof
-Speug's heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had delighted
-the Seminary, none, for its wonder and daring, its sheer amazingness,
-could be compared with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie," he
-murmured to himself, as he remembered that little Englishman's prodigal
-imagination, "is a maist extraordinary leear, but he said 'as sure as
-death.'"
-
-"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have opened the door. Come along
-and shake hands with the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And
-Speug was dragged along the walk between the gooseberry bushes, which in
-no other circumstances would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up
-to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution. He heard
-someone coming down the walk, and he lifted up his eyes to know the
-worst, and in that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted the
-unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for the like of that
-countenance could not be found on any other man within the United
-Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that
-Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of justice. The nose and
-the chin, and the iron-grey whiskers and hair, and above all those
-revolving eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what had happened to
-Bulldog's face, for it was like unto that of another man? The sternness
-had gone out of it, and--there was no doubt about it--Bulldog was
-smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and irresistible smile.
-It had taken the iron lines out of his face and shaped his lips to the
-kindliest curve, and deprived his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed
-the judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given him--it was a
-positive fact--another pair of eyes. They still revolved, but not now
-like the guns in the turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and
-left. They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light from a
-harbour tower. There never was such a genial and humoursome face, so
-full of fun and humanity, as that which looked down on the speechless
-Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation. Where were
-the pepper-and-salt trousers and the formal black coat and vest, which
-seemed somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's reign?
-and the hat, and the gloves, and the stick--what had become of his
-trappings? Was there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers, down
-at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the seams, as those that
-covered the feet of Bulldog in that garden. The very sight of those
-slippers, with their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and
-ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism, was the first
-thing which cheered the heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no
-problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to scorn. Where did he ever
-get those trousers, and from whose hands did they originally come,
-baggy at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden mould and
-torn with garden bushes?
-
-[Illustration: "SPEUG WAS DRAGGED ALONG THE WALK."]
-
-Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered place on the side
-of the hill; but would any person believe that the master of
-mathematics, besides writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was
-going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two of his pupils,
-without the vestige of a waistcoat. Speug now was braced for wonders,
-but even he was startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of earlier
-age than the trousers, with which it had no connexion in colour. It may
-once have had four buttons, but only two were left now; there was a tear
-in its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden wall, the
-handle of a hammer projected from one pocket, and a pruning-knife from
-the other. And if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in the
-side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was a knife in his hand,
-with six blades and a corkscrew and a gimlet and the thing for taking
-the stones out of a horse's hoof--oath again repeated--and Bulldog was
-trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his finger. Speug, now
-ascending from height to height, was not surprised to see no necktie,
-and would have been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a wild
-hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it might be crowned with a
-Highland bonnet, minus the tails; but instead thereof there was a hat,
-possibly once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured,
-and worn so rakishly, partly on the back and partly on the side of his
-head, that Speug was inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could
-befall him in that garden.
-
-"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing figure. "Ye've been
-long of coming. There's something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened
-up the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce his knife, which
-was not so bad after all, for it had six departments, and one of them
-was a file, which was wanting in Bulldog's.
-
-"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie. "It's split more tops
-than any one in the school; it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its
-deadly steel point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to look
-unconscious as the owner of this instrument of war.
-
-"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's many a year since
-I've spun a top. Where's yir string?" and he strode up the walk winding
-the top, and the boys behind looked at one another, while Nestie
-triumphed openly.
-
-"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered. "Ain't he great? And just you
-wait; you haven't begun to see things yet, not h-half."
-
-Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a right hand that had not
-lost its cunning, but rather had been strengthened by much cane
-exercise. "It's sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to
-touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its time, and the
-three hung over that top with fond interest, as Bulldog timed the
-performance with his watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.
-
-"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master. "I would like to
-have yir advice," and as they went down through the garden they halted
-at a place, and the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and took
-crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on the thrushes bade him
-welcome, and he showed the boys where the swallows had built every year,
-and they also flew round his head.
-
-"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be afraid o' you, will
-they, Dandie?" and the old terrier which followed at his heels wagged
-his tail and indicated that he also was on good terms with every living
-thing in the garden.
-
-No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to believe it, even
-although Speug tried to inculcate faith with his fists, that Bulldog had
-carried out a litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and
-that, before the three of them laid themselves out for a supper of
-strawberries, Speug had given to his master the best knowledge at his
-command on the amount of green food which might be given with safety to
-a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down with authority that a
-moderate amount of tea-leaves and oatmeal might be allowed as an
-occasional dainty.
-
-After the attack on the strawberries, in which Speug greatly
-distinguished himself, and Bulldog urged him on with encouraging words,
-they had tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign of cane or
-tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the corks himself, and managed once
-to drench Speug gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with his
-famous red handkerchief and was inordinately proud, while Nestie
-declared that the thing had been done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened
-him with the tawse for insulting his master.
-
-"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of rock before ye go," and
-Bulldog produced the only rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth
-eating--Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure, and rich, and
-well-flavoured; and when Speug knew not whether to choose the
-peppermint, that is black and white, or the honey rock, which is brown
-and creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was red outside and
-white within, his host insisted that he should take a piece of each, and
-they would last him till he reached his home.
-
-"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at the garden gate,
-"ye're the most aggravating little scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and
-the devilry that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're fine
-company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and Nestie and me will be
-glad to see ye when ye're no engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget
-to come, Peter."
-
-Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely among the rabbits, again
-forsook him, but he was able to indicate that he would seize an early
-opportunity of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald MacKinnon in his
-own home; and when Bulldog thrashed him next day for not having prepared
-an exercise the night before, the incident only seemed to complete
-Speug's pride and satisfaction.
-
-
-
-
-THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES
-
-VI
-
-
-Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience of the Seminary by
-various efforts to improve its mind and manners, but when he proposed at
-the beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays with botanical
-excursions to Kilspindie Woods, which, as everybody knows, are three
-miles from Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt that if
-there was any moral order in the universe something must happen. From
-the middle of September, when the school opened, on to the beginning of
-October, when football started, our spare time was given to kites, which
-we flew from the North Meadow in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug
-had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon upon it painted in
-blue and yellow and red--the red for the fire coming out of his
-mouth--and a tail of eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened
-with a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could have launched the
-monster from the ground--bigger than Peter by a foot--and nursed it
-through the lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in the
-higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the dragon was but the size
-of a man's hand in the clear autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon
-his back, with his hands below his head, and the stick with the kite
-string beneath his feet, and gaze up at the speck above, with an
-expression so lifted above this present world that a circle of juniors
-could only look at him with silent admiration and speculate whether they
-would ever become so good and great.
-
-It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying was chiefly done upon
-your back, for it gave endless opportunities for intricate manoeuvres
-and spectacular display. When Peter was in the vein he would collect
-twelve mighties--each with a kite worth seeing--and bringing the kites
-low enough for the glory of their size and tails to be visible they
-would turn and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and distance
-with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan would watch the review with
-keen interest and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the band
-would work their way up to the head of the Meadow in the teeth of a
-north-wester, and forming in line, with half a dozen yards between each
-boy, would let the kites go and follow them at the run as the kites tore
-through the air and almost pulled their owners' arms out of the sockets.
-It was so fine a demonstration that the women bleaching their clothes
-would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's shirts to let Speug keep his
-course--knowing very well that he would have kept it otherwise over the
-shirts--and golfers, who expect everyone to get out of their way on pain
-of sudden death, would stop upon the putting green to see the kites go
-down in the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded at their
-heels. If the housewives shook their heads as they spread out the shirts
-on the grass again--weighing them down with clean stones that they might
-not follow the kites--it was with secret delight, for there is no
-wholesome woman who does not rejoice in a boy and regard his most
-vexatious mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod, the keenest of
-golfers and the most touchy of Celts, declared that this condemned old
-Island was not dead yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy
-young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty ploy that Mr. Byles
-proposed to take the Seminary for a botanical excursion.
-
-It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr. Byles announced the new
-departure, and, even if Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an
-inscrutable countenance, the school was too much amazed to interrupt.
-Having touched on the glories of the creation amid which we lived, Mr.
-Byles pointed out, in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen
-terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics as they all did so
-diligently--Jock Howieson's eye turned instinctively to Bulldog's
-cane--but they must also know some natural science in order to become,
-as he hoped they would, cultured men--Speug was just able to cast a
-longing glance at Thomas John. That no pursuit was easier and more
-delightful than botany, especially among wild flowers. That on Saturday
-he proposed to go with as many as would join him to ransack the
-treasures of Kilspindie Woods. That these woods were very rich, he
-believed, in flowers, among which he mentioned wild geraniums--at which
-the school began to recover and rustle. That the boys might dry the
-geraniums and make books for Christmas presents with them, and that he
-hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary containing all the wild flowers
-of the district. The school was now getting into good spirits, and
-Bulldog allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy who desired to
-improve his mind was to put on his oldest suit and bring a bag to carry
-the plants in and be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow. Then
-Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk with energy and dismissed the
-school, and Nestie told Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.
-
-Outside the school gathered together on the terrace around the Russian
-guns, which was our Forum, and after five seconds' pause, during which
-we gathered inspiration from each others' faces, a great shout of
-laughter went up to the sky, full-toned, unanimous, prolonged. Any sense
-of humour in the Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany class,
-with expeditions, was irresistible.
-
-"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely tickled; "it cowes a'.
-An' what was the ither flooer--'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be
-poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be making a book for a
-present to Bulldog."
-
-"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins, who were making
-off, as mass meetings did not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir
-feet or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if ye do. Give us
-a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then there was instant silence, for Nestie
-had a nice little trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a
-school where delicate gifts were rare.
-
-"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his hand with Mr. Byles's
-favourite polite deprecating gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear
-boys, that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet, Peter
-McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed, and I 'ope, I mean
-h-hope, you will make an effort to l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common
-object of Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands--Howieson, I
-must ask you not to annoy Thomas John Dowbiggin--the c-colour is a
-lovely gold, and yet--no talking, if you please, it is r-rude--we pass
-it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take a dandelion h-home to
-his sister. Now go hout ... or rather out, quietly."
-
-"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried Bauldie; and Johnston
-passed a half stick of gundy to Nestie to refresh him after his labours.
-"Are ony o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles traking thro'
-the Kilspindie Woods, with thae bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his
-heels, carryin' an airmful o' roots and sic like."
-
-"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o' Byles and a litter o'
-Dowbiggins!"--and Jock was very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a
-procession o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe airm in
-airm!"
-
-This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the matter for the
-Seminary, as a score of its worthies marching across the bridge in the
-interests of science, like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for
-ever. So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should see the Byles
-expedition off next morning, and then hold a field day of kites in the
-meadow.
-
-The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that means that when a
-prim, conventional, respectable man takes in his head to dress as a
-Bohemian, the effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious to show
-that he could be quite the gay rustic when he pleased, and he was got up
-in a cap, much crushed, and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar
-corresponding, and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained with
-futile chemical experiments. He was also equipped with a large canvas
-bag, slung over his shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained
-could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place if it were damp
-beneath. The Dowbiggins had entered into the spirit of the thing, and
-were in clothes reserved for their country holidays. They had each an
-umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether were a pair of objects to whom
-no one would have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie made him
-a social outcast, had declared himself a convert to natural science, and
-was sucking up to Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought that
-they would like to know something about flowers, made up the Botanical
-Society.
-
-They were a lonely little group standing on the terrace, while Mr. Byles
-was securing a trowel and other instruments of war from his room, but a
-large and representative gathering of the Seminary did their best to
-cheer and instruct them.
-
-Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which bulged from the bag of
-the younger Dowbiggin contained spirituous liquors, and warned the two
-juniors to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to drinking.
-He also expressed an earnest hope that a rumour flying round the school
-about tobacco was not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was
-horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a tender care of his
-health and personal appearance, not to bully Lord Kilspindie's
-gamekeepers, nor to put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with
-the rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things not to tell
-lies.
-
-Thomas John was beset with requests--that he would leave a lock of his
-hair in case he should not return, that he would mention the name of the
-pawn-broker from whom he got his clothes, that he would bring home a
-bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, that he would secure a supply of
-turnips to make lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
-Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he would be careful
-to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles might drop on the road, and that he
-should not use bad language under any circumstances.
-
-"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said Mr. Byles, who had come
-out in time to catch the last exhortation: "it is far better to
-himprove, I mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set of
-children; but we all hope that you will have a nice fly, don't we,
-boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a quarter might have provoked a
-demonstration had not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an amazing
-circumstance. As the botanists started, Speug, who had maintained an
-unusual silence all morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and gave
-Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering for scientific
-research. After their friends had recovered themselves they buzzed round
-the two, who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable affectation
-of sedateness, but received no satisfaction. Speug contented himself
-with warning off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with the idea
-of forming a mock procession, and then giving them a wink of
-extraordinary suggestiveness. But Nestie was more communicative, and
-explained the situation at length----
-
-"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not know it; he fairly
-loves g-geranniums, and is sorry that he wasted his time on k-kites and
-snowballs. We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we don't want you
-to trouble us." But this was not knowledge.
-
-It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie tailed off at the
-bridge, and Speug, halfway across, turned round and winked again, it was
-with regret that they betook themselves to their kites, and more than
-once they found themselves casting longing glances to the distant woods,
-where Speug was now pursuing the study of botany.
-
-"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung motionless in the sky,
-"this is weel enough, but tak' my word for't it's nothing to the game
-they're playin' in yon woods."
-
-"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna see muckle game in that: I
-would as soon dig potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had a
-prosaic mind and had little imagination.
-
-"Geranniums! ger---- havers, that's no' what Speug is after, you bet.
-He's got a big splore (exploit) on hand or he never crossed Muirtown
-Brig in such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. Peter'ill lose
-the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill stick them in a bog, or"--and
-Jock could hardly hold his kite--"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill
-row them over to Woody Island and leave them there till Monday, with
-naething but bread and milk and the net to sleep in." And the joy of
-Jock and Bauldie at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to
-their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of sympathy with
-their fellow-creatures.
-
-If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign on the way to the woods,
-for he was a model of propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. He
-showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of the Dowbiggins, so that
-these two young gentlemen relaxed the vigilant attention with which they
-usually regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with Cosh. As for the
-master, Peter simply placed himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating
-on the extent of the woods and their richness in flowers--"just fair
-scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest o' them:" offering to take the
-expedition by the nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting
-on the number and beauty and tameness of the pheasants, till Mr. Byles
-was charmed and was himself surprised at the humanising influence of
-scientific pursuits.
-
-Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore, for he led them by so
-direct a way that, before they came to the place of flowers, the
-expedition--except the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in
-Nestie's charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next door to
-babies--had climbed five dykes, all with loose stones, fought through
-three thickets very prickly indeed, crawled underneath two hedges,
-crossed three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired themselves
-times without number. Cosh had jostled against Speug in leaping from one
-dry spot to another and come down rolling in the mud, which made his
-appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in helping Thomas John out of a
-very entangling place, had been so zealous that the seat had been almost
-entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and although Mr. Byles
-had done his best with pins, the result was not edifying; his brother's
-straw hat had fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he jumped
-from a wall, and was of no further service, and so the younger
-Dowbiggin--"who is so refined in his ways," as his mother used to
-say--wore as his headgear a handkerchief which had been used for
-cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, whom fate might have
-spared, misfortunes had accumulated. His trousers had been sadly mangled
-from the knee downwards as he crawled through a hole, and had to be
-wound round his legs with string, and although Speug had pulled his cap
-out of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as to leave the peak
-behind, and he was so clumsy, with the best intentions, that he allowed
-another branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side of the head
-and left a mark above his eye, which distinctly suggested a prizefight
-to anyone not acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character.
-Peter himself had come unscathed from the perils of land and water, save
-a dash of mud here and there and a suspicion of wet about his feet,
-which shows how bad people fare better than good. The company was so
-bedraggled and discouraged that their minds did not seem set on wild
-flowers, and in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and thoughtful,
-led the botanists to a pleasant glade, away from thickets and bogs,
-where the pheasants made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. Byles
-was much cheered by this change of environment, and grew eloquent on the
-graceful shape and varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly
-that they gathered round the party, which was not wonderful, as a keeper
-fed them every day, but which Mr. Byles explained was due to the
-instinct of the beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that we
-love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, and made the Dowbiggins
-promise that they would never shoot pheasants or any other game, and
-there is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as they did not
-know one end of a gun from another, and would no sooner have dared to
-fire one than they would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought
-occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they should now have their
-lunch and feed the birds with the fragments. He was wondering also
-whether it would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, just to
-hold it in the hand and let it go again.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE SO FRIENDLY THAT THEY GATHERED ROUND THE
-PARTY."]
-
-When things had come to this pass--and he never had expected anything so
-good--Speug withdrew unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran
-swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with the juniors.
-
-"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, "div ye see that path?
-Cut along it as hard as ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the
-Muirtown Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. For Byles
-and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's
-pheasants that I'm expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
-Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, "that I savit ye from sic
-company."
-
-"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had disappeared, "I've never
-clypit (told tales) once since I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a
-nice job, but div ye no' think that the head keeper should know that
-poachers are in the preserves?"
-
-"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's house, "especially
-when there's a g-gang of them and such b-bad-looking fellows--v-vice
-just written on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young and so
-w-wicked."
-
-"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin' along, as if the dogs were
-aifter them?" and the head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's
-you, Speug--and what are you doin' in the woods the day? there's no eggs
-now." For sporting people are a confederacy, and there was not a
-coachman or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve miles of
-Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie senior, and not many who did not
-also have the acquaintance of his hopeful son.
-
-"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep our wind richt, an' we
-cam on a man and three boys among the pheasants in the low park."
-
-"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's birds?"
-
-"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin', but they were feedin'
-them, and we saw a net."
-
-"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, Tom, get up out of yir beds
-this meenut; the poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin' them
-alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for stock: and broad daylight;
-it beats everything. He 'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely.
-And the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an' the end o'
-September. Dod: it's a depairture in poachin'." And as the sight of Mr.
-Byles burst on his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two
-Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a specially venturesome
-one, the head keeper almost lost the power of speech.
-
-"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles looked up to see three armed
-keepers commanding their helpless party, and one of them purple with
-rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could give you a hand in
-catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart would be of ony use ...
-confound your cheek!
-
-"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, did ye,
-and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they? How is
-that, lads? I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for
-brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match. Maybe you're a
-Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an orphan asylum?
-
-"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary, that's what you are, is
-it, ye awfu' like blackguard, an' the laddies are the sons o' a
-respectable Free Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no'
-the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir time and try again. I'm
-enjoying it. Is't by the hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty
-to ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue o' ye.
-
-"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge a charge o' shot in
-ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye,
-professor an' students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an'
-we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He hasna tried a learned
-institution like this since he mounted the bench. March in front, but
-dinna try to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic a band
-o' waufies!"
-
-Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, having seen all
-without being seen, now started for Muirtown to gather the kite-players
-and as many of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival of the
-botanists. They were brought in a large spring-cart--Mr. Byles seated
-between the head keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three
-huddled like calves in the space behind--a mass of mud, tatters, and
-misery, from which the solemn, owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap
-was now gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As they were handed
-over to the police the Seminary, which had been at first struck dumb,
-recovered speech and expressed itself with much vivacity.
-
-"Who would have thought Byles had as much spirit? Sall, he 'ill be
-rinnin' horses at Muirtown Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards,
-Thomas--yir breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have been hard on
-yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?" "Has his Lordship kept yir
-bonnet, Dowbiggin?" "It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys are only
-in the savage state, and the discomfiture of such immaculate
-propriety was very sweet to the Seminary.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE BROUGHT IN A LARGE SPRING CART."]
-
-So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper, who saw in Mr. Byles's
-effort a new and cunning form of poaching he was not prepared for, and
-so weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the Bailie on duty
-was for sentencing them at once, and would hardly wait for the testimony
-of friends. It took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary
-and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from their studies in hot haste and
-confusion of face, to clear the accused, and even then the worthy
-magistrate thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to administer a
-rebuke and warning so solemn that it became one of the treasures of
-memory for all Seminary lads.
-
-"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, and you may go this time;
-but let me never see you here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome
-to think that an educated man"--this to Byles--"instead of setting an
-example to the laddies under your charge, should be accused of a mean
-and cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I cannot look at
-your face without having grave doubts. And to think that the sons of a
-respected minister of the kirk should be found in such company, and with
-all the appearance of vagrants, must be a great trial to their father,
-and I am sure he has the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I
-never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in such a position.
-All I can hope is that this will be a lesson to you to keep clear of
-evil companions and evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable
-citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day--that is all I have to
-say."
-
-Outside the court-room the head keeper caught Speug and gave him his
-mind.
-
-"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that English-speakin' imp is
-little better. My belief is that this has been a pliskie (trick) o'
-yours frae beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o'
-advice--don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, or it will be the
-worse for you."
-
-
-
-
-THE COUNT
-
-VII
-
-
-If you excluded two or three Englishmen who spoke with an accent
-suggestive of an effeminate character, and had a fearsome habit of
-walking on the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master at the
-Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering, the foreign element
-in Muirtown during the classical days consisted of the Count. He never
-claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate the title, but he
-declined the honour of our title with so much dignity that it seemed
-only to prove his right, and by and by he answered to the name with
-simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for deprecation, but
-which came to be considered a polite acknowledgement. His real name was
-not known in Muirtown--not because he had not given it, but because it
-could not be pronounced, being largely composed of x's and k's, with an
-irritating parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of learning to
-spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for it was one of the Count's
-foreign ways to carry a card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being
-introduced to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card with the right
-hand while he took off his hat with the left, and bowed almost to a
-right angle. Upon those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane
-would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing whether so unholy a
-name might not go off and shatter his hand; and during the Count's
-obeisance, which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded him
-with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, during this performance of
-the Count's, used to be divided between regret that any human being
-should condescend to such tricks, and profound thankfulness that
-Muirtown was not part of a foreign country where people were brought up
-with the manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was nourished by
-the manner of the Count's dress, which would have been a commonplace on
-a _boulevard_, but astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and
-always lent an element of piquant interest to our streets. His perfectly
-brushed hat, broadish in the brim and curled at the sides, which he wore
-at the faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather boots, which
-it was supposed he obtained in Paris, and wore out at the rate of a pair
-a month--all was unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat which
-stimulated conversation. It was so tight and fitted so perfectly,
-revealing the outlines of his slender form, and there was such an
-indecent absence of waist--waist was a strong point with Muirtown men,
-and in the case of persons who had risen to office, like the Provost,
-used to run to fifty inches--that a report went round the town that the
-Count was a woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than refuted by
-the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, which he made with Satanic
-ingenuity while you were looking at him, and that he gave a display of
-fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment in the barracks,
-for it was shrewdly pointed out that those were just the very
-accomplishments of French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have
-crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost been obliged to
-command the Count's departure, had it not been for the shrewdness and
-good nature of the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a fair maid
-in Muirtown--and in those days she was fairest of her succession: let
-this flower lie on her grave. She declared to her friends that she had
-watched the Count closely and had never once seen him examine a woman's
-dress when the woman wasn't looking; and after that no person of
-discernment in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's sex. It was,
-however, freely said--and that story was never contradicted--that he
-wore stays, and every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his
-landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with every wile of
-conversation, and even lawyers' wives, pretending to inquire for rooms
-for a friend, used to lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but
-that worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not quite insensible
-to the dignity of a mystery.
-
-"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after; but beggin' your
-pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and my mouth's closed. The Count disna
-ken the difference atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the money he wastes
-on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; but he never had the blessin' of a
-Gospel ministry nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. As
-regards stays, whether he wears them or disna wear them I'm no' prepared
-to say, for I thank goodness that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes
-nor entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The Count pays his
-rent in advance every Monday morning; he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I
-told him it was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the house, and
-if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to support his spine, which I'm
-no' sayin' he did, Mistress Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the
-weather is inclining to snow."
-
-His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it may have been
-constructed; and it was a pleasant sight to see the Count go down our
-main street on a summer afternoon, approving himself with a side glance
-in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an attitude at our
-bookseller's when a new print was exposed in the window, waving his
-cigarette and blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was
-considered a "tempting of Providence," making his respectful salutations
-to every lady whom he knew, and responding with "Celestial, my friend!"
-to Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing weather." When he
-sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard, like Solomon in all his glory, that
-great man, who always persisted in regarding the Count as a sporting
-character, would touch the rim of his hat with his forefinger--an honour
-he paid to few--and, after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
-with much relish. This astounding spectacle very early attracted the
-attention of the Seminary boys, and during his first summer in Muirtown
-it was agreed that he would make an excellent target for snowball
-practice during next winter. The temptation was not one which could have
-been resisted, and it is to be feared that the Count would have been
-confined to the house when the snow was on the ground had it not been
-for an incident which showed him in a new light, and established him,
-stays or no stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There had
-been a glorious fight on the first day of the war with the "Pennies,"
-and when they were beaten, a dozen of them, making a brave rearguard
-fight, took up their position with the Count's windows as their
-background. There were limits to license even in those brave old days,
-and it was understood that the windows of houses, especially private
-houses, and still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,
-should not be broken, and if they were broken the culprits were hunted
-down and interviewed by "Bulldog" at length. When the "Pennies" placed
-themselves under the protection of the Count's glass, which was really
-an unconscious act of meanness on their part, the Seminary distinctly
-hesitated; but Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples as he knew
-no fear.
-
-"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain; and when the "Pennies"
-were driven along the street, the windows had been so effectually dashed
-that there was not a sound pane of glass in the Count's sitting-room. As
-the victorious army returned to their capital, and the heat of battle
-died down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in minds not given to
-care, for Mistress Jamieson was not the woman to have her glass broken
-for nothing, and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with all his
-dandyism, would not take this affront lightly. As a matter of fact,
-Mistress Jamieson made a personal call upon the Rector that evening, and
-explained with much eloquence to that timid, harassed scholar that,
-unless his boys were kept in better order, Muirtown would not be a place
-for human habitation; and before she left she demanded the blood of the
-offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its present condition to Sodom
-and Gomorrah. As the Rector was always willing to leave discipline in
-the capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners would almost
-certainly be in his class in the forenoon, the Count, who had witnessed
-the whole battle from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had
-afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away the _débris_, went to
-give his evidence and identify the culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic
-occasion, and he rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful
-recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side--the Count carrying
-himself with all the grace and dignity of a foreign ambassador come to
-settle an international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than ever,
-because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that discipline must be
-maintained.
-
-The Count explained with many flourishes that he was desolated to come
-for the first time to this so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand
-so distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands on him ("Dis the
-body mean Lucky Jamieson?" whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had
-ever been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded him with a
-disdain beyond words.) The Rector of this place of learning had also
-done him, an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to come and
-assist at this function of justice; and although, as the Count
-explained, he was no longer a soldier, obedience was still the breath of
-his nostrils. Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to be
-questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the Count bowed again to
-Bulldog, placing his hand upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming
-attitude against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his cane, and
-feeling that he had acquitted himself with credit.
-
-"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir," and Bulldog's glance
-conveyed that such a figure as the Count's ought not to be exposed in
-snowtime; "but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the
-circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of the Seminary are
-allowed to exercise themselves in the snowtime within limits. If they
-fight wi' neighbouring schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they
-break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme penalty. Now, I'm
-informed that some of the young scoundrels--and I believe the very
-laddies are in this class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to
-catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was entirely occupied with
-mathematical figures)--"have committed a breach of the peace at Mistress
-Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"--and Bulldog regarded the
-Count with increasing disfavour, as he thought of such a popinjay giving
-evidence against his laddies--"is, to look round this class-room and
-point out, so far as ye may be able, any boy or boys who drove a
-snowball or snowballs through the windows of your residence."
-
-During this judicial utterance the eyes of the Count wandered over the
-school with the most provoking intelligence, and conveyed even to the
-dullest, with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown was not
-capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old gentleman, that the boys were a
-set of sad dogs, capable of any mischief, that some of them were bound
-to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of all that he, the Count,
-knew who would get it, and that he was about to give evidence in an
-instant with the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When his glance
-lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful and unhesitating
-recognition that Speug was almost abashed, and knew for certain that for
-him at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson, plunging into
-arithmetic of his own accord for once, calculated rapidly what would be
-his share of the broken glass. Neither of them would have denied what he
-did to save himself twenty thrashings; but they shared Bulldog's disgust
-that a free-born Scot should be convicted on the evidence of a
-foreigner, whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts and
-tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to go round seated on the
-top of our solitary barrel-organ.
-
-"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog sternly; and there was a
-silence that could be felt, whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out
-with the Count's cane.
-
-The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's face; he became grave and
-anxious, and changed from a man of the world, who had been exchanging a
-jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in the Court of Justice.
-
-"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what you call my soul and
-conscience," and the Count indicated with his hand where both those
-faculties were contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity, I
-will say profanity, to break the windows of my good friend and hostess,
-Madame Jamieson."
-
-The Count gave himself to the work of selection, but there was no longer
-a ray of intelligence in his face. He was confused and perplexed, he
-looked here and he looked there, he made little impatient gestures, he
-said a bad French word, he flung up a hand in despair, he turned to
-Bulldog with a frantic gesture, as of a man who thought he could have
-done something at once, and found he could not do it at all. Once more
-he faced the school, and then Speug, with that instinct of acute
-observation which belongs to a savage, began to understand, and gave
-Howieson a suggestive kick.
-
-"As a man of honour," said the Count with much solemnity, "I give my
-testimony, and I declare that I do not see one of the boys who did
-forget themselves yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to
-Madame's domicile."
-
-And it would have been curious if he had seen the boys, for the Count
-was looking over their heads, and studying the distant view of the
-meadow and the River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.
-
-The mind of Speug was now clear upon the Count, and Bulldog also
-understood, and in two seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy
-through a mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical
-class-room knew that, although the Count might have had the misfortune
-to be born in foreign parts, and did allow himself to dress like a
-dancing-master, inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had them on,
-there was the heart of a man who would not tell tales on any fellow, and
-who also liked his bit of fun.
-
-"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly concealed satisfaction,
-"that ye're no' in a poseetion to recognise the culprits, for if they're
-no' here my conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown. We can
-ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much obleeged for yir attendance."
-
-"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which has the fortune to
-introduce me to this charming company," and the Count bowed first to
-Bulldog and then to the school with such a marked indication in one
-direction that Speug almost blushed. "My sorrow is to be so stupid a
-witness; but, monsieur, you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor
-eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the Count bowed in all
-directions, "to replace the glass in Madame's house, and the incident,
-pouf! it is forgotten."
-
-There was a swift glance from all parts of the class-room, and
-permission was read in Bulldog's face. Next instant the mathematical
-class-room was rent with applause, such as could only be given when
-fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and Speug led the
-circus.
-
-"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog came as near as possible
-to a bow, "that ye have acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the
-boys of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to come and go among
-us as ye please."
-
-The departure of the Count, still bowing, with Bulldog attending him to
-the door and offering him overshoes to cover the polished leather boots,
-was a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of the morning was
-not worth mentioning.
-
-During the lunch hour the school was harangued in short, pithy terms by
-Speug, and in obedience to his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in
-a solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave a volley of
-cheers. The Count was more gratified than by anything that had happened
-to him since he came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the newly
-repaired windows he made an eloquent speech, in which he referred to Sir
-Walter Scott and Queen Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other
-romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the "Pennies" and the
-Seminary was worthy of the great Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be _un
-brave garçon_; expressed his regret that he could not receive the
-school in his limited apartments, but invited them to cross with him to
-the Seminary tuck-shop, where he entertained the whole set to Mistress
-MacWhae's best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that Mistress
-Jamieson should come forward to the window with him and bow to the
-school, while he held her hand--which the Count felt would have been a
-really interesting tableau. It certainly would have been, but Mistress
-Jamieson refused to assist in the most decided terms.
-
-"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand in hand wi' him, and
-bowin', if ye please, to thae blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o'
-good character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it would ill set me
-to play such tricks. But I'll say this for the Count--he behaved
-handsome; and I'm judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in
-my house so long as the Count is in it." And there never was.
-
-It were not possible to imagine anything more different than a Muirtown
-boy and the Count; but boys judge by an instinct which never fails
-within its own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with all his
-foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends gathered around him and
-flourished exceedingly, being largely invented by Nestie, and offered
-for consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug, who let it be
-understood that to deny or even to smile at Nestie's most incredible
-invention would be a ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn
-a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the Emperor of Austria's
-daughter and had been exiled by the imperial parent, but that the
-Princess was true to the Count, and that any day he might be called from
-Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of Vienna; that he was
-himself a king of some mysterious European State, who had been driven
-out by conspirators, but whose people were going to restore him, and
-that some day Speug would be staying with the Count in his royal abode
-and possibly sitting beside him on the throne. During this romance Speug
-felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty, which was quite
-consistent with keeping a watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal
-who might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely ask him what he was
-laughing at, and offer to give him something to laugh for. That the
-Count was himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society which
-extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords, and that whenever
-any tyrant became intolerable, the warrant for his death was sent from
-Mistress Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed Nestie produced
-another, and it was no longer necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy
-Indian tales or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction was
-now bound up and walking about in the Count.
-
-[Illustration: "WATCHING A BATTLE ROYAL BETWEEN THE TOPS."]
-
-Between him and the boys there grew up a fast friendship, and he was
-never thoroughly happy now unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He
-attended every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned how,
-kept the score, giving a cheer at every new run and tearing his hair
-when any of his boys were bowled out. He rushed round the football field
-without his cane, and generally without his hat; and high above all
-cheers could be heard his "Bravo--bravo, forwards! Speug!" as that
-enterprising player cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It
-mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were ruined, and his
-speckless clothes soiled, he would not have cared though he had burst
-his stays, so long as the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with
-them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health in flowing
-ginger-beer. During the play hour his walk seemed ever to bring him to
-the North Meadow, and if a ball by accident, for none would have done it
-by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his
-own pronunciation and bowed in response to this mark of attention. It
-was a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands resting on his
-knees, watching a battle royal between the tops of Speug and Howieson;
-and if anything could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin a
-top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown tongues.
-
-As the boys came to the school in the morning and went home in the
-evening up Breadalbane Street, the Count was always sitting at one of
-the windows which had been broken, ready to wave his hand to any one who
-saluted him, and in the afternoon he would often open the window to get
-the school news and to learn whether there would be a match on Saturday.
-As time went on this alliance told upon the Count's outer man; he never
-lost his gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he ever have
-been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had lived to the age of
-Methuselah, have been made an elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew
-thicker, though they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher,
-though they were always well made, and his ties became quieter, and his
-week-day hat was like that of other men, and, except on Sundays,
-Muirtown never saw the glory of the former days. With his new interest
-in life, everyone noticed that the Count had grown simpler and kindlier,
-and Muirtown folk, who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt,
-began to love him through their boys. He would walk home with Bulldog on
-a summer evening, the strangest pair that ever went together; and it was
-said that many little improvements for the comfort of the lads, and many
-little schemes for their happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the
-Count. It was believed that the time did come when he could have
-returned to his own land, but that he did not go because he was a lonely
-man and had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he died, now many
-years ago, he left his little all for the benefit of his "jolly dogs,"
-and the Count, who had no mourners of his blood, was followed to his
-grave by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A TOURNAMENT
-
-VIII
-
-
-Since the day when Speug and a few young friends had broken every pane
-of glass in the Count's windows, and the Count had paid for the damage
-like a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all his spare
-cash--which we thought afterwards was not very much--in encouraging
-athletic exercises among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of every
-other convert, was much greater than his knowledge, and left to his own
-devices he would certainly have gone far astray; but with the able
-assistance of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel, it was
-astonishing what a variety could be infused into the sports. When every
-ordinary competition had been held, and champions had been declared (and
-this had never been done before in the history of the school) for the
-hundred yards, the quarter, and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse
-and over the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu
-meeting of parents), for broad jumping and high jumping, for throwing
-the cricket ball and kicking the football, Speug came out with a quite
-new programme which was rapturously received, and had it not met with a
-cross-providence would have lasted over four happy Saturdays and
-considerably reduced the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was
-a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be trifled with, and
-four boys were saved from death by a salmon cobble, whose owner
-fortunately turned up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by
-this event that he not only lost his hat in the river, but being
-prevented from going in to help, for the very good reason that he could
-not swim a stroke, he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel
-of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might serve as a
-lifebelt. The second item, upon which Speug prided himself very much,
-was a climbing match, and for this he had selected a tree which seemed
-to be designed for the purpose, since it had a rook's nest on its
-highest branch, and no branches at all for the first twenty feet. The
-conditions were, that every boy above twelve should have his chance, and
-the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into the rook's nest, and
-came down in the shortest time, should get the prize. The Seminary above
-twelve were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday morning, and in
-one kirk next day thanks were offered in the first prayer in peculiarly
-dignified and guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had not
-been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was killed, and no limbs
-were broken, but Speug, who was not allowed to enter for this
-competition, but acted as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the
-sight of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy, once to
-release his friend Howieson, who had missed a branch and was hanging by
-his feet, and the second time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended
-by the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a gigantic apple on
-the branch. It was understood that the Seminary had never enjoyed
-themselves so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's moral
-courage failed during the performance, and at the most critical moment
-he was afraid to look. When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement
-of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at church-doors and street
-corners, and it was conveyed to the Rector--who knew nothing about the
-matter, and was so absent-minded that if he had passed would never have
-seen what was going on--that if Providence was going to be tempted in
-this fashion again, the matter would be brought before the Town Council.
-The Count himself would have been faithfully dealt with had he not been
-considered a helpless tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood
-to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim. He might indeed have
-been at last expelled from the Seminary, of which he was the chief
-ornament, had it not been that the Count went to the Rector and
-explained that the idea had been his from beginning to end, and that it
-was with the utmost difficulty he could induce Speug even to be present.
-For, as I said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always stood by
-his friends through thick and thin; but the thrashing which Speug got
-from Bulldog was monumental, and in preparation for it that ingenious
-youth put on three folds of underclothing.
-
-What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not the punishment, which
-was cheap at the money, but the loss of the next two items in his
-programme. He had planned a boxing competition, in which the main
-feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc Robertson and himself,
-to decide finally which was the better man, for they had fought six
-times and the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a profligate
-genius outside the class-rooms, had also imagined a pony race with
-hurdles; and as about twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had
-ponies, of which they were always bragging, and Speug had the pick of
-his father's stables, he modestly believed that the affair would be
-worth seeing. When the hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had
-already begun to make entries and to arrange weights with his father's
-valuable assistance, he took the matter so much to heart that his health
-gave way, and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit at the
-Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in the highest spirits and full
-of stories.
-
-For some time after this painful incident the Count lay low and adopted
-a deprecating manner when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown;
-but he gave his friends to understand that his resources were not at an
-end, and that he had a surprise in store for the Seminary. Speug ran
-over every form of sport in casual conversation to discover what was in
-the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn and grew more mysterious
-every day. One Saturday evening in midsummer he took Speug and Nestie
-into his confidence, explaining that his idea would be announced to the
-assembled school by himself next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to
-do, as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or fencing, or
-the sword dance. With their permission he would say one word which would
-be enough for persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that word
-was "Tournament;" and then he would speak of nothing else except the
-beauty of the evening light upon the river, which he declared to be
-"ravishing," and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate which he
-carried in his pocket, and shared generously with his "dogs." As he
-parted with his friends the Count tapped his nose and winked at
-them--"Tournament--great, magnificent, you will see, ha, ha! you will
-see;" and Speug went home in a state of utter confusion, coming finally
-to the conclusion that the Count intended to introduce some French game,
-and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose the Count tooth
-and nail, for everybody knew that French games were only for girls, and
-would bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary. During Sunday
-Nestie had turned the matter over in his mind, and being full of Scott's
-novels he was able on Monday to give the astonished school a full
-programme with the most minute particulars. The tournament was to be
-held in the North Meadow; the judge was to be the Commander of the
-cavalry at the barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to be
-herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the Queen of Beauty; and the
-combatants were to be such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course
-Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie freely suggested
-dish-covers would be useful as breastplates, broom-handles would come in
-conveniently for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden, sturdy boys
-of the lower forms would be used instead. The two knights who challenged
-one another would rush from opposite ends of the lists, meet in the
-centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to horse, and man to man, and the
-one that overthrew the other would receive the prize; and at the thought
-of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson, each in full armour,
-the delighted school smacked their lips.
-
-"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody
-a shilling that Speug coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting;
-but"--feeling as if it were almost too good to be true--"I dinna
-believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar." And after the school had
-spoken of nothing else for a day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly
-whether such things were true.
-
-"_Mon ami_," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's romance with much
-relish, "you will pardon me, but it is a _banalité_, that is what you
-call a stupidity, to ask whether so good a _jeu d'esprit_ is true. True?
-Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie, he does not
-live among facts, he flies in the air, in the atmosphere of poetry. He
-is a _raconteur_. A tournament with knights on the North Meadow--good!
-Our little Nestie, he has been reading _Ivanhoe_ and he is a
-troubadour." And the Count took off his hat in homage to Nestie's
-remarkable powers as an author of fiction.
-
-"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the body, for the mind.
-My dogs are jolly dogs; they can run, they can leap, they can swim, they
-can kick the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They must write
-their very best words, they must show that they have beautiful minds;
-and they will do so, I swear they will, in the tournament, which will
-not be on the meadow--no; too many cows there, and too many washers of
-clothes--but in seclusion, in the class-room of that brave man called
-the Bulldog. It will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm,
-"of heads: and the best head, that head will have the prize, _voilà _."
-
-"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down upon his desk that
-Wednesday afternoon when the whole upper school was gathered in his
-class-room, bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion to
-lay before you which he will explain in his own words and which has the
-sanction of the Rector. Ye will be pleased to give the Count a
-respectful hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog was there
-to see that the Count's deserts and his treatment strictly corresponded.
-
-"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog, "and you," and now he bowed
-to the boys, "all my friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a
-favour which your politeness will not allow you to refuse. Next Saturday
-I will dare to hold a reception in this place, with the permission of
-the good Bull---- I do forget myself--I mean the distinguished master.
-And when you come, I promise you that I will not offer you coffee--pouf!
-it is not for the brave boys I see before me, _non_," and the Count
-became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle sentence on
-the----" ("Blackboard," suggested Bulldog). "_Merci_, yes, the
-blackboard; no, the honourable master he will have the goodness to write
-it in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that is all, and you
-will sit for one hour in this room where you make your studies, and you
-will write all the beautiful things which come into your heads about
-that sentence. You will then do me the pleasure of letting me carry
-home all those beautiful things, and I will read them; and the writer
-who affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of many volumes,
-and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost," interpolated Bulldog) "will present it
-on the great day in the Town Hall.
-
-"No one, not even the honourable master himself, will know that leetle
-sentence till it be written on the--the----" ("Blackboard," said
-Bulldog, with asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many
-things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom I do felicitate the
-honourable master will write much learning," and the Count made a
-graceful inclination in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the
-brave boys who love the sport, they will also write, ah! ah!"--and the
-Count nodded cheerfully in the direction of Speug--"such wonderful
-things. There will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and so it
-will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the Count with much
-satisfaction, "the fair play."
-
-Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained that no one need
-come unless he wished, but that anyone who didn't come was missing the
-opportunity of securing an honourable distinction, and would also show
-himself to be an ungrateful little scoundrel for all that the Count had
-done for the Seminary.
-
-"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native shrewdness, "aifter all his
-palaver it's naething but anither confounded exercise," for that worthy
-had suffered much through impositions, and had never been able to
-connect one sentence with another in an intelligent manner. "The
-Dowbiggins can go if they want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm
-going next Saturday to Woody Island--will you come, Speug?" And it hung
-in the balance whether or not the Count would be openly affronted next
-Saturday when he found himself in the company of half a dozen "swats,"
-while his "jolly dogs" were off in a pack to their island of romance.
-
-Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room on Saturday
-afternoon, except under brute force, and yet he felt it would be
-ungrateful after all his kindness to leave the Count in the company of
-such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance of all the
-sporting prizes he had won at the Count's hands, and the sight of the
-Count cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart and moved
-him to the most unselfish act of his life. "Jock Howieson," said Speug,
-with considerable dignity, "ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it
-'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black both yir een
-for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a match, cricket or football, the
-last four years, and the Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports
-and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who stands ginger-beer at Lucky
-MacWhae's, answer me that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then
-clinching every argument on "Who paid for the broken glass? I'm doon
-richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."
-
-"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock, writhing under this torrent
-of reproach. "I think I see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the
-Romans, or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room,
-and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye 'ill no' play ony tricks
-on me, Peter McGuffie."
-
-"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no' promise to write."
-
-"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's wiles.
-
-"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school knew, not only that he
-would go, though he had to sit six hours instead of one, but also that
-every self-respecting boy in the Seminary must also put in an appearance
-at the Count's reception.
-
-"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on the way home, "since
-you p--pulled me out of the Tay, and I should say that you have a good
-chance of the prize. What the Count wants is ori--gin--ginality, and I
-never heard a chap with so much original talk as you've got, Speug. Just
-you put some of it down, like what you give to the P--pennies, and
-you'll come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever won."
-
-"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries were open to all
-Scotland," said Speug, "ye would pass the post first and trottin'."
-
- "HOW I SPENT MY SATURDAY,"
-
-was what the school saw on the board when the Count removed the white
-cloth, and then he gave a brief exposition of his desires.
-
-"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not what you ought, but
-what you want. Were you at the cricket match, you will tell me of the
-capture of the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear of the
-woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate allusion to Mr.
-Byles's poaching experiences was much appreciated); "or you were among
-the books, then you will describe what you love in them; or you were
-looking at a horse, I expect to hear about that horse"; and the whole
-school understood that this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an
-exact picture of an Irish mare that his father had just bought. "The
-subject, ah!" said the Count, "that does not matter; it is the manner,
-the style, the _esprit_, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the
-good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till you have
-finished."
-
-"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the credit of the school and
-to please the Count. If I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part
-to teach him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another, out he
-goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut, make the most o't," and the
-tournament was open.
-
-Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper, and only giving a casual
-glance to see that no one took advantage of the strange circumstances,
-was really watching his flock very closely, and checking his judgment of
-each one by this new test. Dull, conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins
-began at once, in order that they might not lose a moment of time, but
-might put as much written stuff upon the paper as possible; yet now and
-again they stopped and looked round helplessly because they had no books
-and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the first time how
-little they had in their own heads.
-
-"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye were naithing but a
-painted show, and it 'ill do ye good to find that out for yirselves."
-
-Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole matter as a new form of
-entertainment, and as he could not have put into anything approaching
-connected words the experiences of his last Saturday, he employed the
-time in cutting up his unwritten paper into squares of an inch, and
-making them into pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind from
-being too much absorbed in study. He did this once too often, and
-Bulldog went down to call upon him with a cane and with plain, simple
-words.
-
-"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he went back to his desk,
-"but there's the making of a man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able
-to write a decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots Greys
-down to the ground."
-
-Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under the customary form of
-oath, that he would write something, and whatever he wrote he would hand
-in, though it was only twenty words, and Speug never went back from his
-oath. When Howieson caught the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no
-doubt that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he struggled with
-strong temptation, and when old friends made facetious signs to him he
-hesitated more than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified
-amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole mind was devoted to
-literary composition, and that he did not know what they meant by this
-impertinent intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly jumped
-once in his seat as if he had been stung by a wasp, and it is certainly
-true that at that moment there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and
-first finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was devoted to
-literature. The language which Cosh allowed himself to use in the heat
-of the moment was so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention,
-who told him that if he wanted to say anything like that again he must
-say it in Latin, and that he ought to take notice of the excellent
-conduct of Peter McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all
-unlikely to win the prize. And as the master returned to his seat his
-back was seen to shake, and the wink with which Speug favoured the
-class, in a brief rest from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery.
-Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in--what a poor creature
-Cosh was, and what good stuff could be found in Speug; and he also knew
-everything that was done--why Cosh had said what he said, and why Speug
-at that moment was lost in study. Bulldog was not disappointed when
-Nestie's face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew why his
-favourite little lad did not write anything for fifteen minutes, but
-looked steadily out at the window and across the North Meadow, and he
-returned to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction when Nestie at
-last settled down to work and wrote without ceasing, except when now and
-again he hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his ear to
-know how it sounded. For the desire of Bulldog's heart was that Nestie
-should win, and if--though that, of course, was too absurd--Speug by the
-help of the favouring gods should come in second, Bulldog would feel
-that he had not lived in vain.
-
-"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke your t's," said
-Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye how ye're to sign yir names," and
-then the Count, who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced
-again to the desk.
-
-"It would be one great joy to have your autographs," said the Count,
-"and I would place them in a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour
-forbids. As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging, it is
-necessary that I be--ah! I have forgotten the word--yes! show the fair
-play. No, I must not know the names; for if I read the name of my friend
-the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting Speug" (at this
-indecent allusion Speug grew purple and gave the bench in front of him
-to understand by well-known signs that if they looked at him again he
-might give them something to look for outside), "I would say that Speug
-is a sportsman but he is not a _littérateur_, and I might not do my
-comrade the full justice. And if I read the name of the composed, the
-studious, the profound young gentlemen who are before me" (and it was
-fortunate the Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would know
-that it must be the best before I read it, and that would not be the
-fair play.
-
-"No! you will write on your admirable essay a motto--what you
-please--and your name you will put in an envelope, so," and the Count
-wrote his own name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful silence,
-on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope with a graceful flourish:
-"and outside you will put your motto, so it will be all the fair play,
-and in the Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to declare
-the result. _Voila!_ Has my plan your distinguished approbation?" and
-the Count made a respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be fairer,
-you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow myself to wish you adieu for
-this day."
-
-When the school assembled for conference among the Russian guns, their
-minds were divided between two subjects. The first was what Speug had
-written, on which that strenuous student would give no information,
-resenting the inquiry both as an insult to his abilities and an
-illustration of vain curiosity on the part of the school. Nestie,
-however, volunteered the trustworthy information that Speug had spent
-his whole time explaining the good which he had got from being kept in
-one Saturday forenoon and doing mathematical problems under the eye of
-Bulldog. And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter to "suck up"
-to the master in this disgraceful fashion just for the sake of getting a
-prize. Peter confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done his
-best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock Cup, but that he didn't
-think there were six words properly spelt from beginning to end, and
-that if he escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to half a
-dozen bottles of ginger-beer.
-
-Regarding the winner--for that was the other subject--there was a
-unanimous and sad judgment; that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but
-that Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would carry off the prize,
-as he had carried off all the other prizes; and that, if so, they would
-let him know how they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it would
-be wise for him to go home with the Count's prize and all the other
-prizes in a cab, with the windows up.
-
-The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the great events in the
-Muirtown year, and to it the memory of a Seminary lad goes back with
-keen interest. All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies had been
-sitting in the class-room of the Seminary, holding Latin books in their
-hands, which they opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn
-approval over the translation by Thomas John and other chosen worthies,
-while the parents wandered from place to place and identified their
-sons, who refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was looking.
-What mothers endured cannot be put into words, when they saw their
-darling boys (whom they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday
-clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions that they were
-not to break their collars nor soil their jackets, nor disarrange their
-hair the whole day, or they need not come home in the evening) turn up
-in a class-room before the respectables of Muirtown as if their heads
-had not known a brush for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their
-white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and an ounce of flour
-in a prominent place on their once speckless jacket.
-
-"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness of despair, "that
-is my Jimmy, I canna deny it; but ye may well ask, for he's more like a
-street waufie than onything else. On a day like this, and when I see
-what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I could almost wish he
-had been born a girl."
-
-"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna speak like that, for it's no
-chancy, he micht be taken away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye
-your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time I saw him, as I'm
-a livin' woman, there wasna more than two inches of his necktie left,
-and he was fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel in
-the playground. Ye needna expect peace if the Almichty give ye laddies,
-but I wouldna change them for lassies--na, na, I'll no' go that length."
-
-And the two matrons sustained themselves with the thought that if their
-boys were only a mere wreck of what they had been in the morning, other
-people's boys were no better, and some of them were worse, for one of
-them had inflicted such damages on his trousers that, although he was
-able to face the public, he had to retire as from the royal presence;
-nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive a malignant
-dislike to the few boys who were spick and span, and to have a certain
-secret pride even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate showed that
-they were far removed from the low estate of lassies.
-
-The great function of the day came off at two o'clock, and before the
-hour the hall was packed with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers,
-uncles, aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while the boys
-themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled than ever, were
-scattered throughout the crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and
-enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers; others were
-gathered in clumps and arranging a reception for the more unpopular
-prize-winners; others were prowling up and down the passages, exchanging
-sweetmeats and responding (very coldly) to the greeting of relatives in
-the seats, for the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad was
-that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie
-senior came in with the general attention of the audience, and seated
-himself in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not that Mr.
-McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings, and certainly not
-because Speug had ever appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr.
-McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the Count and his high
-appreciation of what he considered the Count's sporting offer, and Mr.
-McGuffie was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings that
-he was willing, although he admitted that he had no tip, to have a bet
-with anyone in his vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished his
-son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie coming in first and half
-a length ahead, which was not so much based upon any knowledge of
-Nestie's literary qualifications as on the strange friendship between
-Nestie and his promising son. As the respectable Free Kirk elder who sat
-next Mr. McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr. McGuffie
-put a straw in his mouth and timed the arrival of the Provost.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE THE HOUR THE HALL WAS PACKED."]
-
-When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies and masters, together
-with the notables of Muirtown, appeared on the platform, the boys
-availed themselves of the license of the day, shouting, cheering,
-yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry with pellets of paper
-shot with extraordinary dexterity from little elastic catapults, till at
-last Bulldog, who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted the
-proceedings, rose and demanded silence for the Provost, who explained at
-wide intervals that he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the
-boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls, but not from the
-parents); that he was sure the fathers and mothers were proud of their
-boys to-day (climax of howls); that he had once been a boy himself
-(unanimous shout of "No" from the boys); that he had even fought in a
-snowball fight (loud expressions of horror); that he was glad the
-Seminary was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which the Provost's
-speech came to an end, and Bulldog rose to keep order).
-
-One by one the prize-winners were called up from the side of their fond
-parents, and if they were liked and had won their prizes with the
-goodwill of their fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was
-heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day, and loud above it
-sounded the voice of Speug, who, though he had never received a prize in
-his life, and never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc
-Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the half-back of the
-fifteen, showed that he had a head as well as hands. When a prig got too
-many prizes there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last a
-loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from Speug relieved the
-feelings of the delighted school, and the unpopular prize-winner left
-the platform amid the chorus of the farmyard--cows, sheep, horses, dogs,
-cats and a triumphant ass all uniting to do him honour. It was their
-day, and Bulldog gave them their rights, provided they did not continue
-too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog had the same judgment as
-themselves.
-
-To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering and thirsting for the
-declaration of the Count's prize, because there never had been such a
-competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was one of our characters.
-When he came forward, wonderfully dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole
-and waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody in turn, from
-the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his reception was monumental and was
-crowned by the stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having thanked
-the company for their reception, with his hand upon his heart, and
-having assured the charming mothers of his young friends of his (the
-Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself the slave of
-their sisters, and having expressed his profound reverence for the
-magistrates (at which several bailies tried to look as if they were only
-men, but failed), the Count approached the great moment of the day.
-
-The papers, he explained upon his honour, were all remarkable, and it
-had been impossible for him to sleep, because he could not tear himself
-away from the charming reflections of his young friends. (As the boys
-recognised this to be only a just compliment to their thoughtful
-disposition and literary genius, Bulldog had at last to arise and quell
-the storm.) There was one paper, however, which the Count compared to
-Mont Blanc, because it rose above all the others. It was "ravishing,"
-the Count asserted, "superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius."
-The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful young women,
-it was all one poem. And as the whole hall waited, refusing to breathe,
-the Count enjoyed a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished
-poem--for it is not prose, it is poetry--I will read his motto." Then
-the Count read, "Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the
-Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your Excellency to open this
-envelope and to read the name to this distinguished audience." Before
-the Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope, Speug, who
-was in the secret of the motto, jumped up on his seat and, turning with
-his face to the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice through the
-stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux." And above the great shout that
-went up from the throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear,
-the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had guessed the winner
-without ever seeing the paper.
-
-
-
-
-MOOSSY
-
-IX
-
-
-If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the mention of "Moossy,"
-then it is no use his pleading the years which have passed and the great
-affairs which have filled his life; you know at once that he is an
-impostor and has never had the privilege of passing through Muirtown
-Seminary. Upon the genuine boy--fifty years old now, but green at
-heart--the word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it the worries
-of life and the years that have gone are forgotten, and the eyes light
-up and the face relaxes, and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair
-for the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life in the Seminary,
-with plain food and strenuous games; with well-worn and well-torn
-clothes; where little trouble was taken to give interest to your work,
-and little praise awarded when you did it well; where you were bullied
-by the stronger fellows without redress, and thrashed for very little
-reason; where there were also many coarsenesses which were sickening at
-the time to any lad with a sense of decency, and which he is glad, if he
-can, to forget; but, at least, there was one oasis in the wilderness
-where there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and that was the
-"Department of Modern Languages," over which Moossy was supposed to
-preside.
-
-Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now there is a graduate of
-the University of Paris and a fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown
-French, and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four swordcuts on
-his face to explain to Muirtown the mysteries of the German sentence.
-Indignant boys, who have heard appetising tales of the days which are
-gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental tongues as if they were
-serious languages like Latin and Greek, and are actually kept in if they
-have not done a French verb. They are required to write an account of
-their holidays in German, and are directed to enlarge their vocabulary
-by speaking in foreign tongues among themselves. Things have come to
-such a pass it is said--but I do not believe one word of this--that the
-modern Speug, before he pulls off the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and
-flings it into the lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be
-careful to say "_Erlauben Sie mir_," and that the modern Dowbiggin,
-before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and inquire with mild surprise,
-"_Was wollen Sie, mein Freund?_" and precocious lads will delight their
-parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their daily bread in the
-language and accent of Paris, because for the moment they have forgotten
-English. It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake it, that
-Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining their necessary wants
-in any speech except their own as they were in the days of our fathers,
-and that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day, he would get
-his food at the buffet by making signs with his fingers, as his father
-had done before him and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also take
-care, as his fathers did, that he would not be cheated in his change nor
-be put upon by any "Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best with
-Seminary lads--and their kind elsewhere--but they will not find it easy
-to shape their unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded in the
-background of his mind that he belongs to an imperial race and is born
-to be a ruler, that every man will sooner or later have to speak his
-language, and that it is undignified to condescend to French. The Briton
-is pleased to know that foreign nations have some means of communication
-between themselves--as, indeed, the lower animals have, if you go into
-the matter; but since the Almighty has put an English (or Scots) tongue
-in his mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence not to use
-it. It is, however, an excellent thing to have the graduates, and the
-trim class-room, and the tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and
-the conversation classes--Speug at a conversation class!--and all the
-rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago--and Moossy!
-
-Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy was a nameless man, for
-although it must have been printed on the board in the vestibule of the
-school, which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can now hint
-at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest his surname. The name of
-the Count had been sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him, and
-which was the tribute of our respectful admiration, but "Moossy" was a
-term of good-humoured contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial
-town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but yet, with the instincts
-of a race of Chieftains and Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds
-between our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No doubt the Count
-was womanish in his dress, and had fantastic manners, but we knew he was
-a gallant gentleman, who was afraid of nobody and was always ready to
-serve his friends; he was _débonnaire_, and counted himself the equal of
-anyone in Muirtown, but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
-a little man, to begin with, and had made himself small by stooping till
-his head had sunk upon his chest and his shoulders had risen to his
-ears; his hair fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his
-ill-dressed beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and face showed only
-the slightest acquaintance with soap and water, and although Speug was
-not always careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than once had
-been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to wash himself, yet Speug had a
-healthy contempt for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
-had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, and the cloak which
-he wore on a winter day was a scandal to the town. His feet were large
-and flat, and his knees touched as the one passed the other, and the
-Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight of him shambling across the
-North Meadow. He looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
-dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and flung him in our faces.
-The Rector was also careless of his dress, and mooned along the road,
-but then everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and that if you
-woke him from his meditation he would answer you in Greek; but even
-Speug understood that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted about
-through Muirtown, and filtered down to the boys, that he was a bankrupt
-tradesman who had fled from some little German town and landed in
-Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little English, and a little
-French, as German tradesmen can, he had been appointed by an
-undiscriminating Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the Seminary.
-It is certain he had very little education and no confidence in himself,
-and so he was ever cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,
-for these great men regarded themselves as beings bordering on the
-supernatural; and he was ever deferring and giving in to the boys, which
-was the maddest thing that any master could do, and only confirmed every
-boy in his judgment that Moossy was one of the most miserable of God's
-creatures.
-
-His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded as a pleasant
-relaxation after the labours of the day, and to escape from the
-government of Bulldog to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, as
-we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a tender heart towards the
-wants and enjoyments of boys. It goes without saying that no work was
-done, for there were only half a dozen who had any desire to work, and
-they were not allowed, in justice to themselves and to their fellows, to
-waste the mercies which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion,
-Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but it failed in his hands the
-first time he tried to use it, which was not at all wonderful, as Jock
-Howieson, who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as an
-invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's cane with a horse-hair,
-so that it split into two at a stroke, and one piece flying back struck
-Moossy on the face.
-
-"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's plenty that Bulldog
-has a cane, without yon meeserable wretch"; and that was the last effort
-which Moossy made to exercise discipline.
-
-Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the boys would behave and
-learn their verbs. For about ten minutes there was quietness, and then,
-at the sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form and working
-diligently upon a French translation, which he could do better than
-Moossy himself, Speug would make a signal to the form, and, leading off
-from the foot himself, the form would give one quick, unanimous, and
-masterful push, and Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor;
-while if, by any possibility, they could land all his books on him as he
-lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle, the form was happy and
-called in their friends of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at
-the noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over and inquire the
-cause, that a boy so exemplary and diligent should be sitting on the
-floor with the remains of his work around him; and as Thomas John knew
-that it would be worth his life to tell the reason, Moossy and he
-pretended to regard it as one of the unavoidable accidents of life, and
-after Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the ink wiped off
-his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form to quietness and diligence. He
-knew what had happened, and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum if
-he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we all despised him for his
-cowardice. Had there been enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just
-as Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and then as he sat in
-his seat, brazen and unashamed, we would all have respected Moossy, and
-no one more than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have had a new
-relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited man, in whom there was no
-fight, who held a post he was not fit for, and held it to get a poor
-living for himself and one who was dearer to him than his own life. So
-helpless was he, and so timid, that there were times when the boys grew
-weary of their teasing and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb
-in order to pass the time.
-
-When the spring was in their blood--for, like all young animals, they
-felt its stirring--then there were wonderful scenes in Moossy's
-class-room. He dared not stand in those days between two forms, with his
-face to the one and his back to the other, because of the elastic
-catapults and the sharp little paper bullets, which, in spite of his
-long hair, would always find out his ears; and if he turned round to
-face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked theirs, and between
-the two he was driven to the end of the room; and then, in his very
-presence, without a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle
-their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured German, Moossy
-prayed for peace. Times there were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting
-of the bullet Moossy said bad words, and although they were in German,
-the boys knew that it was swearing, and Speug's voice would be loudest
-in horror.
-
-[Illustration: "THOMAS JOHN NEXT INSTANT WAS SITTING ON THE FLOOR."]
-
-"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear in the Seminary! If
-the Town Council gets word of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For
-masel'," Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly ashamed." And as
-that accomplished young gentleman had acquired in the stables a wealth
-of profanity which was the amazement of the school, his protest had all
-the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise for what he had said, and
-beseech the school neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they
-had heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be warning Thomas John
-that if he, Speug--censor of morals--caught him cursing and swearing
-like Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards bring him
-before the Lord Provost and magistrates.
-
-There was no end to the devices of the Seminary for enjoying themselves
-and tormenting Moossy; and had it not been for Nestie, who had some
-reserves of taste, the fun would have been much more curious. As it was,
-Moossy never knew when he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as
-if the class-room for modern languages were the chosen home for the
-reptiles of the district. One morning, when he opened his desk, a lively
-young Scots terrier puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly
-frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed. He had learned to
-open the door of his class-room cautiously, not knowing whether a German
-Dictionary might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his head. His
-ink-bottle would be curiously attached to his French Grammar, so that
-when he lifted the book the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink
-over his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to his coat. Boys
-going up to write on the blackboard, where they never wrote anything but
-nonsense, would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon the back of
-Moossy's coat as they returned; and if one after the other, adding to
-the work of art, could draw what was supposed to be a human face upon
-Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the hour. There were
-times when Moossy felt the hand even on the looseness of that foolish
-coat, and turned suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen impudence
-of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into the stolid and unintelligent
-expression of Howieson's face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one
-boy was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their books and
-pronouncing on a principal of their own, would do the verb with him and
-continue in a loud and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one
-by one, and then they were full of indignation at being hindered in
-their studies of the German language.
-
-Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest his own incompetence
-should be exposed and his bread be taken from him; and of this the
-boys, with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly aware, and
-the torture might have gone on for years had it not been for the
-intervention of Bulldog and a certain incident. As the French class-room
-was above the mathematical, any special disturbance could be heard in
-the quietness below; and whatever else they did, the students of foreign
-languages were careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed,
-the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's room was the danger of
-Bulldog's arrival, who was engaged that hour with the little boys and
-had ample leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise above,
-and for want of occupation was itching to get at old friends like
-Howieson. There are times, however, when even a savage forgets himself,
-and one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room reached an historical
-height. It had been discovered that any dislike which Moossy may have
-had to a puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket, was
-nothing to the horror with which he regarded mice. As soon as it was
-known that Moossy would as soon have had a tiger in the French
-class-room as a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of
-foreign languages should take a new departure. One morning the boys came
-in with such punctuality, and settled to their work with such demure
-diligence, that even Moossy was suspicious and watched them anxiously.
-For ten minutes there was nothing heard but the drone of the class
-mangling German sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in
-consternation, "A mouse!"
-
-"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?" and Moossy was much shaken.
-
-"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse was just disappearing
-under the desk; "and there's another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is
-fair swarming, and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your leg. Take
-care, man, for ony sake."
-
-"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go; I vill the desk ascend,"
-and with the aid of a chair Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he
-entrenched himself against attack, believing that at that height he
-would be safe from "mices."
-
-[Illustration: "THE SCHOOL FELL OVER BENCHES AND OVER ONE ANOTHER."]
-
-Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had burst upon the French
-class-room the scholars should meet the calamity like men, and asked
-Moossy's permission to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy and his
-pupils had one mind, and the school gave itself to its heart's content,
-and without a thought of consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more
-difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is doubled when no
-one wishes to catch it; and so the school fell over benches, and over
-one another, and jumped over the desks and scrambled under them, ever
-pretending to have caught a mouse, and really succeeding once in
-smothering an unfortunate animal beneath the weight of half a dozen
-boys. Thomas John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom by an
-accident in which Howieson took a leading part, and the German
-Dictionary intended for a mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which
-led to an encounter between that indignant youth and Bauldie, in which
-mice were forgotten. The blackboard was brought down with a crash, and a
-form was securely planted on its ruins. High above the babel Moossy
-could be heard crying encouragement, and demanding whether the "mices"
-had been caught, but nothing would induce him to come down from his
-fastness. When things were at their highest, and gay spirits like Speug
-were beginning to conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to a
-mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that he had mounted a desk,
-not to catch a mouse, but to give a cheer, and was standing there
-without collar or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all the
-trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered. And it was a
-beautiful tribute to the personality of that excellent man, that the
-whole room crystallised in an instant, and everyone remained motionless,
-frozen, as it were, in the act.
-
-Bulldog looked round with that calm composure which sat so well upon
-him, taking in Moossy perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form, Speug
-sitting with easy dignity on the top of Thomas John, and half a dozen
-worthies still tied together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to
-which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown Seminary.
-
-"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of ten seconds, "is
-evidently a verra divertin' subject of study, and I wonder that any
-pupil is left in the department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock,
-that ye needed to stand on a form before you could do your German, and I
-suppose that is the French class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude,
-but I'm pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I really am."
-
-"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor Moossy came down from
-his desk and began to explain. "My impression is that you are right, as
-far as I can judge--and I have some acquaintance with the circumstances.
-There are a considerable number of mices in this room, a good many more
-mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this morning. The mices I
-see were in my class-room this morning, and they were very quiet and
-peaceable mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after this,
-or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse me," and Bulldog embraced
-the whole scene in a comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign
-class-room and go down and see what my laddies are doing with their
-writing"; and when Bulldog closed the door Howieson realised that he
-owed his escape to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room, but
-that the joyful day in modern languages had come to an end. There would
-be no more "mices."
-
-Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were out for a ramble in the
-country, and turning into a lane where the hedgerows were breaking into
-green, and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes, they came
-upon a sight which made them pause so that they could only stand and
-look. Down the lane a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and
-broken thing which had seen its best days thirty years ago. In the chair
-a woman was sitting, or rather lying, very plainly but comfortably
-dressed, and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that she had
-suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding to the breath of spring.
-As they stood, the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked a
-handful of primroses and gave them to the woman; and as he bent over
-her, holding up the primroses before her eyes, and as they talked
-together, even the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He
-adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her position in the chair, and
-then went back to drag it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding
-track; and the boys stood and stared and looked at one another, for the
-man who was caring so gently for this invalid, and toiling so manfully
-with the lumbering chair, was Moossy.
-
-"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't like us to see him. I
-say, he ain't a bad sort--Moossy--after all. Bet you a bottle of
-g-ginger-beer that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."
-
-They were leaving the lane when they heard an exclamation, and going
-back they found that the miserable machine had slipped into the ditch
-and there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of recovery. With many
-an "Ach!" and other words, too, he was bewailing the situation and
-hanging over his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and trying
-if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the weight upon the lower
-side, while every minute the wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.
-
-"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless v-vagabond?" said
-Nestie to Speug. "Come along and give a hand to Moossy," who was so
-pleased to get some help in the lonely place that he forgot the
-revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the shafts, who had the
-strength of a man in his compact little body, and Moossy pulling on the
-other side, the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a torrent of
-gratitude from Moossy and his wife, partly in English, but mostly in
-German, but all quite plain to the boys, for gratitude is always
-understood in any language. They came bravely along the lane, Speug
-pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to make sure she had not been
-hurt, and Nestie plucking flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the
-lane, while Moossy declared them to be "_Zwei herzliche Knaben_."
-
-When they came to the main road, Speug would not give up his work, but
-brought the carriage manfully to the little cottage, hidden in a garden,
-where Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in--she was so light that
-Moossy could lift her himself--she compelled the boys to come in, too,
-and Moossy made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange German
-cakes, which were not half bad, and to which they both did ample
-justice. Going home, Nestie looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie,
-and though no words passed it was understood that the days of the
-troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of Muirtown were ended.
-
-During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at the Seminary it would
-not be true to say that he became a good or useful master, for he had
-neither the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were always
-respectful and did their work, for they were very far removed from being
-angels; but Moossy did pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he
-suffered no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy was not left
-to be his own horse from day to day, but that the stronger varlets of
-the Seminary should take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach.
-Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from sentiment, and he gave
-it carefully to be understood that he only did the thing for a joke; but
-there is no question that more than once Jock brought Moossy's
-carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully along that lane and
-other lanes, and it is a fact that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came
-out with one of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was
-called, was driven far and wide about the country around Muirtown.
-
-"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist, Speug," said Nestie,
-"and I expect to hear that you are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug
-promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to be admitted would
-be Nestie, and that he would teach him manners.
-
-It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one died in Germany and
-left him a little money, so that he could give up the hopeless drudgery
-of the Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon the banks of
-the Rhine. His wife, who had been improving under Dr. Manley's care,
-began to brisk up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when one
-afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some dozen boys were there to see
-them off, and it was Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place
-her comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled their
-pocket-money--selling one or two treasures to swell the sum--that Moossy
-and his wife might go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love,
-and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her hands. They still
-called him Moossy, as they had done before, and he looked, to tell the
-truth, almost as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he was in
-great spirits and much touched by the kindness of his tormentors. As the
-English mail pulled out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the
-boys ran along the platform beside the carriage shaking hands with
-Moossy through the open window and passing in their gifts.
-
-"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable humour, but the last
-sight Moossy had of Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow and
-waving farewell.
-
-
-
-
-A LAST RESOURCE
-
-X
-
-
-That the Rector should be ill and absent from his classes from time to
-time was quite in the order of things, because he was a scholar and
-absent-minded to a degree--going to bed in the morning, and being got
-out of bed in rather less than time for his work; eating when it
-occurred to him, but preferring, on the whole, not to eat at all;
-wearing very much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he added a
-heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in the height of summer and
-going without it when there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for
-his scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school loved him;
-not because he edited a "Cæsar" and compiled a set of Latin exercises,
-for which perfectly unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated
-him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes past nine, and his
-form was able to jeer at Bulldog's boys as they hastened into their
-class-room with much discretion at one minute before the hour. Because
-he used to be so much taken up with a happy phrase in Horace that he
-would forget the presence of his class, and walk up and down before the
-fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes he was so hoarse that
-he could only communicate with the class by signs, which they
-unanimously misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be absent for a
-whole week, and his form was thrown in with another, with the result of
-much enjoyable friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He was
-respected and never was annoyed, not even by ruffians like Howieson,
-because everyone knew that the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with
-all his eccentric ways, and the _Muirtown Advertiser_ had a leader every
-spring on the achievements of his scholars. Edinburgh professors who
-came to examine the school used to fill up their speeches on the
-prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector, supported by
-classical quotations, during which the boys cheered rapturously and the
-Rector looked as if he were going to be hung. He was one of the
-recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely referred to at municipal
-banquets by bailies whose hearts had grown merry within them drinking
-the Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration to the toast of
-"the Fair City" with the North Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River
-Tay and the County Gaol.
-
-Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may have been his negligences of
-dress and occupation in private life--and on this subject Nestie and
-Speug told fearful lies--he exhibited the most exasperating regularity
-in public, from his copper-plate handwriting to his speckless dress, but
-especially by an inhuman and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one with
-a heart within him and some regard to the comfort of his fellow
-creatures, especially boys, had any right to observe times and seasons
-with such exactness. During all our time, except on the one great
-occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be ill, not even with a
-cold; and it was said that he never had been for a day off duty, even in
-the generation before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce of
-superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease, and there was a feeling
-in the background of our minds that for any illness to have attacked
-Bulldog would have been an act of impertinence which he would have known
-how to deal with. It was firmly believed that for the last fifty
-years--and some said eighty, but that was poetry--Bulldog had entered
-his class-room every morning, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and
-holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to begin work at the stroke of nine.
-There was a pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there had
-been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind that the bridge had been
-drifted up, and no one could cross that morning from the other side. The
-boys from the south side of the town had brought news of the drift to
-the school, and the earlier arrivals, who had come in hope of a
-snow-fight, were so mightily taken with the news that they hurried to
-the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift, and danced with joy
-at the thought that on the other side Bulldog was standing, for once
-helpless and dismayed. Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son, had
-shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog to come over, secure in
-the fact that he could not be seen across its height, and in the hope
-that Bulldog would not know his voice. When they were weary celebrating
-the event, and after a pleasant encounter with a hastily organised
-regiment of message boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the
-school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready for the midday fight
-with the "Pennies." For the pure joy of it they opened the door of the
-mathematical class-room, merely to see how it looked when Bulldog was
-not there, and found that estimable teacher at his desk, waiting to
-receive them with bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in
-Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others that he had climbed
-over it in the early morning, before Muirtown was awake; but it was
-found out afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison, the
-salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded river, that it took them
-an hour to reach the Muirtown side, and that they had both been nearly
-drowned in the adventure.
-
-"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're a little late, but the
-roads are heavy this morning. Come to the fire and warm yir hands before
-ye begin yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and Mr. McGuffie
-senior used to tell his son with much relish that their hands were
-warmed. The school was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog
-would be prepared to swim the river rather than miss a day in the
-mathematical class-room.
-
-It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble" season had just
-begun, when Howieson, after a vicious and well-directed stroke which won
-him three "brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had seen Bulldog
-go in; for, notwithstanding the years which came and went, his passing
-in was always an occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not
-been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that he had not arrived;
-and even when the school trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's
-desk empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to take advantage
-of the circumstances. No one knew where he might be lying in wait, and
-from what quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful with
-what docility the boys began to work under the mild and beneficent reign
-of Mr. Byles, who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins in the
-unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon wore on there was certainly
-some curiosity, and Nestie was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts;
-but it was understood to be a point of honour with Nestie, as a member
-of his household, to give no information about Bulldog's movements, and
-so the school were none the wiser. There was some wild talk during the
-hour, and a dozen stories were afloat by afternoon. Next morning it was
-boldly said that Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what truth
-was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged Nestie to deny the
-slander. That ingenious young gentleman replied vaguely but politely,
-and veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant detail that
-the school went in for the second day to the class-room rejoicing with
-trembling, and not at all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a
-carriage and pair, possibly with a large comforter round his throat, but
-otherwise full of spirits and perfectly fit for duty. It was only after
-the twelve o'clock break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie
-that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence, and felt
-like the Children of Israel on the other bank of the Red Sea. Some were
-for celebrating their independence in the North Meadow and treating Mr.
-Byles with absolute contempt; but there were others who judged with some
-acuteness that they could have the North Meadow any day, but they might
-never again have a full hour in the mathematical class-room without
-Bulldog. There seemed a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid
-the scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical class went in
-to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in high spirits and without one
-missing. It is true that the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some
-reluctance in attending to their studies, but it was pointed out to them
-in a very firm and persuasive way by Speug that it would be disgraceful
-for them to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class could not
-allow such an act of treachery. Speug was so full of honest feeling that
-he saw Thomas John safely within the door, and, since he threatened an
-unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold from behind. There
-is no perfectly full and accurate account extant of what took place
-between twelve and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but what
-may be called contributions to history oozed out and were gratefully
-welcomed by the school. It was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr.
-Byles to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle drew a
-fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and being much encouraged by the
-applause of the class, and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a
-pipe into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked one of Mr.
-Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then went to his seat with a sense
-of modest worth. That Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic
-appreciation, resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and, moved by
-a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it from the board; but the senior
-members of the class would on no account allow any work by a young but
-promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the struggle in wiping
-Mr. Byles's own face with the chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of
-entering into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went to
-Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug, seizing the opportunity so
-pleasantly afforded, locked Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and
-so kept him out of any further mischief for the rest of the hour. That
-as Mr. Byles had been deposed from office on account of his incapacity,
-and the place of mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was
-unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address, from Bulldog's
-desk, replete with popular humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to
-be giving such attention to his studies as might have been expected,
-Speug ordered that he be brought up for punishment, which was promptly
-done by Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of Thomas John's
-iniquitous career, Speug gave him the tawse with much faithfulness,
-Bauldie seeing that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming fashion;
-then that unhappy young gentleman was sent to his seat with a warning
-from Speug that this must never occur again. That Nestie, having
-stealthily left the room, gave such an accurate imitation of Bulldog's
-voice in the passage--"Pack of little fiddlers taking advantage of my
-absence; but I'll warm them"--that there was an instantaneous rush for
-the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie appeared, the
-mathematical class-room was as quiet as pussy, and Speug was
-ostentatiously working at a mathematical problem. There are men living
-who look back on that day with modest, thankful hearts, finding in its
-remembrance a solace in old age for the cares of life; and the scene on
-which they dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been whitened for
-his abominable trick, standing on the top of Bulldog's desk, and singing
-a school song with the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy,
-while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled Dowbiggin to join in the
-chorus, and Byles could be heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how
-soon we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet innocence
-of our first years! how poor are the rewards of ambition compared with
-the simple pleasures of childhood!
-
-It could not be expected that we should ever have another day as good
-again, but everyone had a firm confidence in the originality of Speug
-when it was a question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round the
-Russian guns next morning--for, as I have said, the guns were our forum
-and place of public address--and, while affecting an attitude of studied
-indifference, we waited with desire to hear the plan of campaign from
-our leader's lips. But Speug, like all great generals, was full of
-surprises, and that morning he was silent and unapproachable. Various
-suggestions were made for brightening the mathematical labours and
-cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last Howieson, weary of their futility,
-proposed that the whole class should go up to the top of the North
-Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug broke silence.
-
-"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh may go with ye, and if
-he's drowned it'll be no loss, nor, for that matter, if the half of ye
-are carried down the river. For myself, I'm going to the mathematical
-class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles I'll fight him in the back yard
-in the dinner-hour for half a dozen stone-gingers."
-
-"Is there onything wrang with your head, Speug?" For the thought of
-Peter busy with a triangle under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr.
-Byles could only be explained in one way.
-
-"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists, either. The fact
-is----" And then Speug hesitated, realising amid his many excellences a
-certain deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie, what are
-ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and tell them aboot--what ye told me
-this meenut." And the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit, on
-which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.
-
-"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it won't do to-t-to-day.
-Bully's very ill, and Doctor Manley is afraid that he may--d-die, and it
-would be beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog
-is--maybe----" And Nestie came down hurriedly from the gun and went
-behind the crowd, while Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive
-manner, all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself to be quite
-indifferent.
-
-Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be going hard with Bulldog;
-for there was not in broad Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul
-in his great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh, with half
-a dozen honours of Scotland, England, and France. He had an insight into
-cases that was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which nobody
-but his own chemist could make up, he had expedients of treatment that
-never occurred to any other man, and then he had a way with him that
-used to bring people up from the gates of death and fill despairing
-relatives with hope. His arrival in the sick room, a little man, with
-brusque, sharp, straightforward manner, seemed in itself to change the
-whole face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He would not
-hear that any disease was serious, but he treated it as if it were; he
-would not allow a gloomy face in a sick room, and his language to women
-who began to whimper, when he got them outside the room, was such as tom
-cats would be ashamed of; and he regarded the idea of any person below
-eighty dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence. All
-over Perthshire country doctors in their hours of anxiety and perplexity
-sent for Manley; and when two men like William McClure and John Manley
-took a job in hand together, Death might as well leave and go to
-another case, for he would not have a look in with those champions in
-the doorway. English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for the
-Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and then would go up to
-London and swear in the clubs that there was a man down there in a
-country town of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End swell
-doctors put together. He would not allow big names of diseases to be
-used in his hearing, believing that the shadow killed more people than
-the reality, and fighting with all his might against the melancholy
-delight that Scots people have in serious sickness and other dreary
-dispensations. When Manley returned one autumn from a week's holiday and
-found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning in the streets over
-their minister, because he was dying of diphtheria, and his young wife
-asking grace to give her husband up if it were the will of God, Manley
-went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation, declaring that to call
-a sore throat diphtheria was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a
-mere mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for a judgment."
-It happened, however, that his treatment was exactly the same as that
-for diphtheria, and although he remarked that he didn't know whether it
-was necessary for him to come back again for such an ordinary case, he
-did drop in by a series of accidents twice a day for more than a week;
-and although no one dared to whisper it in his presence, there are
-people who think to this day that the minister had diphtheria. As
-Manley, however, insisted that it was nothing but a sore throat, the
-minister felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation would have
-thanked Manley in a body had it not been that he would have laughed
-aloud. Many a boy remembered the day when he had been ill and sweating
-with terror lest he should die--although he wouldn't have said that to
-any living creature--and Manley had come in like a breeze of fresh air,
-and declared that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog," with
-nothing wrong about him, except the desire to escape for three days from
-Bulldog.
-
-"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the most mischievous
-little rascal, except Peter McGuffie, in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll
-give you three days in bed, and your mother will let you have something
-nice to eat, and then out you go and back to the Seminary," and going
-out of the door Manley would turn round and shake his fist at the bed,
-"just a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before the boy was
-out of bed, but he was never afraid again, and had some heart to fight
-his disease.
-
-Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that, if Manley had allowed
-death to be even mentioned in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than
-likely that they would never see the master of the mathematical
-department again. And boys are a perfect absurdity, for--as sure as
-death--they were not glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost
-all, with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of them he had
-thrashed many times; he had never petted any of them, and never more
-than six times, perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But that
-morning, as they stood silent, awkward and angry, round the guns, there
-is no doubt about it, the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to
-see his erect figure and stern face come across the North Meadow, never
-to hear him say again from the desk, "Attention to your work, you little
-fiddlers"; never to watch him promenading down between the benches,
-overseeing each boy's task and stimulating the negligent on some tender
-part of their bodies; never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought
-of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and Speug, resenting
-what he judged the impertinent spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his
-head, and "learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody knows, boys have
-no sentiment and no feeling, so the collapse of that morning must be set
-down to pure cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles ruled over
-them without resistance, and might have thrashed them if he had so
-pleased and had not ventured to use Bulldog's cane.
-
-Had they not been boys, they would have called at Bulldog's to learn how
-he was. Being boys, they avoided his name and pretended they were
-indifferent; but when they met Manley on the bridge that afternoon, and
-judged he had come from Bulldog's, they studied his face with the skill
-of wild animals, and concluded each one for himself that things were
-going badly with the master. They picked up every scrap of information
-from their fathers in the evening, although they fiercely resented the
-suggestion of their mothers that they would be concerned about "Mr.
-MacKinnon's illness"--as if they cared whether a master were ill or
-well, as if it were not better for them that he should be ill,
-especially such an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother was very
-much disappointed by this lack of feeling, and said to her husband at
-night that she had expected better things from Archibald; but if she had
-gone suddenly into Bauldie's room--for that was his real name, Archibald
-being only the thing given in baptism--she would have found that
-truculent worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with the blankets,
-lest his elder brother, who slept in the same room, should hear him. You
-have no reason to believe me, and his mother would not have believed me,
-but--as sure as death--Bauldie was crying because Bulldog was sick unto
-death.
-
-Next morning Speug and a couple of friends happened by the merest
-accident to be loitering at Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and
-examining with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the very time
-when that worthy magistrate came out and questioned Dr. Manley "How
-things were going up-bye wi' the maister?"
-
-"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the case; it looks bad,
-very bad indeed, and I'm not a croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a
-strong man, not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but he has lost
-interest in things, and isn't making an effort to get better; just lying
-quiet and looking at you--says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get
-him waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."
-
-"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment at the thought of
-Bulldog dying, as it were, of gentleness.
-
-"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way with those strong,
-healthy men, who have never known a day's sickness till they are old;
-they break up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog didn't
-thrash you and me, else we would have been better men; but he has
-attended to our boys."
-
-"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie shook his head, sadly
-mourning over a man who had laid down his life in discharge of
-discipline. But the boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened the
-strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a heap upon the street,
-whereat there was a brisk interchange of ideas, and then the company
-went on its way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.
-
-Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps that was the reason that
-Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered, taking offence if anyone looked at
-him, and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing
-during the dinner-hour. It was supposed that he had broken bounds and
-gone to Woody Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and that
-while the class was wasting its time with Byles, Peter was playing the
-Red Indian. He did not deny the charge next day, and took an hour's
-detention in the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time he was
-supposed to be stalking Indians behind the trees, and shooting them as
-they floated down the river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his
-father's stable, hidden from sight, and--as sure as death--Speug was
-trying to pray for Bulldog.
-
-The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of the natural man, and
-Mr. McGuffie junior had never been present at any form of family
-prayers, nor had he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under any
-minister in particular. He had no training in devotional exercises,
-although he had enjoyed an elaborate education in profanity under his
-father and the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely his own.
-
-"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say Ye hear onybody. I'm
-Peter McGuffie, but mebbe Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good
-laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but I'm awful fond of
-Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog, God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff
-this time I'll never say any bad words again--as sure as death--and I'll
-never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's face, and I'll never
-steal birds' eggs, and I'll never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash
-my face and--my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule, and I'll
-do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill
-Bulldog."
-
-When Dr. Manley came out from the master's garden door that evening he
-stumbled upon Speug, who was looking very miserable, but began to
-whistle violently the moment he was detected, and denied that he had
-come to ask for news.
-
-"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell me lies, for I know
-you, Speug, and your father before you. I wish I'd good news to give
-you, but I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing from Bulldog."
-
-For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the road and thrust his hands
-deep into his pockets; then the corners of his mouth began to twitch,
-and turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while his tough little
-body that had stood many a fight shook all over. Doctor Manley was the
-first person that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him to protect
-him from the gaze of any wandering message boys who might come along the
-lane. By and by Speug began to speak between his sobs.
-
-"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but I dinna like to
-let on.... I heard ye say that ye couldna rouse Bulldog to take an
-interest in onything, and I thought o' something."
-
-"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his hands on the boy's
-shoulder and encouraged him to proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust
-me."
-
-"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a lickin'; if he juist
-had a cane in his hands and a laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be
-himsel' again, and--there's no a laddie in schule he's licked as often
-as me. And I cam up----" and Speug stuck.
-
-"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean. You've mentioned the
-medicine; 'pon my word, I believe it's just the very thing that will do
-the trick. Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what I was
-seeking after, and I've been doctoring those Muirtown sinners for more
-than thirty years. Come along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and
-we'll go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug through the garden
-and into the house. "Wait a minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll
-come back to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs and
-found his friend in the lobby, confused and frightened for the first
-time in his life, and Nestie saw the marks of distress upon his face.
-"Doctor M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm round his neck)
-"you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown. It's awfully d-decent of you,
-and it'll p-please Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as
-consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought him forward to the
-bedside, and at last he had courage to look, and it took him all his
-time to play the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so gentle,
-with his face almost as white as the pillow, and his hands upon the
-bedclothes wasted like to the hands of a skeleton. The master smiled
-faintly, and seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars, but
-he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in the background and allowed
-the boys to manage their own business, being the wisest of men as well
-as the kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug and gave him every
-encouragement, Peter could not find a word, but stood helpless, biting
-his lip and looking the very picture of abject misery.
-
-"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you. He is very sorry
-that you are ill, and so are all the boys. Peter thought you might be
-wearying to--to use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
-little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid an old cane he had
-hunted up, a cane retired from service, upon the bed within reach of
-Bulldog's hand. A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, the
-first expression of interest he had shown during his illness. He turned
-his head and looked at Peter, the figure of chastened mischief. The
-remembrance of the past--the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
-with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the scratching of the pens,
-came up to him, and his soul was stirred within him. His hand closed
-again upon the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw open
-upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the
-strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers
-can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and
-overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out
-of the room, who went into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
-dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while
-upstairs in the sick-room Manley declared that Bulldog had turned the
-corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."
-
-[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED AGAIN UPON THE SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY."]
-
-The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable-yard,
-for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called
-him "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat
-Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's
-phaeton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale
-that the doctor was bringing him home with two broken legs as the result
-of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-bye in the presence
-of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news
-of Bulldog's convalescence, and next day stone-ginger was flowing like
-water down the throats of the Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A PLEASANT SIN
-
-XI
-
-
-Captious people, such as ministers of religion and old maids of the
-precise kind, considered that the Seminary were guilty of many sins and
-mentioned them freely; but those excellent people erred through lack of
-vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, putting the Dowbiggins'
-clothes into a state of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the
-"Pennies," having a stand-up fight between two well-matched champions,
-say, once a month, and "ragging" Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of
-evil, but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the high spirit of
-those who were active, and teaching the Christian grace of meekness to
-those who were passive. There was only one act which the Seminary knew
-it ought not to do, and which all the boys wanted to do, which they
-enjoyed very much in doing, and were quite willing to be punished for
-doing. The besetting sin of a school--a country school--which will
-remain its sin until the days of the millennium have fairly set in, was
-playing truant.
-
-This crime was equivalent to high treason in the State, and consisted in
-a boy absenting himself from school without the knowledge of his
-parents, and without the consent of his master, for a day or half of a
-day. The boy did not disappear because he was ill, for he was on such
-occasions outrageously well: nor because he was overburdened by work,
-for the truants always guarded themselves against brain fag; nor because
-he wanted to hang about the streets, or smoke in secret places. He was
-simply seized with the passion of the open air and of the country. To
-tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' eggs and watching the
-ways of wild animals; to guddle for trout under the stones of some clear
-running mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on a summer day, or
-to join the haymakers on a farm, and do a full day's work, as long as
-lesson time and harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, as if
-an animal had broken out from a menagerie; there was joy in thinking, as
-you lay beside your burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
-mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their sums, under
-Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home in the evening, tired, but
-satisfied, and passing the empty Seminary with defiance. There is no
-joy--I mean sin--but has its drawbacks, and there were clouds in the
-truant's sky. Country folk had their own suspicions when they came on a
-couple of boys going at large on a working day, when the school was in
-session, as one might have a shrewd guess if he came upon two convicts
-in their professional dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
-there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who have escaped from a
-cage, unless it be a tigress looking for her dinner, and no one would
-have thought of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
-Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished him for his evil
-doings--as I shall tell.
-
-"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, as he came upon them
-sitting by the burnside eating bread and cheese and counting up their
-trout, "I'm judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, or
-mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir health. Or is this
-the reward for doing yir work so well? Ye have all the appearance of
-scholars." And then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery and
-the confusion of the boys.
-
-"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest mended, and ye mind where
-leears go to. But I'm thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk
-to wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries in the garden up
-by, just about ripe."
-
-So they all went up to the farm kitchen and had a glorious tuck in, and
-were afterwards turned loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
-watched them with keen delight and a remembrance of past days. Whose
-place in heaven for such deeds of charity is already secure.
-
-The authorities at home were not so lenient, and the experienced truant
-was careful, when he could, to time his arrival home about five o'clock
-in the afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and one hour more
-of special confinement. According to the truant's code he was not
-allowed to tell a lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
-but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed statement of the
-truth. If his father charged him with being kept in at school for not
-having done his work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed it to
-go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. When, however,
-a boy was by habit and repute a truant, his father learned by experience
-and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had an extra touch of the
-sun on his face, and his clothing was disorderly beyond usual, and his
-manner was especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please every
-person quite remarkable, and if in moments of unconsciousness he seemed
-to be chewing the cud of some recent pleasure, the father was apt to
-subject him to a searching cross-examination. And his mother had to beg
-the boy off with many a plea, such as mothers know how to use; and if
-the others did not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, she
-could always send the good man back upon his memory, and put it to his
-conscience whether he ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin
-the boy had inherited from himself.
-
-It was next morning that the truant really paid for his pleasure; and
-the price was sharp, for there was no caning to be compared with that
-which followed a day in the country. It was a point of honour that no
-boy should show distress; but even veterans bit their lips as the cane
-fell first on the right hand and then on the left, and right across the
-palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the hand, if the cane was
-young and flexible. Speug, though a man of war and able to endure
-anything, used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather was cold,
-before going in to the inquisition, and after he had received a
-switching of the first order he would go down to the lade and cool his
-hands in the running water. It was an interesting spectacle to see four
-able-bodied sinners, who yesterday had given themselves to the study of
-Nature, now kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our waters of
-Lethe; but you must remember that they made no moan before the boys, and
-no complaint against the master. The school received them with respect
-when they came out, and Speug would indicate with a wink and a jerk of
-his head that Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to be trifled
-with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered cub ventured to come
-too near when Peter was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are
-that Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to be looking
-where he had no business."
-
-Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some weak-hearted boys, but
-it never prevented any of the hardy ruffians from having their day out
-when the fever seized them. Playing truant was the same thing for a boy
-as bolting for a high-spirited horse; done once, the animal is bound to
-try it again, and to both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
-much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead and then go astray in cold
-blood, because this sin was not an act of malice aforethought--it was a
-sudden impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the blood. Had
-one determined on Tuesday night to take Wednesday, it might have turned
-out in our fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as soon be
-playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in the dinner-hour, or, for
-that matter, amusing himself in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the
-morning ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
-water--arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, and planning how to
-escape a lesson he had not prepared; but he was helpless against Nature
-if she set herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose outside
-the door than the summer air, sweet and fresh, began to play upon his
-face and reminded him of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
-of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that morning in the
-sunshine, brought up a pool where a fat trout was sure to be lying. As
-he crossed the North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
-Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and flowers, and sent his
-blood a-tingling. The books upon his back grew woefully heavy, and the
-Seminary reminded him of the city gaol frowning out on the fields with
-its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered by the lade and saw the
-clear water running briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
-glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie Woods with
-their mysterious depths, and rising high above the houses on the other
-side of the river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The bell
-rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river is running through his
-heart, and the greenery is before his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs
-through the open window awakens the instinct of the wild animal in his
-breast and invites him to be free. Speug has a slate before him, but he
-is not pretending to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, and
-sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make its bolt. He catches
-Howieson's eye and reads that Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal
-of Bauldie whether he prefers compound fractions to a swim, and Bauldie
-explains, also by signal, that, much as he loves fractions, he will be
-obliging that afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth would
-complete the party; and when Speug lifts his eyebrows with great
-dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitchell, three desks off, "Piggie," like the
-gallant spirit that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be found
-wanting. Not a word has been said, and no one will say "Truant" at any
-time, but at the next break the four separate themselves quietly and
-unobtrusively from their fellows, and by the time the last boy has gone
-through the door, they are scudding across the meadow to Speug's
-stable-yard, where they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
-more is needed than a hunch of bread and some fish-hooks; but as they
-ran Speug had dropped the word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
-was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the town, long and
-narrow, formed with a division of the river into its main current and a
-sluggish backwater. It was covered with dense brushwood, except where
-here and there a patch of green turf was left bare, and the island was
-indented with little bays where the river rippled on clean sand and
-gravel. It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself in
-it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and then you had to find your
-comrades by signal; and it had little tracks through it, and there was
-one place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to be a cave, and
-where certainly two boys could get out of sight if they lay very close
-together and did not mind being half smothered. When you went to Woody
-Island, and left the mainland, you were understood to blot out the
-Seminary and Muirtown and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
-somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the possession of the
-children of the forest; the ashes of their fires could be seen any day
-there, and you could come upon their wigwams in one of the open spots.
-There was a place where they had massacred three trappers and taken
-their scalps, and in that cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian
-scout, lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth of his rifle
-peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned braves at bay for a
-whole day. It was a fairy world in which our Indian tales could be
-reproduced upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the heroes we had
-so often admired. The equipment for the day consisted of four tomahawks
-(three axes out of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
-which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols (one belonging to
-Speug and the other to Bauldie); a couple of toy rifles--not things for
-kids, mark you, but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
-caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage cloth from Peter's
-yard; and a kettle for boiling water--I mean cooking the game--which
-Jock Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy had to visit his
-home on pretence of returning for a book, and bring away the necessary
-articles of war and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; and
-then everything, axes included, and, if possible, the rifles had to be
-hidden away about their persons until the four, skulking by back lanes,
-and separating from one another, reached the top of the North Meadow,
-after which they went up the bank of the river, none daring to make them
-afraid. They were out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
-weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into an Indian trapper, and
-giving directions about how they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
-Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate whether they would have a
-chance of meeting with the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
-try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, because, although
-they had not yet entered the Indian territory, the crafty foe might have
-scouts out on this side of the river, and in that case there was no hope
-of Woody Island. The Indians would be in ambush among the trees on the
-bank, and the four would be shot down as they crossed.
-
-Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's Indians, but a white man--a
-renegade--who, to his shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
-always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. This miscreant was
-a farmer on the mainland, who was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a
-determined objection to any boys, or other savages, except, as I have
-said, the Seminole tribe living on the island, and who used to threaten
-pains and penalties against anyone whom he caught on his land. One never
-knew when he might be about, and it was absolutely necessary to reach
-the island without his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
-used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday dinner, and then
-creep along the bank of the river and ferry himself across with the
-other trappers in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to the
-other side of the island and kept there for the return voyage in the
-evening, so that the farmer was helpless to reach the island, and could
-only address the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from the
-bank, which was sent back to him in faithful echo. This forenoon the
-farmer happened to be hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite
-the island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, for now the four had
-to drop down and crawl along through the thick grass by the river's
-edge, availing themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
-with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed so near the
-farmer that they could hear him speak and hear the click of the hoes as
-the people worked in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
-and looked through between the branches of a shrub, you could see him,
-and Bauldie actually covered him with his rifle. The unconscious farmer
-knew not that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon Bauldie's
-trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his chief, for he would dearly
-have loved to fire a cap, but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the
-trapper dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards explained that
-the renegade had certainly deserved death, but that it was dangerous to
-fire with so many of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
-side of the river. By and by the farmer and his people had worked
-themselves to the other end of the field, and the trappers, having
-ascertained that there were no Indians watching them, prepared to cross.
-Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out suddenly and unadvisedly, for
-the farmer had chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
-mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, for they would have
-stripped and swum across, and back again when they were tired of the
-other side, for every one of them could swim like an otter; but that day
-they were trappers, with arms, and food, and a tent, and powder which
-must be kept dry, to say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief
-consultation, and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot the farmer
-dead on the spot, and as many of his people as they could. Speug, who
-had been prowling around--though cautiously, mind you, and ever watching
-for a sign of the Seminoles--gave a low, mysterious whistle, which was
-one of the signs among the trappers; and when the others joined him he
-pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." It was an ancient boat which
-the farmer's father had used, and which had lain for years upon the
-bank, unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, it had two
-holes at least in it, and there were no oars. It was a thing which, in
-the farmer's hand, would have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had
-the semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy trappers. Very
-carefully did they work it to the bank, lest it should slip a whole
-plank on the road, and very gently did they drop it in, lest the
-Seminoles should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with his bonnet, and
-Bauldie the second with his; Jock spread his jacket over an oozy part.
-They shipped all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and the
-others, stripping off their clothes and adding them to the cargo of the
-boat, pushed out the boat before them, swimming by its side. It was a
-mere question of time whether the boat would go down in mid-channel; but
-so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, ready at any moment to swim for his
-life, and so powerfully did the others push, swimming with their feet
-and one hand, and with the other hand guiding the boat, that they
-brought it over safely to the other side; and the fact that half their
-clothes were wet through mattered little to men who had often hidden
-from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their eyes and nose out;
-and, at any rate, the food was safe. The matches and the percussion caps
-also were dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the worst
-emergency, they would have been carried on the top of his head if he
-also had been obliged to swim. They brought the boat into a little
-creek, and, communicating by signs to one another--for they were too
-old hunters to be speaking now, when there might be a party of Seminoles
-in that very wood--Speug and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
-with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" and Bauldie drew
-the boat up under cover of the bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that
-even a Seminole's keen eyes would not have been able to detect it. The
-trappers made another hiding-place, and left there the superfluous
-garments of civilisation, confining themselves to a shirt and trousers,
-and a belt which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and Jock, as the
-two veterans who could discover the trail of the Seminoles by a twisted
-leaf on a branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their friends
-to lie low, and they themselves disappeared into the brushwood. They had
-gone to scout, and to make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
-in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed three times, "Piggie"
-nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie hooted like an owl, then they knew that
-it was safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom they found on
-the edge of a clearing, leaning on their rifles in a picturesque
-attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" led, and the others followed, pausing now
-and again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal from
-"Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each took up his position
-behind a tree. But it was a false alarm. Then they went on as before,
-till they came to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
-they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, lighting a fire,
-which they did with immense success, and proceeding to cook dinner. As
-they had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any wandering
-Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild turkey, which, in other
-circumstances, would have been their food; but they made tea (very
-badly, and largely because they wished to use the kettle), and they had
-bread and butter, which had turned into oil through the warmth of
-Bauldie's person, a half ham which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for
-which "Piggie" will have to account some day, and six jam tarts which
-Howieson bought with his last farthing, and which had been reduced
-practically to one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles of
-stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, and afforded them a big
-mouthful each, as they drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
-calculation of time.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY DRANK WITHOUT ANY CUP."]
-
-What a day they had! They fought Indians from one end of the island to
-the other, killing and scalping twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter
-current on the other side, and they dried themselves in the sun, and in
-the sun they slept till they were burned red; and then just as they were
-thinking that it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
-their belongings and set off for home, Speug gave a whistle that had in
-it this time no pretence of danger, and bolted into the wood, followed
-by the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, or the Seminoles
-had sent a message, they never knew, but the farmer was on the island
-and proceeding in their direction through the brushwood. Speug did not
-think that he had seen them, and he would not quite know where they
-were, and in an instant that leader of men had formed what he thought
-the best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the other three,
-who executed a war-dance at the mere thought of the strategy, and then
-departed hurriedly for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
-ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, and just gave the
-farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried up the island.
-
-"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait till I catch ye;
-trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be
-in the nicht, or I'm no farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please,
-but I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back in, for I've
-found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, and knocked the bottom oot
-o' it."
-
-It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, and then Speug was
-standing on the edge of the water at the top of the island, where the
-current runs swift and strong towards the other side.
-
-"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red all over, but not with
-modesty. "I thought I heard somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
-island. Have ye come to bathe?"
-
-"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little deevil, and, my word,
-I'll bathe ye," and the farmer made for Speug.
-
-"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy almost had his hands on
-him, and dived into the river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified
-man; and then, as he went down with the current which took him over to
-the opposite side, he invited the farmer to come in. When he landed
-Speug bade the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped he would
-enjoy himself among his Indian friends.
-
-"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll be after ye, and
-though I ransack Muirtown I'll find ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle
-to go back to the town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be,"
-and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat, which he had loosely
-fastened to one of the trees. When he reached the spot it was not to be
-found, but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed place on the
-other side, chained and padlocked. For the other three trappers had
-gathered all their possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen,
-and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves across with
-rapidity and dignity. Once more Speug bade the farmer good-night,
-extending both hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was in
-front of the other, and the thumb of the inner hand attached to Speug's
-nose. He thoughtfully offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or
-to the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed, wishing him a
-pleasant night and telling him where he would find the shank of a ham.
-As Peter dressed himself, his friends could only look at him in silent
-admiration, till at the thought of the renegade trapped so neatly and
-confined for at least a night on his own island, Howieson slapped his
-legs and triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown and to
-civilisation full of joy.
-
-
-
-
-GUERILLA WARFARE
-
-XII
-
-
-There is no person in a Scots country town to be compared with a Bailie
-for authority and dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown, was a
-glory to his order. Provosts might come and go--creatures of three
-years--but this man remained in office for ever, and so towered above
-his brethren of the same kind, that the definite article was attached to
-his title, and to quote "the Bailie" without his name was the recognised
-form and an end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to him, and,
-entering into the designs of Providence, had given him a bodily
-appearance corresponding to his judicial position. He stood six feet in
-his boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression of six inches
-more. His waistband passed forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man
-justice, his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested in folds upon
-his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven, solemn, immovable countenance
-suggested unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice was deep and husky,
-and the clearance of his throat with which he emphasised his
-deliverances could be heard half a street away and was like the sealing
-of a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had he seen his
-boots--at least upon his feet--and his gait, as became his elevation,
-was a stately amble, as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea,
-driving the water before her bow and yet swaying gently from side to
-side in her progress. Sunday and Saturday--except when officiating at
-the Sacrament, and of course he was then in full blacks--the Bailie wore
-exactly the same kind of dress--a black frock-coat, close buttoned, and
-grey trousers, with a dark blue stock, his one concession to colour. As
-his position was quite assured, being, in the opinion of many, second
-only to that of the Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his
-clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two stains upon his paunch
-as a means of identification. Walking through the town, he stood at his
-full height, with his hands folded upon the third button of his coat;
-but when he reached the North Meadow, on his way home, and passed the
-Seminary, he allowed his head to droop, and clasped his hands behind
-after the manner of the great Napoleon, and then it was understood that
-the Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of State. People made
-way for him upon the streets as he sailed along, and were pleased with a
-recognition, which always took the form of a judgment from the Bench,
-even though it dealt only with the weather or the crops.
-
-There was no occasion, either in the Council or in the Presbytery, when
-the Bailie did not impress; but every one agreed that he rose to his
-height on the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of law, could be
-sprung on him, no sensational incident ever stirred him, no excitement
-of the people ever carried him away. He was the terror of the publicans,
-and would refuse a license if he saw fit without any fear; but if the
-teetotalers tried to dictate to him, he would turn upon them and rend
-his own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown sinner was convicted in
-his court he would preface his sentence with a ponderous exhortation,
-and if the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the accused to go
-as an act of grace, but warn him never to appear again, lest a worse
-thing should befall him. There are profane people in every community,
-and there were those in Muirtown who used to say in private places that
-the Bailie was only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but the
-local lawyers found it best to treat him with respect; and until the
-Seminary boys took his Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No
-doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported into a petty case to
-browbeat the local Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when that
-eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions to "the defunct," said
-that if he heard anything more about "the defunct" he would adjourn the
-case for a week, and allow him to appear in his own interests. Then the
-advocate explained with elaborate politeness that he was afraid that
-even the summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce this party, and
-that his appearance, if he came, might secure the court to himself.
-
-"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate with unmoved dignity,
-"that the man is dead. Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if
-you had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had your case better
-prepared, and not wasted our time with the talk of dead people. You are
-still young, and when you have had more experience you will know that it
-is only the evidence of living witnesses that can be received in a court
-of justice. Proceed with your case and confine yourself to relevant
-evidence--yes, sir, relevant evidence."
-
-It only shows the inherent greatness of the man, that in private life
-the Bailie followed the calling of an Italian warehouseman, which
-really, in plain words, was the same thing as a superior grocer, nor was
-he above his trade for eight hours of the day. When not engaged in
-official work, he could be found behind his counter, and yet even there
-he seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron he wore as a robe of
-office, he heard what the ladies had to say with a judicial air,
-correcting them if they hinted at any tea costing less than four and
-sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be brought forward for
-inspection, as if it had been a prisoner in the dock, probing it with
-searching severity and giving a judgment upon it from which there was no
-appeal. He distinguished between customers, assigning to each such
-provisions as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring in a
-paternal manner after the welfare of their children, and when the case
-was concluded--that is to say, the tea and the sugar bought--even
-condescending to a certain high level of local gossip. When the customer
-left the shop it was with a sense of privilege, as if one had been
-called up for a little to sit with the judge. It was understood that
-only people of a certain standing were included among the Bailie's
-customers, and the sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his
-door marked out his province of business. Yet if a little lassie
-stumbled into the shop and asked for a pennyworth of peppermints, he
-would order her to be served, adding a peppermint or two more, and some
-good advice which sent away the little woman much impressed; for though
-the Bailie committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered
-terribly in consequence thereof, he was a good and honest man.
-
-The Bailie made only one public mistake in his life, but it was on the
-largest scale, and every one wondered that a man so sagacious should
-have deliberately entered into a feud with the boys of the Seminary. The
-Bailie had battled in turn with the Licensed Victuallers, who as a
-fighting body are not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom
-every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves alone; with the Tories,
-who were his opponents, and with the Liberals, his own party, when he
-happened to disagree with them; with the Town Council, whom he
-vanquished, and with the Salmon Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms;
-but all those battles were as nothing to a campaign with the boys. There
-is all the difference in the world between a war with regulars,
-conducted according to the rules of military science, and a series of
-guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are with the alert and
-light-armed enemy. Any personage who goes to war with boys is bound to
-be beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can hardly ever hurt
-them, and never possibly can conquer them; and they will buzz round him
-like wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him to shame before
-the public, will tease him on his most sensitive side, will lie in wait
-for him in unexpected places with an ingenuity and a perseverance and a
-mercilessness which are born of the Devil, who in such matters is the
-unfailing ally of all genuine boys.
-
-It was no doubt annoying to a person of the Bailie's dignity and
-orderliness to see the terrace in which the Seminary stood, and which
-had the honour of containing his residence, turned into a playground,
-and outrageous that Jock Howieson, playing rounders in front of a
-magistrate's residence, should send the ball crack through the
-plate-glass window of a magistrate's dining-room. It was fearsome
-conduct on the part of Jock, and even the ball itself should have known
-better; but the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did not intend
-to lose his ball and his game also, and the maddest thing the magistrate
-could do was to make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough to go
-to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint, but as he could not
-identify the culprit, and no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed
-worsted, and the address which he gave the boys was received with
-derision. When he turned from the boys to the master, he fared no
-better, for Bulldog who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect
-for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his (Bulldog's)
-jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of the Seminary, and that it was
-not his business to keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant, when
-the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys in the courtyard, forgot the
-respect due to a magistrate, and refused point-blank, besides adding a
-gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented, to let the matter
-drop, or else he'd repent the day when he interfered with the laddies.
-
-"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and I was through the
-Crimean War--ye can see my medals; but it takes me all my time to keep
-the pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye meddle wi' them
-outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye, Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye
-afore they're done w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o'
-managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them. Noo, when they broke the
-glass in the Count's windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna
-identify them and paid the cost himself! He may be French, but he's
-long-headed, for him and the laddies are that friendly there's naething
-they woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o' mind, Bailie, and yir
-poseetion in Muirtown, dinna quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine
-laddies as laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born deevils."
-
-There is a foolish streak in every man, and the Bailie went on to his
-doom. As the authorities of the Seminary refused to do their duty--for
-which he would remember them in the Council when questions of salary and
-holidays came up--the Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own
-thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a magistrate; and one
-morning an able-bodied constable appeared on the scene and informed the
-amazed school that he was there to prevent them playing on the Terrace.
-No doubt he did his duty according to his light, but neither he nor six
-constables could have quelled the Seminary any more than you can hold
-quicksilver in your hand. When he walked with stately step up and down
-the broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the Seminary went up and
-played opposite the Bailie's house, introducing his name into
-conversation, with opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of his
-person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally weaving the story of
-his life into a verse of poetry which was composed by Speug, but is not
-suitable for a book of family reading. If the constable, with the fear
-of the magistrate before his eyes, went up to stand as a guard of honour
-before the Bailie's house, the school went down then to the Russian guns
-and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the constable to come back to
-the Seminary, and telling him what they would do to him. They formed a
-bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out of reach, and marched
-along with him, backward and forward; other days they chaffed and teased
-him till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power to arrest
-them, and in his heart he sympathised with them. And then, at last,
-being weary of the constable, the school turned its attention to the
-Bailie.
-
-One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was held in the North Meadow,
-beyond the supervision of the constable, and after the Bailie had been
-called every name of abuse known to the Seminary, and Speug had
-ransacked the resources of the stable yard in profanity, he declared
-that the time had now come for active operation, and that the war must
-be carried into the enemy's country. Speug declared his conviction in
-the vernacular of the school, which is here translated into respectable
-language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful birth and
-discreditable pedigree, that his conduct as a boy was beyond
-description, and that his private life was stained with every vice; that
-his intellect would give him a right to be confined in the county
-asylum, and that he had also qualified by his way of living for the
-county gaol; that he didn't wash more than once a year, and that the
-smell of him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it was a pity
-he didn't attend to his own business, and that he had very little
-business to do; that he would soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't
-bankrupt already it was only because he cheated with his change; that he
-sanded his sugar, and that his weights and measures were a scandal; but
-that the Seminary must do what they could to lead him to honest ways and
-teach him industry, and that he (Speug) with the aid of one or two
-friends would do his best for the reformation of Bailie MacConachie, and
-in this way return good for evil, as Mr. Byles, assistant in the
-department of mathematics, used to teach. And the school waited with
-expectation for the missionary effort upon which Speug with the
-assistance of Howieson and Bauldie, was understood to be engaged.
-
-Next Friday evening an art committee met in a stable-loft on the
-premises of Mr. McGuffie senior, and devoted their skill--which was
-greater than they ever showed in their work--to the elaboration of a
-high-class advertisement which was to be shown round a certain district
-in Muirtown, and which they hoped would stimulate the custom at Bailie
-MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided two large boards such as might
-be hung one on the breast and one on the back of a man, and those Speug
-had cut to the proper size and pasted over with thick white paper. Upon
-them Bauldie, who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently for
-a space of two hours, with the assistance and encouragement of his
-friends, and when they set the boards up against the wall the committee
-was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the advertisement with much
-unction--
-
-
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
- SALE OF BANKRUPT STOCK
- AT
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN_,
- 49, ST. ANDREW STREET.
-
- ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND.
-
- _Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday._
- GLASS OF WHISKY FREE TO ALL PURCHASERS.
- _Poor People Specially Invited._
- _Be early._ _Be early._
-
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
-
-The three artists contained themselves till they came to the last "Cheap
-Tea!" then Jock knocked Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell on
-the top of them, and they rolled in one bundle of delight, arising from
-time to time to study the advertisement and taste its humour.
-
-"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an Elder of the Kirk!
-That'll learn him to be complaining of his windows."
-
-"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself an Italian
-warehouseman. I would give half a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady
-Kilspindie there," stammered Jock with delight.
-
-"'Glass of whisky free!'"--and Speug took a fresh turn in the hay--"it's
-against law to drink whisky in a grocer's shop--and him a magistrate!
-He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."
-
-"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My word! They'll be there, all
-the waufies of Muirtown; there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of
-whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his knuckles.
-
-Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was going along the Terrace
-to his house and congratulating himself that on that day at least he was
-free from all annoyance by the way, another character of Muirtown had
-started out through a very different part of the fair city. London John
-was as well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and in his way was
-quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt, without an ounce of superfluous
-flesh, and with an inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat
-which he had worn for at least a quarter of a century, and a tall hat
-which he had rescued from an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of
-trousers, and something in the form of a shirt which was only seen when
-he laid aside the outer garment for active service, London John stalked
-with majesty through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his living as a
-sandwich man, or by carrying in coals, or by going errands, or by
-emptying ashpits. He could neither read nor write, but he remembered a
-number and never forgot what was due to him, and the solitary subject on
-which he spoke was the wonders of London, where it was supposed he had
-lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His coming was always
-welcome in the poorer parts of the town, for the sake of his discourse
-on London, but never had he received such an ovation before in the
-Vennel, which was largely inhabited by tramps and tinkers, unskilled
-labourers and casuals of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have aroused
-their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a free glass of whisky the
-deepest emotions of the Vennel were stirred.
-
-"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler Tam, who jogged round the
-country with petty wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,
-old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a glass of whisky free!
-Ma certes? let me get a sight o' that," and London John was brought to a
-standstill while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a crowd who could
-appreciate the cheapness of the tea, and whose tongues began to hang out
-at the very thought of the whisky.
-
-"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at the suggestion of
-such deceit. "He daurna do sic a thing, else his shop would be gutted.
-Na, na, it reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny and
-ye get a pound of tea and a glass of whisky. I count it handsome o' the
-Bailie; and if they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how a man
-is abused."
-
-"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess Mitchell, who had had a
-difference of opinion with another lady in the Vennel and received the
-Bailie's best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to hear him
-preach a sermon as long as my leg besides--confound him for a
-smooth-tongued, psalm-singin', bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no
-grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm no mindin' so much
-about the tea. The sooner we're at the place the better, for I'll be
-bound there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown than a' the last
-year." And there was a general feeling that the Vennel had better make
-no delay, lest some other locality should obtain the first call.
-
-As London John went on his way the news spread through the back streets
-and closes, and the Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive
-ears. And if any person was inclined to doubt there was the
-advertisement in plain terms, and over the board with its engaging news
-the austere and unmoved countenance of London John. That worthy could
-give no information about the remarkable placard, not even from whom he
-received it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it through the
-Vennel and neighbouring streets for two hours, and that he had received
-a shilling for his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie
-MacConachie's when his task was done. He also explained that in London,
-where he used to reside, whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for
-the asking. But his hearers had no interest that day in London.
-
-It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday dinner, and long before
-he reached St. Andrew's Street, that something was happening, and he
-wondered whether they were changing the cavalry at the barracks. People
-looked curiously at him, and having made as though they would have
-spoken, passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned into the familiar
-street, down which he was accustomed to parade with a double weight of
-dignity, an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper was out
-at his door, and would indeed have been along the street, had he not
-judged it wiser to protect his property, and the windows above the shop
-were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable place of business
-the street was crammed from side to side with a seething mob, through
-which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a dogcart with slender
-success and complaining loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
-were there, together with their husbands, having finished the day's
-work; country folk who dropped into town on the Saturday had been
-attracted to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come out from
-their dens and lodging-houses, together with that casual population
-which has nothing particular to do and is glad of any excitement. They
-were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, but they
-were all collected in answer to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer;
-they were also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of them
-particularly ready for the whisky. The first to arrive on the scene had
-been Tinkler Tam, who put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
-upon the counter with a crash, and informed the Bailie's senior
-assistant that to save time he would just take the whisky while they
-were making up the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop for an
-impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, in the course of a varied life,
-was not unaccustomed to be called disrespectful names, and it was not
-the first time he had been requested to leave high class premises; but
-for once, at least, he had a perfectly good conscience and a strong
-ground of complaint.
-
-"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye meeserable, white-faced
-effeegy of a counter-jumper? If I werena present on business I would put
-such a face on you that yir mother wouldna know you; but I'm here wi' my
-friends" (great applause from the doorway, where the crowd was listening
-to the interview) "for a commercial transaction. Div ye no ken, ye
-misshapen object, that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
-sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation given under oath
-by Jess Mitchell), "and I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye
-two-faced, leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support from the
-street).
-
-The ambassador of the proletariat--whose constituency filled the outer
-part of the shop, pressed their faces against the window and swayed with
-impatience across the street, and also seized a lamp-post for purposes
-of observation--rehearsed the terms of the advertisement with
-considerable accuracy and expounded them with various figures of speech,
-and then issued his ultimatum.
-
-"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a magistrate o' Perth, and a
-man whom I've met on public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before
-the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here in response to a public
-advertisement in terms thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call
-these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled my side of the
-covenant, and I here and now before these witnesses demand the tea and
-the whisky as above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were greatly
-impressed by this judicial effort, and were getting every minute more
-thirsty).
-
-"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no here himsel' to receive
-his friends; but what is done by the servant is done by the
-master--that's good law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who at
-the smell of the shop was getting beyond control); "and I give ye two
-meenuts, my dainty young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming
-at the end of that time, the law will allow us to help ourselves, and
-gin ye offer ony resistance I'll pit ye and yir neebour inside the
-sugar-cask." And it was fortunate for every person concerned that the
-police, who had been somewhat perplexed by the circumstances, arrived at
-the scene, and turned Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and
-themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at this point that the
-Bailie arrived and was received with frantic applause and a Babel of
-appeal.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE HIM STOOD LONDON JOHN BEARING THE SEDUCTIVE
-ADVERTISEMENT."]
-
-"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick, else yir shop will be
-wreckit. Where ha' ye been? The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye
-started on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie. He's coming
-to start the auction. Three cheers for Bailie MacConachie!" And the
-Bailie, limp and dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled through
-the crowd to see the Italian warehouse guarded by the police, and the
-mob of Muirtown clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while face to
-face with him stood London John, who had now been produced for the
-occasion, bearing on his back and breast the seductive advertisement.
-
-"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost all self-control as he
-read the legend on the board. "A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately
-planned fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist--juist
-damnable! Bankrupt--who is bankrupt? Is't me?" And the veins on the
-Bailie's neck swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny! I never
-had such trash in my shop. Three shillings is the lowest, and I never
-recommended it. Whisky!--there is not a drop in the shop. Who dare say I
-would turn this shop into a public-house? I'll be at the bottom of this,
-though it cost me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry round the
-board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't tell the truth I'll commit ye
-to gaol this very meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of his
-wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered by his own prominent
-position, and not at all concerned about the Bailie's threat.
-
-"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel, with great composure, "a
-big, stout man like yirsel', Bailie, that gied me the boards and a
-shillin'; or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he was a
-little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the neck. Dod! I'm no very
-sure, though, but that it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's
-tartan plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a bit lassie wi'
-bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin' noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie,
-for she said to me, 'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I would
-like to tell you about London." And if the police had not silenced
-London John, the Bailie at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy,
-for it was evident that the trail was blind and there was no getting to
-the real person behind London John.
-
-The crowd had listened with considerable patience and self-restraint to
-this conversation, but as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died
-away, and they realised that some one had fooled them, they looked out
-for a victim, and settled upon the Bailie.
-
-"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler Tam, standing out from
-the midst of the crowd, and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced
-the Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing tricks on
-the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin' them from their work to waste their
-time at your shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If it had
-been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie, I wouldna hev said
-much aboot it; but at your age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a
-trick, it's perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's hard
-labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be a Bailie o' Muirtown. It
-was fearsome to hear ye askin' London John who gave him the shillin'
-when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then the puir body, when
-ye threatened him, brought in the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and
-I'm naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make use of a poor
-natural that hasna his wits, juist to feed my vanity and gither a crowd
-round my shop." Then the crowd united in three long groans, and possibly
-might have shown their indignation in a still more pronounced form, but
-the police, being still further reinforced, drove them along the
-streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses of his shop.
-
-Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the shop with Howieson and
-Bauldie, and demanded a pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked
-to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If there be as mony o' the
-Bailie's friends callin' at the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will
-no be able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace." And as a
-matter of fact the offensive patrol was withdrawn, and the Seminary
-resumed possession of the debatable ground.
-
-
-
-
-THE FALL OF GOLIATH
-
-XIII
-
-
-Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he risked a war with the boys of
-the Seminary, and it was colossal folly on his part to continue the war
-after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement. No doubt it
-was humiliating to have his respectable place of business filled with
-the mob of Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and threatening him
-with penalties as a covenant-breaker when they did not get it; he had
-also very good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration which
-gathered the vagrants to his shop came from the Seminary. His best
-policy, however, would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and if
-the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and told the boys plainly
-that he knew quite well they were at the bottom of the affair, that they
-were a set of confounded young rascals, that he had intended to hang six
-of them and send the rest to penal servitude, that he was going to
-forgive them for the sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had
-not been half bad fun after all, that there would be no more policemen
-before the Seminary, and there must be no more windows smashed in his
-(the Bailie's) house--the Seminary, which always respected a fellow who
-took his licking with good humour and didn't squeal, would have given
-the Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public career, and a
-covenant of peace would have been made between him and the boys which
-would never have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass been broken
-by a Seminary ball, the value thereof in a packet of halfpence, with an
-expression of regret, would have been handed in before evening. The
-honorary freedom of the school would have been conferred on the Bailie,
-without any public ceremony, but with immense practical advantage, and
-although the Bailie was surfeited with civic honours, yet even he might
-have tasted a new pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the
-boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass in stately walk, and
-to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the Bailie's road," and to receive a salute
-from tailless Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside the
-school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley. If Providence had given a
-touch of imagination to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen by
-a position approaching that of the angels, he would have come to terms
-at once with the boys, in which case bygones would have been bygones,
-and he would have been spared much humiliation.
-
-Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to get the better of him,
-raging furiously in public places, and breathing forth threatenings
-about what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown, which
-otherwise might have pitied him, held its sides. He kept our single
-detective at work for a fortnight, who finally extracted from London
-John that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement had been
-given him by a man uncommonly like the detective himself and that the
-said "boardies" were not to be compared with those he used to carry in
-London. The detective also learned, on a somewhat risky visit to Mr.
-McGuffie's stables, that the Speug had spent the whole day of that
-historical Saturday till the hour of two--when he called for peppermints
-at the Bailie's shop--in cleaning out his rabbit-hutch and other
-domestic duties--this on the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's
-grooms, each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere, or fight
-the detective, with gloves or without gloves, in the stable-yard or any
-other place which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going from bad
-to worse, offered a reward of £5 for any information which would lead to
-the conviction of the offender, and received thirty letters--so many
-anonymous, attacking his character, public and private, and so many
-signed, from various cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was
-assigned to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans, to the
-Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped outside the city. They
-were all annoying, but there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick.
-One was written from the security of Glasgow, in which the writer
-promised, on receipt of the reward, to send a full account of the
-conspiracy, and, having got the money, replied briefly that he left the
-matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the second, which asked for
-no reward except the writer's sense of having done his duty, and which
-hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight to his senior
-assistant, he might find he had been nourishing a viper in his bosom,
-and that a young man with such a smug appearance could be little else
-than a rascal. This letter, which was written in a schoolboy hand, and
-had five words misspelt, was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None
-of the letters seemed to help the matter forward, and life at the
-Bailie's residence was very troubled during those weeks.
-
-When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread through the Seminary,
-the boys were much pained, for it was sad to see an old man forgetting
-himself and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed, as if all
-they had done for the Bailie was simply love's labour lost, and that
-they must begin again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The
-Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body of quiet,
-well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still, if war was forced upon them, and
-detectives set upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and their
-families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing could have been more
-successful than the last campaign; and, although Speug had never
-boasted, and none dared say that he had anything to do with it, there
-was a feeling in the Seminary that the conduct of the next campaign was
-safe in his hands. As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one
-ought not to detract from genius, but there can be no doubt that Fortune
-played into the hands of Speug.
-
-Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour, and the walk of the
-Bailie was marvellous to behold; but it was rather poor business for
-Speug to walk half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the Bailie in
-an exact imitation of the magistrate's manner, although the school was
-hugely delighted. If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had been
-on his side; but when he turned round and gave Speug a sound box on the
-side of the head, he lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a
-chain of consequences, arose the scandal which almost drove the Bailie
-from Muirtown. Speug could not have hoped for anything so good as that
-foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw his opportunity. Many a
-stroke had he endured in his day, from his father and from the grooms,
-when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from Bulldog when he caught
-him red-handed, and from the boys in a fight, and there was no one of
-his age so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand been any other
-than that of Bailie MacConachie, Speug would have made derisive gestures
-and invited the second stroke. As it was, he staggered across the
-pavement and fell with a heavy thud upon the street, where, after one
-sharp, piercing cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans could be
-heard along the Terrace. His one hope was that, when he had seized the
-occasion with such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail to play
-up and support his _rôle_, and, although they were cleverer at reality
-than acting they entered heartily into their opportunity.
-
-"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson tenderly, as he stooped
-over the prostrate figure. "Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan
-like that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye gatherin' round
-like that for an keepin' away the air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some
-o' ye lift his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for ony's sake,
-and bring some water in yir bonnets."
-
-It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the unconscious form of
-their beloved friend, and carrying him carefully across the pavement,
-and placing Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and then
-rendering what would now be called first aid to the wounded, while that
-ingenuous youth kept his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to
-show that he was still living. Never in his life had Providence given
-him a chance of playing so much mischief, and he was not going to be
-disobedient. They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air, they
-anxiously searched the side of his head for the wound, and washed away
-imaginary blood with very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his
-forehead with such profuseness that the water ran down his chest,
-whereat Speug expressed himself in low but stern tones, so Nestie
-advised them to stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys were
-only prevented from taking off his boots by a seasonable warning from
-Bauldie and a reasonable fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was
-reinforced by all the message-boys within sight, and several ladies who
-were coming home from the shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose
-railings Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress, came
-out--their hearts full of compassion and their hands of remedies. As
-Jock and Bauldie did not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at
-once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his head and the
-railings, while the other chafed his forehead with scent, and both
-insisted that Dr. Manley should be sent for at once. This was the first
-suggestion which seemed to have any effect on Peter, for it would not at
-all have suited his plans that that matter-of-fact physician should
-have arrived on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious smelling-salts
-was held to the patient's nose, Speug showed signs of returning
-consciousness.
-
-"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he wasn't killed. A blow
-behind the ear is often fatal. He's coming round nicely. The colour is
-returning to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you say?" as Jock
-Howieson unfolded to the ladies in simple, straightforward, truthful
-words the story of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any man
-would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At this moment Peter, who had
-been reconnoitring the whole scene through his half-closed eyes, seized
-the opportunity to wink to the mourners with such irresistible effect as
-to prove once again the close connection between tears and laughter.)
-"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic female. "He ought to
-be ashamed of himself; but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make
-the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his head."
-
-[Illustration: "A BOTTLE OF FEROCIOUS SMELLING-SALTS WAS HELD TO THE
-PATIENT'S NOSE."]
-
-Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little weary of inaction, he
-was helped to his feet, and after one or two staggers seemed to come to
-himself, and submitted with agreeable humour to the attention of his
-friends, who dusted him from head to foot, under the superintendence of
-the ladies and to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were now
-entering into the meaning of the scene. His bonnet, which had been
-thoughtfully used as a water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his
-head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his head in Bauldie's
-handkerchief, partly because there was a limit even to his endurance,
-and because Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose in the course
-of the day. The maiden ladies were anxious that he should rest in their
-house, but Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home, where he
-could break the news himself to his anxious father. And so an impressive
-procession was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the way, and
-then Speug, upheld on the one hand by Nestie, and on the other by Jock,
-while Bauldie commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys at a
-distance, in order to secure due respect for the sufferer. It was with
-difficulty that Speug could sustain his _rôle_ until he and his friends
-got safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when they plunged into
-a straw-shed and rolled together in one heap of triumphant mischief.
-
-"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it would be pure waste for
-you to be a h-horsedealer. You must go on the st-stage. The way you came
-whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and do you know, Peter, you
-looked quite nice when you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty
-boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."
-
-"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an impident young brat.
-I heard every word, and she never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked
-round thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the water down my
-breast, I'd give him something to remember. I'm wet to the skin," and
-Speug made a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the leg, who
-pulled down Nestie by the hair of the head, and they all fought together
-in high glee. Speug extricated himself and demanded news of the Bailie.
-Then the three told Speug the story together in bits, one beginning
-where another left off.
-
-"He was that astonished when ye coupit over that he couldna speak, and
-Jock cried, 'The Bailie has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye
-up, but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to strike ye a second
-time." "It would have done you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking
-along to his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch out of
-him, and taking a look back to see what was h-happening." "Aye, and he
-stoppit opposite the lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty a
-cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna think Cosh had the
-spirit." "He was ashamed to stand at the w-window, but I saw him
-p-peeping out behind the curtains, just to find out whether you were
-living." "If his servant lass didna follow us across the meadow, and, my
-word, she's back to the Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the
-now for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter." "What
-w-would you say, Peter, just to die altogether, and we would gi-give you
-an A1 funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do it, I'll write
-your l-life myself. It's perfectly sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell
-on Nestie, and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced together once more
-in the straw.
-
-"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young gentlemen," and Mr.
-McGuffie's English groom looked down on the boys; "but you're missin'
-the Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has come 'isself, and if he
-ain't been hexplainin' to the master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug
-down. He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took up the runnin',
-and--my eye and Betty Martin--ain't he talkin'! Not cussin'--no, not one
-swear word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my Alfred David, if the
-master ain't preachin' for all the world as if he was a blessed beak on
-the Bench and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as good as a
-circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and in exactly one and a quarter
-seconds the boys were an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie senior
-gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie MacConachie, which he had been
-doing already for some time with much effect.
-
-"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the street, walkin' as ye
-walk, and so ye knocked him down in open day? Why should he not be doing
-as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that nobody dare step the same
-way on the streets of Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies
-are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are; but I never heard yet
-that the street belonged to them, and that a laddie was in danger of
-death if he followed in their steps. That would be a fine pass. Aren't
-boys always imitatin' somebody? Why, you stupid old fool, half the
-laddies in this district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're
-standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each one with a straw in
-his mouth, and the bit legs of him straddled, and his bonnet on the side
-of his head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow, just the
-eemage of myself. What would ye think of me if I knockit one of them
-down, ye double-distilled old fool?
-
-"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased to think that the
-laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer, are trying to be magistrates.
-Didna the Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the prizes to
-'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie, and try to be like him?'
-And now, when one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn round
-on the street and half kill him, till he had to be brought home half
-faintin' to his father's house! Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye
-bloodthirsty old ruffian!
-
-"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made enough inquiries, by all
-accounts, on the Terrace. Expression of regret, was it? We don't want
-yir regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top? I wonder ye have
-the face! Ye break a laddie's head and then offer him a top! I can buy
-tops myself for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're standing there
-after manglin' a poor, defenceless, harmless, motherless laddie! Ye
-should be ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there was any
-public spirit in this town, ye would be drummed out o' the place!
-
-"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"--and Mr. McGuffie adopted a
-conciliatory tone--"the best of us will make mistakes, and ye've made a
-particularly big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie in the face of
-the public of Muirtown. Ye may bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's
-settle this matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye say ye're
-sorry, and ye don't want any noise made about it. Well, now, I've lived
-here man and boy for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell you
-I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any horse, ye needn't be afraid
-to buy that horse, and I'll deal with ye on the square.
-
-"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we ought to be pretty even
-as fighting men. Ye have the pull of me in height, but I would say that
-I am nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy weight, and I am a
-middle weight, but there isn't much in that. We could meet pretty level
-with the gloves.
-
-"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed here, and stripped and
-fought the matter of six rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no
-mischief done, and no bad blood left, and that would be the end of the
-matter.
-
-"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk. What do ye take me for?
-Do ye mean to say I'd split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that
-Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn with the gloves! Ye don't
-do me justice. Why, there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever
-hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect ye, and count ye an
-able-bodied man, which is more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal,
-Bailie? Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of myself, ought
-I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown
-is pretty easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a prizefight, ye
-haverin' old body? But I see how the wind blows. If the other man stands
-a bare five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready, ye're mighty
-handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly old sneak? But when ye're offered the
-chance of facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace. My
-opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to
-think ye're a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me, MacConachie,
-for I might lose control and send ye out of the stable-yard, with my
-foot followin'! My advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some
-of the grooms got hold of ye they would make an awful mess of
-ye--they're not just particularly fond of magistrates, and they've a
-great notion of Peter.
-
-"One word before we part, Bailie," and the Bailie took that word
-walking, "So far as I understand, ye might be arrested for assault, and
-I might prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just this once
-with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an
-elder in the Kirk, and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all that,
-MacConachie, remember ye're just a man. Ye're swollen up and fozzy with
-pride and vanity, and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let
-loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider ye're just a man.
-Ye're wily and cunning and pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own
-way in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart, ye're just a man.
-Ye've sat on the Bench and laid down the law, and when ye wagged yir
-head everybody kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat they
-thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie, dinna forget it, ye're just a
-man. Ye needna hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway of the
-stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the street with exhortations.
-"I've said all I wanted to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've
-fought with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans, ye've fought
-with this body and with that body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought
-ye were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled with the laddies,
-and they've licket ye once, Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie,
-and if ye dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll be the
-end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."
-
-When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard he called for his son, and
-passed a careful hand over Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug
-was a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that there lay before
-him a long and useful life.
-
-
-
-
-THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE
-
-XIV
-
-
-Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of high principle and
-domestic habits used to go home in the dinner-hour and take the meal
-with their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity of repairing the
-rents made in their clothes since morning, and giving them good advice
-on their behaviour. Thoroughly good boys, who had been tossed to and
-fro, much against their will, in the tempest of morning play, were glad
-to go into harbour and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled,
-but also re-fitted and re-painted for the troubled voyage of the
-afternoon; and boys not so entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other
-models of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because, although
-there might be an embarrassing review of garments, and awkward questions
-might be asked about a mark on the face, there was always a toothsome
-dainty for a growing laddie, weary with intellectual work and the toils
-of a snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer took Mr. McGuffie
-senior in various directions, and as in no case were the arrangements of
-his house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely regular character,
-there was no meal to which his promising son--Speug--could return with
-any confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a practice of going
-home at one o'clock, unless there was a special event at the stables,
-such as the arrival of a new horse, in which case he invited a few
-friends to an inspection, with light refreshments; or unless, having
-racked his brain to the utmost for four hours, he was still in sheer
-despair of mischief. With one or two other young friends of a like mind,
-he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour in what might be called
-extramural studies--rowing over to the island below the bridge against
-the tide and coming back gloriously with the current; assisting the
-salmon-fishers to draw their nets and gather the silver spoil; in the
-happy snow-time raiding the playground of a rival school when the boys
-were away, and leaving insulting remarks wrought in snow; or attending
-the drill of the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other guerillas, he
-carried his biltong and mealies with him, and took his meal anywhere and
-by preference when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason why Speug in
-after years made one of the best of South African fighters.
-
-When Speug was disinclined for active occupation, and desired to
-improve his mind by contact with the greater world, he took a cab, or
-hotel 'bus (the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at Speug's
-disposal, and his edifying conversation was much enjoyed by the driver),
-and went to spend his hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody
-knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be classed with Niagara
-or the Jungfrau for interest, and at any time is worth seeing. It
-pleased Speug, whose interests were varied and human rather than
-classical and literary, to receive the English express, or even one from
-Edinburgh, as it swept into the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast
-train fairly off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary to
-give understanding assistance; and to pass the time of day with the
-guards, ticket-collectors, and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would
-allow him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage, with
-its pigeon-holes and its ingenious apparatus for delivering letters at
-roadside stations while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour
-of what might be called irregular study, but one never knows what he may
-pick up if he only keeps his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as
-open as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown railway station
-that Peter found the opportunity for what he ever considered his most
-successful achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the
-recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.
-
-When a cab passed the _Muirtown Arms_ 'bus at the entrance to the
-station, and the cabman signalled to Peter on the box-seat, and referred
-to the contents with an excited thumb and great joy on his face, Peter
-knew that there would be something worth seeing when the cab emptied at
-the ticket-office; but he could not have imagined anything so entirely
-satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie emerged, dressed in the famous
-frock-coat and grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial stock,
-but without his usual calm and dignity. His coat was only half buttoned,
-his tie was slightly awry, and although his hat had been distinctly
-tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was too much occupied
-to set it right. Instead of clearing his throat as he alighted among the
-waiting porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance of honouring a
-live Bailie going forth upon his journey, he did not seem to wish for
-any public reception, or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact had
-every sign of a man who desired to be _incognito_.
-
-"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie hastily explained to an
-obliging porter, and he stood between the man and the cab so as to block
-all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business and ... seeing a
-friend off."
-
-As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to disperse the porters, the
-driver, leaning over the roof of the cab, winked with much unction to
-Peter, and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would be worth
-while for him to wait and see the mysterious friend. Speug, in fact,
-understood from all this telegraphic communication that there were going
-to be circumstances of a quite remarkable character, and in which
-he--Peter McGuffie--was expected to be personally interested. He dragged
-Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with him, behind a pile of
-luggage, and from their hiding-place they saw, to their utter amazement,
-a second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet withal triumphantly,
-out of the cab. The same height as the great man himself, and built
-after the same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress, except
-that the trousers were baggier, and the coat shabbier, and the collar
-frayed at the edges, and the hat had the appearance of having been used
-either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both purposes, at
-different times; and the air of this second, but by no means ghostly,
-Bailie was like that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing,
-with the addition of a certain joviality of expression and benignant
-humanity, and a certain indifference to all the trials and difficulties
-of life which is characteristic of a man who has been "tasting," not
-wisely, but too well.
-
-"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously, as the figure came with
-a heavy lurch on the pavement. "The faintness may pass off. Take care
-of your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to the ticket-office
-and propped it against the wall while he went to take the tickets.
-
-It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk might have been due to
-weakness of the heart, for you never can tell, and one ought to be
-charitable; but there was no sign of an invalid about this new Bailie,
-nor was he at all too exhausted for genial conversation. He explained
-during the other Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to
-listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than exhaustive, that he
-had been paying a visit to Muirtown for the good of his health, and that
-he felt better--in fact, very much better; that where he lived the
-supply of liquid refreshment was limited, and that in consequence he had
-suffered through weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay
-longer in a place where there was every comfort of life, and that
-nothing would have induced him to leave but the immoral conduct of his
-twin brother; that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being his
-brother, was fearfully given to drink, and that he, James MacConachie,
-could no longer stay with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a
-Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment would not tarry, and
-indeed, according to his language, was already pronounced. He also gave
-a certificate of character to the refreshment to be obtained at the
-_Black Bull_, Muirtown, and cheerfully invited any person who had a
-friendly heart to go with him there and then to drink the Queen's
-health. On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded his
-address--which had been mightily enjoyed by three porters, a couple of
-Highland drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed through the
-police-court when the Bailie was on the Bench, and an elderly lady, who
-was anxious that a doctor should be sent for--by explaining once more
-that his brother was a gentleman beside whom the Pharisees were
-straightforward and honourable members of society.
-
-As the procession was again re-formed, and the two Bailies left the
-ticket-office together, one of them waving a regretful farewell to his
-sympathetic congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of triumph; for
-the contrast between the twin brethren afforded just that kind of comedy
-which appeals to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct that
-the incident would be of service in the war between the Bailie and the
-Seminary, which had gone on for a year and showed no signs of closing.
-
-"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in the country, I'll
-warrant," said Speug to Jock, in great spirits, "and there's naebody in
-Muirtown kens he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the very
-eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld clothes on. It would
-take Dr. Manley himself or the Chief Constable to tell the one from the
-ither. Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o' that lad, we
-would have a michty time. I would give my four rabbits and ... and my
-skye terrier pup just for an hour of him." And although they had no hope
-that circumstances would deal so kindly with them, yet they went on to
-the platform to see the last of the two Bailies.
-
-Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening conversation, who
-at first reminded his brother of a drunkard's end, which had no effect,
-and then threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance, which had an
-immediate effect, the figure consented to be taken along the platform,
-and might even have been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the
-word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly large type, attracted his
-attention.
-
-"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing jubilantly to the
-board. "I declare it juist a Providence. It's no that I'm thirsty,
-Bailie, and I canna bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine,
-though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'. No, I'm no thirsty,
-but I've a sinkin' at the heart. Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together
-afore we part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no grudge, and I'll
-let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure had the Bailie almost at the door of
-the refreshment-room before he could make a stand.
-
-"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye say? Gude forgie ye. I
-wonder ye're not black ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye
-along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover yir character.
-Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for I'm no the man I was once. The
-fact is, I havna strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me get
-a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform." And the
-horrified Bailie had to accept the assistance of a porter to support his
-exhausted brother and to guide him to his carriage.
-
-From an adjacent third class compartment, where Speug and Jock promptly
-secreted themselves, they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to his
-frail kinsman--that he must on no account come out of the carriage; that
-he must hold his tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers;
-that he must not mention his--the Bailie's--name, nor claim to be
-connected with him; and that he must not come back to Muirtown again
-until the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to heart as he
-valued his weekly allowance. The Bailie also expressed his deep regret,
-which, indeed, seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave by the
-Dundee train before the departure of the slow Fife train by which his
-double travelled. And when this fact emerged--that the other Bailie was
-to be left even for five minutes at their disposal--Speug threw
-Howieson's bonnet to the end of the compartment, with his own following
-in a rapture of joy.
-
-"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment to the Bailie on
-the platform, who was torn between his profitable business engagement at
-Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his own devices. "After
-the way ye've treated me and put me to shame afore the platform, I
-wouldna stay another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds. I am no
-angry, Bailie," the figure continued with mournful dignity, "for that's
-no my speerit, but I'm hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye
-maun, and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for ony sake dinna be
-tastin' in Dundee and disgracin' the family. Drink is an awfu' failin',
-but ye canna say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried to catch
-the Dundee train the figure shook its head mournfully, with the air of
-one who hopes for the best, but who has had too good reason to expect
-the worst.
-
-"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a fine mixture of haste
-and importance before the figure which was still moralising to itself on
-the evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o' the Seminary is
-expectin' ye to address the laddies this afternoon, and they'll be
-waitin' this very meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made signs
-that he should come at once, and offered to secure a cab. The figure
-could only shake its head and explain that on account of the
-disgraceful conduct of a relative, who had given way to drink, it had no
-heart for public appearances; but the idea of a return to the enjoyment
-of Muirtown was evidently filtering in.
-
-"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded Speug. "A porter threipit
-(insisted) that he had seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody
-can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will be terrible pleased to
-see ye, Bailie."
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and the figure was plainly
-roused. "Him in the Dundee train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in
-every family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o' mine that's
-taken to bad habits, and I've juist to support him and keep him oot o'
-sicht. It's an awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately
-brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie MacConachie. Laddies,
-was't at the _Black Bull_ they're expectin' me?"
-
-"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a word at the Seminary in
-passin'," and Speug signalled to a ticket-collector who had just come
-upon the scene.
-
-"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot o' the carriage, for he's
-forgotten an engagement at the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie
-faint with the heat?"
-
-"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector helped the magistrate
-on to the platform, "it's family trouble. Are ye connected with the
-_Black Bull_? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved young man, and
-these are twa fine laddies." And outside the station, surrounded by a
-sympathising circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit of
-Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned every one to beware of
-strong drink, and urged them to take the pledge without delay. He also
-inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there from the _Black Bull_
-and explained that the Rector of the Seminary, with his laddies, was
-waiting for him in that place of hospitality. He added that he had been
-on his way to the General Assembly of the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling
-elder, and he warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine. But at last
-they got him into the cab, where, after a pathetic appeal to Speug and
-his companion to learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David, he
-fell fast asleep.
-
-By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged the attention of the
-sergeant in the back-yard, who considered that Jock was playing truant
-and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman, fortunately an
-able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance induced the Bailie to leave
-the cab and convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's
-class-room. At this point the great man fell into low spirits, and
-bemoaned the failure of a strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought
-the immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he obtained an
-immediate tonic, he would succumb to a broken heart. He also charged
-Speug with treachery in having brought him to the County Gaol instead of
-to the _Black Bull_. It was painfully explained him that he was now in
-the Seminary, and within that door an anxious school was waiting for
-him--Bailie MacConachie--and his address.
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that I was a drunken body?
-I'll teach them to smuggle me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie
-(disreputable character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars, but I'm here" (with
-much triumph), "and I'm Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And the
-Bailie was evidently full awake.
-
-"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family troubles shakes the mind.
-Take the pledge when ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when
-ye're old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten. Noo, laddie"
-(with much cunning), "If I am to address the school, what think ye would
-be a fine subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility,
-especially me being a Bailie. If ye can mind onything, laddie, I'll give
-ye sixpence next time we meet."
-
-Although Speug was reticent in the class, for reasons that commended
-themselves to his practical judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech
-upon occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of Bailie
-MacConachie's double that it had been a very foolish thing for him--the
-Bailie--to quarrel with the Seminary about their playground upon the
-Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness to strike him--the
-Speug--upon the head and nearly injure him for life, but that he--the
-Bailie--was sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would never do
-the like again as long as he was Bailie of Muirtown; and Speug
-concluded, while the cabman stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye
-micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for me--Speug--ye know."
-
-"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie, "for it's a fact.
-Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome power o' the gab (mouth); I
-expect to see ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at the
-_Black Bull_, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the Rector I'm at the
-door--Bailie MacConachie of Muirtown."
-
-Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of mathematics,
-arithmetic, and writing, and, it might also be added, master of
-discipline, Speug would as soon have ventured into his presence on such
-an errand as into the lion's den of the travelling menagerie which had
-recently visited Muirtown, and at which he had spent many an unlicensed
-hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of boys, a short-sighted,
-absent-minded, unsuspicious scholar, who lived in a world of his own
-with Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly roused (to sorrow) by a
-false quantity or (to joy) by a happy translation.
-
-Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence in Speug's genius for
-mischief and effrontery of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless
-when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance, and politely intimated
-to the Rector that a magistrate of Muirtown had come and desired to
-speak to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw himself
-from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or the school had energy to cheer,
-the wonderful Bailie was launched into the room with almost too much
-vigour by the cabman, who remained in the shadow and whispered a last
-direction to "hold up your head and keep to the right." They had
-forgotten--Speug's only oversight--to take off the Bailie's hat, which
-was set jauntily on the side of his head, and the course which he took
-through the room was devious, and mainly regulated by the furniture,
-while his expression was a fine blend of affable dignity and genial good
-humour. "Gosh!" exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of the
-class, who understood that their enemy had been delivered into their
-hands, and that Peter McGuffie--their own Speug--had been the means
-thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was the very countenance,
-line by line, and the very clothes, piece by piece, though looking a
-trifle shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it was evident
-that he had been "tasting," and that very freely.
-
-"I am--er--proud to bid you welcome, Mr. Bailie," said the Rector,
-bowing with old-fashioned courtesy, and not having the faintest idea
-what like was the figure before him. "We are always delighted to receive
-a visit from any of the magistrates of the city, who are to our humble
-school" (and here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas was to
-Horace, whose _curiosa felicitas_ we are now studying. Is it your
-pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to examine the school?"
-
-During this stately reception the Bailie came to rest upon a desk, and
-regarded the Rector's flowing gown with unconcealed admiration, which he
-indicated to the school by frank gestures.
-
-"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the laddies answer 'The Chief
-End of Man,' and to say juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you
-and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're expected. I juist
-looked in to say----" And here the worthy man's thoughts began to
-wander, and he made an indistinct allusion to the _Black Bull_, so that
-Speug had to prompt him severely from behind. "Aye, aye! we're all poor,
-frail creatures, and I'm the last man to hurt the feelings of the
-Seminary. Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones be
-bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect more than ... Speug an
-honourable tradesman" (breaking away on his own account with much
-spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate father. What? All a
-mistake from beginning to end. Family trouble did it--conduct of a
-relative," and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal dignitaries
-were a species of human beings so strange and incalculable to the
-Rector, that he was hardly amazed at anything that they might say; and
-having some vague idea that there had been a quarrel between the
-Seminary and some Bailie or other, about something or other, some time
-or other, he concluded that this was an official intimation that the
-quarrel was over, and that it was in style and allusion according to the
-habits of municipal circles.
-
-"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful duty, as Rector of the
-Seminary, to thank you for your presence here to-day--the Mercury of the
-gods, if I may say so--and for your courteous intimation that
-the--er--controversy to which you--er--have delicately alluded is
-healed. Any dispute between the Council and the Seminary could only have
-a favourable issue. _Amantium irae amoris integratio_ has had another
-illustration, Mr. Bailie; but it would please us that you should hear
-the class translate the Ode we have in hand, which happens to be '_Ad
-Sodales_.'" And a boy began to translate "_Nunc est bibendum_."
-
-"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who had been taking a brief
-nap, was immediately conscious. "Man, ye never said a truer word. Work
-hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna forget the
-Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement wi' me, and he'll no be back
-for an hour. Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed Rector),
-"it's time we were off." And the Bailie, making a hurried rush for the
-door, found himself in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught
-the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room, and suspected
-trouble.
-
-"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean veteran, as he
-brought the Bailie to an equilibrium. "Could onybody have expected
-this?" And then, with much presence of mind, he closed the door of the
-Latin class-room and conducted the Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while
-the magistrate remonstrated that the Rector was coming with him, and
-that both were going to discuss the higher education of youth at the
-_Black Bull_.
-
-"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to the _Black Bull_, or
-ony other bull, ye're to go this afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose.
-If ye maun taste, would it no have been more respectable to keep
-indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of yourself afore the
-Seminary? It's no becomin' in a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the
-laddies."
-
-It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing figure at the
-blameless home of Bailie MacConachie, although it is right to say that
-this visit was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous
-protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to the day of his death, the
-real and proper Bailie spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining
-to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted" in his life, and
-that on the day in question he had been transacting private business in
-Dundee.
-
-
-
-
-THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY
-
-XV
-
-
-As the East is distant from the West, so far was Muirtown Seminary
-removed in its manners and customs from an English public school; but at
-one point they met on common ground, and that was the "tuck-shop." It
-does not matter that an English house master be careful to provide an
-ample supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even add, on occasion,
-toothsome dainties, such as jam at Sunday tea, and sausages for a
-Saturday supper, they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud, that
-they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast, so ghostly has it
-grown, and that they would be ashamed to offer their dinner to the
-beasts which perish. They will write such descriptions home, and hold
-such conferences with friends spending the holidays with them, and they
-will all vie with one another in applying such weird and fearsome
-adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee, meat, potatoes, and
-pudding--but at the mention of pudding they will simply look at one
-another and be silent, despairing of the English language--that their
-horrified parents will take counsel together by the hour whether their
-poor boy ought not to be taken from school and surrounded by home
-comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of this drastic measure, he
-protests strongly, and insists that it would ruin him for life; for, to
-do the ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and swished every
-second day, and bullied between times, till his life is hardy worth
-living, he will still stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of
-residence to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the pretty bedroom with
-white curtains, nor the long lie in the morning, nor a party in the
-evening, nor all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage for
-the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at the bathroom, and the
-babel at the dinner-table, and the recreations which enliven "prep," and
-the excitement of a house match, and the hazardous delights of football,
-and the tricks on a new boy, and the buttered eggs--a dozen at least
-between two at a study supper. It only remains therefore that his father
-should write a pathetic letter to the _Standard_, and that other parents
-should join in, for a fortnight, explaining to the English public that
-the manhood of the country is being destroyed in its early years, and
-the boys at school will read the letters aloud with much unction, and
-declare that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly," while their
-mother sends them generous remittances that they may obtain nourishing
-food to supplement their starvation rations. This money will be spent
-rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the "tuck-shop," where some old servant
-of the school is making a small fortune in providing for the boys such
-meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight Tom and his friends, for
-he is not a fellow to see his chums die before his eyes, will live on
-the fat of the land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines,
-sausages, and eggs.
-
-Seminary boys had their meals at home, and were very soundly fed with
-porridge and milk in the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their
-conduct had been passably decent. Scots broth and meat for dinner, with
-an occasional pudding, and a tea in the evening which began with
-something solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and, although
-such things may very likely be done now, when we are all screaming about
-our rights, no boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the _Muirtown
-Advertiser_ complaining of the home scale of diet. Yet, being boys,
-neither could they be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means of
-living, but required certain extra delicacies to help them through the
-day. It was not often that a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket,
-and once only had gold been seen--when Dr. Manley paid Speug a medical
-fee for his advice in Bulldog's sickness--but there were few in the
-Seminary who were not able to rattle some pennies together, and, in the
-end, every penny found its way to the till of that comprehensive
-merchant and remarkable woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the other old
-houses beside it have been pulled down long ago, to make room for a
-handsome block of buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by
-the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of the "Breadalbane
-Emporium," where you can buy everything from a frying pan to a
-drawing-room suite, but where you cannot get a certain delicacy called
-"gundy," which Mrs. McWhae alone could make as it ought to be made, and
-at the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to water. Mrs. McWhae
-did not sell books nor clothes, nor any other effeminate luxury of life,
-but she kept in stock everything that was really necessary to the life
-of a well-living and high-minded boy. There he could obtain marbles from
-the common clay, six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six
-for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a red and blue pattern
-on a white ground, which were a halfpenny each, and climbed to
-"glassies" at a penny each; and there was one glass leviathian which
-contained all colours within its sphere, and which was kept only to be
-handled and admired. Tops were there, too, from polished little
-beauties with shining steel tips, which were intended only for
-amusement, and were spun with fine white cord, to unadorned, massive,
-vicious-looking warriors with sharpened projecting points, which were
-intended for the battlefield, and were spun with rough, strong twine,
-and which, dexterously used, would split another top from head to foot
-as when you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites in the season
-was something to see, and although she did not venture upon
-cricket-bats, which were sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls,
-she had every other kind of ball--solid gutta-percha balls, for hasty
-games in the "breaks," white skin-covered rounder balls, and hollow
-india-rubber balls, which you could fill with water at the lade, and
-then use with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed, employed this
-"softie" in silly games of their own, trying whether they could make it
-rebound a hundred times from the ground, but we had no doubt about its
-proper use in the purposes of Creation. And Mrs. McWhae--peace to her
-ashes!--provided all things in meat and drink which a boy could desire;
-unless, of course, on some great occasion he wished to revel
-imperially--then he went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations have
-turned their eager feet, and beyond which nothing is left to desire.
-Fenwick's, however, was rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and
-we were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where you could get
-ginger-beer of her own making at a penny a bottle, better than that
-which they sold at the _Muirtown Arms_ at sixpence; and treacle-beer
-also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was double the size and was
-enough for two fellows; and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry
-and could not get home to dinner, so tough that only a boy's teeth could
-tear them to pieces; and tarts, so full that it required long skill to
-secure every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well worth licking
-afterwards; and peppermint balls of black and white, one of which would
-keep your mouth sweet for an hour of Latin--that is, if you only sucked
-gently and didn't crunch. But the glory of the establishment was the
-"gundy." There was a room behind the shop where Mrs. McWhae, who was a
-widow, elderly and not prepossessing, lived and slept, and dressed
-herself, and cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions, washed,
-and there she prepared her tempting meats and drinks for the Seminary.
-We lived in a pre-scientific age, and did not go curiously into the
-origin of things, being content to take the Creation as it stood, and to
-use the gifts of the gods in their finished form. But I believe that
-"gundy" was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which our hostess
-boiled to a certain point, and then with her own fair hands, which it
-was said she wetted with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by
-the constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour; after which she
-cut the finished product into sticks of a foot long, and wrapped it up
-in evil-looking brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders of
-wonders! all within that paper, and the paper itself, you could have for
-one halfpenny! Good! There is no word for it, as the preachers say,
-"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich, so satisfying, so
-stimulating, and the amount thereof so full and so tenacious. Why, that
-"gundy" would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about your mouth,
-and spread itself out, that he was a clever fellow who had drained its
-last resources within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a military
-gentleman, who, it was understood, had performed prodigies of valour in
-the Black Watch, and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who only dealt
-upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute was able to use her hands
-effectively. Like most women she was open to blandishments, and Nestie
-Molyneux, with his English tongue and pretty ways, could get round the
-old lady, and she had profound though inexpressed respect for Speug,
-whom she regarded as a straightforward fighter, and the two friends
-would sometimes be allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see
-her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints dropped by those two
-favoured customers that the above theory of the making of this
-delectable sweet has been formed.
-
-It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit Mrs. McWhae's during
-the "breaks," and to spend three minutes in those happy precincts and
-not be absolutely late for the next class; and during the dinner-hour
-her shop was crowded, and the steps outside and the very pavement were
-blocked by the Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer.
-Little boys who had been fortunate enough to get their provisions early,
-and were coming out to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid their
-treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger fellow should supply
-himself without the trouble of waiting his turn, and defer payment to
-the end of the year. And one of the lords of the school would on
-occasion clear out a dozen of the small fry, in order that he might
-select his refreshments comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club,
-with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps on which the members
-could stand, and from the steps you commanded three streets, so that
-there were many things to see, and in snowball time many things to do.
-McWhae's had only one inconvenience, and that was that the line of
-communication could be cut off by raiding parties from the "Pennies" and
-other rival schools. When the snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy
-was strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down supplies under
-charge of a convoy, and if anything could have added to the flavour of
-the "gundy," it was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane Street
-to get it, and your way back to enjoy it, that you had lost your bonnet
-in a scrimmage, and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling down
-your back. Precious then was the dainty sweet as the water which the
-mighty men brought to David from the well of Bethlehem.
-
-"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up the dinner-hour with Nestie
-Molyneux, on the upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the
-'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake of the _Muirtown
-Arms_ passed, with a dozen smart and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly,
-and, wheeling round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared up the
-road which ran to Drumtochty. "And where think ye have their royal
-highnesses been?"
-
-If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and the boys call themselves
-Columbians, it is very profane to an absolutely respectable Scots saint,
-and very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call them "Bumbees";
-but Speug was neither reverent nor polite, and the Seminary, although
-mainly occupied with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant grudge
-against the new public school at St. Columba's, which had been recently
-started in a romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a number of
-excellent and perhaps slightly superior persons, who were justly aghast
-at the somewhat rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots
-grammar schools, and who did not desire that Scots lads of the better
-class should be sent of necessity to the English public schools. Their
-idea was to establish a public school after the English method in
-Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept terms, and had dormitories, and a
-chapel, and playing-fields, and did everything on a smaller scale which
-was done at Rugby and Harrow. The masters of St. Columba's would have
-nothing to do with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary. The
-Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown and sniffed through the
-town. Two or three boys had been taken from the Seminary, because it was
-vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order to get into genteel society.
-And those things had gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary,
-which was certainly a rough school, but at the same time very proud and
-patriotic, and there was a latent desire in the mind of the Seminary
-that the Columbians should come down in snow-time and show their
-contempt for the Muirtown grammar school, when that school would explain
-to the Columbians what it thought of them and all their works. As this
-pleasure was denied the Seminary, and the sight of the brake was too
-much for Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and yelled
-opprobrious names, in which the word "Bumbee" was distinct and
-prominent.
-
-"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I am a-ashamed of you.
-D-don't you know that the 'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and
-w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven wickets to fall. G-good
-s-sport, my Speug; read it in the newspaper."
-
-"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had as muckle spunk in them;
-seven wickets, did ye say, against the English? If I had kenned that,
-Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given them a cheer. Seven
-wickets--they did the job properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with
-relish.
-
-"Speug!"--and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness--"I have an idea.
-Why shouldn't the Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next
-s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this summer, and begin s-soon
-next year and t-try them in July."
-
-"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was cheered at the thought
-of any battle, and he regarded Nestie with admiration, and then his face
-fell and he declared it of no use.
-
-"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek! and if they came they'd
-lick us clean. They have a professional and they play from morning till
-night. We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first, we'd never
-get them oot; and if we went in, they'd have us oot in half an 'oor."
-
-"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary as if you were a 'Penny'!
-Didn't the county professional say that Robertson was the b-best young
-player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits a good b-ball, and no
-b-bowler can get you out, Speug, and there are other chaps just want
-p-practice. We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff fight for the
-old Seminary."
-
-"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously, as they went back to
-school at the trot; "ye're the trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock
-Howieson is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a
-wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat. Gosh!" exclaimed Speug,
-as they wheeled into the back-yard, "we'll try it."
-
-The Seminary were slow to move, but once they took fire they burned
-gloriously; and when Dunc Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been
-sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable deputation, returned
-and informed the school assembled round the Russian guns that the
-"Bumbees" would send down their second eleven, since the first was too
-old for the Seminary, and play a single innings match on a Saturday
-afternoon in the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up their
-voice in joyful anticipation.
-
-It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only consented in terms of
-condescension by way of encouraging local sport, as they had tried to
-organise a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite understood that the
-result would be a hopeless defeat for the Seminary. They were coming,
-and the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they were beaten in
-cricket, well, it couldn't be helped, but it was the first time
-Bulldog's boys had been beaten in anything, and they would know the
-reason why.
-
-Special practice began that evening and continued that evening, and
-every other evening except Sundays as long as light lasted and on till
-the middle of October, when football could no longer be delayed.
-Practice began again a month before the proper season and continued on
-the same lines till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary
-was fairly up, and from the Rector who began freely to refer to the
-Olympian games, to the little chaps who had just come from a dame's
-school and were proud to field balls at bowling practice, the whole
-school was swept into the excitement of the coming event, and it is said
-that Bulldog stumped over every evening after dinner to watch the play
-and was the last to leave.
-
-"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's j-just itching to have a
-bat himself. Say, Speug, if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but
-if we p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."
-
-News spread through the town that the Seminary was to fight the
-"Bumbees" for the glory of the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle
-in all directions. Our cricket club had played upon the Meadow as best
-it could; but now the Council of the city set apart a piece of ground,
-and six of the leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled, so
-that there might be a good pitch for playing and something worth seeing
-on the day of battle. There were half a dozen good players in Muirtown
-in those days, two of whom were in the All Scotland eleven, and they
-used to come along in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the
-county professional now and again dropped in, just to see whether he
-could bowl Speug out, and after half an hour's hopeless attack upon that
-imperturbable youth, the professional declared the Seminary had a
-chance. But the word was passed round that there should be no boasting,
-and that Muirtown must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable defeat.
-Mr. McGuffie senior was the only man on the morning of the match who was
-prepared to bet on even terms, and his offers were refused by the
-citizens, first because betting was sinful, and, second, it was
-possible, though not likely, they might lose.
-
-The Columbians came down as usual in a brake, with only two horses this
-time, and made a pretty show when they were dressed in their white
-flannels and school colours, and every one admitted that they were a
-good-looking and well-set-up eleven; they brought half a dozen other
-fellows with them, to help to cheer their victory and to keep their
-score, and a master to be umpire. The Seminary eleven were in all
-colours and such dress as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and
-Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels, but Speug in a grey
-shirt and a pair of tight tweed trousers of preposterous pattern, which
-were greatly admired by his father's grooms--and, for that matter, by
-the whole school; and although Jock Howieson had been persuaded into
-flannel bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red shirt of
-outrageous appearance, which was enough to frighten any bowler. Jack
-Moncrieffe, the Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland,
-was umpire for the Seminary, and the very sight of him taught the first
-lesson of respect to the "Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim
-Fleming, the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching the Seminary all
-the summer, they began to feel that it might be a real match, not merely
-a few lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage a common
-school, don't you know.
-
-There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown men, together with a
-goodly sprinkling of Muirtown mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his
-position early, just in front of the tent, and never moved till the
-match was over; nor did he speak, save once; but the Seminary knew that
-he was thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics had his eye
-upon them. Some distance off, the Count--that faithful friend of his
-Seminary "dogs"--promenaded up and down a beat of some dozen yards, and
-spent the time in one long excitement, cheering with weird foreign
-accent when a good hit was made, swearing in French when anything went
-wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the loss of a Seminary wicket, and
-hurrying to shake hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had
-done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket. Mr. McGuffie moved
-through the crowd from time to time, and finally succeeded in making a
-bet on the most advantageous terms with that eminent dignitary, the Earl
-of Kilspindie's coachman, who was so contemptuous of the Seminary from
-the Castle point of view that he took the odds of five to one in
-sovereigns that they would be beaten. And on the outskirts of the crowd,
-half ashamed to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered Bailie
-MacConachie.
-
-The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice of Jim Fleming sent the
-Columbians in, and there was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for
-the Frenchman did not count--who denied that the strangers played a
-good, clean game--pretty form, and brave scoring; and on their part the
-Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the Seminary knew how to
-field, wherever they had learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could
-pass Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible with Speug as
-long-stop, for those were the days when there were long-stops. Cosh had
-his faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary thought more of him
-after a miraculous catch which he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at
-square-leg, might not be able to prevent a two occasionally, but he
-refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was a graceless bowler and an
-offence to the eye, but his balls were always in the line of the middle
-stump, and their rate that of an express train; and Nestie not only had
-a pretty style, but a way of insinuating himself among the wickets which
-four Columbians had not the power to refuse. There was a bit of work at
-long-field, which even the Columbians could not help cheering, though it
-lost them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was sent up from
-cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and so took another wicket, wrung a word
-of private praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the Seminary was
-fighting against heavy odds, an uphill, hopeless battle, and when the
-visitors went out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr. McGuffie
-senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and only the Count prophesied
-triumph, going round and shaking hands individually with every one of
-his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the sky. Bailie
-MacConachie, by this time was lost in the crowd, working his way
-gradually to the front, and looking as if he would have liked to cheer,
-but thinking it better not to call attention to his presence. Then the
-Seminary went in, and there is no question but that they had hard times
-at the hands of the Columbians, who were well trained and played all
-together. Robertson, who was the hope of the Seminary, went out for
-twenty, and Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only managed
-twelve, and the other fellows were too easily bowled or caught out, each
-adding something, but none doing much, till at last the score stood at
-sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary in. Things were looking
-very black, and even the Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face
-suggested that next Monday the whole school would be thrashed, and that
-a special treat would be reserved for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however,
-with a sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make another bet
-with his lordship's coachman, and increased the odds from five to ten,
-and the dignitary declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his money.
-
-"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses pass the line. I've seen
-many a race changed before the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his
-position in the front row to see the end.
-
-Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and only one wicket to fall,
-and the Columbians discounted their victory in a gentlemanly fashion,
-while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give them no chances," he said to
-Howieson, as that stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been at
-the wicket for some time, but had only scored ten. Any over might close
-the match, and perhaps the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for three
-overs passed and the two friends of many a scrimmage were still in, and
-neither of them had shown any intention of going out. Quite the
-contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and Howieson, who played with
-the gracefulness of a cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his
-wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his own account.
-
-"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him oot sune? I tell you he's
-settlin' down for the afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour
-deevil. The fact is"--Mr. McGuffie took a circle of spectators into his
-confidence--"they're juist gettin' into the stride." The Count preened
-his plumage and plucked up heart again, while the Seminary lads,
-gathered in a solid mass to the left of the tent, were afraid to cheer
-lest they should invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern,
-could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be better matched," said
-Nestie. "Speug and Jock--they've had l-lots of things in hand together,
-and they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment Speug sent a ball to
-the boundary. Now there were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three
-runs to make.
-
-They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness, blocking the balls
-which were dangerous and could not be played; declining to give the
-faintest chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather than be run
-out, and so the score crept up with a two from Howieson, who had got
-into a habit of twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and a
-three and a four from Speug, and another two from Howieson, and a three
-from Speug.
-
-Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted to the coachman, "Take
-you again, Petrie--ten to one, five to one, three to one against the
-Seminary?" And when there was no answer, Mr. McGuffie offered to take it
-even from anybody, and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was
-Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and everything except the
-glory of Muirtown, was now standing beside Speug's father and did not
-care. "Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching the look in
-MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones, we're a' Muirtown men the
-day"; and then his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye odds,
-coachman--two to one against the 'Bumbees'" for Howieson had scored
-another two, and two more runs would win the match for the Seminary.
-
-Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson, instead of stopping the
-ball with his bat, must needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried
-the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?" Was his leg before
-wicket or not? And for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian,
-Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and children, held their breath.
-It would have been maddening to have been beaten only by one run, and
-after such a gallant fight.
-
-"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds; but it seemed ten minutes,
-and a yell went up from the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie
-MacConachie took off his hat and wiped his forehead, which Mr. McGuffie
-noted with sympathy and laid up to the Bailie's credit. There was
-another crisis at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown, but it was
-very keenly present to the minds of the Columbians. One over more and
-the time limit would be reached and the game closed. If the Seminary
-could make two runs, they would win; if the Columbians could get Speug's
-wicket, they would win. They put on their most dangerous man, whose ball
-had a trick of coming down just six inches in front of the block, and
-then, having escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming perilously
-near the wicket. His attack compelled the most watchful defence, and
-hardly allowed the chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but could
-do no more with them; the third got past and shaved the wicket; the
-fourth Speug sent to slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth,
-full of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear seized the heart
-of Muirtown that the last would capture the wickets and give the victory
-to the visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for it was
-sent to land inside the block, just so much nearer as might deceive the
-batsman accustomed to the former distance. No sooner had it left the
-bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and gnawed his moustache. Every
-eye followed the ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety of
-it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew together unconsciously in
-common hope. Robertson, the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into
-the ground, and opposite, between the field and the river, the leader of
-that rapscallion school, the "Pennies," stood erect, intent,
-open-mouthed with his crew around, for once silent and motionless. Speug
-took a swift stride forward and met the ball nearly three feet from the
-ground, and, gathering up all the strength in his tough little body, he
-caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it over square-leg's
-head, who had come in too near and made one hopeless clutch at it, and
-through the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on every side to
-let it pass as they had never yielded to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown
-had found voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the "Pennies"
-had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into the air, for, the ball was in
-the river, and the Seminary had won by three runs and one wicket.
-
-Things happened then which are beyond the pen of man, but it was freely
-said that the "Hurrah" of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the
-hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the Count, in his joy over
-the victory of his "jolly dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat,
-and would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own hat in triumph.
-This is certain, that the Seminary carried Speug and Howieson both
-protesting, from the North Meadow, in through the big school door; that
-Bulldog walked at the head of the procession, like a general coming home
-in his glory; that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him; that,
-after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed one cheer more for
-Bailie MacConachie, and that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's
-house for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie home.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE
-
-XVI
-
-
-When the rumour flew through Muirtown in Spring that Bulldog was to
-resign at the close of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and
-treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector who was more a
-learned ghost than a human being, or the English master who had grown
-stout and pursey, or some of the other masters who came and went like
-shadows, Muirtown had not given another thought to the matter, but
-Bulldog retiring, it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown held its
-sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was the cause; and then Dr. Manley
-stormed through half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known Dugald
-MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except once when that little scoundrel
-Speug, or rather he should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician,
-brought his master through triumphantly with a trifle of assistance from
-himself as a general practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog?
-Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify in public places, and
-was supported by all the other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his
-education at Drumtochty that the mathematical master of Muirtown Academy
-had thrashed them all as boys, every man jack of them, being then not
-much older than themselves, and that he was now--barring his white
-hair--rather fresher than in the days of their youth? Had success
-departed at last from the mathematical class-room, after resting there
-as in a temple of wingless victory for three generations? Was it not
-known everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather was a senior
-pupil when Bulldog took the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply
-romped through Edinburgh University gathering medals, prizes, bursaries,
-fellowships, and everything else that a mathematician could lay his
-hands on, and then had won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge,
-with papers that were talked about in the College for fourteen days, and
-were laid past by one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May be, and
-this was no doubt the very heart of the jest, Bulldog had lost control
-of the boys, and his right hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys
-were insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries as to when they
-had their last interview with the tawse and whether the canings were as
-nippy as ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its favourite master
-was an expert in every branch of his calling and dealt with the
-grandchildren as thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers. And
-Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing the bridge one morning as
-alert in step and austere in countenance as ever, asked him how he was
-keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself the luxury of a
-chuckle as one who has made a jocose remark.
-
-It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown when the following letter was
-read in the Town Council and was known next morning to every citizen
-from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.
-
-
-_To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown._
-
- "Gentlemen,--I beg to resign, as from the close of the present
- term, the position of Master of Mathematics, Arithmetic and
- Writing, in Muirtown Seminary, and to thank the council for the
- trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight years.
-
- "I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,
- "Your obedient servant,
- "Dugald MacKinnon."
-
-
-When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began between Bulldog and the
-citizens which lasted for four intense weeks in which the town was at
-fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and calmer than ever. And he
-won all along the line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful
-admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and, for such a document,
-almost heated in feeling, to which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but
-guarded reply. The Council intimated that they would consider his letter
-to be non-existent, and not even put him to the trouble of withdrawing,
-and Mr. MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in that case he must
-trouble the Council with an exact copy. The Council then appointed a
-deputation to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself unworthy
-of such an unprecedented honour, and declined to see them. And then the
-Council, in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable, strained
-their powers to the utmost with immense unanimity, and voted a handsome
-pension to "Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in grateful,
-although unworthy recognition of the unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable
-service he has rendered to the education of this ancient city for a
-period of more than half a century, during which time nearly two
-thousand lads have been sent forth equipped for the practical business
-of life in Muirtown, in the great cities of our land and unto the ends
-of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in a letter of perfect
-handwriting that he was quite undeserving of such a resolution, as he
-had done nothing more than his duty, and that he could not accept any
-retiring allowance--first, because he was not sure that it was strictly
-legal, and, secondly, because he had made provision for his last years,
-but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most obliged servant." It
-was then determined to entertain this obdurate man at a banquet, and to
-make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr. MacKinnon was again most
-grateful for the kindness of his fellow citizens and the honour they
-proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he would neither accept the
-banquet nor a piece of plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a city
-slow but sure of understanding, and with a silent sense of the fitness
-of things, that Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus
-for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without conciliation,
-giving no favours and receiving none, but doing his part by the laddies
-of Muirtown with all his strength of mind and conscience and right arm,
-was not going to weaken at the end of his career. For him to rise at the
-close of a dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would have been
-out of keeping with his severe and lonely past, and for him to be a
-pensioner, even of the Town Council, would have been an indignity. He
-had reigned longer and more absolutely than any master in the annals of
-the Seminary, and to the last day he had held the sceptre without
-flinching. As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible, he would
-lay aside the purple, and disappear into private life. And Muirtown was
-proud of Bulldog.
-
-Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown in all their glory, and
-his fellow citizens united in one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet
-settled with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions or any
-other way their appreciation of their master, and they had followed the
-futile attempts of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful
-that grown up people should be so far left to themselves as to suppose
-that Bulldog, their own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined by
-Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a dithering idiot with a
-silver jug in his hands, or some such trash, while his hands were
-itching to thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed them long
-ago. When the boys heard their fathers raging at Bulldog's proud
-obstinacy they offered no remark, but when they got together they
-chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort and compensation for
-many an honest thrashing, in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of
-Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No rebellion against him had
-ever had the faintest gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped
-without his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the last and full
-of devilry, agreed together by an instinct rather than a conference that
-they would close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection. He had
-governed them with an iron hand, and they had been proud to be governed,
-considering the wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable than
-the kisses of McIntyres', but they would have one big revenge and then
-Bulldog and his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long
-confabulations together in the Rector's class-room while that learned
-man was reading aloud some new and specially ingenious translation of an
-ode and in the class-room of modern languages, while Moossy's successor
-was trying to teach Jock Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the
-German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop when the "gundy" allowed them
-to speak at all, and at the Russian guns where they gathered in the
-break instead of playing rounders. The junior boys were not admitted to
-those mysterious meetings, but were told to wait and see what they would
-see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a word of it oozed out in
-the town. But the Seminary was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog
-would repent the years of his tyranny.
-
-Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it was going to be a big
-affair, and Speug directed that a war chest should at once be
-established. No one outside the secret junta knew what was going to be
-done with the money, but orders were issued that by hook or crook every
-boy in school except the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to Jock
-Howieson, who was not an accomplished classical scholar nor specially
-versed in geometry but who could keep the most intricate accounts in his
-head with unerring accuracy, and knew every boy in the Seminary by head
-mark. And although he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed
-with other powers of persuasion, and he would be a very daring young
-gentleman indeed, and almost indifferent to circumstances, who did not
-pay his sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday. Jock made no
-demands, and gave no receipts; he engaged in no conversation whatever,
-but simply waited and took. If any one tried to compound with Jock for
-threepence, one look at the miserable produced the sixpence; and when
-little Cosh following in the devious steps of his elder brother
-insinuated that he had paid already, Jock dropped him into the lade to
-refresh his memory. No one directly inquired what was to be done with
-the money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock, and that it would
-be well spent by the mighty four who now ruled the school: Jock,
-Bauldie, Nestie, and Speug--Dunc Robertson after a brief course at
-Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's regiment. And it was
-also known that every halfpenny was going to give a big surprise to
-Bulldog, so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers with
-obsequious respect for commercial reasons, and coaxed additional pennies
-out of their mothers on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits
-to maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop, turning away their eyes
-and noses from vanity, and sold to grinding capitalists their tops,
-marbles, young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every Monday
-the silent but observant treasurer received for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at
-the rate of sixpence a head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like
-an oyster, and there was not one informer among the 208; but curiosity
-grew hot, and there were many speculations, and it was widely believed
-that the money would be used in sending a cane of the most magnificent
-proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance of his teaching days, and a
-mark of respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to himself, dared
-to suggest this to Speug; and when he looked round at some distance off,
-Speug's eye was still upon him, and he declared from his experience that
-it was not healthy to question Speug. Two hundred and four boys,
-however, with the observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent upon
-discovery could not be altogether baffled, and various bits of reliable
-information were passed round the school. That the four had gone one
-evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now on terms of high
-popularity with the school; that the Count who was even then sickening
-for his death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident could
-kill, had also been present; that at different times the Count had been
-seen examining the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches were
-carried by every man of standing in the Scots Midlands, and pronouncing
-his judgment on their appearance with vivacious gestures; that the
-Bailie had been seen examining the interior of a watch with awful
-solemnity while Councillor Gillespie hung upon his decision; and, to
-crown all, that Mr. McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the
-head of the firm, during which he had given him gratuitous advice on
-three coming races, had left Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced
-language that if certain persons did not obtain certain things for £40
-he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person giving to betting, would wager
-ten to one that the place of business would close in a year. It was
-whispered therefore in the corridors, with some show of truth, that the
-Seminary was going to take vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that
-the gift, whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop. And the
-school speculated whether there was any one of their number, even Speug
-himself, who would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and whether, if he
-did, that uncompromising man might not occupy his last week of
-mastership in thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest unto the
-youngest, for their blazing impertinence.
-
-The closing day was a Thursday that year, and it was characteristic of
-Bulldog that he met his classes as usual on Wednesday, and when
-Howieson disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid, having disgraced
-himself more moderately on four preceding days that he administered
-discipline on Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the last boy
-Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up as to be absolutely
-unendurable for the rest of the day, and boasted of the distinction for
-many a year. As four o'clock approached, the boys began to grow
-restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not perfectly steady when he
-closed the last problem with Q. E. D.
-
-"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried the argument to its
-conclusion according to the principles of things, and the book is
-finished. There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, we will
-spend it in revising the work of the Senior Algebra Class."
-
-Their work has not been revised unto this day, for at that moment the
-door opened without any one knocking, and without any one offering an
-apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, and scholar of
-Trinity College, Cambridge, and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
-Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied by Bailie
-MacConachie, whose dignity was fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand
-gracefully to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included everybody in an
-affable nod; and behind this imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown
-Seminary who was not already in the mathematical class-room. Bulldog
-turned upon them like a lion caught in a snare, and if he had had only
-thirty seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would have driven
-the whole deputation, old and young, out of the class-room and dealt
-with the conspirators who remained unto the setting of the sun. But it
-was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with minute care, and before
-Bulldog could say a word Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
-much.
-
-"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us for it is our last
-offence, and we have this time a fair excuse. Your laddies could not let
-you leave that desk and go out of this room for the last time without
-telling you that they are grateful, because you have tried to make them
-scholars, and to make them men. If any of us be able in after years to
-do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything else to your
-teaching and your discipline."
-
-Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman the four had chosen, began.
-
-"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, but everything Pirie
-said is true, and we are proud of our chief."
-
-"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the watch and chain which
-we ask the master to do us the honour of wearing through the days to
-come, and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to the desk,
-"crowns our offence, but you will know how to read it!"
-
- "TO BULLDOG,
- WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION
- OF
- HIS LADDIES."
-
-It was Bailie MacConachie--may everything be pardoned to him--who
-started the cheer; but it was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and
-ditch, and it was of such a kind that the mathematical class-room had to
-be repaired before the beginning of next term. During the storm Bulldog
-stood with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white as his hair,
-and when at last there was silence he tried to speak, but the tender
-heart had broken the iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."
-
-The Count, with quick tact, led off the second cheer, and the boys filed
-out of the class-room. Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
-him, and covered his face with his hands. When an hour later he walked
-across the North Meadow there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie
-MacFarlane, who met him on the bridge (and passed without speaking),
-noticed that Bulldog was wearing his laddies' gift.
-
-Sitting in his garden that evening and looking down upon the plain,
-Bulldog called Nestie to his side, and pointed to the river. The evening
-sun was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and on the
-orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft light, a rough
-weather-beaten coaster, which had fought her way through many a gale in
-the North Sea, and could not hold together much longer was dropping down
-with the tide. Newer and swifter vessels would take her place in the
-days to come, but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
-and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots rivers was carrying her gently
-to the eternal ocean.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 *** + +[Illustration: "NESTIE WAS STANDING IN THE CENTRE OF THE LARGE ENTRANCE +HALL."] + + + + YOUNG + BARBARIANS + + _By_ + IAN MACLAREN + Author of "_Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush_" + + ILLUSTRATED + + NEW YORK + Dodd, Mead and Company + 1910 + + + + Copyright, 1899 and 1900, + By The Curtis Publishing Company, + as + A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL. + + Copyright, 1900, + By The Curtis Publishing Company. + + Copyright, 1901, + By Dodd, Mead and Company. + + _First Edition, Published October, 1901_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I + PAGE + + "SPEUG" 1 + + II + + BULLDOG 21 + + III + + NESTIE 39 + + IV + + A FAMOUS VICTORY 59 + + V + + HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY 85 + + VI + + THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES 103 + + VII + + THE COUNT 121 + + VIII + + A TOURNAMENT 139 + + IX + + MOOSSY 163 + + X + + A LAST RESOURCE 183 + + XI + + A PLEASANT SIN 205 + + XII + + GUERILLA WARFARE 223 + + XIII + + THE FALL OF GOLIATH 245 + + XIV + + THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE 261 + + XV + + THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY 281 + + XVI + + BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE 305 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + "Nestie was standing in the centre of the large + entrance hall." Frontispiece + + "Peter dared not lift his head." 36 + + "'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'" 50 + + "Seized an excellent position behind two Russian + guns." 66 + + "Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear." 92 + + "Speug was dragged along the walk." 96 + + "They were so friendly that they gathered + round the party." 114 + + "They were brought in a large spring cart." 118 + + "Watching a battle royal between the tops." 134 + + "Before the hour the hall was packed." 158 + + "Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor." 170 + + "The school fell over benches and over another." 174 + + "His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority." 202 + + "They drank without any cup." 218 + + "Before him stood London John bearing the seductive + advertisement." 240 + + "A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held + to the patient's nose." 252 + + + + +"SPEUG" + +I + + +Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building of the classical order, +facing the north meadow and commanding from its upper windows a fine +view of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon its gravel bed. +Behind the front building was the paved court where the boys played +casual games in the breaks of five minutes between the hours of study, +and this court had an entrance from a narrow back street along which, in +snow time, a detachment of the enemy from the other schools might steal +any hour and take us by disastrous surprise. There were those who wished +that we had been completely walled up at the back, for then we had met +the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But the braver souls +of our commonwealth considered that this back way, affording +opportunities for ambushes, sallies, subtle tactics, and endless +vicissitudes, lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the whole +winter through and most of the summer, and brought it nearer to the +condition of Red Indian fighting, which was our favourite reading and +our example of heroism. Again and again we studied the adventures of +Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not only on account of his hairbreadth +escapes when he eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and +detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning of a leaf on the +ground, but also in order to find out new methods of deceit by which we +could allure our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods of attack +by which we could successfully outflank them on the broader street and +drive them into their own retreats with public ignominy. + +Within the building the glory of the Seminary was a massive stone stair, +circular in shape, and having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by +a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the masters descended at +nine o'clock for the opening of the school, with Bulldog, who was the +mathematical master and the awful pride of the school, at their head, +and it was strictly forbidden that any boy, should be found within the +"well." As it was the most tempting of places for the deposit of +anything in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to little boys, +and especially as any boy found in the well was sure to be caned, there +was an obvious and irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter +McGuffie, commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch tongue "Speug," and +one of the two heads of our commonwealth, used to wait with an +expression of such demureness that it ought to have been a danger +signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and a row of boys were +standing in expectation with their backs to the forbidden place. Then, +passing swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and threw them +over, and suddenly seizing a tempting urchin landed him on the bed of +caps which had been duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth +of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog as he passed +made a mental note of the prisoner's name, and identified the various +bonnetless boys, and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the day, +attended to each culprit separately and carefully. If any person, from +the standpoint of this modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some +innocent victim did not state his case and lay the blame upon the +guilty, then it is enough to say that that person had never been a +scholar at Muirtown Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge of the +character and methods of Peter McGuffie. Had any boy of our time given +information to a master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he +would have had the coldest reception at the hands of Bulldog, and when +his conduct was known to the school he might be assured of such constant +and ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he would have been +ready to drown himself in the Tay rather than continue his studies at +Muirtown Seminary. + +Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the Scots Midlands, and a +sporting man of established repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced, +loud-voiced, clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head, whose +calves and whose manner were the secret admiration of Muirtown. Quiet +citizens of irreproachable respectability and religious orthodoxy +regarded him with a pride which they would never confess; not because +they would have spoken or acted as he did for a king's ransom, and not +because they would have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to +die--considering, as they did, that the future of a horsedealer and an +owner of racing horses was dark in the extreme--but because he was a +perfect specimen of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to be +known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie McCallum, for instance, +could have no dealings with McGuffie senior, and would have been +scandalised had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his shop +and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the Bailie used to chuckle +after an appreciative fashion at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate +with much inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits--how he +had encountered southern horsedealers and sent them home humbled with +defeat, and had won hopeless races over the length and breadth of the +land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark, "and McGuffie is +no' the man for an elder; but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him +at a bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was a local hero, and +on their way home from school they loitered to study him, standing in +the gateway of his stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and +shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends at the distance of +half a street. When he was in good humour he would nod to the lads and +wink to them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted to +perform the same feat all the way home and were filled with despair. It +did not matter that we were fed, by careful parents, with books +containing the history of good men who began life with 2_s._ 11_d._, and +died leaving a quarter of a million, made by selling soft goods and +attending church, and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of +boys who died young and, before they died, delighted society with +observations of the most edifying character on the shortness of life. We +had rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable. + +Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model of all the virtues that +were worthy of a boy's imitation, and his son with undisguised envy, +because he had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because he had the +run of the stables, because he was on terms of easy familiarity with his +father's grooms, and because he was encouraged to do those things which +we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted to do those things which +he hated to do. All the good advice we ever got, and all the examples of +those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons of the Rev. Dr. +Dowbiggin, were blown to the winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in +the high dogcart beside his father, while that talented man was showing +off to Muirtown a newly broken horse. Speug's position on that seat of +unique dignity was more than human, and none of us would have dared to +recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter was quite unspoiled +by his privileges, and would wink to his humble friends upon the street +after his most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved him his +father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive society were not +failings either of Mr. McGuffie senior or of his hopeful son. Both were +willing to fight any person of their own size (or, indeed, much bigger), +as well as to bargain with anybody, and at any time, about anything, +from horses to marbles. + +Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during her lifetime was a woman of +decided character, whom the grooms regarded with more terror than they +did her husband, and whom her husband himself treated with great +respect, a respect which grew into unaffected reverence when he was +returning from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional +duties, to a late hour in the evening. As her afflicted husband refused +to marry again, in decided terms, Peter, their only child, had been +brought up from an early age among grooms and other people devoted to +the care and study of horses. In this school he received an education +which was perhaps more practical and varied than finished and polite. It +was not to be wondered, therefore, that his manners were simple and +natural to a degree, and that he was never the prey, either in any +ordinary circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although a motherless +lad, he was never helpless, and from the first was able to hold his own +and to make his hands keep his head. + +His orphan condition excited the compassion of respectable matrons, but +their efforts to tend him in his loneliness were not always successful, +nor even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie. When Mrs. +Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in what was called the "work among +children," and who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity on +Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to play with her boys, +who were a head taller and paragons of excellence, the result was +unfortunate, and afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an +exhortation. Peter was brought back to the parental mansion by Dr. +Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour, and received a cordial welcome from a +congregation of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at the Manse +with much detail and agreeable humour. During the brief space at his +disposal he had put every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of +repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with burnt cork so that +their mother did not recognise her children. He had also taught them a +negro melody of a very taking description, and had reinforced their +vocabulary with the very cream of the stable. From that day Mrs. +Dowbiggin warned the mothers of Muirtown against allowing their boys to +associate with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on the street +without an expression of open delight. + +When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being then ten years old, to +the Seminary for admittance, it was a chance that he was not refused and +that we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's profession and +reputation were a stumbling-block to the rector, who was a man of +austere countenance and strict habits of life, and Peter himself was a +very odd-looking piece of humanity and had already established his own +record. He was under-sized and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in +countenance, and with beady black eyes which on occasion lit up his face +as when one illuminates the front of a house, but the occasions were +rarely those which would commend themselves to the headmaster of a +public school. How the dealer in horses removed the rector's +difficulties was never accurately known, but boys passing the door of +the rector's retiring-room when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie +overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown was able to +understand the situation. It was understood that in a conflict of words +the rector, an absent-minded scholar of shrinking manner, was not +likely to come off best, and it is certain that the head of the school +ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie as "a man of great resolution +of character and endowed with the gift of forcible speech." As regards +the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief directions before +leaving, and in the presence of his fellow-scholars, of which this only +was overheard, and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance: "Never +give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting words Mr. McGuffie +senior departed through the front door amid a hush of admiration, +leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well" which was to be the +scene of many of his future waggeries. + +With the progress of civilisation school life in Scotland has taken on a +high degree of refinement, and rumour has it--but what will people not +say?--that a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary and will receive +a respectful welcome from the generation following Peter, and that the +whole school will devote itself to his comfort for days--showing him +where to hang his cap, initiating him into games, assisting him with his +lessons, and treating his feelings with delicate respect. It has been my +own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former barbarian age, to read +the rules, which, I believe, are now printed in black letters with red +capitals and hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings will +not allow me to give them all, but the following have moved me almost to +tears:-- + +Rule 1.--That every boy attending this school is expected to behave +himself in speech and deed as a gentleman. + +Rule 2.--That anyone writing upon a wall, or in any way marking the +school furniture, will be considered to have committed an offence, and +will be punished. + +Rule 3.--That every boy is exhorted to treat every other with courtesy, +and anyone guilty of rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to +the headmaster. + +Rule 4.--That it is expected of every boy to cultivate neatness of +appearance, and especially to see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and +other articles of clothing be not soiled. + +These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere and one very different +from that in which we passed our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this +kind softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan simplicity. +The very sight of a newcomer in a speckless suit, with an irreproachable +tie and both tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound emotion +in the school and carried it beyond self-control. What could be expected +of a fellow so bedecked and preserved as if he had just stepped out of a +bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his pride and perfection--the +very beginning of a Pharisee--he would only go from bad to worse and +come at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists, but +we did feel it was our duty to rescue this lad. It might be, of course, +that we could not finally save him, but he ought at least to have a +chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction in at once removing +the two offensive tails by one vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a +collar was a work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy is +successful with all cases, and we had our failures, which we think about +unto this day, and which have only justified our sad predictions. Boys +like the two Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given up in +despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed day by day and their +faces remaining in all circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month +the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of conventionality, and +was only outdone by Peter himself in studied negligence of attire. + +Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it did not last long, +for certain practical reasons. + +"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?" was the +encouraging salutation offered by a solicitor's son to the stumpy little +figure bereft of its father and left to fight its battles alone. + +"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o' a thievin' lawyer," +and although Peter was four years younger and small for his age, he +showed that he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms without +profit, and his opponent attended no more classes that day. This +encounter excited the deepest interest and revived the whole life of the +school. One lad after another experimented on Peter and made as much of +it as drawing a badger. He was often hurt, but he never uttered any cry. +He gave rather more than he got, and lads going home in the afternoon +could see him giving an account of the studies of the day to an admiring +audience in the stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone, and +for the impudence of him, and his courage, and his endurance, and his +general cockiness, and his extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was +called "Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively +expressed the admiration of the school. + +It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter was a scholar, or, +indeed, gave any voluntary attention to the course of learning laid down +by the authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed at the foot of +every class, maintaining a certain impenetrable front when a question +came his length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never risking his +position in the school by exposing himself to contempt. When Thomas John +Dowbiggin was distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by +translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's History, Speug used +to watch him with keen interest, and employ his leisure time in +arranging some little surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas +John's life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so inconsistent, +that as often as Duncan Robertson answered more promptly than Thomas +John, and obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with unaffected +delight, and he was even known to smack his lips audibly. When the +rector's back was turned he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas +John's discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the united class +did him homage, and even Thomas John was shaken out of his equanimity; +but then Duncan Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment, +and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and had not in his Highland body +the faintest trace of a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing +reproof of everything that was said and done outside of lesson time in +Muirtown School. + +Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating adventures none +was to be compared with him. Was it not Speug who floated down the +tunnel through which a swift running stream of clean water reached the +Tay, and allured six others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were +drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception of the +Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black mouth of the tunnel and reward +his success with a cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's +military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work in a pit at the +top of the Meadow, which was called the Redan and was blown up with +gunpowder one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily buried +beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing both eyebrows? And when an +old lady living next the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug +and some other genial spirits for having broken one of her windows in a +snowball fight, he made no sign and uttered no threat, but in the +following autumn he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy +in the four upper forms--except the Dowbiggins, who declined +politely--and to distribute a handful for a scramble among the little +boys. There was much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity, +and it certainly was remarkable that the pear was of the same kind as +the old lady cultivated with much pride, and that her fruit was gathered +for her in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable of anything +except telling a lie. He could swim the Tay at its broadest and almost +at its swiftest, could ride any horse in his father's stable, could +climb any tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game, from +marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based on smuggling, to football, +where he was a very dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting +was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There was nothing he could not +do with his hands, and no one whom he was not ready to face. + +Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and the exact type of a +turbulent Lowland Scot, without whom the Seminary had missed its life +and colour, and who by sheer force of courage and strength asserted +himself as our chief captain. After many years have passed, Speug stands +out a figure of size and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other +poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried off medals, +prizes, certificates of merit, and everything else which could be +obtained in Muirtown Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted +all evening at next day's work. The town was weary of seeing Thomas John +and his brother--each wearing the same smug expression, and each in +faultlessly neat attire--processing up in turn to receive their honours +from the hands of the Lord Provost, and the town would cheer with +enthusiasm when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance, being +glad to escape from the oppression of the Dowbiggin _régime_. Nor was +the town altogether wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at +their own value, and declining to believe that the strength of the +country was after their fashion. When Thomas John reached the University +he did not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family, and by the +time he reached the pulpit no one could endure his unredeemed dulness. +When last I heard of him he was secretary to a blameless society which +has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten Tribes, and it occurs +to me that it would have been a good thing for Thomas John to have been +blown up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have become a man. + +After the Seminary had done its best for Speug he retired upon his +laurels and went to assist his father in the business of horsedealing, +to which he brought an invincible courage and a large experience in +bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw him breaking in young +horses on the roads round Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in +a steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland. When Mr. McGuffie +senior was killed by an Irish mare, Peter sold the establishment and +went into foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at intervals +of five years from Australia, Texas, the Plate, Cape of Good Hope, +assured and reckless as ever, but always straightforward, masterful, +open-handed, and gallant. His exploits are over now, and all England +read his last, how he sent on in safety a settler's household through a +narrow pass in Matabele Land, and with a handful of troopers held the +savages in check until pursuit was vain. + +"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote the war correspondent, +"that Captain McGuffie, of the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men +had been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his back to a +rock in a narrow place he defended himself with such skill and courage +that the Matabele declared him the best fighting man they had ever met, +and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet." Only last week two +Seminary men were reading that account together and recalling Peter, and +such is the inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death (from +apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would have been much less lamented. +"That is just how Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved a +fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient memories of Peter's +boyhood, and read the despatch of the commanding officer, with his +reference to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and then they +looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated papers, the eyes as bold +and mischievous as ever. "Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of +divinity--may he be forgiven!--"well done, Speug, a terrier of the old +Scots breed." + +Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was Duncan Ronald +Stewart Robertson, commonly known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything +except honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite of Peter +McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor +in Rannoch, with half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed, +and certainly since history began. For hundreds of years they had been +warriors, fighting other clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for +Prince Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for England as +officers in the Highland regiments. The present laird had been in the +Crimean war and the Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was +colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to our examination in full +uniform, having first inspected the local garrison on the meadow, it was +the greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he came in, counting +the medals on his breast, amidst which we failed not to notice the +Victoria Cross. We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him when +he mounted his horse outside and rode along the terrace, and Peter led a +detachment by the back way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one +cheer more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad, with red +hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not handsome, but carrying himself +with much dignity and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting +trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson wore the kilt and +never looked anything else but a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the +shabbiest, and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners were those +of his blood, but a freer and heartier and more harum-scarum fellow +never lived. It is a pleasant remembrance, after many years, to see +again a group of lads round the big fire in the winter time, and to hear +Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad, "How Horatius kept the bridge +in the brave days of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and +proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's Academy and +simply compel a conflict. Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell +at Tel-el-Kebir, and there is one Seminary man at least who keeps the +portraits of the two captains--Peter McGuffie, the Scot, the +horsedealer's son, and a very vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan +Robertson, the Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself from +head to foot--in remembrance of a school which was rough and +old-fashioned, where, indeed, softness and luxury were impossible, but +where men were made who had the heart in them to live and die for their +country. + + + + +BULLDOG + +II + + +The headmaster of a certain great English school is accustomed to +enlarge in private on the secret of boy management, and this is the sum +of his wisdom--Be kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put your +foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This deliverance must, of +course, as its eminent author intends, be read with sense, and with any +modification it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but it is +confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong in character and +scholarship, lay himself out to be a boy's friend--using affectionate +language, overseeing his health, letting him off impositions, sparing +the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence--and the boy will +respond, without any doubt, but it will be after his own fashion. The +boy will take that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity; he will +call him by some disparaging nickname, with an unholy approximation to +truth; he will concoct tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will +fling back his benefits with contempt; he will make his life a misery, +and will despise him as long as he lives. Let a man of masculine +character and evident ability set himself to rule and drill boys, +holding no unnecessary converse with them, working them to the height of +their powers, insisting on the work being done, not fearing to punish +with severity, using terrible language on occasion, dealing with every +boy alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise with +enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking sarcasm--which boys hate +and never forgive--and he will have his reward. They will rage against +him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go home in companies, +but ever with an intense appreciation of his masterliness; they will +recall with keen enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity on +prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine his achievements, and +pass it down to the generation following; they will dog his steps on the +street with admiration, all the truer because mingled with awe. And the +very thrashings of such a man will be worth the having, and become the +subject of boasting in after years. + +There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary whose career was short and +inglorious, as well as very disappointing to those who believed in the +goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs. Dowbiggin his idea of a +schoolmaster's duty, and won the heart of that estimable person, +although the Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards +hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not quite grasped the boy +nature, at least in Muirtown. + +"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love for boys--for I was the +youngest of our family, and the rest were girls--seven dear girls, +gentle and sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you think that +boys, as well as older people, are ruled by kindness and not by force? +When I remember how I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would +wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you please. I dote on muffins! +So I am a schoolmaster." + +"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can tell you, for the +place is just a den of savages! Will you believe me, that a boy rolled +James on the ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday--and James is +so particular about being neat!--and when I complained to Mr. MacKinnon, +he laughed in my face and told me that it would do the laddie good? +There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me that he is called +'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve of disrespect, I must say it is +an excellent name for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the Doctor, +'If the masters are like that, what can you expect of the boys?'" + +"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will soon be some improvement; +and it will not be my fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a +master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will feel as to a mother, +to whom they will confide their difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles' +face had a soft, tender, far-away look. + +It was only for one winter that he carried on his mission, but it +remains a green and delectable memory with old boys of the Seminary. How +he would not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he explained, +but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour, during which time he +remonstrated with Peter for his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom +he had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted compatriots +climbed up one by one to the window and viewed him under Mr. Byles' +ministrations with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them by signs +that they would have to pay handsomely for their treat. How he would +come on Jock Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously +refusing even to button his coat, and would insist on affording him the +shelter of an umbrella, to Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that +Peter was following with derisive criticism. How, by way of +conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his coat-tail pocket and +offer them at unsuitable times to the leading anarchists, who regarded +this imbecility as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr. Byles' +sudden resignation was largely due to an engineering feat of Peter's, +who had many outrages to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less +than three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely that an +exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the delighted school, had its due +effect. + +"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no peppermint drops nor pats on +the head that'll rule Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on +the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll take my advice, +Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation in a lassies' school. Ye're ower +dainty for Muirtown Seminary." + +This was not a charge which his worst enemy could bring against Mr. +Dugald MacKinnon, and because he was the very opposite--a most +unflinching, resolute, iron man--he engraved himself on the hearts of +three generations of Muirtown men. They were a dour, hard-headed, +enterprising lot--a blend from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the +stiff carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with some good south +country stuff--and there are not many big cities on either side of the +Atlantic where two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be found. They +always carry in their hearts the "Fair City"--which lieth in a basin +among the hills, beside the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots +Florence; and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon their home, +but the terminus of recollection is ever the same. When they have +dallied with the swimming in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which +looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and the golf on the +meadows, and the mighty snow fights in days where there were men (that +is, boys) in the land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly +says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with long-drawn pleasure, as one +tasting a delicate liquor; and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a +world of joy lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing +themselves, and then conversation really begins, and being excited, they +drop into the Scots tongue. + +"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at his desk in the +mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in ower the top o' his spectacles, +an' juist considerin' wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that +day." + +"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the second, "an' as +straight as a rush, though a'm thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty, +some threipit (insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him--div ye +mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward in his head--oscillatin' +like? Sall, they were fearsome." + +"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o' nine"--the third man +cannot be restrained--"an' the crack o' his cane on the desk an' +'Silence'; man, ye micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the +prayer." + +"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids, Jock?" + +"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt. "Ae day I pit a +peen into that smooth-faced wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna +bear the look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig. Did +Bulldog open his een an' look?" + +The audience has no remembrance of such a humiliating descent. + +"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist repeated the first +sentence o' the prayer ower again in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes +dune, doon he comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'" + +"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating the sequel. + +"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin. 'Who asked you to +join in the prayer?' an' ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street. +Bulldog hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent admiration +for a space. + +"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord deliver the laddies +before Thee from lying----'" + +"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie. + +"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie. + +"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes Jock. + +"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased to put common +sense in their heads, and Thy fear in their hearts, and----'" + +"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days of their life,'" chant +the other two together. + +"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard a better, lads; he +walkit up to his words, did Bulldog, an' he did his wark well." And as +they thought of that iron age, the railway president and the big banker +and the corn merchant--for that is what the fellows have come to--smack +their lips with relish and kindly regret. + +It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that the human history +of the ages is repeated in the individual, and the natural boy is a +savage, with the aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to +circumstances, stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible passion +for fighting, unfeigned admiration for strength, and slavish respect for +the strong man. By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and +settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable--will be +concerned about his own boys having wet feet, and will preside at +meetings for the prevention of cruelty to animals; but he has to go +through his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian stage a +philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy. His master must have the +qualities of a brigand chief, an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and +an iron hand. On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol from +his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the audacious rebel dead on the +spot. So perfectly did Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had +an unholy turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume and arms of +Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief of prodigious valour and marvellous +exploits. This likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested +and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's possession, and +although Jock paid the penalty, as was most due, yet it was believed +that Bulldog was much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the +picture in his desk. + +His achievements in his own field, which extended from the supervision +of handwriting to instruction in mathematics, were sustained and +marvellous. When a boy was committed to his care at or about the age of +eight, before which age he attended a girls' school and fed his +imagination on what was in store for him under Bulldog, the great man +wrote at the head of his copy-book, in full text and something better +than copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." With this +animating sentiment the neophyte made a fearful beginning, and his +master assisted him to transcribe it for years to come through half text +and small text, till he could accomplish it with such delicate +up-strokes and massive down-strokes, such fine curves and calculated +distances, that the writing could hardly be distinguished from the +original, and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and bailies at the +annual examination. It is said now that no school of any name in the +land would condescend to teach writing, and that boys coming from such +high places can compass their own signatures with difficulty, and are +quite illegible after a gentlemanly fashion; but it was otherwise in one +old grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy produced at the +Seminary that Muirtown bankers, lawyers, and other great personages used +to drop in of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master, would go +over the copy-books and pick out suitable lads for their offices. And it +is a solemn fact that one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London +without a single introduction and obtained a situation in the great firm +of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater & Co., on the strength of a letter +and sheet of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose reason was +giving way under the scrawling of the junior clerks. Bulldog considered +that his pupils' handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of their +departure. When they came to see him at school from Glasgow, London, and +beyond the sea, as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides +giving them an affectionate welcome, which began at the door and ended +at the desk, he never failed to produce their letters and point out the +decadence in careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly. + +Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose father insisted on the higher +education, was allured into geometry and raised to the dignity of the +blackboard, where he did his work in face of the school with fear and +trembling. This was public life, and carried extremes of honour and +disgrace. When Willie Pirie appeared at the board--who is now a +Cambridge don of such awful learning that his juniors, themselves +distinguished persons, can only imagine where he is in pure +mathematics--the school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to +see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing in an angle here and +a circle there, and utilising half the alphabet for signs, while he +maintained the reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice, +Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one hand and in the other a +cloth with which at a time he would wipe his forehead till it was white +with chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When the end came, +Bulldog would seize the word out of Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D., +Q ... E ... D. Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff +profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the pointer under the other. +"William Pirie, ye'll be a wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance. +Splendid!" + +It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to indicate the nature of an +isosceles triangle and confused it with a square, supporting his +artistic efforts with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid to +one general ruin. For a while the master explained and corrected, then +he took refuge in an ominous silence, after which, at each new +development, he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock, seeing him +make for the cane, modestly withdrew, but did not reach his place of +retreat without assistance and much plain truth. + +"It's a shame to take any fee from your father, Jock Howieson, and it's +little use trying to give ye any education. Ye've the thickest head and +the least sense in all the schule. Man, they should take you home and +set ye on eggs to bring out chickens; ye micht manage that wi' care. The +first three propositions, Jock, before ye leave this room, without a +slip, or _ma certes_!" and Jock understood that if he misused his time +his instructor would make good use of his. + +It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty schoolroom for ten minutes +before the reassembling at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should +be late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen present and +forty-three absent, he could only look at Dowbiggin, and when that +exemplary youth explained that the school had gone up to the top of the +Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still enjoying themselves, +Bulldog was much lifted. + +"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for the mind, but it's +necessary to bring a glow to the skin aifterwards, or there micht be a +chill," and he searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the +treatment of truants and other grievous offenders. + +It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and a procession of forty-two +entered panting and breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried +his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by Peter, whose hair +was like unto that of a drowned rat, and whose unconcealed desire was +for obscurity. The nineteen could only smack their lips with +expectation and indicate by signs the treat awaiting their comrades. + +"I've had chairge of the departments of writing, arithmetic, and +mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary," began Bulldog, "for fifty-five +years laist Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae passed +through my hands. Some o' them were gude and some were bad"--Mr. +MacKinnon spoke with a judicial calmness that was awful--"some were yir +grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set of impudent, +brazen-faced little scoundrels----" Then his composure failed him as he +looked at the benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves, for it +will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?" + +For a while no one moved, and then Dunc Robertson rose in his place and +made speech for his fellows like a gentleman's son. + +"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not our blame; we had been +bathing in the golfers' pool, and were dressing to run down to school in +good time. Little Nestie--I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir--had stayed in a +little longer, and someone cried, 'Nestie's drowning!' and there the +little chap was, being carried away by the current." + +"Is 'Nestie'--drowned?" and they all noticed the break in Bulldog's +voice, and remembered that if he showed indulgence to anyone it was to +the little English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as one out of +due place. + +"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have taken him home; but he was +very nearly gone," and Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man, +and--and it would have been terrible to see him die before our eyes." + +"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white, and Jock swore afterwards +the tears were in his eyes--but that we did not believe. + +"It was one of the boys, sir"--Robertson's voice was very proud--"and it +was a gallant deed; but I can't give his name, because he made me +promise not to tell." + +The master looked round the school, and there was a flush on his cheek. + +"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal, and Jock stood in +his place. + +"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie." + +"It was Speug, sir, an'--it wes michty; but a' wudna hae telt had ye no +askit, an'--it's no my blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where +Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate. + +"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and Peter, who had obeyed this +order in other circumstances with an immovable countenance, now +presented the face of one who had broken a till. + +"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word of it, that each laddie in +this room may remember it as lang as he lives." + +"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us had started for school ... +and when I got back McGuffie had jumped and was out in the current +waiting for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last, white on the +water, and shouted to Peter, and ... he had him in a minute, and ... +made for shore; big swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it +except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to rub Nestie till he came +round, and ... he smiled to us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to +trouble you chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick, and ... +that's all, sir." + +"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly broke out Speug, goaded +beyond endurance; "ye helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle +tae blame as me." + +"All I did, sir"--and Robertson's face was burning red--"was to meet +Peter and take Nestie off his hands quite near the bank; he had the +danger; I ... did nothing--was too late, in fact, to be of use." + +Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt at exculpation, but +Bulldog was himself again and gripped the reins of authority. + +"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder; "no arguing in my +presence. You're an impudent fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all +your days, the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie in +Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien was that of a dog with a +bad conscience. + +"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought with snowballs; ye've +played truant times without number; and as for your tricks in school, +they're beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the capper on the +concern wi' this business! + +"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence is plain"--and now +Bulldog began to speak with great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie +out of his depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not lift his +head this time; it was going to be a bad case.) + +"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers, but, instead +of acting like ony quiet, decent, well-brought-up laddie, and walking +down to the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed that +the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin), "ye jumped clothes and +all into the Tay." (There was evidently no extenuating feature, and +Peter's expression was hopeless.) + +"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's in ye, Peter McGuffie, +made ye swim out where the river was running strongest and an +able-bodied man wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget yirsel +and risk yer life?" But for the first time there was no bravery left in +Peter to answer; his wickedness was beyond excuse, as he now felt. + +[Illustration: "PETER DARED NOT LIFT HIS HEAD."] + +"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death. And ye did it, +peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've dune since ye came into muirtown +academy? as for you, duncan robertson, ye may say what ye like, but it's +my opinion that ye're no one grain better. Peter got in first, for he's +a perfect genius for mischief--he's aye on the spot--but ye were after +him as soon as ye could--you're art and part, baith o' ye, in the +exploit." it was clear now that dunc was in the same condemnation and +would share the same reward; whereat peter's heart was lifted, for +robertson's treachery cried to heaven for judgment. + +"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"--and Bulldog pointed to +the lists in gold of the former pupils who had distinguished themselves +over the world--prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers, preachers, +lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and an honour to have a place in +it, and there are two new names to be added. + +"Laddies"--and Bulldog came down from his desk and stood opposite the +culprits, whose one wish was that the floor might open beneath them and +swallow them up--"you are the sons of men, and I knew you had the +beginnings of men in you. I am proud ... to shake hands with you, and to +be ... your master. Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes and +change yir clothes, and be back inside half an hour, or it will be the +worse for ye! And, look ye here, I would like to know ... how Nestie +is." + +His walk through the room was always full of majesty, but on that day it +passed imagination, and from time to time he could be heard in a +soliloquy, "A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands, though, men of +their hands! Their fathers' sons! Well done, Peter!" To which the +benches listened with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after this +fashion. + +When the school assembled next Monday morning the boys read in fresh, +shining letters-- + +"Peter McGuffie and Duncan R. S. Robertson, who at the risk of their own +lives saved a schoolfellow from drowning." + +It stood before the school, so that all could see; but if anyone dared +to make a sign in that direction as he passed Speug's desk, his life was +not worth living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug never +completely recovered from the moral disgrace of that day. + + + + +NESTIE + +III + + +It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead and that his father was +the Baptist minister of Muirtown--a denomination whose adherents were +few and whose practices were vaguely associated with the mill lade--and +for two years before he appeared at school Nestie and his father were +quite familiar to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies' +school, not far from the Seminary, where he was much petted by the big +girls, and his father could be seen waiting for him every afternoon at +dismissal time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on being spoken +to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion of lasting sorrow in his +eyes, Mr. Molyneux would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia +MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was a simple fact that when, +meditating his sermon one day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their +midst and his son insisted on introducing him to the boarders and to +Miss Letitia, the poor man went home to bed and left the pulpit next +Sunday to an amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to arrive on +the opposite side of the terrace about a quarter to three, and, as the +hour drew near, reconnoitre the door from behind a clump of bushes at +the foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance with a +bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him shamelessly, and then, catching +sight of the anxious face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash +down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, disappear round the +corner. The minister used to take a hasty survey lest they should become +a sport to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss his boy +was synonymous with mental incapacity, and then--it was a cat of a girl +who oversaw the meeting--they hugged one another for the space of a +whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what can be done if your +heart is in it and your hat is allowed to go without care. Had a +Seminary boy seen the sight--but the savages were caged at that +hour--his feet would have been glued to the ground with amazement, and +he had gone away full of silent gratitude that Providence had cast his +lot north of the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that the +father and son had been separated for, say, six whole hours--or +almost--and it was necessary to re-establish relations. When this had +been done satisfactorily the two crossed a wooden bridge into the Meadow +arm-in-arm--Mr. Molyneux unconsciously wearing his hat with a rakish air +on the side of his head. Between this hour and sunset was their +pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did were varied and +remarkable. Sometimes they would disappear into the woods above +Muirtown, and return home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden with +wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they planted in their tiny +garden and watered together with tender solicitude. Other times they +played what was supposed to be golf over a course of their own selection +and creation at the top of the Meadow, and if by any chance the minister +got a ball into a hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister +apologised for his insolent success. Times there were--warm, summer +days--when the minister would bring a book with him and read to Nestie +as they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these days they would +fall a-talking, and it would end in a photograph being taken from a +case, and after they had studied it together, both would kiss the face, +which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular frequenters of the +North Meadow began to take an interest in the pair, so that the golfers +would cry "Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the way of the +balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the chief of the salmon-fishers +and a man of rosy countenance, rowed them up to Woody Island, and then +allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the North Meadow and +beneath the two bridges, and landed them at the South Meadow, refusing +all recompense with fierce words. Motherly old ladies whose families +were off their hands, and who took in the situation at a glance, used to +engage Mr. Molyneux in conversation in order to warn him about Nestie's +flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp at nightfall. And many who +never spoke to them, and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment +with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the tears of things as the +pair, strange and lonely, yet contented and happy, passed them in the +evening. + +When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss Letitia's, his father +began to hang round the Seminary taking observations, and his heart was +heavy within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at football--a dozen +of the aboriginal savages fighting together in a heap, a mass of legs, +arms, heads--and been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians +and English, from which he emerged without his hat, umbrella, or book, +and after he had been eyewitness of an encounter between Jock Howieson +and Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered to teach +Nestie at home. + +"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie, and I am not sure +whether you are quite ... fit for their ... habits. There is a master, +too, called ... Bulldog, and I am afraid----" and Mr. Molyneux looked +wistfully at his boy. + +"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't d-deserve two lumps of +sugar," for ever since they were alone he had taken his mother's place +and poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward? A boy must learn to +play games, you know, and they won't be hard on a little chap at first. +I'll soon learn f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a +little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother was as bwave as ... a +s-soldier?" + +"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux fell into the innocent +little snare. "If you had only seen the pony your mother used to ride on +her father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do you know, nobody +could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress. It r-reared and ... k-kicked, +Nestie"--the little man spoke with awe--"and once ran away; but your +mother could always manage it. She looked so handsome on 'Gypsy'; and +you have her spirit. I'm very ... t-timid." + +"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's real d-danger." +Nestie was now on his father's knee, with a hand round his neck. "Who +faced the cow on the meadows when she was charging, and the nurse had +left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the truth." + +"That was because ... the poor little man would have been killed ... +anyone would have d-done that, and ... I d-did not think what I was +d-doing...." + +"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father shamefully, even unto his +face; "and everybody read in the paper how the child wasn't near the +cow, and the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you ... ran away; +for shame, now! + +"Did you go to the people that had the dip ... dip ... in the throat, or +not?--that's a word I can't manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and +the girls say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic--Victoria +Cwoss." + +"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty." + +"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary, pater;" and so he went. + +"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in the centre of the large +entrance hall where his father had left him, a neat, slim little figure +in an Eton suit and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads in +kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland bonnets in various +stages of roughness and decay. + +"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he looked round with a +bright little smile, although inwardly very nervous. + +"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague sense that Nestie, with +his finished little manner, his English accent, his unusual dress, and +his high-sounding name, was an offence to the Seminary. "Get yir hat oot +o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's straw skimming into the forbidden +"well." + +Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited the temper which +mistressed "Gypsy," and boys who remembered Speug's first exploit +expected to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face. + +"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an instant later, and he +recovered his hat very neatly. "I can leap a little, you know, not +m-much yet," and again he smiled round the ring. + +Nothing quite like this had happened before in the Seminary, and there +was a pause in the proceedings, which was the salvation of Nestie, and +far more of Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first sight of +Nestie and had been considering the whole situation in silence. Peter +had a sudden inspiration. + +"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost kindly accent, +moving a little forward as for purposes of identification. + +"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but perhaps you would like +to say Molyneux. What is your name?" + +"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it runs on the +tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie, or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi' +ye gie's a cry." And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter sent +the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well" just as Bulldog came down +to his room. + +"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the owner of the bonnet +and passed on to his class-room. "In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore +the schule comes." + +"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that worthy followed him +mechanically, while the school held their breath; "it would be kind of +you to intwodoosh--it's a little difficult that word--me to the +master." + +"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog at the sight of the two, +for speech was paralysed in Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity. + +"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna mind it ... Nestie ... +he dinna know the way...." And Speug broke down and cast a despairing +look at the cane. + +"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who were making fun of me, and +I asked him to bwing me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite." + +"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion with unconcealed +delight; "that is quite his public character in this school, and there's +nobody better known. My advice"--here Bulldog stopped, and looked from +Speug to Nestie as one who was about to say something and had changed +his mind--"is to ... be friends with Peter." + +So when the school took their places Nestie was seated next to Speug, +and it was understood in a week that Nestie was ready to take his fair +share in any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the baser +sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie, he had to balance +accounts with Speug, and that the last farthing would be faithfully +exacted. + +As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that Speug was a young +gentleman of high conduct and excellent manners--and Nestie, with all +his sweetness, was as obstinate as a mule--nothing remained for Speug +but to act as far as he could up to his new character. With this example +of diligence by his side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged +from long division and plunged into the rule of three, while Nestie +marvelled at his accomplishments--"for I'm not a clever chap like you, +P-Peter." Speug had also accumulated a considerable collection of pencil +sketches, mostly his own, in which life at Muirtown Seminary was treated +very broadly indeed, and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be +appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have some scruple in having +his own name connected with it, it was consigned to the flames, and any +offer of an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur in +Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence. His personal habits +had been negligent to a fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his +hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances he had +overlooked, and would indeed have exposed himself to scathing criticism +had it not been that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as it +went, of a markedly practical turn. + +As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of chivalry, and all the +virtues which he had discovered at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see +him, and so Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening--an +invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward confusion of face. +All the time which could be saved that day from the sermons was devoted +by Mr. Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it was pretty to +see the Molyneuxs going from shop to shop collecting the feast. With +much cunning Nestie had drawn from Speug that fried sausages (pork) with +mashed potatoes, followed up by jam tarts and crowned with (raisin) +cake, was a meal to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and +marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was not watching at the +upper window for Peter's coming he was gloating over the table, and +pater, putting last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran out +and in to see that nothing had been forgotten, for they did not give +many feasts, and this was one of gratitude. Peter was late, because he +had gathered his whole establishment to dress him, including the old +groom, who wished him to go in corduroy breeches and top boots, and +Speug was polished to the extent of shining. He was also so modest that +he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie began to discourse on +his goodness he cast glances at the door and perspired visibly, on which +occasions he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief. Amid all +his experiences on land and water, on horseback and among boys--_i. e._, +savages--he had never yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist, +and he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced, however, to +trifle with the tea, and in the end did very fairly, regaining his +native composure so far as to describe a new horse his father had +bought, and the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables. +Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and showed him his various +treasures--a writing-desk with a secret drawer; _The Sandalwood Traders_ +by Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks complete; and +then he uncovered something hidden in a case, whereat Speug was utterly +astonished. + +"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and some day I'll wear it, +you know; your mother's g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?" + +"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her." And then, anxious to +change the subject, he produced a new knife with six blades. Before +leaving he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to guide him +in their upbringing after a proper fashion. Without having ventured into +the field of sentiment, there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a +way to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such an account of the +tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that night, that the horsedealer, although +not given to Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the little +Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping through the sermon, but +putting five shillings in the plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely +at his father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's +Academy and turned various things over in his mind. + +If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had gone out of Peter +through his friendship with Nestie, he erred greatly, and this Robert +Cosh learned to his cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and +very likely he did not know himself, but he must needs waylay Nestie in +Breadalbane Street one day after schooltime and speak opprobriously to +him, finishing up-- + +"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering (stammering) dookie +(Baptist) minister." + +"My father's one of the best men living"--Nestie was in an honourable +temper--"and you are an ill-bred c-cad." + +Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before Cosh had done with him +had not Speug arrived on the scene, having been in the gundy (candy) +shop not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh had a poor +chance at any time with Peter, but now that worthy's arm was nerved with +fierce indignation, and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh, whose +appearance on arriving home was remarkable. His story was even more so, +and was indeed so affecting, not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh +came into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards to settle +matters. + +"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones charged with dignity, +"to explain the cause of my son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a +poultice on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself for +days." + +[Illustration: "'YOU ARE AN ILL-BRED C-CAD.'"] + +"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons, a' can tell ye, +Bailie; ye're richt to bring him back as sune as ye could; was't +toothache?" + +"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of your scholars, the +maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating scoondrel in Muirtown." + +"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed Bulldog's practical +acquaintance with affairs. "Did ye give Robert Cosh a licking?" + +No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction that was beyond all +evidence. + +"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had ye a justification?" + +Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour had one article at +least--never to tell on a fellow. + +"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw the preparations for +Peter's punishment and could not contain himself. + +"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't tell me that there were +two at puir Robert, Bailie; if Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic +a veeciously inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.' + +"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation. Robert Cosh, what +have ye to say? Speak up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be +sure o' that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but +the truth." + +Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the smallest morsel of truth in +any shape or form, and, in spite of strong encouragement from the +magistrate, preserved an impenetrable silence. + +"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance, "is mair than ordinary +modesty; we 'ill take another witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got +to say?" + +"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my t-temper, and ... and +... I said things ... the pater's ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me +once or twice--but I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir, wanted +to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but that was how it happened." + +"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head taller and much broader +and four years older. Ye called his father names, and then cut his lip +when he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little scratches on yir +own face. That would be Peter. Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain, +and we 'ill go to judgment. + +"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and it does not matter two +brass peens what Robert Cosh says about him, and ye're no an +ill-disposed laddie yersel.' Ye may go to your seat. + +"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what doesna concern ye, and ye +seem to think that Providence gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye +pull him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o' the hands o' +Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark sae neatly this time that I havena +the heart to thrash ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma +man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but yir heart is richt; +see that ye always use yir fists as well as ye did that day. + +"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have been convicted of +three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled a good man--for that three +strokes with the cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the +whole school--for that three strokes; and, lastly, being moved of the +devil, ye went home and told lies to a magistrate--for that six strokes. +Three on each hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count. +Right hand first." + +"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...." + +"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate; "would ye interfere with +the course o' justice in another man's jureesdiction, and you a +magistrate?" And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome manner. + +The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had changed his mind, and +Robert, who had expected great things from the magistrate's protection, +abandoned himself to despair and walked humbly for many days to come. + +Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog, growing uneasy, +called on his way home. + +"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the minor key of Scots +sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox (for such an outlandish name was ever a +trial) is far through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to come +an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation is the feenish. + +"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an' he's verra sober +(weak); but his head's clear, an' the laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae +(sorry) for him, for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm +dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'." + +The gentle little minister was not far from his end, and Nestie was +nursing him as best he could. He sponged his father's face--threatening +to let the soap get into his eyes if he were not obedient--and dried it +with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin brown hair slowly and +caressingly, as he had often done on Sundays when his father was weary. +Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of being afraid, Nestie +smiled a pathetic welcome, which showed either what a poor actor the +master was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar was a very +shrewd little man. + +"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he was n-naughty and got +cold, and he has been so ill; but he must get better, for you know there +are ... just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely without the +pater." + +"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon, for we h-have been +... dear friends, that's how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is +a ... brave little man, as you know, and mother and I will not forget +him ... you came to ask for Nestie, and it was God's will, for I h-have +a f-favour to ask of you." + +Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but said nothing. Only he +took the minister's hand in his and waited. He also put his other arm +round Nestie, and never did he look fiercer. + +"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are all dead; there is +nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie, and he cannot live alone. C-could you +get some family who would be ... where he might be at ... h-home? + +"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a little, for Nestie is a +famous little house-k-keeper; and maybe there's enough to keep him ... +till he grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank, and you'll +... manage for him, won't you?" + +Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not find his voice--for a +wonder, but his hand tightened on the minister's, and he drew Nestie +nearer to him. + +"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have no c-claim on you, for we +are strangers in Muirtown, and you ... have many boys. But you've been +kind to Nestie, and he ... loves you." + +The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his eyes. + +"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice, "I'm willing to manage +Nestie's estate, big or small, and I'll give an account of all +intromissions to the Court, but I must decline to look out a home for +Nestie. + +"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and some of them are very +comforting) "are good freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster +and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like to hear a young +voice." + +Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner than ever--in sound. + +"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and maybe so is mine (Nestie +nodded), so if the wee man wouldna be feared to live wi' ... +Bulldog--oh, I know fine what the rascals call me--he 'ill have a heart +welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father and mother, for yir +laddie at the Day o' Judgment." + +"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all His benefits?' I +cannot thank you ... (the minister was now very weak); but you will not +... miss your reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me, Nestie." + +For a short while he slept, and they watched for any sign of +consciousness. + +"It was too soon"--he was speaking, but not to them--"for Nestie ... to +come, Maud; he must stay ... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his +master will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be a man, +dear." + +The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing the face he loved +and had lost awhile. + +"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute later he was weeping +bitterly and clinging with all his might to the schoolmaster, who came +perilously near to tears himself. + +"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and mother to ye, Nestie," +said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary, +and known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown lads. + + + + +A FAMOUS VICTORY + +IV + + +The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides our two chief enemies, +the "Pennies" and McIntyres, there were, in the holes and corners of the +town, obscure schools where little companies of boys got some kind of +education and were not quite devoid of proper spirit. During a really +respectable snow-storm--which lasted for a month and gave us an +opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement with our +rivals, so that the town of Muirtown was our own for the next seven +days--a scouting party from the Seminary in search of adventures had an +encounter with a Free Kirk school, which was much enjoyed and spoken +about for weeks beside the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out a +permanent campaign by which the boys going home southwards could look in +from time to time on the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness +to take charge of the operation. It was also said that an Episcopal or +Papist school--we made no subtile direct distinctions at the +Seminary--in the northern district might afford some sport, and the +leadership in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the other +captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not last the whole year round even +in a Scots town; but it was wonderful what could be done in summer by +the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and Lennie's English +Grammar, and at the worst there always remained our fists. The pleasure +of planning these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it seemed +to us that by spreading our forces we might have perpetual warfare from +January to December and over the length and breadth of the town, so that +no one would be compelled to return to his home of an evening without +the hope of a battle, and every street of the town would be +distinguished by conflict. Nothing came, however, of those spirited +enterprises that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their mutual +quarrels, which, we understood, were very bitter, and entering +into a covenant of falsehood--their lying filled us with holy +indignation--attacked us front and rear while we were having an innocent +game of Russians and English on the North Meadow. Although taken +unawares and poorly provided with weapons we made a good fight; but in +the end we were scattered so completely that Speug never reached the +school again that day, for which he was thrashed by Bulldog next +morning, and Dunc came in with a front tooth gone and one black eye, +for which he was soundly thrashed at once. + +During all that summer we denounced the amazing meanness of the other +side, and turned over plans for splitting the alliance, so that we might +deal with each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted a +negotiation--watchfully and across the street, for the treachery of the +other side was beyond description--and tried to come to terms with the +representative of our least hated opponent. He even thought, and Peter +was not guileless, that he had secured their neutrality, when they +suddenly burst forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar +school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. His feelings were not +much hurt by the talk, in which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after +he had abandoned negotiation and had settled down to vituperation, but +Seminary boys whose homeward route took them past the hostile +territories had to be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time of +bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, and might have +finally broken its spirit had it not have been for the historical battle +in the beginning of November, when McGuffie and Robertson led us to +victory, and the power of the allies was smashed for years. So great, +indeed, was their defeat that in early spring Peter has been known to +withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the season and of his own +personal profit, for the simple purpose of promenading through the +enemies' sphere of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult in +at their gates. + +One of the schools must have been a charity for the education of poor +lads, since it was known to us as the "Penny School," and it was a +familiar cry ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The Pennies are +coming!" when we promptly turned out to give them the welcome which, to +do them justice, they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny a week +or a penny a month we did not know, or whether, indeed, they paid a +penny at all, but it pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed +beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came at last to wear it +proudly, like many other people who have been called by nicknames and +turned the nickname into an honour, for they would follow up a +particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's a penny for ye!" +They were sturdy varlets, quite indifferent as to boots and stockings, +and equally so as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the +Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary--whose boys had given +pledges to respectability, and who had to answer searching questions as +to their personal appearance every evening--had it not been for +stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a horsedealer, did not +apply an over strict standard of judgment to his son's manners or +exploits, and Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a soldier's +son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline for the Army. + +Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, but it was as +nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's school, which called itself an +academy, and had a Latin master and held examinations and affected +social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew that the Seminary had +existed in the time of Queen Mary, and some said went back to the days +of William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to whether the +present building was then in existence. Everyone also knew that +McIntyre's whole concern belonged to himself, and that he collected the +fees in every class on Friday morning, that he took home what was over +after paying his assistants, and that butcher meat for the McIntyre +family next week depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies from +the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going in to get a new pair of +boots at Meiklewham's would have a fine sense of pride in being measured +by an old opponent whose face had often looked out on him from the mist +of battle. This pretentious and windy institution even attempted the +absurdity of a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost sitting +in state and glaring before him with a Horace in his hands upside down, +McIntyre's minister would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and +courtesy and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary boy been +offered the painful choice, he would almost as soon have gone to the +Pennies as to McIntyre, for in that case he had not been an impostor and +a fraud. + +For a week the weather had been hovering on frost, and on Wednesday +afternoon the snow began to fall with that quiet and steady downpour +which means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great spirits, declaring +to an admiring circle of junior boys that if Providence were kind and +the snow continued there would be something worth living for at the +dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a serious affair, and was +conducted after a scientific fashion, it never commenced until there was +a good body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could be gathered up +without earth and stones. The unpardonable sin of our warfare was +slipping a stone into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the +wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime was cast out from +every school. There was a general understanding between parties that the +mercies were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to refrain +themselves until there was a fair and lasting supply of ammunition. It +was still snowing on Thursday morning, and there were some who said that +war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson, ever a daring and rash +spirit, declared we should repent it if we were not ready against one +o'clock. Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing was likely +to take place that day except desultory skirmishes, and that the whole +day ought to be spent in accumulating a store of snowballs against +Friday, when there was no question that we should have to face the +united schools in a decisive battle. This was the only instance where +our captains ever made a mistake, and they atoned for their error of +judgment by the valour and skill with which they retrieved what seemed a +hopeless defeat. + +As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could be seen glancing +anxiously out at the window, and he secured an opportunity with Dunc for +a hasty conference during the geometry lesson. About a quarter to one he +turned from his slate and cocked his ear, and in two minutes afterwards +every boy in Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had begun and +that we had been taken by surprise. Scouts from McIntyre's, as we +afterwards learned, had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a +school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our playground. They +had carried back news that we were not yet prepared for battle, and our +firm opinion was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's had +allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in order to take us at a +disadvantage. Before the bell rang and the senior classes were dismissed +the Seminary knew that our enemies had seized the field of battle, but +we did not know until we came out the extent of the disaster. + +The Pennies had come down the back street and had established +themselves opposite the narrow entrance between two sheds through which +three only could walk abreast from our playground to the street. They +had also sent a daring body of their lighter and more agile lads to the +top of the sheds which separated our playground from the street, and +they had conveyed down an enormous store of ammunition, so that the +courtyard was absolutely at their mercy, and anyone emerging from the +corridor was received with a shower of well-made and hard snowballs +against which there was no standing. Even if we ran this risk and +crossed the open space we could then be raked by the fire from the shed, +and a charge through the narrow passage to the street would be in the +last degree hazardous. There were twelve feet of passage, and there were +not many who would care to face a stream of snowballs driven by the +vigorous hands of the Pennies down this passage as through a pipe. +Instead of meeting our enemies on the street, we had been penned up +within our own school. McIntyre's had come down the terrace and seized +an excellent position behind two Russian guns which stood opposite our +school and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They had made +these guns into a kind of fort, from behind whose shelter, reinforced by +a slight barricade of jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had +driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless discomfiture. It came +upon us that we had been shut up back and front, and shut up with the +poorest supply of snowballs and very little snow with which to repair +our resources. + +[Illustration: "SEIZED AN EXCELLENT POSITION BEHIND TWO RUSSIAN GUNS."] + +While the younger boys raged and stormed in the safety of the corridors, +Dunc and Speug retired for consultation. In two minutes they came out +and gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered together round the +"well" and in the "well," and on the stairs and along the corridors. It +was at this moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name which he covered +with glory before the close of the day. As he had no class between +twelve and one, he had been observing events, and with the aid of two or +three other little boys had done what he could to repair the neglect of +yesterday. In spite of a rain of snowballs he had availed himself of a +sheltered corner in the playground and had worked without ceasing at the +preparation of the balls. Every ball as it was made was dipped into a +pail of water and then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was +soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two hundred balls +ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head on his shoulders. Now," said Speug, +speaking from halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for a +beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to the open. As soon as +we've cleared the background every ane o' the two junior classes is to +mak' balls as hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the fighting +line. + +"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions; Dunc will take +thirty of ye and drive McIntyre frae the guns and along the terrace till +ye turn them into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye--and I want nae +Dowbiggins--'ll come with me, and we'll bring the Pennies aff the shed +quicker than they got up, and drive them up the back streets till we +land them wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors 'ill keep +us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and me will ken the reason at two +o'clock. + +"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows that can run and are +no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll rin round by the North Street and the +Cathedral and come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut off +McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools. Dae nothin' till ye see +Dunc and me drivin' the lot up Breadalbane Street, then come down from +the back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin' they'll be +wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a' be done." + +Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch, each boy supplied with +two balls and with twenty youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's +balls were falling on the front wall and coming in through the porch. +One of them struck Dunc on the side of the head, but he forbade any +return fire. + +"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the better for us"; +and then, looking round, "Are ye ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary! +Seminary!" he led his division across the terrace and fell upon +McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short, sharp scrimmage, during +which Dunc levelled the leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began +to retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand encounter +and scuffle on the snow. As soon as Dunc's division had cleared the +front, Jock Howieson collected his lads and started along the terrace in +the opposite direction at a sharp run, carrying no balls, for they +intended to make them on the scene of operation. When the other two +divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful band. "MacFarlane, take +six birkies, climb up the waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed, +couping the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad at the +fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o' the left-hand shed, and +'gin ye can clout that Penny that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach +him to keep in the street next day. + +"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie and Jamie Johnston 'ill +lead ye down the passage. We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak' +'em, and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in yir hand. Pit +yir bonnits in yir pocket--they'll no be muckle use--button yir jackets, +and when the three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow close +in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug, who was in his glory that +day. "I'll need a laddie to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a +laddie that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time." Below thirty +of the junior school were waiting and looking at Speug like dogs for a +biscuit. He threw his eye over the group, any one of which would have +given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown in a cricket bat +and his last kite, to have been chosen. + +"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white and ye're terrible +polite, but there's a sperit in ye. Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and +noo, you juniors, aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's +well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a ball when we drive +the Pennies down the back road." Then Speug moved to the back corridor +and arranged his division, with Nestie behind him, and Bauldie and Jamie +Johnston on the right hand and on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's +detachments close behind, who were to turn off to the right hand and the +left as they emerged from the corridor; the rest were to follow Speug +through the passage of danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in +the hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see that they +would leave a mark when they struck a Penny. The third he took in his +right hand, and Nestie had the reserve. + +"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better gae in and sit doun +beside the fire with the Dowbiggins," and since nobody responded to this +genial invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and in a minute +was across the playground and at the mouth of the passage, while +Mackenzie and MacFarlane were already scrambling up the walls of the +sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and sending his first ball +direct into the face of the foremost Penny, and following it up with a +second and a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a catapolt, +and receiving anything from twelve to twenty balls between him and +Bauldie and Johnston, the three led the way down the passage, Nestie +close behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls. They met at +the outer end of the passage--the Pennies and Speug's lot--and for about +thirty seconds they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting, shouting +boy life, and then, so steady was the play of Speug's fists, so able the +assistance of the other two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so +rapid the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among the Pennies, the +Pennies gave way and Speug and his band burst into the back street, the +leader with his jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars +of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the balls behind him. + +The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face to face in the back +street, with a space of about ten yards between, and both parties made +arrangements for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies could be +seen bringing balls from Breadalbane Street, and the Pennies themselves +made such hasty readjustments of their negligent attire as were +rendered necessary by the vigour of the last fighting. Their commander +was a sturdy lad about fifteen years of age, with a great shock of red +hair and fists like iron. His favourite method of charge was to lead his +army in the form of an inverted V, he being himself at the apex, and to +force his way through the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug +did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself in the centre and +threw out his two lieutenants far out on the right hand and on the left, +so that when the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his +division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right and left +flanks--tactics which in Speug's experience always caused dismay in the +attacking force. The younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample +resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers without jackets now +or bonnets, and as they brought out the supplies of balls through the +passage of victory they received nods of approval from Speug, each nod +being something like a decoration. It was fine to see Speug examining +the balls to see that they were properly made and of a hardness which +would give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies. + +Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude. When the +Seminary lads fought their way through the passage they cut off the +retreat of three Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on the +top of the right-hand shed. + +"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with ironic politeness; +"that's no' the ordinar' road into the Seminary;" and then, as they +hesitated on the edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in +these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he said, "naebody 'ill +touch ye"; and then he ordered an open passage to be made through the +ranks of the Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate Pennies +walked, no one laying a hand upon them, but various humourists +expressing their hopes that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that +it wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a black eye, that they +hoped one of them hadn't lost his jacket on the roof of the shed, and +that they were none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected +to meet them later on--which gracious salutations the Pennies received +in bitter silence as they ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped +clear of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the two armies they +turned round with insulting gestures, and one of them cried, "Ye'll get +yir paiks (thrashing) for this or the day be done!" + +Their arrival among their friends and the slight commotion which it +caused in the front ranks of the Pennies was a chance for Speug, who +gave the signal for the charge and made himself directly for the leader +of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of time can describe the +conflict between the two leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at +close distance, every one going to its mark, and one leaving an +indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous forehead. They then came to +close grip, and there was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for +many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual, they fell upon +wrestling, and here it seemed that Redhead must have the advantage, for +he was taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During the wrestle +there was something like a lull in the fighting, and both Pennies and +Seminaries, now close together, held their hands till Speug, with a +cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by an English groom in +his father's stable, got the advantage, and the two champions came down +in the snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a shout of triumph, +and the scouts running to and fro with the balls behind joined in with, +"Well done, Speug!" + +Speug had all the instincts of a true general and was not the man to +spend his time in unprofitable exultation. It was a great chance to take +the Pennies when they were without their leader and discomfited by his +fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving his way through the midst +of the enemy, who were now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and +Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on either side and were +attacking them in parallel lines. MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down +from the shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear of the +Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but was almost helpless in the +confusion, and thought it the best strategy to make a rush to the clear +ground in the rear of his position, calling his followers after him; and +now the Pennies gathered at the far end of the street, beaten in tactics +and in fighting, but ever strong in heart, and full of insolence. +"That," said Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief +which he carried in his trousers pocket, and hastily attending to some +of his wounds, "that wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit +close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties as Bauldie and +Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie, all bearing scars, clustered round +their commander with expressions of admiration. "Yon was a bonny twirl, +and you coupit him weel." "Sall, they've gotten their licks," while +Speug modestly disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the +Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and that Redhead nearly +got the mastery. + +At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was heard in the rear of the +Pennies, and Speug knew that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the +full length of the terrace and was now fighting them in Breadalbane +Street. "Forward!" cried Speug. "Dunc's on the back of them," and +Redhead at the same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering his +retreat with a shower of balls, and united with McIntyre's, who were +retiring before Robertson and the second division of the Seminaries. +Amid cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan met where the back +street opens into Breadalbane Street, and their divisions amalgamated, +exchanging notes on the battle and examining one another's personal +appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen, and not many jackets, +which had either been left behind or thrown off or torn off in personal +conflict with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but that no one +could tell, and there were some whose waistcoats were now held by one +button. Two or three also had been compelled to drop out of active +battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their faces with snow and +trusting to be able to see clear enough for the final charge; and still +the juniors were making their balls and had established a new magazine +at the end of the terrace. Several of these impenitent little wretches +had themselves been in the thick of the fight, and could be seen +pointing proudly to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What a +time certain mothers would have that evening when their warriors came +home, some of them without caps, which would never be recovered, most of +them with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of them with +disfigured faces, all of them drenched to the skin, and every one of +them full of infinite satisfaction and gladness of heart! Their fathers, +who had heard about the battle before they came home and had not failed +to discover who had won, being all Seminary lads themselves, would also +be much lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the savagery +of their boys, would wonder where the police were, would threaten their +sons with all manner of punishments if this ever happened again, and +would declare their intention of laying a complaint before the chief +constable. As, however, it was absolutely necessary in the interests of +justice that the whole facts should be known before they took action, +they would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative, with every +personal conflict and ruse of war, from their sons, and only when the +last incident had been related would announce their grave and final +displeasure. + +As for the police, who were not numerous in Muirtown, and who lived on +excellent good terms with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have +a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming on, and were detained +by important duty in distant streets. It was always, however, believed +by the Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at the +distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at the far extremity of +Breadalbane Street, following the fight with rapt attention, and in the +case of the Pennies winning, which had been their own school, smacking +their lips and slapping their hands under pretence of warming themselves +in the cold weather, and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching +off in opposite directions, lest they should be tempted to interfere, +which they would have considered contrary to the rules of fair play, +and giving their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some ingenuous +modern person will ask, "What were the masters of the Seminary about +during this hour?" The Rector was sitting by the fire in his +retiring-room, reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint sounds of +war reached his ears he would stir the fire and lament, like the quiet +old scholar that he was, that Providence had made him ruler of such a +band of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope that his +barbarians would not come off second. As for Bulldog, his mind was torn +between two delights--the anticipation of the exercise which he would +have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were having to-day--and +nothing more entirely endeared Bulldog to his savages than the fact +that, instead of going home to dinner during this hour, which was his +usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit. He was obliged to buy +it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane Street, from which he could command +a perfect view of the whole battle, especially as he happened to stand +in the doorway of the shop, and never returned to school till the crisis +of war was over. He was careful to explain to the school that he had +himself gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders in mischief, +and it was on such an occasion that Speug, keeping his right cheek +immovable towards Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with +irresistible effect. + +Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown Seminary, who had been a +sergeant in the Black Watch and had been wounded three times in the +Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector and reinforced by all +law-abiding parents, were to prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the +school for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such an +unfortunate affair take place he was directed to plunge into the midst +and by force of arm to bring the Seminaries home to their own fireside, +leaving rough and rude schools like the Pennies and McIntyre's to fight +at their wicked will. For did not the Seminary lads move in polite +society, except Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have +become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to say nothing of bailies +on the bench and elders of the Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal +McGlashan carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter as in +the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations which Speug and +he had together in anticipation of the snow time, when you may believe +if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting Speug to obedience +and gentleness, or if you please that he was giving the commander of the +Seminary certain useful hints which he himself had picked up from the +"red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that when the Seminaries went out +that day in battle array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires with +great diligence, so that he was not able to see them depart. Afterwards +it was the merest duty for him to stand at the end of the passage of +victory, lest the Pennies or any other person should venture on another +outrage; and if he was late in calling his boys back from Breadalbane +Street, that was only because the cold had made his wounds to smart +again, and he could only follow them in the rear till the battle was +over. When the evil was done there was no use of vain regret, and in the +afternoon the sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts of +the battle from one and another, and then he would declare that there +were lads in Muirtown Seminary who would have done well at Inkermann and +the storming of the Redan. + +Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight, with the back road to +the Seminary on the right hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the +Pennies on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations, for it +gave opportunity for deploying in divisions, for front attack and for +flank, as well as for royal charges which extended across the street. +McIntyres and Pennies had been recruited from their several schools and +supplied afresh with ammunition. Redhead took command of the united +force and arranged them across the street in his favourite wedge, with +the base resting on the home street, and this time he gave the signal, +and so impetuous was their charge that they drove their way almost +through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself, through sheer +weight of attack, was laid flat in the middle of the street. Robertson +and his officers rallied their forces, but it was possible that the +Seminaries might have lost the day had it not been for the masterly +foresight of Speug and the opportune arrival of Jock Howieson. That +worthy had taken his division by a circuitous route, in which they had +been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal school which wanted a fight on +its own account and had to receive some passing attention. A little +late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then, judging it better not to +come down Breadalbane Street, where his attack would have been exposed, +he made his way on the right of the street by passages known only to +himself, and having supplied his division with ammunition from a +snow-drift in a back entry, he came into the home street, which was the +only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them off from their base. +Leaving a handful of lads to prevent the scouts coming out from the +Pennies or the McIntyres with information, and driving before him the +ammunition train of the enemy, he came round into Breadalbane Street +with twenty-five tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and +just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting man to have spent +something like half an hour wandering round circuitous streets and +holding ridiculous conflicts with unknown schools when the battle of +Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown, was hanging in the +balance. + +Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the new division they were +upon his rear, and a play of snowballs fell upon the back of the +Pennies. This was more than even veteran forces could endure, and in +spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired his balls alternately +back and forward, his forces fell into a panic. They broke and drove +their way through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment from +balls fired at a distance of a few feet, and then, in spite of the +efforts of their officers, who fought till they were black and blue, but +chiefly red, the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping the +rearguard of Howieson's before them like straws in a stream, made for +their respective schools. The Seminaries in one united body, headed by +the three commanders and attended by the whole junior school, visited +the Pennies' school first, whose gates were promptly closed, and having +challenged the Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and fight like +men--Redhead being offered the chance of single combat with Dunc or +Speug or Jock Howieson--the Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's +Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning had no gate, Speug led +the Seminaries into the centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys +having no spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-rooms. +As they would not come out, in spite of a shower of courteous +invitations, Speug stood in the centre of their courtyard and called the +gods to witness that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries +had won. A marvellous figure was he, without bonnet, without collar, +without tie, without jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but +a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers, but glorious in +victory. Taking a snowball from Nestie, who was standing by his side, +openly and in face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window, he sent +it with unerring aim through the largest pane of glass in McIntyre's own +room. "That," said Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here." +Then he collected his forces and led them home down the cross street and +into Breadalbane Street, down the middle of Breadalbane Street, and +round the terrace, and in by the front door into the Seminary. As they +came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and the juniors, who had rushed on +before, met them at the door and gave three cheers, first for Speug, +then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson, which homage and tribute of +victory Speug received with affected contempt but great pride of heart. +In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful henchman, +little Nestie Molyneux, who, always a delicate-looking little laddie, +was now an altogether abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping +hair, and battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of the whole +school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and although since then he has +been in many places and has had various modest triumphs, that still +remains the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life. + + + + +HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY + +V + + +It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents to live in public +and shake hands with every person; but absolute monarchs, who govern +with an iron hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public +mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had walked homeward with +his boys in an affectionate manner, and inquired after their sisters, +like his temporary assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting +babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp, the drawing-master--Augustus de +Lacy Topp--who wore a brown velvet jacket and represented sentiment in a +form verging on lunacy; or if he had invited his classes to drink coffee +in a very shabby little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to +Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson, the stupidest lad in +the Seminary, would have been shocked, and would have felt that the +Creation was out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog was +polite conversation, or private hospitality. His speech was confined to +the class-room, and there was most practical; and his hospitality, +which was generous and widespread, was invariably public. His _rôle_ was +to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted above feeling, and had it not +been for Nestie he had sustained it to the day of his death. + +Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting that he had +approached his century, others being content with "Weel on to eighty." +None hinted at less than seventy. No one could remember his coming to +Muirtown, and none knew whence he came. His birthplace was commonly +believed to be the West Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing +with a case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic. Bailie +McCallum used to refer in convivial moments to his schooldays under +Bulldog, and always left it to be inferred that had it not been for that +tender, fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in Muirtown. +Fathers of families who were elders in the kirk, and verging on grey +hair, would hear no complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the +yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with profit--they now +said--was good enough for their children. He seemed to us in those days +like Melchizedek, without father or mother, beginning or end of days; +and now that Bulldog has lain for many a year in a quiet Perthshire +kirkyard, it is hardly worth while visiting Muirtown Seminary. + +Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the bridge at 8.45, with +such rigid punctuality that the clerks in the Post Office checked the +clock by him, and he returned by the way he had gone, over the North +Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom to close the +administration of discipline at the same hour as the teaching, +considering with justice that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather +take the cane than be kept in, where from the windows he could see the +North Meadow in its greenness, and the river running rapidly on an +afternoon. It would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in a +Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked and could not have +maintained his necessary reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house +upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown from the other side +of the river. It was a hill which began with wood and ended in a lofty +crag; and even from his house, halfway up and among the trees, Bulldog +could look down upon Muirtown, compactly built together on the plain +beneath, and thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily from +its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that Bulldog gave himself to +poetry, but having once varied his usual country holiday by a visit to +Italy, he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that Muirtown +reminded him of Florence as you saw that city from Fiesole, with the +ancient kirk of St. John rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay +instead of the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage in her +cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that the Arno was but a poor, +shrunken river compared with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been +born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown, and always +believed that there was no river to be found anywhere like unto the Tay. +His garden was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance was by a +wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within these walls no one knew, but +many had imagined. Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced +Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the archway, and then it was +in their plan to form a ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from +the top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior and observe +Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's courage failed at the critical +moment, and they returned without news to the disappointed school. + +Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in those days, but the +hardest heart was touched with compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his +father and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced in their +master; but it was with trembling, and the thought of spending the +evening hours and all one's spare time in his genial company excited our +darkest imagination. To write our copy-books and do our problems under +Bulldog's eye was a bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to +life, but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond words. + +As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog was never perfectly +happy except when he was plying the cane, it was taken for granted that +Nestie would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the afternoon of +one day to the morning of the next, and when Nestie appeared, on the +third morning after his change of residence, the school was waiting to +receive him. + +His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side, with his hands in his +pockets, talking at his ease and laughing lightly, amazed us on first +sight, but did not count for much, because we considered this manner a +policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy. After all, he was +only doing what every one of us would have done in the same +circumstances--conciliating the tyrant and covering his own sufferings. +We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with his guardian, and +then we closed in round him and licked our lips, for the story that +Nestie could tell would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading. + +Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with questions which came in +a fine confusion from many voices, and to which he was hardly expected +to give an immediate answer. + +"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has Bulldog tawse in the +house?" "Div ye catch it regular?" "Does he come after you to your +bedroom?" "Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden door locked?" "Could +ye climb over the wall if he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let +ye bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons a' night?" "What +does Bulldog eat for his dinner?" "Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he +ever say onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog sleeping?" +"Are ye feared to be with him?" "Would the police take ye away if he was +hurting ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?" "Would he let ye +make gundy (candy) by the kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at +yir books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?" "What do ye call him in +the house?" "Would ye call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy +if the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in the garden?" "Would +ye daur to lay a finger on them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?" +"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?" And then Speug +interfered, and commanded silence that Nestie might satisfy the +curiosity of the school. + +"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite form of address. "Noo, +Nestie, come awa' wi' yir evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?" + +"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm getting on with +Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with fun, for he'd a nice little sense +of humour, and never could resist the temptation of letting it play upon +our slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare you seem to +know all about what h-happens. I'll j-just tell you something about it, +but it'll make you creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round +Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and if I'm not down at +half-past, Bulldog comes for me with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point +rubbed himself behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six 'p-props' +from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions" (a groan from the school): "for +breakfast we've porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with +Bulldog--one, two, three, four--with the spoonfuls. He's got the c-cane +on the table." ("Gosh" from a boy at the back, and general sympathy.) +"He has the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy." ("It cowes +all.") "There are three regular c-canings every day, one in the morning, +and one in the afternoon, and one before you go to bed." At this point +Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to Nestie's account, and +knew that he had a luxuriant imagination, interfered. + +"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little scoundrel, and ye're +telling lees straicht forward," and the school went into the class-room +divided in opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been feeding +their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but others were inclined to +believe anything of Bulldog's household arrangements. During the hour +Speug studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in the break he +laid hold of that ingenious young gentleman by the ear and led him apart +into a quiet corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth. Nestie +whispered something in Speug's ear which shook even that worthy's +composure. + +"Did ye say rabbits?" + +"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, and Speug was more +confounded than he had ever been in all his blameless life. + +"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if ye tell lees." + +"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell lies, but sometimes I +compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, and he feeds them himself." + +"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"--for this was with us the final test +of truth. + +"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon Speug had so much to +think about that he gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him with +nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably correct drawing of +two lop-eared rabbits. + +Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow together after school, and +before they parted at the bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit +in his new home that evening from Speug; but, although modesty was not +Speug's prevailing characteristic, he would on no account accept the +flattering invitation. Maybe he was going to drive with his father, who +was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was going out on the river in a +boat, or maybe the stable gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose +for a run, or maybe---- + +[Illustration: "NESTIE WHISPERED SOMETHING IN SPEUG'S EAR."] + +"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons, Speug, for once in your +life," said Nestie, who, his head on one side, was studying Speug's +embarrassment. + +"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug, turning a dark red at +this insult. "Nane o' yir impidence." + +"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie, and dodged at the same +time behind a lamp-post. "Why, Speug, I didn't know you were +f-frightened of anything." + +"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it had been Jock Howieson +said that, I'd black his eyes. What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable +little shrimp?" + +"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but just let me g-guess. It +might be climbing the hill; or did you think you might meet one of the +'Pennies,' and he would fight you; or, Speug--an idea occurs to me--do +you feel as if you did not want to spend an hour--just a nice, quiet +hour--all alone with Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in +the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm ashamed of you, when poor +little me has to live with him now every day." + +"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll learn ye to give me +chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog, and I dinna care if he chases me +round the garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming." + +"You _are_ afraid, Speug; you _dare_ not come." And Nestie kept +carefully out of Speug's reach. + +"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this very night at seven +o'clock, but I'll no come in unless ye're at the garden door." + +Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day, and was afraid neither +of man nor beast, but his heart sank within him for the first time in +his life when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to the +residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing but his pledged word, and a +reputation for courage which must not be tarnished, since it rested on +nothing else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door. He was before +his time, and Nestie had not yet come to meet him, and he could allow +his imagination to picture what was within the walls, and what might +befall his unfortunate self before he went down that lane again. His one +consolation and support was in the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the +case, as Nestie had sworn with an oath which never had been broken at +the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that dreadful enclosure, +there was hope for him; for if he knew about anything, he knew about +rabbits, and if anyone had to do with rabbits--and although it was +incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?--there must be +some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog. Speug began to speculate whether +he might not be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits and +examine thoroughly into their condition, and escape from the garden +without a personal interview with its owner; and at the thought thereof +Speug's heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had delighted +the Seminary, none, for its wonder and daring, its sheer amazingness, +could be compared with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie," he +murmured to himself, as he remembered that little Englishman's prodigal +imagination, "is a maist extraordinary leear, but he said 'as sure as +death.'" + +"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have opened the door. Come along +and shake hands with the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And +Speug was dragged along the walk between the gooseberry bushes, which in +no other circumstances would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up +to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution. He heard +someone coming down the walk, and he lifted up his eyes to know the +worst, and in that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted the +unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for the like of that +countenance could not be found on any other man within the United +Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that +Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of justice. The nose and +the chin, and the iron-grey whiskers and hair, and above all those +revolving eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what had happened to +Bulldog's face, for it was like unto that of another man? The sternness +had gone out of it, and--there was no doubt about it--Bulldog was +smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and irresistible smile. +It had taken the iron lines out of his face and shaped his lips to the +kindliest curve, and deprived his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed +the judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given him--it was a +positive fact--another pair of eyes. They still revolved, but not now +like the guns in the turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and +left. They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light from a +harbour tower. There never was such a genial and humoursome face, so +full of fun and humanity, as that which looked down on the speechless +Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation. Where were +the pepper-and-salt trousers and the formal black coat and vest, which +seemed somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's reign? +and the hat, and the gloves, and the stick--what had become of his +trappings? Was there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers, down +at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the seams, as those that +covered the feet of Bulldog in that garden. The very sight of those +slippers, with their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and +ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism, was the first +thing which cheered the heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no +problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to scorn. Where did he ever +get those trousers, and from whose hands did they originally come, +baggy at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden mould and +torn with garden bushes? + +[Illustration: "SPEUG WAS DRAGGED ALONG THE WALK."] + +Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered place on the side +of the hill; but would any person believe that the master of +mathematics, besides writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was +going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two of his pupils, +without the vestige of a waistcoat. Speug now was braced for wonders, +but even he was startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of earlier +age than the trousers, with which it had no connexion in colour. It may +once have had four buttons, but only two were left now; there was a tear +in its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden wall, the +handle of a hammer projected from one pocket, and a pruning-knife from +the other. And if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in the +side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was a knife in his hand, +with six blades and a corkscrew and a gimlet and the thing for taking +the stones out of a horse's hoof--oath again repeated--and Bulldog was +trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his finger. Speug, now +ascending from height to height, was not surprised to see no necktie, +and would have been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a wild +hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it might be crowned with a +Highland bonnet, minus the tails; but instead thereof there was a hat, +possibly once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured, +and worn so rakishly, partly on the back and partly on the side of his +head, that Speug was inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could +befall him in that garden. + +"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing figure. "Ye've been +long of coming. There's something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened +up the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce his knife, which +was not so bad after all, for it had six departments, and one of them +was a file, which was wanting in Bulldog's. + +"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie. "It's split more tops +than any one in the school; it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its +deadly steel point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to look +unconscious as the owner of this instrument of war. + +"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's many a year since +I've spun a top. Where's yir string?" and he strode up the walk winding +the top, and the boys behind looked at one another, while Nestie +triumphed openly. + +"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered. "Ain't he great? And just you +wait; you haven't begun to see things yet, not h-half." + +Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a right hand that had not +lost its cunning, but rather had been strengthened by much cane +exercise. "It's sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to +touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its time, and the +three hung over that top with fond interest, as Bulldog timed the +performance with his watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket. + +"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master. "I would like to +have yir advice," and as they went down through the garden they halted +at a place, and the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and took +crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on the thrushes bade him +welcome, and he showed the boys where the swallows had built every year, +and they also flew round his head. + +"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be afraid o' you, will +they, Dandie?" and the old terrier which followed at his heels wagged +his tail and indicated that he also was on good terms with every living +thing in the garden. + +No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to believe it, even +although Speug tried to inculcate faith with his fists, that Bulldog had +carried out a litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and +that, before the three of them laid themselves out for a supper of +strawberries, Speug had given to his master the best knowledge at his +command on the amount of green food which might be given with safety to +a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down with authority that a +moderate amount of tea-leaves and oatmeal might be allowed as an +occasional dainty. + +After the attack on the strawberries, in which Speug greatly +distinguished himself, and Bulldog urged him on with encouraging words, +they had tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign of cane or +tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the corks himself, and managed once +to drench Speug gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with his +famous red handkerchief and was inordinately proud, while Nestie +declared that the thing had been done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened +him with the tawse for insulting his master. + +"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of rock before ye go," and +Bulldog produced the only rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth +eating--Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure, and rich, and +well-flavoured; and when Speug knew not whether to choose the +peppermint, that is black and white, or the honey rock, which is brown +and creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was red outside and +white within, his host insisted that he should take a piece of each, and +they would last him till he reached his home. + +"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at the garden gate, +"ye're the most aggravating little scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and +the devilry that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're fine +company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and Nestie and me will be +glad to see ye when ye're no engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget +to come, Peter." + +Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely among the rabbits, again +forsook him, but he was able to indicate that he would seize an early +opportunity of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald MacKinnon in his +own home; and when Bulldog thrashed him next day for not having prepared +an exercise the night before, the incident only seemed to complete +Speug's pride and satisfaction. + + + + +THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES + +VI + + +Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience of the Seminary by +various efforts to improve its mind and manners, but when he proposed at +the beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays with botanical +excursions to Kilspindie Woods, which, as everybody knows, are three +miles from Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt that if +there was any moral order in the universe something must happen. From +the middle of September, when the school opened, on to the beginning of +October, when football started, our spare time was given to kites, which +we flew from the North Meadow in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug +had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon upon it painted in +blue and yellow and red--the red for the fire coming out of his +mouth--and a tail of eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened +with a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could have launched the +monster from the ground--bigger than Peter by a foot--and nursed it +through the lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in the +higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the dragon was but the size +of a man's hand in the clear autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon +his back, with his hands below his head, and the stick with the kite +string beneath his feet, and gaze up at the speck above, with an +expression so lifted above this present world that a circle of juniors +could only look at him with silent admiration and speculate whether they +would ever become so good and great. + +It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying was chiefly done upon +your back, for it gave endless opportunities for intricate manoeuvres +and spectacular display. When Peter was in the vein he would collect +twelve mighties--each with a kite worth seeing--and bringing the kites +low enough for the glory of their size and tails to be visible they +would turn and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and distance +with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan would watch the review with +keen interest and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the band +would work their way up to the head of the Meadow in the teeth of a +north-wester, and forming in line, with half a dozen yards between each +boy, would let the kites go and follow them at the run as the kites tore +through the air and almost pulled their owners' arms out of the sockets. +It was so fine a demonstration that the women bleaching their clothes +would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's shirts to let Speug keep his +course--knowing very well that he would have kept it otherwise over the +shirts--and golfers, who expect everyone to get out of their way on pain +of sudden death, would stop upon the putting green to see the kites go +down in the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded at their +heels. If the housewives shook their heads as they spread out the shirts +on the grass again--weighing them down with clean stones that they might +not follow the kites--it was with secret delight, for there is no +wholesome woman who does not rejoice in a boy and regard his most +vexatious mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod, the keenest of +golfers and the most touchy of Celts, declared that this condemned old +Island was not dead yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy +young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty ploy that Mr. Byles +proposed to take the Seminary for a botanical excursion. + +It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr. Byles announced the new +departure, and, even if Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an +inscrutable countenance, the school was too much amazed to interrupt. +Having touched on the glories of the creation amid which we lived, Mr. +Byles pointed out, in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen +terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics as they all did so +diligently--Jock Howieson's eye turned instinctively to Bulldog's +cane--but they must also know some natural science in order to become, +as he hoped they would, cultured men--Speug was just able to cast a +longing glance at Thomas John. That no pursuit was easier and more +delightful than botany, especially among wild flowers. That on Saturday +he proposed to go with as many as would join him to ransack the +treasures of Kilspindie Woods. That these woods were very rich, he +believed, in flowers, among which he mentioned wild geraniums--at which +the school began to recover and rustle. That the boys might dry the +geraniums and make books for Christmas presents with them, and that he +hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary containing all the wild flowers +of the district. The school was now getting into good spirits, and +Bulldog allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy who desired to +improve his mind was to put on his oldest suit and bring a bag to carry +the plants in and be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow. Then +Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk with energy and dismissed the +school, and Nestie told Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch. + +Outside the school gathered together on the terrace around the Russian +guns, which was our Forum, and after five seconds' pause, during which +we gathered inspiration from each others' faces, a great shout of +laughter went up to the sky, full-toned, unanimous, prolonged. Any sense +of humour in the Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany class, +with expeditions, was irresistible. + +"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely tickled; "it cowes a'. +An' what was the ither flooer--'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be +poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be making a book for a +present to Bulldog." + +"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins, who were making +off, as mass meetings did not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir +feet or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if ye do. Give us +a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then there was instant silence, for Nestie +had a nice little trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a +school where delicate gifts were rare. + +"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his hand with Mr. Byles's +favourite polite deprecating gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear +boys, that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet, Peter +McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed, and I 'ope, I mean +h-hope, you will make an effort to l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common +object of Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands--Howieson, I +must ask you not to annoy Thomas John Dowbiggin--the c-colour is a +lovely gold, and yet--no talking, if you please, it is r-rude--we pass +it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take a dandelion h-home to +his sister. Now go hout ... or rather out, quietly." + +"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried Bauldie; and Johnston +passed a half stick of gundy to Nestie to refresh him after his labours. +"Are ony o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles traking thro' +the Kilspindie Woods, with thae bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his +heels, carryin' an airmful o' roots and sic like." + +"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o' Byles and a litter o' +Dowbiggins!"--and Jock was very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a +procession o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe airm in +airm!" + +This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the matter for the +Seminary, as a score of its worthies marching across the bridge in the +interests of science, like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for +ever. So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should see the Byles +expedition off next morning, and then hold a field day of kites in the +meadow. + +The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that means that when a +prim, conventional, respectable man takes in his head to dress as a +Bohemian, the effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious to show +that he could be quite the gay rustic when he pleased, and he was got up +in a cap, much crushed, and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar +corresponding, and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained with +futile chemical experiments. He was also equipped with a large canvas +bag, slung over his shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained +could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place if it were damp +beneath. The Dowbiggins had entered into the spirit of the thing, and +were in clothes reserved for their country holidays. They had each an +umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether were a pair of objects to whom +no one would have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie made him +a social outcast, had declared himself a convert to natural science, and +was sucking up to Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought that +they would like to know something about flowers, made up the Botanical +Society. + +They were a lonely little group standing on the terrace, while Mr. Byles +was securing a trowel and other instruments of war from his room, but a +large and representative gathering of the Seminary did their best to +cheer and instruct them. + +Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which bulged from the bag of +the younger Dowbiggin contained spirituous liquors, and warned the two +juniors to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to drinking. +He also expressed an earnest hope that a rumour flying round the school +about tobacco was not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was +horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a tender care of his +health and personal appearance, not to bully Lord Kilspindie's +gamekeepers, nor to put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with +the rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things not to tell +lies. + +Thomas John was beset with requests--that he would leave a lock of his +hair in case he should not return, that he would mention the name of the +pawn-broker from whom he got his clothes, that he would bring home a +bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, that he would secure a supply of +turnips to make lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr. +Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he would be careful +to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles might drop on the road, and that he +should not use bad language under any circumstances. + +"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said Mr. Byles, who had come +out in time to catch the last exhortation: "it is far better to +himprove, I mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set of +children; but we all hope that you will have a nice fly, don't we, +boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a quarter might have provoked a +demonstration had not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an amazing +circumstance. As the botanists started, Speug, who had maintained an +unusual silence all morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and gave +Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering for scientific +research. After their friends had recovered themselves they buzzed round +the two, who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable affectation +of sedateness, but received no satisfaction. Speug contented himself +with warning off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with the idea +of forming a mock procession, and then giving them a wink of +extraordinary suggestiveness. But Nestie was more communicative, and +explained the situation at length---- + +"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not know it; he fairly +loves g-geranniums, and is sorry that he wasted his time on k-kites and +snowballs. We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we don't want you +to trouble us." But this was not knowledge. + +It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie tailed off at the +bridge, and Speug, halfway across, turned round and winked again, it was +with regret that they betook themselves to their kites, and more than +once they found themselves casting longing glances to the distant woods, +where Speug was now pursuing the study of botany. + +"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung motionless in the sky, +"this is weel enough, but tak' my word for't it's nothing to the game +they're playin' in yon woods." + +"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna see muckle game in that: I +would as soon dig potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had a +prosaic mind and had little imagination. + +"Geranniums! ger---- havers, that's no' what Speug is after, you bet. +He's got a big splore (exploit) on hand or he never crossed Muirtown +Brig in such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. Peter'ill lose +the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill stick them in a bog, or"--and +Jock could hardly hold his kite--"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill +row them over to Woody Island and leave them there till Monday, with +naething but bread and milk and the net to sleep in." And the joy of +Jock and Bauldie at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to +their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of sympathy with +their fellow-creatures. + +If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign on the way to the woods, +for he was a model of propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. He +showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of the Dowbiggins, so that +these two young gentlemen relaxed the vigilant attention with which they +usually regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with Cosh. As for the +master, Peter simply placed himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating +on the extent of the woods and their richness in flowers--"just fair +scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest o' them:" offering to take the +expedition by the nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting +on the number and beauty and tameness of the pheasants, till Mr. Byles +was charmed and was himself surprised at the humanising influence of +scientific pursuits. + +Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore, for he led them by so +direct a way that, before they came to the place of flowers, the +expedition--except the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in +Nestie's charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next door to +babies--had climbed five dykes, all with loose stones, fought through +three thickets very prickly indeed, crawled underneath two hedges, +crossed three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired themselves +times without number. Cosh had jostled against Speug in leaping from one +dry spot to another and come down rolling in the mud, which made his +appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in helping Thomas John out of a +very entangling place, had been so zealous that the seat had been almost +entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and although Mr. Byles +had done his best with pins, the result was not edifying; his brother's +straw hat had fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he jumped +from a wall, and was of no further service, and so the younger +Dowbiggin--"who is so refined in his ways," as his mother used to +say--wore as his headgear a handkerchief which had been used for +cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, whom fate might have +spared, misfortunes had accumulated. His trousers had been sadly mangled +from the knee downwards as he crawled through a hole, and had to be +wound round his legs with string, and although Speug had pulled his cap +out of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as to leave the peak +behind, and he was so clumsy, with the best intentions, that he allowed +another branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side of the head +and left a mark above his eye, which distinctly suggested a prizefight +to anyone not acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character. +Peter himself had come unscathed from the perils of land and water, save +a dash of mud here and there and a suspicion of wet about his feet, +which shows how bad people fare better than good. The company was so +bedraggled and discouraged that their minds did not seem set on wild +flowers, and in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and thoughtful, +led the botanists to a pleasant glade, away from thickets and bogs, +where the pheasants made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. Byles +was much cheered by this change of environment, and grew eloquent on the +graceful shape and varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly +that they gathered round the party, which was not wonderful, as a keeper +fed them every day, but which Mr. Byles explained was due to the +instinct of the beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that we +love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, and made the Dowbiggins +promise that they would never shoot pheasants or any other game, and +there is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as they did not +know one end of a gun from another, and would no sooner have dared to +fire one than they would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought +occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they should now have their +lunch and feed the birds with the fragments. He was wondering also +whether it would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, just to +hold it in the hand and let it go again. + +[Illustration: "THEY WERE SO FRIENDLY THAT THEY GATHERED ROUND THE +PARTY."] + +When things had come to this pass--and he never had expected anything so +good--Speug withdrew unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran +swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with the juniors. + +"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, "div ye see that path? +Cut along it as hard as ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the +Muirtown Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. For Byles +and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's +pheasants that I'm expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht. +Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, "that I savit ye from sic +company." + +"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had disappeared, "I've never +clypit (told tales) once since I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a +nice job, but div ye no' think that the head keeper should know that +poachers are in the preserves?" + +"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's house, "especially +when there's a g-gang of them and such b-bad-looking fellows--v-vice +just written on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young and so +w-wicked." + +"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin' along, as if the dogs were +aifter them?" and the head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's +you, Speug--and what are you doin' in the woods the day? there's no eggs +now." For sporting people are a confederacy, and there was not a +coachman or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve miles of +Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie senior, and not many who did not +also have the acquaintance of his hopeful son. + +"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep our wind richt, an' we +cam on a man and three boys among the pheasants in the low park." + +"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's birds?" + +"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin', but they were feedin' +them, and we saw a net." + +"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, Tom, get up out of yir beds +this meenut; the poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin' them +alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for stock: and broad daylight; +it beats everything. He 'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely. +And the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an' the end o' +September. Dod: it's a depairture in poachin'." And as the sight of Mr. +Byles burst on his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two +Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a specially venturesome +one, the head keeper almost lost the power of speech. + +"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles looked up to see three armed +keepers commanding their helpless party, and one of them purple with +rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could give you a hand in +catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart would be of ony use ... +confound your cheek! + +"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, did ye, +and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they? How is +that, lads? I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for +brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match. Maybe you're a +Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an orphan asylum? + +"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary, that's what you are, is +it, ye awfu' like blackguard, an' the laddies are the sons o' a +respectable Free Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no' +the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir time and try again. I'm +enjoying it. Is't by the hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty +to ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue o' ye. + +"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge a charge o' shot in +ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye, +professor an' students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an' +we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He hasna tried a learned +institution like this since he mounted the bench. March in front, but +dinna try to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic a band +o' waufies!" + +Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, having seen all +without being seen, now started for Muirtown to gather the kite-players +and as many of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival of the +botanists. They were brought in a large spring-cart--Mr. Byles seated +between the head keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three +huddled like calves in the space behind--a mass of mud, tatters, and +misery, from which the solemn, owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap +was now gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As they were handed +over to the police the Seminary, which had been at first struck dumb, +recovered speech and expressed itself with much vivacity. + +"Who would have thought Byles had as much spirit? Sall, he 'ill be +rinnin' horses at Muirtown Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards, +Thomas--yir breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have been hard on +yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?" "Has his Lordship kept yir +bonnet, Dowbiggin?" "It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys are only +in the savage state, and the discomfiture of such immaculate +propriety was very sweet to the Seminary. + +[Illustration: "THEY WERE BROUGHT IN A LARGE SPRING CART."] + +So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper, who saw in Mr. Byles's +effort a new and cunning form of poaching he was not prepared for, and +so weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the Bailie on duty +was for sentencing them at once, and would hardly wait for the testimony +of friends. It took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary +and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from their studies in hot haste and +confusion of face, to clear the accused, and even then the worthy +magistrate thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to administer a +rebuke and warning so solemn that it became one of the treasures of +memory for all Seminary lads. + +"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, and you may go this time; +but let me never see you here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome +to think that an educated man"--this to Byles--"instead of setting an +example to the laddies under your charge, should be accused of a mean +and cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I cannot look at +your face without having grave doubts. And to think that the sons of a +respected minister of the kirk should be found in such company, and with +all the appearance of vagrants, must be a great trial to their father, +and I am sure he has the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I +never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in such a position. +All I can hope is that this will be a lesson to you to keep clear of +evil companions and evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable +citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day--that is all I have to +say." + +Outside the court-room the head keeper caught Speug and gave him his +mind. + +"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that English-speakin' imp is +little better. My belief is that this has been a pliskie (trick) o' +yours frae beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o' +advice--don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, or it will be the +worse for you." + + + + +THE COUNT + +VII + + +If you excluded two or three Englishmen who spoke with an accent +suggestive of an effeminate character, and had a fearsome habit of +walking on the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master at the +Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering, the foreign element +in Muirtown during the classical days consisted of the Count. He never +claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate the title, but he +declined the honour of our title with so much dignity that it seemed +only to prove his right, and by and by he answered to the name with +simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for deprecation, but +which came to be considered a polite acknowledgement. His real name was +not known in Muirtown--not because he had not given it, but because it +could not be pronounced, being largely composed of x's and k's, with an +irritating parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of learning to +spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for it was one of the Count's +foreign ways to carry a card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being +introduced to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card with the right +hand while he took off his hat with the left, and bowed almost to a +right angle. Upon those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane +would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing whether so unholy a +name might not go off and shatter his hand; and during the Count's +obeisance, which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded him +with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, during this performance of +the Count's, used to be divided between regret that any human being +should condescend to such tricks, and profound thankfulness that +Muirtown was not part of a foreign country where people were brought up +with the manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was nourished by +the manner of the Count's dress, which would have been a commonplace on +a _boulevard_, but astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and +always lent an element of piquant interest to our streets. His perfectly +brushed hat, broadish in the brim and curled at the sides, which he wore +at the faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather boots, which +it was supposed he obtained in Paris, and wore out at the rate of a pair +a month--all was unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat which +stimulated conversation. It was so tight and fitted so perfectly, +revealing the outlines of his slender form, and there was such an +indecent absence of waist--waist was a strong point with Muirtown men, +and in the case of persons who had risen to office, like the Provost, +used to run to fifty inches--that a report went round the town that the +Count was a woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than refuted by +the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, which he made with Satanic +ingenuity while you were looking at him, and that he gave a display of +fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment in the barracks, +for it was shrewdly pointed out that those were just the very +accomplishments of French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have +crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost been obliged to +command the Count's departure, had it not been for the shrewdness and +good nature of the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a fair maid +in Muirtown--and in those days she was fairest of her succession: let +this flower lie on her grave. She declared to her friends that she had +watched the Count closely and had never once seen him examine a woman's +dress when the woman wasn't looking; and after that no person of +discernment in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's sex. It was, +however, freely said--and that story was never contradicted--that he +wore stays, and every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his +landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with every wile of +conversation, and even lawyers' wives, pretending to inquire for rooms +for a friend, used to lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but +that worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not quite insensible +to the dignity of a mystery. + +"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after; but beggin' your +pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and my mouth's closed. The Count disna +ken the difference atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the money he wastes +on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; but he never had the blessin' of a +Gospel ministry nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. As +regards stays, whether he wears them or disna wear them I'm no' prepared +to say, for I thank goodness that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes +nor entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The Count pays his +rent in advance every Monday morning; he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I +told him it was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the house, and +if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to support his spine, which I'm +no' sayin' he did, Mistress Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the +weather is inclining to snow." + +His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it may have been +constructed; and it was a pleasant sight to see the Count go down our +main street on a summer afternoon, approving himself with a side glance +in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an attitude at our +bookseller's when a new print was exposed in the window, waving his +cigarette and blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was +considered a "tempting of Providence," making his respectful salutations +to every lady whom he knew, and responding with "Celestial, my friend!" +to Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing weather." When he +sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard, like Solomon in all his glory, that +great man, who always persisted in regarding the Count as a sporting +character, would touch the rim of his hat with his forefinger--an honour +he paid to few--and, after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!" +with much relish. This astounding spectacle very early attracted the +attention of the Seminary boys, and during his first summer in Muirtown +it was agreed that he would make an excellent target for snowball +practice during next winter. The temptation was not one which could have +been resisted, and it is to be feared that the Count would have been +confined to the house when the snow was on the ground had it not been +for an incident which showed him in a new light, and established him, +stays or no stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There had +been a glorious fight on the first day of the war with the "Pennies," +and when they were beaten, a dozen of them, making a brave rearguard +fight, took up their position with the Count's windows as their +background. There were limits to license even in those brave old days, +and it was understood that the windows of houses, especially private +houses, and still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary, +should not be broken, and if they were broken the culprits were hunted +down and interviewed by "Bulldog" at length. When the "Pennies" placed +themselves under the protection of the Count's glass, which was really +an unconscious act of meanness on their part, the Seminary distinctly +hesitated; but Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples as he knew +no fear. + +"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain; and when the "Pennies" +were driven along the street, the windows had been so effectually dashed +that there was not a sound pane of glass in the Count's sitting-room. As +the victorious army returned to their capital, and the heat of battle +died down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in minds not given to +care, for Mistress Jamieson was not the woman to have her glass broken +for nothing, and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with all his +dandyism, would not take this affront lightly. As a matter of fact, +Mistress Jamieson made a personal call upon the Rector that evening, and +explained with much eloquence to that timid, harassed scholar that, +unless his boys were kept in better order, Muirtown would not be a place +for human habitation; and before she left she demanded the blood of the +offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its present condition to Sodom +and Gomorrah. As the Rector was always willing to leave discipline in +the capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners would almost +certainly be in his class in the forenoon, the Count, who had witnessed +the whole battle from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had +afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away the _débris_, went to +give his evidence and identify the culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic +occasion, and he rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful +recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side--the Count carrying +himself with all the grace and dignity of a foreign ambassador come to +settle an international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than ever, +because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that discipline must be +maintained. + +The Count explained with many flourishes that he was desolated to come +for the first time to this so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand +so distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands on him ("Dis the +body mean Lucky Jamieson?" whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had +ever been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded him with a +disdain beyond words.) The Rector of this place of learning had also +done him, an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to come and +assist at this function of justice; and although, as the Count +explained, he was no longer a soldier, obedience was still the breath of +his nostrils. Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to be +questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the Count bowed again to +Bulldog, placing his hand upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming +attitude against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his cane, and +feeling that he had acquitted himself with credit. + +"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir," and Bulldog's glance +conveyed that such a figure as the Count's ought not to be exposed in +snowtime; "but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the +circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of the Seminary are +allowed to exercise themselves in the snowtime within limits. If they +fight wi' neighbouring schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they +break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme penalty. Now, I'm +informed that some of the young scoundrels--and I believe the very +laddies are in this class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to +catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was entirely occupied with +mathematical figures)--"have committed a breach of the peace at Mistress +Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"--and Bulldog regarded the +Count with increasing disfavour, as he thought of such a popinjay giving +evidence against his laddies--"is, to look round this class-room and +point out, so far as ye may be able, any boy or boys who drove a +snowball or snowballs through the windows of your residence." + +During this judicial utterance the eyes of the Count wandered over the +school with the most provoking intelligence, and conveyed even to the +dullest, with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown was not +capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old gentleman, that the boys were a +set of sad dogs, capable of any mischief, that some of them were bound +to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of all that he, the Count, +knew who would get it, and that he was about to give evidence in an +instant with the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When his glance +lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful and unhesitating +recognition that Speug was almost abashed, and knew for certain that for +him at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson, plunging into +arithmetic of his own accord for once, calculated rapidly what would be +his share of the broken glass. Neither of them would have denied what he +did to save himself twenty thrashings; but they shared Bulldog's disgust +that a free-born Scot should be convicted on the evidence of a +foreigner, whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts and +tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to go round seated on the +top of our solitary barrel-organ. + +"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog sternly; and there was a +silence that could be felt, whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out +with the Count's cane. + +The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's face; he became grave and +anxious, and changed from a man of the world, who had been exchanging a +jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in the Court of Justice. + +"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what you call my soul and +conscience," and the Count indicated with his hand where both those +faculties were contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity, I +will say profanity, to break the windows of my good friend and hostess, +Madame Jamieson." + +The Count gave himself to the work of selection, but there was no longer +a ray of intelligence in his face. He was confused and perplexed, he +looked here and he looked there, he made little impatient gestures, he +said a bad French word, he flung up a hand in despair, he turned to +Bulldog with a frantic gesture, as of a man who thought he could have +done something at once, and found he could not do it at all. Once more +he faced the school, and then Speug, with that instinct of acute +observation which belongs to a savage, began to understand, and gave +Howieson a suggestive kick. + +"As a man of honour," said the Count with much solemnity, "I give my +testimony, and I declare that I do not see one of the boys who did +forget themselves yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to +Madame's domicile." + +And it would have been curious if he had seen the boys, for the Count +was looking over their heads, and studying the distant view of the +meadow and the River Tay with evident interest and appreciation. + +The mind of Speug was now clear upon the Count, and Bulldog also +understood, and in two seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy +through a mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical +class-room knew that, although the Count might have had the misfortune +to be born in foreign parts, and did allow himself to dress like a +dancing-master, inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had them on, +there was the heart of a man who would not tell tales on any fellow, and +who also liked his bit of fun. + +"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly concealed satisfaction, +"that ye're no' in a poseetion to recognise the culprits, for if they're +no' here my conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown. We can +ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much obleeged for yir attendance." + +"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which has the fortune to +introduce me to this charming company," and the Count bowed first to +Bulldog and then to the school with such a marked indication in one +direction that Speug almost blushed. "My sorrow is to be so stupid a +witness; but, monsieur, you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor +eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the Count bowed in all +directions, "to replace the glass in Madame's house, and the incident, +pouf! it is forgotten." + +There was a swift glance from all parts of the class-room, and +permission was read in Bulldog's face. Next instant the mathematical +class-room was rent with applause, such as could only be given when +fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and Speug led the +circus. + +"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog came as near as possible +to a bow, "that ye have acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the +boys of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to come and go among +us as ye please." + +The departure of the Count, still bowing, with Bulldog attending him to +the door and offering him overshoes to cover the polished leather boots, +was a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of the morning was +not worth mentioning. + +During the lunch hour the school was harangued in short, pithy terms by +Speug, and in obedience to his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in +a solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave a volley of +cheers. The Count was more gratified than by anything that had happened +to him since he came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the newly +repaired windows he made an eloquent speech, in which he referred to Sir +Walter Scott and Queen Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other +romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the "Pennies" and the +Seminary was worthy of the great Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be _un +brave garçon_; expressed his regret that he could not receive the +school in his limited apartments, but invited them to cross with him to +the Seminary tuck-shop, where he entertained the whole set to Mistress +MacWhae's best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that Mistress +Jamieson should come forward to the window with him and bow to the +school, while he held her hand--which the Count felt would have been a +really interesting tableau. It certainly would have been, but Mistress +Jamieson refused to assist in the most decided terms. + +"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand in hand wi' him, and +bowin', if ye please, to thae blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o' +good character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it would ill set me +to play such tricks. But I'll say this for the Count--he behaved +handsome; and I'm judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in +my house so long as the Count is in it." And there never was. + +It were not possible to imagine anything more different than a Muirtown +boy and the Count; but boys judge by an instinct which never fails +within its own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with all his +foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends gathered around him and +flourished exceedingly, being largely invented by Nestie, and offered +for consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug, who let it be +understood that to deny or even to smile at Nestie's most incredible +invention would be a ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn +a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the Emperor of Austria's +daughter and had been exiled by the imperial parent, but that the +Princess was true to the Count, and that any day he might be called from +Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of Vienna; that he was +himself a king of some mysterious European State, who had been driven +out by conspirators, but whose people were going to restore him, and +that some day Speug would be staying with the Count in his royal abode +and possibly sitting beside him on the throne. During this romance Speug +felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty, which was quite +consistent with keeping a watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal +who might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely ask him what he was +laughing at, and offer to give him something to laugh for. That the +Count was himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society which +extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords, and that whenever +any tyrant became intolerable, the warrant for his death was sent from +Mistress Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed Nestie produced +another, and it was no longer necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy +Indian tales or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction was +now bound up and walking about in the Count. + +[Illustration: "WATCHING A BATTLE ROYAL BETWEEN THE TOPS."] + +Between him and the boys there grew up a fast friendship, and he was +never thoroughly happy now unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He +attended every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned how, +kept the score, giving a cheer at every new run and tearing his hair +when any of his boys were bowled out. He rushed round the football field +without his cane, and generally without his hat; and high above all +cheers could be heard his "Bravo--bravo, forwards! Speug!" as that +enterprising player cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It +mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were ruined, and his +speckless clothes soiled, he would not have cared though he had burst +his stays, so long as the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with +them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health in flowing +ginger-beer. During the play hour his walk seemed ever to bring him to +the North Meadow, and if a ball by accident, for none would have done it +by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his +own pronunciation and bowed in response to this mark of attention. It +was a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands resting on his +knees, watching a battle royal between the tops of Speug and Howieson; +and if anything could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin a +top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown tongues. + +As the boys came to the school in the morning and went home in the +evening up Breadalbane Street, the Count was always sitting at one of +the windows which had been broken, ready to wave his hand to any one who +saluted him, and in the afternoon he would often open the window to get +the school news and to learn whether there would be a match on Saturday. +As time went on this alliance told upon the Count's outer man; he never +lost his gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he ever have +been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had lived to the age of +Methuselah, have been made an elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew +thicker, though they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher, +though they were always well made, and his ties became quieter, and his +week-day hat was like that of other men, and, except on Sundays, +Muirtown never saw the glory of the former days. With his new interest +in life, everyone noticed that the Count had grown simpler and kindlier, +and Muirtown folk, who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt, +began to love him through their boys. He would walk home with Bulldog on +a summer evening, the strangest pair that ever went together; and it was +said that many little improvements for the comfort of the lads, and many +little schemes for their happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the +Count. It was believed that the time did come when he could have +returned to his own land, but that he did not go because he was a lonely +man and had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he died, now many +years ago, he left his little all for the benefit of his "jolly dogs," +and the Count, who had no mourners of his blood, was followed to his +grave by every boy at Muirtown Seminary. + + + + +A TOURNAMENT + +VIII + + +Since the day when Speug and a few young friends had broken every pane +of glass in the Count's windows, and the Count had paid for the damage +like a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all his spare +cash--which we thought afterwards was not very much--in encouraging +athletic exercises among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of every +other convert, was much greater than his knowledge, and left to his own +devices he would certainly have gone far astray; but with the able +assistance of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel, it was +astonishing what a variety could be infused into the sports. When every +ordinary competition had been held, and champions had been declared (and +this had never been done before in the history of the school) for the +hundred yards, the quarter, and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse +and over the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu +meeting of parents), for broad jumping and high jumping, for throwing +the cricket ball and kicking the football, Speug came out with a quite +new programme which was rapturously received, and had it not met with a +cross-providence would have lasted over four happy Saturdays and +considerably reduced the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was +a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be trifled with, and +four boys were saved from death by a salmon cobble, whose owner +fortunately turned up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by +this event that he not only lost his hat in the river, but being +prevented from going in to help, for the very good reason that he could +not swim a stroke, he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel +of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might serve as a +lifebelt. The second item, upon which Speug prided himself very much, +was a climbing match, and for this he had selected a tree which seemed +to be designed for the purpose, since it had a rook's nest on its +highest branch, and no branches at all for the first twenty feet. The +conditions were, that every boy above twelve should have his chance, and +the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into the rook's nest, and +came down in the shortest time, should get the prize. The Seminary above +twelve were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday morning, and in +one kirk next day thanks were offered in the first prayer in peculiarly +dignified and guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had not +been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was killed, and no limbs +were broken, but Speug, who was not allowed to enter for this +competition, but acted as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the +sight of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy, once to +release his friend Howieson, who had missed a branch and was hanging by +his feet, and the second time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended +by the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a gigantic apple on +the branch. It was understood that the Seminary had never enjoyed +themselves so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's moral +courage failed during the performance, and at the most critical moment +he was afraid to look. When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement +of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at church-doors and street +corners, and it was conveyed to the Rector--who knew nothing about the +matter, and was so absent-minded that if he had passed would never have +seen what was going on--that if Providence was going to be tempted in +this fashion again, the matter would be brought before the Town Council. +The Count himself would have been faithfully dealt with had he not been +considered a helpless tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood +to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim. He might indeed have +been at last expelled from the Seminary, of which he was the chief +ornament, had it not been that the Count went to the Rector and +explained that the idea had been his from beginning to end, and that it +was with the utmost difficulty he could induce Speug even to be present. +For, as I said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always stood by +his friends through thick and thin; but the thrashing which Speug got +from Bulldog was monumental, and in preparation for it that ingenious +youth put on three folds of underclothing. + +What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not the punishment, which +was cheap at the money, but the loss of the next two items in his +programme. He had planned a boxing competition, in which the main +feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc Robertson and himself, +to decide finally which was the better man, for they had fought six +times and the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a profligate +genius outside the class-rooms, had also imagined a pony race with +hurdles; and as about twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had +ponies, of which they were always bragging, and Speug had the pick of +his father's stables, he modestly believed that the affair would be +worth seeing. When the hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had +already begun to make entries and to arrange weights with his father's +valuable assistance, he took the matter so much to heart that his health +gave way, and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit at the +Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in the highest spirits and full +of stories. + +For some time after this painful incident the Count lay low and adopted +a deprecating manner when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown; +but he gave his friends to understand that his resources were not at an +end, and that he had a surprise in store for the Seminary. Speug ran +over every form of sport in casual conversation to discover what was in +the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn and grew more mysterious +every day. One Saturday evening in midsummer he took Speug and Nestie +into his confidence, explaining that his idea would be announced to the +assembled school by himself next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to +do, as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or fencing, or +the sword dance. With their permission he would say one word which would +be enough for persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that word +was "Tournament;" and then he would speak of nothing else except the +beauty of the evening light upon the river, which he declared to be +"ravishing," and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate which he +carried in his pocket, and shared generously with his "dogs." As he +parted with his friends the Count tapped his nose and winked at +them--"Tournament--great, magnificent, you will see, ha, ha! you will +see;" and Speug went home in a state of utter confusion, coming finally +to the conclusion that the Count intended to introduce some French game, +and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose the Count tooth +and nail, for everybody knew that French games were only for girls, and +would bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary. During Sunday +Nestie had turned the matter over in his mind, and being full of Scott's +novels he was able on Monday to give the astonished school a full +programme with the most minute particulars. The tournament was to be +held in the North Meadow; the judge was to be the Commander of the +cavalry at the barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to be +herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the Queen of Beauty; and the +combatants were to be such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course +Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie freely suggested +dish-covers would be useful as breastplates, broom-handles would come in +conveniently for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden, sturdy boys +of the lower forms would be used instead. The two knights who challenged +one another would rush from opposite ends of the lists, meet in the +centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to horse, and man to man, and the +one that overthrew the other would receive the prize; and at the thought +of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson, each in full armour, +the delighted school smacked their lips. + +"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody +a shilling that Speug coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting; +but"--feeling as if it were almost too good to be true--"I dinna +believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar." And after the school had +spoken of nothing else for a day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly +whether such things were true. + +"_Mon ami_," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's romance with much +relish, "you will pardon me, but it is a _banalité_, that is what you +call a stupidity, to ask whether so good a _jeu d'esprit_ is true. True? +Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie, he does not +live among facts, he flies in the air, in the atmosphere of poetry. He +is a _raconteur_. A tournament with knights on the North Meadow--good! +Our little Nestie, he has been reading _Ivanhoe_ and he is a +troubadour." And the Count took off his hat in homage to Nestie's +remarkable powers as an author of fiction. + +"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the body, for the mind. +My dogs are jolly dogs; they can run, they can leap, they can swim, they +can kick the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They must write +their very best words, they must show that they have beautiful minds; +and they will do so, I swear they will, in the tournament, which will +not be on the meadow--no; too many cows there, and too many washers of +clothes--but in seclusion, in the class-room of that brave man called +the Bulldog. It will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm, +"of heads: and the best head, that head will have the prize, _voilà _." + +"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down upon his desk that +Wednesday afternoon when the whole upper school was gathered in his +class-room, bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion to +lay before you which he will explain in his own words and which has the +sanction of the Rector. Ye will be pleased to give the Count a +respectful hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog was there +to see that the Count's deserts and his treatment strictly corresponded. + +"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog, "and you," and now he bowed +to the boys, "all my friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a +favour which your politeness will not allow you to refuse. Next Saturday +I will dare to hold a reception in this place, with the permission of +the good Bull---- I do forget myself--I mean the distinguished master. +And when you come, I promise you that I will not offer you coffee--pouf! +it is not for the brave boys I see before me, _non_," and the Count +became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle sentence on +the----" ("Blackboard," suggested Bulldog). "_Merci_, yes, the +blackboard; no, the honourable master he will have the goodness to write +it in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that is all, and you +will sit for one hour in this room where you make your studies, and you +will write all the beautiful things which come into your heads about +that sentence. You will then do me the pleasure of letting me carry +home all those beautiful things, and I will read them; and the writer +who affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of many volumes, +and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost," interpolated Bulldog) "will present it +on the great day in the Town Hall. + +"No one, not even the honourable master himself, will know that leetle +sentence till it be written on the--the----" ("Blackboard," said +Bulldog, with asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many +things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom I do felicitate the +honourable master will write much learning," and the Count made a +graceful inclination in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the +brave boys who love the sport, they will also write, ah! ah!"--and the +Count nodded cheerfully in the direction of Speug--"such wonderful +things. There will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and so it +will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the Count with much +satisfaction, "the fair play." + +Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained that no one need +come unless he wished, but that anyone who didn't come was missing the +opportunity of securing an honourable distinction, and would also show +himself to be an ungrateful little scoundrel for all that the Count had +done for the Seminary. + +"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native shrewdness, "aifter all his +palaver it's naething but anither confounded exercise," for that worthy +had suffered much through impositions, and had never been able to +connect one sentence with another in an intelligent manner. "The +Dowbiggins can go if they want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm +going next Saturday to Woody Island--will you come, Speug?" And it hung +in the balance whether or not the Count would be openly affronted next +Saturday when he found himself in the company of half a dozen "swats," +while his "jolly dogs" were off in a pack to their island of romance. + +Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room on Saturday +afternoon, except under brute force, and yet he felt it would be +ungrateful after all his kindness to leave the Count in the company of +such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance of all the +sporting prizes he had won at the Count's hands, and the sight of the +Count cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart and moved +him to the most unselfish act of his life. "Jock Howieson," said Speug, +with considerable dignity, "ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it +'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black both yir een +for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a match, cricket or football, the +last four years, and the Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports +and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who stands ginger-beer at Lucky +MacWhae's, answer me that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then +clinching every argument on "Who paid for the broken glass? I'm doon +richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson." + +"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock, writhing under this torrent +of reproach. "I think I see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the +Romans, or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room, +and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye 'ill no' play ony tricks +on me, Peter McGuffie." + +"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no' promise to write." + +"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's wiles. + +"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school knew, not only that he +would go, though he had to sit six hours instead of one, but also that +every self-respecting boy in the Seminary must also put in an appearance +at the Count's reception. + +"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on the way home, "since +you p--pulled me out of the Tay, and I should say that you have a good +chance of the prize. What the Count wants is ori--gin--ginality, and I +never heard a chap with so much original talk as you've got, Speug. Just +you put some of it down, like what you give to the P--pennies, and +you'll come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever won." + +"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries were open to all +Scotland," said Speug, "ye would pass the post first and trottin'." + + "HOW I SPENT MY SATURDAY," + +was what the school saw on the board when the Count removed the white +cloth, and then he gave a brief exposition of his desires. + +"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not what you ought, but +what you want. Were you at the cricket match, you will tell me of the +capture of the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear of the +woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate allusion to Mr. +Byles's poaching experiences was much appreciated); "or you were among +the books, then you will describe what you love in them; or you were +looking at a horse, I expect to hear about that horse"; and the whole +school understood that this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an +exact picture of an Irish mare that his father had just bought. "The +subject, ah!" said the Count, "that does not matter; it is the manner, +the style, the _esprit_, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the +good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till you have +finished." + +"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the credit of the school and +to please the Count. If I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part +to teach him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another, out he +goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut, make the most o't," and the +tournament was open. + +Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper, and only giving a casual +glance to see that no one took advantage of the strange circumstances, +was really watching his flock very closely, and checking his judgment of +each one by this new test. Dull, conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins +began at once, in order that they might not lose a moment of time, but +might put as much written stuff upon the paper as possible; yet now and +again they stopped and looked round helplessly because they had no books +and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the first time how +little they had in their own heads. + +"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye were naithing but a +painted show, and it 'ill do ye good to find that out for yirselves." + +Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole matter as a new form of +entertainment, and as he could not have put into anything approaching +connected words the experiences of his last Saturday, he employed the +time in cutting up his unwritten paper into squares of an inch, and +making them into pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind from +being too much absorbed in study. He did this once too often, and +Bulldog went down to call upon him with a cane and with plain, simple +words. + +"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he went back to his desk, +"but there's the making of a man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able +to write a decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots Greys +down to the ground." + +Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under the customary form of +oath, that he would write something, and whatever he wrote he would hand +in, though it was only twenty words, and Speug never went back from his +oath. When Howieson caught the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no +doubt that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he struggled with +strong temptation, and when old friends made facetious signs to him he +hesitated more than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified +amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole mind was devoted to +literary composition, and that he did not know what they meant by this +impertinent intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly jumped +once in his seat as if he had been stung by a wasp, and it is certainly +true that at that moment there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and +first finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was devoted to +literature. The language which Cosh allowed himself to use in the heat +of the moment was so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention, +who told him that if he wanted to say anything like that again he must +say it in Latin, and that he ought to take notice of the excellent +conduct of Peter McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all +unlikely to win the prize. And as the master returned to his seat his +back was seen to shake, and the wink with which Speug favoured the +class, in a brief rest from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery. +Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in--what a poor creature +Cosh was, and what good stuff could be found in Speug; and he also knew +everything that was done--why Cosh had said what he said, and why Speug +at that moment was lost in study. Bulldog was not disappointed when +Nestie's face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew why his +favourite little lad did not write anything for fifteen minutes, but +looked steadily out at the window and across the North Meadow, and he +returned to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction when Nestie at +last settled down to work and wrote without ceasing, except when now and +again he hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his ear to +know how it sounded. For the desire of Bulldog's heart was that Nestie +should win, and if--though that, of course, was too absurd--Speug by the +help of the favouring gods should come in second, Bulldog would feel +that he had not lived in vain. + +"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke your t's," said +Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye how ye're to sign yir names," and +then the Count, who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced +again to the desk. + +"It would be one great joy to have your autographs," said the Count, +"and I would place them in a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour +forbids. As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging, it is +necessary that I be--ah! I have forgotten the word--yes! show the fair +play. No, I must not know the names; for if I read the name of my friend +the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting Speug" (at this +indecent allusion Speug grew purple and gave the bench in front of him +to understand by well-known signs that if they looked at him again he +might give them something to look for outside), "I would say that Speug +is a sportsman but he is not a _littérateur_, and I might not do my +comrade the full justice. And if I read the name of the composed, the +studious, the profound young gentlemen who are before me" (and it was +fortunate the Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would know +that it must be the best before I read it, and that would not be the +fair play. + +"No! you will write on your admirable essay a motto--what you +please--and your name you will put in an envelope, so," and the Count +wrote his own name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful silence, +on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope with a graceful flourish: +"and outside you will put your motto, so it will be all the fair play, +and in the Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to declare +the result. _Voila!_ Has my plan your distinguished approbation?" and +the Count made a respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be fairer, +you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow myself to wish you adieu for +this day." + +When the school assembled for conference among the Russian guns, their +minds were divided between two subjects. The first was what Speug had +written, on which that strenuous student would give no information, +resenting the inquiry both as an insult to his abilities and an +illustration of vain curiosity on the part of the school. Nestie, +however, volunteered the trustworthy information that Speug had spent +his whole time explaining the good which he had got from being kept in +one Saturday forenoon and doing mathematical problems under the eye of +Bulldog. And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter to "suck up" +to the master in this disgraceful fashion just for the sake of getting a +prize. Peter confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done his +best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock Cup, but that he didn't +think there were six words properly spelt from beginning to end, and +that if he escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to half a +dozen bottles of ginger-beer. + +Regarding the winner--for that was the other subject--there was a +unanimous and sad judgment; that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but +that Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would carry off the prize, +as he had carried off all the other prizes; and that, if so, they would +let him know how they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it would +be wise for him to go home with the Count's prize and all the other +prizes in a cab, with the windows up. + +The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the great events in the +Muirtown year, and to it the memory of a Seminary lad goes back with +keen interest. All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies had been +sitting in the class-room of the Seminary, holding Latin books in their +hands, which they opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn +approval over the translation by Thomas John and other chosen worthies, +while the parents wandered from place to place and identified their +sons, who refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was looking. +What mothers endured cannot be put into words, when they saw their +darling boys (whom they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday +clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions that they were +not to break their collars nor soil their jackets, nor disarrange their +hair the whole day, or they need not come home in the evening) turn up +in a class-room before the respectables of Muirtown as if their heads +had not known a brush for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their +white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and an ounce of flour +in a prominent place on their once speckless jacket. + +"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness of despair, "that +is my Jimmy, I canna deny it; but ye may well ask, for he's more like a +street waufie than onything else. On a day like this, and when I see +what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I could almost wish he +had been born a girl." + +"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna speak like that, for it's no +chancy, he micht be taken away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye +your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time I saw him, as I'm +a livin' woman, there wasna more than two inches of his necktie left, +and he was fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel in +the playground. Ye needna expect peace if the Almichty give ye laddies, +but I wouldna change them for lassies--na, na, I'll no' go that length." + +And the two matrons sustained themselves with the thought that if their +boys were only a mere wreck of what they had been in the morning, other +people's boys were no better, and some of them were worse, for one of +them had inflicted such damages on his trousers that, although he was +able to face the public, he had to retire as from the royal presence; +nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive a malignant +dislike to the few boys who were spick and span, and to have a certain +secret pride even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate showed that +they were far removed from the low estate of lassies. + +The great function of the day came off at two o'clock, and before the +hour the hall was packed with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers, +uncles, aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while the boys +themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled than ever, were +scattered throughout the crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and +enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers; others were +gathered in clumps and arranging a reception for the more unpopular +prize-winners; others were prowling up and down the passages, exchanging +sweetmeats and responding (very coldly) to the greeting of relatives in +the seats, for the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad was +that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie +senior came in with the general attention of the audience, and seated +himself in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not that Mr. +McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings, and certainly not +because Speug had ever appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr. +McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the Count and his high +appreciation of what he considered the Count's sporting offer, and Mr. +McGuffie was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings that +he was willing, although he admitted that he had no tip, to have a bet +with anyone in his vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished his +son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie coming in first and half +a length ahead, which was not so much based upon any knowledge of +Nestie's literary qualifications as on the strange friendship between +Nestie and his promising son. As the respectable Free Kirk elder who sat +next Mr. McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr. McGuffie +put a straw in his mouth and timed the arrival of the Provost. + +[Illustration: "BEFORE THE HOUR THE HALL WAS PACKED."] + +When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies and masters, together +with the notables of Muirtown, appeared on the platform, the boys +availed themselves of the license of the day, shouting, cheering, +yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry with pellets of paper +shot with extraordinary dexterity from little elastic catapults, till at +last Bulldog, who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted the +proceedings, rose and demanded silence for the Provost, who explained at +wide intervals that he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the +boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls, but not from the +parents); that he was sure the fathers and mothers were proud of their +boys to-day (climax of howls); that he had once been a boy himself +(unanimous shout of "No" from the boys); that he had even fought in a +snowball fight (loud expressions of horror); that he was glad the +Seminary was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which the Provost's +speech came to an end, and Bulldog rose to keep order). + +One by one the prize-winners were called up from the side of their fond +parents, and if they were liked and had won their prizes with the +goodwill of their fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was +heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day, and loud above it +sounded the voice of Speug, who, though he had never received a prize in +his life, and never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc +Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the half-back of the +fifteen, showed that he had a head as well as hands. When a prig got too +many prizes there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last a +loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from Speug relieved the +feelings of the delighted school, and the unpopular prize-winner left +the platform amid the chorus of the farmyard--cows, sheep, horses, dogs, +cats and a triumphant ass all uniting to do him honour. It was their +day, and Bulldog gave them their rights, provided they did not continue +too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog had the same judgment as +themselves. + +To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering and thirsting for the +declaration of the Count's prize, because there never had been such a +competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was one of our characters. +When he came forward, wonderfully dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole +and waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody in turn, from +the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his reception was monumental and was +crowned by the stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having thanked +the company for their reception, with his hand upon his heart, and +having assured the charming mothers of his young friends of his (the +Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself the slave of +their sisters, and having expressed his profound reverence for the +magistrates (at which several bailies tried to look as if they were only +men, but failed), the Count approached the great moment of the day. + +The papers, he explained upon his honour, were all remarkable, and it +had been impossible for him to sleep, because he could not tear himself +away from the charming reflections of his young friends. (As the boys +recognised this to be only a just compliment to their thoughtful +disposition and literary genius, Bulldog had at last to arise and quell +the storm.) There was one paper, however, which the Count compared to +Mont Blanc, because it rose above all the others. It was "ravishing," +the Count asserted, "superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius." +The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful young women, +it was all one poem. And as the whole hall waited, refusing to breathe, +the Count enjoyed a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished +poem--for it is not prose, it is poetry--I will read his motto." Then +the Count read, "Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the +Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your Excellency to open this +envelope and to read the name to this distinguished audience." Before +the Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope, Speug, who +was in the secret of the motto, jumped up on his seat and, turning with +his face to the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice through the +stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux." And above the great shout that +went up from the throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear, +the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had guessed the winner +without ever seeing the paper. + + + + +MOOSSY + +IX + + +If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the mention of "Moossy," +then it is no use his pleading the years which have passed and the great +affairs which have filled his life; you know at once that he is an +impostor and has never had the privilege of passing through Muirtown +Seminary. Upon the genuine boy--fifty years old now, but green at +heart--the word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it the worries +of life and the years that have gone are forgotten, and the eyes light +up and the face relaxes, and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair +for the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life in the Seminary, +with plain food and strenuous games; with well-worn and well-torn +clothes; where little trouble was taken to give interest to your work, +and little praise awarded when you did it well; where you were bullied +by the stronger fellows without redress, and thrashed for very little +reason; where there were also many coarsenesses which were sickening at +the time to any lad with a sense of decency, and which he is glad, if he +can, to forget; but, at least, there was one oasis in the wilderness +where there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and that was the +"Department of Modern Languages," over which Moossy was supposed to +preside. + +Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now there is a graduate of +the University of Paris and a fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown +French, and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four swordcuts on +his face to explain to Muirtown the mysteries of the German sentence. +Indignant boys, who have heard appetising tales of the days which are +gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental tongues as if they were +serious languages like Latin and Greek, and are actually kept in if they +have not done a French verb. They are required to write an account of +their holidays in German, and are directed to enlarge their vocabulary +by speaking in foreign tongues among themselves. Things have come to +such a pass it is said--but I do not believe one word of this--that the +modern Speug, before he pulls off the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and +flings it into the lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be +careful to say "_Erlauben Sie mir_," and that the modern Dowbiggin, +before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and inquire with mild surprise, +"_Was wollen Sie, mein Freund?_" and precocious lads will delight their +parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their daily bread in the +language and accent of Paris, because for the moment they have forgotten +English. It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake it, that +Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining their necessary wants +in any speech except their own as they were in the days of our fathers, +and that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day, he would get +his food at the buffet by making signs with his fingers, as his father +had done before him and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also take +care, as his fathers did, that he would not be cheated in his change nor +be put upon by any "Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best with +Seminary lads--and their kind elsewhere--but they will not find it easy +to shape their unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded in the +background of his mind that he belongs to an imperial race and is born +to be a ruler, that every man will sooner or later have to speak his +language, and that it is undignified to condescend to French. The Briton +is pleased to know that foreign nations have some means of communication +between themselves--as, indeed, the lower animals have, if you go into +the matter; but since the Almighty has put an English (or Scots) tongue +in his mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence not to use +it. It is, however, an excellent thing to have the graduates, and the +trim class-room, and the tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and +the conversation classes--Speug at a conversation class!--and all the +rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago--and Moossy! + +Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy was a nameless man, for +although it must have been printed on the board in the vestibule of the +school, which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can now hint +at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest his surname. The name of +the Count had been sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him, and +which was the tribute of our respectful admiration, but "Moossy" was a +term of good-humoured contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial +town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but yet, with the instincts +of a race of Chieftains and Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds +between our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No doubt the Count +was womanish in his dress, and had fantastic manners, but we knew he was +a gallant gentleman, who was afraid of nobody and was always ready to +serve his friends; he was _débonnaire_, and counted himself the equal of +anyone in Muirtown, but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was +a little man, to begin with, and had made himself small by stooping till +his head had sunk upon his chest and his shoulders had risen to his +ears; his hair fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his +ill-dressed beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and face showed only +the slightest acquaintance with soap and water, and although Speug was +not always careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than once had +been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to wash himself, yet Speug had a +healthy contempt for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed, +had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, and the cloak which +he wore on a winter day was a scandal to the town. His feet were large +and flat, and his knees touched as the one passed the other, and the +Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight of him shambling across the +North Meadow. He looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so +dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and flung him in our faces. +The Rector was also careless of his dress, and mooned along the road, +but then everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and that if you +woke him from his meditation he would answer you in Greek; but even +Speug understood that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted about +through Muirtown, and filtered down to the boys, that he was a bankrupt +tradesman who had fled from some little German town and landed in +Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little English, and a little +French, as German tradesmen can, he had been appointed by an +undiscriminating Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the Seminary. +It is certain he had very little education and no confidence in himself, +and so he was ever cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury, +for these great men regarded themselves as beings bordering on the +supernatural; and he was ever deferring and giving in to the boys, which +was the maddest thing that any master could do, and only confirmed every +boy in his judgment that Moossy was one of the most miserable of God's +creatures. + +His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded as a pleasant +relaxation after the labours of the day, and to escape from the +government of Bulldog to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, as +we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a tender heart towards the +wants and enjoyments of boys. It goes without saying that no work was +done, for there were only half a dozen who had any desire to work, and +they were not allowed, in justice to themselves and to their fellows, to +waste the mercies which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion, +Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but it failed in his hands the +first time he tried to use it, which was not at all wonderful, as Jock +Howieson, who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as an +invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's cane with a horse-hair, +so that it split into two at a stroke, and one piece flying back struck +Moossy on the face. + +"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's plenty that Bulldog +has a cane, without yon meeserable wretch"; and that was the last effort +which Moossy made to exercise discipline. + +Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the boys would behave and +learn their verbs. For about ten minutes there was quietness, and then, +at the sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form and working +diligently upon a French translation, which he could do better than +Moossy himself, Speug would make a signal to the form, and, leading off +from the foot himself, the form would give one quick, unanimous, and +masterful push, and Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor; +while if, by any possibility, they could land all his books on him as he +lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle, the form was happy and +called in their friends of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at +the noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over and inquire the +cause, that a boy so exemplary and diligent should be sitting on the +floor with the remains of his work around him; and as Thomas John knew +that it would be worth his life to tell the reason, Moossy and he +pretended to regard it as one of the unavoidable accidents of life, and +after Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the ink wiped off +his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form to quietness and diligence. He +knew what had happened, and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum if +he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we all despised him for his +cowardice. Had there been enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just +as Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and then as he sat in +his seat, brazen and unashamed, we would all have respected Moossy, and +no one more than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have had a new +relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited man, in whom there was no +fight, who held a post he was not fit for, and held it to get a poor +living for himself and one who was dearer to him than his own life. So +helpless was he, and so timid, that there were times when the boys grew +weary of their teasing and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb +in order to pass the time. + +When the spring was in their blood--for, like all young animals, they +felt its stirring--then there were wonderful scenes in Moossy's +class-room. He dared not stand in those days between two forms, with his +face to the one and his back to the other, because of the elastic +catapults and the sharp little paper bullets, which, in spite of his +long hair, would always find out his ears; and if he turned round to +face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked theirs, and between +the two he was driven to the end of the room; and then, in his very +presence, without a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle +their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured German, Moossy +prayed for peace. Times there were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting +of the bullet Moossy said bad words, and although they were in German, +the boys knew that it was swearing, and Speug's voice would be loudest +in horror. + +[Illustration: "THOMAS JOHN NEXT INSTANT WAS SITTING ON THE FLOOR."] + +"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear in the Seminary! If +the Town Council gets word of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For +masel'," Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly ashamed." And as +that accomplished young gentleman had acquired in the stables a wealth +of profanity which was the amazement of the school, his protest had all +the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise for what he had said, and +beseech the school neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they +had heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be warning Thomas John +that if he, Speug--censor of morals--caught him cursing and swearing +like Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards bring him +before the Lord Provost and magistrates. + +There was no end to the devices of the Seminary for enjoying themselves +and tormenting Moossy; and had it not been for Nestie, who had some +reserves of taste, the fun would have been much more curious. As it was, +Moossy never knew when he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as +if the class-room for modern languages were the chosen home for the +reptiles of the district. One morning, when he opened his desk, a lively +young Scots terrier puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly +frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed. He had learned to +open the door of his class-room cautiously, not knowing whether a German +Dictionary might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his head. His +ink-bottle would be curiously attached to his French Grammar, so that +when he lifted the book the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink +over his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to his coat. Boys +going up to write on the blackboard, where they never wrote anything but +nonsense, would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon the back of +Moossy's coat as they returned; and if one after the other, adding to +the work of art, could draw what was supposed to be a human face upon +Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the hour. There were +times when Moossy felt the hand even on the looseness of that foolish +coat, and turned suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen impudence +of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into the stolid and unintelligent +expression of Howieson's face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one +boy was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their books and +pronouncing on a principal of their own, would do the verb with him and +continue in a loud and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one +by one, and then they were full of indignation at being hindered in +their studies of the German language. + +Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest his own incompetence +should be exposed and his bread be taken from him; and of this the +boys, with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly aware, and +the torture might have gone on for years had it not been for the +intervention of Bulldog and a certain incident. As the French class-room +was above the mathematical, any special disturbance could be heard in +the quietness below; and whatever else they did, the students of foreign +languages were careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed, +the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's room was the danger of +Bulldog's arrival, who was engaged that hour with the little boys and +had ample leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise above, +and for want of occupation was itching to get at old friends like +Howieson. There are times, however, when even a savage forgets himself, +and one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room reached an historical +height. It had been discovered that any dislike which Moossy may have +had to a puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket, was +nothing to the horror with which he regarded mice. As soon as it was +known that Moossy would as soon have had a tiger in the French +class-room as a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of +foreign languages should take a new departure. One morning the boys came +in with such punctuality, and settled to their work with such demure +diligence, that even Moossy was suspicious and watched them anxiously. +For ten minutes there was nothing heard but the drone of the class +mangling German sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in +consternation, "A mouse!" + +"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?" and Moossy was much shaken. + +"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse was just disappearing +under the desk; "and there's another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is +fair swarming, and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your leg. Take +care, man, for ony sake." + +"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go; I vill the desk ascend," +and with the aid of a chair Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he +entrenched himself against attack, believing that at that height he +would be safe from "mices." + +[Illustration: "THE SCHOOL FELL OVER BENCHES AND OVER ONE ANOTHER."] + +Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had burst upon the French +class-room the scholars should meet the calamity like men, and asked +Moossy's permission to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy and his +pupils had one mind, and the school gave itself to its heart's content, +and without a thought of consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more +difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is doubled when no +one wishes to catch it; and so the school fell over benches, and over +one another, and jumped over the desks and scrambled under them, ever +pretending to have caught a mouse, and really succeeding once in +smothering an unfortunate animal beneath the weight of half a dozen +boys. Thomas John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom by an +accident in which Howieson took a leading part, and the German +Dictionary intended for a mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which +led to an encounter between that indignant youth and Bauldie, in which +mice were forgotten. The blackboard was brought down with a crash, and a +form was securely planted on its ruins. High above the babel Moossy +could be heard crying encouragement, and demanding whether the "mices" +had been caught, but nothing would induce him to come down from his +fastness. When things were at their highest, and gay spirits like Speug +were beginning to conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to a +mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that he had mounted a desk, +not to catch a mouse, but to give a cheer, and was standing there +without collar or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all the +trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered. And it was a +beautiful tribute to the personality of that excellent man, that the +whole room crystallised in an instant, and everyone remained motionless, +frozen, as it were, in the act. + +Bulldog looked round with that calm composure which sat so well upon +him, taking in Moossy perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form, Speug +sitting with easy dignity on the top of Thomas John, and half a dozen +worthies still tied together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to +which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown Seminary. + +"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of ten seconds, "is +evidently a verra divertin' subject of study, and I wonder that any +pupil is left in the department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock, +that ye needed to stand on a form before you could do your German, and I +suppose that is the French class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude, +but I'm pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I really am." + +"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor Moossy came down from +his desk and began to explain. "My impression is that you are right, as +far as I can judge--and I have some acquaintance with the circumstances. +There are a considerable number of mices in this room, a good many more +mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this morning. The mices I +see were in my class-room this morning, and they were very quiet and +peaceable mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after this, +or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse me," and Bulldog embraced +the whole scene in a comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign +class-room and go down and see what my laddies are doing with their +writing"; and when Bulldog closed the door Howieson realised that he +owed his escape to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room, but +that the joyful day in modern languages had come to an end. There would +be no more "mices." + +Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were out for a ramble in the +country, and turning into a lane where the hedgerows were breaking into +green, and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes, they came +upon a sight which made them pause so that they could only stand and +look. Down the lane a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and +broken thing which had seen its best days thirty years ago. In the chair +a woman was sitting, or rather lying, very plainly but comfortably +dressed, and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that she had +suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding to the breath of spring. +As they stood, the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked a +handful of primroses and gave them to the woman; and as he bent over +her, holding up the primroses before her eyes, and as they talked +together, even the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He +adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her position in the chair, and +then went back to drag it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding +track; and the boys stood and stared and looked at one another, for the +man who was caring so gently for this invalid, and toiling so manfully +with the lumbering chair, was Moossy. + +"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't like us to see him. I +say, he ain't a bad sort--Moossy--after all. Bet you a bottle of +g-ginger-beer that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor." + +They were leaving the lane when they heard an exclamation, and going +back they found that the miserable machine had slipped into the ditch +and there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of recovery. With many +an "Ach!" and other words, too, he was bewailing the situation and +hanging over his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and trying +if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the weight upon the lower +side, while every minute the wheel sank deeper in the soft earth. + +"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless v-vagabond?" said +Nestie to Speug. "Come along and give a hand to Moossy," who was so +pleased to get some help in the lonely place that he forgot the +revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the shafts, who had the +strength of a man in his compact little body, and Moossy pulling on the +other side, the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a torrent of +gratitude from Moossy and his wife, partly in English, but mostly in +German, but all quite plain to the boys, for gratitude is always +understood in any language. They came bravely along the lane, Speug +pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to make sure she had not been +hurt, and Nestie plucking flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the +lane, while Moossy declared them to be "_Zwei herzliche Knaben_." + +When they came to the main road, Speug would not give up his work, but +brought the carriage manfully to the little cottage, hidden in a garden, +where Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in--she was so light that +Moossy could lift her himself--she compelled the boys to come in, too, +and Moossy made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange German +cakes, which were not half bad, and to which they both did ample +justice. Going home, Nestie looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie, +and though no words passed it was understood that the days of the +troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of Muirtown were ended. + +During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at the Seminary it would +not be true to say that he became a good or useful master, for he had +neither the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were always +respectful and did their work, for they were very far removed from being +angels; but Moossy did pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he +suffered no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy was not left +to be his own horse from day to day, but that the stronger varlets of +the Seminary should take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach. +Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from sentiment, and he gave +it carefully to be understood that he only did the thing for a joke; but +there is no question that more than once Jock brought Moossy's +carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully along that lane and +other lanes, and it is a fact that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came +out with one of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was +called, was driven far and wide about the country around Muirtown. + +"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist, Speug," said Nestie, +"and I expect to hear that you are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug +promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to be admitted would +be Nestie, and that he would teach him manners. + +It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one died in Germany and +left him a little money, so that he could give up the hopeless drudgery +of the Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon the banks of +the Rhine. His wife, who had been improving under Dr. Manley's care, +began to brisk up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when one +afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some dozen boys were there to see +them off, and it was Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place +her comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled their +pocket-money--selling one or two treasures to swell the sum--that Moossy +and his wife might go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love, +and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her hands. They still +called him Moossy, as they had done before, and he looked, to tell the +truth, almost as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he was in +great spirits and much touched by the kindness of his tormentors. As the +English mail pulled out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the +boys ran along the platform beside the carriage shaking hands with +Moossy through the open window and passing in their gifts. + +"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable humour, but the last +sight Moossy had of Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow and +waving farewell. + + + + +A LAST RESOURCE + +X + + +That the Rector should be ill and absent from his classes from time to +time was quite in the order of things, because he was a scholar and +absent-minded to a degree--going to bed in the morning, and being got +out of bed in rather less than time for his work; eating when it +occurred to him, but preferring, on the whole, not to eat at all; +wearing very much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he added a +heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in the height of summer and +going without it when there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for +his scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school loved him; +not because he edited a "Cæsar" and compiled a set of Latin exercises, +for which perfectly unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated +him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes past nine, and his +form was able to jeer at Bulldog's boys as they hastened into their +class-room with much discretion at one minute before the hour. Because +he used to be so much taken up with a happy phrase in Horace that he +would forget the presence of his class, and walk up and down before the +fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes he was so hoarse that +he could only communicate with the class by signs, which they +unanimously misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be absent for a +whole week, and his form was thrown in with another, with the result of +much enjoyable friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He was +respected and never was annoyed, not even by ruffians like Howieson, +because everyone knew that the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with +all his eccentric ways, and the _Muirtown Advertiser_ had a leader every +spring on the achievements of his scholars. Edinburgh professors who +came to examine the school used to fill up their speeches on the +prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector, supported by +classical quotations, during which the boys cheered rapturously and the +Rector looked as if he were going to be hung. He was one of the +recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely referred to at municipal +banquets by bailies whose hearts had grown merry within them drinking +the Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration to the toast of +"the Fair City" with the North Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River +Tay and the County Gaol. + +Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may have been his negligences of +dress and occupation in private life--and on this subject Nestie and +Speug told fearful lies--he exhibited the most exasperating regularity +in public, from his copper-plate handwriting to his speckless dress, but +especially by an inhuman and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one with +a heart within him and some regard to the comfort of his fellow +creatures, especially boys, had any right to observe times and seasons +with such exactness. During all our time, except on the one great +occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be ill, not even with a +cold; and it was said that he never had been for a day off duty, even in +the generation before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce of +superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease, and there was a feeling +in the background of our minds that for any illness to have attacked +Bulldog would have been an act of impertinence which he would have known +how to deal with. It was firmly believed that for the last fifty +years--and some said eighty, but that was poetry--Bulldog had entered +his class-room every morning, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and +holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to begin work at the stroke of nine. +There was a pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there had +been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind that the bridge had been +drifted up, and no one could cross that morning from the other side. The +boys from the south side of the town had brought news of the drift to +the school, and the earlier arrivals, who had come in hope of a +snow-fight, were so mightily taken with the news that they hurried to +the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift, and danced with joy +at the thought that on the other side Bulldog was standing, for once +helpless and dismayed. Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son, had +shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog to come over, secure in +the fact that he could not be seen across its height, and in the hope +that Bulldog would not know his voice. When they were weary celebrating +the event, and after a pleasant encounter with a hastily organised +regiment of message boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the +school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready for the midday fight +with the "Pennies." For the pure joy of it they opened the door of the +mathematical class-room, merely to see how it looked when Bulldog was +not there, and found that estimable teacher at his desk, waiting to +receive them with bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in +Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others that he had climbed +over it in the early morning, before Muirtown was awake; but it was +found out afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison, the +salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded river, that it took them +an hour to reach the Muirtown side, and that they had both been nearly +drowned in the adventure. + +"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're a little late, but the +roads are heavy this morning. Come to the fire and warm yir hands before +ye begin yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and Mr. McGuffie +senior used to tell his son with much relish that their hands were +warmed. The school was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog +would be prepared to swim the river rather than miss a day in the +mathematical class-room. + +It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble" season had just +begun, when Howieson, after a vicious and well-directed stroke which won +him three "brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had seen Bulldog +go in; for, notwithstanding the years which came and went, his passing +in was always an occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not +been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that he had not arrived; +and even when the school trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's +desk empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to take advantage +of the circumstances. No one knew where he might be lying in wait, and +from what quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful with +what docility the boys began to work under the mild and beneficent reign +of Mr. Byles, who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins in the +unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon wore on there was certainly +some curiosity, and Nestie was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts; +but it was understood to be a point of honour with Nestie, as a member +of his household, to give no information about Bulldog's movements, and +so the school were none the wiser. There was some wild talk during the +hour, and a dozen stories were afloat by afternoon. Next morning it was +boldly said that Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what truth +was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged Nestie to deny the +slander. That ingenious young gentleman replied vaguely but politely, +and veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant detail that +the school went in for the second day to the class-room rejoicing with +trembling, and not at all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a +carriage and pair, possibly with a large comforter round his throat, but +otherwise full of spirits and perfectly fit for duty. It was only after +the twelve o'clock break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie +that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence, and felt +like the Children of Israel on the other bank of the Red Sea. Some were +for celebrating their independence in the North Meadow and treating Mr. +Byles with absolute contempt; but there were others who judged with some +acuteness that they could have the North Meadow any day, but they might +never again have a full hour in the mathematical class-room without +Bulldog. There seemed a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid +the scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical class went in +to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in high spirits and without one +missing. It is true that the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some +reluctance in attending to their studies, but it was pointed out to them +in a very firm and persuasive way by Speug that it would be disgraceful +for them to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class could not +allow such an act of treachery. Speug was so full of honest feeling that +he saw Thomas John safely within the door, and, since he threatened an +unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold from behind. There +is no perfectly full and accurate account extant of what took place +between twelve and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but what +may be called contributions to history oozed out and were gratefully +welcomed by the school. It was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr. +Byles to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle drew a +fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and being much encouraged by the +applause of the class, and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a +pipe into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked one of Mr. +Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then went to his seat with a sense +of modest worth. That Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic +appreciation, resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and, moved by +a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it from the board; but the senior +members of the class would on no account allow any work by a young but +promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the struggle in wiping +Mr. Byles's own face with the chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of +entering into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went to +Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug, seizing the opportunity so +pleasantly afforded, locked Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and +so kept him out of any further mischief for the rest of the hour. That +as Mr. Byles had been deposed from office on account of his incapacity, +and the place of mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was +unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address, from Bulldog's +desk, replete with popular humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to +be giving such attention to his studies as might have been expected, +Speug ordered that he be brought up for punishment, which was promptly +done by Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of Thomas John's +iniquitous career, Speug gave him the tawse with much faithfulness, +Bauldie seeing that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming fashion; +then that unhappy young gentleman was sent to his seat with a warning +from Speug that this must never occur again. That Nestie, having +stealthily left the room, gave such an accurate imitation of Bulldog's +voice in the passage--"Pack of little fiddlers taking advantage of my +absence; but I'll warm them"--that there was an instantaneous rush for +the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie appeared, the +mathematical class-room was as quiet as pussy, and Speug was +ostentatiously working at a mathematical problem. There are men living +who look back on that day with modest, thankful hearts, finding in its +remembrance a solace in old age for the cares of life; and the scene on +which they dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been whitened for +his abominable trick, standing on the top of Bulldog's desk, and singing +a school song with the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy, +while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled Dowbiggin to join in the +chorus, and Byles could be heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how +soon we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet innocence +of our first years! how poor are the rewards of ambition compared with +the simple pleasures of childhood! + +It could not be expected that we should ever have another day as good +again, but everyone had a firm confidence in the originality of Speug +when it was a question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round the +Russian guns next morning--for, as I have said, the guns were our forum +and place of public address--and, while affecting an attitude of studied +indifference, we waited with desire to hear the plan of campaign from +our leader's lips. But Speug, like all great generals, was full of +surprises, and that morning he was silent and unapproachable. Various +suggestions were made for brightening the mathematical labours and +cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last Howieson, weary of their futility, +proposed that the whole class should go up to the top of the North +Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug broke silence. + +"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh may go with ye, and if +he's drowned it'll be no loss, nor, for that matter, if the half of ye +are carried down the river. For myself, I'm going to the mathematical +class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles I'll fight him in the back yard +in the dinner-hour for half a dozen stone-gingers." + +"Is there onything wrang with your head, Speug?" For the thought of +Peter busy with a triangle under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr. +Byles could only be explained in one way. + +"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists, either. The fact +is----" And then Speug hesitated, realising amid his many excellences a +certain deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie, what are +ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and tell them aboot--what ye told me +this meenut." And the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit, on +which Nestie stood quite unconcerned. + +"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it won't do to-t-to-day. +Bully's very ill, and Doctor Manley is afraid that he may--d-die, and it +would be beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog +is--maybe----" And Nestie came down hurriedly from the gun and went +behind the crowd, while Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive +manner, all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself to be quite +indifferent. + +Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be going hard with Bulldog; +for there was not in broad Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul +in his great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh, with half +a dozen honours of Scotland, England, and France. He had an insight into +cases that was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which nobody +but his own chemist could make up, he had expedients of treatment that +never occurred to any other man, and then he had a way with him that +used to bring people up from the gates of death and fill despairing +relatives with hope. His arrival in the sick room, a little man, with +brusque, sharp, straightforward manner, seemed in itself to change the +whole face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He would not +hear that any disease was serious, but he treated it as if it were; he +would not allow a gloomy face in a sick room, and his language to women +who began to whimper, when he got them outside the room, was such as tom +cats would be ashamed of; and he regarded the idea of any person below +eighty dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence. All +over Perthshire country doctors in their hours of anxiety and perplexity +sent for Manley; and when two men like William McClure and John Manley +took a job in hand together, Death might as well leave and go to +another case, for he would not have a look in with those champions in +the doorway. English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for the +Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and then would go up to +London and swear in the clubs that there was a man down there in a +country town of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End swell +doctors put together. He would not allow big names of diseases to be +used in his hearing, believing that the shadow killed more people than +the reality, and fighting with all his might against the melancholy +delight that Scots people have in serious sickness and other dreary +dispensations. When Manley returned one autumn from a week's holiday and +found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning in the streets over +their minister, because he was dying of diphtheria, and his young wife +asking grace to give her husband up if it were the will of God, Manley +went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation, declaring that to call +a sore throat diphtheria was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a +mere mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for a judgment." +It happened, however, that his treatment was exactly the same as that +for diphtheria, and although he remarked that he didn't know whether it +was necessary for him to come back again for such an ordinary case, he +did drop in by a series of accidents twice a day for more than a week; +and although no one dared to whisper it in his presence, there are +people who think to this day that the minister had diphtheria. As +Manley, however, insisted that it was nothing but a sore throat, the +minister felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation would have +thanked Manley in a body had it not been that he would have laughed +aloud. Many a boy remembered the day when he had been ill and sweating +with terror lest he should die--although he wouldn't have said that to +any living creature--and Manley had come in like a breeze of fresh air, +and declared that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog," with +nothing wrong about him, except the desire to escape for three days from +Bulldog. + +"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the most mischievous +little rascal, except Peter McGuffie, in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll +give you three days in bed, and your mother will let you have something +nice to eat, and then out you go and back to the Seminary," and going +out of the door Manley would turn round and shake his fist at the bed, +"just a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before the boy was +out of bed, but he was never afraid again, and had some heart to fight +his disease. + +Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that, if Manley had allowed +death to be even mentioned in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than +likely that they would never see the master of the mathematical +department again. And boys are a perfect absurdity, for--as sure as +death--they were not glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost +all, with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of them he had +thrashed many times; he had never petted any of them, and never more +than six times, perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But that +morning, as they stood silent, awkward and angry, round the guns, there +is no doubt about it, the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to +see his erect figure and stern face come across the North Meadow, never +to hear him say again from the desk, "Attention to your work, you little +fiddlers"; never to watch him promenading down between the benches, +overseeing each boy's task and stimulating the negligent on some tender +part of their bodies; never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought +of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and Speug, resenting +what he judged the impertinent spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his +head, and "learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody knows, boys have +no sentiment and no feeling, so the collapse of that morning must be set +down to pure cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles ruled over +them without resistance, and might have thrashed them if he had so +pleased and had not ventured to use Bulldog's cane. + +Had they not been boys, they would have called at Bulldog's to learn how +he was. Being boys, they avoided his name and pretended they were +indifferent; but when they met Manley on the bridge that afternoon, and +judged he had come from Bulldog's, they studied his face with the skill +of wild animals, and concluded each one for himself that things were +going badly with the master. They picked up every scrap of information +from their fathers in the evening, although they fiercely resented the +suggestion of their mothers that they would be concerned about "Mr. +MacKinnon's illness"--as if they cared whether a master were ill or +well, as if it were not better for them that he should be ill, +especially such an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother was very +much disappointed by this lack of feeling, and said to her husband at +night that she had expected better things from Archibald; but if she had +gone suddenly into Bauldie's room--for that was his real name, Archibald +being only the thing given in baptism--she would have found that +truculent worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with the blankets, +lest his elder brother, who slept in the same room, should hear him. You +have no reason to believe me, and his mother would not have believed me, +but--as sure as death--Bauldie was crying because Bulldog was sick unto +death. + +Next morning Speug and a couple of friends happened by the merest +accident to be loitering at Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and +examining with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the very time +when that worthy magistrate came out and questioned Dr. Manley "How +things were going up-bye wi' the maister?" + +"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the case; it looks bad, +very bad indeed, and I'm not a croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a +strong man, not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but he has lost +interest in things, and isn't making an effort to get better; just lying +quiet and looking at you--says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get +him waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one." + +"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment at the thought of +Bulldog dying, as it were, of gentleness. + +"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way with those strong, +healthy men, who have never known a day's sickness till they are old; +they break up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog didn't +thrash you and me, else we would have been better men; but he has +attended to our boys." + +"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie shook his head, sadly +mourning over a man who had laid down his life in discharge of +discipline. But the boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened the +strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a heap upon the street, +whereat there was a brisk interchange of ideas, and then the company +went on its way rejoicing. So callous is a boy. + +Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps that was the reason that +Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered, taking offence if anyone looked at +him, and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing +during the dinner-hour. It was supposed that he had broken bounds and +gone to Woody Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and that +while the class was wasting its time with Byles, Peter was playing the +Red Indian. He did not deny the charge next day, and took an hour's +detention in the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time he was +supposed to be stalking Indians behind the trees, and shooting them as +they floated down the river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his +father's stable, hidden from sight, and--as sure as death--Speug was +trying to pray for Bulldog. + +The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of the natural man, and +Mr. McGuffie junior had never been present at any form of family +prayers, nor had he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under any +minister in particular. He had no training in devotional exercises, +although he had enjoyed an elaborate education in profanity under his +father and the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely his own. + +"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say Ye hear onybody. I'm +Peter McGuffie, but mebbe Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good +laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but I'm awful fond of +Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog, God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff +this time I'll never say any bad words again--as sure as death--and I'll +never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's face, and I'll never +steal birds' eggs, and I'll never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash +my face and--my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule, and I'll +do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill +Bulldog." + +When Dr. Manley came out from the master's garden door that evening he +stumbled upon Speug, who was looking very miserable, but began to +whistle violently the moment he was detected, and denied that he had +come to ask for news. + +"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell me lies, for I know +you, Speug, and your father before you. I wish I'd good news to give +you, but I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing from Bulldog." + +For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the road and thrust his hands +deep into his pockets; then the corners of his mouth began to twitch, +and turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while his tough little +body that had stood many a fight shook all over. Doctor Manley was the +first person that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him to protect +him from the gaze of any wandering message boys who might come along the +lane. By and by Speug began to speak between his sobs. + +"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but I dinna like to +let on.... I heard ye say that ye couldna rouse Bulldog to take an +interest in onything, and I thought o' something." + +"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his hands on the boy's +shoulder and encouraged him to proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust +me." + +"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a lickin'; if he juist +had a cane in his hands and a laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be +himsel' again, and--there's no a laddie in schule he's licked as often +as me. And I cam up----" and Speug stuck. + +"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean. You've mentioned the +medicine; 'pon my word, I believe it's just the very thing that will do +the trick. Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what I was +seeking after, and I've been doctoring those Muirtown sinners for more +than thirty years. Come along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and +we'll go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug through the garden +and into the house. "Wait a minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll +come back to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs and +found his friend in the lobby, confused and frightened for the first +time in his life, and Nestie saw the marks of distress upon his face. +"Doctor M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm round his neck) +"you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown. It's awfully d-decent of you, +and it'll p-please Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as +consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought him forward to the +bedside, and at last he had courage to look, and it took him all his +time to play the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so gentle, +with his face almost as white as the pillow, and his hands upon the +bedclothes wasted like to the hands of a skeleton. The master smiled +faintly, and seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars, but +he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in the background and allowed +the boys to manage their own business, being the wisest of men as well +as the kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug and gave him every +encouragement, Peter could not find a word, but stood helpless, biting +his lip and looking the very picture of abject misery. + +"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you. He is very sorry +that you are ill, and so are all the boys. Peter thought you might be +wearying to--to use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a +little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid an old cane he had +hunted up, a cane retired from service, upon the bed within reach of +Bulldog's hand. A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, the +first expression of interest he had shown during his illness. He turned +his head and looked at Peter, the figure of chastened mischief. The +remembrance of the past--the mathematical class-room, the blackboard +with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the scratching of the pens, +came up to him, and his soul was stirred within him. His hand closed +again upon the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw open +upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the +strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers +can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and +overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out +of the room, who went into the garden, and, being joined by the master's +dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while +upstairs in the sick-room Manley declared that Bulldog had turned the +corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers." + +[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED AGAIN UPON THE SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY."] + +The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable-yard, +for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called +him "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat +Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's +phaeton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale +that the doctor was bringing him home with two broken legs as the result +of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-bye in the presence +of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news +of Bulldog's convalescence, and next day stone-ginger was flowing like +water down the throats of the Seminary. + + + + +A PLEASANT SIN + +XI + + +Captious people, such as ministers of religion and old maids of the +precise kind, considered that the Seminary were guilty of many sins and +mentioned them freely; but those excellent people erred through lack of +vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, putting the Dowbiggins' +clothes into a state of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the +"Pennies," having a stand-up fight between two well-matched champions, +say, once a month, and "ragging" Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of +evil, but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the high spirit of +those who were active, and teaching the Christian grace of meekness to +those who were passive. There was only one act which the Seminary knew +it ought not to do, and which all the boys wanted to do, which they +enjoyed very much in doing, and were quite willing to be punished for +doing. The besetting sin of a school--a country school--which will +remain its sin until the days of the millennium have fairly set in, was +playing truant. + +This crime was equivalent to high treason in the State, and consisted in +a boy absenting himself from school without the knowledge of his +parents, and without the consent of his master, for a day or half of a +day. The boy did not disappear because he was ill, for he was on such +occasions outrageously well: nor because he was overburdened by work, +for the truants always guarded themselves against brain fag; nor because +he wanted to hang about the streets, or smoke in secret places. He was +simply seized with the passion of the open air and of the country. To +tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' eggs and watching the +ways of wild animals; to guddle for trout under the stones of some clear +running mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on a summer day, or +to join the haymakers on a farm, and do a full day's work, as long as +lesson time and harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, as if +an animal had broken out from a menagerie; there was joy in thinking, as +you lay beside your burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows +mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their sums, under +Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home in the evening, tired, but +satisfied, and passing the empty Seminary with defiance. There is no +joy--I mean sin--but has its drawbacks, and there were clouds in the +truant's sky. Country folk had their own suspicions when they came on a +couple of boys going at large on a working day, when the school was in +session, as one might have a shrewd guess if he came upon two convicts +in their professional dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But +there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who have escaped from a +cage, unless it be a tigress looking for her dinner, and no one would +have thought of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and +Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished him for his evil +doings--as I shall tell. + +"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, as he came upon them +sitting by the burnside eating bread and cheese and counting up their +trout, "I'm judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, or +mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir health. Or is this +the reward for doing yir work so well? Ye have all the appearance of +scholars." And then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery and +the confusion of the boys. + +"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest mended, and ye mind where +leears go to. But I'm thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk +to wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries in the garden up +by, just about ripe." + +So they all went up to the farm kitchen and had a glorious tuck in, and +were afterwards turned loose among the strawberries, while the farmer +watched them with keen delight and a remembrance of past days. Whose +place in heaven for such deeds of charity is already secure. + +The authorities at home were not so lenient, and the experienced truant +was careful, when he could, to time his arrival home about five o'clock +in the afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and one hour more +of special confinement. According to the truant's code he was not +allowed to tell a lie about his escapade, either at home or at school, +but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed statement of the +truth. If his father charged him with being kept in at school for not +having done his work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed it to +go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. When, however, +a boy was by habit and repute a truant, his father learned by experience +and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had an extra touch of the +sun on his face, and his clothing was disorderly beyond usual, and his +manner was especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please every +person quite remarkable, and if in moments of unconsciousness he seemed +to be chewing the cud of some recent pleasure, the father was apt to +subject him to a searching cross-examination. And his mother had to beg +the boy off with many a plea, such as mothers know how to use; and if +the others did not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, she +could always send the good man back upon his memory, and put it to his +conscience whether he ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin +the boy had inherited from himself. + +It was next morning that the truant really paid for his pleasure; and +the price was sharp, for there was no caning to be compared with that +which followed a day in the country. It was a point of honour that no +boy should show distress; but even veterans bit their lips as the cane +fell first on the right hand and then on the left, and right across the +palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the hand, if the cane was +young and flexible. Speug, though a man of war and able to endure +anything, used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather was cold, +before going in to the inquisition, and after he had received a +switching of the first order he would go down to the lade and cool his +hands in the running water. It was an interesting spectacle to see four +able-bodied sinners, who yesterday had given themselves to the study of +Nature, now kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our waters of +Lethe; but you must remember that they made no moan before the boys, and +no complaint against the master. The school received them with respect +when they came out, and Speug would indicate with a wink and a jerk of +his head that Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to be trifled +with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered cub ventured to come +too near when Peter was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are +that Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to be looking +where he had no business." + +Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some weak-hearted boys, but +it never prevented any of the hardy ruffians from having their day out +when the fever seized them. Playing truant was the same thing for a boy +as bolting for a high-spirited horse; done once, the animal is bound to +try it again, and to both, the joy of their respective sins must be very +much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead and then go astray in cold +blood, because this sin was not an act of malice aforethought--it was a +sudden impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the blood. Had +one determined on Tuesday night to take Wednesday, it might have turned +out in our fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as soon be +playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in the dinner-hour, or, for +that matter, amusing himself in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the +morning ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or +water--arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, and planning how to +escape a lesson he had not prepared; but he was helpless against Nature +if she set herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose outside +the door than the summer air, sweet and fresh, began to play upon his +face and reminded him of a certain wood. As he went through the streets +of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that morning in the +sunshine, brought up a pool where a fat trout was sure to be lying. As +he crossed the North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the +Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and flowers, and sent his +blood a-tingling. The books upon his back grew woefully heavy, and the +Seminary reminded him of the city gaol frowning out on the fields with +its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered by the lade and saw the +clear water running briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a +glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie Woods with +their mysterious depths, and rising high above the houses on the other +side of the river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The bell +rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river is running through his +heart, and the greenery is before his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs +through the open window awakens the instinct of the wild animal in his +breast and invites him to be free. Speug has a slate before him, but he +is not pretending to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, and +sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make its bolt. He catches +Howieson's eye and reads that Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal +of Bauldie whether he prefers compound fractions to a swim, and Bauldie +explains, also by signal, that, much as he loves fractions, he will be +obliging that afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth would +complete the party; and when Speug lifts his eyebrows with great +dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitchell, three desks off, "Piggie," like the +gallant spirit that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be found +wanting. Not a word has been said, and no one will say "Truant" at any +time, but at the next break the four separate themselves quietly and +unobtrusively from their fellows, and by the time the last boy has gone +through the door, they are scudding across the meadow to Speug's +stable-yard, where they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing +more is needed than a hunch of bread and some fish-hooks; but as they +ran Speug had dropped the word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island +was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the town, long and +narrow, formed with a division of the river into its main current and a +sluggish backwater. It was covered with dense brushwood, except where +here and there a patch of green turf was left bare, and the island was +indented with little bays where the river rippled on clean sand and +gravel. It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself in +it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and then you had to find your +comrades by signal; and it had little tracks through it, and there was +one place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to be a cave, and +where certainly two boys could get out of sight if they lay very close +together and did not mind being half smothered. When you went to Woody +Island, and left the mainland, you were understood to blot out the +Seminary and Muirtown and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was +somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the possession of the +children of the forest; the ashes of their fires could be seen any day +there, and you could come upon their wigwams in one of the open spots. +There was a place where they had massacred three trappers and taken +their scalps, and in that cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian +scout, lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth of his rifle +peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned braves at bay for a +whole day. It was a fairy world in which our Indian tales could be +reproduced upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the heroes we had +so often admired. The equipment for the day consisted of four tomahawks +(three axes out of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals +which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols (one belonging to +Speug and the other to Bauldie); a couple of toy rifles--not things for +kids, mark you, but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire +caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage cloth from Peter's +yard; and a kettle for boiling water--I mean cooking the game--which +Jock Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy had to visit his +home on pretence of returning for a book, and bring away the necessary +articles of war and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; and +then everything, axes included, and, if possible, the rifles had to be +hidden away about their persons until the four, skulking by back lanes, +and separating from one another, reached the top of the North Meadow, +after which they went up the bank of the river, none daring to make them +afraid. They were out of bounds now, and the day was before them for +weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into an Indian trapper, and +giving directions about how they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne +Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate whether they would have a +chance of meeting with the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to +try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, because, although +they had not yet entered the Indian territory, the crafty foe might have +scouts out on this side of the river, and in that case there was no hope +of Woody Island. The Indians would be in ambush among the trees on the +bank, and the four would be shot down as they crossed. + +Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's Indians, but a white man--a +renegade--who, to his shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was +always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. This miscreant was +a farmer on the mainland, who was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a +determined objection to any boys, or other savages, except, as I have +said, the Seminole tribe living on the island, and who used to threaten +pains and penalties against anyone whom he caught on his land. One never +knew when he might be about, and it was absolutely necessary to reach +the island without his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug +used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday dinner, and then +creep along the bank of the river and ferry himself across with the +other trappers in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to the +other side of the island and kept there for the return voyage in the +evening, so that the farmer was helpless to reach the island, and could +only address the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from the +bank, which was sent back to him in faithful echo. This forenoon the +farmer happened to be hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite +the island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, for now the four had +to drop down and crawl along through the thick grass by the river's +edge, availing themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay, +with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed so near the +farmer that they could hear him speak and hear the click of the hoes as +the people worked in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously +and looked through between the branches of a shrub, you could see him, +and Bauldie actually covered him with his rifle. The unconscious farmer +knew not that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon Bauldie's +trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his chief, for he would dearly +have loved to fire a cap, but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the +trapper dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards explained that +the renegade had certainly deserved death, but that it was dangerous to +fire with so many of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other +side of the river. By and by the farmer and his people had worked +themselves to the other end of the field, and the trappers, having +ascertained that there were no Indians watching them, prepared to cross. +Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out suddenly and unadvisedly, for +the farmer had chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have +mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, for they would have +stripped and swum across, and back again when they were tired of the +other side, for every one of them could swim like an otter; but that day +they were trappers, with arms, and food, and a tent, and powder which +must be kept dry, to say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief +consultation, and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot the farmer +dead on the spot, and as many of his people as they could. Speug, who +had been prowling around--though cautiously, mind you, and ever watching +for a sign of the Seminoles--gave a low, mysterious whistle, which was +one of the signs among the trappers; and when the others joined him he +pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." It was an ancient boat which +the farmer's father had used, and which had lain for years upon the +bank, unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, it had two +holes at least in it, and there were no oars. It was a thing which, in +the farmer's hand, would have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had +the semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy trappers. Very +carefully did they work it to the bank, lest it should slip a whole +plank on the road, and very gently did they drop it in, lest the +Seminoles should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with his bonnet, and +Bauldie the second with his; Jock spread his jacket over an oozy part. +They shipped all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and the +others, stripping off their clothes and adding them to the cargo of the +boat, pushed out the boat before them, swimming by its side. It was a +mere question of time whether the boat would go down in mid-channel; but +so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, ready at any moment to swim for his +life, and so powerfully did the others push, swimming with their feet +and one hand, and with the other hand guiding the boat, that they +brought it over safely to the other side; and the fact that half their +clothes were wet through mattered little to men who had often hidden +from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their eyes and nose out; +and, at any rate, the food was safe. The matches and the percussion caps +also were dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the worst +emergency, they would have been carried on the top of his head if he +also had been obliged to swim. They brought the boat into a little +creek, and, communicating by signs to one another--for they were too +old hunters to be speaking now, when there might be a party of Seminoles +in that very wood--Speug and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree +with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" and Bauldie drew +the boat up under cover of the bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that +even a Seminole's keen eyes would not have been able to detect it. The +trappers made another hiding-place, and left there the superfluous +garments of civilisation, confining themselves to a shirt and trousers, +and a belt which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and Jock, as the +two veterans who could discover the trail of the Seminoles by a twisted +leaf on a branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their friends +to lie low, and they themselves disappeared into the brushwood. They had +gone to scout, and to make sure that no wandering party of Indians was +in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed three times, "Piggie" +nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie hooted like an owl, then they knew that +it was safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom they found on +the edge of a clearing, leaning on their rifles in a picturesque +attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" led, and the others followed, pausing now +and again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal from +"Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each took up his position +behind a tree. But it was a false alarm. Then they went on as before, +till they came to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where +they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, lighting a fire, +which they did with immense success, and proceeding to cook dinner. As +they had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any wandering +Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild turkey, which, in other +circumstances, would have been their food; but they made tea (very +badly, and largely because they wished to use the kettle), and they had +bread and butter, which had turned into oil through the warmth of +Bauldie's person, a half ham which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for +which "Piggie" will have to account some day, and six jam tarts which +Howieson bought with his last farthing, and which had been reduced +practically to one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles of +stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, and afforded them a big +mouthful each, as they drank without any cup, and shared honestly by +calculation of time. + +[Illustration: "THEY DRANK WITHOUT ANY CUP."] + +What a day they had! They fought Indians from one end of the island to +the other, killing and scalping twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter +current on the other side, and they dried themselves in the sun, and in +the sun they slept till they were burned red; and then just as they were +thinking that it was time to go back to the camp and gather together +their belongings and set off for home, Speug gave a whistle that had in +it this time no pretence of danger, and bolted into the wood, followed +by the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, or the Seminoles +had sent a message, they never knew, but the farmer was on the island +and proceeding in their direction through the brushwood. Speug did not +think that he had seen them, and he would not quite know where they +were, and in an instant that leader of men had formed what he thought +the best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the other three, +who executed a war-dance at the mere thought of the strategy, and then +departed hurriedly for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not +ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, and just gave the +farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried up the island. + +"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait till I catch ye; +trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be +in the nicht, or I'm no farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please, +but I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back in, for I've +found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, and knocked the bottom oot +o' it." + +It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, and then Speug was +standing on the edge of the water at the top of the island, where the +current runs swift and strong towards the other side. + +"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red all over, but not with +modesty. "I thought I heard somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the +island. Have ye come to bathe?" + +"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little deevil, and, my word, +I'll bathe ye," and the farmer made for Speug. + +"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy almost had his hands on +him, and dived into the river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified +man; and then, as he went down with the current which took him over to +the opposite side, he invited the farmer to come in. When he landed +Speug bade the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped he would +enjoy himself among his Indian friends. + +"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll be after ye, and +though I ransack Muirtown I'll find ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle +to go back to the town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be," +and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat, which he had loosely +fastened to one of the trees. When he reached the spot it was not to be +found, but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed place on the +other side, chained and padlocked. For the other three trappers had +gathered all their possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen, +and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves across with +rapidity and dignity. Once more Speug bade the farmer good-night, +extending both hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was in +front of the other, and the thumb of the inner hand attached to Speug's +nose. He thoughtfully offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or +to the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed, wishing him a +pleasant night and telling him where he would find the shank of a ham. +As Peter dressed himself, his friends could only look at him in silent +admiration, till at the thought of the renegade trapped so neatly and +confined for at least a night on his own island, Howieson slapped his +legs and triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown and to +civilisation full of joy. + + + + +GUERILLA WARFARE + +XII + + +There is no person in a Scots country town to be compared with a Bailie +for authority and dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown, was a +glory to his order. Provosts might come and go--creatures of three +years--but this man remained in office for ever, and so towered above +his brethren of the same kind, that the definite article was attached to +his title, and to quote "the Bailie" without his name was the recognised +form and an end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to him, and, +entering into the designs of Providence, had given him a bodily +appearance corresponding to his judicial position. He stood six feet in +his boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression of six inches +more. His waistband passed forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man +justice, his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested in folds upon +his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven, solemn, immovable countenance +suggested unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice was deep and husky, +and the clearance of his throat with which he emphasised his +deliverances could be heard half a street away and was like the sealing +of a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had he seen his +boots--at least upon his feet--and his gait, as became his elevation, +was a stately amble, as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea, +driving the water before her bow and yet swaying gently from side to +side in her progress. Sunday and Saturday--except when officiating at +the Sacrament, and of course he was then in full blacks--the Bailie wore +exactly the same kind of dress--a black frock-coat, close buttoned, and +grey trousers, with a dark blue stock, his one concession to colour. As +his position was quite assured, being, in the opinion of many, second +only to that of the Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his +clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two stains upon his paunch +as a means of identification. Walking through the town, he stood at his +full height, with his hands folded upon the third button of his coat; +but when he reached the North Meadow, on his way home, and passed the +Seminary, he allowed his head to droop, and clasped his hands behind +after the manner of the great Napoleon, and then it was understood that +the Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of State. People made +way for him upon the streets as he sailed along, and were pleased with a +recognition, which always took the form of a judgment from the Bench, +even though it dealt only with the weather or the crops. + +There was no occasion, either in the Council or in the Presbytery, when +the Bailie did not impress; but every one agreed that he rose to his +height on the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of law, could be +sprung on him, no sensational incident ever stirred him, no excitement +of the people ever carried him away. He was the terror of the publicans, +and would refuse a license if he saw fit without any fear; but if the +teetotalers tried to dictate to him, he would turn upon them and rend +his own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown sinner was convicted in +his court he would preface his sentence with a ponderous exhortation, +and if the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the accused to go +as an act of grace, but warn him never to appear again, lest a worse +thing should befall him. There are profane people in every community, +and there were those in Muirtown who used to say in private places that +the Bailie was only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but the +local lawyers found it best to treat him with respect; and until the +Seminary boys took his Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No +doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported into a petty case to +browbeat the local Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when that +eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions to "the defunct," said +that if he heard anything more about "the defunct" he would adjourn the +case for a week, and allow him to appear in his own interests. Then the +advocate explained with elaborate politeness that he was afraid that +even the summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce this party, and +that his appearance, if he came, might secure the court to himself. + +"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate with unmoved dignity, +"that the man is dead. Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if +you had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had your case better +prepared, and not wasted our time with the talk of dead people. You are +still young, and when you have had more experience you will know that it +is only the evidence of living witnesses that can be received in a court +of justice. Proceed with your case and confine yourself to relevant +evidence--yes, sir, relevant evidence." + +It only shows the inherent greatness of the man, that in private life +the Bailie followed the calling of an Italian warehouseman, which +really, in plain words, was the same thing as a superior grocer, nor was +he above his trade for eight hours of the day. When not engaged in +official work, he could be found behind his counter, and yet even there +he seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron he wore as a robe of +office, he heard what the ladies had to say with a judicial air, +correcting them if they hinted at any tea costing less than four and +sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be brought forward for +inspection, as if it had been a prisoner in the dock, probing it with +searching severity and giving a judgment upon it from which there was no +appeal. He distinguished between customers, assigning to each such +provisions as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring in a +paternal manner after the welfare of their children, and when the case +was concluded--that is to say, the tea and the sugar bought--even +condescending to a certain high level of local gossip. When the customer +left the shop it was with a sense of privilege, as if one had been +called up for a little to sit with the judge. It was understood that +only people of a certain standing were included among the Bailie's +customers, and the sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his +door marked out his province of business. Yet if a little lassie +stumbled into the shop and asked for a pennyworth of peppermints, he +would order her to be served, adding a peppermint or two more, and some +good advice which sent away the little woman much impressed; for though +the Bailie committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered +terribly in consequence thereof, he was a good and honest man. + +The Bailie made only one public mistake in his life, but it was on the +largest scale, and every one wondered that a man so sagacious should +have deliberately entered into a feud with the boys of the Seminary. The +Bailie had battled in turn with the Licensed Victuallers, who as a +fighting body are not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom +every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves alone; with the Tories, +who were his opponents, and with the Liberals, his own party, when he +happened to disagree with them; with the Town Council, whom he +vanquished, and with the Salmon Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms; +but all those battles were as nothing to a campaign with the boys. There +is all the difference in the world between a war with regulars, +conducted according to the rules of military science, and a series of +guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are with the alert and +light-armed enemy. Any personage who goes to war with boys is bound to +be beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can hardly ever hurt +them, and never possibly can conquer them; and they will buzz round him +like wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him to shame before +the public, will tease him on his most sensitive side, will lie in wait +for him in unexpected places with an ingenuity and a perseverance and a +mercilessness which are born of the Devil, who in such matters is the +unfailing ally of all genuine boys. + +It was no doubt annoying to a person of the Bailie's dignity and +orderliness to see the terrace in which the Seminary stood, and which +had the honour of containing his residence, turned into a playground, +and outrageous that Jock Howieson, playing rounders in front of a +magistrate's residence, should send the ball crack through the +plate-glass window of a magistrate's dining-room. It was fearsome +conduct on the part of Jock, and even the ball itself should have known +better; but the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did not intend +to lose his ball and his game also, and the maddest thing the magistrate +could do was to make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough to go +to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint, but as he could not +identify the culprit, and no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed +worsted, and the address which he gave the boys was received with +derision. When he turned from the boys to the master, he fared no +better, for Bulldog who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect +for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his (Bulldog's) +jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of the Seminary, and that it was +not his business to keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant, when +the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys in the courtyard, forgot the +respect due to a magistrate, and refused point-blank, besides adding a +gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented, to let the matter +drop, or else he'd repent the day when he interfered with the laddies. + +"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and I was through the +Crimean War--ye can see my medals; but it takes me all my time to keep +the pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye meddle wi' them +outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye, Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye +afore they're done w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o' +managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them. Noo, when they broke the +glass in the Count's windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna +identify them and paid the cost himself! He may be French, but he's +long-headed, for him and the laddies are that friendly there's naething +they woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o' mind, Bailie, and yir +poseetion in Muirtown, dinna quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine +laddies as laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born deevils." + +There is a foolish streak in every man, and the Bailie went on to his +doom. As the authorities of the Seminary refused to do their duty--for +which he would remember them in the Council when questions of salary and +holidays came up--the Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own +thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a magistrate; and one +morning an able-bodied constable appeared on the scene and informed the +amazed school that he was there to prevent them playing on the Terrace. +No doubt he did his duty according to his light, but neither he nor six +constables could have quelled the Seminary any more than you can hold +quicksilver in your hand. When he walked with stately step up and down +the broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the Seminary went up and +played opposite the Bailie's house, introducing his name into +conversation, with opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of his +person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally weaving the story of +his life into a verse of poetry which was composed by Speug, but is not +suitable for a book of family reading. If the constable, with the fear +of the magistrate before his eyes, went up to stand as a guard of honour +before the Bailie's house, the school went down then to the Russian guns +and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the constable to come back to +the Seminary, and telling him what they would do to him. They formed a +bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out of reach, and marched +along with him, backward and forward; other days they chaffed and teased +him till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power to arrest +them, and in his heart he sympathised with them. And then, at last, +being weary of the constable, the school turned its attention to the +Bailie. + +One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was held in the North Meadow, +beyond the supervision of the constable, and after the Bailie had been +called every name of abuse known to the Seminary, and Speug had +ransacked the resources of the stable yard in profanity, he declared +that the time had now come for active operation, and that the war must +be carried into the enemy's country. Speug declared his conviction in +the vernacular of the school, which is here translated into respectable +language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful birth and +discreditable pedigree, that his conduct as a boy was beyond +description, and that his private life was stained with every vice; that +his intellect would give him a right to be confined in the county +asylum, and that he had also qualified by his way of living for the +county gaol; that he didn't wash more than once a year, and that the +smell of him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it was a pity +he didn't attend to his own business, and that he had very little +business to do; that he would soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't +bankrupt already it was only because he cheated with his change; that he +sanded his sugar, and that his weights and measures were a scandal; but +that the Seminary must do what they could to lead him to honest ways and +teach him industry, and that he (Speug) with the aid of one or two +friends would do his best for the reformation of Bailie MacConachie, and +in this way return good for evil, as Mr. Byles, assistant in the +department of mathematics, used to teach. And the school waited with +expectation for the missionary effort upon which Speug with the +assistance of Howieson and Bauldie, was understood to be engaged. + +Next Friday evening an art committee met in a stable-loft on the +premises of Mr. McGuffie senior, and devoted their skill--which was +greater than they ever showed in their work--to the elaboration of a +high-class advertisement which was to be shown round a certain district +in Muirtown, and which they hoped would stimulate the custom at Bailie +MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided two large boards such as might +be hung one on the breast and one on the back of a man, and those Speug +had cut to the proper size and pasted over with thick white paper. Upon +them Bauldie, who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently for +a space of two hours, with the assistance and encouragement of his +friends, and when they set the boards up against the wall the committee +was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the advertisement with much +unction-- + + + _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_ + + SALE OF BANKRUPT STOCK + AT + BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S + _THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN_, + 49, ST. ANDREW STREET. + + ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND. + + _Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday._ + GLASS OF WHISKY FREE TO ALL PURCHASERS. + _Poor People Specially Invited._ + _Be early._ _Be early._ + + BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S + _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_ + + +The three artists contained themselves till they came to the last "Cheap +Tea!" then Jock knocked Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell on +the top of them, and they rolled in one bundle of delight, arising from +time to time to study the advertisement and taste its humour. + +"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an Elder of the Kirk! +That'll learn him to be complaining of his windows." + +"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself an Italian +warehouseman. I would give half a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady +Kilspindie there," stammered Jock with delight. + +"'Glass of whisky free!'"--and Speug took a fresh turn in the hay--"it's +against law to drink whisky in a grocer's shop--and him a magistrate! +He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again." + +"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My word! They'll be there, all +the waufies of Muirtown; there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of +whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his knuckles. + +Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was going along the Terrace +to his house and congratulating himself that on that day at least he was +free from all annoyance by the way, another character of Muirtown had +started out through a very different part of the fair city. London John +was as well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and in his way was +quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt, without an ounce of superfluous +flesh, and with an inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat +which he had worn for at least a quarter of a century, and a tall hat +which he had rescued from an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of +trousers, and something in the form of a shirt which was only seen when +he laid aside the outer garment for active service, London John stalked +with majesty through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his living as a +sandwich man, or by carrying in coals, or by going errands, or by +emptying ashpits. He could neither read nor write, but he remembered a +number and never forgot what was due to him, and the solitary subject on +which he spoke was the wonders of London, where it was supposed he had +lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His coming was always +welcome in the poorer parts of the town, for the sake of his discourse +on London, but never had he received such an ovation before in the +Vennel, which was largely inhabited by tramps and tinkers, unskilled +labourers and casuals of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have aroused +their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a free glass of whisky the +deepest emotions of the Vennel were stirred. + +"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler Tam, who jogged round the +country with petty wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins, +old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a glass of whisky free! +Ma certes? let me get a sight o' that," and London John was brought to a +standstill while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a crowd who could +appreciate the cheapness of the tea, and whose tongues began to hang out +at the very thought of the whisky. + +"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at the suggestion of +such deceit. "He daurna do sic a thing, else his shop would be gutted. +Na, na, it reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny and +ye get a pound of tea and a glass of whisky. I count it handsome o' the +Bailie; and if they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how a man +is abused." + +"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess Mitchell, who had had a +difference of opinion with another lady in the Vennel and received the +Bailie's best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to hear him +preach a sermon as long as my leg besides--confound him for a +smooth-tongued, psalm-singin', bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no +grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm no mindin' so much +about the tea. The sooner we're at the place the better, for I'll be +bound there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown than a' the last +year." And there was a general feeling that the Vennel had better make +no delay, lest some other locality should obtain the first call. + +As London John went on his way the news spread through the back streets +and closes, and the Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive +ears. And if any person was inclined to doubt there was the +advertisement in plain terms, and over the board with its engaging news +the austere and unmoved countenance of London John. That worthy could +give no information about the remarkable placard, not even from whom he +received it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it through the +Vennel and neighbouring streets for two hours, and that he had received +a shilling for his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie +MacConachie's when his task was done. He also explained that in London, +where he used to reside, whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for +the asking. But his hearers had no interest that day in London. + +It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday dinner, and long before +he reached St. Andrew's Street, that something was happening, and he +wondered whether they were changing the cavalry at the barracks. People +looked curiously at him, and having made as though they would have +spoken, passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned into the familiar +street, down which he was accustomed to parade with a double weight of +dignity, an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper was out +at his door, and would indeed have been along the street, had he not +judged it wiser to protect his property, and the windows above the shop +were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable place of business +the street was crammed from side to side with a seething mob, through +which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a dogcart with slender +success and complaining loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women +were there, together with their husbands, having finished the day's +work; country folk who dropped into town on the Saturday had been +attracted to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come out from +their dens and lodging-houses, together with that casual population +which has nothing particular to do and is glad of any excitement. They +were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, but they +were all collected in answer to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer; +they were also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of them +particularly ready for the whisky. The first to arrive on the scene had +been Tinkler Tam, who put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money +upon the counter with a crash, and informed the Bailie's senior +assistant that to save time he would just take the whisky while they +were making up the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop for an +impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, in the course of a varied life, +was not unaccustomed to be called disrespectful names, and it was not +the first time he had been requested to leave high class premises; but +for once, at least, he had a perfectly good conscience and a strong +ground of complaint. + +"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye meeserable, white-faced +effeegy of a counter-jumper? If I werena present on business I would put +such a face on you that yir mother wouldna know you; but I'm here wi' my +friends" (great applause from the doorway, where the crowd was listening +to the interview) "for a commercial transaction. Div ye no ken, ye +misshapen object, that we're here on a special invitation of yir master, +sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation given under oath +by Jess Mitchell), "and I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye +two-faced, leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support from the +street). + +The ambassador of the proletariat--whose constituency filled the outer +part of the shop, pressed their faces against the window and swayed with +impatience across the street, and also seized a lamp-post for purposes +of observation--rehearsed the terms of the advertisement with +considerable accuracy and expounded them with various figures of speech, +and then issued his ultimatum. + +"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a magistrate o' Perth, and a +man whom I've met on public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before +the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here in response to a public +advertisement in terms thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call +these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled my side of the +covenant, and I here and now before these witnesses demand the tea and +the whisky as above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were greatly +impressed by this judicial effort, and were getting every minute more +thirsty). + +"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no here himsel' to receive +his friends; but what is done by the servant is done by the +master--that's good law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who at +the smell of the shop was getting beyond control); "and I give ye two +meenuts, my dainty young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming +at the end of that time, the law will allow us to help ourselves, and +gin ye offer ony resistance I'll pit ye and yir neebour inside the +sugar-cask." And it was fortunate for every person concerned that the +police, who had been somewhat perplexed by the circumstances, arrived at +the scene, and turned Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and +themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at this point that the +Bailie arrived and was received with frantic applause and a Babel of +appeal. + +[Illustration: "BEFORE HIM STOOD LONDON JOHN BEARING THE SEDUCTIVE +ADVERTISEMENT."] + +"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick, else yir shop will be +wreckit. Where ha' ye been? The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye +started on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie. He's coming +to start the auction. Three cheers for Bailie MacConachie!" And the +Bailie, limp and dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled through +the crowd to see the Italian warehouse guarded by the police, and the +mob of Muirtown clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while face to +face with him stood London John, who had now been produced for the +occasion, bearing on his back and breast the seductive advertisement. + +"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost all self-control as he +read the legend on the board. "A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately +planned fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist--juist +damnable! Bankrupt--who is bankrupt? Is't me?" And the veins on the +Bailie's neck swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny! I never +had such trash in my shop. Three shillings is the lowest, and I never +recommended it. Whisky!--there is not a drop in the shop. Who dare say I +would turn this shop into a public-house? I'll be at the bottom of this, +though it cost me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry round the +board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't tell the truth I'll commit ye +to gaol this very meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of his +wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered by his own prominent +position, and not at all concerned about the Bailie's threat. + +"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel, with great composure, "a +big, stout man like yirsel', Bailie, that gied me the boards and a +shillin'; or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he was a +little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the neck. Dod! I'm no very +sure, though, but that it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's +tartan plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a bit lassie wi' +bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin' noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie, +for she said to me, 'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I would +like to tell you about London." And if the police had not silenced +London John, the Bailie at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy, +for it was evident that the trail was blind and there was no getting to +the real person behind London John. + +The crowd had listened with considerable patience and self-restraint to +this conversation, but as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died +away, and they realised that some one had fooled them, they looked out +for a victim, and settled upon the Bailie. + +"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler Tam, standing out from +the midst of the crowd, and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced +the Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing tricks on +the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin' them from their work to waste their +time at your shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If it had +been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie, I wouldna hev said +much aboot it; but at your age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a +trick, it's perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's hard +labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be a Bailie o' Muirtown. It +was fearsome to hear ye askin' London John who gave him the shillin' +when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then the puir body, when +ye threatened him, brought in the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and +I'm naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make use of a poor +natural that hasna his wits, juist to feed my vanity and gither a crowd +round my shop." Then the crowd united in three long groans, and possibly +might have shown their indignation in a still more pronounced form, but +the police, being still further reinforced, drove them along the +streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses of his shop. + +Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the shop with Howieson and +Bauldie, and demanded a pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked +to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If there be as mony o' the +Bailie's friends callin' at the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will +no be able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace." And as a +matter of fact the offensive patrol was withdrawn, and the Seminary +resumed possession of the debatable ground. + + + + +THE FALL OF GOLIATH + +XIII + + +Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he risked a war with the boys of +the Seminary, and it was colossal folly on his part to continue the war +after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement. No doubt it +was humiliating to have his respectable place of business filled with +the mob of Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and threatening him +with penalties as a covenant-breaker when they did not get it; he had +also very good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration which +gathered the vagrants to his shop came from the Seminary. His best +policy, however, would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and if +the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and told the boys plainly +that he knew quite well they were at the bottom of the affair, that they +were a set of confounded young rascals, that he had intended to hang six +of them and send the rest to penal servitude, that he was going to +forgive them for the sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had +not been half bad fun after all, that there would be no more policemen +before the Seminary, and there must be no more windows smashed in his +(the Bailie's) house--the Seminary, which always respected a fellow who +took his licking with good humour and didn't squeal, would have given +the Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public career, and a +covenant of peace would have been made between him and the boys which +would never have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass been broken +by a Seminary ball, the value thereof in a packet of halfpence, with an +expression of regret, would have been handed in before evening. The +honorary freedom of the school would have been conferred on the Bailie, +without any public ceremony, but with immense practical advantage, and +although the Bailie was surfeited with civic honours, yet even he might +have tasted a new pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the +boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass in stately walk, and +to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the Bailie's road," and to receive a salute +from tailless Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside the +school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley. If Providence had given a +touch of imagination to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen by +a position approaching that of the angels, he would have come to terms +at once with the boys, in which case bygones would have been bygones, +and he would have been spared much humiliation. + +Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to get the better of him, +raging furiously in public places, and breathing forth threatenings +about what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown, which +otherwise might have pitied him, held its sides. He kept our single +detective at work for a fortnight, who finally extracted from London +John that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement had been +given him by a man uncommonly like the detective himself and that the +said "boardies" were not to be compared with those he used to carry in +London. The detective also learned, on a somewhat risky visit to Mr. +McGuffie's stables, that the Speug had spent the whole day of that +historical Saturday till the hour of two--when he called for peppermints +at the Bailie's shop--in cleaning out his rabbit-hutch and other +domestic duties--this on the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's +grooms, each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere, or fight +the detective, with gloves or without gloves, in the stable-yard or any +other place which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going from bad +to worse, offered a reward of £5 for any information which would lead to +the conviction of the offender, and received thirty letters--so many +anonymous, attacking his character, public and private, and so many +signed, from various cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was +assigned to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans, to the +Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped outside the city. They +were all annoying, but there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick. +One was written from the security of Glasgow, in which the writer +promised, on receipt of the reward, to send a full account of the +conspiracy, and, having got the money, replied briefly that he left the +matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the second, which asked for +no reward except the writer's sense of having done his duty, and which +hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight to his senior +assistant, he might find he had been nourishing a viper in his bosom, +and that a young man with such a smug appearance could be little else +than a rascal. This letter, which was written in a schoolboy hand, and +had five words misspelt, was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None +of the letters seemed to help the matter forward, and life at the +Bailie's residence was very troubled during those weeks. + +When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread through the Seminary, +the boys were much pained, for it was sad to see an old man forgetting +himself and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed, as if all +they had done for the Bailie was simply love's labour lost, and that +they must begin again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The +Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body of quiet, +well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still, if war was forced upon them, and +detectives set upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and their +families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing could have been more +successful than the last campaign; and, although Speug had never +boasted, and none dared say that he had anything to do with it, there +was a feeling in the Seminary that the conduct of the next campaign was +safe in his hands. As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one +ought not to detract from genius, but there can be no doubt that Fortune +played into the hands of Speug. + +Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour, and the walk of the +Bailie was marvellous to behold; but it was rather poor business for +Speug to walk half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the Bailie in +an exact imitation of the magistrate's manner, although the school was +hugely delighted. If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had been +on his side; but when he turned round and gave Speug a sound box on the +side of the head, he lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a +chain of consequences, arose the scandal which almost drove the Bailie +from Muirtown. Speug could not have hoped for anything so good as that +foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw his opportunity. Many a +stroke had he endured in his day, from his father and from the grooms, +when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from Bulldog when he caught +him red-handed, and from the boys in a fight, and there was no one of +his age so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand been any other +than that of Bailie MacConachie, Speug would have made derisive gestures +and invited the second stroke. As it was, he staggered across the +pavement and fell with a heavy thud upon the street, where, after one +sharp, piercing cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans could be +heard along the Terrace. His one hope was that, when he had seized the +occasion with such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail to play +up and support his _rôle_, and, although they were cleverer at reality +than acting they entered heartily into their opportunity. + +"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson tenderly, as he stooped +over the prostrate figure. "Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan +like that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye gatherin' round +like that for an keepin' away the air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some +o' ye lift his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for ony's sake, +and bring some water in yir bonnets." + +It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the unconscious form of +their beloved friend, and carrying him carefully across the pavement, +and placing Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and then +rendering what would now be called first aid to the wounded, while that +ingenuous youth kept his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to +show that he was still living. Never in his life had Providence given +him a chance of playing so much mischief, and he was not going to be +disobedient. They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air, they +anxiously searched the side of his head for the wound, and washed away +imaginary blood with very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his +forehead with such profuseness that the water ran down his chest, +whereat Speug expressed himself in low but stern tones, so Nestie +advised them to stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys were +only prevented from taking off his boots by a seasonable warning from +Bauldie and a reasonable fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was +reinforced by all the message-boys within sight, and several ladies who +were coming home from the shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose +railings Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress, came +out--their hearts full of compassion and their hands of remedies. As +Jock and Bauldie did not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at +once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his head and the +railings, while the other chafed his forehead with scent, and both +insisted that Dr. Manley should be sent for at once. This was the first +suggestion which seemed to have any effect on Peter, for it would not at +all have suited his plans that that matter-of-fact physician should +have arrived on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious smelling-salts +was held to the patient's nose, Speug showed signs of returning +consciousness. + +"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he wasn't killed. A blow +behind the ear is often fatal. He's coming round nicely. The colour is +returning to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you say?" as Jock +Howieson unfolded to the ladies in simple, straightforward, truthful +words the story of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any man +would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At this moment Peter, who had +been reconnoitring the whole scene through his half-closed eyes, seized +the opportunity to wink to the mourners with such irresistible effect as +to prove once again the close connection between tears and laughter.) +"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic female. "He ought to +be ashamed of himself; but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make +the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his head." + +[Illustration: "A BOTTLE OF FEROCIOUS SMELLING-SALTS WAS HELD TO THE +PATIENT'S NOSE."] + +Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little weary of inaction, he +was helped to his feet, and after one or two staggers seemed to come to +himself, and submitted with agreeable humour to the attention of his +friends, who dusted him from head to foot, under the superintendence of +the ladies and to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were now +entering into the meaning of the scene. His bonnet, which had been +thoughtfully used as a water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his +head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his head in Bauldie's +handkerchief, partly because there was a limit even to his endurance, +and because Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose in the course +of the day. The maiden ladies were anxious that he should rest in their +house, but Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home, where he +could break the news himself to his anxious father. And so an impressive +procession was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the way, and +then Speug, upheld on the one hand by Nestie, and on the other by Jock, +while Bauldie commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys at a +distance, in order to secure due respect for the sufferer. It was with +difficulty that Speug could sustain his _rôle_ until he and his friends +got safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when they plunged into +a straw-shed and rolled together in one heap of triumphant mischief. + +"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it would be pure waste for +you to be a h-horsedealer. You must go on the st-stage. The way you came +whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and do you know, Peter, you +looked quite nice when you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty +boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious." + +"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an impident young brat. +I heard every word, and she never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked +round thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the water down my +breast, I'd give him something to remember. I'm wet to the skin," and +Speug made a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the leg, who +pulled down Nestie by the hair of the head, and they all fought together +in high glee. Speug extricated himself and demanded news of the Bailie. +Then the three told Speug the story together in bits, one beginning +where another left off. + +"He was that astonished when ye coupit over that he couldna speak, and +Jock cried, 'The Bailie has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye +up, but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to strike ye a second +time." "It would have done you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking +along to his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch out of +him, and taking a look back to see what was h-happening." "Aye, and he +stoppit opposite the lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty a +cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna think Cosh had the +spirit." "He was ashamed to stand at the w-window, but I saw him +p-peeping out behind the curtains, just to find out whether you were +living." "If his servant lass didna follow us across the meadow, and, my +word, she's back to the Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the +now for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter." "What +w-would you say, Peter, just to die altogether, and we would gi-give you +an A1 funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do it, I'll write +your l-life myself. It's perfectly sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell +on Nestie, and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced together once more +in the straw. + +"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young gentlemen," and Mr. +McGuffie's English groom looked down on the boys; "but you're missin' +the Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has come 'isself, and if he +ain't been hexplainin' to the master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug +down. He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took up the runnin', +and--my eye and Betty Martin--ain't he talkin'! Not cussin'--no, not one +swear word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my Alfred David, if the +master ain't preachin' for all the world as if he was a blessed beak on +the Bench and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as good as a +circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and in exactly one and a quarter +seconds the boys were an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie senior +gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie MacConachie, which he had been +doing already for some time with much effect. + +"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the street, walkin' as ye +walk, and so ye knocked him down in open day? Why should he not be doing +as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that nobody dare step the same +way on the streets of Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies +are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are; but I never heard yet +that the street belonged to them, and that a laddie was in danger of +death if he followed in their steps. That would be a fine pass. Aren't +boys always imitatin' somebody? Why, you stupid old fool, half the +laddies in this district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're +standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each one with a straw in +his mouth, and the bit legs of him straddled, and his bonnet on the side +of his head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow, just the +eemage of myself. What would ye think of me if I knockit one of them +down, ye double-distilled old fool? + +"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased to think that the +laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer, are trying to be magistrates. +Didna the Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the prizes to +'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie, and try to be like him?' +And now, when one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn round +on the street and half kill him, till he had to be brought home half +faintin' to his father's house! Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye +bloodthirsty old ruffian! + +"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made enough inquiries, by all +accounts, on the Terrace. Expression of regret, was it? We don't want +yir regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top? I wonder ye have +the face! Ye break a laddie's head and then offer him a top! I can buy +tops myself for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're standing there +after manglin' a poor, defenceless, harmless, motherless laddie! Ye +should be ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there was any +public spirit in this town, ye would be drummed out o' the place! + +"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"--and Mr. McGuffie adopted a +conciliatory tone--"the best of us will make mistakes, and ye've made a +particularly big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie in the face of +the public of Muirtown. Ye may bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's +settle this matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye say ye're +sorry, and ye don't want any noise made about it. Well, now, I've lived +here man and boy for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell you +I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any horse, ye needn't be afraid +to buy that horse, and I'll deal with ye on the square. + +"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we ought to be pretty even +as fighting men. Ye have the pull of me in height, but I would say that +I am nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy weight, and I am a +middle weight, but there isn't much in that. We could meet pretty level +with the gloves. + +"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed here, and stripped and +fought the matter of six rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no +mischief done, and no bad blood left, and that would be the end of the +matter. + +"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk. What do ye take me for? +Do ye mean to say I'd split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that +Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn with the gloves! Ye don't +do me justice. Why, there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever +hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect ye, and count ye an +able-bodied man, which is more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal, +Bailie? Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of myself, ought +I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown +is pretty easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a prizefight, ye +haverin' old body? But I see how the wind blows. If the other man stands +a bare five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready, ye're mighty +handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly old sneak? But when ye're offered the +chance of facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace. My +opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to +think ye're a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me, MacConachie, +for I might lose control and send ye out of the stable-yard, with my +foot followin'! My advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some +of the grooms got hold of ye they would make an awful mess of +ye--they're not just particularly fond of magistrates, and they've a +great notion of Peter. + +"One word before we part, Bailie," and the Bailie took that word +walking, "So far as I understand, ye might be arrested for assault, and +I might prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just this once +with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an +elder in the Kirk, and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all that, +MacConachie, remember ye're just a man. Ye're swollen up and fozzy with +pride and vanity, and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let +loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider ye're just a man. +Ye're wily and cunning and pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own +way in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart, ye're just a man. +Ye've sat on the Bench and laid down the law, and when ye wagged yir +head everybody kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat they +thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie, dinna forget it, ye're just a +man. Ye needna hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway of the +stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the street with exhortations. +"I've said all I wanted to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've +fought with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans, ye've fought +with this body and with that body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought +ye were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled with the laddies, +and they've licket ye once, Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie, +and if ye dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll be the +end of ye, Bailie MacConachie." + +When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard he called for his son, and +passed a careful hand over Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug +was a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that there lay before +him a long and useful life. + + + + +THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE + +XIV + + +Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of high principle and +domestic habits used to go home in the dinner-hour and take the meal +with their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity of repairing the +rents made in their clothes since morning, and giving them good advice +on their behaviour. Thoroughly good boys, who had been tossed to and +fro, much against their will, in the tempest of morning play, were glad +to go into harbour and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled, +but also re-fitted and re-painted for the troubled voyage of the +afternoon; and boys not so entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other +models of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because, although +there might be an embarrassing review of garments, and awkward questions +might be asked about a mark on the face, there was always a toothsome +dainty for a growing laddie, weary with intellectual work and the toils +of a snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer took Mr. McGuffie +senior in various directions, and as in no case were the arrangements of +his house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely regular character, +there was no meal to which his promising son--Speug--could return with +any confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a practice of going +home at one o'clock, unless there was a special event at the stables, +such as the arrival of a new horse, in which case he invited a few +friends to an inspection, with light refreshments; or unless, having +racked his brain to the utmost for four hours, he was still in sheer +despair of mischief. With one or two other young friends of a like mind, +he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour in what might be called +extramural studies--rowing over to the island below the bridge against +the tide and coming back gloriously with the current; assisting the +salmon-fishers to draw their nets and gather the silver spoil; in the +happy snow-time raiding the playground of a rival school when the boys +were away, and leaving insulting remarks wrought in snow; or attending +the drill of the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other guerillas, he +carried his biltong and mealies with him, and took his meal anywhere and +by preference when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason why Speug in +after years made one of the best of South African fighters. + +When Speug was disinclined for active occupation, and desired to +improve his mind by contact with the greater world, he took a cab, or +hotel 'bus (the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at Speug's +disposal, and his edifying conversation was much enjoyed by the driver), +and went to spend his hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody +knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be classed with Niagara +or the Jungfrau for interest, and at any time is worth seeing. It +pleased Speug, whose interests were varied and human rather than +classical and literary, to receive the English express, or even one from +Edinburgh, as it swept into the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast +train fairly off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary to +give understanding assistance; and to pass the time of day with the +guards, ticket-collectors, and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would +allow him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage, with +its pigeon-holes and its ingenious apparatus for delivering letters at +roadside stations while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour +of what might be called irregular study, but one never knows what he may +pick up if he only keeps his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as +open as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown railway station +that Peter found the opportunity for what he ever considered his most +successful achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the +recollection of his companions still fondly dwells. + +When a cab passed the _Muirtown Arms_ 'bus at the entrance to the +station, and the cabman signalled to Peter on the box-seat, and referred +to the contents with an excited thumb and great joy on his face, Peter +knew that there would be something worth seeing when the cab emptied at +the ticket-office; but he could not have imagined anything so entirely +satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie emerged, dressed in the famous +frock-coat and grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial stock, +but without his usual calm and dignity. His coat was only half buttoned, +his tie was slightly awry, and although his hat had been distinctly +tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was too much occupied +to set it right. Instead of clearing his throat as he alighted among the +waiting porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance of honouring a +live Bailie going forth upon his journey, he did not seem to wish for +any public reception, or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact had +every sign of a man who desired to be _incognito_. + +"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie hastily explained to an +obliging porter, and he stood between the man and the cab so as to block +all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business and ... seeing a +friend off." + +As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to disperse the porters, the +driver, leaning over the roof of the cab, winked with much unction to +Peter, and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would be worth +while for him to wait and see the mysterious friend. Speug, in fact, +understood from all this telegraphic communication that there were going +to be circumstances of a quite remarkable character, and in which +he--Peter McGuffie--was expected to be personally interested. He dragged +Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with him, behind a pile of +luggage, and from their hiding-place they saw, to their utter amazement, +a second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet withal triumphantly, +out of the cab. The same height as the great man himself, and built +after the same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress, except +that the trousers were baggier, and the coat shabbier, and the collar +frayed at the edges, and the hat had the appearance of having been used +either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both purposes, at +different times; and the air of this second, but by no means ghostly, +Bailie was like that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing, +with the addition of a certain joviality of expression and benignant +humanity, and a certain indifference to all the trials and difficulties +of life which is characteristic of a man who has been "tasting," not +wisely, but too well. + +"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously, as the figure came with +a heavy lurch on the pavement. "The faintness may pass off. Take care +of your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to the ticket-office +and propped it against the wall while he went to take the tickets. + +It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk might have been due to +weakness of the heart, for you never can tell, and one ought to be +charitable; but there was no sign of an invalid about this new Bailie, +nor was he at all too exhausted for genial conversation. He explained +during the other Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to +listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than exhaustive, that he +had been paying a visit to Muirtown for the good of his health, and that +he felt better--in fact, very much better; that where he lived the +supply of liquid refreshment was limited, and that in consequence he had +suffered through weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay +longer in a place where there was every comfort of life, and that +nothing would have induced him to leave but the immoral conduct of his +twin brother; that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being his +brother, was fearfully given to drink, and that he, James MacConachie, +could no longer stay with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a +Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment would not tarry, and +indeed, according to his language, was already pronounced. He also gave +a certificate of character to the refreshment to be obtained at the +_Black Bull_, Muirtown, and cheerfully invited any person who had a +friendly heart to go with him there and then to drink the Queen's +health. On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded his +address--which had been mightily enjoyed by three porters, a couple of +Highland drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed through the +police-court when the Bailie was on the Bench, and an elderly lady, who +was anxious that a doctor should be sent for--by explaining once more +that his brother was a gentleman beside whom the Pharisees were +straightforward and honourable members of society. + +As the procession was again re-formed, and the two Bailies left the +ticket-office together, one of them waving a regretful farewell to his +sympathetic congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of triumph; for +the contrast between the twin brethren afforded just that kind of comedy +which appeals to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct that +the incident would be of service in the war between the Bailie and the +Seminary, which had gone on for a year and showed no signs of closing. + +"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in the country, I'll +warrant," said Speug to Jock, in great spirits, "and there's naebody in +Muirtown kens he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the very +eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld clothes on. It would +take Dr. Manley himself or the Chief Constable to tell the one from the +ither. Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o' that lad, we +would have a michty time. I would give my four rabbits and ... and my +skye terrier pup just for an hour of him." And although they had no hope +that circumstances would deal so kindly with them, yet they went on to +the platform to see the last of the two Bailies. + +Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening conversation, who +at first reminded his brother of a drunkard's end, which had no effect, +and then threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance, which had an +immediate effect, the figure consented to be taken along the platform, +and might even have been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the +word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly large type, attracted his +attention. + +"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing jubilantly to the +board. "I declare it juist a Providence. It's no that I'm thirsty, +Bailie, and I canna bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine, +though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'. No, I'm no thirsty, +but I've a sinkin' at the heart. Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together +afore we part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no grudge, and I'll +let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure had the Bailie almost at the door of +the refreshment-room before he could make a stand. + +"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye say? Gude forgie ye. I +wonder ye're not black ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye +along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover yir character. +Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for I'm no the man I was once. The +fact is, I havna strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me get +a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform." And the +horrified Bailie had to accept the assistance of a porter to support his +exhausted brother and to guide him to his carriage. + +From an adjacent third class compartment, where Speug and Jock promptly +secreted themselves, they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to his +frail kinsman--that he must on no account come out of the carriage; that +he must hold his tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers; +that he must not mention his--the Bailie's--name, nor claim to be +connected with him; and that he must not come back to Muirtown again +until the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to heart as he +valued his weekly allowance. The Bailie also expressed his deep regret, +which, indeed, seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave by the +Dundee train before the departure of the slow Fife train by which his +double travelled. And when this fact emerged--that the other Bailie was +to be left even for five minutes at their disposal--Speug threw +Howieson's bonnet to the end of the compartment, with his own following +in a rapture of joy. + +"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment to the Bailie on +the platform, who was torn between his profitable business engagement at +Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his own devices. "After +the way ye've treated me and put me to shame afore the platform, I +wouldna stay another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds. I am no +angry, Bailie," the figure continued with mournful dignity, "for that's +no my speerit, but I'm hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye +maun, and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for ony sake dinna be +tastin' in Dundee and disgracin' the family. Drink is an awfu' failin', +but ye canna say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried to catch +the Dundee train the figure shook its head mournfully, with the air of +one who hopes for the best, but who has had too good reason to expect +the worst. + +"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a fine mixture of haste +and importance before the figure which was still moralising to itself on +the evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o' the Seminary is +expectin' ye to address the laddies this afternoon, and they'll be +waitin' this very meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made signs +that he should come at once, and offered to secure a cab. The figure +could only shake its head and explain that on account of the +disgraceful conduct of a relative, who had given way to drink, it had no +heart for public appearances; but the idea of a return to the enjoyment +of Muirtown was evidently filtering in. + +"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded Speug. "A porter threipit +(insisted) that he had seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody +can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will be terrible pleased to +see ye, Bailie." + +"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and the figure was plainly +roused. "Him in the Dundee train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in +every family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o' mine that's +taken to bad habits, and I've juist to support him and keep him oot o' +sicht. It's an awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately +brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie MacConachie. Laddies, +was't at the _Black Bull_ they're expectin' me?" + +"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a word at the Seminary in +passin'," and Speug signalled to a ticket-collector who had just come +upon the scene. + +"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot o' the carriage, for he's +forgotten an engagement at the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie +faint with the heat?" + +"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector helped the magistrate +on to the platform, "it's family trouble. Are ye connected with the +_Black Bull_? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved young man, and +these are twa fine laddies." And outside the station, surrounded by a +sympathising circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit of +Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned every one to beware of +strong drink, and urged them to take the pledge without delay. He also +inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there from the _Black Bull_ +and explained that the Rector of the Seminary, with his laddies, was +waiting for him in that place of hospitality. He added that he had been +on his way to the General Assembly of the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling +elder, and he warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine. But at last +they got him into the cab, where, after a pathetic appeal to Speug and +his companion to learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David, he +fell fast asleep. + +By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged the attention of the +sergeant in the back-yard, who considered that Jock was playing truant +and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman, fortunately an +able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance induced the Bailie to leave +the cab and convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's +class-room. At this point the great man fell into low spirits, and +bemoaned the failure of a strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought +the immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he obtained an +immediate tonic, he would succumb to a broken heart. He also charged +Speug with treachery in having brought him to the County Gaol instead of +to the _Black Bull_. It was painfully explained him that he was now in +the Seminary, and within that door an anxious school was waiting for +him--Bailie MacConachie--and his address. + +"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that I was a drunken body? +I'll teach them to smuggle me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie +(disreputable character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars, but I'm here" (with +much triumph), "and I'm Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And the +Bailie was evidently full awake. + +"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family troubles shakes the mind. +Take the pledge when ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when +ye're old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten. Noo, laddie" +(with much cunning), "If I am to address the school, what think ye would +be a fine subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility, +especially me being a Bailie. If ye can mind onything, laddie, I'll give +ye sixpence next time we meet." + +Although Speug was reticent in the class, for reasons that commended +themselves to his practical judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech +upon occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of Bailie +MacConachie's double that it had been a very foolish thing for him--the +Bailie--to quarrel with the Seminary about their playground upon the +Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness to strike him--the +Speug--upon the head and nearly injure him for life, but that he--the +Bailie--was sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would never do +the like again as long as he was Bailie of Muirtown; and Speug +concluded, while the cabman stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye +micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for me--Speug--ye know." + +"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie, "for it's a fact. +Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome power o' the gab (mouth); I +expect to see ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at the +_Black Bull_, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the Rector I'm at the +door--Bailie MacConachie of Muirtown." + +Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of mathematics, +arithmetic, and writing, and, it might also be added, master of +discipline, Speug would as soon have ventured into his presence on such +an errand as into the lion's den of the travelling menagerie which had +recently visited Muirtown, and at which he had spent many an unlicensed +hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of boys, a short-sighted, +absent-minded, unsuspicious scholar, who lived in a world of his own +with Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly roused (to sorrow) by a +false quantity or (to joy) by a happy translation. + +Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence in Speug's genius for +mischief and effrontery of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless +when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance, and politely intimated +to the Rector that a magistrate of Muirtown had come and desired to +speak to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw himself +from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or the school had energy to cheer, +the wonderful Bailie was launched into the room with almost too much +vigour by the cabman, who remained in the shadow and whispered a last +direction to "hold up your head and keep to the right." They had +forgotten--Speug's only oversight--to take off the Bailie's hat, which +was set jauntily on the side of his head, and the course which he took +through the room was devious, and mainly regulated by the furniture, +while his expression was a fine blend of affable dignity and genial good +humour. "Gosh!" exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of the +class, who understood that their enemy had been delivered into their +hands, and that Peter McGuffie--their own Speug--had been the means +thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was the very countenance, +line by line, and the very clothes, piece by piece, though looking a +trifle shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it was evident +that he had been "tasting," and that very freely. + +"I am--er--proud to bid you welcome, Mr. Bailie," said the Rector, +bowing with old-fashioned courtesy, and not having the faintest idea +what like was the figure before him. "We are always delighted to receive +a visit from any of the magistrates of the city, who are to our humble +school" (and here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas was to +Horace, whose _curiosa felicitas_ we are now studying. Is it your +pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to examine the school?" + +During this stately reception the Bailie came to rest upon a desk, and +regarded the Rector's flowing gown with unconcealed admiration, which he +indicated to the school by frank gestures. + +"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the laddies answer 'The Chief +End of Man,' and to say juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you +and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're expected. I juist +looked in to say----" And here the worthy man's thoughts began to +wander, and he made an indistinct allusion to the _Black Bull_, so that +Speug had to prompt him severely from behind. "Aye, aye! we're all poor, +frail creatures, and I'm the last man to hurt the feelings of the +Seminary. Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones be +bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect more than ... Speug an +honourable tradesman" (breaking away on his own account with much +spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate father. What? All a +mistake from beginning to end. Family trouble did it--conduct of a +relative," and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal dignitaries +were a species of human beings so strange and incalculable to the +Rector, that he was hardly amazed at anything that they might say; and +having some vague idea that there had been a quarrel between the +Seminary and some Bailie or other, about something or other, some time +or other, he concluded that this was an official intimation that the +quarrel was over, and that it was in style and allusion according to the +habits of municipal circles. + +"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful duty, as Rector of the +Seminary, to thank you for your presence here to-day--the Mercury of the +gods, if I may say so--and for your courteous intimation that +the--er--controversy to which you--er--have delicately alluded is +healed. Any dispute between the Council and the Seminary could only have +a favourable issue. _Amantium irae amoris integratio_ has had another +illustration, Mr. Bailie; but it would please us that you should hear +the class translate the Ode we have in hand, which happens to be '_Ad +Sodales_.'" And a boy began to translate "_Nunc est bibendum_." + +"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who had been taking a brief +nap, was immediately conscious. "Man, ye never said a truer word. Work +hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna forget the +Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement wi' me, and he'll no be back +for an hour. Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed Rector), +"it's time we were off." And the Bailie, making a hurried rush for the +door, found himself in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught +the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room, and suspected +trouble. + +"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean veteran, as he +brought the Bailie to an equilibrium. "Could onybody have expected +this?" And then, with much presence of mind, he closed the door of the +Latin class-room and conducted the Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while +the magistrate remonstrated that the Rector was coming with him, and +that both were going to discuss the higher education of youth at the +_Black Bull_. + +"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to the _Black Bull_, or +ony other bull, ye're to go this afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose. +If ye maun taste, would it no have been more respectable to keep +indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of yourself afore the +Seminary? It's no becomin' in a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the +laddies." + +It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing figure at the +blameless home of Bailie MacConachie, although it is right to say that +this visit was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous +protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to the day of his death, the +real and proper Bailie spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining +to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted" in his life, and +that on the day in question he had been transacting private business in +Dundee. + + + + +THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY + +XV + + +As the East is distant from the West, so far was Muirtown Seminary +removed in its manners and customs from an English public school; but at +one point they met on common ground, and that was the "tuck-shop." It +does not matter that an English house master be careful to provide an +ample supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even add, on occasion, +toothsome dainties, such as jam at Sunday tea, and sausages for a +Saturday supper, they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud, that +they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast, so ghostly has it +grown, and that they would be ashamed to offer their dinner to the +beasts which perish. They will write such descriptions home, and hold +such conferences with friends spending the holidays with them, and they +will all vie with one another in applying such weird and fearsome +adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee, meat, potatoes, and +pudding--but at the mention of pudding they will simply look at one +another and be silent, despairing of the English language--that their +horrified parents will take counsel together by the hour whether their +poor boy ought not to be taken from school and surrounded by home +comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of this drastic measure, he +protests strongly, and insists that it would ruin him for life; for, to +do the ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and swished every +second day, and bullied between times, till his life is hardy worth +living, he will still stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of +residence to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the pretty bedroom with +white curtains, nor the long lie in the morning, nor a party in the +evening, nor all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage for +the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at the bathroom, and the +babel at the dinner-table, and the recreations which enliven "prep," and +the excitement of a house match, and the hazardous delights of football, +and the tricks on a new boy, and the buttered eggs--a dozen at least +between two at a study supper. It only remains therefore that his father +should write a pathetic letter to the _Standard_, and that other parents +should join in, for a fortnight, explaining to the English public that +the manhood of the country is being destroyed in its early years, and +the boys at school will read the letters aloud with much unction, and +declare that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly," while their +mother sends them generous remittances that they may obtain nourishing +food to supplement their starvation rations. This money will be spent +rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the "tuck-shop," where some old servant +of the school is making a small fortune in providing for the boys such +meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight Tom and his friends, for +he is not a fellow to see his chums die before his eyes, will live on +the fat of the land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines, +sausages, and eggs. + +Seminary boys had their meals at home, and were very soundly fed with +porridge and milk in the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their +conduct had been passably decent. Scots broth and meat for dinner, with +an occasional pudding, and a tea in the evening which began with +something solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and, although +such things may very likely be done now, when we are all screaming about +our rights, no boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the _Muirtown +Advertiser_ complaining of the home scale of diet. Yet, being boys, +neither could they be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means of +living, but required certain extra delicacies to help them through the +day. It was not often that a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket, +and once only had gold been seen--when Dr. Manley paid Speug a medical +fee for his advice in Bulldog's sickness--but there were few in the +Seminary who were not able to rattle some pennies together, and, in the +end, every penny found its way to the till of that comprehensive +merchant and remarkable woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the other old +houses beside it have been pulled down long ago, to make room for a +handsome block of buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by +the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of the "Breadalbane +Emporium," where you can buy everything from a frying pan to a +drawing-room suite, but where you cannot get a certain delicacy called +"gundy," which Mrs. McWhae alone could make as it ought to be made, and +at the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to water. Mrs. McWhae +did not sell books nor clothes, nor any other effeminate luxury of life, +but she kept in stock everything that was really necessary to the life +of a well-living and high-minded boy. There he could obtain marbles from +the common clay, six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six +for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a red and blue pattern +on a white ground, which were a halfpenny each, and climbed to +"glassies" at a penny each; and there was one glass leviathian which +contained all colours within its sphere, and which was kept only to be +handled and admired. Tops were there, too, from polished little +beauties with shining steel tips, which were intended only for +amusement, and were spun with fine white cord, to unadorned, massive, +vicious-looking warriors with sharpened projecting points, which were +intended for the battlefield, and were spun with rough, strong twine, +and which, dexterously used, would split another top from head to foot +as when you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites in the season +was something to see, and although she did not venture upon +cricket-bats, which were sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls, +she had every other kind of ball--solid gutta-percha balls, for hasty +games in the "breaks," white skin-covered rounder balls, and hollow +india-rubber balls, which you could fill with water at the lade, and +then use with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed, employed this +"softie" in silly games of their own, trying whether they could make it +rebound a hundred times from the ground, but we had no doubt about its +proper use in the purposes of Creation. And Mrs. McWhae--peace to her +ashes!--provided all things in meat and drink which a boy could desire; +unless, of course, on some great occasion he wished to revel +imperially--then he went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations have +turned their eager feet, and beyond which nothing is left to desire. +Fenwick's, however, was rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and +we were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where you could get +ginger-beer of her own making at a penny a bottle, better than that +which they sold at the _Muirtown Arms_ at sixpence; and treacle-beer +also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was double the size and was +enough for two fellows; and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry +and could not get home to dinner, so tough that only a boy's teeth could +tear them to pieces; and tarts, so full that it required long skill to +secure every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well worth licking +afterwards; and peppermint balls of black and white, one of which would +keep your mouth sweet for an hour of Latin--that is, if you only sucked +gently and didn't crunch. But the glory of the establishment was the +"gundy." There was a room behind the shop where Mrs. McWhae, who was a +widow, elderly and not prepossessing, lived and slept, and dressed +herself, and cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions, washed, +and there she prepared her tempting meats and drinks for the Seminary. +We lived in a pre-scientific age, and did not go curiously into the +origin of things, being content to take the Creation as it stood, and to +use the gifts of the gods in their finished form. But I believe that +"gundy" was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which our hostess +boiled to a certain point, and then with her own fair hands, which it +was said she wetted with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by +the constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour; after which she +cut the finished product into sticks of a foot long, and wrapped it up +in evil-looking brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders of +wonders! all within that paper, and the paper itself, you could have for +one halfpenny! Good! There is no word for it, as the preachers say, +"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich, so satisfying, so +stimulating, and the amount thereof so full and so tenacious. Why, that +"gundy" would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about your mouth, +and spread itself out, that he was a clever fellow who had drained its +last resources within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a military +gentleman, who, it was understood, had performed prodigies of valour in +the Black Watch, and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who only dealt +upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute was able to use her hands +effectively. Like most women she was open to blandishments, and Nestie +Molyneux, with his English tongue and pretty ways, could get round the +old lady, and she had profound though inexpressed respect for Speug, +whom she regarded as a straightforward fighter, and the two friends +would sometimes be allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see +her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints dropped by those two +favoured customers that the above theory of the making of this +delectable sweet has been formed. + +It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit Mrs. McWhae's during +the "breaks," and to spend three minutes in those happy precincts and +not be absolutely late for the next class; and during the dinner-hour +her shop was crowded, and the steps outside and the very pavement were +blocked by the Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer. +Little boys who had been fortunate enough to get their provisions early, +and were coming out to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid their +treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger fellow should supply +himself without the trouble of waiting his turn, and defer payment to +the end of the year. And one of the lords of the school would on +occasion clear out a dozen of the small fry, in order that he might +select his refreshments comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club, +with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps on which the members +could stand, and from the steps you commanded three streets, so that +there were many things to see, and in snowball time many things to do. +McWhae's had only one inconvenience, and that was that the line of +communication could be cut off by raiding parties from the "Pennies" and +other rival schools. When the snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy +was strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down supplies under +charge of a convoy, and if anything could have added to the flavour of +the "gundy," it was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane Street +to get it, and your way back to enjoy it, that you had lost your bonnet +in a scrimmage, and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling down +your back. Precious then was the dainty sweet as the water which the +mighty men brought to David from the well of Bethlehem. + +"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up the dinner-hour with Nestie +Molyneux, on the upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the +'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake of the _Muirtown +Arms_ passed, with a dozen smart and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly, +and, wheeling round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared up the +road which ran to Drumtochty. "And where think ye have their royal +highnesses been?" + +If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and the boys call themselves +Columbians, it is very profane to an absolutely respectable Scots saint, +and very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call them "Bumbees"; +but Speug was neither reverent nor polite, and the Seminary, although +mainly occupied with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant grudge +against the new public school at St. Columba's, which had been recently +started in a romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a number of +excellent and perhaps slightly superior persons, who were justly aghast +at the somewhat rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots +grammar schools, and who did not desire that Scots lads of the better +class should be sent of necessity to the English public schools. Their +idea was to establish a public school after the English method in +Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept terms, and had dormitories, and a +chapel, and playing-fields, and did everything on a smaller scale which +was done at Rugby and Harrow. The masters of St. Columba's would have +nothing to do with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary. The +Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown and sniffed through the +town. Two or three boys had been taken from the Seminary, because it was +vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order to get into genteel society. +And those things had gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary, +which was certainly a rough school, but at the same time very proud and +patriotic, and there was a latent desire in the mind of the Seminary +that the Columbians should come down in snow-time and show their +contempt for the Muirtown grammar school, when that school would explain +to the Columbians what it thought of them and all their works. As this +pleasure was denied the Seminary, and the sight of the brake was too +much for Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and yelled +opprobrious names, in which the word "Bumbee" was distinct and +prominent. + +"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I am a-ashamed of you. +D-don't you know that the 'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and +w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven wickets to fall. G-good +s-sport, my Speug; read it in the newspaper." + +"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had as muckle spunk in them; +seven wickets, did ye say, against the English? If I had kenned that, +Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given them a cheer. Seven +wickets--they did the job properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with +relish. + +"Speug!"--and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness--"I have an idea. +Why shouldn't the Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next +s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this summer, and begin s-soon +next year and t-try them in July." + +"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was cheered at the thought +of any battle, and he regarded Nestie with admiration, and then his face +fell and he declared it of no use. + +"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek! and if they came they'd +lick us clean. They have a professional and they play from morning till +night. We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first, we'd never +get them oot; and if we went in, they'd have us oot in half an 'oor." + +"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary as if you were a 'Penny'! +Didn't the county professional say that Robertson was the b-best young +player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits a good b-ball, and no +b-bowler can get you out, Speug, and there are other chaps just want +p-practice. We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff fight for the +old Seminary." + +"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously, as they went back to +school at the trot; "ye're the trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock +Howieson is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a +wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat. Gosh!" exclaimed Speug, +as they wheeled into the back-yard, "we'll try it." + +The Seminary were slow to move, but once they took fire they burned +gloriously; and when Dunc Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been +sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable deputation, returned +and informed the school assembled round the Russian guns that the +"Bumbees" would send down their second eleven, since the first was too +old for the Seminary, and play a single innings match on a Saturday +afternoon in the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up their +voice in joyful anticipation. + +It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only consented in terms of +condescension by way of encouraging local sport, as they had tried to +organise a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite understood that the +result would be a hopeless defeat for the Seminary. They were coming, +and the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they were beaten in +cricket, well, it couldn't be helped, but it was the first time +Bulldog's boys had been beaten in anything, and they would know the +reason why. + +Special practice began that evening and continued that evening, and +every other evening except Sundays as long as light lasted and on till +the middle of October, when football could no longer be delayed. +Practice began again a month before the proper season and continued on +the same lines till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary +was fairly up, and from the Rector who began freely to refer to the +Olympian games, to the little chaps who had just come from a dame's +school and were proud to field balls at bowling practice, the whole +school was swept into the excitement of the coming event, and it is said +that Bulldog stumped over every evening after dinner to watch the play +and was the last to leave. + +"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's j-just itching to have a +bat himself. Say, Speug, if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but +if we p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper." + +News spread through the town that the Seminary was to fight the +"Bumbees" for the glory of the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle +in all directions. Our cricket club had played upon the Meadow as best +it could; but now the Council of the city set apart a piece of ground, +and six of the leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled, so +that there might be a good pitch for playing and something worth seeing +on the day of battle. There were half a dozen good players in Muirtown +in those days, two of whom were in the All Scotland eleven, and they +used to come along in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the +county professional now and again dropped in, just to see whether he +could bowl Speug out, and after half an hour's hopeless attack upon that +imperturbable youth, the professional declared the Seminary had a +chance. But the word was passed round that there should be no boasting, +and that Muirtown must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable defeat. +Mr. McGuffie senior was the only man on the morning of the match who was +prepared to bet on even terms, and his offers were refused by the +citizens, first because betting was sinful, and, second, it was +possible, though not likely, they might lose. + +The Columbians came down as usual in a brake, with only two horses this +time, and made a pretty show when they were dressed in their white +flannels and school colours, and every one admitted that they were a +good-looking and well-set-up eleven; they brought half a dozen other +fellows with them, to help to cheer their victory and to keep their +score, and a master to be umpire. The Seminary eleven were in all +colours and such dress as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and +Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels, but Speug in a grey +shirt and a pair of tight tweed trousers of preposterous pattern, which +were greatly admired by his father's grooms--and, for that matter, by +the whole school; and although Jock Howieson had been persuaded into +flannel bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red shirt of +outrageous appearance, which was enough to frighten any bowler. Jack +Moncrieffe, the Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland, +was umpire for the Seminary, and the very sight of him taught the first +lesson of respect to the "Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim +Fleming, the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching the Seminary all +the summer, they began to feel that it might be a real match, not merely +a few lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage a common +school, don't you know. + +There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown men, together with a +goodly sprinkling of Muirtown mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his +position early, just in front of the tent, and never moved till the +match was over; nor did he speak, save once; but the Seminary knew that +he was thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics had his eye +upon them. Some distance off, the Count--that faithful friend of his +Seminary "dogs"--promenaded up and down a beat of some dozen yards, and +spent the time in one long excitement, cheering with weird foreign +accent when a good hit was made, swearing in French when anything went +wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the loss of a Seminary wicket, and +hurrying to shake hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had +done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket. Mr. McGuffie moved +through the crowd from time to time, and finally succeeded in making a +bet on the most advantageous terms with that eminent dignitary, the Earl +of Kilspindie's coachman, who was so contemptuous of the Seminary from +the Castle point of view that he took the odds of five to one in +sovereigns that they would be beaten. And on the outskirts of the crowd, +half ashamed to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered Bailie +MacConachie. + +The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice of Jim Fleming sent the +Columbians in, and there was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for +the Frenchman did not count--who denied that the strangers played a +good, clean game--pretty form, and brave scoring; and on their part the +Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the Seminary knew how to +field, wherever they had learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could +pass Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible with Speug as +long-stop, for those were the days when there were long-stops. Cosh had +his faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary thought more of him +after a miraculous catch which he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at +square-leg, might not be able to prevent a two occasionally, but he +refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was a graceless bowler and an +offence to the eye, but his balls were always in the line of the middle +stump, and their rate that of an express train; and Nestie not only had +a pretty style, but a way of insinuating himself among the wickets which +four Columbians had not the power to refuse. There was a bit of work at +long-field, which even the Columbians could not help cheering, though it +lost them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was sent up from +cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and so took another wicket, wrung a word +of private praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the Seminary was +fighting against heavy odds, an uphill, hopeless battle, and when the +visitors went out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr. McGuffie +senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and only the Count prophesied +triumph, going round and shaking hands individually with every one of +his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the sky. Bailie +MacConachie, by this time was lost in the crowd, working his way +gradually to the front, and looking as if he would have liked to cheer, +but thinking it better not to call attention to his presence. Then the +Seminary went in, and there is no question but that they had hard times +at the hands of the Columbians, who were well trained and played all +together. Robertson, who was the hope of the Seminary, went out for +twenty, and Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only managed +twelve, and the other fellows were too easily bowled or caught out, each +adding something, but none doing much, till at last the score stood at +sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary in. Things were looking +very black, and even the Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face +suggested that next Monday the whole school would be thrashed, and that +a special treat would be reserved for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however, +with a sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make another bet +with his lordship's coachman, and increased the odds from five to ten, +and the dignitary declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his money. + +"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses pass the line. I've seen +many a race changed before the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his +position in the front row to see the end. + +Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and only one wicket to fall, +and the Columbians discounted their victory in a gentlemanly fashion, +while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give them no chances," he said to +Howieson, as that stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been at +the wicket for some time, but had only scored ten. Any over might close +the match, and perhaps the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for three +overs passed and the two friends of many a scrimmage were still in, and +neither of them had shown any intention of going out. Quite the +contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and Howieson, who played with +the gracefulness of a cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his +wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his own account. + +"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him oot sune? I tell you he's +settlin' down for the afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour +deevil. The fact is"--Mr. McGuffie took a circle of spectators into his +confidence--"they're juist gettin' into the stride." The Count preened +his plumage and plucked up heart again, while the Seminary lads, +gathered in a solid mass to the left of the tent, were afraid to cheer +lest they should invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern, +could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be better matched," said +Nestie. "Speug and Jock--they've had l-lots of things in hand together, +and they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment Speug sent a ball to +the boundary. Now there were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three +runs to make. + +They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness, blocking the balls +which were dangerous and could not be played; declining to give the +faintest chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather than be run +out, and so the score crept up with a two from Howieson, who had got +into a habit of twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and a +three and a four from Speug, and another two from Howieson, and a three +from Speug. + +Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted to the coachman, "Take +you again, Petrie--ten to one, five to one, three to one against the +Seminary?" And when there was no answer, Mr. McGuffie offered to take it +even from anybody, and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was +Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and everything except the +glory of Muirtown, was now standing beside Speug's father and did not +care. "Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching the look in +MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones, we're a' Muirtown men the +day"; and then his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye odds, +coachman--two to one against the 'Bumbees'" for Howieson had scored +another two, and two more runs would win the match for the Seminary. + +Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson, instead of stopping the +ball with his bat, must needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried +the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?" Was his leg before +wicket or not? And for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian, +Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and children, held their breath. +It would have been maddening to have been beaten only by one run, and +after such a gallant fight. + +"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds; but it seemed ten minutes, +and a yell went up from the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie +MacConachie took off his hat and wiped his forehead, which Mr. McGuffie +noted with sympathy and laid up to the Bailie's credit. There was +another crisis at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown, but it was +very keenly present to the minds of the Columbians. One over more and +the time limit would be reached and the game closed. If the Seminary +could make two runs, they would win; if the Columbians could get Speug's +wicket, they would win. They put on their most dangerous man, whose ball +had a trick of coming down just six inches in front of the block, and +then, having escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming perilously +near the wicket. His attack compelled the most watchful defence, and +hardly allowed the chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but could +do no more with them; the third got past and shaved the wicket; the +fourth Speug sent to slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth, +full of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear seized the heart +of Muirtown that the last would capture the wickets and give the victory +to the visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for it was +sent to land inside the block, just so much nearer as might deceive the +batsman accustomed to the former distance. No sooner had it left the +bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and gnawed his moustache. Every +eye followed the ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety of +it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew together unconsciously in +common hope. Robertson, the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into +the ground, and opposite, between the field and the river, the leader of +that rapscallion school, the "Pennies," stood erect, intent, +open-mouthed with his crew around, for once silent and motionless. Speug +took a swift stride forward and met the ball nearly three feet from the +ground, and, gathering up all the strength in his tough little body, he +caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it over square-leg's +head, who had come in too near and made one hopeless clutch at it, and +through the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on every side to +let it pass as they had never yielded to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown +had found voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the "Pennies" +had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into the air, for, the ball was in +the river, and the Seminary had won by three runs and one wicket. + +Things happened then which are beyond the pen of man, but it was freely +said that the "Hurrah" of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the +hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the Count, in his joy over +the victory of his "jolly dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat, +and would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own hat in triumph. +This is certain, that the Seminary carried Speug and Howieson both +protesting, from the North Meadow, in through the big school door; that +Bulldog walked at the head of the procession, like a general coming home +in his glory; that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him; that, +after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed one cheer more for +Bailie MacConachie, and that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's +house for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie home. + + + + +BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE + +XVI + + +When the rumour flew through Muirtown in Spring that Bulldog was to +resign at the close of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and +treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector who was more a +learned ghost than a human being, or the English master who had grown +stout and pursey, or some of the other masters who came and went like +shadows, Muirtown had not given another thought to the matter, but +Bulldog retiring, it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown held its +sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was the cause; and then Dr. Manley +stormed through half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known Dugald +MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except once when that little scoundrel +Speug, or rather he should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician, +brought his master through triumphantly with a trifle of assistance from +himself as a general practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog? +Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify in public places, and +was supported by all the other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his +education at Drumtochty that the mathematical master of Muirtown Academy +had thrashed them all as boys, every man jack of them, being then not +much older than themselves, and that he was now--barring his white +hair--rather fresher than in the days of their youth? Had success +departed at last from the mathematical class-room, after resting there +as in a temple of wingless victory for three generations? Was it not +known everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather was a senior +pupil when Bulldog took the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply +romped through Edinburgh University gathering medals, prizes, bursaries, +fellowships, and everything else that a mathematician could lay his +hands on, and then had won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, +with papers that were talked about in the College for fourteen days, and +were laid past by one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May be, and +this was no doubt the very heart of the jest, Bulldog had lost control +of the boys, and his right hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys +were insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries as to when they +had their last interview with the tawse and whether the canings were as +nippy as ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its favourite master +was an expert in every branch of his calling and dealt with the +grandchildren as thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers. And +Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing the bridge one morning as +alert in step and austere in countenance as ever, asked him how he was +keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself the luxury of a +chuckle as one who has made a jocose remark. + +It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown when the following letter was +read in the Town Council and was known next morning to every citizen +from the Procurator Fiscal to London John. + + +_To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown._ + + "Gentlemen,--I beg to resign, as from the close of the present + term, the position of Master of Mathematics, Arithmetic and + Writing, in Muirtown Seminary, and to thank the council for the + trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight years. + + "I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen, + "Your obedient servant, + "Dugald MacKinnon." + + +When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began between Bulldog and the +citizens which lasted for four intense weeks in which the town was at +fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and calmer than ever. And he +won all along the line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful +admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and, for such a document, +almost heated in feeling, to which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but +guarded reply. The Council intimated that they would consider his letter +to be non-existent, and not even put him to the trouble of withdrawing, +and Mr. MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in that case he must +trouble the Council with an exact copy. The Council then appointed a +deputation to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself unworthy +of such an unprecedented honour, and declined to see them. And then the +Council, in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable, strained +their powers to the utmost with immense unanimity, and voted a handsome +pension to "Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in grateful, +although unworthy recognition of the unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable +service he has rendered to the education of this ancient city for a +period of more than half a century, during which time nearly two +thousand lads have been sent forth equipped for the practical business +of life in Muirtown, in the great cities of our land and unto the ends +of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in a letter of perfect +handwriting that he was quite undeserving of such a resolution, as he +had done nothing more than his duty, and that he could not accept any +retiring allowance--first, because he was not sure that it was strictly +legal, and, secondly, because he had made provision for his last years, +but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most obliged servant." It +was then determined to entertain this obdurate man at a banquet, and to +make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr. MacKinnon was again most +grateful for the kindness of his fellow citizens and the honour they +proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he would neither accept the +banquet nor a piece of plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a city +slow but sure of understanding, and with a silent sense of the fitness +of things, that Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus +for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without conciliation, +giving no favours and receiving none, but doing his part by the laddies +of Muirtown with all his strength of mind and conscience and right arm, +was not going to weaken at the end of his career. For him to rise at the +close of a dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would have been +out of keeping with his severe and lonely past, and for him to be a +pensioner, even of the Town Council, would have been an indignity. He +had reigned longer and more absolutely than any master in the annals of +the Seminary, and to the last day he had held the sceptre without +flinching. As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible, he would +lay aside the purple, and disappear into private life. And Muirtown was +proud of Bulldog. + +Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown in all their glory, and +his fellow citizens united in one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet +settled with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions or any +other way their appreciation of their master, and they had followed the +futile attempts of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful +that grown up people should be so far left to themselves as to suppose +that Bulldog, their own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined by +Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a dithering idiot with a +silver jug in his hands, or some such trash, while his hands were +itching to thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed them long +ago. When the boys heard their fathers raging at Bulldog's proud +obstinacy they offered no remark, but when they got together they +chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort and compensation for +many an honest thrashing, in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of +Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No rebellion against him had +ever had the faintest gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped +without his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the last and full +of devilry, agreed together by an instinct rather than a conference that +they would close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection. He had +governed them with an iron hand, and they had been proud to be governed, +considering the wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable than +the kisses of McIntyres', but they would have one big revenge and then +Bulldog and his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long +confabulations together in the Rector's class-room while that learned +man was reading aloud some new and specially ingenious translation of an +ode and in the class-room of modern languages, while Moossy's successor +was trying to teach Jock Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the +German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop when the "gundy" allowed them +to speak at all, and at the Russian guns where they gathered in the +break instead of playing rounders. The junior boys were not admitted to +those mysterious meetings, but were told to wait and see what they would +see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a word of it oozed out in +the town. But the Seminary was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog +would repent the years of his tyranny. + +Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it was going to be a big +affair, and Speug directed that a war chest should at once be +established. No one outside the secret junta knew what was going to be +done with the money, but orders were issued that by hook or crook every +boy in school except the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to Jock +Howieson, who was not an accomplished classical scholar nor specially +versed in geometry but who could keep the most intricate accounts in his +head with unerring accuracy, and knew every boy in the Seminary by head +mark. And although he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed +with other powers of persuasion, and he would be a very daring young +gentleman indeed, and almost indifferent to circumstances, who did not +pay his sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday. Jock made no +demands, and gave no receipts; he engaged in no conversation whatever, +but simply waited and took. If any one tried to compound with Jock for +threepence, one look at the miserable produced the sixpence; and when +little Cosh following in the devious steps of his elder brother +insinuated that he had paid already, Jock dropped him into the lade to +refresh his memory. No one directly inquired what was to be done with +the money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock, and that it would +be well spent by the mighty four who now ruled the school: Jock, +Bauldie, Nestie, and Speug--Dunc Robertson after a brief course at +Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's regiment. And it was +also known that every halfpenny was going to give a big surprise to +Bulldog, so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers with +obsequious respect for commercial reasons, and coaxed additional pennies +out of their mothers on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits +to maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop, turning away their eyes +and noses from vanity, and sold to grinding capitalists their tops, +marbles, young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every Monday +the silent but observant treasurer received for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at +the rate of sixpence a head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like +an oyster, and there was not one informer among the 208; but curiosity +grew hot, and there were many speculations, and it was widely believed +that the money would be used in sending a cane of the most magnificent +proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance of his teaching days, and a +mark of respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to himself, dared +to suggest this to Speug; and when he looked round at some distance off, +Speug's eye was still upon him, and he declared from his experience that +it was not healthy to question Speug. Two hundred and four boys, +however, with the observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent upon +discovery could not be altogether baffled, and various bits of reliable +information were passed round the school. That the four had gone one +evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now on terms of high +popularity with the school; that the Count who was even then sickening +for his death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident could +kill, had also been present; that at different times the Count had been +seen examining the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches were +carried by every man of standing in the Scots Midlands, and pronouncing +his judgment on their appearance with vivacious gestures; that the +Bailie had been seen examining the interior of a watch with awful +solemnity while Councillor Gillespie hung upon his decision; and, to +crown all, that Mr. McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the +head of the firm, during which he had given him gratuitous advice on +three coming races, had left Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced +language that if certain persons did not obtain certain things for £40 +he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person giving to betting, would wager +ten to one that the place of business would close in a year. It was +whispered therefore in the corridors, with some show of truth, that the +Seminary was going to take vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that +the gift, whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop. And the +school speculated whether there was any one of their number, even Speug +himself, who would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and whether, if he +did, that uncompromising man might not occupy his last week of +mastership in thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest unto the +youngest, for their blazing impertinence. + +The closing day was a Thursday that year, and it was characteristic of +Bulldog that he met his classes as usual on Wednesday, and when +Howieson disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid, having disgraced +himself more moderately on four preceding days that he administered +discipline on Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the last boy +Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up as to be absolutely +unendurable for the rest of the day, and boasted of the distinction for +many a year. As four o'clock approached, the boys began to grow +restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not perfectly steady when he +closed the last problem with Q. E. D. + +"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried the argument to its +conclusion according to the principles of things, and the book is +finished. There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, we will +spend it in revising the work of the Senior Algebra Class." + +Their work has not been revised unto this day, for at that moment the +door opened without any one knocking, and without any one offering an +apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, and scholar of +Trinity College, Cambridge, and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the +Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied by Bailie +MacConachie, whose dignity was fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand +gracefully to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included everybody in an +affable nod; and behind this imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown +Seminary who was not already in the mathematical class-room. Bulldog +turned upon them like a lion caught in a snare, and if he had had only +thirty seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would have driven +the whole deputation, old and young, out of the class-room and dealt +with the conspirators who remained unto the setting of the sun. But it +was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with minute care, and before +Bulldog could say a word Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say +much. + +"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us for it is our last +offence, and we have this time a fair excuse. Your laddies could not let +you leave that desk and go out of this room for the last time without +telling you that they are grateful, because you have tried to make them +scholars, and to make them men. If any of us be able in after years to +do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything else to your +teaching and your discipline." + +Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman the four had chosen, began. + +"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, but everything Pirie +said is true, and we are proud of our chief." + +"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the watch and chain which +we ask the master to do us the honour of wearing through the days to +come, and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to the desk, +"crowns our offence, but you will know how to read it!" + + "TO BULLDOG, + WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION + OF + HIS LADDIES." + +It was Bailie MacConachie--may everything be pardoned to him--who +started the cheer; but it was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and +ditch, and it was of such a kind that the mathematical class-room had to +be repaired before the beginning of next term. During the storm Bulldog +stood with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white as his hair, +and when at last there was silence he tried to speak, but the tender +heart had broken the iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies." + +The Count, with quick tact, led off the second cheer, and the boys filed +out of the class-room. Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before +him, and covered his face with his hands. When an hour later he walked +across the North Meadow there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie +MacFarlane, who met him on the bridge (and passed without speaking), +noticed that Bulldog was wearing his laddies' gift. + +Sitting in his garden that evening and looking down upon the plain, +Bulldog called Nestie to his side, and pointed to the river. The evening +sun was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and on the +orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft light, a rough +weather-beaten coaster, which had fought her way through many a gale in +the North Sea, and could not hold together much longer was dropping down +with the tide. Newer and swifter vessels would take her place in the +days to come, but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully, +and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots rivers was carrying her gently +to the eternal ocean. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 *** diff --git a/30089-h/30089-h.htm b/30089-h/30089-h.htm index b4e6071..dbb6a6a 100644 --- a/30089-h/30089-h.htm +++ b/30089-h/30089-h.htm @@ -1,9601 +1,9601 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
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-<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***</div>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-<div class="image"><img src="images/icover.jpg" width="380" height="450" alt="Cover" title="" /></div>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 395px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="ifrontis" id="ifrontis"></a><img src="images/ifrontis.jpg" width="395" height="600" alt=""Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall."</span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image"><img src="images/ititle.png" width="415" height="700" alt="YOUNG
-BARBARIANS
-
-By
-IAN MACLAREN
-Author of "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush"
-
-ILLUSTRATED
-
-NEW YORK
-Dodd, Mead and Company
-1910" title="" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h4>Copyright, 1899 and 1900,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>,<br />
-as<br />
-A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4>Copyright, 1900,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4>Copyright, 1901,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead and Company</span>.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4><i>First Edition, Published October, 1901</i></h4>
-
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></div>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="3" summary="table of contents" width="40%">
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">I</td></tr>
-<tr><td></td><td align="right" class="stext">PAGE</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">"<span class="smcap">Speug</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#SPEUG">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">II</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOG">21</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">III</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nestie</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#NESTIE">39</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Famous Victory</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_FAMOUS_VICTORY">59</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">V</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">His Private Capacity</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY">85</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Disgrace of Mr. Byles</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_DISGRACE_OF">103</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Count</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_COUNT">121</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Tournament</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_TOURNAMENT">139</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IX</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Moossy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#MOOSSY">163</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">X</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Last Resource</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_LAST_RESOURCE">183</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Pleasant Sin</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_PLEASANT_SIN">205</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Guerilla Warfare</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#GUERILLA_WARFARE">223</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fall of Goliath</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH">245</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Bailie's Double</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE">261</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Triumph of the Seminary</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE">281</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XVI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog's Recompense</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE">305</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="list of illustrations">
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large entrance hall."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#ifrontis">Frontispiece</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i036">36</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i050">50</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i066">66</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i092">92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i096">96</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were so friendly that they gathered round the party."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i114">114</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i118">118</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i134">134</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i158">158</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i170">170</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"The school fell over benches and over another."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i174">174</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i202">202</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They drank without any cup."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i218">218</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before him stood London John bearing the seductive advertisement."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i240">240</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i252">252</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="SPEUG" id="SPEUG"></a>"SPEUG"</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">I</h3>
-
-
-<p>Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
-of the classical order, facing the north meadow and
-commanding from its upper windows a fine view
-of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon
-its gravel bed. Behind the front building was the
-paved court where the boys played casual games in
-the breaks of five minutes between the hours of
-study, and this court had an entrance from a narrow
-back street along which, in snow time, a detachment
-of the enemy from the other schools might
-steal any hour and take us by disastrous surprise.
-There were those who wished that we had been completely
-walled up at the back, for then we had met
-the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But
-the braver souls of our commonwealth considered
-that this back way, affording opportunities for ambushes,
-sallies, subtle tactics, and endless vicissitudes,
-lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the
-whole winter through and most of the summer, and
-brought it nearer to the condition of Red Indian
-fighting, which was our favourite reading and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
-example of heroism. Again and again we studied
-the adventures of Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not
-only on account of his hairbreadth escapes when he
-eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and
-detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning
-of a leaf on the ground, but also in order to find
-out new methods of deceit by which we could allure
-our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods
-of attack by which we could successfully outflank
-them on the broader street and drive them into their
-own retreats with public ignominy.</p>
-
-<p>Within the building the glory of the Seminary
-was a massive stone stair, circular in shape, and
-having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by
-a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the
-masters descended at nine o'clock for the opening
-of the school, with Bulldog, who was the mathematical
-master and the awful pride of the school, at their
-head, and it was strictly forbidden that any boy,
-should be found within the "well." As it was the
-most tempting of places for the deposit of anything
-in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to
-little boys, and especially as any boy found in the
-well was sure to be caned, there was an obvious and
-irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter McGuffie,
-commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch
-tongue "Speug," and one of the two heads of our
-commonwealth, used to wait with an expression of
-such demureness that it ought to have been a danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
-signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and
-a row of boys were standing in expectation with
-their backs to the forbidden place. Then, passing
-swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and
-threw them over, and suddenly seizing a tempting
-urchin landed him on the bed of caps which had been
-duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth
-of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog
-as he passed made a mental note of the prisoner's
-name, and identified the various bonnetless boys,
-and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the
-day, attended to each culprit separately and carefully.
-If any person, from the standpoint of this
-modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some
-innocent victim did not state his case and lay
-the blame upon the guilty, then it is enough to say
-that that person had never been a scholar at Muirtown
-Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge
-of the character and methods of Peter McGuffie.
-Had any boy of our time given information to a
-master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he
-would have had the coldest reception at the hands
-of Bulldog, and when his conduct was known to the
-school he might be assured of such constant and
-ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he
-would have been ready to drown himself in the Tay
-rather than continue his studies at Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-Scots Midlands, and a sporting man of established
-repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced, loud-voiced,
-clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head,
-whose calves and whose manner were the secret admiration
-of Muirtown. Quiet citizens of irreproachable
-respectability and religious orthodoxy regarded
-him with a pride which they would never confess;
-not because they would have spoken or acted as he
-did for a king's ransom, and not because they would
-have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to die—considering,
-as they did, that the future of a horsedealer
-and an owner of racing horses was dark in
-the extreme—but because he was a perfect specimen
-of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to
-be known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie
-McCallum, for instance, could have no dealings with
-McGuffie senior, and would have been scandalised
-had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his
-shop and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the
-Bailie used to chuckle after an appreciative fashion
-at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate with much
-inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits—how
-he had encountered southern horsedealers and
-sent them home humbled with defeat, and had won
-hopeless races over the length and breadth of the
-land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark,
-"and McGuffie is no' the man for an elder;
-but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him at a
-bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
-a local hero, and on their way home from school they
-loitered to study him, standing in the gateway of his
-stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and
-shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends
-at the distance of half a street. When he was in
-good humour he would nod to the lads and wink to
-them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted
-to perform the same feat all the way home
-and were filled with despair. It did not matter that
-we were fed, by careful parents, with books containing
-the history of good men who began life with
-2<i>s.</i> 11<i>d.</i>, and died leaving a quarter of a million,
-made by selling soft goods and attending church,
-and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of
-boys who died young and, before they died, delighted
-society with observations of the most edifying
-character on the shortness of life. We had
-rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.</p>
-
-<p>Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model
-of all the virtues that were worthy of a boy's imitation,
-and his son with undisguised envy, because he
-had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because
-he had the run of the stables, because he was on
-terms of easy familiarity with his father's grooms,
-and because he was encouraged to do those things
-which we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted
-to do those things which he hated to do. All
-the good advice we ever got, and all the examples
-of those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
-of the Rev. Dr. Dowbiggin, were blown to the
-winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in the high
-dogcart beside his father, while that talented man
-was showing off to Muirtown a newly broken horse.
-Speug's position on that seat of unique dignity was
-more than human, and none of us would have dared
-to recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter
-was quite unspoiled by his privileges, and would
-wink to his humble friends upon the street after his
-most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved
-him his father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive
-society were not failings either of Mr. McGuffie
-senior or of his hopeful son. Both were
-willing to fight any person of their own size (or,
-indeed, much bigger), as well as to bargain with
-anybody, and at any time, about anything, from
-horses to marbles.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during
-her lifetime was a woman of decided character,
-whom the grooms regarded with more terror than
-they did her husband, and whom her husband himself
-treated with great respect, a respect which grew
-into unaffected reverence when he was returning
-from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional
-duties, to a late hour in the evening. As
-her afflicted husband refused to marry again, in decided
-terms, Peter, their only child, had been
-brought up from an early age among grooms and
-other people devoted to the care and study of horses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-In this school he received an education which was
-perhaps more practical and varied than finished and
-polite. It was not to be wondered, therefore, that
-his manners were simple and natural to a degree,
-and that he was never the prey, either in any ordinary
-circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although
-a motherless lad, he was never helpless, and
-from the first was able to hold his own and to make
-his hands keep his head.</p>
-
-<p>His orphan condition excited the compassion of
-respectable matrons, but their efforts to tend him
-in his loneliness were not always successful, nor
-even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie.
-When Mrs. Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in
-what was called the "work among children," and
-who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity
-on Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to
-play with her boys, who were a head taller and paragons
-of excellence, the result was unfortunate, and
-afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an exhortation.
-Peter was brought back to the parental
-mansion by Dr. Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour,
-and received a cordial welcome from a congregation
-of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at
-the Manse with much detail and agreeable humour.
-During the brief space at his disposal he had put
-every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of
-repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with
-burnt cork so that their mother did not recognise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
-her children. He had also taught them a negro melody
-of a very taking description, and had reinforced
-their vocabulary with the very cream of the stable.
-From that day Mrs. Dowbiggin warned the mothers
-of Muirtown against allowing their boys to associate
-with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on
-the street without an expression of open delight.</p>
-
-<p>When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being
-then ten years old, to the Seminary for admittance,
-it was a chance that he was not refused and that
-we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's
-profession and reputation were a stumbling-block
-to the rector, who was a man of austere countenance
-and strict habits of life, and Peter himself
-was a very odd-looking piece of humanity and had
-already established his own record. He was under-sized
-and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in countenance,
-and with beady black eyes which on
-occasion lit up his face as when one illuminates the
-front of a house, but the occasions were rarely those
-which would commend themselves to the headmaster
-of a public school. How the dealer in horses removed
-the rector's difficulties was never accurately
-known, but boys passing the door of the rector's retiring-room
-when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie
-overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown
-was able to understand the situation. It was understood
-that in a conflict of words the rector, an absent-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>minded
-scholar of shrinking manner, was not likely
-to come off best, and it is certain that the head of
-the school ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie
-as "a man of great resolution of character and endowed
-with the gift of forcible speech." As regards
-the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief
-directions before leaving, and in the presence of his
-fellow-scholars, of which this only was overheard,
-and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance:
-"Never give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting
-words Mr. McGuffie senior departed
-through the front door amid a hush of admiration,
-leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well"
-which was to be the scene of many of his future
-waggeries.</p>
-
-<p>With the progress of civilisation school life in
-Scotland has taken on a high degree of refinement,
-and rumour has it—but what will people not say?—that
-a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary
-and will receive a respectful welcome from the
-generation following Peter, and that the whole
-school will devote itself to his comfort for days—showing
-him where to hang his cap, initiating him
-into games, assisting him with his lessons, and treating
-his feelings with delicate respect. It has been
-my own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former
-barbarian age, to read the rules, which, I believe, are
-now printed in black letters with red capitals and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings
-will not allow me to give them all, but the following
-have moved me almost to tears:—</p>
-
-<p>Rule 1.—That every boy attending this school is
-expected to behave himself in speech and deed as a
-gentleman.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 2.—That anyone writing upon a wall, or in
-any way marking the school furniture, will be considered
-to have committed an offence, and will be
-punished.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 3.—That every boy is exhorted to treat
-every other with courtesy, and anyone guilty of
-rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to the
-headmaster.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 4.—That it is expected of every boy to
-cultivate neatness of appearance, and especially to
-see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and other articles
-of clothing be not soiled.</p>
-
-<p>These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere
-and one very different from that in which we passed
-our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this kind
-softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan
-simplicity. The very sight of a newcomer in a
-speckless suit, with an irreproachable tie and both
-tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound
-emotion in the school and carried it beyond self-control.
-What could be expected of a fellow so bedecked
-and preserved as if he had just stepped out
-of a bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
-pride and perfection—the very beginning of a Pharisee—he
-would only go from bad to worse and come
-at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists,
-but we did feel it was our duty to rescue
-this lad. It might be, of course, that we could not
-finally save him, but he ought at least to have a
-chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction
-in at once removing the two offensive tails by one
-vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a collar was a
-work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy
-is successful with all cases, and we had our failures,
-which we think about unto this day, and which have
-only justified our sad predictions. Boys like the two
-Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given
-up in despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed
-day by day and their faces remaining in all
-circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month
-the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of
-conventionality, and was only outdone by Peter himself
-in studied negligence of attire.</p>
-
-<p>Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it
-did not last long, for certain practical reasons.</p>
-
-<p>"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?"
-was the encouraging salutation offered by
-a solicitor's son to the stumpy little figure bereft of
-its father and left to fight its battles alone.</p>
-
-<p>"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o'
-a thievin' lawyer," and although Peter was four
-years younger and small for his age, he showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
-he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms
-without profit, and his opponent attended no more
-classes that day. This encounter excited the deepest
-interest and revived the whole life of the school.
-One lad after another experimented on Peter and
-made as much of it as drawing a badger. He was
-often hurt, but he never uttered any cry. He gave
-rather more than he got, and lads going home in the
-afternoon could see him giving an account of the
-studies of the day to an admiring audience in the
-stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone,
-and for the impudence of him, and his courage, and
-his endurance, and his general cockiness, and his
-extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was called
-"Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively
-expressed the admiration of the school.</p>
-
-<p>It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter
-was a scholar, or, indeed, gave any voluntary attention
-to the course of learning laid down by the
-authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed
-at the foot of every class, maintaining a
-certain impenetrable front when a question came his
-length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never
-risking his position in the school by exposing himself
-to contempt. When Thomas John Dowbiggin was
-distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by
-translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's
-History, Speug used to watch him with keen interest,
-and employ his leisure time in arranging some little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
-surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas John's
-life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so
-inconsistent, that as often as Duncan Robertson
-answered more promptly than Thomas John, and
-obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with
-unaffected delight, and he was even known to smack
-his lips audibly. When the rector's back was turned
-he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas John's
-discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the
-united class did him homage, and even Thomas John
-was shaken out of his equanimity; but then Duncan
-Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment,
-and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and
-had not in his Highland body the faintest trace of
-a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing reproof
-of everything that was said and done outside
-of lesson time in Muirtown School.</p>
-
-<p>Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating
-adventures none was to be compared with
-him. Was it not Speug who floated down the
-tunnel through which a swift running stream of
-clean water reached the Tay, and allured six
-others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were
-drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception
-of the Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black
-mouth of the tunnel and reward his success with a
-cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's
-military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work
-in a pit at the top of the Meadow, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-called the Redan and was blown up with gunpowder
-one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily
-buried beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing
-both eyebrows? And when an old lady living next
-the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug and
-some other genial spirits for having broken one of
-her windows in a snowball fight, he made no sign
-and uttered no threat, but in the following autumn
-he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy
-in the four upper forms—except the Dowbiggins,
-who declined politely—and to distribute a handful
-for a scramble among the little boys. There was
-much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity,
-and it certainly was remarkable that the pear
-was of the same kind as the old lady cultivated with
-much pride, and that her fruit was gathered for her
-in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable
-of anything except telling a lie. He could swim the
-Tay at its broadest and almost at its swiftest, could
-ride any horse in his father's stable, could climb any
-tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game,
-from marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based
-on smuggling, to football, where he was a very
-dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting
-was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There
-was nothing he could not do with his hands, and no
-one whom he was not ready to face.</p>
-
-<p>Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and
-the exact type of a turbulent Lowland Scot, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
-whom the Seminary had missed its life and colour,
-and who by sheer force of courage and strength
-asserted himself as our chief captain. After many
-years have passed, Speug stands out a figure of size
-and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other
-poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried
-off medals, prizes, certificates of merit, and
-everything else which could be obtained in Muirtown
-Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted
-all evening at next day's work. The town was
-weary of seeing Thomas John and his brother—each
-wearing the same smug expression, and each in
-faultlessly neat attire—processing up in turn to receive
-their honours from the hands of the Lord
-Provost, and the town would cheer with enthusiasm
-when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance,
-being glad to escape from the oppression of
-the Dowbiggin <i>régime</i>. Nor was the town altogether
-wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at
-their own value, and declining to believe that the
-strength of the country was after their fashion.
-When Thomas John reached the University he did
-not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family,
-and by the time he reached the pulpit no one could
-endure his unredeemed dulness. When last I heard
-of him he was secretary to a blameless society which
-has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten
-Tribes, and it occurs to me that it would have been
-a good thing for Thomas John to have been blown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
-up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have
-become a man.</p>
-
-<p>After the Seminary had done its best for Speug
-he retired upon his laurels and went to assist his
-father in the business of horsedealing, to which he
-brought an invincible courage and a large experience
-in bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw
-him breaking in young horses on the roads round
-Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in a
-steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland.
-When Mr. McGuffie senior was killed by an Irish
-mare, Peter sold the establishment and went into
-foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at
-intervals of five years from Australia, Texas, the
-Plate, Cape of Good Hope, assured and reckless as
-ever, but always straightforward, masterful, open-handed,
-and gallant. His exploits are over now, and
-all England read his last, how he sent on in safety a
-settler's household through a narrow pass in Matabele
-Land, and with a handful of troopers held the
-savages in check until pursuit was vain.</p>
-
-<p>"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote
-the war correspondent, "that Captain McGuffie, of
-the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men had
-been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his
-back to a rock in a narrow place he defended himself
-with such skill and courage that the Matabele declared
-him the best fighting man they had ever met,
-and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
-Only last week two Seminary men were reading that
-account together and recalling Peter, and such is the
-inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death
-(from apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would
-have been much less lamented. "That is just how
-Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved
-a fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient
-memories of Peter's boyhood, and read the
-despatch of the commanding officer, with his reference
-to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and
-then they looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated
-papers, the eyes as bold and mischievous as ever.
-"Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of divinity—may
-he be forgiven!—"well done, Speug, a terrier of the
-old Scots breed."</p>
-
-<p>Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was
-Duncan Ronald Stewart Robertson, commonly
-known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything except
-honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite
-of Peter McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been
-lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor in Rannoch, with
-half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed,
-and certainly since history began. For hundreds
-of years they had been warriors, fighting other
-clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for Prince
-Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for
-England as officers in the Highland regiments. The
-present laird had been in the Crimean war and the
-Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to
-our examination in full uniform, having first inspected
-the local garrison on the meadow, it was the
-greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he
-came in, counting the medals on his breast, amidst
-which we failed not to notice the Victoria Cross.
-We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him
-when he mounted his horse outside and rode along
-the terrace, and Peter led a detachment by the back
-way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one cheer
-more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad,
-with red hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not
-handsome, but carrying himself with much dignity
-and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting
-trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson
-wore the kilt and never looked anything else but
-a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the shabbiest,
-and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners
-were those of his blood, but a freer and heartier and
-more harum-scarum fellow never lived. It is a pleasant
-remembrance, after many years, to see again a
-group of lads round the big fire in the winter time,
-and to hear Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad,
-"How Horatius kept the bridge in the brave days
-of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and
-proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's
-Academy and simply compel a conflict.
-Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell at Tel-el-Kebir,
-and there is one Seminary man at least who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
-keeps the portraits of the two captains—Peter McGuffie,
-the Scot, the horsedealer's son, and a very
-vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan Robertson, the
-Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself
-from head to foot—in remembrance of a school
-which was rough and old-fashioned, where, indeed,
-softness and luxury were impossible, but where men
-were made who had the heart in them to live and die
-for their country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOG" id="BULLDOG"></a>BULLDOG</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">II</h3>
-
-
-<p>The headmaster of a certain great English school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
-is accustomed to enlarge in private on the secret of
-boy management, and this is the sum of his wisdom—Be
-kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put
-your foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This
-deliverance must, of course, as its eminent author
-intends, be read with sense, and with any modification
-it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but
-it is confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong
-in character and scholarship, lay himself out to be
-a boy's friend—using affectionate language, overseeing
-his health, letting him off impositions, sparing
-the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence—and
-the boy will respond, without any doubt, but it
-will be after his own fashion. The boy will take
-that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity;
-he will call him by some disparaging nickname, with
-an unholy approximation to truth; he will concoct
-tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will fling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
-back his benefits with contempt; he will make his
-life a misery, and will despise him as long as he lives.
-Let a man of masculine character and evident ability
-set himself to rule and drill boys, holding no unnecessary
-converse with them, working them to the
-height of their powers, insisting on the work being
-done, not fearing to punish with severity, using terrible
-language on occasion, dealing with every boy
-alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise
-with enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking
-sarcasm—which boys hate and never forgive—and
-he will have his reward. They will rage against
-him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go
-home in companies, but ever with an intense appreciation
-of his masterliness; they will recall with keen
-enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity
-on prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine
-his achievements, and pass it down to the
-generation following; they will dog his steps on the
-street with admiration, all the truer because mingled
-with awe. And the very thrashings of such a man
-will be worth the having, and become the subject of
-boasting in after years.</p>
-
-<p>There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary
-whose career was short and inglorious, as well as
-very disappointing to those who believed in the
-goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs.
-Dowbiggin his idea of a schoolmaster's duty, and
-won the heart of that estimable person, although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
-Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards
-hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not
-quite grasped the boy nature, at least in Muirtown.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love
-for boys—for I was the youngest of our family, and
-the rest were girls—seven dear girls, gentle and
-sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you
-think that boys, as well as older people, are ruled by
-kindness and not by force? When I remember how
-I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would
-wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you
-please. I dote on muffins! So I am a schoolmaster."</p>
-
-<p>"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can
-tell you, for the place is just a den of savages! Will
-you believe me, that a boy rolled James on the
-ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday—and
-James is so particular about being neat!—and when
-I complained to Mr. MacKinnon, he laughed in my
-face and told me that it would do the laddie good?
-There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me
-that he is called 'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve
-of disrespect, I must say it is an excellent name
-for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the
-Doctor, 'If the masters are like that, what can you
-expect of the boys?'"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will
-soon be some improvement; and it will not be my
-fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will
-feel as to a mother, to whom they will confide their
-difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles' face had a
-soft, tender, far-away look.</p>
-
-<p>It was only for one winter that he carried on his
-mission, but it remains a green and delectable memory
-with old boys of the Seminary. How he would
-not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he
-explained, but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour,
-during which time he remonstrated with Peter for
-his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom he
-had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted
-compatriots climbed up one by one to the window
-and viewed him under Mr. Byles' ministrations
-with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them
-by signs that they would have to pay handsomely
-for their treat. How he would come on Jock
-Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously
-refusing even to button his coat, and would
-insist on affording him the shelter of an umbrella, to
-Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that Peter was
-following with derisive criticism. How, by way of
-conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his
-coat-tail pocket and offer them at unsuitable times
-to the leading anarchists, who regarded this imbecility
-as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr.
-Byles' sudden resignation was largely due to an
-engineering feat of Peter's, who had many outrages
-to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
-three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely
-that an exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the
-delighted school, had its due effect.</p>
-
-<p>"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no
-peppermint drops nor pats on the head that'll rule
-Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on
-the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll
-take my advice, Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation
-in a lassies' school. Ye're ower dainty for Muirtown
-Seminary."</p>
-
-<p>This was not a charge which his worst enemy
-could bring against Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, and
-because he was the very opposite—a most unflinching,
-resolute, iron man—he engraved himself on the
-hearts of three generations of Muirtown men. They
-were a dour, hard-headed, enterprising lot—a blend
-from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the stiff
-carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with
-some good south country stuff—and there are not
-many big cities on either side of the Atlantic where
-two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be
-found. They always carry in their hearts the "Fair
-City"—which lieth in a basin among the hills, beside
-the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots Florence;
-and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon
-their home, but the terminus of recollection is ever
-the same. When they have dallied with the swimming
-in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which
-looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
-the golf on the meadows, and the mighty snow fights
-in days where there were men (that is, boys) in the
-land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly
-says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with
-long-drawn pleasure, as one tasting a delicate liquor;
-and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a world of joy
-lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing
-themselves, and then conversation really begins, and
-being excited, they drop into the Scots tongue.</p>
-
-<p>"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at
-his desk in the mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in
-ower the top o' his spectacles, an' juist considerin'
-wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that day."</p>
-
-<p>"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the
-second, "an' as straight as a rush, though a'm
-thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty, some threipit
-(insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him—div
-ye mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward
-in his head—oscillatin' like? Sall, they were fearsome."</p>
-
-<p>"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o'
-nine"—the third man cannot be restrained—"an' the
-crack o' his cane on the desk an' 'Silence'; man, ye
-micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the
-prayer."</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids,
-Jock?"</p>
-
-<p>"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt.
-"Ae day I pit a peen into that smooth-faced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
-wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna bear the
-look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig.
-Did Bulldog open his een an' look?"</p>
-
-<p>The audience has no remembrance of such a
-humiliating descent.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist
-repeated the first sentence o' the prayer ower again
-in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes dune, doon he
-comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"</p>
-
-<p>"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating
-the sequel.</p>
-
-<p>"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin.
-'Who asked you to join in the prayer?' an'
-ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street. Bulldog
-hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent
-admiration for a space.</p>
-
-<p>"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord
-deliver the laddies before Thee from lying—— '"</p>
-
-<p>"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.</p>
-
-<p>"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.</p>
-
-<p>"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes
-Jock.</p>
-
-<p>"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased
-to put common sense in their heads, and Thy fear in
-their hearts, and—— '"</p>
-
-<p>"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days
-of their life,'" chant the other two together.</p>
-
-<p>"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard
-a better, lads; he walkit up to his words, did Bull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>dog,
-an' he did his wark well." And as they thought
-of that iron age, the railway president and the big
-banker and the corn merchant—for that is what the
-fellows have come to—smack their lips with relish
-and kindly regret.</p>
-
-<p>It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that
-the human history of the ages is repeated in the
-individual, and the natural boy is a savage, with the
-aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to circumstances,
-stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible
-passion for fighting, unfeigned admiration for
-strength, and slavish respect for the strong man.
-By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and
-settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable—will
-be concerned about his own boys having
-wet feet, and will preside at meetings for the prevention
-of cruelty to animals; but he has to go through
-his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian
-stage a philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy.
-His master must have the qualities of a brigand chief,
-an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and an iron hand.
-On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol
-from his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the
-audacious rebel dead on the spot. So perfectly did
-Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had an unholy
-turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume
-and arms of Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief
-of prodigious valour and marvellous exploits. This
-likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
-and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's
-possession, and although Jock paid the penalty,
-as was most due, yet it was believed that Bulldog was
-much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the
-picture in his desk.</p>
-
-<p>His achievements in his own field, which extended
-from the supervision of handwriting to instruction in
-mathematics, were sustained and marvellous. When
-a boy was committed to his care at or about the age
-of eight, before which age he attended a girls' school
-and fed his imagination on what was in store for him
-under Bulldog, the great man wrote at the head of
-his copy-book, in full text and something better than
-copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his
-son." With this animating sentiment the neophyte
-made a fearful beginning, and his master assisted
-him to transcribe it for years to come through half
-text and small text, till he could accomplish it with
-such delicate up-strokes and massive down-strokes,
-such fine curves and calculated distances, that the
-writing could hardly be distinguished from the original,
-and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and
-bailies at the annual examination. It is said now
-that no school of any name in the land would condescend
-to teach writing, and that boys coming from
-such high places can compass their own signatures
-with difficulty, and are quite illegible after a gentlemanly
-fashion; but it was otherwise in one old
-grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>duced
-at the Seminary that Muirtown bankers,
-lawyers, and other great personages used to drop in
-of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master,
-would go over the copy-books and pick out suitable
-lads for their offices. And it is a solemn fact that
-one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London
-without a single introduction and obtained a situation
-in the great firm of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater
-& Co., on the strength of a letter and sheet
-of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose
-reason was giving way under the scrawling of the
-junior clerks. Bulldog considered that his pupils'
-handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of
-their departure. When they came to see him at
-school from Glasgow, London, and beyond the sea,
-as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides
-giving them an affectionate welcome, which began
-at the door and ended at the desk, he never failed to
-produce their letters and point out the decadence in
-careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.</p>
-
-<p>Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose
-father insisted on the higher education, was allured
-into geometry and raised to the dignity of the blackboard,
-where he did his work in face of the
-school with fear and trembling. This was public life,
-and carried extremes of honour and disgrace. When
-Willie Pirie appeared at the board—who is now a
-Cambridge don of such awful learning that his
-juniors, themselves distinguished persons, can only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
-imagine where he is in pure mathematics—the
-school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to
-see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing
-in an angle here and a circle there, and utilising
-half the alphabet for signs, while he maintained the
-reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice,
-Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one
-hand and in the other a cloth with which at a time
-he would wipe his forehead till it was white with
-chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When
-the end came, Bulldog would seize the word out of
-Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D., Q ... E ... D.
-Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff
-profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the
-pointer under the other. "William Pirie, ye'll be a
-wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance. Splendid!"</p>
-
-<p>It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to
-indicate the nature of an isosceles triangle and confused
-it with a square, supporting his artistic efforts
-with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid
-to one general ruin. For a while the master explained
-and corrected, then he took refuge in an
-ominous silence, after which, at each new development,
-he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock,
-seeing him make for the cane, modestly withdrew,
-but did not reach his place of retreat without
-assistance and much plain truth.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a shame to take any fee from your father,
-Jock Howieson, and it's little use trying to give ye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
-any education. Ye've the thickest head and the least
-sense in all the schule. Man, they should take
-you home and set ye on eggs to bring out chickens;
-ye micht manage that wi' care. The first three propositions,
-Jock, before ye leave this room, without a
-slip, or <i>ma certes</i>!" and Jock understood that if he
-misused his time his instructor would make good
-use of his.</p>
-
-<p>It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty
-schoolroom for ten minutes before the reassembling
-at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should be
-late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen
-present and forty-three absent, he could only look at
-Dowbiggin, and when that exemplary youth explained
-that the school had gone up to the top of the
-Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still
-enjoying themselves, Bulldog was much lifted.</p>
-
-<p>"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for
-the mind, but it's necessary to bring a glow to the
-skin aifterwards, or there micht be a chill," and he
-searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the
-treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.</p>
-
-<p>It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and
-a procession of forty-two entered panting and
-breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried
-his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by
-Peter, whose hair was like unto that of a drowned
-rat, and whose unconcealed desire was for obscurity.
-The nineteen could only smack their lips with ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>pectation
-and indicate by signs the treat awaiting
-their comrades.</p>
-
-<p>"I've had chairge of the departments of writing,
-arithmetic, and mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary,"
-began Bulldog, "for fifty-five years laist
-Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae
-passed through my hands. Some o' them were gude
-and some were bad"—Mr. MacKinnon spoke with a
-judicial calmness that was awful—"some were yir
-grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set
-of impudent, brazen-faced little scoundrels——"
-Then his composure failed him as he looked at the
-benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves,
-for it will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"</p>
-
-<p>For a while no one moved, and then Dunc
-Robertson rose in his place and made speech for his
-fellows like a gentleman's son.</p>
-
-<p>"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not
-our blame; we had been bathing in the golfers' pool,
-and were dressing to run down to school in good
-time. Little Nestie—I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir—had
-stayed in a little longer, and someone cried,
-'Nestie's drowning!' and there the little chap was,
-being carried away by the current."</p>
-
-<p>"Is 'Nestie'—drowned?" and they all noticed the
-break in Bulldog's voice, and remembered that if he
-showed indulgence to anyone it was to the little
-English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as
-one out of due place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have
-taken him home; but he was very nearly gone," and
-Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man,
-and—and it would have been terrible to see him die
-before our eyes."</p>
-
-<p>"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white,
-and Jock swore afterwards the tears were in his
-eyes—but that we did not believe.</p>
-
-<p>"It was one of the boys, sir"—Robertson's voice
-was very proud—"and it was a gallant deed; but I
-can't give his name, because he made me promise not
-to tell."</p>
-
-<p>The master looked round the school, and there was
-a flush on his cheek.</p>
-
-<p>"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal,
-and Jock stood in his place.</p>
-
-<p>"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."</p>
-
-<p>"It was Speug, sir, an'—it wes michty; but a'
-wudna hae telt had ye no askit, an'—it's no my
-blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where
-Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and
-Peter, who had obeyed this order in other circumstances
-with an immovable countenance, now presented
-the face of one who had broken a till.</p>
-
-<p>"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word
-of it, that each laddie in this room may remember it
-as lang as he lives."</p>
-
-<p>"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
-had started for school ... and when I got back McGuffie
-had jumped and was out in the current waiting
-for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last,
-white on the water, and shouted to Peter, and ...
-he had him in a minute, and ... made for shore; big
-swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it
-except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to
-rub Nestie till he came round, and ... he smiled to
-us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to trouble you
-chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick,
-and ... that's all, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly
-broke out Speug, goaded beyond endurance; "ye
-helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle tae
-blame as me."</p>
-
-<p>"All I did, sir"—and Robertson's face was burning
-red—"was to meet Peter and take Nestie off his
-hands quite near the bank; he had the danger; I
-... did nothing—was too late, in fact, to be of use."</p>
-
-<p>Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt
-at exculpation, but Bulldog was himself again
-and gripped the reins of authority.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder;
-"no arguing in my presence. You're an impudent
-fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all your days,
-the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie
-in Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien
-was that of a dog with a bad conscience.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
-with snowballs; ye've played truant times without
-number; and as for your tricks in school, they're
-beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the
-capper on the concern wi' this business!</p>
-
-<p>"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence
-is plain"—and now Bulldog began to speak with
-great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie out of his
-depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not
-lift his head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)</p>
-
-<p>"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers,
-but, instead of acting like ony quiet, decent,
-well-brought-up laddie, and walking down to
-the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed
-that the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin),
-"ye jumped clothes and all into the Tay."
-(There was evidently no extenuating feature, and
-Peter's expression was hopeless.)</p>
-
-<p>"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's
-in ye, Peter McGuffie, made ye swim out where the
-river was running strongest and an able-bodied man
-wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget
-yirsel and risk yer life?" But for the first time there
-was no bravery left in Peter to answer; his wickedness
-was beyond excuse, as he now felt.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 375px; height: 598px;">
-<a name="i036" id="i036"></a><img src="images/i036.jpg" width="375" height="598" alt=""Peter dared not lift his head."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death.
-And ye did it, Peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've
-dune since ye came into Muirtown Academy?
-As for you, Duncan Robertson, ye may say what ye
-like, but it's my opinion that ye're no one grain
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>better. Peter got in first, for he's a perfect genius
-for mischief—he's aye on the spot—but ye were after
-him as soon as ye could—you're art and part, baith o'
-ye, in the exploit." It was clear now that Dunc was
-in the same condemnation and would share the same
-reward; whereat Peter's heart was lifted, for Robertson's
-treachery cried to Heaven for judgment.</p>
-
-<p>"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"—and
-Bulldog pointed to the lists in gold of the
-former pupils who had distinguished themselves over
-the world—prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers,
-preachers, lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and
-an honour to have a place in it, and there are two new
-names to be added.</p>
-
-<p>"Laddies"—and Bulldog came down from his
-desk and stood opposite the culprits, whose one wish
-was that the floor might open beneath them and swallow
-them up—"you are the sons of men, and I knew
-you had the beginnings of men in you. I am proud
-... to shake hands with you, and to be ... your master.
-Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes
-and change yir clothes, and be back inside half an
-hour, or it will be the worse for ye! And, look ye
-here, I would like to know ... how Nestie is."</p>
-
-<p>His walk through the room was always full
-of majesty, but on that day it passed imagination,
-and from time to time he could be heard in a soliloquy,
-"A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands,
-though, men of their hands! Their fathers' sons!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
-Well done, Peter!" To which the benches listened
-with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after
-this fashion.</p>
-
-<p>When the school assembled next Monday morning
-the boys read in fresh, shining letters—</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Peter McGuffie</span> and <span class="smcap">Duncan R. S. Robertson</span>,
-who at the risk of their own lives saved a schoolfellow
-from drowning."</p>
-
-<p>It stood before the school, so that all could see;
-but if anyone dared to make a sign in that direction
-as he passed Speug's desk, his life was not worth
-living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug
-never completely recovered from the moral disgrace
-of that day.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="NESTIE" id="NESTIE"></a>NESTIE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">III</h3>
-
-
-<p>It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
-and that his father was the Baptist minister of Muirtown—a
-denomination whose adherents were few
-and whose practices were vaguely associated with
-the mill lade—and for two years before he appeared
-at school Nestie and his father were quite familiar
-to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies'
-school, not far from the Seminary, where he was
-much petted by the big girls, and his father could be
-seen waiting for him every afternoon at dismissal
-time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on
-being spoken to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion
-of lasting sorrow in his eyes, Mr. Molyneux
-would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia
-MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was
-a simple fact that when, meditating his sermon one
-day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
-midst and his son insisted on introducing him to
-the boarders and to Miss Letitia, the poor man went
-home to bed and left the pulpit next Sunday to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
-amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to
-arrive on the opposite side of the terrace about a
-quarter to three, and, as the hour drew near, reconnoitre
-the door from behind a clump of bushes at the
-foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance
-with a bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him
-shamelessly, and then, catching sight of the anxious
-face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
-down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave,
-disappear round the corner. The minister used to
-take a hasty survey lest they should become a sport
-to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss
-his boy was synonymous with mental incapacity,
-and then—it was a cat of a girl who oversaw the
-meeting—they hugged one another for the space of
-a whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what
-can be done if your heart is in it and your hat is
-allowed to go without care. Had a Seminary boy
-seen the sight—but the savages were caged at that
-hour—his feet would have been glued to the ground
-with amazement, and he had gone away full of silent
-gratitude that Providence had cast his lot north of
-the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that
-the father and son had been separated for, say, six
-whole hours—or almost—and it was necessary to
-re-establish relations. When this had been done satisfactorily
-the two crossed a wooden bridge into the
-Meadow arm-in-arm—Mr. Molyneux unconsciously
-wearing his hat with a rakish air on the side of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
-head. Between this hour and sunset was their
-pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did
-were varied and remarkable. Sometimes they would
-disappear into the woods above Muirtown, and return
-home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden
-with wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they
-planted in their tiny garden and watered together
-with tender solicitude. Other times they played
-what was supposed to be golf over a course of their
-own selection and creation at the top of the Meadow,
-and if by any chance the minister got a ball into a
-hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
-apologised for his insolent success. Times there
-were—warm, summer days—when the minister
-would bring a book with him and read to Nestie as
-they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these
-days they would fall a-talking, and it would end in
-a photograph being taken from a case, and after they
-had studied it together, both would kiss the face,
-which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular
-frequenters of the North Meadow began to take an
-interest in the pair, so that the golfers would cry
-"Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the
-way of the balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the
-chief of the salmon-fishers and a man of rosy countenance,
-rowed them up to Woody Island, and then
-allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the
-North Meadow and beneath the two bridges, and
-landed them at the South Meadow, refusing all rec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>ompense
-with fierce words. Motherly old ladies
-whose families were off their hands, and who took in
-the situation at a glance, used to engage Mr. Molyneux
-in conversation in order to warn him about
-Nestie's flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp
-at nightfall. And many who never spoke to them,
-and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment
-with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the
-tears of things as the pair, strange and lonely, yet
-contented and happy, passed them in the evening.</p>
-
-<p>When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss
-Letitia's, his father began to hang round the Seminary
-taking observations, and his heart was heavy
-within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at
-football—a dozen of the aboriginal savages fighting
-together in a heap, a mass of legs, arms, heads—and
-been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians
-and English, from which he emerged without his
-hat, umbrella, or book, and after he had been eyewitness
-of an encounter between Jock Howieson and
-Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered
-to teach Nestie at home.</p>
-
-<p>"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie,
-and I am not sure whether you are quite ... fit for
-their ... habits. There is a master, too, called ...
-Bulldog, and I am afraid——" and Mr. Molyneux
-looked wistfully at his boy.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't
-d-deserve two lumps of sugar," for ever since they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
-were alone he had taken his mother's place and
-poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward?
-A boy must learn to play games, you know, and they
-won't be hard on a little chap at first. I'll soon learn
-f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a
-little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother
-was as bwave as ... a s-soldier?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux
-fell into the innocent little snare. "If you had only
-seen the pony your mother used to ride on her
-father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do
-you know, nobody could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress.
-It r-reared and ... k-kicked, Nestie"—the
-little man spoke with awe—"and once ran away; but
-your mother could always manage it. She looked so
-handsome on 'Gypsy'; and you have her spirit. I'm
-very ... t-timid."</p>
-
-<p>"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's
-real d-danger." Nestie was now on his father's knee,
-with a hand round his neck. "Who faced the cow
-on the meadows when she was charging, and the
-nurse had left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the
-truth."</p>
-
-<p>"That was because ... the poor little man would
-have been killed ... anyone would have d-done that,
-and ... I d-did not think what I was d-doing...."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father
-shamefully, even unto his face; "and everybody read
-in the paper how the child wasn't near the cow, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
-the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you
-... ran away; for shame, now!</p>
-
-<p>"Did you go to the people that had the dip ...
-dip ... in the throat, or not?—that's a word I can't
-manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and the girls
-say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic—Victoria
-Cwoss."</p>
-
-<p>"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary,
-pater;" and so he went.</p>
-
-<p>"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in
-the centre of the large entrance hall where his father
-had left him, a neat, slim little figure in an Eton suit
-and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads
-in kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland
-bonnets in various stages of roughness and decay.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he
-looked round with a bright little smile, although inwardly
-very nervous.</p>
-
-<p>"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague
-sense that Nestie, with his finished little manner, his
-English accent, his unusual dress, and his high-sounding
-name, was an offence to the Seminary.
-"Get yir hat oot o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's
-straw skimming into the forbidden "well."</p>
-
-<p>Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited
-the temper which mistressed "Gypsy," and
-boys who remembered Speug's first exploit expected
-to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an
-instant later, and he recovered his hat very neatly.
-"I can leap a little, you know, not m-much yet," and
-again he smiled round the ring.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing quite like this had happened before in the
-Seminary, and there was a pause in the proceedings,
-which was the salvation of Nestie, and far more of
-Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first
-sight of Nestie and had been considering the whole
-situation in silence. Peter had a sudden inspiration.</p>
-
-<p>"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost
-kindly accent, moving a little forward as for
-purposes of identification.</p>
-
-<p>"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but
-perhaps you would like to say Molyneux. What is
-your name?"</p>
-
-<p>"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it
-runs on the tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie,
-or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi' ye gie's a cry."
-And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter
-sent the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well"
-just as Bulldog came down to his room.</p>
-
-<p>"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the
-owner of the bonnet and passed on to his class-room.
-"In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore the schule
-comes."</p>
-
-<p>"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that
-worthy followed him mechanically, while the school
-held their breath; "it would be kind of you to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
-intwodoosh—it's a little difficult that word—me to
-the master."</p>
-
-<p>"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog
-at the sight of the two, for speech was paralysed in
-Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.</p>
-
-<p>"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna
-mind it ... Nestie ... he dinna know the way...."
-And Speug broke down and cast a despairing look
-at the cane.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who
-were making fun of me, and I asked him to bwing
-me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."</p>
-
-<p>"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion
-with unconcealed delight; "that is quite his
-public character in this school, and there's nobody
-better known. My advice"—here Bulldog stopped,
-and looked from Speug to Nestie as one who was
-about to say something and had changed his mind—"is
-to ... be friends with Peter."</p>
-
-<p>So when the school took their places Nestie was
-seated next to Speug, and it was understood in a
-week that Nestie was ready to take his fair share in
-any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the
-baser sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie,
-he had to balance accounts with Speug, and that the
-last farthing would be faithfully exacted.</p>
-
-<p>As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that
-Speug was a young gentleman of high conduct and
-excellent manners—and Nestie, with all his sweet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>ness,
-was as obstinate as a mule—nothing remained
-for Speug but to act as far as he could up to his new
-character. With this example of diligence by his
-side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged
-from long division and plunged into the rule of three,
-while Nestie marvelled at his accomplishments—"for
-I'm not a clever chap like you, P-Peter." Speug
-had also accumulated a considerable collection of
-pencil sketches, mostly his own, in which life at
-Muirtown Seminary was treated very broadly indeed,
-and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be
-appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have
-some scruple in having his own name connected with
-it, it was consigned to the flames, and any offer of
-an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur
-in Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence.
-His personal habits had been negligent to a
-fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his
-hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances
-he had overlooked, and would indeed have
-exposed himself to scathing criticism had it not been
-that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as
-it went, of a markedly practical turn.</p>
-
-<p>As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of
-chivalry, and all the virtues which he had discovered
-at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see him, and so
-Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening—an
-invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward
-confusion of face. All the time which could be saved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
-that day from the sermons was devoted by Mr.
-Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it
-was pretty to see the Molyneuxs going from shop to
-shop collecting the feast. With much cunning Nestie
-had drawn from Speug that fried sausages
-(pork) with mashed potatoes, followed up by jam
-tarts and crowned with (raisin) cake, was a meal
-to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and
-marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was
-not watching at the upper window for Peter's coming
-he was gloating over the table, and pater, putting
-last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran
-out and in to see that nothing had been forgotten,
-for they did not give many feasts, and this was one
-of gratitude. Peter was late, because he had gathered
-his whole establishment to dress him, including
-the old groom, who wished him to go in corduroy
-breeches and top boots, and Speug was polished to
-the extent of shining. He was also so modest that
-he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie
-began to discourse on his goodness he cast glances
-at the door and perspired visibly, on which occasions
-he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief.
-Amid all his experiences on land and water, on horseback
-and among boys—<i>i. e.</i>, savages—he had never
-yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist, and
-he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced,
-however, to trifle with the tea, and in the end
-did very fairly, regaining his native composure so far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
-as to describe a new horse his father had bought, and
-the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables.
-Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and
-showed him his various treasures—a writing-desk
-with a secret drawer; <i>The Sandalwood Traders</i> by
-Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks
-complete; and then he uncovered something hidden
-in a case, whereat Speug was utterly astonished.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and
-some day I'll wear it, you know; your mother's
-g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"</p>
-
-<p>"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her."
-And then, anxious to change the subject, he produced
-a new knife with six blades. Before leaving
-he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to
-guide him in their upbringing after a proper fashion.
-Without having ventured into the field of sentiment,
-there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a way
-to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such
-an account of the tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that
-night, that the horsedealer, although not given to
-Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the
-little Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping
-through the sermon, but putting five shillings in the
-plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely at his
-father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's
-Academy and turned various things over in his
-mind.</p>
-
-<p>If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
-gone out of Peter through his friendship with Nestie,
-he erred greatly, and this Robert Cosh learned to his
-cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and
-very likely he did not know himself, but he must
-needs waylay Nestie in Breadalbane Street one day
-after schooltime and speak opprobriously to him,
-finishing up—</p>
-
-<p>"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering
-(stammering) dookie (Baptist) minister."</p>
-
-<p>"My father's one of the best men living"—Nestie
-was in an honourable temper—"and you are an ill-bred
-c-cad."</p>
-
-<p>Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before
-Cosh had done with him had not Speug arrived on
-the scene, having been in the gundy (candy) shop
-not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh
-had a poor chance at any time with Peter, but now
-that worthy's arm was nerved with fierce indignation,
-and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh,
-whose appearance on arriving home was remarkable.
-His story was even more so, and was indeed so affecting,
-not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh came
-into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards
-to settle matters.</p>
-
-<p>"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones
-charged with dignity, "to explain the cause of my
-son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a poultice
-on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself
-for days."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 390px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i050" id="i050"></a><img src="images/i050.jpg" width="390" height="600" alt=""'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
-a' can tell ye, Bailie; ye're richt to bring him
-back as sune as ye could; was't toothache?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of
-your scholars, the maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating
-scoondrel in Muirtown."</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed
-Bulldog's practical acquaintance with affairs. "Did
-ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"</p>
-
-<p>No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction
-that was beyond all evidence.</p>
-
-<p>"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had
-ye a justification?"</p>
-
-<p>Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour
-had one article at least—never to tell on a fellow.</p>
-
-<p>"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw
-the preparations for Peter's punishment and could
-not contain himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't
-tell me that there were two at puir Robert, Bailie; if
-Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic a veeciously
-inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'</p>
-
-<p>"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation.
-Robert Cosh, what have ye to say? Speak
-up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be sure o'
-that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and
-nothing but the truth."</p>
-
-<p>Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the
-smallest morsel of truth in any shape or form, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
-in spite of strong encouragement from the magistrate,
-preserved an impenetrable silence.</p>
-
-<p>"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance,
-"is mair than ordinary modesty; we 'ill take another
-witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got to
-say?"</p>
-
-<p>"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my
-t-temper, and ... and ... I said things ... the pater's
-ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me once or twice—but
-I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir,
-wanted to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but
-that was how it happened."</p>
-
-<p>"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head
-taller and much broader and four years older. Ye
-called his father names, and then cut his lip when
-he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little
-scratches on yir own face. That would be Peter.
-Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain, and we 'ill go to
-judgment.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and
-it does not matter two brass peens what Robert Cosh
-says about him, and ye're no an ill-disposed laddie
-yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what
-doesna concern ye, and ye seem to think that Providence
-gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye pull
-him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o'
-the hands o' Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark
-sae neatly this time that I havena the heart to thrash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
-ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma
-man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but
-yir heart is richt; see that ye always use yir fists as
-well as ye did that day.</p>
-
-<p>"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have
-been convicted of three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled
-a good man—for that three strokes with the
-cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the whole
-school—for that three strokes; and, lastly, being
-moved of the devil, ye went home and told lies to a
-magistrate—for that six strokes. Three on each
-hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count.
-Right hand first."</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."</p>
-
-<p>"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate;
-"would ye interfere with the course o' justice in
-another man's jureesdiction, and you a magistrate?"
-And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome
-manner.</p>
-
-<p>The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had
-changed his mind, and Robert, who had expected
-great things from the magistrate's protection, abandoned
-himself to despair and walked humbly for
-many days to come.</p>
-
-<p>Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog,
-growing uneasy, called on his way home.</p>
-
-<p>"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the
-minor key of Scots sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox
-(for such an outlandish name was ever a trial) is far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
-through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to
-come an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation
-is the feenish.</p>
-
-<p>"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an'
-he's verra sober (weak); but his head's clear, an' the
-laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae (sorry) for him,
-for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm
-dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."</p>
-
-<p>The gentle little minister was not far from his end,
-and Nestie was nursing him as best he could. He
-sponged his father's face—threatening to let the soap
-get into his eyes if he were not obedient—and dried
-it with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin
-brown hair slowly and caressingly, as he had often
-done on Sundays when his father was weary.
-Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of
-being afraid, Nestie smiled a pathetic welcome,
-which showed either what a poor actor the master
-was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar
-was a very shrewd little man.</p>
-
-<p>"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he
-was n-naughty and got cold, and he has been so ill;
-but he must get better, for you know there are ...
-just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely
-without the pater."</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon,
-for we h-have been ... dear friends, that's
-how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is a ...
-brave little man, as you know, and mother and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
-will not forget him ... you came to ask for Nestie,
-and it was God's will, for I h-have a f-favour to ask
-of you."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but
-said nothing. Only he took the minister's hand in
-his and waited. He also put his other arm round
-Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.</p>
-
-<p>"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are
-all dead; there is nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie,
-and he cannot live alone. C-could you get some
-family who would be ... where he might be at ...
-h-home?</p>
-
-<p>"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a
-little, for Nestie is a famous little house-k-keeper;
-and maybe there's enough to keep him ... till he
-grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank,
-and you'll ... manage for him, won't you?"</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not
-find his voice—for a wonder, but his hand tightened
-on the minister's, and he drew Nestie nearer to him.</p>
-
-<p>"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have
-no c-claim on you, for we are strangers in Muirtown,
-and you ... have many boys. But you've been kind
-to Nestie, and he ... loves you."</p>
-
-<p>The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his
-eyes.</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice,
-"I'm willing to manage Nestie's estate, big or small,
-and I'll give an account of all intromissions to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
-Court, but I must decline to look out a home for
-Nestie.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and
-some of them are very comforting) "are good
-freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster
-and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like
-to hear a young voice."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner
-than ever—in sound.</p>
-
-<p>"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and
-maybe so is mine (Nestie nodded), so if the wee man
-wouldna be feared to live wi' ... Bulldog—oh, I
-know fine what the rascals call me—he 'ill have a
-heart welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father
-and mother, for yir laddie at the Day o' Judgment."</p>
-
-<p>"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all
-His benefits?' I cannot thank you ... (the minister
-was now very weak); but you will not ... miss your
-reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me,
-Nestie."</p>
-
-<p>For a short while he slept, and they watched for
-any sign of consciousness.</p>
-
-<p>"It was too soon"—he was speaking, but not to
-them—"for Nestie ... to come, Maud; he must stay
-... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his master
-will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be
-a man, dear."</p>
-
-<p>The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing
-the face he loved and had lost awhile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute
-later he was weeping bitterly and clinging with all
-his might to the schoolmaster, who came perilously
-near to tears himself.</p>
-
-<p>"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and
-mother to ye, Nestie," said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon,
-master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary, and
-known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown
-lads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY" id="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY"></a>A FAMOUS VICTORY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">IV</h3>
-
-
-<p>The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
-our two chief enemies, the "Pennies" and McIntyres,
-there were, in the holes and corners of the town,
-obscure schools where little companies of boys got
-some kind of education and were not quite devoid of
-proper spirit. During a really respectable snow-storm—which
-lasted for a month and gave us an
-opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement
-with our rivals, so that the town of Muirtown
-was our own for the next seven days—a scouting
-party from the Seminary in search of adventures
-had an encounter with a Free Kirk school, which
-was much enjoyed and spoken about for weeks beside
-the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out
-a permanent campaign by which the boys going
-home southwards could look in from time to time on
-the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness to
-take charge of the operation. It was also said that an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
-Episcopal or Papist school—we made no subtile direct
-distinctions at the Seminary—in the northern
-district might afford some sport, and the leadership
-in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the
-other captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not
-last the whole year round even in a Scots town; but
-it was wonderful what could be done in summer by
-the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and
-Lennie's English Grammar, and at the worst there
-always remained our fists. The pleasure of planning
-these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it
-seemed to us that by spreading our forces we might
-have perpetual warfare from January to December
-and over the length and breadth of the town, so that
-no one would be compelled to return to his home of
-an evening without the hope of a battle, and every
-street of the town would be distinguished by conflict.
-Nothing came, however, of those spirited enterprises
-that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their
-mutual quarrels, which, we understood, were very
-bitter, and entering into a covenant of falsehood—their
-lying filled us with holy indignation—attacked
-us front and rear while we were having an innocent
-game of Russians and English on the North Meadow.
-Although taken unawares and poorly provided with
-weapons we made a good fight; but in the end
-we were scattered so completely that Speug never
-reached the school again that day, for which he was
-thrashed by Bulldog next morning, and Dunc came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
-in with a front tooth gone and one black eye, for
-which he was soundly thrashed at once.</p>
-
-<p>During all that summer we denounced the amazing
-meanness of the other side, and turned over plans
-for splitting the alliance, so that we might deal with
-each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted
-a negotiation—watchfully and across the
-street, for the treachery of the other side was beyond
-description—and tried to come to terms with the
-representative of our least hated opponent. He even
-thought, and Peter was not guileless, that he had
-secured their neutrality, when they suddenly burst
-forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
-school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly.
-His feelings were not much hurt by the talk, in
-which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after he had
-abandoned negotiation and had settled down to
-vituperation, but Seminary boys whose homeward
-route took them past the hostile territories had to
-be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time
-of bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown,
-and might have finally broken its spirit had
-it not have been for the historical battle in the beginning
-of November, when McGuffie and Robertson
-led us to victory, and the power of the allies was
-smashed for years. So great, indeed, was their defeat
-that in early spring Peter has been known to
-withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the
-season and of his own personal profit, for the simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
-purpose of promenading through the enemies' sphere
-of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult
-in at their gates.</p>
-
-<p>One of the schools must have been a charity for
-the education of poor lads, since it was known to us
-as the "Penny School," and it was a familiar cry
-ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The
-Pennies are coming!" when we promptly turned out
-to give them the welcome which, to do them justice,
-they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny
-a week or a penny a month we did not know, or
-whether, indeed, they paid a penny at all, but it
-pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
-beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came
-at last to wear it proudly, like many other people who
-have been called by nicknames and turned the nickname
-into an honour, for they would follow up a
-particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's
-a penny for ye!" They were sturdy varlets, quite
-indifferent as to boots and stockings, and equally so
-as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
-Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary—whose
-boys had given pledges to respectability, and
-who had to answer searching questions as to their
-personal appearance every evening—had it not been
-for stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a
-horsedealer, did not apply an over strict standard
-of judgment to his son's manners or exploits, and
-Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
-soldier's son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline
-for the Army.</p>
-
-<p>Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial,
-but it was as nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's
-school, which called itself an academy, and had
-a Latin master and held examinations and affected
-social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew
-that the Seminary had existed in the time of Queen
-Mary, and some said went back to the days of
-William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to
-whether the present building was then in existence.
-Everyone also knew that McIntyre's whole concern
-belonged to himself, and that he collected the fees in
-every class on Friday morning, that he took home
-what was over after paying his assistants, and that
-butcher meat for the McIntyre family next week
-depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies
-from the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going
-in to get a new pair of boots at Meiklewham's would
-have a fine sense of pride in being measured by an
-old opponent whose face had often looked out on
-him from the mist of battle. This pretentious and
-windy institution even attempted the absurdity of
-a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost
-sitting in state and glaring before him with a Horace
-in his hands upside down, McIntyre's minister
-would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and courtesy
-and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary
-boy been offered the painful choice, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
-almost as soon have gone to the Pennies as to McIntyre,
-for in that case he had not been an impostor and
-a fraud.</p>
-
-<p>For a week the weather had been hovering on
-frost, and on Wednesday afternoon the snow began
-to fall with that quiet and steady downpour which
-means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great
-spirits, declaring to an admiring circle of junior boys
-that if Providence were kind and the snow continued
-there would be something worth living for at the
-dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a
-serious affair, and was conducted after a scientific
-fashion, it never commenced until there was a good
-body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could
-be gathered up without earth and stones. The unpardonable
-sin of our warfare was slipping a stone
-into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the
-wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime
-was cast out from every school. There was a general
-understanding between parties that the mercies
-were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to
-refrain themselves until there was a fair and lasting
-supply of ammunition. It was still snowing on
-Thursday morning, and there were some who said
-that war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson,
-ever a daring and rash spirit, declared we should
-repent it if we were not ready against one o'clock.
-Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing
-was likely to take place that day except desultory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
-skirmishes, and that the whole day ought to be spent
-in accumulating a store of snowballs against Friday,
-when there was no question that we should have to
-face the united schools in a decisive battle. This
-was the only instance where our captains ever made
-a mistake, and they atoned for their error of judgment
-by the valour and skill with which they
-retrieved what seemed a hopeless defeat.</p>
-
-<p>As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could
-be seen glancing anxiously out at the window, and
-he secured an opportunity with Dunc for a hasty
-conference during the geometry lesson. About a
-quarter to one he turned from his slate and cocked
-his ear, and in two minutes afterwards every boy in
-Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had
-begun and that we had been taken by surprise.
-Scouts from McIntyre's, as we afterwards learned,
-had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a
-school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our
-playground. They had carried back news that we
-were not yet prepared for battle, and our firm opinion
-was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's
-had allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in
-order to take us at a disadvantage. Before the bell
-rang and the senior classes were dismissed the Seminary
-knew that our enemies had seized the field of
-battle, but we did not know until we came out the
-extent of the disaster.</p>
-
-<p>The Pennies had come down the back street and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
-had established themselves opposite the narrow
-entrance between two sheds through which three
-only could walk abreast from our playground to the
-street. They had also sent a daring body of their
-lighter and more agile lads to the top of the sheds
-which separated our playground from the street, and
-they had conveyed down an enormous store of
-ammunition, so that the courtyard was absolutely at
-their mercy, and anyone emerging from the corridor
-was received with a shower of well-made and hard
-snowballs against which there was no standing.
-Even if we ran this risk and crossed the open space
-we could then be raked by the fire from the shed,
-and a charge through the narrow passage to the
-street would be in the last degree hazardous. There
-were twelve feet of passage, and there were not
-many who would care to face a stream of snowballs
-driven by the vigorous hands of the Pennies down
-this passage as through a pipe. Instead of meeting
-our enemies on the street, we had been penned up
-within our own school. McIntyre's had come down
-the terrace and seized an excellent position behind
-two Russian guns which stood opposite our school
-and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They
-had made these guns into a kind of fort, from behind
-whose shelter, reinforced by a slight barricade of
-jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had
-driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless
-discomfiture. It came upon us that we had been
-shut up back and front, and shut up with the poorest
-supply of snowballs and very little snow with which
-to repair our resources.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 403px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i066" id="i066"></a><img src="images/i066.jpg" width="403" height="600" alt=""Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>While the younger boys raged and stormed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
-safety of the corridors, Dunc and Speug retired for
-consultation. In two minutes they came out and
-gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered
-together round the "well" and in the "well," and
-on the stairs and along the corridors. It was at this
-moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name
-which he covered with glory before the close of the
-day. As he had no class between twelve and one,
-he had been observing events, and with the aid of
-two or three other little boys had done what he could
-to repair the neglect of yesterday. In spite of a rain
-of snowballs he had availed himself of a sheltered
-corner in the playground and had worked without
-ceasing at the preparation of the balls. Every ball
-as it was made was dipped into a pail of water and
-then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was
-soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two
-hundred balls ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head
-on his shoulders. Now," said Speug, speaking from
-halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for
-a beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to
-the open. As soon as we've cleared the background
-every ane o' the two junior classes is to mak' balls as
-hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the
-fighting line.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions;
-Dunc will take thirty of ye and drive McIntyre
-frae the guns and along the terrace till ye turn them
-into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye—and I want
-nae Dowbiggins—'ll come with me, and we'll bring
-the Pennies aff the shed quicker than they got up,
-and drive them up the back streets till we land them
-wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors
-'ill keep us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and
-me will ken the reason at two o'clock.</p>
-
-<p>"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows
-that can run and are no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll
-rin round by the North Street and the Cathedral and
-come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut
-off McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools.
-Dae nothin' till ye see Dunc and me drivin' the lot
-up Breadalbane Street, then come down from the
-back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin'
-they'll be wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a'
-be done."</p>
-
-<p>Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch,
-each boy supplied with two balls and with twenty
-youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's
-balls were falling on the front wall and coming in
-through the porch. One of them struck Dunc on the
-side of the head, but he forbade any return fire.</p>
-
-<p>"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the
-better for us"; and then, looking round, "Are ye
-ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary! Semi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>nary!"
-he led his division across the terrace and fell
-upon McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short,
-sharp scrimmage, during which Dunc levelled the
-leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began to
-retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand
-encounter and scuffle on the snow. As
-soon as Dunc's division had cleared the front, Jock
-Howieson collected his lads and started along the
-terrace in the opposite direction at a sharp run,
-carrying no balls, for they intended to make them
-on the scene of operation. When the other two
-divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful
-band. "MacFarlane, take six birkies, climb up the
-waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed, couping
-the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad
-at the fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o'
-the left-hand shed, and 'gin ye can clout that Penny
-that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach him to keep in
-the street next day.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie
-and Jamie Johnston 'ill lead ye down the passage.
-We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak' 'em,
-and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in
-yir hand. Pit yir bonnits in yir pocket—they'll no
-be muckle use—button yir jackets, and when the
-three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow
-close in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug,
-who was in his glory that day. "I'll need a laddie
-to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a laddie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
-that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time."
-Below thirty of the junior school were waiting and
-looking at Speug like dogs for a biscuit. He threw
-his eye over the group, any one of which would have
-given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown
-in a cricket bat and his last kite, to have been chosen.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white
-and ye're terrible polite, but there's a sperit in ye.
-Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and noo, you juniors,
-aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's
-well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a
-ball when we drive the Pennies down the back road."
-Then Speug moved to the back corridor and arranged
-his division, with Nestie behind him, and
-Bauldie and Jamie Johnston on the right hand and
-on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's detachments
-close behind, who were to turn off to the right
-hand and the left as they emerged from the corridor;
-the rest were to follow Speug through the passage of
-danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in the
-hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see
-that they would leave a mark when they struck a
-Penny. The third he took in his right hand, and
-Nestie had the reserve.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better
-gae in and sit doun beside the fire with the Dowbiggins,"
-and since nobody responded to this genial
-invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and
-in a minute was across the playground and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
-mouth of the passage, while Mackenzie and MacFarlane
-were already scrambling up the walls of the
-sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and
-sending his first ball direct into the face of the foremost
-Penny, and following it up with a second and
-a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a
-catapolt, and receiving anything from twelve to
-twenty balls between him and Bauldie and Johnston,
-the three led the way down the passage, Nestie close
-behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls.
-They met at the outer end of the passage—the Pennies
-and Speug's lot—and for about thirty seconds
-they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting,
-shouting boy life, and then, so steady was the play
-of Speug's fists, so able the assistance of the other
-two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so rapid
-the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among
-the Pennies, the Pennies gave way and Speug and
-his band burst into the back street, the leader with his
-jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars
-of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the
-balls behind him.</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face
-to face in the back street, with a space of about ten
-yards between, and both parties made arrangements
-for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies
-could be seen bringing balls from Breadalbane
-Street, and the Pennies themselves made such hasty
-readjustments of their negligent attire as were ren<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>dered
-necessary by the vigour of the last fighting.
-Their commander was a sturdy lad about fifteen
-years of age, with a great shock of red hair and fists
-like iron. His favourite method of charge was to
-lead his army in the form of an inverted V, he being
-himself at the apex, and to force his way through
-the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug
-did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself
-in the centre and threw out his two lieutenants far
-out on the right hand and on the left, so that when
-the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his
-division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right
-and left flanks—tactics which in Speug's experience
-always caused dismay in the attacking force. The
-younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample
-resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers
-without jackets now or bonnets, and as they brought
-out the supplies of balls through the passage of
-victory they received nods of approval from Speug,
-each nod being something like a decoration. It was
-fine to see Speug examining the balls to see that they
-were properly made and of a hardness which would
-give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.</p>
-
-<p>Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude.
-When the Seminary lads fought their way
-through the passage they cut off the retreat of three
-Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on
-the top of the right-hand shed.</p>
-
-<p>"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
-ironic politeness; "that's no' the ordinar' road into
-the Seminary;" and then, as they hesitated on the
-edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in
-these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he
-said, "naebody 'ill touch ye"; and then he ordered
-an open passage to be made through the ranks of the
-Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate
-Pennies walked, no one laying a hand upon
-them, but various humourists expressing their hopes
-that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that it
-wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a
-black eye, that they hoped one of them hadn't lost his
-jacket on the roof of the shed, and that they were
-none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected
-to meet them later on—which gracious salutations
-the Pennies received in bitter silence as they
-ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped clear
-of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the
-two armies they turned round with insulting gestures,
-and one of them cried, "Ye'll get yir paiks
-(thrashing) for this or the day be done!"</p>
-
-<p>Their arrival among their friends and the slight
-commotion which it caused in the front ranks of the
-Pennies was a chance for Speug, who gave the signal
-for the charge and made himself directly for the
-leader of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of
-time can describe the conflict between the two
-leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at close
-distance, every one going to its mark, and one leav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>ing
-an indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous
-forehead. They then came to close grip, and there
-was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for
-many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual,
-they fell upon wrestling, and here it seemed
-that Redhead must have the advantage, for he was
-taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During
-the wrestle there was something like a lull in the
-fighting, and both Pennies and Seminaries, now
-close together, held their hands till Speug, with a
-cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by
-an English groom in his father's stable, got the advantage,
-and the two champions came down in the
-snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a
-shout of triumph, and the scouts running to and fro
-with the balls behind joined in with, "Well done,
-Speug!"</p>
-
-<p>Speug had all the instincts of a true general and
-was not the man to spend his time in unprofitable
-exultation. It was a great chance to take the Pennies
-when they were without their leader and discomfited
-by his fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving
-his way through the midst of the enemy, who were
-now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and
-Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on
-either side and were attacking them in parallel lines.
-MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down from the
-shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear
-of the Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
-was almost helpless in the confusion, and thought it
-the best strategy to make a rush to the clear ground
-in the rear of his position, calling his followers after
-him; and now the Pennies gathered at the far end of
-the street, beaten in tactics and in fighting, but ever
-strong in heart, and full of insolence. "That," said
-Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief
-which he carried in his trousers pocket, and
-hastily attending to some of his wounds, "that
-wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit
-close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties
-as Bauldie and Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie,
-all bearing scars, clustered round their commander
-with expressions of admiration. "Yon was
-a bonny twirl, and you coupit him weel." "Sall,
-they've gotten their licks," while Speug modestly
-disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the
-Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and
-that Redhead nearly got the mastery.</p>
-
-<p>At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was
-heard in the rear of the Pennies, and Speug knew
-that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the
-full length of the terrace and was now fighting them
-in Breadalbane Street. "Forward!" cried Speug.
-"Dunc's on the back of them," and Redhead at the
-same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering
-his retreat with a shower of balls, and united
-with McIntyre's, who were retiring before Robertson
-and the second division of the Seminaries. Amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
-cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan
-met where the back street opens into Breadalbane
-Street, and their divisions amalgamated, exchanging
-notes on the battle and examining one another's personal
-appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen,
-and not many jackets, which had either been left
-behind or thrown off or torn off in personal conflict
-with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but
-that no one could tell, and there were some whose
-waistcoats were now held by one button. Two or
-three also had been compelled to drop out of active
-battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their
-faces with snow and trusting to be able to see clear
-enough for the final charge; and still the juniors
-were making their balls and had established a new
-magazine at the end of the terrace. Several of these
-impenitent little wretches had themselves been in the
-thick of the fight, and could be seen pointing proudly
-to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What
-a time certain mothers would have that evening when
-their warriors came home, some of them without
-caps, which would never be recovered, most of them
-with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of
-them with disfigured faces, all of them drenched to
-the skin, and every one of them full of infinite satisfaction
-and gladness of heart! Their fathers, who
-had heard about the battle before they came home
-and had not failed to discover who had won, being
-all Seminary lads themselves, would also be much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
-lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the
-savagery of their boys, would wonder where the police
-were, would threaten their sons with all manner of
-punishments if this ever happened again, and would
-declare their intention of laying a complaint before
-the chief constable. As, however, it was absolutely
-necessary in the interests of justice that the whole
-facts should be known before they took action, they
-would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative,
-with every personal conflict and ruse of war, from
-their sons, and only when the last incident had been
-related would announce their grave and final displeasure.</p>
-
-<p>As for the police, who were not numerous in
-Muirtown, and who lived on excellent good terms
-with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have
-a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming
-on, and were detained by important duty in distant
-streets. It was always, however, believed by the
-Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at
-the distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at
-the far extremity of Breadalbane Street, following
-the fight with rapt attention, and in the case of the
-Pennies winning, which had been their own school,
-smacking their lips and slapping their hands under
-pretence of warming themselves in the cold weather,
-and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching
-off in opposite directions, lest they should be
-tempted to interfere, which they would have con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>sidered
-contrary to the rules of fair play, and giving
-their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some
-ingenuous modern person will ask, "What were the
-masters of the Seminary about during this hour?"
-The Rector was sitting by the fire in his retiring-room,
-reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint
-sounds of war reached his ears he would stir the fire
-and lament, like the quiet old scholar that he was,
-that Providence had made him ruler of such a band
-of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope
-that his barbarians would not come off second. As
-for Bulldog, his mind was torn between two delights—the
-anticipation of the exercise which he would
-have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were
-having to-day—and nothing more entirely endeared
-Bulldog to his savages than the fact that, instead of
-going home to dinner during this hour, which was
-his usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit.
-He was obliged to buy it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane
-Street, from which he could command a perfect
-view of the whole battle, especially as he happened
-to stand in the doorway of the shop, and never
-returned to school till the crisis of war was over. He
-was careful to explain to the school that he had himself
-gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders
-in mischief, and it was on such an occasion that
-Speug, keeping his right cheek immovable towards
-Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with
-irresistible effect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown
-Seminary, who had been a sergeant in the Black
-Watch and had been wounded three times in the
-Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector
-and reinforced by all law-abiding parents, were to
-prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the school
-for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such
-an unfortunate affair take place he was directed to
-plunge into the midst and by force of arm to bring
-the Seminaries home to their own fireside, leaving
-rough and rude schools like the Pennies and
-McIntyre's to fight at their wicked will. For did
-not the Seminary lads move in polite society, except
-Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have
-become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to
-say nothing of bailies on the bench and elders of the
-Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal McGlashan
-carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter
-as in the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations
-which Speug and he had together in anticipation
-of the snow time, when you may believe
-if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting
-Speug to obedience and gentleness, or if you please
-that he was giving the commander of the Seminary
-certain useful hints which he himself had picked up
-from the "red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that
-when the Seminaries went out that day in battle
-array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires
-with great diligence, so that he was not able to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
-them depart. Afterwards it was the merest duty for
-him to stand at the end of the passage of victory, lest
-the Pennies or any other person should venture on
-another outrage; and if he was late in calling his
-boys back from Breadalbane Street, that was only
-because the cold had made his wounds to smart
-again, and he could only follow them in the rear till
-the battle was over. When the evil was done there
-was no use of vain regret, and in the afternoon the
-sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts
-of the battle from one and another, and then he
-would declare that there were lads in Muirtown Seminary
-who would have done well at Inkermann and
-the storming of the Redan.</p>
-
-<p>Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight,
-with the back road to the Seminary on the right
-hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the Pennies
-on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations,
-for it gave opportunity for deploying in divisions,
-for front attack and for flank, as well as for
-royal charges which extended across the street. McIntyres
-and Pennies had been recruited from their
-several schools and supplied afresh with ammunition.
-Redhead took command of the united force
-and arranged them across the street in his favourite
-wedge, with the base resting on the home street,
-and this time he gave the signal, and so impetuous
-was their charge that they drove their way almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
-through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself,
-through sheer weight of attack, was laid flat in
-the middle of the street. Robertson and his officers
-rallied their forces, but it was possible that the Seminaries
-might have lost the day had it not been for the
-masterly foresight of Speug and the opportune
-arrival of Jock Howieson. That worthy had
-taken his division by a circuitous route, in
-which they had been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal
-school which wanted a fight on its own account
-and had to receive some passing attention. A little
-late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then,
-judging it better not to come down Breadalbane
-Street, where his attack would have been exposed,
-he made his way on the right of the street by
-passages known only to himself, and having supplied
-his division with ammunition from a snow-drift in a
-back entry, he came into the home street, which was
-the only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them
-off from their base. Leaving a handful of lads to
-prevent the scouts coming out from the Pennies or
-the McIntyres with information, and driving before
-him the ammunition train of the enemy, he came
-round into Breadalbane Street with twenty-five
-tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and
-just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting
-man to have spent something like half an hour wandering
-round circuitous streets and holding ridicu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>lous
-conflicts with unknown schools when the battle
-of Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown,
-was hanging in the balance.</p>
-
-<p>Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the
-new division they were upon his rear, and a play of
-snowballs fell upon the back of the Pennies. This
-was more than even veteran forces could endure, and
-in spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired
-his balls alternately back and forward, his forces fell
-into a panic. They broke and drove their way
-through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment
-from balls fired at a distance of a few feet,
-and then, in spite of the efforts of their officers, who
-fought till they were black and blue, but chiefly red,
-the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping
-the rearguard of Howieson's before them like
-straws in a stream, made for their respective schools.
-The Seminaries in one united body, headed by the
-three commanders and attended by the whole junior
-school, visited the Pennies' school first, whose gates
-were promptly closed, and having challenged the
-Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and
-fight like men—Redhead being offered the chance of
-single combat with Dunc or Speug or Jock Howieson—the
-Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's
-Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning
-had no gate, Speug led the Seminaries into the
-centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys having no
-spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>rooms.
-As they would not come out, in spite of a
-shower of courteous invitations, Speug stood in the
-centre of their courtyard and called the gods to witness
-that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries
-had won. A marvellous figure was he, without
-bonnet, without collar, without tie, without
-jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but
-a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers,
-but glorious in victory. Taking a snowball from
-Nestie, who was standing by his side, openly and in
-face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window,
-he sent it with unerring aim through the largest pane
-of glass in McIntyre's own room. "That," said
-Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here."
-Then he collected his forces and led them home down
-the cross street and into Breadalbane Street, down
-the middle of Breadalbane Street, and round the terrace,
-and in by the front door into the Seminary.
-As they came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and
-the juniors, who had rushed on before, met
-them at the door and gave three cheers, first for
-Speug, then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson,
-which homage and tribute of victory Speug received
-with affected contempt but great pride of heart.
-In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful
-henchman, little Nestie Molyneux, who, always
-a delicate-looking little laddie, was now an altogether
-abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping hair, and
-battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
-the whole school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and
-although since then he has been in many places and
-has had various modest triumphs, that still remains
-the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY" id="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY"></a>HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">V</h3>
-
-
-<p>It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
-to live in public and shake hands with every person;
-but absolute monarchs, who govern with an iron
-hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public
-mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had
-walked homeward with his boys in an affectionate
-manner, and inquired after their sisters, like his temporary
-assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting
-babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp,
-the drawing-master—Augustus de Lacy Topp—who
-wore a brown velvet jacket and represented
-sentiment in a form verging on lunacy; or if he had
-invited his classes to drink coffee in a very shabby
-little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to
-Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson,
-the stupidest lad in the Seminary, would have been
-shocked, and would have felt that the Creation was
-out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog
-was polite conversation, or private hospitality.
-His speech was confined to the class-room, and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
-was most practical; and his hospitality, which was
-generous and widespread, was invariably public. His
-<i>rôle</i> was to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted
-above feeling, and had it not been for Nestie he had
-sustained it to the day of his death.</p>
-
-<p>Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting
-that he had approached his century, others being
-content with "Weel on to eighty." None hinted at
-less than seventy. No one could remember his coming
-to Muirtown, and none knew whence he came.
-His birthplace was commonly believed to be the West
-Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing with a
-case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic.
-Bailie McCallum used to refer in convivial moments
-to his schooldays under Bulldog, and always left it
-to be inferred that had it not been for that tender,
-fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in
-Muirtown. Fathers of families who were elders in
-the kirk, and verging on grey hair, would hear no
-complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the
-yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with
-profit—they now said—was good enough for their
-children. He seemed to us in those days like Melchizedek,
-without father or mother, beginning or end
-of days; and now that Bulldog has lain for many a
-year in a quiet Perthshire kirkyard, it is hardly worth
-while visiting Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the
-bridge at 8.45, with such rigid punctuality that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
-clerks in the Post Office checked the clock by him,
-and he returned by the way he had gone, over the
-North Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom
-to close the administration of discipline at the
-same hour as the teaching, considering with justice
-that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather take
-the cane than be kept in, where from the windows
-he could see the North Meadow in its greenness, and
-the river running rapidly on an afternoon. It
-would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in
-a Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked
-and could not have maintained his necessary
-reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house
-upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown
-from the other side of the river. It was a hill
-which began with wood and ended in a lofty crag;
-and even from his house, halfway up and among the
-trees, Bulldog could look down upon Muirtown,
-compactly built together on the plain beneath, and
-thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily
-from its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that
-Bulldog gave himself to poetry, but having once
-varied his usual country holiday by a visit to Italy,
-he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that
-Muirtown reminded him of Florence as you saw that
-city from Fiesole, with the ancient kirk of St. John
-rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay instead of
-the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage
-in her cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
-the Arno was but a poor, shrunken river compared
-with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been
-born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown,
-and always believed that there was no river to
-be found anywhere like unto the Tay. His garden
-was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance
-was by a wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within
-these walls no one knew, but many had imagined.
-Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced
-Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the
-archway, and then it was in their plan to form a
-ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from the
-top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior
-and observe Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's
-courage failed at the critical moment, and they returned
-without news to the disappointed school.</p>
-
-<p>Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in
-those days, but the hardest heart was touched with
-compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his father
-and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced
-in their master; but it was with trembling,
-and the thought of spending the evening hours and
-all one's spare time in his genial company excited
-our darkest imagination. To write our copy-books
-and do our problems under Bulldog's eye was a
-bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to life,
-but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond
-words.</p>
-
-<p>As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
-was never perfectly happy except when he was plying
-the cane, it was taken for granted that Nestie
-would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the
-afternoon of one day to the morning of the next, and
-when Nestie appeared, on the third morning after his
-change of residence, the school was waiting to receive
-him.</p>
-
-<p>His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side,
-with his hands in his pockets, talking at his ease and
-laughing lightly, amazed us on first sight, but did not
-count for much, because we considered this manner
-a policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy.
-After all, he was only doing what every one of us
-would have done in the same circumstances—conciliating
-the tyrant and covering his own sufferings.
-We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with
-his guardian, and then we closed in round him and
-licked our lips, for the story that Nestie could tell
-would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.</p>
-
-<p>Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with
-questions which came in a fine confusion from many
-voices, and to which he was hardly expected to give
-an immediate answer.</p>
-
-<p>"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has
-Bulldog tawse in the house?" "Div ye catch it
-regular?" "Does he come after you to your bedroom?"
-"Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden
-door locked?" "Could ye climb over the wall if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
-he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let ye
-bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons
-a' night?" "What does Bulldog eat for his dinner?"
-"Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he ever say
-onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog
-sleeping?" "Are ye feared to be with him?"
-"Would the police take ye away if he was hurting
-ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?"
-"Would he let ye make gundy (candy) by the
-kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at yir
-books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?"
-"What do ye call him in the house?" "Would ye
-call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy if
-the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in
-the garden?" "Would ye daur to lay a finger on
-them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?"
-"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?"
-And then Speug interfered, and commanded silence
-that Nestie might satisfy the curiosity of the school.</p>
-
-<p>"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite
-form of address. "Noo, Nestie, come awa' wi' yir
-evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm
-getting on with Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with
-fun, for he'd a nice little sense of humour, and never
-could resist the temptation of letting it play upon our
-slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare
-you seem to know all about what h-happens. I'll
-j-just tell you something about it, but it'll make you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
-creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round
-Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and
-if I'm not down at half-past, Bulldog comes for me
-with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point rubbed himself
-behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six
-'p-props' from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions"
-(a groan from the school): "for breakfast we've
-porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with
-Bulldog—one, two, three, four—with the spoonfuls.
-He's got the c-cane on the table." ("Gosh" from a
-boy at the back, and general sympathy.) "He has
-the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy."
-("It cowes all.") "There are three regular c-canings
-every day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon,
-and one before you go to bed." At this point
-Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to
-Nestie's account, and knew that he had a luxuriant
-imagination, interfered.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little
-scoundrel, and ye're telling lees straicht forward,"
-and the school went into the class-room divided in
-opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been
-feeding their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but
-others were inclined to believe anything of Bulldog's
-household arrangements. During the hour Speug
-studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in
-the break he laid hold of that ingenious young
-gentleman by the ear and led him apart into a quiet
-corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
-Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear which
-shook even that worthy's composure.</p>
-
-<p>"Did ye say rabbits?"</p>
-
-<p>"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence,
-and Speug was more confounded than he had ever
-been in all his blameless life.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if
-ye tell lees."</p>
-
-<p>"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell
-lies, but sometimes I compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits,
-and he feeds them himself."</p>
-
-<p>"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"—for this was
-with us the final test of truth.</p>
-
-<p>"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon
-Speug had so much to think about that he
-gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him
-with nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably
-correct drawing of two lop-eared rabbits.</p>
-
-<p>Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow
-together after school, and before they parted at the
-bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit in his
-new home that evening from Speug; but, although
-modesty was not Speug's prevailing characteristic,
-he would on no account accept the flattering invitation.
-Maybe he was going to drive with his father,
-who was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was
-going out on the river in a boat, or maybe the stable
-gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose for a
-run, or maybe——</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 348px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i092" id="i092"></a><img src="images/i092.jpg" width="348" height="600" alt=""Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
-Speug, for once in your life," said Nestie, who, his
-head on one side, was studying Speug's embarrassment.</p>
-
-<p>"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug,
-turning a dark red at this insult. "Nane o' yir
-impidence."</p>
-
-<p>"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie,
-and dodged at the same time behind a lamp-post.
-"Why, Speug, I didn't know you were f-frightened
-of anything."</p>
-
-<p>"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it
-had been Jock Howieson said that, I'd black his eyes.
-What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable little
-shrimp?"</p>
-
-<p>"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but
-just let me g-guess. It might be climbing the hill;
-or did you think you might meet one of the 'Pennies,'
-and he would fight you; or, Speug—an idea occurs
-to me—do you feel as if you did not want to spend
-an hour—just a nice, quiet hour—all alone with
-Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in
-the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm
-ashamed of you, when poor little me has to live with
-him now every day."</p>
-
-<p>"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll
-learn ye to give me chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog,
-and I dinna care if he chases me round the
-garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"You <i>are</i> afraid, Speug; you <i>dare</i> not come." And
-Nestie kept carefully out of Speug's reach.</p>
-
-<p>"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this
-very night at seven o'clock, but I'll no come in unless
-ye're at the garden door."</p>
-
-<p>Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day,
-and was afraid neither of man nor beast, but his
-heart sank within him for the first time in his life
-when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to
-the residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing
-but his pledged word, and a reputation for courage
-which must not be tarnished, since it rested on nothing
-else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door.
-He was before his time, and Nestie had not yet come
-to meet him, and he could allow his imagination
-to picture what was within the walls, and what might
-befall his unfortunate self before he went down that
-lane again. His one consolation and support was in
-the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the case, as Nestie
-had sworn with an oath which never had been broken
-at the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that
-dreadful enclosure, there was hope for him; for if he
-knew about anything, he knew about rabbits, and if
-anyone had to do with rabbits—and although it was
-incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?—there
-must be some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog.
-Speug began to speculate whether he might not
-be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits
-and examine thoroughly into their condition, and es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>cape
-from the garden without a personal interview
-with its owner; and at the thought thereof Speug's
-heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had
-delighted the Seminary, none, for its wonder and
-daring, its sheer amazingness, could be compared
-with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie,"
-he murmured to himself, as he remembered that little
-Englishman's prodigal imagination, "is a maist extraordinary
-leear, but he said 'as sure as death.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have
-opened the door. Come along and shake hands with
-the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And
-Speug was dragged along the walk between the
-gooseberry bushes, which in no other circumstances
-would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up
-to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution.
-He heard someone coming down the walk,
-and he lifted up his eyes to know the worst, and in
-that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted
-the unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for
-the like of that countenance could not be found on
-any other man within the United Kingdom of Great
-Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that
-Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of
-justice. The nose and the chin, and the iron-grey
-whiskers and hair, and above all those revolving
-eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what
-had happened to Bulldog's face, for it was like unto
-that of another man? The sternness had gone out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
-it, and—there was no doubt about it—Bulldog was
-smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and
-irresistible smile. It had taken the iron lines out of his
-face and shaped his lips to the kindliest curve, and deprived
-his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed the
-judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given
-him—it was a positive fact—another pair of eyes.
-They still revolved, but not now like the guns in the
-turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and left.
-They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light
-from a harbour tower. There never was such a
-genial and humoursome face, so full of fun and humanity,
-as that which looked down on the speechless
-Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation.
-Where were the pepper-and-salt trousers
-and the formal black coat and vest, which seemed
-somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's
-reign? and the hat, and the gloves, and the
-stick—what had become of his trappings? Was
-there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers,
-down at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the
-seams, as those that covered the feet of Bulldog in
-that garden. The very sight of those slippers, with
-their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and
-ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism,
-was the first thing which cheered the
-heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no
-problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to
-scorn. Where did he ever get those trousers, and
-from whose hands did they originally come, baggy
-at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden
-mould and torn with garden bushes?</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 387px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i096" id="i096"></a><img src="images/i096.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt=""Speug was dragged along the walk."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
-place on the side of the hill; but would any person
-believe that the master of mathematics, besides
-writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was
-going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two
-of his pupils, without the vestige of a waistcoat.
-Speug now was braced for wonders, but even he was
-startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of
-earlier age than the trousers, with which it had no
-connexion in colour. It may once have had four buttons,
-but only two were left now; there was a tear in
-its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden
-wall, the handle of a hammer projected from
-one pocket, and a pruning-knife from the other. And
-if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in
-the side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was
-a knife in his hand, with six blades and a corkscrew
-and a gimlet and the thing for taking the stones out
-of a horse's hoof—oath again repeated—and Bulldog
-was trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his
-finger. Speug, now ascending from height to height,
-was not surprised to see no necktie, and would have
-been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a
-wild hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it
-might be crowned with a Highland bonnet, minus the
-tails; but instead thereof there was a hat, possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured,
-and worn so rakishly, partly on the back
-and partly on the side of his head, that Speug was
-inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could befall
-him in that garden.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing
-figure. "Ye've been long of coming. There's
-something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened up
-the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce
-his knife, which was not so bad after all, for it had
-six departments, and one of them was a file, which
-was wanting in Bulldog's.</p>
-
-<p>"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie.
-"It's split more tops than any one in the school;
-it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its deadly steel
-point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to
-look unconscious as the owner of this instrument of
-war.</p>
-
-<p>"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's
-many a year since I've spun a top. Where's yir
-string?" and he strode up the walk winding the top,
-and the boys behind looked at one another, while
-Nestie triumphed openly.</p>
-
-<p>"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered.
-"Ain't he great? And just you wait; you haven't
-begun to see things yet, not h-half."</p>
-
-<p>Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a
-right hand that had not lost its cunning, but rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
-had been strengthened by much cane exercise. "It's
-sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to
-touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its
-time, and the three hung over that top with fond interest,
-as Bulldog timed the performance with his
-watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master.
-"I would like to have yir advice," and as they went
-down through the garden they halted at a place, and
-the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and
-took crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on
-the thrushes bade him welcome, and he showed the
-boys where the swallows had built every year, and
-they also flew round his head.</p>
-
-<p>"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be
-afraid o' you, will they, Dandie?" and the old terrier
-which followed at his heels wagged his tail and indicated
-that he also was on good terms with every
-living thing in the garden.</p>
-
-<p>No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to
-believe it, even although Speug tried to inculcate
-faith with his fists, that Bulldog had carried out a
-litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and
-that, before the three of them laid themselves out for
-a supper of strawberries, Speug had given to his
-master the best knowledge at his command on the
-amount of green food which might be given with
-safety to a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
-with authority that a moderate amount of tea-leaves
-and oatmeal might be allowed as an occasional
-dainty.</p>
-
-<p>After the attack on the strawberries, in which
-Speug greatly distinguished himself, and Bulldog
-urged him on with encouraging words, they had
-tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign
-of cane or tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the
-corks himself, and managed once to drench Speug
-gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with
-his famous red handkerchief and was inordinately
-proud, while Nestie declared that the thing had been
-done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened him with
-the tawse for insulting his master.</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of
-rock before ye go," and Bulldog produced the only
-rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth
-eating—Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure,
-and rich, and well-flavoured; and when Speug knew
-not whether to choose the peppermint, that is black
-and white, or the honey rock, which is brown and
-creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was
-red outside and white within, his host insisted that
-he should take a piece of each, and they would last
-him till he reached his home.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at
-the garden gate, "ye're the most aggravating little
-scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and the devilry
-that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
-fine company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and
-Nestie and me will be glad to see ye when ye're no
-engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget to come,
-Peter."</p>
-
-<p>Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely
-among the rabbits, again forsook him, but he was
-able to indicate that he would seize an early opportunity
-of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald
-MacKinnon in his own home; and when Bulldog
-thrashed him next day for not having prepared an
-exercise the night before, the incident only seemed
-to complete Speug's pride and satisfaction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_DISGRACE_OF" id="THE_DISGRACE_OF"></a>THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VI</h3>
-
-
-<p>Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-of the Seminary by various efforts to improve
-its mind and manners, but when he proposed at the
-beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays
-with botanical excursions to Kilspindie Woods,
-which, as everybody knows, are three miles from
-Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt
-that if there was any moral order in the universe
-something must happen. From the middle of September,
-when the school opened, on to the beginning
-of October, when football started, our spare time was
-given to kites, which we flew from the North Meadow
-in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug
-had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon
-upon it painted in blue and yellow and red—the red
-for the fire coming out of his mouth—and a tail of
-eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened with
-a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could
-have launched the monster from the ground—bigger
-than Peter by a foot—and nursed it through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in
-the higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the
-dragon was but the size of a man's hand in the clear
-autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon his
-back, with his hands below his head, and the stick
-with the kite string beneath his feet, and gaze up at
-the speck above, with an expression so lifted above
-this present world that a circle of juniors could only
-look at him with silent admiration and speculate
-whether they would ever become so good and
-great.</p>
-
-<p>It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying
-was chiefly done upon your back, for it gave endless
-opportunities for intricate man[oe]uvres and spectacular
-display. When Peter was in the vein he would
-collect twelve mighties—each with a kite worth seeing—and
-bringing the kites low enough for the glory
-of their size and tails to be visible they would turn
-and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and
-distance with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan
-would watch the review with keen interest
-and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the
-band would work their way up to the head of the
-Meadow in the teeth of a north-wester, and forming
-in line, with half a dozen yards between each boy,
-would let the kites go and follow them at the run as
-the kites tore through the air and almost pulled their
-owners' arms out of the sockets. It was so fine a
-demonstration that the women bleaching their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-clothes would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's
-shirts to let Speug keep his course—knowing very
-well that he would have kept it otherwise over the
-shirts—and golfers, who expect everyone to get out
-of their way on pain of sudden death, would stop
-upon the putting green to see the kites go down in
-the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded
-at their heels. If the housewives shook their heads
-as they spread out the shirts on the grass again—weighing
-them down with clean stones that they
-might not follow the kites—it was with secret delight,
-for there is no wholesome woman who does
-not rejoice in a boy and regard his most vexatious
-mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod,
-the keenest of golfers and the most touchy of Celts,
-declared that this condemned old Island was not dead
-yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy
-young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty
-ploy that Mr. Byles proposed to take the Seminary
-for a botanical excursion.</p>
-
-<p>It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr.
-Byles announced the new departure, and, even if
-Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an inscrutable
-countenance, the school was too much amazed
-to interrupt. Having touched on the glories of the
-creation amid which we lived, Mr. Byles pointed out,
-in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen
-terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics
-as they all did so diligently—Jock Howieson's eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
-turned instinctively to Bulldog's cane—but they must
-also know some natural science in order to become,
-as he hoped they would, cultured men—Speug was
-just able to cast a longing glance at Thomas John.
-That no pursuit was easier and more delightful than
-botany, especially among wild flowers. That on
-Saturday he proposed to go with as many as would
-join him to ransack the treasures of Kilspindie
-Woods. That these woods were very rich, he believed,
-in flowers, among which he mentioned wild
-geraniums—at which the school began to recover
-and rustle. That the boys might dry the geraniums
-and make books for Christmas presents with them,
-and that he hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary
-containing all the wild flowers of the district. The
-school was now getting into good spirits, and Bulldog
-allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy
-who desired to improve his mind was to put on his
-oldest suit and bring a bag to carry the plants in and
-be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow.
-Then Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk
-with energy and dismissed the school, and Nestie told
-Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.</p>
-
-<p>Outside the school gathered together on the terrace
-around the Russian guns, which was our Forum,
-and after five seconds' pause, during which we gathered
-inspiration from each others' faces, a great
-shout of laughter went up to the sky, full-toned,
-unanimous, prolonged. Any sense of humour in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
-Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany
-class, with expeditions, was irresistible.</p>
-
-<p>"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely
-tickled; "it cowes a'. An' what was the
-ither flooer—'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be
-poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be
-making a book for a present to Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins,
-who were making off, as mass meetings did
-not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir feet
-or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if
-ye do. Give us a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then
-there was instant silence, for Nestie had a nice little
-trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a
-school where delicate gifts were rare.</p>
-
-<p>"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his
-hand with Mr. Byles's favourite polite deprecating
-gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear boys,
-that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet,
-Peter McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed,
-and I 'ope, I mean h-hope, you will make an effort to
-l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common object of
-Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands—Howieson,
-I must ask you not to annoy Thomas
-John Dowbiggin—the c-colour is a lovely gold, and
-yet—no talking, if you please, it is r-rude—we pass
-it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take
-a dandelion h-home to his sister. Now go hout ...
-or rather out, quietly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried
-Bauldie; and Johnston passed a half stick of gundy
-to Nestie to refresh him after his labours. "Are ony
-o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles
-traking thro' the Kilspindie Woods, with thae
-bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his heels, carryin' an
-airmful o' roots and sic like."</p>
-
-<p>"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o'
-Byles and a litter o' Dowbiggins!"—and Jock was
-very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a procession
-o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe
-airm in airm!"</p>
-
-<p>This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the
-matter for the Seminary, as a score of its worthies
-marching across the bridge in the interests of science,
-like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for ever.
-So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should
-see the Byles expedition off next morning, and then
-hold a field day of kites in the meadow.</p>
-
-<p>The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that
-means that when a prim, conventional, respectable
-man takes in his head to dress as a Bohemian, the
-effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious
-to show that he could be quite the gay rustic when he
-pleased, and he was got up in a cap, much crushed,
-and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar corresponding,
-and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained
-with futile chemical experiments. He was also
-equipped with a large canvas bag, slung over his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
-shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained
-could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place
-if it were damp beneath. The Dowbiggins had
-entered into the spirit of the thing, and were in
-clothes reserved for their country holidays. They
-had each an umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether
-were a pair of objects to whom no one would
-have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie
-made him a social outcast, had declared himself a
-convert to natural science, and was sucking up to
-Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought
-that they would like to know something about flowers,
-made up the Botanical Society.</p>
-
-<p>They were a lonely little group standing on the
-terrace, while Mr. Byles was securing a trowel and
-other instruments of war from his room, but a large
-and representative gathering of the Seminary did
-their best to cheer and instruct them.</p>
-
-<p>Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which
-bulged from the bag of the younger Dowbiggin contained
-spirituous liquors, and warned the two juniors
-to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to
-drinking. He also expressed an earnest hope that a
-rumour flying round the school about tobacco was
-not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was
-horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a
-tender care of his health and personal appearance,
-not to bully Lord Kilspindie's gamekeepers, nor to
-put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
-rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things
-not to tell lies.</p>
-
-<p>Thomas John was beset with requests—that he
-would leave a lock of his hair in case he should not
-return, that he would mention the name of the pawn-broker
-from whom he got his clothes, that he would
-bring home a bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog,
-that he would secure a supply of turnips to make
-lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
-Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he
-would be careful to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles
-might drop on the road, and that he should not use
-bad language under any circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said
-Mr. Byles, who had come out in time to catch the
-last exhortation: "it is far better to himprove, I
-mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set
-of children; but we all hope that you will have a nice
-fly, don't we, boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a
-quarter might have provoked a demonstration had
-not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an
-amazing circumstance. As the botanists started,
-Speug, who had maintained an unusual silence all
-morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and
-gave Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering
-for scientific research. After their friends
-had recovered themselves they buzzed round the two,
-who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable
-affectation of sedateness, but received no sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>isfaction.
-Speug contented himself with warning
-off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with
-the idea of forming a mock procession, and then giving
-them a wink of extraordinary suggestiveness.
-But Nestie was more communicative, and explained
-the situation at length——</p>
-
-<p>"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not
-know it; he fairly loves g-geranniums, and is sorry
-that he wasted his time on k-kites and snowballs.
-We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we
-don't want you to trouble us." But this was not
-knowledge.</p>
-
-<p>It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie
-tailed off at the bridge, and Speug, halfway across,
-turned round and winked again, it was with regret
-that they betook themselves to their kites, and more
-than once they found themselves casting longing
-glances to the distant woods, where Speug was now
-pursuing the study of botany.</p>
-
-<p>"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung
-motionless in the sky, "this is weel enough, but tak'
-my word for't it's nothing to the game they're
-playin' in yon woods."</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna
-see muckle game in that: I would as soon dig
-potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had
-a prosaic mind and had little imagination.</p>
-
-<p>"Geranniums! ger—— havers, that's no' what
-Speug is after, you bet. He's got a big splore (ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>ploit)
-on hand or he never crossed Muirtown Brig in
-such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do.
-Peter'ill lose the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill
-stick them in a bog, or"—and Jock could hardly hold
-his kite—"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill row
-them over to Woody Island and leave them there till
-Monday, with naething but bread and milk and the
-net to sleep in." And the joy of Jock and Bauldie
-at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to
-their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of
-sympathy with their fellow-creatures.</p>
-
-<p>If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign
-on the way to the woods, for he was a model of
-propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable.
-He showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of
-the Dowbiggins, so that these two young gentlemen
-relaxed the vigilant attention with which they usually
-regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with
-Cosh. As for the master, Peter simply placed
-himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating on the
-extent of the woods and their richness in flowers—"just
-fair scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest
-o' them:" offering to take the expedition by the
-nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting
-on the number and beauty and tameness of
-the pheasants, till Mr. Byles was charmed and was
-himself surprised at the humanising influence of
-scientific pursuits.</p>
-
-<p>Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
-for he led them by so direct a way that, before they
-came to the place of flowers, the expedition—except
-the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in Nestie's
-charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next
-door to babies—had climbed five dykes, all with loose
-stones, fought through three thickets very prickly
-indeed, crawled underneath two hedges, crossed
-three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired
-themselves times without number. Cosh had jostled
-against Speug in leaping from one dry spot to another
-and come down rolling in the mud, which made
-his appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in
-helping Thomas John out of a very entangling place,
-had been so zealous that the seat had been almost
-entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and
-although Mr. Byles had done his best with pins, the
-result was not edifying; his brother's straw hat had
-fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he
-jumped from a wall, and was of no further service,
-and so the younger Dowbiggin—"who is so refined
-in his ways," as his mother used to say—wore as his
-headgear a handkerchief which had been used for
-cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles,
-whom fate might have spared, misfortunes had accumulated.
-His trousers had been sadly mangled
-from the knee downwards as he crawled through a
-hole, and had to be wound round his legs with
-string, and although Speug had pulled his cap out
-of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
-to leave the peak behind, and he was so clumsy,
-with the best intentions, that he allowed another
-branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side
-of the head and left a mark above his eye, which
-distinctly suggested a prizefight to anyone not
-acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character.
-Peter himself had come unscathed from the
-perils of land and water, save a dash of mud here and
-there and a suspicion of wet about his feet, which
-shows how bad people fare better than good. The
-company was so bedraggled and discouraged that
-their minds did not seem set on wild flowers, and
-in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and
-thoughtful, led the botanists to a pleasant glade,
-away from thickets and bogs, where the pheasants
-made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr.
-Byles was much cheered by this change of environment,
-and grew eloquent on the graceful shape and
-varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly
-that they gathered round the party, which was not
-wonderful, as a keeper fed them every day, but which
-Mr. Byles explained was due to the instinct of the
-beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that
-we love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport,
-and made the Dowbiggins promise that they would
-never shoot pheasants or any other game, and there
-is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as
-they did not know one end of a gun from another,
-and would no sooner have dared to fire one than they
-would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought
-occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they
-should now have their lunch and feed the birds with
-the fragments. He was wondering also whether it
-would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net,
-just to hold it in the hand and let it go again.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 384px; height: 595px;">
-<a name="i114" id="i114"></a><img src="images/i114.jpg" width="384" height="595" alt=""They were so friendly that they gathered round
-the party."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They were so friendly that they gathered round
-the party."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>When things had come to this pass—and he never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
-had expected anything so good—Speug withdrew
-unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran
-swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with
-the juniors.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents,
-"div ye see that path? Cut along it as hard as
-ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the Muirtown
-Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses.
-For Byles and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on
-sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's pheasants that I'm
-expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
-Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously,
-"that I savit ye from sic company."</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had
-disappeared, "I've never clypit (told tales) once since
-I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a nice job, but
-div ye no' think that the head keeper should know
-that poachers are in the preserves?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's
-house, "especially when there's a g-gang of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-and such b-bad-looking fellows—v-vice just written
-on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young
-and so w-wicked."</p>
-
-<p>"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin'
-along, as if the dogs were aifter them?" and the
-head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's
-you, Speug—and what are you doin' in the woods
-the day? there's no eggs now." For sporting people
-are a confederacy, and there was not a coachman
-or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve
-miles of Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie
-senior, and not many who did not also have the
-acquaintance of his hopeful son.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep
-our wind richt, an' we cam on a man and three
-boys among the pheasants in the low park."</p>
-
-<p>"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's
-birds?"</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin',
-but they were feedin' them, and we saw a net."</p>
-
-<p>"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you,
-Tom, get up out of yir beds this meenut; the
-poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin'
-them alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for
-stock: and broad daylight; it beats everything. He
-'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely. And
-the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an'
-the end o' September. Dod: it's a depairture in
-poachin'." And as the sight of Mr. Byles burst on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
-his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two
-Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a
-specially venturesome one, the head keeper almost
-lost the power of speech.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles
-looked up to see three armed keepers commanding
-their helpless party, and one of them purple with
-rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could
-give you a hand in catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart
-would be of ony use ... confound your cheek!</p>
-
-<p>"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants
-a biscuit, did ye, and the boys thought they would
-like to stroke one, would they? How is that, lads?
-I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for
-brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match.
-Maybe you're a Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an
-orphan asylum?</p>
-
-<p>"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary,
-that's what you are, is it, ye awfu' like blackguard,
-an' the laddies are the sons o' a respectable Free
-Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no'
-the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir
-time and try again. I'm enjoying it. Is't by the
-hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty to
-ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue
-o' ye.</p>
-
-<p>"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge
-a charge o' shot in ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in
-Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye, professor an'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
-students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an'
-we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He
-hasna tried a learned institution like this since he
-mounted the bench. March in front, but dinna try
-to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic
-a band o' waufies!"</p>
-
-<p>Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie,
-having seen all without being seen, now started
-for Muirtown to gather the kite-players and as many
-of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival
-of the botanists. They were brought in a large
-spring-cart—Mr. Byles seated between the head
-keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three
-huddled like calves in the space behind—a mass of
-mud, tatters, and misery, from which the solemn,
-owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap was now
-gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As
-they were handed over to the police the Seminary,
-which had been at first struck dumb, recovered speech
-and expressed itself with much vivacity.</p>
-
-<p>"Who would have thought Byles had as much
-spirit? Sall, he 'ill be rinnin' horses at Muirtown
-Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards, Thomas—yir
-breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have
-been hard on yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?"
-"Has his Lordship kept yir bonnet, Dowbiggin?"
-"It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys
-are only in the savage state, and the discomfiture of
-such immaculate propriety was very sweet to the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 385px; height: 594px;">
-<a name="i118" id="i118"></a><img src="images/i118.jpg" width="385" height="594" alt=""They were brought in a large spring cart."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
-who saw in Mr. Byles's effort a new and cunning
-form of poaching he was not prepared for, and so
-weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the
-Bailie on duty was for sentencing them at once, and
-would hardly wait for the testimony of friends. It
-took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary
-and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from
-their studies in hot haste and confusion of face, to
-clear the accused, and even then the worthy magistrate
-thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to
-administer a rebuke and warning so solemn that it
-became one of the treasures of memory for all
-Seminary lads.</p>
-
-<p>"After what I have heard I cannot convict you,
-and you may go this time; but let me never see you
-here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome to
-think that an educated man"—this to Byles—"instead
-of setting an example to the laddies under
-your charge, should be accused of a mean and
-cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I
-cannot look at your face without having grave
-doubts. And to think that the sons of a respected
-minister of the kirk should be found in such company,
-and with all the appearance of vagrants, must
-be a great trial to their father, and I am sure he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
-the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I
-never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in
-such a position. All I can hope is that this will be
-a lesson to you to keep clear of evil companions and
-evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable
-citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day—that
-is all I have to say."</p>
-
-<p>Outside the court-room the head keeper caught
-Speug and gave him his mind.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that
-English-speakin' imp is little better. My belief is
-that this has been a pliskie (trick) o' yours frae
-beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o'
-advice—don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods,
-or it will be the worse for you."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_COUNT" id="THE_COUNT"></a>THE COUNT</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VII</h3>
-
-
-<p>If you excluded two or three Englishmen who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
-spoke with an accent suggestive of an effeminate
-character, and had a fearsome habit of walking on
-the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master
-at the Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering,
-the foreign element in Muirtown during the
-classical days consisted of the Count. He never
-claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate
-the title, but he declined the honour of our title with
-so much dignity that it seemed only to prove his
-right, and by and by he answered to the name with
-simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for
-deprecation, but which came to be considered a
-polite acknowledgement. His real name was not
-known in Muirtown—not because he had not given
-it, but because it could not be pronounced, being
-largely composed of x's and k's, with an irritating
-parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of
-learning to spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for
-it was one of the Count's foreign ways to carry a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
-card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being introduced
-to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card
-with the right hand while he took off his hat with
-the left, and bowed almost to a right angle. Upon
-those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane
-would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing
-whether so unholy a name might not go off and
-shatter his hand; and during the Count's obeisance,
-which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded
-him with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown,
-during this performance of the Count's, used
-to be divided between regret that any human being
-should condescend to such tricks, and profound
-thankfulness that Muirtown was not part of a foreign
-country where people were brought up with the
-manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was
-nourished by the manner of the Count's dress, which
-would have been a commonplace on a <i>boulevard</i>, but
-astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and
-always lent an element of piquant interest to our
-streets. His perfectly brushed hat, broadish in the
-brim and curled at the sides, which he wore at the
-faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather
-boots, which it was supposed he obtained in Paris,
-and wore out at the rate of a pair a month—all was
-unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat
-which stimulated conversation. It was so tight and
-fitted so perfectly, revealing the outlines of his slender
-form, and there was such an indecent absence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
-of waist—waist was a strong point with Muirtown
-men, and in the case of persons who had risen to office,
-like the Provost, used to run to fifty inches—that
-a report went round the town that the Count was a
-woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than
-refuted by the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes,
-which he made with Satanic ingenuity while you
-were looking at him, and that he gave a display of
-fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment
-in the barracks, for it was shrewdly pointed out
-that those were just the very accomplishments of
-French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have
-crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost
-been obliged to command the Count's departure, had
-it not been for the shrewdness and good nature of
-the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a
-fair maid in Muirtown—and in those days she was
-fairest of her succession: let this flower lie on her
-grave. She declared to her friends that she had
-watched the Count closely and had never once seen
-him examine a woman's dress when the woman
-wasn't looking; and after that no person of discernment
-in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's
-sex. It was, however, freely said—and that story
-was never contradicted—that he wore stays, and
-every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his
-landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with
-every wile of conversation, and even lawyers' wives,
-pretending to inquire for rooms for a friend, used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
-lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but that
-worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not
-quite insensible to the dignity of a mystery.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after;
-but beggin' your pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and
-my mouth's closed. The Count disna ken the difference
-atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the
-money he wastes on tobacco juist goes to ma heart;
-but he never had the blessin' of a Gospel ministry
-nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young.
-As regards stays, whether he wears them or disna
-wear them I'm no' prepared to say, for I thank goodness
-that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes nor
-entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The
-Count pays his rent in advance every Monday morning;
-he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I told him it
-was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the
-house, and if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to
-support his spine, which I'm no' sayin' he did, Mistress
-Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the weather
-is inclining to snow."</p>
-
-<p>His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it
-may have been constructed; and it was a pleasant
-sight to see the Count go down our main street on a
-summer afternoon, approving himself with a side
-glance in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an
-attitude at our bookseller's when a new print was
-exposed in the window, waving his cigarette and
-blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
-considered a "tempting of Providence," making his
-respectful salutations to every lady whom he knew,
-and responding with "Celestial, my friend!" to
-Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing
-weather." When he sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard,
-like Solomon in all his glory, that great man,
-who always persisted in regarding the Count as a
-sporting character, would touch the rim of his hat
-with his forefinger—an honour he paid to few—and,
-after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
-with much relish. This astounding spectacle very
-early attracted the attention of the Seminary boys,
-and during his first summer in Muirtown it was
-agreed that he would make an excellent target for
-snowball practice during next winter. The temptation
-was not one which could have been resisted, and
-it is to be feared that the Count would have been
-confined to the house when the snow was on the
-ground had it not been for an incident which showed
-him in a new light, and established him, stays or no
-stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There
-had been a glorious fight on the first day of the war
-with the "Pennies," and when they were beaten, a
-dozen of them, making a brave rearguard fight, took
-up their position with the Count's windows as their
-background. There were limits to license even in
-those brave old days, and it was understood that the
-windows of houses, especially private houses, and
-still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
-should not be broken, and if they were broken the
-culprits were hunted down and interviewed by "Bulldog"
-at length. When the "Pennies" placed themselves
-under the protection of the Count's glass,
-which was really an unconscious act of meanness on
-their part, the Seminary distinctly hesitated; but
-Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples
-as he knew no fear.</p>
-
-<p>"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain;
-and when the "Pennies" were driven along the
-street, the windows had been so effectually dashed
-that there was not a sound pane of glass in the
-Count's sitting-room. As the victorious army returned
-to their capital, and the heat of battle died
-down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in
-minds not given to care, for Mistress Jamieson was
-not the woman to have her glass broken for nothing,
-and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with
-all his dandyism, would not take this affront lightly.
-As a matter of fact, Mistress Jamieson made a personal
-call upon the Rector that evening, and explained
-with much eloquence to that timid, harassed
-scholar that, unless his boys were kept in better order,
-Muirtown would not be a place for human habitation;
-and before she left she demanded the blood of
-the offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its
-present condition to Sodom and Gomorrah. As the
-Rector was always willing to leave discipline in the
-capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
-would almost certainly be in his class in the forenoon,
-the Count, who had witnessed the whole battle
-from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had
-afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away
-the <i>débris</i>, went to give his evidence and identify the
-culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic occasion, and he
-rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful
-recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side—the
-Count carrying himself with all the grace and
-dignity of a foreign ambassador come to settle an
-international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than
-ever, because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that
-discipline must be maintained.</p>
-
-<p>The Count explained with many flourishes that
-he was desolated to come for the first time to this
-so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand so
-distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands
-on him ("Dis the body mean Lucky Jamieson?"
-whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had ever
-been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded
-him with a disdain beyond words.) The
-Rector of this place of learning had also done him,
-an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to
-come and assist at this function of justice; and
-although, as the Count explained, he was no longer a
-soldier, obedience was still the breath of his nostrils.
-Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to
-be questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the
-Count bowed again to Bulldog, placing his hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
-upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming attitude
-against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his
-cane, and feeling that he had acquitted himself with
-credit.</p>
-
-<p>"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir,"
-and Bulldog's glance conveyed that such a figure as
-the Count's ought not to be exposed in snowtime;
-"but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the
-circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of
-the Seminary are allowed to exercise themselves in
-the snowtime within limits. If they fight wi' neighbouring
-schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they
-break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme
-penalty. Now, I'm informed that some of the young
-scoundrels—and I believe the very laddies are in this
-class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to
-catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was
-entirely occupied with mathematical figures)—"have
-committed a breach of the peace at Mistress
-Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"—and
-Bulldog regarded the Count with increasing disfavour,
-as he thought of such a popinjay giving evidence
-against his laddies—"is, to look round this
-class-room and point out, so far as ye may be able,
-any boy or boys who drove a snowball or snowballs
-through the windows of your residence."</p>
-
-<p>During this judicial utterance the eyes of the
-Count wandered over the school with the most provoking
-intelligence, and conveyed even to the dullest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
-with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown
-was not capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old
-gentleman, that the boys were a set of sad dogs,
-capable of any mischief, that some of them were
-bound to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of
-all that he, the Count, knew who would get it, and
-that he was about to give evidence in an instant with
-the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When
-his glance lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful
-and unhesitating recognition that Speug was
-almost abashed, and knew for certain that for him
-at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson,
-plunging into arithmetic of his own accord for once,
-calculated rapidly what would be his share of the
-broken glass. Neither of them would have denied
-what he did to save himself twenty thrashings; but
-they shared Bulldog's disgust that a free-born Scot
-should be convicted on the evidence of a foreigner,
-whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts
-and tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to
-go round seated on the top of our solitary barrel-organ.</p>
-
-<p>"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog
-sternly; and there was a silence that could be felt,
-whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out with
-the Count's cane.</p>
-
-<p>The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's
-face; he became grave and anxious, and changed
-from a man of the world, who had been exchanging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
-a jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in
-the Court of Justice.</p>
-
-<p>"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what
-you call my soul and conscience," and the Count indicated
-with his hand where both those faculties were
-contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity,
-I will say profanity, to break the windows of my
-good friend and hostess, Madame Jamieson."</p>
-
-<p>The Count gave himself to the work of selection,
-but there was no longer a ray of intelligence in his
-face. He was confused and perplexed, he looked
-here and he looked there, he made little impatient
-gestures, he said a bad French word, he flung up a
-hand in despair, he turned to Bulldog with a frantic
-gesture, as of a man who thought he could have done
-something at once, and found he could not do it at
-all. Once more he faced the school, and then Speug,
-with that instinct of acute observation which belongs
-to a savage, began to understand, and gave Howieson
-a suggestive kick.</p>
-
-<p>"As a man of honour," said the Count with much
-solemnity, "I give my testimony, and I declare that I
-do not see one of the boys who did forget themselves
-yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to
-Madame's domicile."</p>
-
-<p>And it would have been curious if he had seen the
-boys, for the Count was looking over their heads, and
-studying the distant view of the meadow and the
-River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The mind of Speug was now clear upon the
-Count, and Bulldog also understood, and in two
-seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy through a
-mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical
-class-room knew that, although the Count
-might have had the misfortune to be born in foreign
-parts, and did allow himself to dress like a dancing-master,
-inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had
-them on, there was the heart of a man who would not
-tell tales on any fellow, and who also liked his bit of
-fun.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly
-concealed satisfaction, "that ye're no' in a poseetion
-to recognise the culprits, for if they're no' here my
-conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown.
-We can ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much
-obleeged for yir attendance."</p>
-
-<p>"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which
-has the fortune to introduce me to this charming
-company," and the Count bowed first to Bulldog and
-then to the school with such a marked indication in
-one direction that Speug almost blushed. "My
-sorrow is to be so stupid a witness; but, monsieur,
-you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor
-eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the
-Count bowed in all directions, "to replace the glass
-in Madame's house, and the incident, pouf! it is
-forgotten."</p>
-
-<p>There was a swift glance from all parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
-class-room, and permission was read in Bulldog's
-face. Next instant the mathematical class-room was
-rent with applause, such as could only be given when
-fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and
-Speug led the circus.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog
-came as near as possible to a bow, "that ye have
-acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the boys
-of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to
-come and go among us as ye please."</p>
-
-<p>The departure of the Count, still bowing, with
-Bulldog attending him to the door and offering him
-overshoes to cover the polished leather boots, was
-a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of
-the morning was not worth mentioning.</p>
-
-<p>During the lunch hour the school was harangued
-in short, pithy terms by Speug, and in obedience to
-his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in a
-solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave
-a volley of cheers. The Count was more gratified
-than by anything that had happened to him since he
-came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the
-newly repaired windows he made an eloquent speech,
-in which he referred to Sir Walter Scott and Queen
-Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other
-romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the
-"Pennies" and the Seminary was worthy of the great
-Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be <i>un brave garçon</i>;
-expressed his regret that he could not receive the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
-school in his limited apartments, but invited them to
-cross with him to the Seminary tuck-shop, where he
-entertained the whole set to Mistress MacWhae's
-best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that
-Mistress Jamieson should come forward to the window
-with him and bow to the school, while he held
-her hand—which the Count felt would have been a
-really interesting tableau. It certainly would have
-been, but Mistress Jamieson refused to assist in the
-most decided terms.</p>
-
-<p>"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand
-in hand wi' him, and bowin', if ye please, to thae
-blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o' good
-character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it
-would ill set me to play such tricks. But I'll say this
-for the Count—he behaved handsome; and I'm
-judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in
-my house so long as the Count is in it." And there
-never was.</p>
-
-<p>It were not possible to imagine anything more
-different than a Muirtown boy and the Count; but
-boys judge by an instinct which never fails within its
-own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with
-all his foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends
-gathered around him and flourished exceedingly,
-being largely invented by Nestie, and offered for
-consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug,
-who let it be understood that to deny or even to smile
-at Nestie's most incredible invention would be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
-ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn
-a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the
-Emperor of Austria's daughter and had been exiled
-by the imperial parent, but that the Princess was true
-to the Count, and that any day he might be called
-from Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of
-Vienna; that he was himself a king of some mysterious
-European State, who had been driven out by
-conspirators, but whose people were going to restore
-him, and that some day Speug would be staying
-with the Count in his royal abode and possibly sitting
-beside him on the throne. During this romance
-Speug felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty,
-which was quite consistent with keeping a
-watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal who
-might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely
-ask him what he was laughing at, and offer to give
-him something to laugh for. That the Count was
-himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society
-which extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords,
-and that whenever any tyrant became intolerable,
-the warrant for his death was sent from Mistress
-Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed
-Nestie produced another, and it was no longer
-necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy Indian tales
-or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction
-was now bound up and walking about in the
-Count.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 429px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i134" id="i134"></a><img src="images/i134.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt=""Watching a battle royal between the tops."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Between him and the boys there grew up a fast
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>friendship, and he was never thoroughly happy now
-unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He attended
-every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned
-how, kept the score, giving a cheer at every new
-run and tearing his hair when any of his boys were
-bowled out. He rushed round the football field
-without his cane, and generally without his hat; and
-high above all cheers could be heard his "Bravo—bravo,
-forwards! Speug!" as that enterprising player
-cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It
-mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were
-ruined, and his speckless clothes soiled, he would not
-have cared though he had burst his stays, so long as
-the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with
-them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health
-in flowing ginger-beer. During the play hour his
-walk seemed ever to bring him to the North Meadow,
-and if a ball by accident, for none would have
-done it by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he
-cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his own pronunciation and
-bowed in response to this mark of attention. It was
-a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands
-resting on his knees, watching a battle royal between
-the tops of Speug and Howieson; and if anything
-could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin
-a top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown
-tongues.</p>
-
-<p>As the boys came to the school in the morning
-and went home in the evening up Breadalbane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
-Street, the Count was always sitting at one of the
-windows which had been broken, ready to wave
-his hand to any one who saluted him, and in the
-afternoon he would often open the window to get the
-school news and to learn whether there would be a
-match on Saturday. As time went on this alliance
-told upon the Count's outer man; he never lost his
-gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he
-ever have been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had
-lived to the age of Methuselah, have been made an
-elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew thicker, though
-they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher,
-though they were always well made, and his ties
-became quieter, and his week-day hat was like that
-of other men, and, except on Sundays, Muirtown
-never saw the glory of the former days. With his
-new interest in life, everyone noticed that the Count
-had grown simpler and kindlier, and Muirtown folk,
-who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt,
-began to love him through their boys. He
-would walk home with Bulldog on a summer evening,
-the strangest pair that ever went together; and
-it was said that many little improvements for the
-comfort of the lads, and many little schemes for their
-happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the
-Count. It was believed that the time did come when
-he could have returned to his own land, but
-that he did not go because he was a lonely man and
-had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
-died, now many years ago, he left his little all for the
-benefit of his "jolly dogs," and the Count, who had
-no mourners of his blood, was followed to his grave
-by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_TOURNAMENT" id="A_TOURNAMENT"></a>A TOURNAMENT</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VIII</h3>
-
-
-<p>Since the day when Speug and a few young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
-friends had broken every pane of glass in the Count's
-windows, and the Count had paid for the damage like
-a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all
-his spare cash—which we thought afterwards was
-not very much—in encouraging athletic exercises
-among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of
-every other convert, was much greater than his
-knowledge, and left to his own devices he would certainly
-have gone far astray; but with the able assistance
-of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel,
-it was astonishing what a variety could be infused
-into the sports. When every ordinary competition
-had been held, and champions had been declared
-(and this had never been done before in the history
-of the school) for the hundred yards, the quarter,
-and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse and over
-the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu
-meeting of parents), for broad jumping and
-high jumping, for throwing the cricket ball and kick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>ing
-the football, Speug came out with a quite new
-programme which was rapturously received, and had
-it not met with a cross-providence would have lasted
-over four happy Saturdays and considerably reduced
-the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was
-a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be
-trifled with, and four boys were saved from death
-by a salmon cobble, whose owner fortunately turned
-up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by
-this event that he not only lost his hat in the river,
-but being prevented from going in to help, for the
-very good reason that he could not swim a stroke,
-he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel
-of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might
-serve as a lifebelt. The second item, upon which
-Speug prided himself very much, was a climbing
-match, and for this he had selected a tree which
-seemed to be designed for the purpose, since it had
-a rook's nest on its highest branch, and no branches
-at all for the first twenty feet. The conditions were,
-that every boy above twelve should have his chance,
-and the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into
-the rook's nest, and came down in the shortest time,
-should get the prize. The Seminary above twelve
-were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday
-morning, and in one kirk next day thanks were offered
-in the first prayer in peculiarly dignified and
-guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had
-not been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
-killed, and no limbs were broken, but Speug, who was
-not allowed to enter for this competition, but acted
-as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the sight
-of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy,
-once to release his friend Howieson, who had missed
-a branch and was hanging by his feet, and the second
-time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended by
-the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a
-gigantic apple on the branch. It was understood
-that the Seminary had never enjoyed themselves
-so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's
-moral courage failed during the performance, and at
-the most critical moment he was afraid to look.
-When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement
-of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at
-church-doors and street corners, and it was conveyed
-to the Rector—who knew nothing about the matter,
-and was so absent-minded that if he had passed
-would never have seen what was going on—that if
-Providence was going to be tempted in this fashion
-again, the matter would be brought before the Town
-Council. The Count himself would have been faithfully
-dealt with had he not been considered a helpless
-tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood
-to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim.
-He might indeed have been at last expelled from the
-Seminary, of which he was the chief ornament, had
-it not been that the Count went to the Rector and explained
-that the idea had been his from beginning to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
-end, and that it was with the utmost difficulty he
-could induce Speug even to be present. For, as I
-said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always
-stood by his friends through thick and thin; but the
-thrashing which Speug got from Bulldog was monumental,
-and in preparation for it that ingenious
-youth put on three folds of underclothing.</p>
-
-<p>What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not
-the punishment, which was cheap at the money, but
-the loss of the next two items in his programme. He
-had planned a boxing competition, in which the main
-feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc
-Robertson and himself, to decide finally which was
-the better man, for they had fought six times and
-the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a
-profligate genius outside the class-rooms, had also
-imagined a pony race with hurdles; and as about
-twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had ponies,
-of which they were always bragging, and Speug had
-the pick of his father's stables, he modestly believed
-that the affair would be worth seeing. When the
-hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had already
-begun to make entries and to arrange weights
-with his father's valuable assistance, he took the
-matter so much to heart that his health gave way,
-and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit
-at the Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in
-the highest spirits and full of stories.</p>
-
-<p>For some time after this painful incident the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
-Count lay low and adopted a deprecating manner
-when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown;
-but he gave his friends to understand that his resources
-were not at an end, and that he had a surprise
-in store for the Seminary. Speug ran over every
-form of sport in casual conversation to discover what
-was in the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn
-and grew more mysterious every day. One Saturday
-evening in midsummer he took Speug and
-Nestie into his confidence, explaining that his idea
-would be announced to the assembled school by himself
-next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to do,
-as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or
-fencing, or the sword dance. With their permission
-he would say one word which would be enough for
-persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that
-word was "Tournament;" and then he would speak
-of nothing else except the beauty of the evening light
-upon the river, which he declared to be "ravishing,"
-and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate
-which he carried in his pocket, and shared generously
-with his "dogs." As he parted with his friends the
-Count tapped his nose and winked at them—"Tournament—great,
-magnificent, you will see, ha, ha!
-you will see;" and Speug went home in a state of
-utter confusion, coming finally to the conclusion that
-the Count intended to introduce some French game,
-and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose
-the Count tooth and nail, for everybody knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
-that French games were only for girls, and would
-bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary.
-During Sunday Nestie had turned the matter over in
-his mind, and being full of Scott's novels he was
-able on Monday to give the astonished school a full
-programme with the most minute particulars. The
-tournament was to be held in the North Meadow; the
-judge was to be the Commander of the cavalry at the
-barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to
-be herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the
-Queen of Beauty; and the combatants were to be
-such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course
-Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie
-freely suggested dish-covers would be useful as
-breastplates, broom-handles would come in conveniently
-for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden,
-sturdy boys of the lower forms would be
-used instead. The two knights who challenged one
-another would rush from opposite ends of the lists,
-meet in the centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to
-horse, and man to man, and the one that overthrew
-the other would receive the prize; and at the thought
-of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson,
-each in full armour, the delighted school
-smacked their lips.</p>
-
-<p>"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said
-Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody a shilling that Speug
-coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting; but"—feeling
-as if it were almost too good to be true—"I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
-dinna believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar."
-And after the school had spoken of nothing else for a
-day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly
-whether such things were true.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Mon ami</i>," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's
-romance with much relish, "you will pardon me,
-but it is a <i>banalité</i>, that is what you call a stupidity,
-to ask whether so good a <i>jeu d'esprit</i> is true. True?
-Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie,
-he does not live among facts, he flies in the air, in the
-atmosphere of poetry. He is a <i>raconteur</i>. A tournament
-with knights on the North Meadow—good!
-Our little Nestie, he has been reading <i>Ivanhoe</i> and
-he is a troubadour." And the Count took off his hat
-in homage to Nestie's remarkable powers as an
-author of fiction.</p>
-
-<p>"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the
-body, for the mind. My dogs are jolly dogs; they
-can run, they can leap, they can swim, they can kick
-the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They
-must write their very best words, they must show
-that they have beautiful minds; and they will do so,
-I swear they will, in the tournament, which will not
-be on the meadow—no; too many cows there, and
-too many washers of clothes—but in seclusion, in the
-class-room of that brave man called the Bulldog. It
-will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm,
-"of heads: and the best head, that head will
-have the prize, <i>voilà </i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down
-upon his desk that Wednesday afternoon when the
-whole upper school was gathered in his class-room,
-bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion
-to lay before you which he will explain in his
-own words and which has the sanction of the Rector.
-Ye will be pleased to give the Count a respectful
-hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog
-was there to see that the Count's deserts and his
-treatment strictly corresponded.</p>
-
-<p>"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog,
-"and you," and now he bowed to the boys, "all my
-friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a
-favour which your politeness will not allow you to
-refuse. Next Saturday I will dare to hold a reception
-in this place, with the permission of the good
-Bull—— I do forget myself—I mean the distinguished
-master. And when you come, I promise you
-that I will not offer you coffee—pouf! it is not for
-the brave boys I see before me, <i>non</i>," and the Count
-became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle
-sentence on the——" ("Blackboard," suggested
-Bulldog). "<i>Merci</i>, yes, the blackboard; no, the honourable
-master he will have the goodness to write it
-in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that
-is all, and you will sit for one hour in this room
-where you make your studies, and you will write all
-the beautiful things which come into your heads
-about that sentence. You will then do me the pleas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>ure
-of letting me carry home all those beautiful
-things, and I will read them; and the writer who
-affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of
-many volumes, and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost,"
-interpolated Bulldog) "will present it on the great
-day in the Town Hall.</p>
-
-<p>"No one, not even the honourable master himself,
-will know that leetle sentence till it be written on
-the—the——" ("Blackboard," said Bulldog, with
-asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many
-things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom
-I do felicitate the honourable master will write much
-learning," and the Count made a graceful inclination
-in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the
-brave boys who love the sport, they will also write,
-ah! ah!"—and the Count nodded cheerfully in the
-direction of Speug—"such wonderful things. There
-will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and
-so it will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the
-Count with much satisfaction, "the fair play."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained
-that no one need come unless he wished, but
-that anyone who didn't come was missing the opportunity
-of securing an honourable distinction, and
-would also show himself to be an ungrateful little
-scoundrel for all that the Count had done for the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native
-shrewdness, "aifter all his palaver it's naething but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
-anither confounded exercise," for that worthy had
-suffered much through impositions, and had never
-been able to connect one sentence with another in an
-intelligent manner. "The Dowbiggins can go if they
-want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm going
-next Saturday to Woody Island—will you come,
-Speug?" And it hung in the balance whether or not
-the Count would be openly affronted next Saturday
-when he found himself in the company of half a
-dozen "swats," while his "jolly dogs" were off in a
-pack to their island of romance.</p>
-
-<p>Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room
-on Saturday afternoon, except under brute
-force, and yet he felt it would be ungrateful after all
-his kindness to leave the Count in the company of
-such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance
-of all the sporting prizes he had won
-at the Count's hands, and the sight of the Count
-cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart
-and moved him to the most unselfish act of his life.
-"Jock Howieson," said Speug, with considerable dignity,
-"ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it
-'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black
-both yir een for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a
-match, cricket or football, the last four years, and the
-Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports
-and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who
-stands ginger-beer at Lucky MacWhae's, answer me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
-that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then clinching
-every argument on "Who paid for the broken
-glass? I'm doon richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."</p>
-
-<p>"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock,
-writhing under this torrent of reproach. "I think I
-see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the Romans,
-or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room,
-and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye
-'ill no' play ony tricks on me, Peter McGuffie."</p>
-
-<p>"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no'
-promise to write."</p>
-
-<p>"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's
-wiles.</p>
-
-<p>"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school
-knew, not only that he would go, though he had to
-sit six hours instead of one, but also that every self-respecting
-boy in the Seminary must also put in an
-appearance at the Count's reception.</p>
-
-<p>"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on
-the way home, "since you p—pulled me out of the Tay,
-and I should say that you have a good chance of
-the prize. What the Count wants is ori—gin—ginality,
-and I never heard a chap with so much original
-talk as you've got, Speug. Just you put some of it
-down, like what you give to the P—pennies, and you'll
-come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever
-won."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries
-were open to all Scotland," said Speug, "ye would
-pass the post first and trottin'."</p>
-
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-<div class="center">"<span class="smcap">How I Spent My Saturday,</span>"</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<p>was what the school saw on the board when the
-Count removed the white cloth, and then he gave a
-brief exposition of his desires.</p>
-
-<p>"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not
-what you ought, but what you want. Were you at
-the cricket match, you will tell me of the capture of
-the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear
-of the woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate
-allusion to Mr. Byles's poaching experiences was
-much appreciated); "or you were among the books,
-then you will describe what you love in them; or
-you were looking at a horse, I expect to hear about
-that horse"; and the whole school understood that
-this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an exact
-picture of an Irish mare that his father had just
-bought. "The subject, ah!" said the Count, "that
-does not matter; it is the manner, the style, the
-<i>esprit</i>, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the
-good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till
-you have finished."</p>
-
-<p>"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the
-credit of the school and to please the Count. If
-I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part to teach
-him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
-out he goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut,
-make the most o't," and the tournament was open.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper,
-and only giving a casual glance to see that no one
-took advantage of the strange circumstances, was
-really watching his flock very closely, and checking
-his judgment of each one by this new test. Dull,
-conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins began at once,
-in order that they might not lose a moment of time,
-but might put as much written stuff upon the paper
-as possible; yet now and again they stopped and
-looked round helplessly because they had no books
-and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the
-first time how little they had in their own heads.</p>
-
-<p>"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye
-were naithing but a painted show, and it 'ill do ye
-good to find that out for yirselves."</p>
-
-<p>Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole
-matter as a new form of entertainment, and as he
-could not have put into anything approaching connected
-words the experiences of his last Saturday,
-he employed the time in cutting up his unwritten
-paper into squares of an inch, and making them into
-pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind
-from being too much absorbed in study. He did
-this once too often, and Bulldog went down to call
-upon him with a cane and with plain, simple
-words.</p>
-
-<p>"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
-went back to his desk, "but there's the making of a
-man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able to write a
-decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots
-Greys down to the ground."</p>
-
-<p>Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under
-the customary form of oath, that he would write
-something, and whatever he wrote he would hand in,
-though it was only twenty words, and Speug never
-went back from his oath. When Howieson caught
-the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no doubt
-that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he
-struggled with strong temptation, and when old
-friends made facetious signs to him he hesitated more
-than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified
-amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole
-mind was devoted to literary composition, and that
-he did not know what they meant by this impertinent
-intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly
-jumped once in his seat as if he had been stung by a
-wasp, and it is certainly true that at that moment
-there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and first
-finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was
-devoted to literature. The language which Cosh
-allowed himself to use in the heat of the moment was
-so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention,
-who told him that if he wanted to say anything
-like that again he must say it in Latin, and that he
-ought to take notice of the excellent conduct of Peter
-McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>likely
-to win the prize. And as the master returned
-to his seat his back was seen to shake, and the wink
-with which Speug favoured the class, in a brief rest
-from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery.
-Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in—what
-a poor creature Cosh was, and what good stuff
-could be found in Speug; and he also knew everything
-that was done—why Cosh had said what he
-said, and why Speug at that moment was lost in
-study. Bulldog was not disappointed when Nestie's
-face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew
-why his favourite little lad did not write anything
-for fifteen minutes, but looked steadily out at the
-window and across the North Meadow, and he returned
-to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction
-when Nestie at last settled down to work and wrote
-without ceasing, except when now and again he
-hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his
-ear to know how it sounded. For the desire of
-Bulldog's heart was that Nestie should win, and if—though
-that, of course, was too absurd—Speug by
-the help of the favouring gods should come in
-second, Bulldog would feel that he had not lived in
-vain.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke
-your t's," said Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye
-how ye're to sign yir names," and then the Count,
-who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced
-again to the desk.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It would be one great joy to have your autographs,"
-said the Count, "and I would place them in
-a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour forbids.
-As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging,
-it is necessary that I be—ah! I have forgotten
-the word—yes! show the fair play. No, I must not
-know the names; for if I read the name of my
-friend the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting
-Speug" (at this indecent allusion Speug grew
-purple and gave the bench in front of him to understand
-by well-known signs that if they looked at him
-again he might give them something to look for outside),
-"I would say that Speug is a sportsman but
-he is not a <i>littérateur</i>, and I might not do my comrade
-the full justice. And if I read the name of the
-composed, the studious, the profound young gentlemen
-who are before me" (and it was fortunate the
-Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would
-know that it must be the best before I read it, and
-that would not be the fair play.</p>
-
-<p>"No! you will write on your admirable essay a
-motto—what you please—and your name you will
-put in an envelope, so," and the Count wrote his own
-name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful
-silence, on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope
-with a graceful flourish: "and outside you will put
-your motto, so it will be all the fair play, and in the
-Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to
-declare the result. <i>Voila!</i> Has my plan your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
-distinguished approbation?" and the Count made a
-respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be
-fairer, you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow
-myself to wish you adieu for this day."</p>
-
-<p>When the school assembled for conference among
-the Russian guns, their minds were divided between
-two subjects. The first was what Speug had written,
-on which that strenuous student would give no
-information, resenting the inquiry both as an insult
-to his abilities and an illustration of vain curiosity on
-the part of the school. Nestie, however, volunteered
-the trustworthy information that Speug had spent his
-whole time explaining the good which he had got
-from being kept in one Saturday forenoon and doing
-mathematical problems under the eye of Bulldog.
-And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter
-to "suck up" to the master in this disgraceful
-fashion just for the sake of getting a prize. Peter
-confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done
-his best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock
-Cup, but that he didn't think there were six words
-properly spelt from beginning to end, and that if he
-escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to
-half a dozen bottles of ginger-beer.</p>
-
-<p>Regarding the winner—for that was the other
-subject—there was a unanimous and sad judgment;
-that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but that
-Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would
-carry off the prize, as he had carried off all the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
-prizes; and that, if so, they would let him know how
-they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it
-would be wise for him to go home with the Count's
-prize and all the other prizes in a cab, with the windows
-up.</p>
-
-<p>The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the
-great events in the Muirtown year, and to it the
-memory of a Seminary lad goes back with keen interest.
-All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies
-had been sitting in the class-room of the Seminary,
-holding Latin books in their hands, which they
-opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn
-approval over the translation by Thomas John and
-other chosen worthies, while the parents wandered
-from place to place and identified their sons, who
-refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was
-looking. What mothers endured cannot be put into
-words, when they saw their darling boys (whom
-they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday
-clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions
-that they were not to break their collars nor soil
-their jackets, nor disarrange their hair the whole
-day, or they need not come home in the evening)
-turn up in a class-room before the respectables of
-Muirtown as if their heads had not known a brush
-for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their
-white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and
-an ounce of flour in a prominent place on their once
-speckless jacket.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness
-of despair, "that is my Jimmy, I canna deny it;
-but ye may well ask, for he's more like a street waufie
-than onything else. On a day like this, and when I
-see what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I
-could almost wish he had been born a girl."</p>
-
-<p>"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna
-speak like that, for it's no chancy, he micht be taken
-away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye
-your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time
-I saw him, as I'm a livin' woman, there wasna more
-than two inches of his necktie left, and he was
-fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel
-in the playground. Ye needna expect peace
-if the Almichty give ye laddies, but I wouldna change
-them for lassies—na, na, I'll no' go that length."</p>
-
-<p>And the two matrons sustained themselves with
-the thought that if their boys were only a mere
-wreck of what they had been in the morning, other
-people's boys were no better, and some of them were
-worse, for one of them had inflicted such damages on
-his trousers that, although he was able to face the
-public, he had to retire as from the royal presence;
-nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive
-a malignant dislike to the few boys who were
-spick and span, and to have a certain secret pride
-even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate
-showed that they were far removed from the low
-estate of lassies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The great function of the day came off at two
-o'clock, and before the hour the hall was packed
-with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers, uncles,
-aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while
-the boys themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled
-than ever, were scattered throughout the
-crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and
-enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers;
-others were gathered in clumps and arranging a
-reception for the more unpopular prize-winners;
-others were prowling up and down the passages,
-exchanging sweetmeats and responding (very
-coldly) to the greeting of relatives in the seats, for
-the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad
-was that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden
-aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie senior came in with the
-general attention of the audience, and seated himself
-in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not
-that Mr. McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings,
-and certainly not because Speug had ever
-appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr.
-McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the
-Count and his high appreciation of what he considered
-the Count's sporting offer, and Mr. McGuffie
-was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings
-that he was willing, although he admitted that
-he had no tip, to have a bet with anyone in his
-vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished
-his son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie
-coming in first and half a length ahead, which was
-not so much based upon any knowledge of Nestie's
-literary qualifications as on the strange friendship
-between Nestie and his promising son. As the
-respectable Free Kirk elder who sat next Mr.
-McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr.
-McGuffie put a straw in his mouth and timed the
-arrival of the Provost.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 411px; height: 598px;">
-<a name="i158" id="i158"></a><img src="images/i158.jpg" width="411" height="598" alt=""Before the hour the hall was packed."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
-and masters, together with the notables of Muirtown,
-appeared on the platform, the boys availed themselves
-of the license of the day, shouting, cheering,
-yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry
-with pellets of paper shot with extraordinary dexterity
-from little elastic catapults, till at last Bulldog,
-who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted
-the proceedings, rose and demanded silence
-for the Provost, who explained at wide intervals that
-he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the
-boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls,
-but not from the parents); that he was sure the
-fathers and mothers were proud of their boys to-day
-(climax of howls); that he had once been a boy
-himself (unanimous shout of "No" from the boys);
-that he had even fought in a snowball fight (loud
-expressions of horror); that he was glad the Seminary
-was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which
-the Provost's speech came to an end, and Bulldog
-rose to keep order).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>One by one the prize-winners were called up from
-the side of their fond parents, and if they were liked
-and had won their prizes with the goodwill of their
-fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was
-heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day,
-and loud above it sounded the voice of Speug, who,
-though he had never received a prize in his life, and
-never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc
-Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the
-half-back of the fifteen, showed that he had a head
-as well as hands. When a prig got too many prizes
-there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last
-a loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from
-Speug relieved the feelings of the delighted school,
-and the unpopular prize-winner left the platform
-amid the chorus of the farmyard—cows, sheep,
-horses, dogs, cats and a triumphant ass all uniting
-to do him honour. It was their day, and Bulldog
-gave them their rights, provided they did not continue
-too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog
-had the same judgment as themselves.</p>
-
-<p>To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering
-and thirsting for the declaration of the
-Count's prize, because there never had been such a
-competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was
-one of our characters. When he came forward, wonderfully
-dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole and
-waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody
-in turn, from the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
-reception was monumental and was crowned by the
-stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having
-thanked the company for their reception, with his
-hand upon his heart, and having assured the charming
-mothers of his young friends of his (the
-Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself
-the slave of their sisters, and having expressed
-his profound reverence for the magistrates (at which
-several bailies tried to look as if they were only men,
-but failed), the Count approached the great moment
-of the day.</p>
-
-<p>The papers, he explained upon his honour, were
-all remarkable, and it had been impossible for him
-to sleep, because he could not tear himself away from
-the charming reflections of his young friends. (As
-the boys recognised this to be only a just compliment
-to their thoughtful disposition and literary genius,
-Bulldog had at last to arise and quell the storm.)
-There was one paper, however, which the Count
-compared to Mont Blanc, because it rose above all
-the others. It was "ravishing," the Count asserted,
-"superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius."
-The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful
-young women, it was all one poem. And as the
-whole hall waited, refusing to breathe, the Count enjoyed
-a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished
-poem—for it is not prose, it is poetry—I
-will read his motto." Then the Count read, "Faint
-Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
-Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your
-Excellency to open this envelope and to read the
-name to this distinguished audience." Before the
-Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope,
-Speug, who was in the secret of the motto,
-jumped up on his seat and, turning with his face to
-the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice
-through the stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux."
-And above the great shout that went up from the
-throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear,
-the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had
-guessed the winner without ever seeing the paper.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="MOOSSY" id="MOOSSY"></a>MOOSSY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">IX</h3>
-
-
-<p>If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
-mention of "Moossy," then it is no use his pleading
-the years which have passed and the great affairs
-which have filled his life; you know at once that he
-is an impostor and has never had the privilege of
-passing through Muirtown Seminary. Upon the
-genuine boy—fifty years old now, but green at heart—the
-word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it
-the worries of life and the years that have gone are
-forgotten, and the eyes light up and the face relaxes,
-and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair for
-the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life
-in the Seminary, with plain food and strenuous
-games; with well-worn and well-torn clothes; where
-little trouble was taken to give interest to your work,
-and little praise awarded when you did it well; where
-you were bullied by the stronger fellows without redress,
-and thrashed for very little reason; where
-there were also many coarsenesses which were sick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>ening
-at the time to any lad with a sense of decency,
-and which he is glad, if he can, to forget; but, at
-least, there was one oasis in the wilderness where
-there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and
-that was the "Department of Modern Languages,"
-over which Moossy was supposed to preside.</p>
-
-<p>Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now
-there is a graduate of the University of Paris and a
-fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown French,
-and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four
-swordcuts on his face to explain to Muirtown the
-mysteries of the German sentence. Indignant boys,
-who have heard appetising tales of the days which
-are gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental
-tongues as if they were serious languages like Latin
-and Greek, and are actually kept in if they have not
-done a French verb. They are required to write an
-account of their holidays in German, and are directed
-to enlarge their vocabulary by speaking in foreign
-tongues among themselves. Things have come to
-such a pass it is said—but I do not believe one word
-of this—that the modern Speug, before he pulls off
-the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and flings it into the
-lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be careful
-to say "<i>Erlauben Sie mir</i>," and that the modern
-Dowbiggin, before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and
-inquire with mild surprise, "<i>Was wollen Sie, mein
-Freund?</i>" and precocious lads will delight their
-parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
-daily bread in the language and accent of Paris, because
-for the moment they have forgotten English.
-It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake
-it, that Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining
-their necessary wants in any speech except
-their own as they were in the days of our fathers, and
-that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day,
-he would get his food at the buffet by making signs
-with his fingers, as his father had done before him
-and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also
-take care, as his fathers did, that he would not be
-cheated in his change nor be put upon by any
-"Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best
-with Seminary lads—and their kind elsewhere—but
-they will not find it easy to shape their
-unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded
-in the background of his mind that he belongs
-to an imperial race and is born to be a ruler,
-that every man will sooner or later have to speak
-his language, and that it is undignified to condescend
-to French. The Briton is pleased to know that foreign
-nations have some means of communication between
-themselves—as, indeed, the lower animals
-have, if you go into the matter; but since the Almighty
-has put an English (or Scots) tongue in his
-mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence
-not to use it. It is, however, an excellent thing to
-have the graduates, and the trim class-room, and the
-tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
-conversation classes—Speug at a conversation class!—and
-all the rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago—and
-Moossy!</p>
-
-<p>Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy
-was a nameless man, for although it must have been
-printed on the board in the vestibule of the school,
-which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can
-now hint at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest
-his surname. The name of the Count had been
-sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him,
-and which was the tribute of our respectful admiration,
-but "Moossy" was a term of good-humoured
-contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial
-town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but
-yet, with the instincts of a race of Chieftains and
-Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds between
-our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No
-doubt the Count was womanish in his dress, and had
-fantastic manners, but we knew he was a gallant gentleman,
-who was afraid of nobody and was always
-ready to serve his friends; he was <i>débonnaire</i>, and
-counted himself the equal of anyone in Muirtown,
-but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
-a little man, to begin with, and had made himself
-small by stooping till his head had sunk upon his
-chest and his shoulders had risen to his ears; his hair
-fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his ill-dressed
-beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and
-face showed only the slightest acquaintance with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
-soap and water, and although Speug was not always
-careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than
-once had been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to
-wash himself, yet Speug had a healthy contempt
-for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
-had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary,
-and the cloak which he wore on a winter day was a
-scandal to the town. His feet were large and flat,
-and his knees touched as the one passed the other,
-and the Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight
-of him shambling across the North Meadow. He
-looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
-dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and
-flung him in our faces. The Rector was also careless
-of his dress, and mooned along the road, but then
-everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and
-that if you woke him from his meditation he would
-answer you in Greek; but even Speug understood
-that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted
-about through Muirtown, and filtered down to the
-boys, that he was a bankrupt tradesman who had
-fled from some little German town and landed in
-Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little
-English, and a little French, as German tradesmen
-can, he had been appointed by an undiscriminating
-Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the
-Seminary. It is certain he had very little education
-and no confidence in himself, and so he was ever
-cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
-for these great men regarded themselves as beings
-bordering on the supernatural; and he was ever
-deferring and giving in to the boys, which was the
-maddest thing that any master could do, and only
-confirmed every boy in his judgment that Moossy
-was one of the most miserable of God's creatures.</p>
-
-<p>His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded
-as a pleasant relaxation after the labours of
-the day, and to escape from the government of Bulldog
-to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved,
-as we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a
-tender heart towards the wants and enjoyments of
-boys. It goes without saying that no work was done,
-for there were only half a dozen who had any desire
-to work, and they were not allowed, in justice to
-themselves and to their fellows, to waste the mercies
-which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion,
-Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but
-it failed in his hands the first time he tried to use it,
-which was not at all wonderful, as Jock Howieson,
-who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as
-an invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's
-cane with a horse-hair, so that it split into two at a
-stroke, and one piece flying back struck Moossy on
-the face.</p>
-
-<p>"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's
-plenty that Bulldog has a cane, without yon meeserable
-wretch"; and that was the last effort which
-Moossy made to exercise discipline.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the
-boys would behave and learn their verbs. For about
-ten minutes there was quietness, and then, at the
-sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form
-and working diligently upon a French translation,
-which he could do better than Moossy himself, Speug
-would make a signal to the form, and, leading off
-from the foot himself, the form would give one
-quick, unanimous, and masterful push, and Thomas
-John next instant was sitting on the floor; while if,
-by any possibility, they could land all his books on
-him as he lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle,
-the form was happy and called in their friends
-of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at the
-noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over
-and inquire the cause, that a boy so exemplary and
-diligent should be sitting on the floor with the
-remains of his work around him; and as Thomas
-John knew that it would be worth his life to tell the
-reason, Moossy and he pretended to regard it as one
-of the unavoidable accidents of life, and after
-Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the
-ink wiped off his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form
-to quietness and diligence. He knew what had happened,
-and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum
-if he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we
-all despised him for his cowardice. Had there been
-enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just as
-Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
-then as he sat in his seat, brazen and unashamed, we
-would all have respected Moossy, and no one more
-than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have
-had a new relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited
-man, in whom there was no fight, who held a post he
-was not fit for, and held it to get a poor living for
-himself and one who was dearer to him than his own
-life. So helpless was he, and so timid, that there
-were times when the boys grew weary of their teasing
-and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb
-in order to pass the time.</p>
-
-<p>When the spring was in their blood—for, like all
-young animals, they felt its stirring—then there
-were wonderful scenes in Moossy's class-room. He
-dared not stand in those days between two forms,
-with his face to the one and his back to the other,
-because of the elastic catapults and the sharp little
-paper bullets, which, in spite of his long hair, would
-always find out his ears; and if he turned round to
-face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked
-theirs, and between the two he was driven to the end
-of the room; and then, in his very presence, without
-a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle
-their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured
-German, Moossy prayed for peace. Times there
-were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting of the bullet
-Moossy said bad words, and although they were
-in German, the boys knew that it was swearing, and
-Speug's voice would be loudest in horror.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 600px; height: 389px;">
-<a name="i170" id="i170"></a><img src="images/i170.jpg" width="600" height="389" alt=""Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
-in the Seminary! If the Town Council gets word
-of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For masel',"
-Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly
-ashamed." And as that accomplished young gentleman
-had acquired in the stables a wealth of profanity
-which was the amazement of the school, his protest
-had all the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise
-for what he had said, and beseech the school
-neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they had
-heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be
-warning Thomas John that if he, Speug—censor of
-morals—caught him cursing and swearing like
-Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards
-bring him before the Lord Provost and magistrates.</p>
-
-<p>There was no end to the devices of the Seminary
-for enjoying themselves and tormenting Moossy;
-and had it not been for Nestie, who had some
-reserves of taste, the fun would have been much
-more curious. As it was, Moossy never knew when
-he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as if
-the class-room for modern languages were the chosen
-home for the reptiles of the district. One morning,
-when he opened his desk, a lively young Scots terrier
-puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly
-frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed.
-He had learned to open the door of his class-room
-cautiously, not knowing whether a German Diction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>ary
-might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his
-head. His ink-bottle would be curiously attached to
-his French Grammar, so that when he lifted the book
-the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink over
-his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to
-his coat. Boys going up to write on the blackboard,
-where they never wrote anything but nonsense,
-would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon
-the back of Moossy's coat as they returned; and if
-one after the other, adding to the work of art, could
-draw what was supposed to be a human face upon
-Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the
-hour. There were times when Moossy felt the hand
-even on the looseness of that foolish coat, and turned
-suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen
-impudence of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into
-the stolid and unintelligent expression of Howieson's
-face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one boy
-was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their
-books and pronouncing on a principal of their own,
-would do the verb with him and continue in a loud
-and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one
-by one, and then they were full of indignation at
-being hindered in their studies of the German language.</p>
-
-<p>Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest
-his own incompetence should be exposed and his
-bread be taken from him; and of this the boys,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
-with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly
-aware, and the torture might have gone on for years
-had it not been for the intervention of Bulldog and a
-certain incident. As the French class-room was
-above the mathematical, any special disturbance
-could be heard in the quietness below; and whatever
-else they did, the students of foreign languages were
-careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed,
-the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's
-room was the danger of Bulldog's arrival, who was
-engaged that hour with the little boys and had ample
-leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise
-above, and for want of occupation was itching to
-get at old friends like Howieson. There are times,
-however, when even a savage forgets himself, and
-one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room
-reached an historical height. It had been discovered
-that any dislike which Moossy may have had to a
-puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket,
-was nothing to the horror with which he regarded
-mice. As soon as it was known that Moossy would
-as soon have had a tiger in the French class-room as
-a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of
-foreign languages should take a new departure. One
-morning the boys came in with such punctuality, and
-settled to their work with such demure diligence,
-that even Moossy was suspicious and watched
-them anxiously. For ten minutes there was nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
-heard but the drone of the class mangling German
-sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in consternation,
-"A mouse!"</p>
-
-<p>"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?"
-and Moossy was much shaken.</p>
-
-<p>"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse
-was just disappearing under the desk; "and there's
-another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is fair swarming,
-and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your
-leg. Take care, man, for ony sake."</p>
-
-<p>"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go;
-I vill the desk ascend," and with the aid of a chair
-Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he entrenched
-himself against attack, believing that at
-that height he would be safe from "mices."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 427px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i174" id="i174"></a><img src="images/i174.jpg" width="427" height="600" alt=""The school fell over benches and over one another."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"The school fell over benches and over one another."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had
-burst upon the French class-room the scholars should
-meet the calamity like men, and asked Moossy's permission
-to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy
-and his pupils had one mind, and the school gave
-itself to its heart's content, and without a thought of
-consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more
-difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is
-doubled when no one wishes to catch it; and so the
-school fell over benches, and over one another, and
-jumped over the desks and scrambled under them,
-ever pretending to have caught a mouse, and really
-succeeding once in smothering an unfortunate animal
-beneath the weight of half a dozen boys. Thomas
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom
-by an accident in which Howieson took a leading
-part, and the German Dictionary intended for a
-mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which led
-to an encounter between that indignant youth and
-Bauldie, in which mice were forgotten. The blackboard
-was brought down with a crash, and a form
-was securely planted on its ruins. High above the
-babel Moossy could be heard crying encouragement,
-and demanding whether the "mices" had been
-caught, but nothing would induce him to come down
-from his fastness. When things were at their highest,
-and gay spirits like Speug were beginning to
-conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to
-a mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that
-he had mounted a desk, not to catch a mouse, but to
-give a cheer, and was standing there without collar
-or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all
-the trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered.
-And it was a beautiful tribute to the personality
-of that excellent man, that the whole room crystallised
-in an instant, and everyone remained motionless,
-frozen, as it were, in the act.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog looked round with that calm composure
-which sat so well upon him, taking in Moossy
-perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form,
-Speug sitting with easy dignity on the top of
-Thomas John, and half a dozen worthies still tied
-together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
-which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of
-ten seconds, "is evidently a verra divertin' subject
-of study, and I wonder that any pupil is left in the
-department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock,
-that ye needed to stand on a form before you could
-do your German, and I suppose that is the French
-class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude, but I'm
-pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I
-really am."</p>
-
-<p>"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor
-Moossy came down from his desk and began to
-explain. "My impression is that you are right, as
-far as I can judge—and I have some acquaintance
-with the circumstances. There are a considerable
-number of mices in this room, a good many more
-mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this
-morning. The mices I see were in my class-room
-this morning, and they were very quiet and peaceable
-mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after
-this, or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse
-me," and Bulldog embraced the whole scene in a
-comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign class-room
-and go down and see what my laddies are
-doing with their writing"; and when Bulldog closed
-the door Howieson realised that he owed his escape
-to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
-but that the joyful day in modern languages
-had come to an end. There would be no more
-"mices."</p>
-
-<p>Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were
-out for a ramble in the country, and turning into a
-lane where the hedgerows were breaking into green,
-and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes,
-they came upon a sight which made them pause so
-that they could only stand and look. Down the lane
-a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and
-broken thing which had seen its best days thirty
-years ago. In the chair a woman was sitting, or
-rather lying, very plainly but comfortably dressed,
-and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that
-she had suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding
-to the breath of spring. As they stood,
-the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked
-a handful of primroses and gave them to the woman;
-and as he bent over her, holding up the primroses
-before her eyes, and as they talked together, even
-the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He
-adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her
-position in the chair, and then went back to drag
-it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding track;
-and the boys stood and stared and looked at one
-another, for the man who was caring so gently for
-this invalid, and toiling so manfully with the lumbering
-chair, was Moossy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't
-like us to see him. I say, he ain't a bad sort—Moossy—after
-all. Bet you a bottle of g-ginger-beer
-that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."</p>
-
-<p>They were leaving the lane when they heard an
-exclamation, and going back they found that the
-miserable machine had slipped into the ditch and
-there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of
-recovery. With many an "Ach!" and other words,
-too, he was bewailing the situation and hanging over
-his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and
-trying if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the
-weight upon the lower side, while every minute the
-wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.</p>
-
-<p>"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless
-v-vagabond?" said Nestie to Speug. "Come along
-and give a hand to Moossy," who was so pleased to
-get some help in the lonely place that he forgot
-the revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the
-shafts, who had the strength of a man in his compact
-little body, and Moossy pulling on the other side,
-the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a
-torrent of gratitude from Moossy and his wife,
-partly in English, but mostly in German, but all quite
-plain to the boys, for gratitude is always understood
-in any language. They came bravely along the lane,
-Speug pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to
-make sure she had not been hurt, and Nestie plucking
-flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the lane,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
-while Moossy declared them to be "<i>Zwei herzliche
-Knaben</i>."</p>
-
-<p>When they came to the main road, Speug would
-not give up his work, but brought the carriage manfully
-to the little cottage, hidden in a garden, where
-Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in—she
-was so light that Moossy could lift her himself—she
-compelled the boys to come in, too, and Moossy
-made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange
-German cakes, which were not half bad, and to which
-they both did ample justice. Going home, Nestie
-looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie, and
-though no words passed it was understood that the
-days of the troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of
-Muirtown were ended.</p>
-
-<p>During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at
-the Seminary it would not be true to say that he
-became a good or useful master, for he had neither
-the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were
-always respectful and did their work, for they were
-very far removed from being angels; but Moossy did
-pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he suffered
-no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy
-was not left to be his own horse from day to day,
-but that the stronger varlets of the Seminary should
-take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach.
-Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from
-sentiment, and he gave it carefully to be understood
-that he only did the thing for a joke; but there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
-no question that more than once Jock brought
-Moossy's carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully
-along that lane and other lanes, and it is a fact
-that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came out with one
-of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was
-called, was driven far and wide about the country
-around Muirtown.</p>
-
-<p>"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist,
-Speug," said Nestie, "and I expect to hear that you
-are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug
-promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to
-be admitted would be Nestie, and that he would teach
-him manners.</p>
-
-<p>It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one
-died in Germany and left him a little money, so
-that he could give up the hopeless drudgery of the
-Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon
-the banks of the Rhine. His wife, who had been
-improving under Dr. Manley's care, began to brisk
-up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when
-one afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some
-dozen boys were there to see them off, and it was
-Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place her
-comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled
-their pocket-money—selling one or two treasures
-to swell the sum—that Moossy and his wife might
-go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love,
-and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her
-hands. They still called him Moossy, as they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
-done before, and he looked, to tell the truth, almost
-as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he
-was in great spirits and much touched by the kindness
-of his tormentors. As the English mail pulled
-out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the
-boys ran along the platform beside the carriage
-shaking hands with Moossy through the open window
-and passing in their gifts.</p>
-
-<p>"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable
-humour, but the last sight Moossy had of
-Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow
-and waving farewell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_LAST_RESOURCE" id="A_LAST_RESOURCE"></a>A LAST RESOURCE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">X</h3>
-
-
-<p>That the Rector should be ill and absent from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
-his classes from time to time was quite in the order
-of things, because he was a scholar and absent-minded
-to a degree—going to bed in the morning,
-and being got out of bed in rather less than time for
-his work; eating when it occurred to him, but preferring,
-on the whole, not to eat at all; wearing very
-much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he
-added a heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in
-the height of summer and going without it when
-there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for his
-scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school
-loved him; not because he edited a "Cæsar" and
-compiled a set of Latin exercises, for which perfectly
-unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated
-him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes
-past nine, and his form was able to jeer at Bulldog's
-boys as they hastened into their class-room with
-much discretion at one minute before the hour.
-Because he used to be so much taken up with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
-happy phrase in Horace that he would forget the
-presence of his class, and walk up and down before
-the fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes
-he was so hoarse that he could only communicate
-with the class by signs, which they unanimously
-misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be
-absent for a whole week, and his form was thrown
-in with another, with the result of much enjoyable
-friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He
-was respected and never was annoyed, not even by
-ruffians like Howieson, because everyone knew that
-the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with all
-his eccentric ways, and the <i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> had
-a leader every spring on the achievements of his
-scholars. Edinburgh professors who came to examine
-the school used to fill up their speeches on the
-prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector,
-supported by classical quotations, during which the
-boys cheered rapturously and the Rector looked as
-if he were going to be hung. He was one of the
-recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely
-referred to at municipal banquets by bailies whose
-hearts had grown merry within them drinking the
-Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration
-to the toast of "the Fair City" with the North
-Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River Tay and
-the County Gaol.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may
-have been his negligences of dress and occupation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
-in private life—and on this subject Nestie and Speug
-told fearful lies—he exhibited the most exasperating
-regularity in public, from his copper-plate handwriting
-to his speckless dress, but especially by an inhuman
-and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one
-with a heart within him and some regard to the comfort
-of his fellow creatures, especially boys, had any
-right to observe times and seasons with such exactness.
-During all our time, except on the one great
-occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be
-ill, not even with a cold; and it was said that he never
-had been for a day off duty, even in the generation
-before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce
-of superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease,
-and there was a feeling in the background of
-our minds that for any illness to have attacked Bulldog
-would have been an act of impertinence which he
-would have known how to deal with. It was firmly
-believed that for the last fifty years—and some said
-eighty, but that was poetry—Bulldog had entered his
-class-room every morning, except on Saturdays,
-Sundays, and holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to
-begin work at the stroke of nine. There was a
-pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there
-had been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind
-that the bridge had been drifted up, and no one could
-cross that morning from the other side. The boys
-from the south side of the town had brought news
-of the drift to the school, and the earlier arrivals,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
-who had come in hope of a snow-fight, were so
-mightily taken with the news that they hurried to
-the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift,
-and danced with joy at the thought that on the other
-side Bulldog was standing, for once helpless and dismayed.
-Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son,
-had shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog
-to come over, secure in the fact that he could not
-be seen across its height, and in the hope that Bulldog
-would not know his voice. When they were
-weary celebrating the event, and after a pleasant encounter
-with a hastily organised regiment of message
-boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the
-school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready
-for the midday fight with the "Pennies." For the
-pure joy of it they opened the door of the mathematical
-class-room, merely to see how it looked when
-Bulldog was not there, and found that estimable
-teacher at his desk, waiting to receive them with
-bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in
-Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others
-that he had climbed over it in the early morning,
-before Muirtown was awake; but it was found out
-afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison,
-the salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded
-river, that it took them an hour to reach the Muirtown
-side, and that they had both been nearly
-drowned in the adventure.</p>
-
-<p>"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
-a little late, but the roads are heavy this morning.
-Come to the fire and warm yir hands before ye begin
-yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and
-Mr. McGuffie senior used to tell his son with much
-relish that their hands were warmed. The school
-was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog
-would be prepared to swim the river rather than
-miss a day in the mathematical class-room.</p>
-
-<p>It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble"
-season had just begun, when Howieson, after a
-vicious and well-directed stroke which won him three
-"brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had
-seen Bulldog go in; for, notwithstanding the years
-which came and went, his passing in was always an
-occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not
-been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that
-he had not arrived; and even when the school
-trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's desk
-empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to
-take advantage of the circumstances. No one knew
-where he might be lying in wait, and from what
-quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful
-with what docility the boys began to work
-under the mild and beneficent reign of Mr. Byles,
-who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins
-in the unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon
-wore on there was certainly some curiosity, and Nestie
-was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts; but
-it was understood to be a point of honour with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
-Nestie, as a member of his household, to give no information
-about Bulldog's movements, and so the
-school were none the wiser. There was some wild
-talk during the hour, and a dozen stories were afloat
-by afternoon. Next morning it was boldly said that
-Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what
-truth was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged
-Nestie to deny the slander. That ingenious
-young gentleman replied vaguely but politely, and
-veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant
-detail that the school went in for the second day to
-the class-room rejoicing with trembling, and not at
-all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a carriage
-and pair, possibly with a large comforter round
-his throat, but otherwise full of spirits and perfectly
-fit for duty. It was only after the twelve o'clock
-break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie
-that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence,
-and felt like the Children of Israel on the
-other bank of the Red Sea. Some were for celebrating
-their independence in the North Meadow and
-treating Mr. Byles with absolute contempt; but
-there were others who judged with some acuteness
-that they could have the North Meadow any day, but
-they might never again have a full hour in the mathematical
-class-room without Bulldog. There seemed
-a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid the
-scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical
-class went in to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
-high spirits and without one missing. It is true that
-the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some reluctance
-in attending to their studies, but it was
-pointed out to them in a very firm and persuasive
-way by Speug that it would be disgraceful for them
-to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class
-could not allow such an act of treachery. Speug was
-so full of honest feeling that he saw Thomas John
-safely within the door, and, since he threatened an
-unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold
-from behind. There is no perfectly full and accurate
-account extant of what took place between twelve
-and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but
-what may be called contributions to history oozed
-out and were gratefully welcomed by the school. It
-was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr. Byles
-to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle
-drew a fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and
-being much encouraged by the applause of the class,
-and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a pipe
-into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked
-one of Mr. Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then
-went to his seat with a sense of modest worth. That
-Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic appreciation,
-resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and,
-moved by a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it
-from the board; but the senior members of the class
-would on no account allow any work by a young
-but promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
-struggle in wiping Mr. Byles's own face with the
-chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of entering
-into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went
-to Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug,
-seizing the opportunity so pleasantly afforded, locked
-Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and so kept
-him out of any further mischief for the rest of the
-hour. That as Mr. Byles had been deposed from
-office on account of his incapacity, and the place of
-mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was
-unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address,
-from Bulldog's desk, replete with popular
-humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to be
-giving such attention to his studies as might have
-been expected, Speug ordered that he be brought up
-for punishment, which was promptly done by
-Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of
-Thomas John's iniquitous career, Speug gave him
-the tawse with much faithfulness, Bauldie seeing
-that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming
-fashion; then that unhappy young gentleman was
-sent to his seat with a warning from Speug that this
-must never occur again. That Nestie, having stealthily
-left the room, gave such an accurate imitation
-of Bulldog's voice in the passage—"Pack of little
-fiddlers taking advantage of my absence; but I'll
-warm them"—that there was an instantaneous rush
-for the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie
-appeared, the mathematical class-room was as quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
-as pussy, and Speug was ostentatiously working at
-a mathematical problem. There are men living
-who look back on that day with modest, thankful
-hearts, finding in its remembrance a solace in old age
-for the cares of life; and the scene on which they
-dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been
-whitened for his abominable trick, standing on the
-top of Bulldog's desk, and singing a school song with
-the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy,
-while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled
-Dowbiggin to join in the chorus, and Byles could be
-heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how soon
-we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet
-innocence of our first years! how poor are the
-rewards of ambition compared with the simple pleasures
-of childhood!</p>
-
-<p>It could not be expected that we should ever have
-another day as good again, but everyone had a firm
-confidence in the originality of Speug when it was a
-question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round
-the Russian guns next morning—for, as I have said,
-the guns were our forum and place of public address—and,
-while affecting an attitude of studied indifference,
-we waited with desire to hear the plan of
-campaign from our leader's lips. But Speug, like all
-great generals, was full of surprises, and that morning
-he was silent and unapproachable. Various suggestions
-were made for brightening the mathematical
-labours and cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
-Howieson, weary of their futility, proposed that the
-whole class should go up to the top of the North
-Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug
-broke silence.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh
-may go with ye, and if he's drowned it'll be no loss,
-nor, for that matter, if the half of ye are carried
-down the river. For myself, I'm going to the
-mathematical class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles
-I'll fight him in the back yard in the dinner-hour for
-half a dozen stone-gingers."</p>
-
-<p>"Is there onything wrang with your head,
-Speug?" For the thought of Peter busy with a triangle
-under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr.
-Byles could only be explained in one way.</p>
-
-<p>"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists,
-either. The fact is——" And then Speug hesitated,
-realising amid his many excellences a certain
-deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie,
-what are ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and
-tell them aboot—what ye told me this meenut." And
-the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit,
-on which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.</p>
-
-<p>"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it
-won't do to-t-to-day. Bully's very ill, and Doctor
-Manley is afraid that he may—d-die, and it would be
-beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog
-is—maybe——" And Nestie came down hurriedly
-from the gun and went behind the crowd, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
-Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive manner,
-all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself
-to be quite indifferent.</p>
-
-<p>Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be
-going hard with Bulldog; for there was not in broad
-Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul in his
-great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh,
-with half a dozen honours of Scotland, England,
-and France. He had an insight into cases that
-was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which
-nobody but his own chemist could make up, he had
-expedients of treatment that never occurred to any
-other man, and then he had a way with him that
-used to bring people up from the gates of death and
-fill despairing relatives with hope. His arrival in the
-sick room, a little man, with brusque, sharp, straightforward
-manner, seemed in itself to change the whole
-face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He
-would not hear that any disease was serious, but he
-treated it as if it were; he would not allow a gloomy
-face in a sick room, and his language to women who
-began to whimper, when he got them outside the
-room, was such as tom cats would be ashamed of;
-and he regarded the idea of any person below eighty
-dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence.
-All over Perthshire country doctors in their
-hours of anxiety and perplexity sent for Manley; and
-when two men like William McClure and John
-Manley took a job in hand together, Death might as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
-well leave and go to another case, for he would not
-have a look in with those champions in the doorway.
-English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for
-the Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and
-then would go up to London and swear in the clubs
-that there was a man down there in a country town
-of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End
-swell doctors put together. He would not allow big
-names of diseases to be used in his hearing, believing
-that the shadow killed more people than the reality,
-and fighting with all his might against the melancholy
-delight that Scots people have in serious sickness
-and other dreary dispensations. When Manley
-returned one autumn from a week's holiday and
-found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning
-in the streets over their minister, because he was
-dying of diphtheria, and his young wife asking grace
-to give her husband up if it were the will of God,
-Manley went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation,
-declaring that to call a sore throat diphtheria
-was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a mere
-mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for
-a judgment." It happened, however, that his treatment
-was exactly the same as that for diphtheria,
-and although he remarked that he didn't know
-whether it was necessary for him to come back again
-for such an ordinary case, he did drop in by a series
-of accidents twice a day for more than a week; and
-although no one dared to whisper it in his presence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
-there are people who think to this day that the minister
-had diphtheria. As Manley, however, insisted
-that it was nothing but a sore throat, the minister
-felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation
-would have thanked Manley in a body had it not been
-that he would have laughed aloud. Many a boy remembered
-the day when he had been ill and sweating
-with terror lest he should die—although he wouldn't
-have said that to any living creature—and Manley
-had come in like a breeze of fresh air, and declared
-that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog,"
-with nothing wrong about him, except the desire to
-escape for three days from Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the
-most mischievous little rascal, except Peter McGuffie,
-in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll give you
-three days in bed, and your mother will let you have
-something nice to eat, and then out you go and back
-to the Seminary," and going out of the door Manley
-would turn round and shake his fist at the bed, "just
-a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before
-the boy was out of bed, but he was never afraid
-again, and had some heart to fight his disease.</p>
-
-<p>Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that,
-if Manley had allowed death to be even mentioned
-in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than likely
-that they would never see the master of the mathematical
-department again. And boys are a perfect
-absurdity, for—as sure as death—they were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
-glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost all,
-with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of
-them he had thrashed many times; he had never
-petted any of them, and never more than six times,
-perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But
-that morning, as they stood silent, awkward and
-angry, round the guns, there is no doubt about it,
-the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to
-see his erect figure and stern face come across the
-North Meadow, never to hear him say again from
-the desk, "Attention to your work, you little fiddlers";
-never to watch him promenading down between the
-benches, overseeing each boy's task and stimulating
-the negligent on some tender part of their bodies;
-never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought
-of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and
-Speug, resenting what he judged the impertinent
-spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his head, and
-"learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody
-knows, boys have no sentiment and no feeling, so the
-collapse of that morning must be set down to pure
-cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles
-ruled over them without resistance, and might have
-thrashed them if he had so pleased and had not
-ventured to use Bulldog's cane.</p>
-
-<p>Had they not been boys, they would have called at
-Bulldog's to learn how he was. Being boys, they
-avoided his name and pretended they were indiffer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>ent;
-but when they met Manley on the bridge that
-afternoon, and judged he had come from Bulldog's,
-they studied his face with the skill of wild animals,
-and concluded each one for himself that things were
-going badly with the master. They picked up every
-scrap of information from their fathers in the evening,
-although they fiercely resented the suggestion of
-their mothers that they would be concerned about
-"Mr. MacKinnon's illness"—as if they cared
-whether a master were ill or well, as if it were not
-better for them that he should be ill, especially such
-an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother
-was very much disappointed by this lack of feeling,
-and said to her husband at night that she had expected
-better things from Archibald; but if she had
-gone suddenly into Bauldie's room—for that was his
-real name, Archibald being only the thing given in
-baptism—she would have found that truculent
-worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with
-the blankets, lest his elder brother, who slept in the
-same room, should hear him. You have no reason
-to believe me, and his mother would not have believed
-me, but—as sure as death—Bauldie was crying
-because Bulldog was sick unto death.</p>
-
-<p>Next morning Speug and a couple of friends
-happened by the merest accident to be loitering at
-Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and examining
-with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
-very time when that worthy magistrate came out and
-questioned Dr. Manley "How things were going up-bye
-wi' the maister?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the
-case; it looks bad, very bad indeed, and I'm not a
-croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a strong man,
-not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but
-he has lost interest in things, and isn't making an
-effort to get better; just lying quiet and looking at
-you—says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get him
-waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."</p>
-
-<p>"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment
-at the thought of Bulldog dying, as it were, of
-gentleness.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way
-with those strong, healthy men, who have never
-known a day's sickness till they are old; they break
-up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog
-didn't thrash you and me, else we would have been
-better men; but he has attended to our boys."</p>
-
-<p>"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie
-shook his head, sadly mourning over a man who had
-laid down his life in discharge of discipline. But the
-boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened
-the strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a
-heap upon the street, whereat there was a brisk interchange
-of ideas, and then the company went on its
-way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.</p>
-
-<p>Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
-that was the reason that Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered,
-taking offence if anyone looked at him,
-and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing
-during the dinner-hour. It was supposed
-that he had broken bounds and gone to Woody
-Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and
-that while the class was wasting its time with Byles,
-Peter was playing the Red Indian. He did not deny
-the charge next day, and took an hour's detention in
-the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time
-he was supposed to be stalking Indians behind the
-trees, and shooting them as they floated down the
-river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his
-father's stable, hidden from sight, and—as sure as
-death—Speug was trying to pray for Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of
-the natural man, and Mr. McGuffie junior had never
-been present at any form of family prayers, nor had
-he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under
-any minister in particular. He had no training in
-devotional exercises, although he had enjoyed an
-elaborate education in profanity under his father and
-the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely
-his own.</p>
-
-<p>"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say
-Ye hear onybody. I'm Peter McGuffie, but mebbe
-Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good
-laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but
-I'm awful fond of Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
-God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff this time
-I'll never say any bad words again—as sure as death—and
-I'll never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's
-face, and I'll never steal birds' eggs, and I'll
-never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash my face
-and—my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule,
-and I'll do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let
-off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>When Dr. Manley came out from the master's
-garden door that evening he stumbled upon Speug,
-who was looking very miserable, but began to whistle
-violently the moment he was detected, and denied
-that he had come to ask for news.</p>
-
-<p>"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell
-me lies, for I know you, Speug, and your father
-before you. I wish I'd good news to give you, but
-I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing
-from Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the
-road and thrust his hands deep into his pockets;
-then the corners of his mouth began to twitch, and
-turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while
-his tough little body that had stood many a fight
-shook all over. Doctor Manley was the first person
-that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him
-to protect him from the gaze of any wandering message
-boys who might come along the lane. By and
-by Speug began to speak between his sobs.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
-I dinna like to let on.... I heard ye say that ye
-couldna rouse Bulldog to take an interest in onything,
-and I thought o' something."</p>
-
-<p>"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his
-hands on the boy's shoulder and encouraged him to
-proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust me."</p>
-
-<p>"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a
-lickin'; if he juist had a cane in his hands and a
-laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be himsel'
-again, and—there's no a laddie in schule he's licked
-as often as me. And I cam up——" and Speug
-stuck.</p>
-
-<p>"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean.
-You've mentioned the medicine; 'pon my word, I
-believe it's just the very thing that will do the trick.
-Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what
-I was seeking after, and I've been doctoring those
-Muirtown sinners for more than thirty years. Come
-along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and we'll
-go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug
-through the garden and into the house. "Wait a
-minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll come back
-to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs
-and found his friend in the lobby, confused
-and frightened for the first time in his life, and Nestie
-saw the marks of distress upon his face. "Doctor
-M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm
-round his neck) "you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown.
-It's awfully d-decent of you, and it'll p-please<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
-Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as
-consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought
-him forward to the bedside, and at last he had
-courage to look, and it took him all his time to play
-the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so
-gentle, with his face almost as white as the pillow,
-and his hands upon the bedclothes wasted like to the
-hands of a skeleton. The master smiled faintly, and
-seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars,
-but he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in
-the background and allowed the boys to manage their
-own business, being the wisest of men as well as the
-kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug
-and gave him every encouragement, Peter could not
-find a word, but stood helpless, biting his lip and
-looking the very picture of abject misery.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 383px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i202" id="i202"></a><img src="images/i202.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt=""His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you.
-He is very sorry that you are ill, and so are all the
-boys. Peter thought you might be wearying to—to
-use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
-little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid
-an old cane he had hunted up, a cane retired from
-service, upon the bed within reach of Bulldog's hand.
-A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye,
-the first expression of interest he had shown during
-his illness. He turned his head and looked at Peter,
-the figure of chastened mischief. The remembrance
-of the past—the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
-with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>scratching of the pens, came up to him, and his soul
-was stirred within him. His hand closed again upon
-the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw
-open upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one
-little stroke with all the strength he had. "The
-fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers can't do
-without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye
-and overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek.
-Manley hurried the boys out of the room, who went
-into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
-dog, the three together played every monkey trick
-they knew, while upstairs in the sick-room Manley
-declared that Bulldog had turned the corner and
-would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."</p>
-
-<p>The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to
-his native stable-yard, for this was only proper
-courtesy to a consulting physician. He called him
-"Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all
-the way, whereat Peter was so abashed that friends
-seeing him sitting in Manley's phaeton, with such an
-expression on his face, spread abroad the tale that
-the doctor was bringing him home with two broken
-legs as the result of riding a strange horse. The
-doctor bade him good-bye in the presence of his
-father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school
-on the news of Bulldog's convalescence, and next
-day stone-ginger was flowing like water down the
-throats of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_PLEASANT_SIN" id="A_PLEASANT_SIN"></a>A PLEASANT SIN</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XI</h3>
-
-
-<p>Captious people, such as ministers of religion and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
-old maids of the precise kind, considered that the
-Seminary were guilty of many sins and mentioned
-them freely; but those excellent people erred through
-lack of vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room,
-putting the Dowbiggins' clothes into a state
-of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the "Pennies,"
-having a stand-up fight between two well-matched
-champions, say, once a month, and "ragging"
-Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of evil,
-but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the
-high spirit of those who were active, and teaching
-the Christian grace of meekness to those who were
-passive. There was only one act which the Seminary
-knew it ought not to do, and which all the boys
-wanted to do, which they enjoyed very much in doing,
-and were quite willing to be punished for doing.
-The besetting sin of a school—a country school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>—which
-will remain its sin until the days of the millennium
-have fairly set in, was playing truant.</p>
-
-<p>This crime was equivalent to high treason in the
-State, and consisted in a boy absenting himself from
-school without the knowledge of his parents, and
-without the consent of his master, for a day or half
-of a day. The boy did not disappear because he was
-ill, for he was on such occasions outrageously well:
-nor because he was overburdened by work, for the
-truants always guarded themselves against brain
-fag; nor because he wanted to hang about the streets,
-or smoke in secret places. He was simply seized with
-the passion of the open air and of the country. To
-tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds'
-eggs and watching the ways of wild animals; to guddle
-for trout under the stones of some clear running
-mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on
-a summer day, or to join the haymakers on a farm,
-and do a full day's work, as long as lesson time and
-harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds,
-as if an animal had broken out from a menagerie;
-there was joy in thinking, as you lay beside your
-burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
-mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their
-sums, under Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home
-in the evening, tired, but satisfied, and passing the
-empty Seminary with defiance. There is no joy—I
-mean sin—but has its drawbacks, and there were
-clouds in the truant's sky. Country folk had their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
-own suspicions when they came on a couple of boys
-going at large on a working day, when the school
-was in session, as one might have a shrewd guess
-if he came upon two convicts in their professional
-dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
-there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who
-have escaped from a cage, unless it be a tigress looking
-for her dinner, and no one would have thought
-of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
-Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished
-him for his evil doings—as I shall tell.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say,
-as he came upon them sitting by the burnside eating
-bread and cheese and counting up their trout, "I'm
-judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now,
-or mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir
-health. Or is this the reward for doing yir work so
-well? Ye have all the appearance of scholars." And
-then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery
-and the confusion of the boys.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest
-mended, and ye mind where leears go to. But I'm
-thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk to
-wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries
-in the garden up by, just about ripe."</p>
-
-<p>So they all went up to the farm kitchen and
-had a glorious tuck in, and were afterwards turned
-loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
-watched them with keen delight and a remembrance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
-of past days. Whose place in heaven for such
-deeds of charity is already secure.</p>
-
-<p>The authorities at home were not so lenient, and
-the experienced truant was careful, when he could,
-to time his arrival home about five o'clock in the
-afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and
-one hour more of special confinement. According
-to the truant's code he was not allowed to tell a
-lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
-but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed
-statement of the truth. If his father charged him
-with being kept in at school for not having done his
-work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed
-it to go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy.
-When, however, a boy was by habit and
-repute a truant, his father learned by experience
-and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had
-an extra touch of the sun on his face, and his clothing
-was disorderly beyond usual, and his manner was
-especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please
-every person quite remarkable, and if in moments of
-unconsciousness he seemed to be chewing the cud of
-some recent pleasure, the father was apt to subject
-him to a searching cross-examination. And his
-mother had to beg the boy off with many a plea, such
-as mothers know how to use; and if the others did
-not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain,
-she could always send the good man back upon his
-memory, and put it to his conscience whether he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
-ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin the
-boy had inherited from himself.</p>
-
-<p>It was next morning that the truant really paid
-for his pleasure; and the price was sharp, for there
-was no caning to be compared with that which
-followed a day in the country. It was a point of
-honour that no boy should show distress; but even
-veterans bit their lips as the cane fell first on the
-right hand and then on the left, and right across the
-palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the
-hand, if the cane was young and flexible. Speug,
-though a man of war and able to endure anything,
-used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather
-was cold, before going in to the inquisition, and
-after he had received a switching of the first order
-he would go down to the lade and cool his hands in
-the running water. It was an interesting spectacle
-to see four able-bodied sinners, who yesterday
-had given themselves to the study of Nature, now
-kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our
-waters of Lethe; but you must remember that they
-made no moan before the boys, and no complaint
-against the master. The school received them with
-respect when they came out, and Speug would
-indicate with a wink and a jerk of his head that
-Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to
-be trifled with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered
-cub ventured to come too near when Peter
-was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
-Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to
-be looking where he had no business."</p>
-
-<p>Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some
-weak-hearted boys, but it never prevented any of the
-hardy ruffians from having their day out when the
-fever seized them. Playing truant was the same
-thing for a boy as bolting for a high-spirited horse;
-done once, the animal is bound to try it again, and to
-both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
-much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead
-and then go astray in cold blood, because this sin was
-not an act of malice aforethought—it was a sudden
-impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the
-blood. Had one determined on Tuesday night to
-take Wednesday, it might have turned out in our
-fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as
-soon be playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in
-the dinner-hour, or, for that matter, amusing himself
-in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the morning
-ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
-water—arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day,
-and planning how to escape a lesson he had not prepared;
-but he was helpless against Nature if she set
-herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose
-outside the door than the summer air, sweet and
-fresh, began to play upon his face and reminded him
-of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
-of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that
-morning in the sunshine, brought up a pool where a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
-fat trout was sure to be lying. As he crossed the
-North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
-Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and
-flowers, and sent his blood a-tingling. The books upon
-his back grew woefully heavy, and the Seminary reminded
-him of the city gaol frowning out on the
-fields with its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered
-by the lade and saw the clear water running
-briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
-glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie
-Woods with their mysterious depths, and
-rising high above the houses on the other side of the
-river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The
-bell rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river
-is running through his heart, and the greenery is before
-his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs through
-the open window awakens the instinct of the wild
-animal in his breast and invites him to be free.
-Speug has a slate before him, but he is not pretending
-to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow,
-and sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make
-its bolt. He catches Howieson's eye and reads that
-Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal of Bauldie
-whether he prefers compound fractions to a
-swim, and Bauldie explains, also by signal, that,
-much as he loves fractions, he will be obliging that
-afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth
-would complete the party; and when Speug lifts his
-eyebrows with great dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>ell,
-three desks off, "Piggie," like the gallant spirit
-that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be
-found wanting. Not a word has been said, and no
-one will say "Truant" at any time, but at the next
-break the four separate themselves quietly and unobtrusively
-from their fellows, and by the time the last
-boy has gone through the door, they are scudding
-across the meadow to Speug's stable-yard, where
-they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
-more is needed than a hunch of bread and some
-fish-hooks; but as they ran Speug had dropped the
-word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
-was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the
-town, long and narrow, formed with a division of
-the river into its main current and a sluggish backwater.
-It was covered with dense brushwood, except
-where here and there a patch of green turf was
-left bare, and the island was indented with little bays
-where the river rippled on clean sand and gravel.
-It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself
-in it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and
-then you had to find your comrades by signal; and
-it had little tracks through it, and there was one
-place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to
-be a cave, and where certainly two boys could get
-out of sight if they lay very close together and did
-not mind being half smothered. When you went
-to Woody Island, and left the mainland, you were
-understood to blot out the Seminary and Muirtown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
-and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
-somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the
-possession of the children of the forest; the ashes
-of their fires could be seen any day there, and you
-could come upon their wigwams in one of the open
-spots. There was a place where they had massacred
-three trappers and taken their scalps, and in that
-cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian scout,
-lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth
-of his rifle peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned
-braves at bay for a whole day. It was a
-fairy world in which our Indian tales could be reproduced
-upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the
-heroes we had so often admired. The equipment for
-the day consisted of four tomahawks (three axes out
-of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
-which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols
-(one belonging to Speug and the other to Bauldie);
-a couple of toy rifles—not things for kids, mark you,
-but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
-caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage
-cloth from Peter's yard; and a kettle for boiling
-water—I mean cooking the game—which Jock
-Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy
-had to visit his home on pretence of returning for a
-book, and bring away the necessary articles of war
-and as much food as he could steal from the pantry;
-and then everything, axes included, and, if possible,
-the rifles had to be hidden away about their persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
-until the four, skulking by back lanes, and separating
-from one another, reached the top of the North
-Meadow, after which they went up the bank of the
-river, none daring to make them afraid. They were
-out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
-weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into
-an Indian trapper, and giving directions about how
-they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
-Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate
-whether they would have a chance of meeting with
-the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
-try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him,
-because, although they had not yet entered the Indian
-territory, the crafty foe might have scouts out on
-this side of the river, and in that case there was no
-hope of Woody Island. The Indians would be in
-ambush among the trees on the bank, and the four
-would be shot down as they crossed.</p>
-
-<p>Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's
-Indians, but a white man—a renegade—who, to his
-shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
-always ready to betray the trappers into their hands.
-This miscreant was a farmer on the mainland, who
-was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a determined
-objection to any boys, or other savages,
-except, as I have said, the Seminole tribe living on
-the island, and who used to threaten pains and penalties
-against anyone whom he caught on his land.
-One never knew when he might be about, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
-was absolutely necessary to reach the island without
-his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
-used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday
-dinner, and then creep along the bank of the
-river and ferry himself across with the other trappers
-in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to
-the other side of the island and kept there for the
-return voyage in the evening, so that the farmer was
-helpless to reach the island, and could only address
-the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from
-the bank, which was sent back to him in faithful
-echo. This forenoon the farmer happened to be
-hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite the
-island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure,
-for now the four had to drop down and crawl along
-through the thick grass by the river's edge, availing
-themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
-with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed
-so near the farmer that they could hear him speak
-and hear the click of the hoes as the people worked
-in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
-and looked through between the branches of a shrub,
-you could see him, and Bauldie actually covered him
-with his rifle. The unconscious farmer knew not
-that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon
-Bauldie's trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his
-chief, for he would dearly have loved to fire a cap,
-but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the trapper
-dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
-explained that the renegade had certainly deserved
-death, but that it was dangerous to fire with so many
-of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
-side of the river. By and by the farmer and his
-people had worked themselves to the other end of
-the field, and the trappers, having ascertained that
-there were no Indians watching them, prepared to
-cross. Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out
-suddenly and unadvisedly, for the farmer had
-chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
-mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances,
-for they would have stripped and swum across, and
-back again when they were tired of the other side,
-for every one of them could swim like an otter; but
-that day they were trappers, with arms, and food,
-and a tent, and powder which must be kept dry, to
-say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief consultation,
-and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot
-the farmer dead on the spot, and as many of his
-people as they could. Speug, who had been prowling
-around—though cautiously, mind you, and ever
-watching for a sign of the Seminoles—gave a low,
-mysterious whistle, which was one of the signs
-among the trappers; and when the others joined
-him he pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe."
-It was an ancient boat which the farmer's father had
-used, and which had lain for years upon the bank,
-unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking,
-it had two holes at least in it, and there were no oars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
-It was a thing which, in the farmer's hand, would
-have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had the
-semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy
-trappers. Very carefully did they work it to the
-bank, lest it should slip a whole plank on the road,
-and very gently did they drop it in, lest the Seminoles
-should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with
-his bonnet, and Bauldie the second with his; Jock
-spread his jacket over an oozy part. They shipped
-all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and
-the others, stripping off their clothes and adding
-them to the cargo of the boat, pushed out the boat
-before them, swimming by its side. It was a mere
-question of time whether the boat would go down in
-mid-channel; but so splendidly did "Piggie" bale,
-ready at any moment to swim for his life, and so
-powerfully did the others push, swimming with their
-feet and one hand, and with the other hand guiding
-the boat, that they brought it over safely to the other
-side; and the fact that half their clothes were wet
-through mattered little to men who had often hidden
-from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their
-eyes and nose out; and, at any rate, the food was
-safe. The matches and the percussion caps also were
-dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the
-worst emergency, they would have been carried on
-the top of his head if he also had been obliged to
-swim. They brought the boat into a little creek, and,
-communicating by signs to one another—for they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
-were too old hunters to be speaking now, when there
-might be a party of Seminoles in that very wood—Speug
-and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
-with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie"
-and Bauldie drew the boat up under cover of the
-bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that even a Seminole's
-keen eyes would not have been able to detect
-it. The trappers made another hiding-place, and left
-there the superfluous garments of civilisation, confining
-themselves to a shirt and trousers, and a belt
-which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and
-Jock, as the two veterans who could discover the
-trail of the Seminoles by a twisted leaf on a
-branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their
-friends to lie low, and they themselves disappeared
-into the brushwood. They had gone to scout, and to
-make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
-in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed
-three times, "Piggie" nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie
-hooted like an owl, then they knew that it was
-safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom
-they found on the edge of a clearing, leaning on their
-rifles in a picturesque attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie"
-led, and the others followed, pausing now and
-again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal
-from "Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each
-took up his position behind a tree. But it was a false
-alarm. Then they went on as before, till they came
-to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
-they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent,
-lighting a fire, which they did with immense success,
-and proceeding to cook dinner. As they
-had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any
-wandering Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild
-turkey, which, in other circumstances, would have
-been their food; but they made tea (very badly, and
-largely because they wished to use the kettle), and
-they had bread and butter, which had turned into oil
-through the warmth of Bauldie's person, a half ham
-which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for which
-"Piggie" will have to account some day, and
-six jam tarts which Howieson bought with his last
-farthing, and which had been reduced practically to
-one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles
-of stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued,
-and afforded them a big mouthful each, as they
-drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
-calculation of time.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 430px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i218" id="i218"></a><img src="images/i218.jpg" width="430" height="600" alt=""They drank without any cup."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They drank without any cup."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>What a day they had! They fought Indians from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
-one end of the island to the other, killing and scalping
-twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter current
-on the other side, and they dried themselves in the
-sun, and in the sun they slept till they were
-burned red; and then just as they were thinking that
-it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
-their belongings and set off for home, Speug
-gave a whistle that had in it this time no pretence of
-danger, and bolted into the wood, followed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
-the other three. Whether he had heard the firing,
-or the Seminoles had sent a message, they never
-knew, but the farmer was on the island and proceeding
-in their direction through the brushwood. Speug
-did not think that he had seen them, and he would
-not quite know where they were, and in an instant
-that leader of men had formed what he thought the
-best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the
-other three, who executed a war-dance at the mere
-thought of the strategy, and then departed hurriedly
-for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
-ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction,
-and just gave the farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried
-up the island.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait
-till I catch ye; trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be
-bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be in the nicht, or I'm no
-farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please, but
-I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back
-in, for I've found that, clever as ye thought yourselves,
-and knocked the bottom oot o' it."</p>
-
-<p>It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug,
-and then Speug was standing on the edge of the
-water at the top of the island, where the current runs
-swift and strong towards the other side.</p>
-
-<p>"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red
-all over, but not with modesty. "I thought I heard
-somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
-island. Have ye come to bathe?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little
-deevil, and, my word, I'll bathe ye," and the farmer
-made for Speug.</p>
-
-<p>"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy
-almost had his hands on him, and dived into the
-river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified man;
-and then, as he went down with the current which
-took him over to the opposite side, he invited the
-farmer to come in. When he landed Speug bade
-the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped
-he would enjoy himself among his Indian friends.</p>
-
-<p>"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll
-be after ye, and though I ransack Muirtown I'll find
-ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle to go back to the
-town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be,"
-and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat,
-which he had loosely fastened to one of the trees.
-When he reached the spot it was not to be found,
-but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed
-place on the other side, chained and padlocked. For
-the other three trappers had gathered all their
-possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen,
-and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves
-across with rapidity and dignity. Once more
-Speug bade the farmer good-night, extending both
-hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was
-in front of the other, and the thumb of the inner
-hand attached to Speug's nose. He thoughtfully
-offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
-the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed,
-wishing him a pleasant night and telling him where
-he would find the shank of a ham. As Peter dressed
-himself, his friends could only look at him in silent
-admiration, till at the thought of the renegade
-trapped so neatly and confined for at least a night
-on his own island, Howieson slapped his legs and
-triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown
-and to civilisation full of joy.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="GUERILLA_WARFARE" id="GUERILLA_WARFARE"></a>GUERILLA WARFARE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XII</h3>
-
-
-<p>There is no person in a Scots country town to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
-be compared with a Bailie for authority and
-dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown,
-was a glory to his order. Provosts might come
-and go—creatures of three years—but this man remained
-in office for ever, and so towered above his
-brethren of the same kind, that the definite article
-was attached to his title, and to quote "the Bailie"
-without his name was the recognised form and an
-end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to
-him, and, entering into the designs of Providence,
-had given him a bodily appearance corresponding
-to his judicial position. He stood six feet in his
-boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression
-of six inches more. His waistband passed
-forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man justice,
-his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested
-in folds upon his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven,
-solemn, immovable countenance suggested
-unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice
-was deep and husky, and the clearance of his throat
-with which he emphasised his deliverances could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
-heard half a street away and was like the sealing of
-a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had
-he seen his boots—at least upon his feet—and his
-gait, as became his elevation, was a stately amble,
-as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea,
-driving the water before her bow and yet swaying
-gently from side to side in her progress. Sunday
-and Saturday—except when officiating at the Sacrament,
-and of course he was then in full blacks—the
-Bailie wore exactly the same kind of dress—a
-black frock-coat, close buttoned, and grey trousers,
-with a dark blue stock, his one concession to
-colour. As his position was quite assured, being,
-in the opinion of many, second only to that of the
-Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his
-clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two
-stains upon his paunch as a means of identification.
-Walking through the town, he stood at his full
-height, with his hands folded upon the third button
-of his coat; but when he reached the North
-Meadow, on his way home, and passed the Seminary,
-he allowed his head to droop, and clasped
-his hands behind after the manner of the great
-Napoleon, and then it was understood that the
-Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of
-State. People made way for him upon the streets
-as he sailed along, and were pleased with a recognition,
-which always took the form of a judgment
-from the Bench, even though it dealt only with the
-weather or the crops.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>There was no occasion, either in the Council or
-in the Presbytery, when the Bailie did not impress;
-but every one agreed that he rose to his height on
-the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of
-law, could be sprung on him, no sensational incident
-ever stirred him, no excitement of the people
-ever carried him away. He was the terror of the
-publicans, and would refuse a license if he saw fit
-without any fear; but if the teetotalers tried to dictate
-to him, he would turn upon them and rend his
-own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown
-sinner was convicted in his court he would preface
-his sentence with a ponderous exhortation, and if
-the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the
-accused to go as an act of grace, but warn him
-never to appear again, lest a worse thing should befall
-him. There are profane people in every community,
-and there were those in Muirtown who
-used to say in private places that the Bailie was
-only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but
-the local lawyers found it best to treat him with
-respect; and until the Seminary boys took his
-Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No
-doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported
-into a petty case to browbeat the local
-Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when
-that eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions
-to "the defunct," said that if he heard anything
-more about "the defunct" he would adjourn
-the case for a week, and allow him to appear in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
-own interests. Then the advocate explained with
-elaborate politeness that he was afraid that even the
-summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce
-this party, and that his appearance, if he came,
-might secure the court to himself.</p>
-
-<p>"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate
-with unmoved dignity, "that the man is dead.
-Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if you
-had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had
-your case better prepared, and not wasted our time
-with the talk of dead people. You are still young,
-and when you have had more experience you will
-know that it is only the evidence of living witnesses
-that can be received in a court of justice. Proceed
-with your case and confine yourself to relevant evidence—yes,
-sir, relevant evidence."</p>
-
-<p>It only shows the inherent greatness of the man,
-that in private life the Bailie followed the calling of
-an Italian warehouseman, which really, in plain
-words, was the same thing as a superior grocer,
-nor was he above his trade for eight hours of the
-day. When not engaged in official work, he could
-be found behind his counter, and yet even there he
-seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron
-he wore as a robe of office, he heard what the ladies
-had to say with a judicial air, correcting them if
-they hinted at any tea costing less than four and
-sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be
-brought forward for inspection, as if it had been a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
-prisoner in the dock, probing it with searching
-severity and giving a judgment upon it from
-which there was no appeal. He distinguished between
-customers, assigning to each such provisions
-as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring
-in a paternal manner after the welfare of their
-children, and when the case was concluded—that is
-to say, the tea and the sugar bought—even condescending
-to a certain high level of local gossip.
-When the customer left the shop it was with a
-sense of privilege, as if one had been called up for
-a little to sit with the judge. It was understood
-that only people of a certain standing were
-included among the Bailie's customers, and the
-sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his
-door marked out his province of business. Yet if
-a little lassie stumbled into the shop and asked for
-a pennyworth of peppermints, he would order her
-to be served, adding a peppermint or two more,
-and some good advice which sent away the little
-woman much impressed; for though the Bailie
-committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered
-terribly in consequence thereof, he was a
-good and honest man.</p>
-
-<p>The Bailie made only one public mistake in his
-life, but it was on the largest scale, and every one
-wondered that a man so sagacious should have deliberately
-entered into a feud with the boys of the
-Seminary. The Bailie had battled in turn with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
-Licensed Victuallers, who as a fighting body are
-not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom
-every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves
-alone; with the Tories, who were his opponents,
-and with the Liberals, his own party, when he happened
-to disagree with them; with the Town Council,
-whom he vanquished, and with the Salmon
-Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms; but
-all those battles were as nothing to a campaign
-with the boys. There is all the difference in the
-world between a war with regulars, conducted according
-to the rules of military science, and a series
-of guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are
-with the alert and light-armed enemy. Any personage
-who goes to war with boys is bound to be
-beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can
-hardly ever hurt them, and never possibly can conquer
-them; and they will buzz round him like
-wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him
-to shame before the public, will tease him on his
-most sensitive side, will lie in wait for him in unexpected
-places with an ingenuity and a perseverance
-and a mercilessness which are born of the Devil,
-who in such matters is the unfailing ally of all
-genuine boys.</p>
-
-<p>It was no doubt annoying to a person of the
-Bailie's dignity and orderliness to see the terrace
-in which the Seminary stood, and which had the
-honour of containing his residence, turned into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
-playground, and outrageous that Jock Howieson,
-playing rounders in front of a magistrate's residence,
-should send the ball crack through the plate-glass
-window of a magistrate's dining-room. It
-was fearsome conduct on the part of Jock, and
-even the ball itself should have known better; but
-the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did
-not intend to lose his ball and his game also, and
-the maddest thing the magistrate could do was to
-make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough
-to go to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint,
-but as he could not identify the culprit, and
-no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed
-worsted, and the address which he gave the boys
-was received with derision. When he turned from
-the boys to the master, he fared no better, for Bulldog
-who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect
-for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his
-(Bulldog's) jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of
-the Seminary, and that it was not his business to
-keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant,
-when the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys
-in the courtyard, forgot the respect due to a magistrate,
-and refused point-blank, besides adding a
-gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented,
-to let the matter drop, or else he'd repent
-the day when he interfered with the laddies.</p>
-
-<p>"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and
-I was through the Crimean War—ye can see my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
-medals; but it takes me all my time to keep the
-pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye
-meddle wi' them outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye,
-Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye afore they're done
-w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o'
-managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them.
-Noo, when they broke the glass in the Count's
-windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna
-identify them and paid the cost himself! He may
-be French, but he's long-headed, for him and the
-laddies are that friendly there's naething they
-woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o'
-mind, Bailie, and yir poseetion in Muirtown, dinna
-quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine laddies as
-laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born
-deevils."</p>
-
-<p>There is a foolish streak in every man, and the
-Bailie went on to his doom. As the authorities of
-the Seminary refused to do their duty—for which
-he would remember them in the Council when
-questions of salary and holidays came up—the
-Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own
-thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a
-magistrate; and one morning an able-bodied constable
-appeared on the scene and informed the
-amazed school that he was there to prevent them
-playing on the Terrace. No doubt he did his
-duty according to his light, but neither he nor six
-constables could have quelled the Seminary any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
-more than you can hold quicksilver in your hand.
-When he walked with stately step up and down the
-broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the
-Seminary went up and played opposite the Bailie's
-house, introducing his name into conversation, with
-opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of
-his person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally
-weaving the story of his life into a verse of poetry
-which was composed by Speug, but is not suitable
-for a book of family reading. If the constable,
-with the fear of the magistrate before his eyes, went
-up to stand as a guard of honour before the Bailie's
-house, the school went down then to the Russian guns
-and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the
-constable to come back to the Seminary, and telling
-him what they would do to him. They formed a
-bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out
-of reach, and marched along with him, backward
-and forward; other days they chaffed and teased him
-till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power
-to arrest them, and in his heart he sympathised
-with them. And then, at last, being weary of the
-constable, the school turned its attention to the
-Bailie.</p>
-
-<p>One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was
-held in the North Meadow, beyond the supervision
-of the constable, and after the Bailie had been
-called every name of abuse known to the Seminary,
-and Speug had ransacked the resources of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
-stable yard in profanity, he declared that the time
-had now come for active operation, and that the
-war must be carried into the enemy's country.
-Speug declared his conviction in the vernacular of
-the school, which is here translated into respectable
-language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful
-birth and discreditable pedigree, that his conduct
-as a boy was beyond description, and that his
-private life was stained with every vice; that his intellect
-would give him a right to be confined in the
-county asylum, and that he had also qualified by
-his way of living for the county gaol; that he didn't
-wash more than once a year, and that the smell of
-him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it
-was a pity he didn't attend to his own business, and
-that he had very little business to do; that he would
-soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't bankrupt
-already it was only because he cheated with his
-change; that he sanded his sugar, and that his
-weights and measures were a scandal; but that the
-Seminary must do what they could to lead him to
-honest ways and teach him industry, and that he
-(Speug) with the aid of one or two friends
-would do his best for the reformation of Bailie
-MacConachie, and in this way return good for evil,
-as Mr. Byles, assistant in the department of mathematics,
-used to teach. And the school waited with
-expectation for the missionary effort upon which
-Speug with the assistance of Howieson and Bauldie,
-was understood to be engaged.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Next Friday evening an art committee met in a
-stable-loft on the premises of Mr. McGuffie senior,
-and devoted their skill—which was greater than
-they ever showed in their work—to the elaboration
-of a high-class advertisement which was to be
-shown round a certain district in Muirtown, and
-which they hoped would stimulate the custom at
-Bailie MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided
-two large boards such as might be hung one
-on the breast and one on the back of a man, and
-those Speug had cut to the proper size and pasted
-over with thick white paper. Upon them Bauldie,
-who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently
-for a space of two hours, with the assistance
-and encouragement of his friends, and when
-they set the boards up against the wall the committee
-was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the
-advertisement with much unction—</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">Sale of Bankrupt Stock</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">at</span><br />
-BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br />
-<i>THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN</i>,<br />
-49, <span class="smcap">St. Andrew Street.</span><br />
-
-<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" />
-
-ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND.
-
-<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" />
-
-<i>Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday.</i><br />
-<span class="smcap">Glass of Whisky Free to all Purchasers.</span><br />
-<i>Poor People Specially Invited.</i><br />
-<i>Be early.</i> <i>Be early.</i><br />
-
-BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br />
-<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span></div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-
-<p>The three artists contained themselves till they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
-came to the last "Cheap Tea!" then Jock knocked
-Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell
-on the top of them, and they rolled in one
-bundle of delight, arising from time to time to
-study the advertisement and taste its humour.</p>
-
-<p>"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an
-Elder of the Kirk! That'll learn him to be complaining
-of his windows."</p>
-
-<p>"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself
-an Italian warehouseman. I would give half
-a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady Kilspindie there,"
-stammered Jock with delight.</p>
-
-<p>"'Glass of whisky free!'"—and Speug took a
-fresh turn in the hay—"it's against law to drink
-whisky in a grocer's shop—and him a magistrate!
-He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."</p>
-
-<p>"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My
-word! They'll be there, all the waufies of Muirtown;
-there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of
-whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his
-knuckles.</p>
-
-<p>Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was
-going along the Terrace to his house and congratulating
-himself that on that day at least he was free
-from all annoyance by the way, another character
-of Muirtown had started out through a very different
-part of the fair city. London John was as
-well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
-in his way was quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt,
-without an ounce of superfluous flesh, and with an
-inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat
-which he had worn for at least a quarter of a
-century, and a tall hat which he had rescued from
-an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of trousers,
-and something in the form of a shirt which was
-only seen when he laid aside the outer garment for
-active service, London John stalked with majesty
-through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his
-living as a sandwich man, or by carrying in coals,
-or by going errands, or by emptying ashpits. He
-could neither read nor write, but he remembered a
-number and never forgot what was due to him, and
-the solitary subject on which he spoke was the
-wonders of London, where it was supposed he had
-lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His
-coming was always welcome in the poorer parts of
-the town, for the sake of his discourse on London,
-but never had he received such an ovation before
-in the Vennel, which was largely inhabited by
-tramps and tinkers, unskilled labourers and casuals
-of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have
-aroused their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a
-free glass of whisky the deepest emotions of the
-Vennel were stirred.</p>
-
-<p>"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler
-Tam, who jogged round the country with petty
-wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
-old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a
-glass of whisky free! Ma certes? let me get a sight
-o' that," and London John was brought to a standstill
-while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a
-crowd who could appreciate the cheapness of the
-tea, and whose tongues began to hang out at the
-very thought of the whisky.</p>
-
-<p>"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at
-the suggestion of such deceit. "He daurna do sic
-a thing, else his shop would be gutted. Na, na, it
-reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny
-and ye get a pound of tea and a glass of
-whisky. I count it handsome o' the Bailie; and if
-they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how
-a man is abused."</p>
-
-<p>"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess
-Mitchell, who had had a difference of opinion with
-another lady in the Vennel and received the Bailie's
-best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to
-hear him preach a sermon as long as my leg besides—confound
-him for a smooth-tongued, psalm-singin',
-bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no
-grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm
-no mindin' so much about the tea. The sooner
-we're at the place the better, for I'll be bound
-there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown
-than a' the last year." And there was a general
-feeling that the Vennel had better make no delay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
-lest some other locality should obtain the first
-call.</p>
-
-<p>As London John went on his way the news
-spread through the back streets and closes, and the
-Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive ears.
-And if any person was inclined to doubt there was
-the advertisement in plain terms, and over the
-board with its engaging news the austere and unmoved
-countenance of London John. That
-worthy could give no information about the remarkable
-placard, not even from whom he received
-it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it
-through the Vennel and neighbouring streets for
-two hours, and that he had received a shilling for
-his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie
-MacConachie's when his task was done. He also
-explained that in London, where he used to reside,
-whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for the
-asking. But his hearers had no interest that day
-in London.</p>
-
-<p>It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday
-dinner, and long before he reached St. Andrew's
-Street, that something was happening, and he wondered
-whether they were changing the cavalry at
-the barracks. People looked curiously at him, and
-having made as though they would have spoken,
-passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned
-into the familiar street, down which he was accus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>tomed
-to parade with a double weight of dignity,
-an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper
-was out at his door, and would indeed have
-been along the street, had he not judged it wiser
-to protect his property, and the windows above the
-shop were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable
-place of business the street was crammed
-from side to side with a seething mob, through
-which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a
-dogcart with slender success and complaining
-loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
-were there, together with their husbands, having
-finished the day's work; country folk who dropped
-into town on the Saturday had been attracted
-to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come
-out from their dens and lodging-houses, together
-with that casual population which has nothing particular
-to do and is glad of any excitement. They
-were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability,
-but they were all collected in answer
-to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer; they were
-also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of
-them particularly ready for the whisky. The first
-to arrive on the scene had been Tinkler Tam, who
-put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
-upon the counter with a crash, and informed the
-Bailie's senior assistant that to save time he would
-just take the whisky while they were making up
-the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
-for an impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas,
-in the course of a varied life, was not unaccustomed
-to be called disrespectful names, and it was not the
-first time he had been requested to leave high class
-premises; but for once, at least, he had a perfectly
-good conscience and a strong ground of complaint.</p>
-
-<p>"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye
-meeserable, white-faced effeegy of a counter-jumper?
-If I werena present on business I would
-put such a face on you that yir mother wouldna
-know you; but I'm here wi' my friends" (great
-applause from the doorway, where the crowd was
-listening to the interview) "for a commercial
-transaction. Div ye no ken, ye misshapen object,
-that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
-sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation
-given under oath by Jess Mitchell), "and
-I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye two-faced,
-leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support
-from the street).</p>
-
-<p>The ambassador of the proletariat—whose constituency
-filled the outer part of the shop, pressed
-their faces against the window and swayed with impatience
-across the street, and also seized a lamp-post
-for purposes of observation—rehearsed the
-terms of the advertisement with considerable accuracy
-and expounded them with various figures of
-speech, and then issued his ultimatum.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a
-magistrate o' Perth, and a man whom I've met on
-public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before
-the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here
-in response to a public advertisement in terms
-thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call
-these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled
-my side of the covenant, and I here and now before
-these witnesses demand the tea and the whisky as
-above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were
-greatly impressed by this judicial effort, and were
-getting every minute more thirsty).</p>
-
-<p>"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no
-here himsel' to receive his friends; but what is done
-by the servant is done by the master—that's good
-law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who
-at the smell of the shop was getting beyond control);
-"and I give ye two meenuts, my dainty
-young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming
-at the end of that time, the law will allow us to
-help ourselves, and gin ye offer ony resistance I'll
-pit ye and yir neebour inside the sugar-cask." And
-it was fortunate for every person concerned that
-the police, who had been somewhat perplexed by
-the circumstances, arrived at the scene, and turned
-Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and
-themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at
-this point that the Bailie arrived and was received
-with frantic applause and a Babel of appeal.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 424px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i240" id="i240"></a><img src="images/i240.jpg" width="424" height="600" alt=""Before him stood London John bearing the
-seductive advertisement."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Before him stood London John bearing the
-seductive advertisement."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
-else yir shop will be wreckit. Where ha' ye been?
-The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye started
-on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie.
-He's coming to start the auction. Three cheers for
-Bailie MacConachie!" And the Bailie, limp and
-dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled
-through the crowd to see the Italian warehouse
-guarded by the police, and the mob of Muirtown
-clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while
-face to face with him stood London John, who had
-now been produced for the occasion, bearing on his
-back and breast the seductive advertisement.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost
-all self-control as he read the legend on the board.
-"A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately planned
-fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist—juist
-damnable! Bankrupt—who is bankrupt?
-Is't me?" And the veins on the Bailie's neck
-swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny!
-I never had such trash in my shop. Three shillings
-is the lowest, and I never recommended it.
-Whisky!—there is not a drop in the shop. Who
-dare say I would turn this shop into a public-house?
-I'll be at the bottom of this, though it cost
-me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry
-round the board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't
-tell the truth I'll commit ye to gaol this very
-meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
-his wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered
-by his own prominent position, and not at all
-concerned about the Bailie's threat.</p>
-
-<p>"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel,
-with great composure, "a big, stout man like yirsel',
-Bailie, that gied me the boards and a shillin';
-or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he
-was a little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the
-neck. Dod! I'm no very sure, though, but that
-it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's tartan
-plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a
-bit lassie wi' bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin'
-noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie, for she said to me,
-'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I
-would like to tell you about London." And if the
-police had not silenced London John, the Bailie
-at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy,
-for it was evident that the trail was blind and there
-was no getting to the real person behind London
-John.</p>
-
-<p>The crowd had listened with considerable patience
-and self-restraint to this conversation, but
-as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died
-away, and they realised that some one had fooled
-them, they looked out for a victim, and settled
-upon the Bailie.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler
-Tam, standing out from the midst of the crowd,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
-and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced the
-Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing
-tricks on the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin'
-them from their work to waste their time at your
-shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If
-it had been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie,
-I wouldna hev said much aboot it; but at your
-age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a trick, it's
-perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's
-hard labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be
-a Bailie o' Muirtown. It was fearsome to hear ye
-askin' London John who gave him the shillin'
-when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then
-the puir body, when ye threatened him, brought in
-the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and I'm
-naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make
-use of a poor natural that hasna his wits, juist to
-feed my vanity and gither a crowd round my shop."
-Then the crowd united in three long groans, and
-possibly might have shown their indignation in a
-still more pronounced form, but the police, being
-still further reinforced, drove them along the
-streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses
-of his shop.</p>
-
-<p>Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the
-shop with Howieson and Bauldie, and demanded a
-pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked
-to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
-there be as mony o' the Bailie's friends callin' at
-the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will no be
-able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace."
-And as a matter of fact the offensive patrol
-was withdrawn, and the Seminary resumed possession
-of the debatable ground.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH" id="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH"></a>THE FALL OF GOLIATH</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XIII</h3>
-
-
-<p>Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
-risked a war with the boys of the Seminary, and it
-was colossal folly on his part to continue the war
-after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement.
-No doubt it was humiliating to have his
-respectable place of business filled with the mob of
-Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and
-threatening him with penalties as a covenant-breaker
-when they did not get it; he had also very
-good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration
-which gathered the vagrants to his shop came
-from the Seminary. His best policy, however,
-would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and
-if the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and
-told the boys plainly that he knew quite well they
-were at the bottom of the affair, that they were a set
-of confounded young rascals, that he had intended
-to hang six of them and send the rest to penal servitude,
-that he was going to forgive them for the
-sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had
-not been half bad fun after all, that there would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
-no more policemen before the Seminary, and there
-must be no more windows smashed in his (the
-Bailie's) house—the Seminary, which always respected
-a fellow who took his licking with good
-humour and didn't squeal, would have given the
-Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public
-career, and a covenant of peace would have been
-made between him and the boys which would never
-have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass
-been broken by a Seminary ball, the value thereof
-in a packet of halfpence, with an expression of regret,
-would have been handed in before evening.
-The honorary freedom of the school would have
-been conferred on the Bailie, without any public
-ceremony, but with immense practical advantage,
-and although the Bailie was surfeited with civic
-honours, yet even he might have tasted a new
-pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the
-boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass
-in stately walk, and to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the
-Bailie's road," and to receive a salute from tailless
-Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside
-the school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley.
-If Providence had given a touch of imagination
-to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen
-by a position approaching that of the angels, he
-would have come to terms at once with the boys,
-in which case bygones would have been bygones,
-and he would have been spared much humiliation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to
-get the better of him, raging furiously in public
-places, and breathing forth threatenings about
-what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown,
-which otherwise might have pitied him, held its
-sides. He kept our single detective at work for a
-fortnight, who finally extracted from London John
-that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement
-had been given him by a man uncommonly
-like the detective himself and that
-the said "boardies" were not to be compared
-with those he used to carry in London. The
-detective also learned, on a somewhat risky
-visit to Mr. McGuffie's stables, that the Speug
-had spent the whole day of that historical Saturday
-till the hour of two—when he called for peppermints
-at the Bailie's shop—in cleaning out his
-rabbit-hutch and other domestic duties—this on
-the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's grooms,
-each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere,
-or fight the detective, with gloves or without
-gloves, in the stable-yard or any other place
-which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going
-from bad to worse, offered a reward of £5 for
-any information which would lead to the conviction
-of the offender, and received thirty letters—so
-many anonymous, attacking his character, public
-and private, and so many signed, from various
-cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>signed
-to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans,
-to the Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped
-outside the city. They were all annoying, but
-there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick.
-One was written from the security of Glasgow, in
-which the writer promised, on receipt of the reward,
-to send a full account of the conspiracy, and,
-having got the money, replied briefly that he left
-the matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the
-second, which asked for no reward except the
-writer's sense of having done his duty, and which
-hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight
-to his senior assistant, he might find he had been
-nourishing a viper in his bosom, and that a young
-man with such a smug appearance could be little
-else than a rascal. This letter, which was written
-in a schoolboy hand, and had five words misspelt,
-was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None
-of the letters seemed to help the matter forward,
-and life at the Bailie's residence was very troubled
-during those weeks.</p>
-
-<p>When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread
-through the Seminary, the boys were much pained,
-for it was sad to see an old man forgetting himself
-and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed,
-as if all they had done for the Bailie was
-simply love's labour lost, and that they must begin
-again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The
-Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
-of quiet, well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still,
-if war was forced upon them, and detectives set
-upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and
-their families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing
-could have been more successful than the last
-campaign; and, although Speug had never boasted,
-and none dared say that he had anything to do
-with it, there was a feeling in the Seminary that the
-conduct of the next campaign was safe in his hands.
-As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one
-ought not to detract from genius, but there can be
-no doubt that Fortune played into the hands of
-Speug.</p>
-
-<p>Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour,
-and the walk of the Bailie was marvellous to behold;
-but it was rather poor business for Speug to walk
-half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the
-Bailie in an exact imitation of the magistrate's
-manner, although the school was hugely delighted.
-If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had
-been on his side; but when he turned round and
-gave Speug a sound box on the side of the head, he
-lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a
-chain of consequences, arose the scandal which
-almost drove the Bailie from Muirtown. Speug
-could not have hoped for anything so good as that
-foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw
-his opportunity. Many a stroke had he endured
-in his day, from his father and from the grooms,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
-when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from
-Bulldog when he caught him red-handed, and from
-the boys in a fight, and there was no one of his age
-so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand
-been any other than that of Bailie MacConachie,
-Speug would have made derisive gestures and invited
-the second stroke. As it was, he staggered
-across the pavement and fell with a heavy thud
-upon the street, where, after one sharp, piercing
-cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans
-could be heard along the Terrace. His one hope
-was that, when he had seized the occasion with
-such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail
-to play up and support his <i>rôle</i>, and, although they
-were cleverer at reality than acting they entered
-heartily into their opportunity.</p>
-
-<p>"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson
-tenderly, as he stooped over the prostrate figure.
-"Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan like
-that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye
-gatherin' round like that for an keepin' away the
-air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some o' ye lift
-his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for
-ony's sake, and bring some water in yir bonnets."</p>
-
-<p>It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the
-unconscious form of their beloved friend, and carrying
-him carefully across the pavement, and placing
-Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and
-then rendering what would now be called first aid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
-to the wounded, while that ingenuous youth kept
-his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to
-show that he was still living. Never in his life had
-Providence given him a chance of playing so much
-mischief, and he was not going to be disobedient.
-They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air,
-they anxiously searched the side of his head for the
-wound, and washed away imaginary blood with
-very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his
-forehead with such profuseness that the water ran
-down his chest, whereat Speug expressed himself
-in low but stern tones, so Nestie advised them to
-stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys
-were only prevented from taking off his boots by a
-seasonable warning from Bauldie and a reasonable
-fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was reinforced
-by all the message-boys within sight, and
-several ladies who were coming home from the
-shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose railings
-Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress,
-came out—their hearts full of compassion and their
-hands of remedies. As Jock and Bauldie did
-not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at
-once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his
-head and the railings, while the other chafed his
-forehead with scent, and both insisted that Dr.
-Manley should be sent for at once. This was the
-first suggestion which seemed to have any effect on
-Peter, for it would not at all have suited his plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
-that that matter-of-fact physician should have arrived
-on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious
-smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose, Speug
-showed signs of returning consciousness.</p>
-
-<p>"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he
-wasn't killed. A blow behind the ear is often fatal.
-He's coming round nicely. The colour is returning
-to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you
-say?" as Jock Howieson unfolded to the ladies in
-simple, straightforward, truthful words the story
-of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any
-man would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At
-this moment Peter, who had been reconnoitring
-the whole scene through his half-closed eyes,
-seized the opportunity to wink to the mourners
-with such irresistible effect as to prove once again
-the close connection between tears and laughter.)
-"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic
-female. "He ought to be ashamed of himself;
-but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make
-the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his
-head."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 404px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i252" id="i252"></a><img src="images/i252.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt=""A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to
-the patient's nose."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to
-the patient's nose."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little
-weary of inaction, he was helped to his feet, and
-after one or two staggers seemed to come to himself,
-and submitted with agreeable humour to the
-attention of his friends, who dusted him from head
-to foot, under the superintendence of the ladies and
-to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>now entering into the meaning of the scene. His
-bonnet, which had been thoughtfully used as a
-water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his
-head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his
-head in Bauldie's handkerchief, partly because
-there was a limit even to his endurance, and because
-Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose
-in the course of the day. The maiden ladies
-were anxious that he should rest in their house, but
-Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home,
-where he could break the news himself to his
-anxious father. And so an impressive procession
-was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the
-way, and then Speug, upheld on the one hand by
-Nestie, and on the other by Jock, while Bauldie
-commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys
-at a distance, in order to secure due respect
-for the sufferer. It was with difficulty that Speug
-could sustain his <i>rôle</i> until he and his friends got
-safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when
-they plunged into a straw-shed and rolled together
-in one heap of triumphant mischief.</p>
-
-<p>"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it
-would be pure waste for you to be a h-horsedealer.
-You must go on the st-stage. The way you came
-whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and
-do you know, Peter, you looked quite nice when
-you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty
-boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an
-impident young brat. I heard every word, and she
-never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked round
-thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the
-water down my breast, I'd give him something to
-remember. I'm wet to the skin," and Speug made
-a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the
-leg, who pulled down Nestie by the hair of the
-head, and they all fought together in high glee.
-Speug extricated himself and demanded news of
-the Bailie. Then the three told Speug the story
-together in bits, one beginning where another
-left off.</p>
-
-<p>"He was that astonished when ye coupit over
-that he couldna speak, and Jock cried, 'The Bailie
-has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye up,
-but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to
-strike ye a second time." "It would have done
-you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking along to
-his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch
-out of him, and taking a look back to see what was
-h-happening." "Aye, and he stoppit opposite the
-lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty
-a cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna
-think Cosh had the spirit." "He was ashamed to
-stand at the w-window, but I saw him p-peeping out
-behind the curtains, just to find out whether you
-were living." "If his servant lass didna follow us
-across the meadow, and, my word, she's back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
-Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the now
-for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter."
-"What w-would you say, Peter, just
-to die altogether, and we would gi-give you an A1
-funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do
-it, I'll write your l-life myself. It's perfectly
-sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell on Nestie,
-and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced
-together once more in the straw.</p>
-
-<p>"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young
-gentlemen," and Mr. McGuffie's English groom
-looked down on the boys; "but you're missin' the
-Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has
-come 'isself, and if he ain't been hexplainin' to the
-master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug down.
-He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took
-up the runnin', and—my eye and Betty Martin—ain't
-he talkin'! Not cussin'—no, not one swear
-word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my
-Alfred David, if the master ain't preachin' for all
-the world as if he was a blessed beak on the Bench
-and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as
-good as a circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and
-in exactly one and a quarter seconds the boys were
-an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie
-senior gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie
-MacConachie, which he had been doing already for
-some time with much effect.</p>
-
-<p>"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
-street, walkin' as ye walk, and so ye knocked him
-down in open day? Why should he not be doing
-as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that
-nobody dare step the same way on the streets of
-Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies
-are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are;
-but I never heard yet that the street belonged to
-them, and that a laddie was in danger of death if
-he followed in their steps. That would be a fine
-pass. Aren't boys always imitatin' somebody?
-Why, you stupid old fool, half the laddies in this
-district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're
-standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each
-one with a straw in his mouth, and the bit legs of
-him straddled, and his bonnet on the side of his
-head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow,
-just the eemage of myself. What would ye think
-of me if I knockit one of them down, ye double-distilled
-old fool?</p>
-
-<p>"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased
-to think that the laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer,
-are trying to be magistrates. Didna the
-Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the
-prizes to 'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie,
-and try to be like him?' And now, when
-one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn
-round on the street and half kill him, till he had to
-be brought home half faintin' to his father's house!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
-Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye bloodthirsty
-old ruffian!</p>
-
-<p>"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made
-enough inquiries, by all accounts, on the Terrace.
-Expression of regret, was it? We don't want yir
-regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top?
-I wonder ye have the face! Ye break a laddie's
-head and then offer him a top! I can buy tops myself
-for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're
-standing there after manglin' a poor, defenceless,
-harmless, motherless laddie! Ye should be
-ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there
-was any public spirit in this town, ye would be
-drummed out o' the place!</p>
-
-<p>"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"—and Mr.
-McGuffie adopted a conciliatory tone—"the best of
-us will make mistakes, and ye've made a particularly
-big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie
-in the face of the public of Muirtown. Ye may
-bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's settle this
-matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye
-say ye're sorry, and ye don't want any noise made
-about it. Well, now, I've lived here man and boy
-for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell
-you I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any
-horse, ye needn't be afraid to buy that horse, and
-I'll deal with ye on the square.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
-ought to be pretty even as fighting men. Ye have
-the pull of me in height, but I would say that I am
-nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy
-weight, and I am a middle weight, but there isn't
-much in that. We could meet pretty level with
-the gloves.</p>
-
-<p>"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed
-here, and stripped and fought the matter of six
-rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no mischief
-done, and no bad blood left, and that would
-be the end of the matter.</p>
-
-<p>"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk.
-What do ye take me for? Do ye mean to say I'd
-split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that
-Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn
-with the gloves! Ye don't do me justice. Why,
-there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever
-hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect
-ye, and count ye an able-bodied man, which is
-more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal, Bailie?
-Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of
-myself, ought I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace
-to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown is pretty
-easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a
-prizefight, ye haverin' old body? But I see how
-the wind blows. If the other man stands a bare
-five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready,
-ye're mighty handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly
-old sneak? But when ye're offered the chance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
-facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace.
-My opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a
-mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to think ye're
-a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me,
-MacConachie, for I might lose control and send ye
-out of the stable-yard, with my foot followin'! My
-advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some of
-the grooms got hold of ye they would make an
-awful mess of ye—they're not just particularly fond
-of magistrates, and they've a great notion of Peter.</p>
-
-<p>"One word before we part, Bailie," and the
-Bailie took that word walking, "So far as I understand,
-ye might be arrested for assault, and I might
-prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just
-this once with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a
-Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an elder in the Kirk,
-and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all
-that, MacConachie, remember ye're just a man.
-Ye're swollen up and fozzy with pride and vanity,
-and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let
-loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider
-ye're just a man. Ye're wily and cunning and
-pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own way
-in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart,
-ye're just a man. Ye've sat on the Bench and laid
-down the law, and when ye wagged yir head everybody
-kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat
-they thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie,
-dinna forget it, ye're just a man. Ye needna<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
-hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway
-of the stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the
-street with exhortations. "I've said all I wanted
-to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've fought
-with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans,
-ye've fought with this body and with that
-body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought ye
-were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled
-with the laddies, and they've licket ye once,
-Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie, and if ye
-dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll
-be the end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."</p>
-
-<p>When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard
-he called for his son, and passed a careful hand over
-Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug was
-a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that
-there lay before him a long and useful life.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE" id="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE"></a>THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XIV</h3>
-
-
-<p>Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
-high principle and domestic habits used to go
-home in the dinner-hour and take the meal with
-their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity
-of repairing the rents made in their clothes since
-morning, and giving them good advice on their behaviour.
-Thoroughly good boys, who had been
-tossed to and fro, much against their will, in the
-tempest of morning play, were glad to go into harbour
-and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled,
-but also re-fitted and re-painted for the
-troubled voyage of the afternoon; and boys not so
-entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other models
-of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because,
-although there might be an embarrassing
-review of garments, and awkward questions might
-be asked about a mark on the face, there was always
-a toothsome dainty for a growing laddie,
-weary with intellectual work and the toils of a
-snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
-took Mr. McGuffie senior in various directions,
-and as in no case were the arrangements of his
-house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely
-regular character, there was no meal to which his
-promising son—Speug—could return with any
-confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a
-practice of going home at one o'clock, unless there
-was a special event at the stables, such as the arrival
-of a new horse, in which case he invited a few
-friends to an inspection, with light refreshments;
-or unless, having racked his brain to the utmost for
-four hours, he was still in sheer despair of mischief.
-With one or two other young friends of a like
-mind, he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour
-in what might be called extramural studies—rowing
-over to the island below the bridge against the
-tide and coming back gloriously with the current;
-assisting the salmon-fishers to draw their nets and
-gather the silver spoil; in the happy snow-time
-raiding the playground of a rival school when the
-boys were away, and leaving insulting remarks
-wrought in snow; or attending the drill of
-the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other
-guerillas, he carried his biltong and mealies with
-him, and took his meal anywhere and by preference
-when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason
-why Speug in after years made one of the best
-of South African fighters.</p>
-
-<p>When Speug was disinclined for active occupa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>tion,
-and desired to improve his mind by contact
-with the greater world, he took a cab, or hotel 'bus
-(the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at
-Speug's disposal, and his edifying conversation was
-much enjoyed by the driver), and went to spend his
-hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody
-knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be
-classed with Niagara or the Jungfrau for interest,
-and at any time is worth seeing. It pleased Speug,
-whose interests were varied and human rather than
-classical and literary, to receive the English express,
-or even one from Edinburgh, as it swept into
-the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast train fairly
-off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary
-to give understanding assistance; and to pass
-the time of day with the guards, ticket-collectors,
-and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would allow
-him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage,
-with its pigeon-holes and its ingenious
-apparatus for delivering letters at roadside stations
-while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour
-of what might be called irregular study, but one
-never knows what he may pick up if he only keeps
-his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as open
-as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown
-railway station that Peter found the opportunity for
-what he ever considered his most successful
-achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the
-recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When a cab passed the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> 'bus at
-the entrance to the station, and the cabman signalled
-to Peter on the box-seat, and referred to the
-contents with an excited thumb and great joy on
-his face, Peter knew that there would be something
-worth seeing when the cab emptied at the ticket-office;
-but he could not have imagined anything
-so entirely satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie
-emerged, dressed in the famous frock-coat and
-grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial
-stock, but without his usual calm and dignity.
-His coat was only half buttoned, his tie was slightly
-awry, and although his hat had been distinctly
-tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was
-too much occupied to set it right. Instead of
-clearing his throat as he alighted among the waiting
-porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance
-of honouring a live Bailie going forth upon his
-journey, he did not seem to wish for any public reception,
-or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact
-had every sign of a man who desired to be
-<i>incognito</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie
-hastily explained to an obliging porter, and he
-stood between the man and the cab so as to block
-all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business
-and ... seeing a friend off."</p>
-
-<p>As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to
-disperse the porters, the driver, leaning over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
-roof of the cab, winked with much unction to Peter,
-and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would
-be worth while for him to wait and see the mysterious
-friend. Speug, in fact, understood from
-all this telegraphic communication that there were
-going to be circumstances of a quite remarkable
-character, and in which he—Peter McGuffie—was
-expected to be personally interested. He dragged
-Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with
-him, behind a pile of luggage, and from their hiding-place
-they saw, to their utter amazement, a
-second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet
-withal triumphantly, out of the cab. The same
-height as the great man himself, and built after the
-same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress,
-except that the trousers were baggier, and the coat
-shabbier, and the collar frayed at the edges, and
-the hat had the appearance of having been used
-either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both
-purposes, at different times; and the air of this
-second, but by no means ghostly, Bailie was like
-that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing,
-with the addition of a certain joviality of expression
-and benignant humanity, and a certain indifference
-to all the trials and difficulties of life
-which is characteristic of a man who has been
-"tasting," not wisely, but too well.</p>
-
-<p>"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously,
-as the figure came with a heavy lurch on the pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>ment.
-"The faintness may pass off. Take care of
-your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to
-the ticket-office and propped it against the wall
-while he went to take the tickets.</p>
-
-<p>It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk
-might have been due to weakness of the heart, for
-you never can tell, and one ought to be charitable;
-but there was no sign of an invalid about this new
-Bailie, nor was he at all too exhausted for genial
-conversation. He explained during the other
-Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to
-listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than
-exhaustive, that he had been paying a visit to Muirtown
-for the good of his health, and that he felt
-better—in fact, very much better; that where he
-lived the supply of liquid refreshment was limited,
-and that in consequence he had suffered through
-weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay
-longer in a place where there was every comfort of
-life, and that nothing would have induced him to
-leave but the immoral conduct of his twin brother;
-that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being
-his brother, was fearfully given to drink, and
-that he, James MacConachie, could no longer stay
-with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a
-Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment
-would not tarry, and indeed, according to his language,
-was already pronounced. He also gave a
-certificate of character to the refreshment to be ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>tained
-at the <i>Black Bull</i>, Muirtown, and cheerfully
-invited any person who had a friendly heart to go
-with him there and then to drink the Queen's health.
-On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded
-his address—which had been mightily enjoyed
-by three porters, a couple of Highland
-drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed
-through the police-court when the Bailie was on
-the Bench, and an elderly lady, who was anxious
-that a doctor should be sent for—by explaining
-once more that his brother was a gentleman beside
-whom the Pharisees were straightforward and
-honourable members of society.</p>
-
-<p>As the procession was again re-formed, and the
-two Bailies left the ticket-office together, one of
-them waving a regretful farewell to his sympathetic
-congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of
-triumph; for the contrast between the twin brethren
-afforded just that kind of comedy which appeals
-to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct
-that the incident would be of service in the
-war between the Bailie and the Seminary, which
-had gone on for a year and showed no signs of
-closing.</p>
-
-<p>"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in
-the country, I'll warrant," said Speug to Jock, in
-great spirits, "and there's naebody in Muirtown kens
-he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the
-very eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
-clothes on. It would take Dr. Manley himself or
-the Chief Constable to tell the one from the ither.
-Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o'
-that lad, we would have a michty time. I would
-give my four rabbits and ... and my skye terrier
-pup just for an hour of him." And although they
-had no hope that circumstances would deal so
-kindly with them, yet they went on to the platform
-to see the last of the two Bailies.</p>
-
-<p>Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening
-conversation, who at first reminded his brother
-of a drunkard's end, which had no effect, and then
-threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance,
-which had an immediate effect, the figure consented
-to be taken along the platform, and might even have
-been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the
-word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly
-large type, attracted his attention.</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing
-jubilantly to the board. "I declare it juist a Providence.
-It's no that I'm thirsty, Bailie, and I canna
-bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine,
-though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'.
-No, I'm no thirsty, but I've a sinkin' at the heart.
-Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together afore we
-part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no
-grudge, and I'll let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure
-had the Bailie almost at the door of the refreshment-room
-before he could make a stand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye
-say? Gude forgie ye. I wonder ye're not black
-ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye
-along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover
-yir character. Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for
-I'm no the man I was once. The fact is, I havna
-strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me
-get a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform."
-And the horrified Bailie had to accept the
-assistance of a porter to support his exhausted
-brother and to guide him to his carriage.</p>
-
-<p>From an adjacent third class compartment,
-where Speug and Jock promptly secreted themselves,
-they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to
-his frail kinsman—that he must on no account
-come out of the carriage; that he must hold his
-tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers;
-that he must not mention his—the Bailie's—name,
-nor claim to be connected with him; and
-that he must not come back to Muirtown again until
-the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to
-heart as he valued his weekly allowance. The
-Bailie also expressed his deep regret, which, indeed,
-seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave
-by the Dundee train before the departure of the
-slow Fife train by which his double travelled. And
-when this fact emerged—that the other Bailie was
-to be left even for five minutes at their disposal—Speug
-threw Howieson's bonnet to the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
-compartment, with his own following in a rapture
-of joy.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment
-to the Bailie on the platform, who was torn
-between his profitable business engagement at
-Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his
-own devices. "After the way ye've treated me and
-put me to shame afore the platform, I wouldna stay
-another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds.
-I am no angry, Bailie," the figure continued with
-mournful dignity, "for that's no my speerit, but I'm
-hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye maun,
-and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for
-ony sake dinna be tastin' in Dundee and disgracin'
-the family. Drink is an awfu' failin', but ye canna
-say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried
-to catch the Dundee train the figure shook its head
-mournfully, with the air of one who hopes for the
-best, but who has had too good reason to expect
-the worst.</p>
-
-<p>"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a
-fine mixture of haste and importance before the
-figure which was still moralising to itself on the
-evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o'
-the Seminary is expectin' ye to address the laddies
-this afternoon, and they'll be waitin' this very
-meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made
-signs that he should come at once, and offered to
-secure a cab. The figure could only shake its head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
-and explain that on account of the disgraceful conduct
-of a relative, who had given way to drink, it
-had no heart for public appearances; but the idea
-of a return to the enjoyment of Muirtown was evidently
-filtering in.</p>
-
-<p>"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded
-Speug. "A porter threipit (insisted) that he had
-seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody
-can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will
-be terrible pleased to see ye, Bailie."</p>
-
-<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and
-the figure was plainly roused. "Him in the Dundee
-train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in every
-family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o'
-mine that's taken to bad habits, and I've juist to
-support him and keep him oot o' sicht. It's an
-awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately
-brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie
-MacConachie. Laddies, was't at the <i>Black Bull</i>
-they're expectin' me?"</p>
-
-<p>"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a
-word at the Seminary in passin'," and Speug signalled
-to a ticket-collector who had just come upon
-the scene.</p>
-
-<p>"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot
-o' the carriage, for he's forgotten an engagement at
-the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie faint with
-the heat?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
-helped the magistrate on to the platform, "it's
-family trouble. Are ye connected with the <i>Black
-Bull</i>? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved
-young man, and these are twa fine laddies." And
-outside the station, surrounded by a sympathising
-circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit
-of Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned
-every one to beware of strong drink, and urged
-them to take the pledge without delay. He also
-inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there
-from the <i>Black Bull</i> and explained that the Rector
-of the Seminary, with his laddies, was waiting for
-him in that place of hospitality. He added that he
-had been on his way to the General Assembly of
-the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling elder, and he
-warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine.
-But at last they got him into the cab, where, after
-a pathetic appeal to Speug and his companion to
-learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David,
-he fell fast asleep.</p>
-
-<p>By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged
-the attention of the sergeant in the back-yard,
-who considered that Jock was playing truant
-and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman,
-fortunately an able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance
-induced the Bailie to leave the cab and
-convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's
-class-room. At this point the great man fell
-into low spirits, and bemoaned the failure of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
-strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought the
-immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he
-obtained an immediate tonic, he would succumb to
-a broken heart. He also charged Speug with
-treachery in having brought him to the County
-Gaol instead of to the <i>Black Bull</i>. It was painfully
-explained him that he was now in the
-Seminary, and within that door an anxious school
-was waiting for him—Bailie MacConachie—and
-his address.</p>
-
-<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that
-I was a drunken body? I'll teach them to smuggle
-me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie (disreputable
-character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars,
-but I'm here" (with much triumph), "and I'm
-Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And
-the Bailie was evidently full awake.</p>
-
-<p>"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family
-troubles shakes the mind. Take the pledge when
-ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when ye're
-old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten.
-Noo, laddie" (with much cunning), "If I am to
-address the school, what think ye would be a fine
-subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility,
-especially me being a Bailie. If ye can
-mind onything, laddie, I'll give ye sixpence next
-time we meet."</p>
-
-<p>Although Speug was reticent in the class, for
-reasons that commended themselves to his practi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>cal
-judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech upon
-occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of
-Bailie MacConachie's double that it had been a
-very foolish thing for him—the Bailie—to quarrel
-with the Seminary about their playground upon
-the Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness
-to strike him—the Speug—upon the head and
-nearly injure him for life, but that he—the Bailie—was
-sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would
-never do the like again as long as he was Bailie of
-Muirtown; and Speug concluded, while the cabman
-stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye
-micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for
-me—Speug—ye know."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie,
-"for it's a fact. Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome
-power o' the gab (mouth); I expect to see
-ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at
-the <i>Black Bull</i>, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the
-Rector I'm at the door—Bailie MacConachie of
-Muirtown."</p>
-
-<p>Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of
-mathematics, arithmetic, and writing, and, it might
-also be added, master of discipline, Speug would
-as soon have ventured into his presence on such an
-errand as into the lion's den of the travelling
-menagerie which had recently visited Muirtown,
-and at which he had spent many an unlicensed
-hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
-boys, a short-sighted, absent-minded, unsuspicious
-scholar, who lived in a world of his own with
-Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly
-roused (to sorrow) by a false quantity or (to joy)
-by a happy translation.</p>
-
-<p>Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence
-in Speug's genius for mischief and effrontery
-of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless
-when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance,
-and politely intimated to the Rector that a magistrate
-of Muirtown had come and desired to speak
-to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw
-himself from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or
-the school had energy to cheer, the wonderful
-Bailie was launched into the room with almost too
-much vigour by the cabman, who remained in the
-shadow and whispered a last direction to "hold up
-your head and keep to the right." They had forgotten—Speug's
-only oversight—to take off the
-Bailie's hat, which was set jauntily on the side of
-his head, and the course which he took through the
-room was devious, and mainly regulated by the
-furniture, while his expression was a fine blend of
-affable dignity and genial good humour. "Gosh!"
-exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of
-the class, who understood that their enemy had
-been delivered into their hands, and that Peter McGuffie—their
-own Speug—had been the means
-thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
-the very countenance, line by line, and the very
-clothes, piece by piece, though looking a trifle
-shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it
-was evident that he had been "tasting," and that
-very freely.</p>
-
-<p>"I am—er—proud to bid you welcome, Mr.
-Bailie," said the Rector, bowing with old-fashioned
-courtesy, and not having the faintest idea what like
-was the figure before him. "We are always delighted
-to receive a visit from any of the magistrates
-of the city, who are to our humble school" (and
-here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas
-was to Horace, whose <i>curiosa felicitas</i> we are
-now studying. Is it your pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to
-examine the school?"</p>
-
-<p>During this stately reception the Bailie came to
-rest upon a desk, and regarded the Rector's flowing
-gown with unconcealed admiration, which he indicated
-to the school by frank gestures.</p>
-
-<p>"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the
-laddies answer 'The Chief End of Man,' and to say
-juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you
-and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're
-expected. I juist looked in to say——" And here
-the worthy man's thoughts began to wander, and he
-made an indistinct allusion to the <i>Black Bull</i>, so that
-Speug had to prompt him severely from behind.
-"Aye, aye! we're all poor, frail creatures, and I'm
-the last man to hurt the feelings of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
-Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones
-be bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect
-more than ... Speug an honourable tradesman"
-(breaking away on his own account with
-much spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate
-father. What? All a mistake from beginning
-to end. Family trouble did it—conduct of a relative,"
-and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal
-dignitaries were a species of human beings so
-strange and incalculable to the Rector, that he was
-hardly amazed at anything that they might say;
-and having some vague idea that there had been a
-quarrel between the Seminary and some Bailie or
-other, about something or other, some time or
-other, he concluded that this was an official intimation
-that the quarrel was over, and that it was in
-style and allusion according to the habits of municipal
-circles.</p>
-
-<p>"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful
-duty, as Rector of the Seminary, to thank you
-for your presence here to-day—the Mercury of the
-gods, if I may say so—and for your courteous intimation
-that the—er—controversy to which you—er—have
-delicately alluded is healed. Any dispute
-between the Council and the Seminary could only
-have a favourable issue. <i>Amantium irae amoris
-integratio</i> has had another illustration, Mr. Bailie;
-but it would please us that you should hear the
-class translate the Ode we have in hand, which hap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>pens
-to be '<i>Ad Sodales</i>.'" And a boy began to
-translate "<i>Nunc est bibendum</i>."</p>
-
-<p>"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who
-had been taking a brief nap, was immediately conscious.
-"Man, ye never said a truer word. Work
-hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna
-forget the Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement
-wi' me, and he'll no be back for an hour.
-Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed
-Rector), "it's time we were off." And the Bailie,
-making a hurried rush for the door, found himself
-in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught
-the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room,
-and suspected trouble.</p>
-
-<p>"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean
-veteran, as he brought the Bailie to an equilibrium.
-"Could onybody have expected this?"
-And then, with much presence of mind, he closed
-the door of the Latin class-room and conducted the
-Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while the magistrate
-remonstrated that the Rector was coming with
-him, and that both were going to discuss the
-higher education of youth at the <i>Black Bull</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to
-the <i>Black Bull</i>, or ony other bull, ye're to go this
-afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose. If ye maun
-taste, would it no have been more respectable to
-keep indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
-yourself afore the Seminary? It's no becomin' in
-a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the laddies."</p>
-
-<p>It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing
-figure at the blameless home of Bailie MacConachie,
-although it is right to say that this visit
-was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous
-protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to
-the day of his death, the real and proper Bailie
-spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining
-to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted"
-in his life, and that on the day in question he had
-been transacting private business in Dundee.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE" id="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE"></a>THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XV</h3>
-
-
-<p>As the East is distant from the West, so far was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
-Muirtown Seminary removed in its manners and
-customs from an English public school; but at one
-point they met on common ground, and that was
-the "tuck-shop." It does not matter that an English
-house master be careful to provide an ample
-supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even
-add, on occasion, toothsome dainties, such as jam
-at Sunday tea, and sausages for a Saturday supper,
-they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud,
-that they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast,
-so ghostly has it grown, and that they would
-be ashamed to offer their dinner to the beasts
-which perish. They will write such descriptions
-home, and hold such conferences with friends
-spending the holidays with them, and they will all
-vie with one another in applying such weird and
-fearsome adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
-meat, potatoes, and pudding—but at the mention
-of pudding they will simply look at one another and
-be silent, despairing of the English language—that
-their horrified parents will take counsel together
-by the hour whether their poor boy ought not to
-be taken from school and surrounded by home
-comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of
-this drastic measure, he protests strongly, and insists
-that it would ruin him for life; for, to do the
-ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and
-swished every second day, and bullied between
-times, till his life is hardy worth living, he will still
-stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of residence
-to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the
-pretty bedroom with white curtains, nor the long
-lie in the morning, nor a party in the evening, nor
-all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage
-for the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at
-the bathroom, and the babel at the dinner-table,
-and the recreations which enliven "prep," and the
-excitement of a house match, and the hazardous
-delights of football, and the tricks on a new boy,
-and the buttered eggs—a dozen at least between
-two at a study supper. It only remains therefore
-that his father should write a pathetic letter to the
-<i>Standard</i>, and that other parents should join in,
-for a fortnight, explaining to the English public
-that the manhood of the country is being destroyed
-in its early years, and the boys at school will read<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
-the letters aloud with much unction, and declare
-that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly,"
-while their mother sends them generous remittances
-that they may obtain nourishing food to
-supplement their starvation rations. This money
-will be spent rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the
-"tuck-shop," where some old servant of the school
-is making a small fortune in providing for the boys
-such meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight
-Tom and his friends, for he is not a fellow to see his
-chums die before his eyes, will live on the fat of the
-land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines,
-sausages, and eggs.</p>
-
-<p>Seminary boys had their meals at home, and
-were very soundly fed with porridge and milk in
-the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their conduct
-had been passably decent. Scots broth and
-meat for dinner, with an occasional pudding, and
-a tea in the evening which began with something
-solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and,
-although such things may very likely be done now,
-when we are all screaming about our rights, no
-boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the
-<i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> complaining of the home
-scale of diet. Yet, being boys, neither could they
-be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means
-of living, but required certain extra delicacies to
-help them through the day. It was not often that
-a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
-once only had gold been seen—when Dr. Manley
-paid Speug a medical fee for his advice in Bulldog's
-sickness—but there were few in the Seminary
-who were not able to rattle some pennies together,
-and, in the end, every penny found its way to the
-till of that comprehensive merchant and remarkable
-woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the
-other old houses beside it have been pulled down
-long ago, to make room for a handsome block of
-buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by
-the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of
-the "Breadalbane Emporium," where you can
-buy everything from a frying pan to a drawing-room
-suite, but where you cannot get a certain
-delicacy called "gundy," which Mrs. McWhae
-alone could make as it ought to be made, and at
-the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to
-water. Mrs. McWhae did not sell books nor clothes,
-nor any other effeminate luxury of life, but she kept
-in stock everything that was really necessary to the
-life of a well-living and high-minded boy. There
-he could obtain marbles from the common clay,
-six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six
-for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a
-red and blue pattern on a white ground, which were
-a halfpenny each, and climbed to "glassies" at a
-penny each; and there was one glass leviathian
-which contained all colours within its sphere, and
-which was kept only to be handled and admired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
-Tops were there, too, from polished little beauties
-with shining steel tips, which were intended only
-for amusement, and were spun with fine white cord,
-to unadorned, massive, vicious-looking warriors
-with sharpened projecting points, which were intended
-for the battlefield, and were spun with
-rough, strong twine, and which, dexterously used,
-would split another top from head to foot as when
-you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites
-in the season was something to see, and although
-she did not venture upon cricket-bats, which were
-sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls, she had
-every other kind of ball—solid gutta-percha balls,
-for hasty games in the "breaks," white skin-covered
-rounder balls, and hollow india-rubber balls, which
-you could fill with water at the lade, and then use
-with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed,
-employed this "softie" in silly games of their own,
-trying whether they could make it rebound a
-hundred times from the ground, but we had no
-doubt about its proper use in the purposes of
-Creation. And Mrs. McWhae—peace to her
-ashes!—provided all things in meat and drink which
-a boy could desire; unless, of course, on some great
-occasion he wished to revel imperially—then he
-went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations
-have turned their eager feet, and beyond which
-nothing is left to desire. Fenwick's, however, was
-rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
-were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where
-you could get ginger-beer of her own making at
-a penny a bottle, better than that which they sold
-at the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> at sixpence; and treacle-beer
-also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was
-double the size and was enough for two fellows;
-and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry and
-could not get home to dinner, so tough that
-only a boy's teeth could tear them to pieces; and
-tarts, so full that it required long skill to secure
-every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well
-worth licking afterwards; and peppermint balls of
-black and white, one of which would keep your
-mouth sweet for an hour of Latin—that is, if you
-only sucked gently and didn't crunch. But the
-glory of the establishment was the "gundy."
-There was a room behind the shop where Mrs.
-McWhae, who was a widow, elderly and not prepossessing,
-lived and slept, and dressed herself, and
-cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions,
-washed, and there she prepared her tempting meats
-and drinks for the Seminary. We lived in a pre-scientific
-age, and did not go curiously into the
-origin of things, being content to take the Creation
-as it stood, and to use the gifts of the gods in
-their finished form. But I believe that "gundy"
-was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which
-our hostess boiled to a certain point, and then with
-her own fair hands, which it was said she wetted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
-with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by the
-constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour;
-after which she cut the finished product into sticks
-of a foot long, and wrapped it up in evil-looking
-brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders
-of wonders! all within that paper, and the paper
-itself, you could have for one halfpenny! Good!
-There is no word for it, as the preachers say,
-"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich,
-so satisfying, so stimulating, and the amount thereof
-so full and so tenacious. Why, that "gundy"
-would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about
-your mouth, and spread itself out, that he was a
-clever fellow who had drained its last resources
-within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a
-military gentleman, who, it was understood, had
-performed prodigies of valour in the Black Watch,
-and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who
-only dealt upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute
-was able to use her hands effectively. Like
-most women she was open to blandishments, and
-Nestie Molyneux, with his English tongue and
-pretty ways, could get round the old lady, and she
-had profound though inexpressed respect for
-Speug, whom she regarded as a straightforward
-fighter, and the two friends would sometimes be
-allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see
-her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints
-dropped by those two favoured customers that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
-above theory of the making of this delectable
-sweet has been formed.</p>
-
-<p>It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit
-Mrs. McWhae's during the "breaks," and to spend
-three minutes in those happy precincts and not be
-absolutely late for the next class; and during the
-dinner-hour her shop was crowded, and the steps
-outside and the very pavement were blocked by the
-Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer.
-Little boys who had been fortunate enough
-to get their provisions early, and were coming out
-to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid
-their treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger
-fellow should supply himself without the trouble of
-waiting his turn, and defer payment to the end of
-the year. And one of the lords of the school
-would on occasion clear out a dozen of the small
-fry, in order that he might select his refreshments
-comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club,
-with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps
-on which the members could stand, and from the
-steps you commanded three streets, so that there
-were many things to see, and in snowball time
-many things to do. McWhae's had only one inconvenience,
-and that was that the line of communication
-could be cut off by raiding parties from the
-"Pennies" and other rival schools. When the
-snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy was
-strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
-supplies under charge of a convoy, and if anything
-could have added to the flavour of the "gundy," it
-was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane
-Street to get it, and your way back to enjoy
-it, that you had lost your bonnet in a scrimmage,
-and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling
-down your back. Precious then was the dainty
-sweet as the water which the mighty men brought
-to David from the well of Bethlehem.</p>
-
-<p>"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up
-the dinner-hour with Nestie Molyneux, on the
-upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the
-'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake
-of the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> passed, with a dozen smart
-and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly, and, wheeling
-round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared
-up the road which ran to Drumtochty.
-"And where think ye have their royal highnesses
-been?"</p>
-
-<p>If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and
-the boys call themselves Columbians, it is very profane
-to an absolutely respectable Scots saint, and
-very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call
-them "Bumbees"; but Speug was neither reverent
-nor polite, and the Seminary, although mainly occupied
-with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant
-grudge against the new public school at St.
-Columba's, which had been recently started in a
-romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
-number of excellent and perhaps slightly superior
-persons, who were justly aghast at the somewhat
-rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots
-grammar schools, and who did not desire that
-Scots lads of the better class should be sent of
-necessity to the English public schools. Their
-idea was to establish a public school after the English
-method in Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept
-terms, and had dormitories, and a chapel, and playing-fields,
-and did everything on a smaller scale
-which was done at Rugby and Harrow. The
-masters of St. Columba's would have nothing to do
-with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary.
-The Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown
-and sniffed through the town. Two or three
-boys had been taken from the Seminary, because
-it was vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order
-to get into genteel society. And those things had
-gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary,
-which was certainly a rough school, but at the same
-time very proud and patriotic, and there was a
-latent desire in the mind of the Seminary that the
-Columbians should come down in snow-time and
-show their contempt for the Muirtown grammar
-school, when that school would explain to the
-Columbians what it thought of them and all their
-works. As this pleasure was denied the Seminary,
-and the sight of the brake was too much for
-Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
-yelled opprobrious names, in which the word
-"Bumbee" was distinct and prominent.</p>
-
-<p>"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I
-am a-ashamed of you. D-don't you know that the
-'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and
-w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven
-wickets to fall. G-good s-sport, my Speug; read
-it in the newspaper."</p>
-
-<p>"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had
-as muckle spunk in them; seven wickets, did ye
-say, against the English? If I had kenned that,
-Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given
-them a cheer. Seven wickets—they did the job
-properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with
-relish.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug!"—and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness—"I
-have an idea. Why shouldn't the
-Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next
-s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this
-summer, and begin s-soon next year and t-try them
-in July."</p>
-
-<p>"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was
-cheered at the thought of any battle, and he regarded
-Nestie with admiration, and then his face
-fell and he declared it of no use.</p>
-
-<p>"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek!
-and if they came they'd lick us clean. They have a
-professional and they play from morning till night.
-We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
-we'd never get them oot; and if we went in, they'd
-have us oot in half an 'oor."</p>
-
-<p>"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary
-as if you were a 'Penny'! Didn't the county professional
-say that Robertson was the b-best young
-player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits
-a good b-ball, and no b-bowler can get you out,
-Speug, and there are other chaps just want p-practice.
-We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff
-fight for the old Seminary."</p>
-
-<p>"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously,
-as they went back to school at the trot; "ye're the
-trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock Howieson
-is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a
-wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat.
-Gosh!" exclaimed Speug, as they wheeled into the
-back-yard, "we'll try it."</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary were slow to move, but once they
-took fire they burned gloriously; and when Dunc
-Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been
-sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable
-deputation, returned and informed the school assembled
-round the Russian guns that the "Bumbees"
-would send down their second eleven, since
-the first was too old for the Seminary, and play a
-single innings match on a Saturday afternoon in
-the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up
-their voice in joyful anticipation.</p>
-
-<p>It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
-consented in terms of condescension by way of
-encouraging local sport, as they had tried to organise
-a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite
-understood that the result would be a hopeless defeat
-for the Seminary. They were coming, and
-the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they
-were beaten in cricket, well, it couldn't be helped,
-but it was the first time Bulldog's boys had been
-beaten in anything, and they would know the
-reason why.</p>
-
-<p>Special practice began that evening and continued
-that evening, and every other evening except
-Sundays as long as light lasted and on till the
-middle of October, when football could no longer
-be delayed. Practice began again a month before
-the proper season and continued on the same lines
-till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary
-was fairly up, and from the Rector who began
-freely to refer to the Olympian games, to the little
-chaps who had just come from a dame's school and
-were proud to field balls at bowling practice,
-the whole school was swept into the excitement of
-the coming event, and it is said that Bulldog
-stumped over every evening after dinner to watch
-the play and was the last to leave.</p>
-
-<p>"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's
-j-just itching to have a bat himself. Say, Speug,
-if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but if we
-p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>News spread through the town that the Seminary
-was to fight the "Bumbees" for the glory of
-the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle in all
-directions. Our cricket club had played upon the
-Meadow as best it could; but now the Council of
-the city set apart a piece of ground, and six of the
-leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled,
-so that there might be a good pitch for playing
-and something worth seeing on the day of battle.
-There were half a dozen good players in
-Muirtown in those days, two of whom were in the
-All Scotland eleven, and they used to come along
-in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the
-county professional now and again dropped in, just
-to see whether he could bowl Speug out, and after
-half an hour's hopeless attack upon that imperturbable
-youth, the professional declared the Seminary
-had a chance. But the word was passed round
-that there should be no boasting, and that Muirtown
-must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable
-defeat. Mr. McGuffie senior was the only
-man on the morning of the match who was prepared
-to bet on even terms, and his offers were
-refused by the citizens, first because betting was
-sinful, and, second, it was possible, though not
-likely, they might lose.</p>
-
-<p>The Columbians came down as usual in a brake,
-with only two horses this time, and made a pretty
-show when they were dressed in their white flan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>nels
-and school colours, and every one admitted
-that they were a good-looking and well-set-up
-eleven; they brought half a dozen other fellows
-with them, to help to cheer their victory and to
-keep their score, and a master to be umpire. The
-Seminary eleven were in all colours and such dress
-as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and
-Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels,
-but Speug in a grey shirt and a pair of tight tweed
-trousers of preposterous pattern, which were
-greatly admired by his father's grooms—and, for
-that matter, by the whole school; and although
-Jock Howieson had been persuaded into flannel
-bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red
-shirt of outrageous appearance, which was enough
-to frighten any bowler. Jack Moncrieffe, the
-Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland,
-was umpire for the Seminary, and the very
-sight of him taught the first lesson of respect to the
-"Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim Fleming,
-the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching
-the Seminary all the summer, they began to feel
-that it might be a real match, not merely a few
-lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage
-a common school, don't you know.</p>
-
-<p>There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown
-men, together with a goodly sprinkling of Muirtown
-mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his
-position early, just in front of the tent, and never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
-moved till the match was over; nor did he speak,
-save once; but the Seminary knew that he was
-thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics
-had his eye upon them. Some distance off,
-the Count—that faithful friend of his Seminary
-"dogs"—promenaded up and down a beat of some
-dozen yards, and spent the time in one long excitement,
-cheering with weird foreign accent when a
-good hit was made, swearing in French when anything
-went wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the
-loss of a Seminary wicket, and hurrying to shake
-hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had
-done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket.
-Mr. McGuffie moved through the crowd from time
-to time, and finally succeeded in making a bet on
-the most advantageous terms with that eminent
-dignitary, the Earl of Kilspindie's coachman, who
-was so contemptuous of the Seminary from the
-Castle point of view that he took the odds of five
-to one in sovereigns that they would be beaten.
-And on the outskirts of the crowd, half ashamed
-to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered
-Bailie MacConachie.</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice
-of Jim Fleming sent the Columbians in, and there
-was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for
-the Frenchman did not count—who denied that
-the strangers played a good, clean game—pretty
-form, and brave scoring; and on their part the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
-Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the
-Seminary knew how to field, wherever they had
-learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could pass
-Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible
-with Speug as long-stop, for those were the
-days when there were long-stops. Cosh had his
-faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary
-thought more of him after a miraculous catch which
-he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at square-leg,
-might not be able to prevent a two occasionally,
-but he refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was
-a graceless bowler and an offence to the eye, but
-his balls were always in the line of the middle
-stump, and their rate that of an express train; and
-Nestie not only had a pretty style, but a way of insinuating
-himself among the wickets which four
-Columbians had not the power to refuse. There
-was a bit of work at long-field, which even the
-Columbians could not help cheering, though it lost
-them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was
-sent up from cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and
-so took another wicket, wrung a word of private
-praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the
-Seminary was fighting against heavy odds, an uphill,
-hopeless battle, and when the visitors went
-out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr.
-McGuffie senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and
-only the Count prophesied triumph, going round
-and shaking hands individually with every one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
-his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the
-sky. Bailie MacConachie, by this time was lost in
-the crowd, working his way gradually to the front,
-and looking as if he would have liked to cheer, but
-thinking it better not to call attention to his
-presence. Then the Seminary went in, and there
-is no question but that they had hard times at the
-hands of the Columbians, who were well trained
-and played all together. Robertson, who was the
-hope of the Seminary, went out for twenty, and
-Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only
-managed twelve, and the other fellows were too
-easily bowled or caught out, each adding something,
-but none doing much, till at last the score
-stood at sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary
-in. Things were looking very black, and even the
-Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face suggested
-that next Monday the whole school would be
-thrashed, and that a special treat would be reserved
-for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however, with a
-sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make
-another bet with his lordship's coachman, and increased
-the odds from five to ten, and the dignitary
-declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his
-money.</p>
-
-<p>"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses
-pass the line. I've seen many a race changed before
-the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his position
-in the front row to see the end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and
-only one wicket to fall, and the Columbians discounted
-their victory in a gentlemanly fashion,
-while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give
-them no chances," he said to Howieson, as that
-stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been
-at the wicket for some time, but had only scored
-ten. Any over might close the match, and perhaps
-the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for
-three overs passed and the two friends of many a
-scrimmage were still in, and neither of them had
-shown any intention of going out. Quite the
-contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and
-Howieson, who played with the gracefulness of a
-cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his
-wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his
-own account.</p>
-
-<p>"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him
-oot sune? I tell you he's settlin' down for the
-afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour
-deevil. The fact is"—Mr. McGuffie took a circle of
-spectators into his confidence—"they're juist gettin'
-into the stride." The Count preened his
-plumage and plucked up heart again, while the
-Seminary lads, gathered in a solid mass to the left
-of the tent, were afraid to cheer lest they should
-invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern,
-could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be
-better matched," said Nestie. "Speug and Jock<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>—they've
-had l-lots of things in hand together, and
-they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment
-Speug sent a ball to the boundary. Now there
-were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three runs
-to make.</p>
-
-<p>They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness,
-blocking the balls which were dangerous and
-could not be played; declining to give the faintest
-chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather
-than be run out, and so the score crept up with a
-two from Howieson, who had got into a habit of
-twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and
-a three and a four from Speug, and another two
-from Howieson, and a three from Speug.</p>
-
-<p>Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted
-to the coachman, "Take you again, Petrie—ten to
-one, five to one, three to one against the Seminary?"
-And when there was no answer, Mr.
-McGuffie offered to take it even from anybody,
-and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was
-Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and
-everything except the glory of Muirtown, was now
-standing beside Speug's father and did not care.
-"Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching
-the look in MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones,
-we're a' Muirtown men the day"; and then
-his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye
-odds, coachman—two to one against the 'Bumbees'"
-for Howieson had scored another two, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
-two more runs would win the match for the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson,
-instead of stopping the ball with his bat, must
-needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried
-the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?"
-Was his leg before wicket or not? And
-for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian,
-Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and
-children, held their breath. It would have been
-maddening to have been beaten only by one run,
-and after such a gallant fight.</p>
-
-<p>"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds;
-but it seemed ten minutes, and a yell went up from
-the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie MacConachie
-took off his hat and wiped his forehead,
-which Mr. McGuffie noted with sympathy and laid
-up to the Bailie's credit. There was another crisis
-at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown,
-but it was very keenly present to the minds of the
-Columbians. One over more and the time limit
-would be reached and the game closed. If the
-Seminary could make two runs, they would win;
-if the Columbians could get Speug's wicket, they
-would win. They put on their most dangerous
-man, whose ball had a trick of coming down just
-six inches in front of the block, and then, having
-escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming
-perilously near the wicket. His attack compelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
-the most watchful defence, and hardly allowed the
-chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but
-could do no more with them; the third got past
-and shaved the wicket; the fourth Speug sent to
-slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth, full
-of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear
-seized the heart of Muirtown that the last would
-capture the wickets and give the victory to the
-visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for
-it was sent to land inside the block, just so much
-nearer as might deceive the batsman accustomed
-to the former distance. No sooner had it left the
-bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and
-gnawed his moustache. Every eye followed the
-ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety
-of it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew
-together unconsciously in common hope. Robertson,
-the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into
-the ground, and opposite, between the field and the
-river, the leader of that rapscallion school, the
-"Pennies," stood erect, intent, open-mouthed with
-his crew around, for once silent and motionless.
-Speug took a swift stride forward and met the ball
-nearly three feet from the ground, and, gathering
-up all the strength in his tough little body, he
-caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it
-over square-leg's head, who had come in too near
-and made one hopeless clutch at it, and through
-the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
-every side to let it pass as they had never yielded
-to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown had found
-voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the
-"Pennies" had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into
-the air, for, the ball was in the river, and the Seminary
-had won by three runs and one wicket.</p>
-
-<p>Things happened then which are beyond the pen
-of man, but it was freely said that the "Hurrah"
-of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the
-hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the
-Count, in his joy over the victory of his "jolly
-dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat, and
-would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own
-hat in triumph. This is certain, that the Seminary
-carried Speug and Howieson both protesting, from
-the North Meadow, in through the big school
-door; that Bulldog walked at the head of the procession,
-like a general coming home in his glory;
-that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him;
-that, after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed
-one cheer more for Bailie MacConachie, and
-that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's house
-for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie
-home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE" id="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE"></a>BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XVI</h3>
-
-
-<p>When the rumour flew through Muirtown in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
-Spring that Bulldog was to resign at the close
-of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and
-treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector
-who was more a learned ghost than a human being,
-or the English master who had grown stout
-and pursey, or some of the other masters who came
-and went like shadows, Muirtown had not given
-another thought to the matter, but Bulldog retiring,
-it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown
-held its sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was
-the cause; and then Dr. Manley stormed through
-half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known
-Dugald MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except
-once when that little scoundrel Speug, or rather he
-should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician,
-brought his master through triumphantly
-with a trifle of assistance from himself as a general
-practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog?
-Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify
-in public places, and was supported by all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
-other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his education
-at Drumtochty that the mathematical master
-of Muirtown Academy had thrashed them all as
-boys, every man jack of them, being then not
-much older than themselves, and that he was
-now—barring his white hair—rather fresher than
-in the days of their youth? Had success departed
-at last from the mathematical class-room,
-after resting there as in a temple of wingless
-victory for three generations? Was it not known
-everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather
-was a senior pupil when Bulldog took
-the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply romped
-through Edinburgh University gathering medals,
-prizes, bursaries, fellowships, and everything else
-that a mathematician could lay his hands on, and
-then had won a scholarship at Trinity College,
-Cambridge, with papers that were talked about in
-the College for fourteen days, and were laid past by
-one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May
-be, and this was no doubt the very heart of the jest,
-Bulldog had lost control of the boys, and his right
-hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys were
-insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries
-as to when they had their last interview with the
-tawse and whether the canings were as nippy as
-ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its
-favourite master was an expert in every branch of
-his calling and dealt with the grandchildren as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
-thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers.
-And Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing
-the bridge one morning as alert in step and austere
-in countenance as ever, asked him how he was
-keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself
-the luxury of a chuckle as one who has made a
-jocose remark.</p>
-
-<p>It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown
-when the following letter was read in the Town
-Council and was known next morning to every
-citizen from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center"><i>To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown.</i></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote">"<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—I beg to resign, as from the close
-of the present term, the position of Master of
-Mathematics, Arithmetic and Writing, in Muirtown
-Seminary, and to thank the council for the
-trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight
-years.</div>
-
-<div class="center">"I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Your obedient servant,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"<span class="smcap">Dugald MacKinnon.</span>"</span></div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-
-<p>When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began
-between Bulldog and the citizens which lasted
-for four intense weeks in which the town was at
-fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and
-calmer than ever. And he won all along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
-line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful
-admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and,
-for such a document, almost heated in feeling, to
-which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but guarded
-reply. The Council intimated that they would
-consider his letter to be non-existent, and not even
-put him to the trouble of withdrawing, and Mr.
-MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in
-that case he must trouble the Council with an exact
-copy. The Council then appointed a deputation
-to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself
-unworthy of such an unprecedented honour,
-and declined to see them. And then the Council,
-in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable,
-strained their powers to the utmost with immense
-unanimity, and voted a handsome pension to
-"Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in
-grateful, although unworthy recognition of the
-unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable service he has
-rendered to the education of this ancient city for a
-period of more than half a century, during which
-time nearly two thousand lads have been sent forth
-equipped for the practical business of life in Muirtown,
-in the great cities of our land and unto the
-ends of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in
-a letter of perfect handwriting that he was quite undeserving
-of such a resolution, as he had done
-nothing more than his duty, and that he could not
-accept any retiring allowance—first, because he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
-was not sure that it was strictly legal, and, secondly,
-because he had made provision for his last years,
-but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most
-obliged servant." It was then determined to entertain
-this obdurate man at a banquet, and
-to make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr.
-MacKinnon was again most grateful for the kindness
-of his fellow citizens and the honour they
-proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he
-would neither accept the banquet nor a piece of
-plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a
-city slow but sure of understanding, and with a
-silent sense of the fitness of things, that Mr. Dugald
-MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus
-for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without
-conciliation, giving no favours and receiving
-none, but doing his part by the laddies of Muirtown
-with all his strength of mind and conscience
-and right arm, was not going to weaken at the end
-of his career. For him to rise at the close of a
-dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would
-have been out of keeping with his severe and lonely
-past, and for him to be a pensioner, even of the
-Town Council, would have been an indignity. He
-had reigned longer and more absolutely than any
-master in the annals of the Seminary, and to the
-last day he had held the sceptre without flinching.
-As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible,
-he would lay aside the purple, and disappear into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
-private life. And Muirtown was proud of Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown
-in all their glory, and his fellow citizens united in
-one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet settled
-with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions
-or any other way their appreciation of their
-master, and they had followed the futile attempts
-of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful
-that grown up people should be so far left
-to themselves as to suppose that Bulldog, their
-own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined
-by Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a
-dithering idiot with a silver jug in his hands, or
-some such trash, while his hands were itching to
-thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed
-them long ago. When the boys heard their fathers
-raging at Bulldog's proud obstinacy they offered
-no remark, but when they got together they
-chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort
-and compensation for many an honest thrashing,
-in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of
-Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No
-rebellion against him had ever had the faintest
-gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped without
-his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the
-last and full of devilry, agreed together by an instinct
-rather than a conference that they would
-close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
-He had governed them with an iron hand, and they
-had been proud to be governed, considering the
-wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable
-than the kisses of McIntyres', but they
-would have one big revenge and then Bulldog and
-his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long
-confabulations together in the Rector's class-room
-while that learned man was reading aloud some
-new and specially ingenious translation of an ode
-and in the class-room of modern languages, while
-Moossy's successor was trying to teach Jock
-Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the
-German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop
-when the "gundy" allowed them to speak at all,
-and at the Russian guns where they gathered in
-the break instead of playing rounders. The junior
-boys were not admitted to those mysterious meetings,
-but were told to wait and see what they would
-see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a
-word of it oozed out in the town. But the Seminary
-was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog
-would repent the years of his tyranny.</p>
-
-<p>Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it
-was going to be a big affair, and Speug directed
-that a war chest should at once be established. No
-one outside the secret junta knew what was going
-to be done with the money, but orders were issued
-that by hook or crook every boy in school except
-the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
-Jock Howieson, who was not an accomplished
-classical scholar nor specially versed in geometry
-but who could keep the most intricate accounts in
-his head with unerring accuracy, and knew every
-boy in the Seminary by head mark. And although
-he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed
-with other powers of persuasion, and he would be
-a very daring young gentleman indeed, and almost
-indifferent to circumstances, who did not pay his
-sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday.
-Jock made no demands, and gave no receipts; he
-engaged in no conversation whatever, but simply
-waited and took. If any one tried to compound
-with Jock for threepence, one look at the miserable
-produced the sixpence; and when little Cosh following
-in the devious steps of his elder brother insinuated
-that he had paid already, Jock dropped
-him into the lade to refresh his memory. No one
-directly inquired what was to be done with the
-money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock,
-and that it would be well spent by the mighty four
-who now ruled the school: Jock, Bauldie, Nestie,
-and Speug—Dunc Robertson after a brief course at
-Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's
-regiment. And it was also known that every halfpenny
-was going to give a big surprise to Bulldog,
-so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers
-with obsequious respect for commercial reasons,
-and coaxed additional pennies out of their mothers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
-on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits to
-maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop,
-turning away their eyes and noses from vanity, and
-sold to grinding capitalists their tops, marbles,
-young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every
-Monday the silent but observant treasurer received
-for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at the rate of sixpence a
-head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like
-an oyster, and there was not one informer among
-the 208; but curiosity grew hot, and there were
-many speculations, and it was widely believed that
-the money would be used in sending a cane of the
-most magnificent proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance
-of his teaching days, and a mark of
-respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to
-himself, dared to suggest this to Speug; and when
-he looked round at some distance off, Speug's eye
-was still upon him, and he declared from his experience
-that it was not healthy to question Speug.
-Two hundred and four boys, however, with the
-observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent
-upon discovery could not be altogether baffled, and
-various bits of reliable information were passed
-round the school. That the four had gone one
-evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now
-on terms of high popularity with the school; that
-the Count who was even then sickening for his
-death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident
-could kill, had also been present; that at dif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>ferent
-times the Count had been seen examining
-the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches
-were carried by every man of standing in the Scots
-Midlands, and pronouncing his judgment on their
-appearance with vivacious gestures; that the Bailie
-had been seen examining the interior of a watch
-with awful solemnity while Councillor Gillespie
-hung upon his decision; and, to crown all, that Mr.
-McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the
-head of the firm, during which he had given him
-gratuitous advice on three coming races, had left
-Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced language
-that if certain persons did not obtain certain things
-for £40 he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person
-giving to betting, would wager ten to one that the
-place of business would close in a year. It was
-whispered therefore in the corridors, with some
-show of truth, that the Seminary was going to take
-vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that the gift,
-whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop.
-And the school speculated whether there was any
-one of their number, even Speug himself, who
-would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and
-whether, if he did, that uncompromising man
-might not occupy his last week of mastership in
-thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest
-unto the youngest, for their blazing impertinence.</p>
-
-<p>The closing day was a Thursday that year, and
-it was characteristic of Bulldog that he met his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
-classes as usual on Wednesday, and when Howieson
-disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid,
-having disgraced himself more moderately on four
-preceding days that he administered discipline on
-Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the
-last boy Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up
-as to be absolutely unendurable for the rest of the
-day, and boasted of the distinction for many a year.
-As four o'clock approached, the boys began to
-grow restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not
-perfectly steady when he closed the last problem
-with Q. E. D.</p>
-
-<p>"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried
-the argument to its conclusion according to the
-principles of things, and the book is finished.
-There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining,
-we will spend it in revising the work of the Senior
-Algebra Class."</p>
-
-<p>Their work has not been revised unto this day,
-for at that moment the door opened without any
-one knocking, and without any one offering an
-apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh,
-and scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge,
-and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
-Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied
-by Bailie MacConachie, whose dignity was
-fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand gracefully
-to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included
-everybody in an affable nod; and behind this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
-imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown Seminary
-who was not already in the mathematical class-room.
-Bulldog turned upon them like a lion
-caught in a snare, and if he had had only thirty
-seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would
-have driven the whole deputation, old and young,
-out of the class-room and dealt with the conspirators
-who remained unto the setting of the sun.
-But it was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with
-minute care, and before Bulldog could say a word
-Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
-much.</p>
-
-<p>"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us
-for it is our last offence, and we have this time a
-fair excuse. Your laddies could not let you leave
-that desk and go out of this room for the last time
-without telling you that they are grateful, because
-you have tried to make them scholars, and to make
-them men. If any of us be able in after years to
-do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything
-else to your teaching and your discipline."</p>
-
-<p>Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman
-the four had chosen, began.</p>
-
-<p>"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line,
-but everything Pirie said is true, and we are proud
-of our chief."</p>
-
-<p>"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the
-watch and chain which we ask the master to do us
-the honour of wearing through the days to come,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
-and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to
-the desk, "crowns our offence, but you will know
-how to read it!"</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-"TO BULLDOG,<br />
-<span class="stext">WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION<br />
-OF<br />
-HIS LADDIES.</span>"
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<p>It was Bailie MacConachie—may everything be
-pardoned to him—who started the cheer; but it
-was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and ditch,
-and it was of such a kind that the mathematical
-class-room had to be repaired before the beginning
-of next term. During the storm Bulldog stood
-with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white
-as his hair, and when at last there was silence he
-tried to speak, but the tender heart had broken the
-iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."</p>
-
-<p>The Count, with quick tact, led off the second
-cheer, and the boys filed out of the class-room.
-Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
-him, and covered his face with his hands. When
-an hour later he walked across the North Meadow
-there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie MacFarlane,
-who met him on the bridge (and passed
-without speaking), noticed that Bulldog was wearing
-his laddies' gift.</p>
-
-<p>Sitting in his garden that evening and looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
-down upon the plain, Bulldog called Nestie to his
-side, and pointed to the river. The evening sun
-was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and
-on the orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft
-light, a rough weather-beaten coaster, which had
-fought her way through many a gale in the North
-Sea, and could not hold together much longer was
-dropping down with the tide. Newer and swifter
-vessels would take her place in the days to come,
-but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
-and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots
-rivers was carrying her gently to the eternal ocean.</p>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***</div>
-</body>
-</html>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 15%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + color: #BDBDBD; +} + +hr.hr2 { + width: 7%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + color: #BDBDBD; +} + +hr.front { + width: 15%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 3em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: 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+.border4 { + border-style: dotted; + border-width: 4px; + background: #FFFFFF; + border-color: #000000; + margin: auto; + width: 500px; +} + +.border2 { + border-style: solid; + border-width: 2px; + background: #FFFFFF; + border-color: #000000; + margin: auto; +} + +.blockquote {margin-left: 3em; font-size: 95%; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;} + +.under {text-decoration: underline;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***</div> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> + +<div class="image"><img src="images/icover.jpg" width="380" height="450" alt="Cover" title="" /></div> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> + +<div class="image border2" style="width: 395px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="ifrontis" id="ifrontis"></a><img src="images/ifrontis.jpg" width="395" height="600" alt=""Nestie was standing in the centre of the large +entrance hall."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large +entrance hall."</span> +</div> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image"><img src="images/ititle.png" width="415" height="700" alt="YOUNG +BARBARIANS + +By +IAN MACLAREN +Author of "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" + +ILLUSTRATED + +NEW YORK +Dodd, Mead and Company +1910" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="front" /> +<h4>Copyright, 1899 and 1900,<br /> +By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>,<br /> +as<br /> +A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.</h4> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h4>Copyright, 1900,<br /> +By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>.</h4> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h4>Copyright, 1901,<br /> +By <span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead and Company</span>.</h4> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h4><i>First Edition, Published October, 1901</i></h4> + + +<hr class="front" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></div> + +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="3" summary="table of contents" width="40%"> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">I</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td align="right" class="stext">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">"<span class="smcap">Speug</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#SPEUG">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">II</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOG">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">III</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nestie</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#NESTIE">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Famous Victory</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_FAMOUS_VICTORY">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">V</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">His Private Capacity</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Disgrace of Mr. Byles</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_DISGRACE_OF">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Count</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_COUNT">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Tournament</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_TOURNAMENT">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Moossy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#MOOSSY">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">X</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Last Resource</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_LAST_RESOURCE">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Pleasant Sin</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_PLEASANT_SIN">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Guerilla Warfare</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#GUERILLA_WARFARE">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fall of Goliath</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Bailie's Double</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Triumph of the Seminary</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog's Recompense</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE">305</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr class="front" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="list of illustrations"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large entrance hall."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#ifrontis">Frontispiece</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i036">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i050">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i066">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i092">92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i096">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were so friendly that they gathered round the party."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"The school fell over benches and over another."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They drank without any cup."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before him stood London John bearing the seductive advertisement."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="front" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="SPEUG" id="SPEUG"></a>"SPEUG"</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">I</h3> + + +<p>Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span> +of the classical order, facing the north meadow and +commanding from its upper windows a fine view +of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon +its gravel bed. Behind the front building was the +paved court where the boys played casual games in +the breaks of five minutes between the hours of +study, and this court had an entrance from a narrow +back street along which, in snow time, a detachment +of the enemy from the other schools might +steal any hour and take us by disastrous surprise. +There were those who wished that we had been completely +walled up at the back, for then we had met +the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But +the braver souls of our commonwealth considered +that this back way, affording opportunities for ambushes, +sallies, subtle tactics, and endless vicissitudes, +lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the +whole winter through and most of the summer, and +brought it nearer to the condition of Red Indian +fighting, which was our favourite reading and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +example of heroism. Again and again we studied +the adventures of Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not +only on account of his hairbreadth escapes when he +eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and +detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning +of a leaf on the ground, but also in order to find +out new methods of deceit by which we could allure +our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods +of attack by which we could successfully outflank +them on the broader street and drive them into their +own retreats with public ignominy.</p> + +<p>Within the building the glory of the Seminary +was a massive stone stair, circular in shape, and +having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by +a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the +masters descended at nine o'clock for the opening +of the school, with Bulldog, who was the mathematical +master and the awful pride of the school, at their +head, and it was strictly forbidden that any boy, +should be found within the "well." As it was the +most tempting of places for the deposit of anything +in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to +little boys, and especially as any boy found in the +well was sure to be caned, there was an obvious and +irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter McGuffie, +commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch +tongue "Speug," and one of the two heads of our +commonwealth, used to wait with an expression of +such demureness that it ought to have been a danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and +a row of boys were standing in expectation with +their backs to the forbidden place. Then, passing +swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and +threw them over, and suddenly seizing a tempting +urchin landed him on the bed of caps which had been +duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth +of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog +as he passed made a mental note of the prisoner's +name, and identified the various bonnetless boys, +and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the +day, attended to each culprit separately and carefully. +If any person, from the standpoint of this +modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some +innocent victim did not state his case and lay +the blame upon the guilty, then it is enough to say +that that person had never been a scholar at Muirtown +Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge +of the character and methods of Peter McGuffie. +Had any boy of our time given information to a +master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he +would have had the coldest reception at the hands +of Bulldog, and when his conduct was known to the +school he might be assured of such constant and +ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he +would have been ready to drown himself in the Tay +rather than continue his studies at Muirtown Seminary.</p> + +<p>Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +Scots Midlands, and a sporting man of established +repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced, loud-voiced, +clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head, +whose calves and whose manner were the secret admiration +of Muirtown. Quiet citizens of irreproachable +respectability and religious orthodoxy regarded +him with a pride which they would never confess; +not because they would have spoken or acted as he +did for a king's ransom, and not because they would +have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to die—considering, +as they did, that the future of a horsedealer +and an owner of racing horses was dark in +the extreme—but because he was a perfect specimen +of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to +be known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie +McCallum, for instance, could have no dealings with +McGuffie senior, and would have been scandalised +had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his +shop and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the +Bailie used to chuckle after an appreciative fashion +at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate with much +inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits—how +he had encountered southern horsedealers and +sent them home humbled with defeat, and had won +hopeless races over the length and breadth of the +land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark, +"and McGuffie is no' the man for an elder; +but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him at a +bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +a local hero, and on their way home from school they +loitered to study him, standing in the gateway of his +stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and +shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends +at the distance of half a street. When he was in +good humour he would nod to the lads and wink to +them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted +to perform the same feat all the way home +and were filled with despair. It did not matter that +we were fed, by careful parents, with books containing +the history of good men who began life with +2<i>s.</i> 11<i>d.</i>, and died leaving a quarter of a million, +made by selling soft goods and attending church, +and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of +boys who died young and, before they died, delighted +society with observations of the most edifying +character on the shortness of life. We had +rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.</p> + +<p>Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model +of all the virtues that were worthy of a boy's imitation, +and his son with undisguised envy, because he +had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because +he had the run of the stables, because he was on +terms of easy familiarity with his father's grooms, +and because he was encouraged to do those things +which we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted +to do those things which he hated to do. All +the good advice we ever got, and all the examples +of those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +of the Rev. Dr. Dowbiggin, were blown to the +winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in the high +dogcart beside his father, while that talented man +was showing off to Muirtown a newly broken horse. +Speug's position on that seat of unique dignity was +more than human, and none of us would have dared +to recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter +was quite unspoiled by his privileges, and would +wink to his humble friends upon the street after his +most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved +him his father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive +society were not failings either of Mr. McGuffie +senior or of his hopeful son. Both were +willing to fight any person of their own size (or, +indeed, much bigger), as well as to bargain with +anybody, and at any time, about anything, from +horses to marbles.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during +her lifetime was a woman of decided character, +whom the grooms regarded with more terror than +they did her husband, and whom her husband himself +treated with great respect, a respect which grew +into unaffected reverence when he was returning +from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional +duties, to a late hour in the evening. As +her afflicted husband refused to marry again, in decided +terms, Peter, their only child, had been +brought up from an early age among grooms and +other people devoted to the care and study of horses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +In this school he received an education which was +perhaps more practical and varied than finished and +polite. It was not to be wondered, therefore, that +his manners were simple and natural to a degree, +and that he was never the prey, either in any ordinary +circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although +a motherless lad, he was never helpless, and +from the first was able to hold his own and to make +his hands keep his head.</p> + +<p>His orphan condition excited the compassion of +respectable matrons, but their efforts to tend him +in his loneliness were not always successful, nor +even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie. +When Mrs. Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in +what was called the "work among children," and +who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity +on Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to +play with her boys, who were a head taller and paragons +of excellence, the result was unfortunate, and +afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an exhortation. +Peter was brought back to the parental +mansion by Dr. Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour, +and received a cordial welcome from a congregation +of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at +the Manse with much detail and agreeable humour. +During the brief space at his disposal he had put +every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of +repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with +burnt cork so that their mother did not recognise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +her children. He had also taught them a negro melody +of a very taking description, and had reinforced +their vocabulary with the very cream of the stable. +From that day Mrs. Dowbiggin warned the mothers +of Muirtown against allowing their boys to associate +with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on +the street without an expression of open delight.</p> + +<p>When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being +then ten years old, to the Seminary for admittance, +it was a chance that he was not refused and that +we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's +profession and reputation were a stumbling-block +to the rector, who was a man of austere countenance +and strict habits of life, and Peter himself +was a very odd-looking piece of humanity and had +already established his own record. He was under-sized +and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in countenance, +and with beady black eyes which on +occasion lit up his face as when one illuminates the +front of a house, but the occasions were rarely those +which would commend themselves to the headmaster +of a public school. How the dealer in horses removed +the rector's difficulties was never accurately +known, but boys passing the door of the rector's retiring-room +when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie +overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown +was able to understand the situation. It was understood +that in a conflict of words the rector, an absent-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>minded +scholar of shrinking manner, was not likely +to come off best, and it is certain that the head of +the school ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie +as "a man of great resolution of character and endowed +with the gift of forcible speech." As regards +the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief +directions before leaving, and in the presence of his +fellow-scholars, of which this only was overheard, +and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance: +"Never give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting +words Mr. McGuffie senior departed +through the front door amid a hush of admiration, +leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well" +which was to be the scene of many of his future +waggeries.</p> + +<p>With the progress of civilisation school life in +Scotland has taken on a high degree of refinement, +and rumour has it—but what will people not say?—that +a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary +and will receive a respectful welcome from the +generation following Peter, and that the whole +school will devote itself to his comfort for days—showing +him where to hang his cap, initiating him +into games, assisting him with his lessons, and treating +his feelings with delicate respect. It has been +my own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former +barbarian age, to read the rules, which, I believe, are +now printed in black letters with red capitals and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings +will not allow me to give them all, but the following +have moved me almost to tears:—</p> + +<p>Rule 1.—That every boy attending this school is +expected to behave himself in speech and deed as a +gentleman.</p> + +<p>Rule 2.—That anyone writing upon a wall, or in +any way marking the school furniture, will be considered +to have committed an offence, and will be +punished.</p> + +<p>Rule 3.—That every boy is exhorted to treat +every other with courtesy, and anyone guilty of +rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to the +headmaster.</p> + +<p>Rule 4.—That it is expected of every boy to +cultivate neatness of appearance, and especially to +see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and other articles +of clothing be not soiled.</p> + +<p>These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere +and one very different from that in which we passed +our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this kind +softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan +simplicity. The very sight of a newcomer in a +speckless suit, with an irreproachable tie and both +tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound +emotion in the school and carried it beyond self-control. +What could be expected of a fellow so bedecked +and preserved as if he had just stepped out +of a bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +pride and perfection—the very beginning of a Pharisee—he +would only go from bad to worse and come +at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists, +but we did feel it was our duty to rescue +this lad. It might be, of course, that we could not +finally save him, but he ought at least to have a +chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction +in at once removing the two offensive tails by one +vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a collar was a +work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy +is successful with all cases, and we had our failures, +which we think about unto this day, and which have +only justified our sad predictions. Boys like the two +Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given +up in despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed +day by day and their faces remaining in all +circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month +the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of +conventionality, and was only outdone by Peter himself +in studied negligence of attire.</p> + +<p>Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it +did not last long, for certain practical reasons.</p> + +<p>"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?" +was the encouraging salutation offered by +a solicitor's son to the stumpy little figure bereft of +its father and left to fight its battles alone.</p> + +<p>"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o' +a thievin' lawyer," and although Peter was four +years younger and small for his age, he showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms +without profit, and his opponent attended no more +classes that day. This encounter excited the deepest +interest and revived the whole life of the school. +One lad after another experimented on Peter and +made as much of it as drawing a badger. He was +often hurt, but he never uttered any cry. He gave +rather more than he got, and lads going home in the +afternoon could see him giving an account of the +studies of the day to an admiring audience in the +stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone, +and for the impudence of him, and his courage, and +his endurance, and his general cockiness, and his +extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was called +"Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively +expressed the admiration of the school.</p> + +<p>It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter +was a scholar, or, indeed, gave any voluntary attention +to the course of learning laid down by the +authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed +at the foot of every class, maintaining a +certain impenetrable front when a question came his +length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never +risking his position in the school by exposing himself +to contempt. When Thomas John Dowbiggin was +distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by +translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's +History, Speug used to watch him with keen interest, +and employ his leisure time in arranging some little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas John's +life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so +inconsistent, that as often as Duncan Robertson +answered more promptly than Thomas John, and +obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with +unaffected delight, and he was even known to smack +his lips audibly. When the rector's back was turned +he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas John's +discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the +united class did him homage, and even Thomas John +was shaken out of his equanimity; but then Duncan +Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment, +and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and +had not in his Highland body the faintest trace of +a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing reproof +of everything that was said and done outside +of lesson time in Muirtown School.</p> + +<p>Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating +adventures none was to be compared with +him. Was it not Speug who floated down the +tunnel through which a swift running stream of +clean water reached the Tay, and allured six +others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were +drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception +of the Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black +mouth of the tunnel and reward his success with a +cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's +military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work +in a pit at the top of the Meadow, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +called the Redan and was blown up with gunpowder +one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily +buried beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing +both eyebrows? And when an old lady living next +the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug and +some other genial spirits for having broken one of +her windows in a snowball fight, he made no sign +and uttered no threat, but in the following autumn +he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy +in the four upper forms—except the Dowbiggins, +who declined politely—and to distribute a handful +for a scramble among the little boys. There was +much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity, +and it certainly was remarkable that the pear +was of the same kind as the old lady cultivated with +much pride, and that her fruit was gathered for her +in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable +of anything except telling a lie. He could swim the +Tay at its broadest and almost at its swiftest, could +ride any horse in his father's stable, could climb any +tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game, +from marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based +on smuggling, to football, where he was a very +dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting +was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There +was nothing he could not do with his hands, and no +one whom he was not ready to face.</p> + +<p>Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and +the exact type of a turbulent Lowland Scot, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +whom the Seminary had missed its life and colour, +and who by sheer force of courage and strength +asserted himself as our chief captain. After many +years have passed, Speug stands out a figure of size +and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other +poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried +off medals, prizes, certificates of merit, and +everything else which could be obtained in Muirtown +Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted +all evening at next day's work. The town was +weary of seeing Thomas John and his brother—each +wearing the same smug expression, and each in +faultlessly neat attire—processing up in turn to receive +their honours from the hands of the Lord +Provost, and the town would cheer with enthusiasm +when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance, +being glad to escape from the oppression of +the Dowbiggin <i>régime</i>. Nor was the town altogether +wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at +their own value, and declining to believe that the +strength of the country was after their fashion. +When Thomas John reached the University he did +not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family, +and by the time he reached the pulpit no one could +endure his unredeemed dulness. When last I heard +of him he was secretary to a blameless society which +has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten +Tribes, and it occurs to me that it would have been +a good thing for Thomas John to have been blown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have +become a man.</p> + +<p>After the Seminary had done its best for Speug +he retired upon his laurels and went to assist his +father in the business of horsedealing, to which he +brought an invincible courage and a large experience +in bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw +him breaking in young horses on the roads round +Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in a +steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland. +When Mr. McGuffie senior was killed by an Irish +mare, Peter sold the establishment and went into +foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at +intervals of five years from Australia, Texas, the +Plate, Cape of Good Hope, assured and reckless as +ever, but always straightforward, masterful, open-handed, +and gallant. His exploits are over now, and +all England read his last, how he sent on in safety a +settler's household through a narrow pass in Matabele +Land, and with a handful of troopers held the +savages in check until pursuit was vain.</p> + +<p>"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote +the war correspondent, "that Captain McGuffie, of +the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men had +been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his +back to a rock in a narrow place he defended himself +with such skill and courage that the Matabele declared +him the best fighting man they had ever met, +and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +Only last week two Seminary men were reading that +account together and recalling Peter, and such is the +inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death +(from apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would +have been much less lamented. "That is just how +Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved +a fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient +memories of Peter's boyhood, and read the +despatch of the commanding officer, with his reference +to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and +then they looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated +papers, the eyes as bold and mischievous as ever. +"Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of divinity—may +he be forgiven!—"well done, Speug, a terrier of the +old Scots breed."</p> + +<p>Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was +Duncan Ronald Stewart Robertson, commonly +known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything except +honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite +of Peter McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been +lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor in Rannoch, with +half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed, +and certainly since history began. For hundreds +of years they had been warriors, fighting other +clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for Prince +Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for +England as officers in the Highland regiments. The +present laird had been in the Crimean war and the +Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to +our examination in full uniform, having first inspected +the local garrison on the meadow, it was the +greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he +came in, counting the medals on his breast, amidst +which we failed not to notice the Victoria Cross. +We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him +when he mounted his horse outside and rode along +the terrace, and Peter led a detachment by the back +way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one cheer +more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad, +with red hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not +handsome, but carrying himself with much dignity +and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting +trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson +wore the kilt and never looked anything else but +a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the shabbiest, +and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners +were those of his blood, but a freer and heartier and +more harum-scarum fellow never lived. It is a pleasant +remembrance, after many years, to see again a +group of lads round the big fire in the winter time, +and to hear Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad, +"How Horatius kept the bridge in the brave days +of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and +proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's +Academy and simply compel a conflict. +Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell at Tel-el-Kebir, +and there is one Seminary man at least who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +keeps the portraits of the two captains—Peter McGuffie, +the Scot, the horsedealer's son, and a very +vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan Robertson, the +Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself +from head to foot—in remembrance of a school +which was rough and old-fashioned, where, indeed, +softness and luxury were impossible, but where men +were made who had the heart in them to live and die +for their country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOG" id="BULLDOG"></a>BULLDOG</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">II</h3> + + +<p>The headmaster of a certain great English school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +is accustomed to enlarge in private on the secret of +boy management, and this is the sum of his wisdom—Be +kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put +your foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This +deliverance must, of course, as its eminent author +intends, be read with sense, and with any modification +it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but +it is confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong +in character and scholarship, lay himself out to be +a boy's friend—using affectionate language, overseeing +his health, letting him off impositions, sparing +the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence—and +the boy will respond, without any doubt, but it +will be after his own fashion. The boy will take +that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity; +he will call him by some disparaging nickname, with +an unholy approximation to truth; he will concoct +tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will fling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +back his benefits with contempt; he will make his +life a misery, and will despise him as long as he lives. +Let a man of masculine character and evident ability +set himself to rule and drill boys, holding no unnecessary +converse with them, working them to the +height of their powers, insisting on the work being +done, not fearing to punish with severity, using terrible +language on occasion, dealing with every boy +alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise +with enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking +sarcasm—which boys hate and never forgive—and +he will have his reward. They will rage against +him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go +home in companies, but ever with an intense appreciation +of his masterliness; they will recall with keen +enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity +on prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine +his achievements, and pass it down to the +generation following; they will dog his steps on the +street with admiration, all the truer because mingled +with awe. And the very thrashings of such a man +will be worth the having, and become the subject of +boasting in after years.</p> + +<p>There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary +whose career was short and inglorious, as well as +very disappointing to those who believed in the +goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs. +Dowbiggin his idea of a schoolmaster's duty, and +won the heart of that estimable person, although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards +hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not +quite grasped the boy nature, at least in Muirtown.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love +for boys—for I was the youngest of our family, and +the rest were girls—seven dear girls, gentle and +sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you +think that boys, as well as older people, are ruled by +kindness and not by force? When I remember how +I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would +wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you +please. I dote on muffins! So I am a schoolmaster."</p> + +<p>"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can +tell you, for the place is just a den of savages! Will +you believe me, that a boy rolled James on the +ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday—and +James is so particular about being neat!—and when +I complained to Mr. MacKinnon, he laughed in my +face and told me that it would do the laddie good? +There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me +that he is called 'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve +of disrespect, I must say it is an excellent name +for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the +Doctor, 'If the masters are like that, what can you +expect of the boys?'"</p> + +<p>"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will +soon be some improvement; and it will not be my +fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will +feel as to a mother, to whom they will confide their +difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles' face had a +soft, tender, far-away look.</p> + +<p>It was only for one winter that he carried on his +mission, but it remains a green and delectable memory +with old boys of the Seminary. How he would +not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he +explained, but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour, +during which time he remonstrated with Peter for +his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom he +had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted +compatriots climbed up one by one to the window +and viewed him under Mr. Byles' ministrations +with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them +by signs that they would have to pay handsomely +for their treat. How he would come on Jock +Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously +refusing even to button his coat, and would +insist on affording him the shelter of an umbrella, to +Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that Peter was +following with derisive criticism. How, by way of +conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his +coat-tail pocket and offer them at unsuitable times +to the leading anarchists, who regarded this imbecility +as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr. +Byles' sudden resignation was largely due to an +engineering feat of Peter's, who had many outrages +to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely +that an exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the +delighted school, had its due effect.</p> + +<p>"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no +peppermint drops nor pats on the head that'll rule +Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on +the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll +take my advice, Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation +in a lassies' school. Ye're ower dainty for Muirtown +Seminary."</p> + +<p>This was not a charge which his worst enemy +could bring against Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, and +because he was the very opposite—a most unflinching, +resolute, iron man—he engraved himself on the +hearts of three generations of Muirtown men. They +were a dour, hard-headed, enterprising lot—a blend +from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the stiff +carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with +some good south country stuff—and there are not +many big cities on either side of the Atlantic where +two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be +found. They always carry in their hearts the "Fair +City"—which lieth in a basin among the hills, beside +the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots Florence; +and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon +their home, but the terminus of recollection is ever +the same. When they have dallied with the swimming +in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which +looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +the golf on the meadows, and the mighty snow fights +in days where there were men (that is, boys) in the +land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly +says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with +long-drawn pleasure, as one tasting a delicate liquor; +and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a world of joy +lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing +themselves, and then conversation really begins, and +being excited, they drop into the Scots tongue.</p> + +<p>"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at +his desk in the mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in +ower the top o' his spectacles, an' juist considerin' +wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that day."</p> + +<p>"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the +second, "an' as straight as a rush, though a'm +thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty, some threipit +(insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him—div +ye mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward +in his head—oscillatin' like? Sall, they were fearsome."</p> + +<p>"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o' +nine"—the third man cannot be restrained—"an' the +crack o' his cane on the desk an' 'Silence'; man, ye +micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the +prayer."</p> + +<p>"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids, +Jock?"</p> + +<p>"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt. +"Ae day I pit a peen into that smooth-faced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna bear the +look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig. +Did Bulldog open his een an' look?"</p> + +<p>The audience has no remembrance of such a +humiliating descent.</p> + +<p>"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist +repeated the first sentence o' the prayer ower again +in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes dune, doon he +comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"</p> + +<p>"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating +the sequel.</p> + +<p>"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin. +'Who asked you to join in the prayer?' an' +ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street. Bulldog +hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent +admiration for a space.</p> + +<p>"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord +deliver the laddies before Thee from lying—— '"</p> + +<p>"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.</p> + +<p>"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.</p> + +<p>"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes +Jock.</p> + +<p>"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased +to put common sense in their heads, and Thy fear in +their hearts, and—— '"</p> + +<p>"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days +of their life,'" chant the other two together.</p> + +<p>"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard +a better, lads; he walkit up to his words, did Bull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>dog, +an' he did his wark well." And as they thought +of that iron age, the railway president and the big +banker and the corn merchant—for that is what the +fellows have come to—smack their lips with relish +and kindly regret.</p> + +<p>It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that +the human history of the ages is repeated in the +individual, and the natural boy is a savage, with the +aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to circumstances, +stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible +passion for fighting, unfeigned admiration for +strength, and slavish respect for the strong man. +By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and +settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable—will +be concerned about his own boys having +wet feet, and will preside at meetings for the prevention +of cruelty to animals; but he has to go through +his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian +stage a philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy. +His master must have the qualities of a brigand chief, +an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and an iron hand. +On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol +from his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the +audacious rebel dead on the spot. So perfectly did +Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had an unholy +turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume +and arms of Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief +of prodigious valour and marvellous exploits. This +likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's +possession, and although Jock paid the penalty, +as was most due, yet it was believed that Bulldog was +much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the +picture in his desk.</p> + +<p>His achievements in his own field, which extended +from the supervision of handwriting to instruction in +mathematics, were sustained and marvellous. When +a boy was committed to his care at or about the age +of eight, before which age he attended a girls' school +and fed his imagination on what was in store for him +under Bulldog, the great man wrote at the head of +his copy-book, in full text and something better than +copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his +son." With this animating sentiment the neophyte +made a fearful beginning, and his master assisted +him to transcribe it for years to come through half +text and small text, till he could accomplish it with +such delicate up-strokes and massive down-strokes, +such fine curves and calculated distances, that the +writing could hardly be distinguished from the original, +and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and +bailies at the annual examination. It is said now +that no school of any name in the land would condescend +to teach writing, and that boys coming from +such high places can compass their own signatures +with difficulty, and are quite illegible after a gentlemanly +fashion; but it was otherwise in one old +grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>duced +at the Seminary that Muirtown bankers, +lawyers, and other great personages used to drop in +of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master, +would go over the copy-books and pick out suitable +lads for their offices. And it is a solemn fact that +one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London +without a single introduction and obtained a situation +in the great firm of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater +& Co., on the strength of a letter and sheet +of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose +reason was giving way under the scrawling of the +junior clerks. Bulldog considered that his pupils' +handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of +their departure. When they came to see him at +school from Glasgow, London, and beyond the sea, +as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides +giving them an affectionate welcome, which began +at the door and ended at the desk, he never failed to +produce their letters and point out the decadence in +careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.</p> + +<p>Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose +father insisted on the higher education, was allured +into geometry and raised to the dignity of the blackboard, +where he did his work in face of the +school with fear and trembling. This was public life, +and carried extremes of honour and disgrace. When +Willie Pirie appeared at the board—who is now a +Cambridge don of such awful learning that his +juniors, themselves distinguished persons, can only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +imagine where he is in pure mathematics—the +school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to +see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing +in an angle here and a circle there, and utilising +half the alphabet for signs, while he maintained the +reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice, +Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one +hand and in the other a cloth with which at a time +he would wipe his forehead till it was white with +chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When +the end came, Bulldog would seize the word out of +Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D., Q ... E ... D. +Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff +profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the +pointer under the other. "William Pirie, ye'll be a +wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance. Splendid!"</p> + +<p>It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to +indicate the nature of an isosceles triangle and confused +it with a square, supporting his artistic efforts +with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid +to one general ruin. For a while the master explained +and corrected, then he took refuge in an +ominous silence, after which, at each new development, +he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock, +seeing him make for the cane, modestly withdrew, +but did not reach his place of retreat without +assistance and much plain truth.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame to take any fee from your father, +Jock Howieson, and it's little use trying to give ye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +any education. Ye've the thickest head and the least +sense in all the schule. Man, they should take +you home and set ye on eggs to bring out chickens; +ye micht manage that wi' care. The first three propositions, +Jock, before ye leave this room, without a +slip, or <i>ma certes</i>!" and Jock understood that if he +misused his time his instructor would make good +use of his.</p> + +<p>It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty +schoolroom for ten minutes before the reassembling +at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should be +late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen +present and forty-three absent, he could only look at +Dowbiggin, and when that exemplary youth explained +that the school had gone up to the top of the +Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still +enjoying themselves, Bulldog was much lifted.</p> + +<p>"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for +the mind, but it's necessary to bring a glow to the +skin aifterwards, or there micht be a chill," and he +searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the +treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.</p> + +<p>It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and +a procession of forty-two entered panting and +breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried +his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by +Peter, whose hair was like unto that of a drowned +rat, and whose unconcealed desire was for obscurity. +The nineteen could only smack their lips with ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>pectation +and indicate by signs the treat awaiting +their comrades.</p> + +<p>"I've had chairge of the departments of writing, +arithmetic, and mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary," +began Bulldog, "for fifty-five years laist +Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae +passed through my hands. Some o' them were gude +and some were bad"—Mr. MacKinnon spoke with a +judicial calmness that was awful—"some were yir +grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set +of impudent, brazen-faced little scoundrels——" +Then his composure failed him as he looked at the +benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves, +for it will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"</p> + +<p>For a while no one moved, and then Dunc +Robertson rose in his place and made speech for his +fellows like a gentleman's son.</p> + +<p>"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not +our blame; we had been bathing in the golfers' pool, +and were dressing to run down to school in good +time. Little Nestie—I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir—had +stayed in a little longer, and someone cried, +'Nestie's drowning!' and there the little chap was, +being carried away by the current."</p> + +<p>"Is 'Nestie'—drowned?" and they all noticed the +break in Bulldog's voice, and remembered that if he +showed indulgence to anyone it was to the little +English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as +one out of due place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have +taken him home; but he was very nearly gone," and +Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man, +and—and it would have been terrible to see him die +before our eyes."</p> + +<p>"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white, +and Jock swore afterwards the tears were in his +eyes—but that we did not believe.</p> + +<p>"It was one of the boys, sir"—Robertson's voice +was very proud—"and it was a gallant deed; but I +can't give his name, because he made me promise not +to tell."</p> + +<p>The master looked round the school, and there was +a flush on his cheek.</p> + +<p>"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal, +and Jock stood in his place.</p> + +<p>"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."</p> + +<p>"It was Speug, sir, an'—it wes michty; but a' +wudna hae telt had ye no askit, an'—it's no my +blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where +Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.</p> + +<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and +Peter, who had obeyed this order in other circumstances +with an immovable countenance, now presented +the face of one who had broken a till.</p> + +<p>"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word +of it, that each laddie in this room may remember it +as lang as he lives."</p> + +<p>"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +had started for school ... and when I got back McGuffie +had jumped and was out in the current waiting +for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last, +white on the water, and shouted to Peter, and ... +he had him in a minute, and ... made for shore; big +swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it +except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to +rub Nestie till he came round, and ... he smiled to +us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to trouble you +chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick, +and ... that's all, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly +broke out Speug, goaded beyond endurance; "ye +helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle tae +blame as me."</p> + +<p>"All I did, sir"—and Robertson's face was burning +red—"was to meet Peter and take Nestie off his +hands quite near the bank; he had the danger; I +... did nothing—was too late, in fact, to be of use."</p> + +<p>Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt +at exculpation, but Bulldog was himself again +and gripped the reins of authority.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder; +"no arguing in my presence. You're an impudent +fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all your days, +the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie +in Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien +was that of a dog with a bad conscience.</p> + +<p>"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +with snowballs; ye've played truant times without +number; and as for your tricks in school, they're +beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the +capper on the concern wi' this business!</p> + +<p>"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence +is plain"—and now Bulldog began to speak with +great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie out of his +depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not +lift his head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)</p> + +<p>"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers, +but, instead of acting like ony quiet, decent, +well-brought-up laddie, and walking down to +the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed +that the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin), +"ye jumped clothes and all into the Tay." +(There was evidently no extenuating feature, and +Peter's expression was hopeless.)</p> + +<p>"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's +in ye, Peter McGuffie, made ye swim out where the +river was running strongest and an able-bodied man +wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget +yirsel and risk yer life?" But for the first time there +was no bravery left in Peter to answer; his wickedness +was beyond excuse, as he now felt.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 375px; height: 598px;"> +<a name="i036" id="i036"></a><img src="images/i036.jpg" width="375" height="598" alt=""Peter dared not lift his head."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death. +And ye did it, Peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've +dune since ye came into Muirtown Academy? +As for you, Duncan Robertson, ye may say what ye +like, but it's my opinion that ye're no one grain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>better. Peter got in first, for he's a perfect genius +for mischief—he's aye on the spot—but ye were after +him as soon as ye could—you're art and part, baith o' +ye, in the exploit." It was clear now that Dunc was +in the same condemnation and would share the same +reward; whereat Peter's heart was lifted, for Robertson's +treachery cried to Heaven for judgment.</p> + +<p>"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"—and +Bulldog pointed to the lists in gold of the +former pupils who had distinguished themselves over +the world—prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers, +preachers, lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and +an honour to have a place in it, and there are two new +names to be added.</p> + +<p>"Laddies"—and Bulldog came down from his +desk and stood opposite the culprits, whose one wish +was that the floor might open beneath them and swallow +them up—"you are the sons of men, and I knew +you had the beginnings of men in you. I am proud +... to shake hands with you, and to be ... your master. +Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes +and change yir clothes, and be back inside half an +hour, or it will be the worse for ye! And, look ye +here, I would like to know ... how Nestie is."</p> + +<p>His walk through the room was always full +of majesty, but on that day it passed imagination, +and from time to time he could be heard in a soliloquy, +"A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands, +though, men of their hands! Their fathers' sons!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Well done, Peter!" To which the benches listened +with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after +this fashion.</p> + +<p>When the school assembled next Monday morning +the boys read in fresh, shining letters—</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Peter McGuffie</span> and <span class="smcap">Duncan R. S. Robertson</span>, +who at the risk of their own lives saved a schoolfellow +from drowning."</p> + +<p>It stood before the school, so that all could see; +but if anyone dared to make a sign in that direction +as he passed Speug's desk, his life was not worth +living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug +never completely recovered from the moral disgrace +of that day.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="NESTIE" id="NESTIE"></a>NESTIE</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">III</h3> + + +<p>It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +and that his father was the Baptist minister of Muirtown—a +denomination whose adherents were few +and whose practices were vaguely associated with +the mill lade—and for two years before he appeared +at school Nestie and his father were quite familiar +to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies' +school, not far from the Seminary, where he was +much petted by the big girls, and his father could be +seen waiting for him every afternoon at dismissal +time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on +being spoken to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion +of lasting sorrow in his eyes, Mr. Molyneux +would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia +MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was +a simple fact that when, meditating his sermon one +day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their +midst and his son insisted on introducing him to +the boarders and to Miss Letitia, the poor man went +home to bed and left the pulpit next Sunday to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to +arrive on the opposite side of the terrace about a +quarter to three, and, as the hour drew near, reconnoitre +the door from behind a clump of bushes at the +foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance +with a bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him +shamelessly, and then, catching sight of the anxious +face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash +down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, +disappear round the corner. The minister used to +take a hasty survey lest they should become a sport +to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss +his boy was synonymous with mental incapacity, +and then—it was a cat of a girl who oversaw the +meeting—they hugged one another for the space of +a whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what +can be done if your heart is in it and your hat is +allowed to go without care. Had a Seminary boy +seen the sight—but the savages were caged at that +hour—his feet would have been glued to the ground +with amazement, and he had gone away full of silent +gratitude that Providence had cast his lot north of +the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that +the father and son had been separated for, say, six +whole hours—or almost—and it was necessary to +re-establish relations. When this had been done satisfactorily +the two crossed a wooden bridge into the +Meadow arm-in-arm—Mr. Molyneux unconsciously +wearing his hat with a rakish air on the side of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +head. Between this hour and sunset was their +pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did +were varied and remarkable. Sometimes they would +disappear into the woods above Muirtown, and return +home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden +with wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they +planted in their tiny garden and watered together +with tender solicitude. Other times they played +what was supposed to be golf over a course of their +own selection and creation at the top of the Meadow, +and if by any chance the minister got a ball into a +hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister +apologised for his insolent success. Times there +were—warm, summer days—when the minister +would bring a book with him and read to Nestie as +they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these +days they would fall a-talking, and it would end in +a photograph being taken from a case, and after they +had studied it together, both would kiss the face, +which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular +frequenters of the North Meadow began to take an +interest in the pair, so that the golfers would cry +"Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the +way of the balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the +chief of the salmon-fishers and a man of rosy countenance, +rowed them up to Woody Island, and then +allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the +North Meadow and beneath the two bridges, and +landed them at the South Meadow, refusing all rec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>ompense +with fierce words. Motherly old ladies +whose families were off their hands, and who took in +the situation at a glance, used to engage Mr. Molyneux +in conversation in order to warn him about +Nestie's flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp +at nightfall. And many who never spoke to them, +and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment +with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the +tears of things as the pair, strange and lonely, yet +contented and happy, passed them in the evening.</p> + +<p>When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss +Letitia's, his father began to hang round the Seminary +taking observations, and his heart was heavy +within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at +football—a dozen of the aboriginal savages fighting +together in a heap, a mass of legs, arms, heads—and +been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians +and English, from which he emerged without his +hat, umbrella, or book, and after he had been eyewitness +of an encounter between Jock Howieson and +Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered +to teach Nestie at home.</p> + +<p>"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie, +and I am not sure whether you are quite ... fit for +their ... habits. There is a master, too, called ... +Bulldog, and I am afraid——" and Mr. Molyneux +looked wistfully at his boy.</p> + +<p>"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't +d-deserve two lumps of sugar," for ever since they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +were alone he had taken his mother's place and +poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward? +A boy must learn to play games, you know, and they +won't be hard on a little chap at first. I'll soon learn +f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a +little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother +was as bwave as ... a s-soldier?"</p> + +<p>"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux +fell into the innocent little snare. "If you had only +seen the pony your mother used to ride on her +father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do +you know, nobody could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress. +It r-reared and ... k-kicked, Nestie"—the +little man spoke with awe—"and once ran away; but +your mother could always manage it. She looked so +handsome on 'Gypsy'; and you have her spirit. I'm +very ... t-timid."</p> + +<p>"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's +real d-danger." Nestie was now on his father's knee, +with a hand round his neck. "Who faced the cow +on the meadows when she was charging, and the +nurse had left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the +truth."</p> + +<p>"That was because ... the poor little man would +have been killed ... anyone would have d-done that, +and ... I d-did not think what I was d-doing...."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father +shamefully, even unto his face; "and everybody read +in the paper how the child wasn't near the cow, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you +... ran away; for shame, now!</p> + +<p>"Did you go to the people that had the dip ... +dip ... in the throat, or not?—that's a word I can't +manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and the girls +say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic—Victoria +Cwoss."</p> + +<p>"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary, +pater;" and so he went.</p> + +<p>"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in +the centre of the large entrance hall where his father +had left him, a neat, slim little figure in an Eton suit +and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads +in kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland +bonnets in various stages of roughness and decay.</p> + +<p>"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he +looked round with a bright little smile, although inwardly +very nervous.</p> + +<p>"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague +sense that Nestie, with his finished little manner, his +English accent, his unusual dress, and his high-sounding +name, was an offence to the Seminary. +"Get yir hat oot o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's +straw skimming into the forbidden "well."</p> + +<p>Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited +the temper which mistressed "Gypsy," and +boys who remembered Speug's first exploit expected +to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an +instant later, and he recovered his hat very neatly. +"I can leap a little, you know, not m-much yet," and +again he smiled round the ring.</p> + +<p>Nothing quite like this had happened before in the +Seminary, and there was a pause in the proceedings, +which was the salvation of Nestie, and far more of +Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first +sight of Nestie and had been considering the whole +situation in silence. Peter had a sudden inspiration.</p> + +<p>"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost +kindly accent, moving a little forward as for +purposes of identification.</p> + +<p>"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but +perhaps you would like to say Molyneux. What is +your name?"</p> + +<p>"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it +runs on the tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie, +or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi' ye gie's a cry." +And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter +sent the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well" +just as Bulldog came down to his room.</p> + +<p>"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the +owner of the bonnet and passed on to his class-room. +"In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore the schule +comes."</p> + +<p>"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that +worthy followed him mechanically, while the school +held their breath; "it would be kind of you to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +intwodoosh—it's a little difficult that word—me to +the master."</p> + +<p>"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog +at the sight of the two, for speech was paralysed in +Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.</p> + +<p>"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna +mind it ... Nestie ... he dinna know the way...." +And Speug broke down and cast a despairing look +at the cane.</p> + +<p>"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who +were making fun of me, and I asked him to bwing +me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."</p> + +<p>"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion +with unconcealed delight; "that is quite his +public character in this school, and there's nobody +better known. My advice"—here Bulldog stopped, +and looked from Speug to Nestie as one who was +about to say something and had changed his mind—"is +to ... be friends with Peter."</p> + +<p>So when the school took their places Nestie was +seated next to Speug, and it was understood in a +week that Nestie was ready to take his fair share in +any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the +baser sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie, +he had to balance accounts with Speug, and that the +last farthing would be faithfully exacted.</p> + +<p>As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that +Speug was a young gentleman of high conduct and +excellent manners—and Nestie, with all his sweet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>ness, +was as obstinate as a mule—nothing remained +for Speug but to act as far as he could up to his new +character. With this example of diligence by his +side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged +from long division and plunged into the rule of three, +while Nestie marvelled at his accomplishments—"for +I'm not a clever chap like you, P-Peter." Speug +had also accumulated a considerable collection of +pencil sketches, mostly his own, in which life at +Muirtown Seminary was treated very broadly indeed, +and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be +appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have +some scruple in having his own name connected with +it, it was consigned to the flames, and any offer of +an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur +in Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence. +His personal habits had been negligent to a +fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his +hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances +he had overlooked, and would indeed have +exposed himself to scathing criticism had it not been +that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as +it went, of a markedly practical turn.</p> + +<p>As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of +chivalry, and all the virtues which he had discovered +at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see him, and so +Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening—an +invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward +confusion of face. All the time which could be saved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +that day from the sermons was devoted by Mr. +Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it +was pretty to see the Molyneuxs going from shop to +shop collecting the feast. With much cunning Nestie +had drawn from Speug that fried sausages +(pork) with mashed potatoes, followed up by jam +tarts and crowned with (raisin) cake, was a meal +to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and +marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was +not watching at the upper window for Peter's coming +he was gloating over the table, and pater, putting +last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran +out and in to see that nothing had been forgotten, +for they did not give many feasts, and this was one +of gratitude. Peter was late, because he had gathered +his whole establishment to dress him, including +the old groom, who wished him to go in corduroy +breeches and top boots, and Speug was polished to +the extent of shining. He was also so modest that +he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie +began to discourse on his goodness he cast glances +at the door and perspired visibly, on which occasions +he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief. +Amid all his experiences on land and water, on horseback +and among boys—<i>i. e.</i>, savages—he had never +yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist, and +he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced, +however, to trifle with the tea, and in the end +did very fairly, regaining his native composure so far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +as to describe a new horse his father had bought, and +the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables. +Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and +showed him his various treasures—a writing-desk +with a secret drawer; <i>The Sandalwood Traders</i> by +Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks +complete; and then he uncovered something hidden +in a case, whereat Speug was utterly astonished.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and +some day I'll wear it, you know; your mother's +g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her." +And then, anxious to change the subject, he produced +a new knife with six blades. Before leaving +he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to +guide him in their upbringing after a proper fashion. +Without having ventured into the field of sentiment, +there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a way +to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such +an account of the tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that +night, that the horsedealer, although not given to +Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the +little Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping +through the sermon, but putting five shillings in the +plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely at his +father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's +Academy and turned various things over in his +mind.</p> + +<p>If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +gone out of Peter through his friendship with Nestie, +he erred greatly, and this Robert Cosh learned to his +cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and +very likely he did not know himself, but he must +needs waylay Nestie in Breadalbane Street one day +after schooltime and speak opprobriously to him, +finishing up—</p> + +<p>"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering +(stammering) dookie (Baptist) minister."</p> + +<p>"My father's one of the best men living"—Nestie +was in an honourable temper—"and you are an ill-bred +c-cad."</p> + +<p>Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before +Cosh had done with him had not Speug arrived on +the scene, having been in the gundy (candy) shop +not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh +had a poor chance at any time with Peter, but now +that worthy's arm was nerved with fierce indignation, +and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh, +whose appearance on arriving home was remarkable. +His story was even more so, and was indeed so affecting, +not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh came +into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards +to settle matters.</p> + +<p>"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones +charged with dignity, "to explain the cause of my +son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a poultice +on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself +for days."</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 390px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i050" id="i050"></a><img src="images/i050.jpg" width="390" height="600" alt=""'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +a' can tell ye, Bailie; ye're richt to bring him +back as sune as ye could; was't toothache?"</p> + +<p>"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of +your scholars, the maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating +scoondrel in Muirtown."</p> + +<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed +Bulldog's practical acquaintance with affairs. "Did +ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"</p> + +<p>No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction +that was beyond all evidence.</p> + +<p>"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had +ye a justification?"</p> + +<p>Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour +had one article at least—never to tell on a fellow.</p> + +<p>"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw +the preparations for Peter's punishment and could +not contain himself.</p> + +<p>"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't +tell me that there were two at puir Robert, Bailie; if +Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic a veeciously +inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'</p> + +<p>"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation. +Robert Cosh, what have ye to say? Speak +up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be sure o' +that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and +nothing but the truth."</p> + +<p>Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the +smallest morsel of truth in any shape or form, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +in spite of strong encouragement from the magistrate, +preserved an impenetrable silence.</p> + +<p>"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance, +"is mair than ordinary modesty; we 'ill take another +witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got to +say?"</p> + +<p>"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my +t-temper, and ... and ... I said things ... the pater's +ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me once or twice—but +I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir, +wanted to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but +that was how it happened."</p> + +<p>"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head +taller and much broader and four years older. Ye +called his father names, and then cut his lip when +he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little +scratches on yir own face. That would be Peter. +Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain, and we 'ill go to +judgment.</p> + +<p>"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and +it does not matter two brass peens what Robert Cosh +says about him, and ye're no an ill-disposed laddie +yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.</p> + +<p>"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what +doesna concern ye, and ye seem to think that Providence +gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye pull +him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o' +the hands o' Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark +sae neatly this time that I havena the heart to thrash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma +man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but +yir heart is richt; see that ye always use yir fists as +well as ye did that day.</p> + +<p>"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have +been convicted of three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled +a good man—for that three strokes with the +cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the whole +school—for that three strokes; and, lastly, being +moved of the devil, ye went home and told lies to a +magistrate—for that six strokes. Three on each +hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count. +Right hand first."</p> + +<p>"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."</p> + +<p>"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate; +"would ye interfere with the course o' justice in +another man's jureesdiction, and you a magistrate?" +And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome +manner.</p> + +<p>The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had +changed his mind, and Robert, who had expected +great things from the magistrate's protection, abandoned +himself to despair and walked humbly for +many days to come.</p> + +<p>Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog, +growing uneasy, called on his way home.</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the +minor key of Scots sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox +(for such an outlandish name was ever a trial) is far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to +come an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation +is the feenish.</p> + +<p>"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an' +he's verra sober (weak); but his head's clear, an' the +laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae (sorry) for him, +for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm +dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."</p> + +<p>The gentle little minister was not far from his end, +and Nestie was nursing him as best he could. He +sponged his father's face—threatening to let the soap +get into his eyes if he were not obedient—and dried +it with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin +brown hair slowly and caressingly, as he had often +done on Sundays when his father was weary. +Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of +being afraid, Nestie smiled a pathetic welcome, +which showed either what a poor actor the master +was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar +was a very shrewd little man.</p> + +<p>"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he +was n-naughty and got cold, and he has been so ill; +but he must get better, for you know there are ... +just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely +without the pater."</p> + +<p>"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon, +for we h-have been ... dear friends, that's +how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is a ... +brave little man, as you know, and mother and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +will not forget him ... you came to ask for Nestie, +and it was God's will, for I h-have a f-favour to ask +of you."</p> + +<p>Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but +said nothing. Only he took the minister's hand in +his and waited. He also put his other arm round +Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.</p> + +<p>"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are +all dead; there is nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie, +and he cannot live alone. C-could you get some +family who would be ... where he might be at ... +h-home?</p> + +<p>"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a +little, for Nestie is a famous little house-k-keeper; +and maybe there's enough to keep him ... till he +grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank, +and you'll ... manage for him, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not +find his voice—for a wonder, but his hand tightened +on the minister's, and he drew Nestie nearer to him.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have +no c-claim on you, for we are strangers in Muirtown, +and you ... have many boys. But you've been kind +to Nestie, and he ... loves you."</p> + +<p>The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice, +"I'm willing to manage Nestie's estate, big or small, +and I'll give an account of all intromissions to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +Court, but I must decline to look out a home for +Nestie.</p> + +<p>"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and +some of them are very comforting) "are good +freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster +and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like +to hear a young voice."</p> + +<p>Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner +than ever—in sound.</p> + +<p>"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and +maybe so is mine (Nestie nodded), so if the wee man +wouldna be feared to live wi' ... Bulldog—oh, I +know fine what the rascals call me—he 'ill have a +heart welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father +and mother, for yir laddie at the Day o' Judgment."</p> + +<p>"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all +His benefits?' I cannot thank you ... (the minister +was now very weak); but you will not ... miss your +reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me, +Nestie."</p> + +<p>For a short while he slept, and they watched for +any sign of consciousness.</p> + +<p>"It was too soon"—he was speaking, but not to +them—"for Nestie ... to come, Maud; he must stay +... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his master +will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be +a man, dear."</p> + +<p>The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing +the face he loved and had lost awhile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute +later he was weeping bitterly and clinging with all +his might to the schoolmaster, who came perilously +near to tears himself.</p> + +<p>"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and +mother to ye, Nestie," said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, +master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary, and +known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown +lads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY" id="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY"></a>A FAMOUS VICTORY</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">IV</h3> + + +<p>The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +our two chief enemies, the "Pennies" and McIntyres, +there were, in the holes and corners of the town, +obscure schools where little companies of boys got +some kind of education and were not quite devoid of +proper spirit. During a really respectable snow-storm—which +lasted for a month and gave us an +opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement +with our rivals, so that the town of Muirtown +was our own for the next seven days—a scouting +party from the Seminary in search of adventures +had an encounter with a Free Kirk school, which +was much enjoyed and spoken about for weeks beside +the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out +a permanent campaign by which the boys going +home southwards could look in from time to time on +the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness to +take charge of the operation. It was also said that an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +Episcopal or Papist school—we made no subtile direct +distinctions at the Seminary—in the northern +district might afford some sport, and the leadership +in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the +other captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not +last the whole year round even in a Scots town; but +it was wonderful what could be done in summer by +the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and +Lennie's English Grammar, and at the worst there +always remained our fists. The pleasure of planning +these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it +seemed to us that by spreading our forces we might +have perpetual warfare from January to December +and over the length and breadth of the town, so that +no one would be compelled to return to his home of +an evening without the hope of a battle, and every +street of the town would be distinguished by conflict. +Nothing came, however, of those spirited enterprises +that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their +mutual quarrels, which, we understood, were very +bitter, and entering into a covenant of falsehood—their +lying filled us with holy indignation—attacked +us front and rear while we were having an innocent +game of Russians and English on the North Meadow. +Although taken unawares and poorly provided with +weapons we made a good fight; but in the end +we were scattered so completely that Speug never +reached the school again that day, for which he was +thrashed by Bulldog next morning, and Dunc came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +in with a front tooth gone and one black eye, for +which he was soundly thrashed at once.</p> + +<p>During all that summer we denounced the amazing +meanness of the other side, and turned over plans +for splitting the alliance, so that we might deal with +each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted +a negotiation—watchfully and across the +street, for the treachery of the other side was beyond +description—and tried to come to terms with the +representative of our least hated opponent. He even +thought, and Peter was not guileless, that he had +secured their neutrality, when they suddenly burst +forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar +school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. +His feelings were not much hurt by the talk, in +which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after he had +abandoned negotiation and had settled down to +vituperation, but Seminary boys whose homeward +route took them past the hostile territories had to +be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time +of bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, +and might have finally broken its spirit had +it not have been for the historical battle in the beginning +of November, when McGuffie and Robertson +led us to victory, and the power of the allies was +smashed for years. So great, indeed, was their defeat +that in early spring Peter has been known to +withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the +season and of his own personal profit, for the simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +purpose of promenading through the enemies' sphere +of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult +in at their gates.</p> + +<p>One of the schools must have been a charity for +the education of poor lads, since it was known to us +as the "Penny School," and it was a familiar cry +ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The +Pennies are coming!" when we promptly turned out +to give them the welcome which, to do them justice, +they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny +a week or a penny a month we did not know, or +whether, indeed, they paid a penny at all, but it +pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed +beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came +at last to wear it proudly, like many other people who +have been called by nicknames and turned the nickname +into an honour, for they would follow up a +particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's +a penny for ye!" They were sturdy varlets, quite +indifferent as to boots and stockings, and equally so +as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the +Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary—whose +boys had given pledges to respectability, and +who had to answer searching questions as to their +personal appearance every evening—had it not been +for stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a +horsedealer, did not apply an over strict standard +of judgment to his son's manners or exploits, and +Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +soldier's son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline +for the Army.</p> + +<p>Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, +but it was as nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's +school, which called itself an academy, and had +a Latin master and held examinations and affected +social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew +that the Seminary had existed in the time of Queen +Mary, and some said went back to the days of +William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to +whether the present building was then in existence. +Everyone also knew that McIntyre's whole concern +belonged to himself, and that he collected the fees in +every class on Friday morning, that he took home +what was over after paying his assistants, and that +butcher meat for the McIntyre family next week +depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies +from the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going +in to get a new pair of boots at Meiklewham's would +have a fine sense of pride in being measured by an +old opponent whose face had often looked out on +him from the mist of battle. This pretentious and +windy institution even attempted the absurdity of +a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost +sitting in state and glaring before him with a Horace +in his hands upside down, McIntyre's minister +would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and courtesy +and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary +boy been offered the painful choice, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +almost as soon have gone to the Pennies as to McIntyre, +for in that case he had not been an impostor and +a fraud.</p> + +<p>For a week the weather had been hovering on +frost, and on Wednesday afternoon the snow began +to fall with that quiet and steady downpour which +means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great +spirits, declaring to an admiring circle of junior boys +that if Providence were kind and the snow continued +there would be something worth living for at the +dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a +serious affair, and was conducted after a scientific +fashion, it never commenced until there was a good +body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could +be gathered up without earth and stones. The unpardonable +sin of our warfare was slipping a stone +into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the +wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime +was cast out from every school. There was a general +understanding between parties that the mercies +were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to +refrain themselves until there was a fair and lasting +supply of ammunition. It was still snowing on +Thursday morning, and there were some who said +that war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson, +ever a daring and rash spirit, declared we should +repent it if we were not ready against one o'clock. +Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing +was likely to take place that day except desultory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +skirmishes, and that the whole day ought to be spent +in accumulating a store of snowballs against Friday, +when there was no question that we should have to +face the united schools in a decisive battle. This +was the only instance where our captains ever made +a mistake, and they atoned for their error of judgment +by the valour and skill with which they +retrieved what seemed a hopeless defeat.</p> + +<p>As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could +be seen glancing anxiously out at the window, and +he secured an opportunity with Dunc for a hasty +conference during the geometry lesson. About a +quarter to one he turned from his slate and cocked +his ear, and in two minutes afterwards every boy in +Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had +begun and that we had been taken by surprise. +Scouts from McIntyre's, as we afterwards learned, +had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a +school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our +playground. They had carried back news that we +were not yet prepared for battle, and our firm opinion +was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's +had allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in +order to take us at a disadvantage. Before the bell +rang and the senior classes were dismissed the Seminary +knew that our enemies had seized the field of +battle, but we did not know until we came out the +extent of the disaster.</p> + +<p>The Pennies had come down the back street and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +had established themselves opposite the narrow +entrance between two sheds through which three +only could walk abreast from our playground to the +street. They had also sent a daring body of their +lighter and more agile lads to the top of the sheds +which separated our playground from the street, and +they had conveyed down an enormous store of +ammunition, so that the courtyard was absolutely at +their mercy, and anyone emerging from the corridor +was received with a shower of well-made and hard +snowballs against which there was no standing. +Even if we ran this risk and crossed the open space +we could then be raked by the fire from the shed, +and a charge through the narrow passage to the +street would be in the last degree hazardous. There +were twelve feet of passage, and there were not +many who would care to face a stream of snowballs +driven by the vigorous hands of the Pennies down +this passage as through a pipe. Instead of meeting +our enemies on the street, we had been penned up +within our own school. McIntyre's had come down +the terrace and seized an excellent position behind +two Russian guns which stood opposite our school +and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They +had made these guns into a kind of fort, from behind +whose shelter, reinforced by a slight barricade of +jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had +driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless +discomfiture. It came upon us that we had been +shut up back and front, and shut up with the poorest +supply of snowballs and very little snow with which +to repair our resources.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 403px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i066" id="i066"></a><img src="images/i066.jpg" width="403" height="600" alt=""Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>While the younger boys raged and stormed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +safety of the corridors, Dunc and Speug retired for +consultation. In two minutes they came out and +gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered +together round the "well" and in the "well," and +on the stairs and along the corridors. It was at this +moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name +which he covered with glory before the close of the +day. As he had no class between twelve and one, +he had been observing events, and with the aid of +two or three other little boys had done what he could +to repair the neglect of yesterday. In spite of a rain +of snowballs he had availed himself of a sheltered +corner in the playground and had worked without +ceasing at the preparation of the balls. Every ball +as it was made was dipped into a pail of water and +then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was +soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two +hundred balls ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head +on his shoulders. Now," said Speug, speaking from +halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for +a beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to +the open. As soon as we've cleared the background +every ane o' the two junior classes is to mak' balls as +hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the +fighting line.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions; +Dunc will take thirty of ye and drive McIntyre +frae the guns and along the terrace till ye turn them +into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye—and I want +nae Dowbiggins—'ll come with me, and we'll bring +the Pennies aff the shed quicker than they got up, +and drive them up the back streets till we land them +wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors +'ill keep us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and +me will ken the reason at two o'clock.</p> + +<p>"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows +that can run and are no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll +rin round by the North Street and the Cathedral and +come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut +off McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools. +Dae nothin' till ye see Dunc and me drivin' the lot +up Breadalbane Street, then come down from the +back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin' +they'll be wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a' +be done."</p> + +<p>Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch, +each boy supplied with two balls and with twenty +youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's +balls were falling on the front wall and coming in +through the porch. One of them struck Dunc on the +side of the head, but he forbade any return fire.</p> + +<p>"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the +better for us"; and then, looking round, "Are ye +ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary! Semi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>nary!" +he led his division across the terrace and fell +upon McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short, +sharp scrimmage, during which Dunc levelled the +leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began to +retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand +encounter and scuffle on the snow. As +soon as Dunc's division had cleared the front, Jock +Howieson collected his lads and started along the +terrace in the opposite direction at a sharp run, +carrying no balls, for they intended to make them +on the scene of operation. When the other two +divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful +band. "MacFarlane, take six birkies, climb up the +waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed, couping +the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad +at the fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o' +the left-hand shed, and 'gin ye can clout that Penny +that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach him to keep in +the street next day.</p> + +<p>"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie +and Jamie Johnston 'ill lead ye down the passage. +We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak' 'em, +and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in +yir hand. Pit yir bonnits in yir pocket—they'll no +be muckle use—button yir jackets, and when the +three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow +close in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug, +who was in his glory that day. "I'll need a laddie +to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a laddie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time." +Below thirty of the junior school were waiting and +looking at Speug like dogs for a biscuit. He threw +his eye over the group, any one of which would have +given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown +in a cricket bat and his last kite, to have been chosen.</p> + +<p>"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white +and ye're terrible polite, but there's a sperit in ye. +Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and noo, you juniors, +aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's +well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a +ball when we drive the Pennies down the back road." +Then Speug moved to the back corridor and arranged +his division, with Nestie behind him, and +Bauldie and Jamie Johnston on the right hand and +on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's detachments +close behind, who were to turn off to the right +hand and the left as they emerged from the corridor; +the rest were to follow Speug through the passage of +danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in the +hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see +that they would leave a mark when they struck a +Penny. The third he took in his right hand, and +Nestie had the reserve.</p> + +<p>"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better +gae in and sit doun beside the fire with the Dowbiggins," +and since nobody responded to this genial +invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and +in a minute was across the playground and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +mouth of the passage, while Mackenzie and MacFarlane +were already scrambling up the walls of the +sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and +sending his first ball direct into the face of the foremost +Penny, and following it up with a second and +a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a +catapolt, and receiving anything from twelve to +twenty balls between him and Bauldie and Johnston, +the three led the way down the passage, Nestie close +behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls. +They met at the outer end of the passage—the Pennies +and Speug's lot—and for about thirty seconds +they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting, +shouting boy life, and then, so steady was the play +of Speug's fists, so able the assistance of the other +two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so rapid +the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among +the Pennies, the Pennies gave way and Speug and +his band burst into the back street, the leader with his +jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars +of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the +balls behind him.</p> + +<p>The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face +to face in the back street, with a space of about ten +yards between, and both parties made arrangements +for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies +could be seen bringing balls from Breadalbane +Street, and the Pennies themselves made such hasty +readjustments of their negligent attire as were ren<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>dered +necessary by the vigour of the last fighting. +Their commander was a sturdy lad about fifteen +years of age, with a great shock of red hair and fists +like iron. His favourite method of charge was to +lead his army in the form of an inverted V, he being +himself at the apex, and to force his way through +the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug +did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself +in the centre and threw out his two lieutenants far +out on the right hand and on the left, so that when +the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his +division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right +and left flanks—tactics which in Speug's experience +always caused dismay in the attacking force. The +younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample +resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers +without jackets now or bonnets, and as they brought +out the supplies of balls through the passage of +victory they received nods of approval from Speug, +each nod being something like a decoration. It was +fine to see Speug examining the balls to see that they +were properly made and of a hardness which would +give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.</p> + +<p>Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude. +When the Seminary lads fought their way +through the passage they cut off the retreat of three +Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on +the top of the right-hand shed.</p> + +<p>"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +ironic politeness; "that's no' the ordinar' road into +the Seminary;" and then, as they hesitated on the +edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in +these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he +said, "naebody 'ill touch ye"; and then he ordered +an open passage to be made through the ranks of the +Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate +Pennies walked, no one laying a hand upon +them, but various humourists expressing their hopes +that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that it +wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a +black eye, that they hoped one of them hadn't lost his +jacket on the roof of the shed, and that they were +none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected +to meet them later on—which gracious salutations +the Pennies received in bitter silence as they +ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped clear +of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the +two armies they turned round with insulting gestures, +and one of them cried, "Ye'll get yir paiks +(thrashing) for this or the day be done!"</p> + +<p>Their arrival among their friends and the slight +commotion which it caused in the front ranks of the +Pennies was a chance for Speug, who gave the signal +for the charge and made himself directly for the +leader of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of +time can describe the conflict between the two +leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at close +distance, every one going to its mark, and one leav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>ing +an indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous +forehead. They then came to close grip, and there +was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for +many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual, +they fell upon wrestling, and here it seemed +that Redhead must have the advantage, for he was +taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During +the wrestle there was something like a lull in the +fighting, and both Pennies and Seminaries, now +close together, held their hands till Speug, with a +cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by +an English groom in his father's stable, got the advantage, +and the two champions came down in the +snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a +shout of triumph, and the scouts running to and fro +with the balls behind joined in with, "Well done, +Speug!"</p> + +<p>Speug had all the instincts of a true general and +was not the man to spend his time in unprofitable +exultation. It was a great chance to take the Pennies +when they were without their leader and discomfited +by his fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving +his way through the midst of the enemy, who were +now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and +Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on +either side and were attacking them in parallel lines. +MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down from the +shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear +of the Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +was almost helpless in the confusion, and thought it +the best strategy to make a rush to the clear ground +in the rear of his position, calling his followers after +him; and now the Pennies gathered at the far end of +the street, beaten in tactics and in fighting, but ever +strong in heart, and full of insolence. "That," said +Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief +which he carried in his trousers pocket, and +hastily attending to some of his wounds, "that +wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit +close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties +as Bauldie and Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie, +all bearing scars, clustered round their commander +with expressions of admiration. "Yon was +a bonny twirl, and you coupit him weel." "Sall, +they've gotten their licks," while Speug modestly +disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the +Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and +that Redhead nearly got the mastery.</p> + +<p>At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was +heard in the rear of the Pennies, and Speug knew +that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the +full length of the terrace and was now fighting them +in Breadalbane Street. "Forward!" cried Speug. +"Dunc's on the back of them," and Redhead at the +same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering +his retreat with a shower of balls, and united +with McIntyre's, who were retiring before Robertson +and the second division of the Seminaries. Amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan +met where the back street opens into Breadalbane +Street, and their divisions amalgamated, exchanging +notes on the battle and examining one another's personal +appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen, +and not many jackets, which had either been left +behind or thrown off or torn off in personal conflict +with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but +that no one could tell, and there were some whose +waistcoats were now held by one button. Two or +three also had been compelled to drop out of active +battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their +faces with snow and trusting to be able to see clear +enough for the final charge; and still the juniors +were making their balls and had established a new +magazine at the end of the terrace. Several of these +impenitent little wretches had themselves been in the +thick of the fight, and could be seen pointing proudly +to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What +a time certain mothers would have that evening when +their warriors came home, some of them without +caps, which would never be recovered, most of them +with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of +them with disfigured faces, all of them drenched to +the skin, and every one of them full of infinite satisfaction +and gladness of heart! Their fathers, who +had heard about the battle before they came home +and had not failed to discover who had won, being +all Seminary lads themselves, would also be much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the +savagery of their boys, would wonder where the police +were, would threaten their sons with all manner of +punishments if this ever happened again, and would +declare their intention of laying a complaint before +the chief constable. As, however, it was absolutely +necessary in the interests of justice that the whole +facts should be known before they took action, they +would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative, +with every personal conflict and ruse of war, from +their sons, and only when the last incident had been +related would announce their grave and final displeasure.</p> + +<p>As for the police, who were not numerous in +Muirtown, and who lived on excellent good terms +with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have +a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming +on, and were detained by important duty in distant +streets. It was always, however, believed by the +Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at +the distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at +the far extremity of Breadalbane Street, following +the fight with rapt attention, and in the case of the +Pennies winning, which had been their own school, +smacking their lips and slapping their hands under +pretence of warming themselves in the cold weather, +and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching +off in opposite directions, lest they should be +tempted to interfere, which they would have con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>sidered +contrary to the rules of fair play, and giving +their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some +ingenuous modern person will ask, "What were the +masters of the Seminary about during this hour?" +The Rector was sitting by the fire in his retiring-room, +reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint +sounds of war reached his ears he would stir the fire +and lament, like the quiet old scholar that he was, +that Providence had made him ruler of such a band +of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope +that his barbarians would not come off second. As +for Bulldog, his mind was torn between two delights—the +anticipation of the exercise which he would +have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were +having to-day—and nothing more entirely endeared +Bulldog to his savages than the fact that, instead of +going home to dinner during this hour, which was +his usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit. +He was obliged to buy it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane +Street, from which he could command a perfect +view of the whole battle, especially as he happened +to stand in the doorway of the shop, and never +returned to school till the crisis of war was over. He +was careful to explain to the school that he had himself +gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders +in mischief, and it was on such an occasion that +Speug, keeping his right cheek immovable towards +Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with +irresistible effect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown +Seminary, who had been a sergeant in the Black +Watch and had been wounded three times in the +Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector +and reinforced by all law-abiding parents, were to +prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the school +for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such +an unfortunate affair take place he was directed to +plunge into the midst and by force of arm to bring +the Seminaries home to their own fireside, leaving +rough and rude schools like the Pennies and +McIntyre's to fight at their wicked will. For did +not the Seminary lads move in polite society, except +Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have +become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to +say nothing of bailies on the bench and elders of the +Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal McGlashan +carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter +as in the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations +which Speug and he had together in anticipation +of the snow time, when you may believe +if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting +Speug to obedience and gentleness, or if you please +that he was giving the commander of the Seminary +certain useful hints which he himself had picked up +from the "red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that +when the Seminaries went out that day in battle +array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires +with great diligence, so that he was not able to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +them depart. Afterwards it was the merest duty for +him to stand at the end of the passage of victory, lest +the Pennies or any other person should venture on +another outrage; and if he was late in calling his +boys back from Breadalbane Street, that was only +because the cold had made his wounds to smart +again, and he could only follow them in the rear till +the battle was over. When the evil was done there +was no use of vain regret, and in the afternoon the +sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts +of the battle from one and another, and then he +would declare that there were lads in Muirtown Seminary +who would have done well at Inkermann and +the storming of the Redan.</p> + +<p>Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight, +with the back road to the Seminary on the right +hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the Pennies +on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations, +for it gave opportunity for deploying in divisions, +for front attack and for flank, as well as for +royal charges which extended across the street. McIntyres +and Pennies had been recruited from their +several schools and supplied afresh with ammunition. +Redhead took command of the united force +and arranged them across the street in his favourite +wedge, with the base resting on the home street, +and this time he gave the signal, and so impetuous +was their charge that they drove their way almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself, +through sheer weight of attack, was laid flat in +the middle of the street. Robertson and his officers +rallied their forces, but it was possible that the Seminaries +might have lost the day had it not been for the +masterly foresight of Speug and the opportune +arrival of Jock Howieson. That worthy had +taken his division by a circuitous route, in +which they had been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal +school which wanted a fight on its own account +and had to receive some passing attention. A little +late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then, +judging it better not to come down Breadalbane +Street, where his attack would have been exposed, +he made his way on the right of the street by +passages known only to himself, and having supplied +his division with ammunition from a snow-drift in a +back entry, he came into the home street, which was +the only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them +off from their base. Leaving a handful of lads to +prevent the scouts coming out from the Pennies or +the McIntyres with information, and driving before +him the ammunition train of the enemy, he came +round into Breadalbane Street with twenty-five +tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and +just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting +man to have spent something like half an hour wandering +round circuitous streets and holding ridicu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>lous +conflicts with unknown schools when the battle +of Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown, +was hanging in the balance.</p> + +<p>Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the +new division they were upon his rear, and a play of +snowballs fell upon the back of the Pennies. This +was more than even veteran forces could endure, and +in spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired +his balls alternately back and forward, his forces fell +into a panic. They broke and drove their way +through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment +from balls fired at a distance of a few feet, +and then, in spite of the efforts of their officers, who +fought till they were black and blue, but chiefly red, +the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping +the rearguard of Howieson's before them like +straws in a stream, made for their respective schools. +The Seminaries in one united body, headed by the +three commanders and attended by the whole junior +school, visited the Pennies' school first, whose gates +were promptly closed, and having challenged the +Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and +fight like men—Redhead being offered the chance of +single combat with Dunc or Speug or Jock Howieson—the +Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's +Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning +had no gate, Speug led the Seminaries into the +centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys having no +spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>rooms. +As they would not come out, in spite of a +shower of courteous invitations, Speug stood in the +centre of their courtyard and called the gods to witness +that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries +had won. A marvellous figure was he, without +bonnet, without collar, without tie, without +jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but +a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers, +but glorious in victory. Taking a snowball from +Nestie, who was standing by his side, openly and in +face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window, +he sent it with unerring aim through the largest pane +of glass in McIntyre's own room. "That," said +Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here." +Then he collected his forces and led them home down +the cross street and into Breadalbane Street, down +the middle of Breadalbane Street, and round the terrace, +and in by the front door into the Seminary. +As they came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and +the juniors, who had rushed on before, met +them at the door and gave three cheers, first for +Speug, then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson, +which homage and tribute of victory Speug received +with affected contempt but great pride of heart. +In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful +henchman, little Nestie Molyneux, who, always +a delicate-looking little laddie, was now an altogether +abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping hair, and +battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +the whole school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and +although since then he has been in many places and +has had various modest triumphs, that still remains +the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY" id="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY"></a>HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">V</h3> + + +<p>It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +to live in public and shake hands with every person; +but absolute monarchs, who govern with an iron +hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public +mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had +walked homeward with his boys in an affectionate +manner, and inquired after their sisters, like his temporary +assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting +babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp, +the drawing-master—Augustus de Lacy Topp—who +wore a brown velvet jacket and represented +sentiment in a form verging on lunacy; or if he had +invited his classes to drink coffee in a very shabby +little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to +Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson, +the stupidest lad in the Seminary, would have been +shocked, and would have felt that the Creation was +out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog +was polite conversation, or private hospitality. +His speech was confined to the class-room, and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +was most practical; and his hospitality, which was +generous and widespread, was invariably public. His +<i>rôle</i> was to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted +above feeling, and had it not been for Nestie he had +sustained it to the day of his death.</p> + +<p>Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting +that he had approached his century, others being +content with "Weel on to eighty." None hinted at +less than seventy. No one could remember his coming +to Muirtown, and none knew whence he came. +His birthplace was commonly believed to be the West +Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing with a +case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic. +Bailie McCallum used to refer in convivial moments +to his schooldays under Bulldog, and always left it +to be inferred that had it not been for that tender, +fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in +Muirtown. Fathers of families who were elders in +the kirk, and verging on grey hair, would hear no +complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the +yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with +profit—they now said—was good enough for their +children. He seemed to us in those days like Melchizedek, +without father or mother, beginning or end +of days; and now that Bulldog has lain for many a +year in a quiet Perthshire kirkyard, it is hardly worth +while visiting Muirtown Seminary.</p> + +<p>Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the +bridge at 8.45, with such rigid punctuality that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +clerks in the Post Office checked the clock by him, +and he returned by the way he had gone, over the +North Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom +to close the administration of discipline at the +same hour as the teaching, considering with justice +that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather take +the cane than be kept in, where from the windows +he could see the North Meadow in its greenness, and +the river running rapidly on an afternoon. It +would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in +a Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked +and could not have maintained his necessary +reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house +upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown +from the other side of the river. It was a hill +which began with wood and ended in a lofty crag; +and even from his house, halfway up and among the +trees, Bulldog could look down upon Muirtown, +compactly built together on the plain beneath, and +thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily +from its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that +Bulldog gave himself to poetry, but having once +varied his usual country holiday by a visit to Italy, +he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that +Muirtown reminded him of Florence as you saw that +city from Fiesole, with the ancient kirk of St. John +rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay instead of +the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage +in her cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +the Arno was but a poor, shrunken river compared +with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been +born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown, +and always believed that there was no river to +be found anywhere like unto the Tay. His garden +was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance +was by a wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within +these walls no one knew, but many had imagined. +Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced +Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the +archway, and then it was in their plan to form a +ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from the +top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior +and observe Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's +courage failed at the critical moment, and they returned +without news to the disappointed school.</p> + +<p>Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in +those days, but the hardest heart was touched with +compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his father +and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced +in their master; but it was with trembling, +and the thought of spending the evening hours and +all one's spare time in his genial company excited +our darkest imagination. To write our copy-books +and do our problems under Bulldog's eye was a +bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to life, +but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond +words.</p> + +<p>As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +was never perfectly happy except when he was plying +the cane, it was taken for granted that Nestie +would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the +afternoon of one day to the morning of the next, and +when Nestie appeared, on the third morning after his +change of residence, the school was waiting to receive +him.</p> + +<p>His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side, +with his hands in his pockets, talking at his ease and +laughing lightly, amazed us on first sight, but did not +count for much, because we considered this manner +a policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy. +After all, he was only doing what every one of us +would have done in the same circumstances—conciliating +the tyrant and covering his own sufferings. +We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with +his guardian, and then we closed in round him and +licked our lips, for the story that Nestie could tell +would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.</p> + +<p>Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with +questions which came in a fine confusion from many +voices, and to which he was hardly expected to give +an immediate answer.</p> + +<p>"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has +Bulldog tawse in the house?" "Div ye catch it +regular?" "Does he come after you to your bedroom?" +"Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden +door locked?" "Could ye climb over the wall if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let ye +bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons +a' night?" "What does Bulldog eat for his dinner?" +"Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he ever say +onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog +sleeping?" "Are ye feared to be with him?" +"Would the police take ye away if he was hurting +ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?" +"Would he let ye make gundy (candy) by the +kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at yir +books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?" +"What do ye call him in the house?" "Would ye +call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy if +the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in +the garden?" "Would ye daur to lay a finger on +them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?" +"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?" +And then Speug interfered, and commanded silence +that Nestie might satisfy the curiosity of the school.</p> + +<p>"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite +form of address. "Noo, Nestie, come awa' wi' yir +evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"</p> + +<p>"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm +getting on with Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with +fun, for he'd a nice little sense of humour, and never +could resist the temptation of letting it play upon our +slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare +you seem to know all about what h-happens. I'll +j-just tell you something about it, but it'll make you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round +Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and +if I'm not down at half-past, Bulldog comes for me +with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point rubbed himself +behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six +'p-props' from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions" +(a groan from the school): "for breakfast we've +porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with +Bulldog—one, two, three, four—with the spoonfuls. +He's got the c-cane on the table." ("Gosh" from a +boy at the back, and general sympathy.) "He has +the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy." +("It cowes all.") "There are three regular c-canings +every day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, +and one before you go to bed." At this point +Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to +Nestie's account, and knew that he had a luxuriant +imagination, interfered.</p> + +<p>"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little +scoundrel, and ye're telling lees straicht forward," +and the school went into the class-room divided in +opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been +feeding their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but +others were inclined to believe anything of Bulldog's +household arrangements. During the hour Speug +studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in +the break he laid hold of that ingenious young +gentleman by the ear and led him apart into a quiet +corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear which +shook even that worthy's composure.</p> + +<p>"Did ye say rabbits?"</p> + +<p>"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, +and Speug was more confounded than he had ever +been in all his blameless life.</p> + +<p>"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if +ye tell lees."</p> + +<p>"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell +lies, but sometimes I compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, +and he feeds them himself."</p> + +<p>"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"—for this was +with us the final test of truth.</p> + +<p>"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon +Speug had so much to think about that he +gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him +with nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably +correct drawing of two lop-eared rabbits.</p> + +<p>Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow +together after school, and before they parted at the +bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit in his +new home that evening from Speug; but, although +modesty was not Speug's prevailing characteristic, +he would on no account accept the flattering invitation. +Maybe he was going to drive with his father, +who was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was +going out on the river in a boat, or maybe the stable +gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose for a +run, or maybe——</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 348px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i092" id="i092"></a><img src="images/i092.jpg" width="348" height="600" alt=""Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +Speug, for once in your life," said Nestie, who, his +head on one side, was studying Speug's embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug, +turning a dark red at this insult. "Nane o' yir +impidence."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie, +and dodged at the same time behind a lamp-post. +"Why, Speug, I didn't know you were f-frightened +of anything."</p> + +<p>"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it +had been Jock Howieson said that, I'd black his eyes. +What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable little +shrimp?"</p> + +<p>"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but +just let me g-guess. It might be climbing the hill; +or did you think you might meet one of the 'Pennies,' +and he would fight you; or, Speug—an idea occurs +to me—do you feel as if you did not want to spend +an hour—just a nice, quiet hour—all alone with +Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in +the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm +ashamed of you, when poor little me has to live with +him now every day."</p> + +<p>"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll +learn ye to give me chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog, +and I dinna care if he chases me round the +garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You <i>are</i> afraid, Speug; you <i>dare</i> not come." And +Nestie kept carefully out of Speug's reach.</p> + +<p>"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this +very night at seven o'clock, but I'll no come in unless +ye're at the garden door."</p> + +<p>Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day, +and was afraid neither of man nor beast, but his +heart sank within him for the first time in his life +when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to +the residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing +but his pledged word, and a reputation for courage +which must not be tarnished, since it rested on nothing +else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door. +He was before his time, and Nestie had not yet come +to meet him, and he could allow his imagination +to picture what was within the walls, and what might +befall his unfortunate self before he went down that +lane again. His one consolation and support was in +the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the case, as Nestie +had sworn with an oath which never had been broken +at the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that +dreadful enclosure, there was hope for him; for if he +knew about anything, he knew about rabbits, and if +anyone had to do with rabbits—and although it was +incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?—there +must be some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog. +Speug began to speculate whether he might not +be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits +and examine thoroughly into their condition, and es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>cape +from the garden without a personal interview +with its owner; and at the thought thereof Speug's +heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had +delighted the Seminary, none, for its wonder and +daring, its sheer amazingness, could be compared +with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie," +he murmured to himself, as he remembered that little +Englishman's prodigal imagination, "is a maist extraordinary +leear, but he said 'as sure as death.'"</p> + +<p>"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have +opened the door. Come along and shake hands with +the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And +Speug was dragged along the walk between the +gooseberry bushes, which in no other circumstances +would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up +to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution. +He heard someone coming down the walk, +and he lifted up his eyes to know the worst, and in +that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted +the unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for +the like of that countenance could not be found on +any other man within the United Kingdom of Great +Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that +Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of +justice. The nose and the chin, and the iron-grey +whiskers and hair, and above all those revolving +eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what +had happened to Bulldog's face, for it was like unto +that of another man? The sternness had gone out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +it, and—there was no doubt about it—Bulldog was +smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and +irresistible smile. It had taken the iron lines out of his +face and shaped his lips to the kindliest curve, and deprived +his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed the +judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given +him—it was a positive fact—another pair of eyes. +They still revolved, but not now like the guns in the +turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and left. +They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light +from a harbour tower. There never was such a +genial and humoursome face, so full of fun and humanity, +as that which looked down on the speechless +Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation. +Where were the pepper-and-salt trousers +and the formal black coat and vest, which seemed +somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's +reign? and the hat, and the gloves, and the +stick—what had become of his trappings? Was +there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers, +down at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the +seams, as those that covered the feet of Bulldog in +that garden. The very sight of those slippers, with +their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and +ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism, +was the first thing which cheered the +heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no +problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to +scorn. Where did he ever get those trousers, and +from whose hands did they originally come, baggy +at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden +mould and torn with garden bushes?</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 387px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i096" id="i096"></a><img src="images/i096.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt=""Speug was dragged along the walk."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +place on the side of the hill; but would any person +believe that the master of mathematics, besides +writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was +going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two +of his pupils, without the vestige of a waistcoat. +Speug now was braced for wonders, but even he was +startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of +earlier age than the trousers, with which it had no +connexion in colour. It may once have had four buttons, +but only two were left now; there was a tear in +its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden +wall, the handle of a hammer projected from +one pocket, and a pruning-knife from the other. And +if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in +the side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was +a knife in his hand, with six blades and a corkscrew +and a gimlet and the thing for taking the stones out +of a horse's hoof—oath again repeated—and Bulldog +was trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his +finger. Speug, now ascending from height to height, +was not surprised to see no necktie, and would have +been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a +wild hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it +might be crowned with a Highland bonnet, minus the +tails; but instead thereof there was a hat, possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured, +and worn so rakishly, partly on the back +and partly on the side of his head, that Speug was +inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could befall +him in that garden.</p> + +<p>"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing +figure. "Ye've been long of coming. There's +something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened up +the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce +his knife, which was not so bad after all, for it had +six departments, and one of them was a file, which +was wanting in Bulldog's.</p> + +<p>"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie. +"It's split more tops than any one in the school; +it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its deadly steel +point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to +look unconscious as the owner of this instrument of +war.</p> + +<p>"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's +many a year since I've spun a top. Where's yir +string?" and he strode up the walk winding the top, +and the boys behind looked at one another, while +Nestie triumphed openly.</p> + +<p>"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered. +"Ain't he great? And just you wait; you haven't +begun to see things yet, not h-half."</p> + +<p>Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a +right hand that had not lost its cunning, but rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +had been strengthened by much cane exercise. "It's +sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to +touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its +time, and the three hung over that top with fond interest, +as Bulldog timed the performance with his +watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.</p> + +<p>"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master. +"I would like to have yir advice," and as they went +down through the garden they halted at a place, and +the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and +took crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on +the thrushes bade him welcome, and he showed the +boys where the swallows had built every year, and +they also flew round his head.</p> + +<p>"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be +afraid o' you, will they, Dandie?" and the old terrier +which followed at his heels wagged his tail and indicated +that he also was on good terms with every +living thing in the garden.</p> + +<p>No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to +believe it, even although Speug tried to inculcate +faith with his fists, that Bulldog had carried out a +litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and +that, before the three of them laid themselves out for +a supper of strawberries, Speug had given to his +master the best knowledge at his command on the +amount of green food which might be given with +safety to a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +with authority that a moderate amount of tea-leaves +and oatmeal might be allowed as an occasional +dainty.</p> + +<p>After the attack on the strawberries, in which +Speug greatly distinguished himself, and Bulldog +urged him on with encouraging words, they had +tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign +of cane or tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the +corks himself, and managed once to drench Speug +gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with +his famous red handkerchief and was inordinately +proud, while Nestie declared that the thing had been +done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened him with +the tawse for insulting his master.</p> + +<p>"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of +rock before ye go," and Bulldog produced the only +rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth +eating—Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure, +and rich, and well-flavoured; and when Speug knew +not whether to choose the peppermint, that is black +and white, or the honey rock, which is brown and +creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was +red outside and white within, his host insisted that +he should take a piece of each, and they would last +him till he reached his home.</p> + +<p>"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at +the garden gate, "ye're the most aggravating little +scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and the devilry +that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +fine company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and +Nestie and me will be glad to see ye when ye're no +engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget to come, +Peter."</p> + +<p>Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely +among the rabbits, again forsook him, but he was +able to indicate that he would seize an early opportunity +of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald +MacKinnon in his own home; and when Bulldog +thrashed him next day for not having prepared an +exercise the night before, the incident only seemed +to complete Speug's pride and satisfaction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_DISGRACE_OF" id="THE_DISGRACE_OF"></a>THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">VI</h3> + + +<p>Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +of the Seminary by various efforts to improve +its mind and manners, but when he proposed at the +beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays +with botanical excursions to Kilspindie Woods, +which, as everybody knows, are three miles from +Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt +that if there was any moral order in the universe +something must happen. From the middle of September, +when the school opened, on to the beginning +of October, when football started, our spare time was +given to kites, which we flew from the North Meadow +in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug +had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon +upon it painted in blue and yellow and red—the red +for the fire coming out of his mouth—and a tail of +eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened with +a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could +have launched the monster from the ground—bigger +than Peter by a foot—and nursed it through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in +the higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the +dragon was but the size of a man's hand in the clear +autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon his +back, with his hands below his head, and the stick +with the kite string beneath his feet, and gaze up at +the speck above, with an expression so lifted above +this present world that a circle of juniors could only +look at him with silent admiration and speculate +whether they would ever become so good and +great.</p> + +<p>It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying +was chiefly done upon your back, for it gave endless +opportunities for intricate man[oe]uvres and spectacular +display. When Peter was in the vein he would +collect twelve mighties—each with a kite worth seeing—and +bringing the kites low enough for the glory +of their size and tails to be visible they would turn +and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and +distance with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan +would watch the review with keen interest +and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the +band would work their way up to the head of the +Meadow in the teeth of a north-wester, and forming +in line, with half a dozen yards between each boy, +would let the kites go and follow them at the run as +the kites tore through the air and almost pulled their +owners' arms out of the sockets. It was so fine a +demonstration that the women bleaching their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +clothes would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's +shirts to let Speug keep his course—knowing very +well that he would have kept it otherwise over the +shirts—and golfers, who expect everyone to get out +of their way on pain of sudden death, would stop +upon the putting green to see the kites go down in +the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded +at their heels. If the housewives shook their heads +as they spread out the shirts on the grass again—weighing +them down with clean stones that they +might not follow the kites—it was with secret delight, +for there is no wholesome woman who does +not rejoice in a boy and regard his most vexatious +mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod, +the keenest of golfers and the most touchy of Celts, +declared that this condemned old Island was not dead +yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy +young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty +ploy that Mr. Byles proposed to take the Seminary +for a botanical excursion.</p> + +<p>It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr. +Byles announced the new departure, and, even if +Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an inscrutable +countenance, the school was too much amazed +to interrupt. Having touched on the glories of the +creation amid which we lived, Mr. Byles pointed out, +in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen +terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics +as they all did so diligently—Jock Howieson's eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +turned instinctively to Bulldog's cane—but they must +also know some natural science in order to become, +as he hoped they would, cultured men—Speug was +just able to cast a longing glance at Thomas John. +That no pursuit was easier and more delightful than +botany, especially among wild flowers. That on +Saturday he proposed to go with as many as would +join him to ransack the treasures of Kilspindie +Woods. That these woods were very rich, he believed, +in flowers, among which he mentioned wild +geraniums—at which the school began to recover +and rustle. That the boys might dry the geraniums +and make books for Christmas presents with them, +and that he hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary +containing all the wild flowers of the district. The +school was now getting into good spirits, and Bulldog +allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy +who desired to improve his mind was to put on his +oldest suit and bring a bag to carry the plants in and +be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow. +Then Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk +with energy and dismissed the school, and Nestie told +Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.</p> + +<p>Outside the school gathered together on the terrace +around the Russian guns, which was our Forum, +and after five seconds' pause, during which we gathered +inspiration from each others' faces, a great +shout of laughter went up to the sky, full-toned, +unanimous, prolonged. Any sense of humour in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany +class, with expeditions, was irresistible.</p> + +<p>"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely +tickled; "it cowes a'. An' what was the +ither flooer—'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be +poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be +making a book for a present to Bulldog."</p> + +<p>"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins, +who were making off, as mass meetings did +not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir feet +or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if +ye do. Give us a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then +there was instant silence, for Nestie had a nice little +trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a +school where delicate gifts were rare.</p> + +<p>"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his +hand with Mr. Byles's favourite polite deprecating +gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear boys, +that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet, +Peter McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed, +and I 'ope, I mean h-hope, you will make an effort to +l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common object of +Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands—Howieson, +I must ask you not to annoy Thomas +John Dowbiggin—the c-colour is a lovely gold, and +yet—no talking, if you please, it is r-rude—we pass +it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take +a dandelion h-home to his sister. Now go hout ... +or rather out, quietly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried +Bauldie; and Johnston passed a half stick of gundy +to Nestie to refresh him after his labours. "Are ony +o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles +traking thro' the Kilspindie Woods, with thae +bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his heels, carryin' an +airmful o' roots and sic like."</p> + +<p>"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o' +Byles and a litter o' Dowbiggins!"—and Jock was +very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a procession +o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe +airm in airm!"</p> + +<p>This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the +matter for the Seminary, as a score of its worthies +marching across the bridge in the interests of science, +like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for ever. +So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should +see the Byles expedition off next morning, and then +hold a field day of kites in the meadow.</p> + +<p>The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that +means that when a prim, conventional, respectable +man takes in his head to dress as a Bohemian, the +effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious +to show that he could be quite the gay rustic when he +pleased, and he was got up in a cap, much crushed, +and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar corresponding, +and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained +with futile chemical experiments. He was also +equipped with a large canvas bag, slung over his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained +could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place +if it were damp beneath. The Dowbiggins had +entered into the spirit of the thing, and were in +clothes reserved for their country holidays. They +had each an umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether +were a pair of objects to whom no one would +have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie +made him a social outcast, had declared himself a +convert to natural science, and was sucking up to +Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought +that they would like to know something about flowers, +made up the Botanical Society.</p> + +<p>They were a lonely little group standing on the +terrace, while Mr. Byles was securing a trowel and +other instruments of war from his room, but a large +and representative gathering of the Seminary did +their best to cheer and instruct them.</p> + +<p>Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which +bulged from the bag of the younger Dowbiggin contained +spirituous liquors, and warned the two juniors +to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to +drinking. He also expressed an earnest hope that a +rumour flying round the school about tobacco was +not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was +horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a +tender care of his health and personal appearance, +not to bully Lord Kilspindie's gamekeepers, nor to +put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things +not to tell lies.</p> + +<p>Thomas John was beset with requests—that he +would leave a lock of his hair in case he should not +return, that he would mention the name of the pawn-broker +from whom he got his clothes, that he would +bring home a bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, +that he would secure a supply of turnips to make +lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr. +Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he +would be careful to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles +might drop on the road, and that he should not use +bad language under any circumstances.</p> + +<p>"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said +Mr. Byles, who had come out in time to catch the +last exhortation: "it is far better to himprove, I +mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set +of children; but we all hope that you will have a nice +fly, don't we, boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a +quarter might have provoked a demonstration had +not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an +amazing circumstance. As the botanists started, +Speug, who had maintained an unusual silence all +morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and +gave Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering +for scientific research. After their friends +had recovered themselves they buzzed round the two, +who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable +affectation of sedateness, but received no sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>isfaction. +Speug contented himself with warning +off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with +the idea of forming a mock procession, and then giving +them a wink of extraordinary suggestiveness. +But Nestie was more communicative, and explained +the situation at length——</p> + +<p>"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not +know it; he fairly loves g-geranniums, and is sorry +that he wasted his time on k-kites and snowballs. +We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we +don't want you to trouble us." But this was not +knowledge.</p> + +<p>It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie +tailed off at the bridge, and Speug, halfway across, +turned round and winked again, it was with regret +that they betook themselves to their kites, and more +than once they found themselves casting longing +glances to the distant woods, where Speug was now +pursuing the study of botany.</p> + +<p>"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung +motionless in the sky, "this is weel enough, but tak' +my word for't it's nothing to the game they're +playin' in yon woods."</p> + +<p>"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna +see muckle game in that: I would as soon dig +potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had +a prosaic mind and had little imagination.</p> + +<p>"Geranniums! ger—— havers, that's no' what +Speug is after, you bet. He's got a big splore (ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>ploit) +on hand or he never crossed Muirtown Brig in +such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. +Peter'ill lose the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill +stick them in a bog, or"—and Jock could hardly hold +his kite—"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill row +them over to Woody Island and leave them there till +Monday, with naething but bread and milk and the +net to sleep in." And the joy of Jock and Bauldie +at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to +their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of +sympathy with their fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p>If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign +on the way to the woods, for he was a model of +propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. +He showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of +the Dowbiggins, so that these two young gentlemen +relaxed the vigilant attention with which they usually +regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with +Cosh. As for the master, Peter simply placed +himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating on the +extent of the woods and their richness in flowers—"just +fair scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest +o' them:" offering to take the expedition by the +nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting +on the number and beauty and tameness of +the pheasants, till Mr. Byles was charmed and was +himself surprised at the humanising influence of +scientific pursuits.</p> + +<p>Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +for he led them by so direct a way that, before they +came to the place of flowers, the expedition—except +the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in Nestie's +charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next +door to babies—had climbed five dykes, all with loose +stones, fought through three thickets very prickly +indeed, crawled underneath two hedges, crossed +three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired +themselves times without number. Cosh had jostled +against Speug in leaping from one dry spot to another +and come down rolling in the mud, which made +his appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in +helping Thomas John out of a very entangling place, +had been so zealous that the seat had been almost +entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and +although Mr. Byles had done his best with pins, the +result was not edifying; his brother's straw hat had +fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he +jumped from a wall, and was of no further service, +and so the younger Dowbiggin—"who is so refined +in his ways," as his mother used to say—wore as his +headgear a handkerchief which had been used for +cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, +whom fate might have spared, misfortunes had accumulated. +His trousers had been sadly mangled +from the knee downwards as he crawled through a +hole, and had to be wound round his legs with +string, and although Speug had pulled his cap out +of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +to leave the peak behind, and he was so clumsy, +with the best intentions, that he allowed another +branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side +of the head and left a mark above his eye, which +distinctly suggested a prizefight to anyone not +acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character. +Peter himself had come unscathed from the +perils of land and water, save a dash of mud here and +there and a suspicion of wet about his feet, which +shows how bad people fare better than good. The +company was so bedraggled and discouraged that +their minds did not seem set on wild flowers, and +in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and +thoughtful, led the botanists to a pleasant glade, +away from thickets and bogs, where the pheasants +made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. +Byles was much cheered by this change of environment, +and grew eloquent on the graceful shape and +varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly +that they gathered round the party, which was not +wonderful, as a keeper fed them every day, but which +Mr. Byles explained was due to the instinct of the +beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that +we love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, +and made the Dowbiggins promise that they would +never shoot pheasants or any other game, and there +is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as +they did not know one end of a gun from another, +and would no sooner have dared to fire one than they +would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought +occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they +should now have their lunch and feed the birds with +the fragments. He was wondering also whether it +would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, +just to hold it in the hand and let it go again.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 384px; height: 595px;"> +<a name="i114" id="i114"></a><img src="images/i114.jpg" width="384" height="595" alt=""They were so friendly that they gathered round +the party."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"They were so friendly that they gathered round +the party."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>When things had come to this pass—and he never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +had expected anything so good—Speug withdrew +unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran +swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with +the juniors.</p> + +<p>"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, +"div ye see that path? Cut along it as hard as +ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the Muirtown +Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. +For Byles and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on +sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's pheasants that I'm +expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht. +Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, +"that I savit ye from sic company."</p> + +<p>"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had +disappeared, "I've never clypit (told tales) once since +I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a nice job, but +div ye no' think that the head keeper should know +that poachers are in the preserves?"</p> + +<p>"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's +house, "especially when there's a g-gang of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +and such b-bad-looking fellows—v-vice just written +on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young +and so w-wicked."</p> + +<p>"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin' +along, as if the dogs were aifter them?" and the +head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's +you, Speug—and what are you doin' in the woods +the day? there's no eggs now." For sporting people +are a confederacy, and there was not a coachman +or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve +miles of Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie +senior, and not many who did not also have the +acquaintance of his hopeful son.</p> + +<p>"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep +our wind richt, an' we cam on a man and three +boys among the pheasants in the low park."</p> + +<p>"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's +birds?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin', +but they were feedin' them, and we saw a net."</p> + +<p>"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, +Tom, get up out of yir beds this meenut; the +poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin' +them alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for +stock: and broad daylight; it beats everything. He +'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely. And +the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an' +the end o' September. Dod: it's a depairture in +poachin'." And as the sight of Mr. Byles burst on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two +Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a +specially venturesome one, the head keeper almost +lost the power of speech.</p> + +<p>"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles +looked up to see three armed keepers commanding +their helpless party, and one of them purple with +rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could +give you a hand in catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart +would be of ony use ... confound your cheek!</p> + +<p>"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants +a biscuit, did ye, and the boys thought they would +like to stroke one, would they? How is that, lads? +I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for +brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match. +Maybe you're a Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an +orphan asylum?</p> + +<p>"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary, +that's what you are, is it, ye awfu' like blackguard, +an' the laddies are the sons o' a respectable Free +Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no' +the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir +time and try again. I'm enjoying it. Is't by the +hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty to +ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue +o' ye.</p> + +<p>"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge +a charge o' shot in ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in +Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye, professor an'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an' +we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He +hasna tried a learned institution like this since he +mounted the bench. March in front, but dinna try +to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic +a band o' waufies!"</p> + +<p>Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, +having seen all without being seen, now started +for Muirtown to gather the kite-players and as many +of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival +of the botanists. They were brought in a large +spring-cart—Mr. Byles seated between the head +keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three +huddled like calves in the space behind—a mass of +mud, tatters, and misery, from which the solemn, +owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap was now +gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As +they were handed over to the police the Seminary, +which had been at first struck dumb, recovered speech +and expressed itself with much vivacity.</p> + +<p>"Who would have thought Byles had as much +spirit? Sall, he 'ill be rinnin' horses at Muirtown +Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards, Thomas—yir +breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have +been hard on yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?" +"Has his Lordship kept yir bonnet, Dowbiggin?" +"It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys +are only in the savage state, and the discomfiture of +such immaculate propriety was very sweet to the +Seminary.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 385px; height: 594px;"> +<a name="i118" id="i118"></a><img src="images/i118.jpg" width="385" height="594" alt=""They were brought in a large spring cart."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +who saw in Mr. Byles's effort a new and cunning +form of poaching he was not prepared for, and so +weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the +Bailie on duty was for sentencing them at once, and +would hardly wait for the testimony of friends. It +took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary +and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from +their studies in hot haste and confusion of face, to +clear the accused, and even then the worthy magistrate +thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to +administer a rebuke and warning so solemn that it +became one of the treasures of memory for all +Seminary lads.</p> + +<p>"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, +and you may go this time; but let me never see you +here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome to +think that an educated man"—this to Byles—"instead +of setting an example to the laddies under +your charge, should be accused of a mean and +cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I +cannot look at your face without having grave +doubts. And to think that the sons of a respected +minister of the kirk should be found in such company, +and with all the appearance of vagrants, must +be a great trial to their father, and I am sure he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I +never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in +such a position. All I can hope is that this will be +a lesson to you to keep clear of evil companions and +evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable +citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day—that +is all I have to say."</p> + +<p>Outside the court-room the head keeper caught +Speug and gave him his mind.</p> + +<p>"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that +English-speakin' imp is little better. My belief is +that this has been a pliskie (trick) o' yours frae +beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o' +advice—don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, +or it will be the worse for you."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_COUNT" id="THE_COUNT"></a>THE COUNT</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">VII</h3> + + +<p>If you excluded two or three Englishmen who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +spoke with an accent suggestive of an effeminate +character, and had a fearsome habit of walking on +the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master +at the Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering, +the foreign element in Muirtown during the +classical days consisted of the Count. He never +claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate +the title, but he declined the honour of our title with +so much dignity that it seemed only to prove his +right, and by and by he answered to the name with +simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for +deprecation, but which came to be considered a +polite acknowledgement. His real name was not +known in Muirtown—not because he had not given +it, but because it could not be pronounced, being +largely composed of x's and k's, with an irritating +parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of +learning to spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for +it was one of the Count's foreign ways to carry a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being introduced +to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card +with the right hand while he took off his hat with +the left, and bowed almost to a right angle. Upon +those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane +would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing +whether so unholy a name might not go off and +shatter his hand; and during the Count's obeisance, +which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded +him with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, +during this performance of the Count's, used +to be divided between regret that any human being +should condescend to such tricks, and profound +thankfulness that Muirtown was not part of a foreign +country where people were brought up with the +manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was +nourished by the manner of the Count's dress, which +would have been a commonplace on a <i>boulevard</i>, but +astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and +always lent an element of piquant interest to our +streets. His perfectly brushed hat, broadish in the +brim and curled at the sides, which he wore at the +faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather +boots, which it was supposed he obtained in Paris, +and wore out at the rate of a pair a month—all was +unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat +which stimulated conversation. It was so tight and +fitted so perfectly, revealing the outlines of his slender +form, and there was such an indecent absence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +of waist—waist was a strong point with Muirtown +men, and in the case of persons who had risen to office, +like the Provost, used to run to fifty inches—that +a report went round the town that the Count was a +woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than +refuted by the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, +which he made with Satanic ingenuity while you +were looking at him, and that he gave a display of +fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment +in the barracks, for it was shrewdly pointed out +that those were just the very accomplishments of +French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have +crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost +been obliged to command the Count's departure, had +it not been for the shrewdness and good nature of +the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a +fair maid in Muirtown—and in those days she was +fairest of her succession: let this flower lie on her +grave. She declared to her friends that she had +watched the Count closely and had never once seen +him examine a woman's dress when the woman +wasn't looking; and after that no person of discernment +in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's +sex. It was, however, freely said—and that story +was never contradicted—that he wore stays, and +every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his +landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with +every wile of conversation, and even lawyers' wives, +pretending to inquire for rooms for a friend, used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but that +worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not +quite insensible to the dignity of a mystery.</p> + +<p>"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after; +but beggin' your pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and +my mouth's closed. The Count disna ken the difference +atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the +money he wastes on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; +but he never had the blessin' of a Gospel ministry +nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. +As regards stays, whether he wears them or disna +wear them I'm no' prepared to say, for I thank goodness +that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes nor +entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The +Count pays his rent in advance every Monday morning; +he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I told him it +was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the +house, and if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to +support his spine, which I'm no' sayin' he did, Mistress +Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the weather +is inclining to snow."</p> + +<p>His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it +may have been constructed; and it was a pleasant +sight to see the Count go down our main street on a +summer afternoon, approving himself with a side +glance in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an +attitude at our bookseller's when a new print was +exposed in the window, waving his cigarette and +blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +considered a "tempting of Providence," making his +respectful salutations to every lady whom he knew, +and responding with "Celestial, my friend!" to +Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing +weather." When he sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard, +like Solomon in all his glory, that great man, +who always persisted in regarding the Count as a +sporting character, would touch the rim of his hat +with his forefinger—an honour he paid to few—and, +after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!" +with much relish. This astounding spectacle very +early attracted the attention of the Seminary boys, +and during his first summer in Muirtown it was +agreed that he would make an excellent target for +snowball practice during next winter. The temptation +was not one which could have been resisted, and +it is to be feared that the Count would have been +confined to the house when the snow was on the +ground had it not been for an incident which showed +him in a new light, and established him, stays or no +stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There +had been a glorious fight on the first day of the war +with the "Pennies," and when they were beaten, a +dozen of them, making a brave rearguard fight, took +up their position with the Count's windows as their +background. There were limits to license even in +those brave old days, and it was understood that the +windows of houses, especially private houses, and +still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +should not be broken, and if they were broken the +culprits were hunted down and interviewed by "Bulldog" +at length. When the "Pennies" placed themselves +under the protection of the Count's glass, +which was really an unconscious act of meanness on +their part, the Seminary distinctly hesitated; but +Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples +as he knew no fear.</p> + +<p>"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain; +and when the "Pennies" were driven along the +street, the windows had been so effectually dashed +that there was not a sound pane of glass in the +Count's sitting-room. As the victorious army returned +to their capital, and the heat of battle died +down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in +minds not given to care, for Mistress Jamieson was +not the woman to have her glass broken for nothing, +and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with +all his dandyism, would not take this affront lightly. +As a matter of fact, Mistress Jamieson made a personal +call upon the Rector that evening, and explained +with much eloquence to that timid, harassed +scholar that, unless his boys were kept in better order, +Muirtown would not be a place for human habitation; +and before she left she demanded the blood of +the offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its +present condition to Sodom and Gomorrah. As the +Rector was always willing to leave discipline in the +capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +would almost certainly be in his class in the forenoon, +the Count, who had witnessed the whole battle +from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had +afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away +the <i>débris</i>, went to give his evidence and identify the +culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic occasion, and he +rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful +recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side—the +Count carrying himself with all the grace and +dignity of a foreign ambassador come to settle an +international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than +ever, because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that +discipline must be maintained.</p> + +<p>The Count explained with many flourishes that +he was desolated to come for the first time to this +so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand so +distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands +on him ("Dis the body mean Lucky Jamieson?" +whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had ever +been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded +him with a disdain beyond words.) The +Rector of this place of learning had also done him, +an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to +come and assist at this function of justice; and +although, as the Count explained, he was no longer a +soldier, obedience was still the breath of his nostrils. +Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to +be questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the +Count bowed again to Bulldog, placing his hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming attitude +against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his +cane, and feeling that he had acquitted himself with +credit.</p> + +<p>"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir," +and Bulldog's glance conveyed that such a figure as +the Count's ought not to be exposed in snowtime; +"but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the +circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of +the Seminary are allowed to exercise themselves in +the snowtime within limits. If they fight wi' neighbouring +schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they +break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme +penalty. Now, I'm informed that some of the young +scoundrels—and I believe the very laddies are in this +class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to +catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was +entirely occupied with mathematical figures)—"have +committed a breach of the peace at Mistress +Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"—and +Bulldog regarded the Count with increasing disfavour, +as he thought of such a popinjay giving evidence +against his laddies—"is, to look round this +class-room and point out, so far as ye may be able, +any boy or boys who drove a snowball or snowballs +through the windows of your residence."</p> + +<p>During this judicial utterance the eyes of the +Count wandered over the school with the most provoking +intelligence, and conveyed even to the dullest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown +was not capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old +gentleman, that the boys were a set of sad dogs, +capable of any mischief, that some of them were +bound to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of +all that he, the Count, knew who would get it, and +that he was about to give evidence in an instant with +the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When +his glance lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful +and unhesitating recognition that Speug was +almost abashed, and knew for certain that for him +at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson, +plunging into arithmetic of his own accord for once, +calculated rapidly what would be his share of the +broken glass. Neither of them would have denied +what he did to save himself twenty thrashings; but +they shared Bulldog's disgust that a free-born Scot +should be convicted on the evidence of a foreigner, +whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts +and tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to +go round seated on the top of our solitary barrel-organ.</p> + +<p>"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog +sternly; and there was a silence that could be felt, +whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out with +the Count's cane.</p> + +<p>The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's +face; he became grave and anxious, and changed +from a man of the world, who had been exchanging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +a jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in +the Court of Justice.</p> + +<p>"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what +you call my soul and conscience," and the Count indicated +with his hand where both those faculties were +contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity, +I will say profanity, to break the windows of my +good friend and hostess, Madame Jamieson."</p> + +<p>The Count gave himself to the work of selection, +but there was no longer a ray of intelligence in his +face. He was confused and perplexed, he looked +here and he looked there, he made little impatient +gestures, he said a bad French word, he flung up a +hand in despair, he turned to Bulldog with a frantic +gesture, as of a man who thought he could have done +something at once, and found he could not do it at +all. Once more he faced the school, and then Speug, +with that instinct of acute observation which belongs +to a savage, began to understand, and gave Howieson +a suggestive kick.</p> + +<p>"As a man of honour," said the Count with much +solemnity, "I give my testimony, and I declare that I +do not see one of the boys who did forget themselves +yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to +Madame's domicile."</p> + +<p>And it would have been curious if he had seen the +boys, for the Count was looking over their heads, and +studying the distant view of the meadow and the +River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mind of Speug was now clear upon the +Count, and Bulldog also understood, and in two +seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy through a +mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical +class-room knew that, although the Count +might have had the misfortune to be born in foreign +parts, and did allow himself to dress like a dancing-master, +inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had +them on, there was the heart of a man who would not +tell tales on any fellow, and who also liked his bit of +fun.</p> + +<p>"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly +concealed satisfaction, "that ye're no' in a poseetion +to recognise the culprits, for if they're no' here my +conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown. +We can ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much +obleeged for yir attendance."</p> + +<p>"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which +has the fortune to introduce me to this charming +company," and the Count bowed first to Bulldog and +then to the school with such a marked indication in +one direction that Speug almost blushed. "My +sorrow is to be so stupid a witness; but, monsieur, +you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor +eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the +Count bowed in all directions, "to replace the glass +in Madame's house, and the incident, pouf! it is +forgotten."</p> + +<p>There was a swift glance from all parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +class-room, and permission was read in Bulldog's +face. Next instant the mathematical class-room was +rent with applause, such as could only be given when +fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and +Speug led the circus.</p> + +<p>"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog +came as near as possible to a bow, "that ye have +acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the boys +of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to +come and go among us as ye please."</p> + +<p>The departure of the Count, still bowing, with +Bulldog attending him to the door and offering him +overshoes to cover the polished leather boots, was +a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of +the morning was not worth mentioning.</p> + +<p>During the lunch hour the school was harangued +in short, pithy terms by Speug, and in obedience to +his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in a +solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave +a volley of cheers. The Count was more gratified +than by anything that had happened to him since he +came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the +newly repaired windows he made an eloquent speech, +in which he referred to Sir Walter Scott and Queen +Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other +romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the +"Pennies" and the Seminary was worthy of the great +Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be <i>un brave garçon</i>; +expressed his regret that he could not receive the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +school in his limited apartments, but invited them to +cross with him to the Seminary tuck-shop, where he +entertained the whole set to Mistress MacWhae's +best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that +Mistress Jamieson should come forward to the window +with him and bow to the school, while he held +her hand—which the Count felt would have been a +really interesting tableau. It certainly would have +been, but Mistress Jamieson refused to assist in the +most decided terms.</p> + +<p>"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand +in hand wi' him, and bowin', if ye please, to thae +blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o' good +character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it +would ill set me to play such tricks. But I'll say this +for the Count—he behaved handsome; and I'm +judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in +my house so long as the Count is in it." And there +never was.</p> + +<p>It were not possible to imagine anything more +different than a Muirtown boy and the Count; but +boys judge by an instinct which never fails within its +own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with +all his foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends +gathered around him and flourished exceedingly, +being largely invented by Nestie, and offered for +consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug, +who let it be understood that to deny or even to smile +at Nestie's most incredible invention would be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn +a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the +Emperor of Austria's daughter and had been exiled +by the imperial parent, but that the Princess was true +to the Count, and that any day he might be called +from Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of +Vienna; that he was himself a king of some mysterious +European State, who had been driven out by +conspirators, but whose people were going to restore +him, and that some day Speug would be staying +with the Count in his royal abode and possibly sitting +beside him on the throne. During this romance +Speug felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty, +which was quite consistent with keeping a +watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal who +might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely +ask him what he was laughing at, and offer to give +him something to laugh for. That the Count was +himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society +which extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords, +and that whenever any tyrant became intolerable, +the warrant for his death was sent from Mistress +Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed +Nestie produced another, and it was no longer +necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy Indian tales +or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction +was now bound up and walking about in the +Count.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 429px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i134" id="i134"></a><img src="images/i134.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt=""Watching a battle royal between the tops."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>Between him and the boys there grew up a fast +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>friendship, and he was never thoroughly happy now +unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He attended +every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned +how, kept the score, giving a cheer at every new +run and tearing his hair when any of his boys were +bowled out. He rushed round the football field +without his cane, and generally without his hat; and +high above all cheers could be heard his "Bravo—bravo, +forwards! Speug!" as that enterprising player +cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It +mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were +ruined, and his speckless clothes soiled, he would not +have cared though he had burst his stays, so long as +the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with +them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health +in flowing ginger-beer. During the play hour his +walk seemed ever to bring him to the North Meadow, +and if a ball by accident, for none would have +done it by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he +cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his own pronunciation and +bowed in response to this mark of attention. It was +a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands +resting on his knees, watching a battle royal between +the tops of Speug and Howieson; and if anything +could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin +a top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown +tongues.</p> + +<p>As the boys came to the school in the morning +and went home in the evening up Breadalbane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +Street, the Count was always sitting at one of the +windows which had been broken, ready to wave +his hand to any one who saluted him, and in the +afternoon he would often open the window to get the +school news and to learn whether there would be a +match on Saturday. As time went on this alliance +told upon the Count's outer man; he never lost his +gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he +ever have been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had +lived to the age of Methuselah, have been made an +elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew thicker, though +they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher, +though they were always well made, and his ties +became quieter, and his week-day hat was like that +of other men, and, except on Sundays, Muirtown +never saw the glory of the former days. With his +new interest in life, everyone noticed that the Count +had grown simpler and kindlier, and Muirtown folk, +who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt, +began to love him through their boys. He +would walk home with Bulldog on a summer evening, +the strangest pair that ever went together; and +it was said that many little improvements for the +comfort of the lads, and many little schemes for their +happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the +Count. It was believed that the time did come when +he could have returned to his own land, but +that he did not go because he was a lonely man and +had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +died, now many years ago, he left his little all for the +benefit of his "jolly dogs," and the Count, who had +no mourners of his blood, was followed to his grave +by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></div> + +<hr /> + +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_TOURNAMENT" id="A_TOURNAMENT"></a>A TOURNAMENT</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">VIII</h3> + + +<p>Since the day when Speug and a few young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +friends had broken every pane of glass in the Count's +windows, and the Count had paid for the damage like +a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all +his spare cash—which we thought afterwards was +not very much—in encouraging athletic exercises +among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of +every other convert, was much greater than his +knowledge, and left to his own devices he would certainly +have gone far astray; but with the able assistance +of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel, +it was astonishing what a variety could be infused +into the sports. When every ordinary competition +had been held, and champions had been declared +(and this had never been done before in the history +of the school) for the hundred yards, the quarter, +and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse and over +the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu +meeting of parents), for broad jumping and +high jumping, for throwing the cricket ball and kick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>ing +the football, Speug came out with a quite new +programme which was rapturously received, and had +it not met with a cross-providence would have lasted +over four happy Saturdays and considerably reduced +the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was +a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be +trifled with, and four boys were saved from death +by a salmon cobble, whose owner fortunately turned +up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by +this event that he not only lost his hat in the river, +but being prevented from going in to help, for the +very good reason that he could not swim a stroke, +he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel +of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might +serve as a lifebelt. The second item, upon which +Speug prided himself very much, was a climbing +match, and for this he had selected a tree which +seemed to be designed for the purpose, since it had +a rook's nest on its highest branch, and no branches +at all for the first twenty feet. The conditions were, +that every boy above twelve should have his chance, +and the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into +the rook's nest, and came down in the shortest time, +should get the prize. The Seminary above twelve +were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday +morning, and in one kirk next day thanks were offered +in the first prayer in peculiarly dignified and +guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had +not been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +killed, and no limbs were broken, but Speug, who was +not allowed to enter for this competition, but acted +as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the sight +of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy, +once to release his friend Howieson, who had missed +a branch and was hanging by his feet, and the second +time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended by +the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a +gigantic apple on the branch. It was understood +that the Seminary had never enjoyed themselves +so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's +moral courage failed during the performance, and at +the most critical moment he was afraid to look. +When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement +of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at +church-doors and street corners, and it was conveyed +to the Rector—who knew nothing about the matter, +and was so absent-minded that if he had passed +would never have seen what was going on—that if +Providence was going to be tempted in this fashion +again, the matter would be brought before the Town +Council. The Count himself would have been faithfully +dealt with had he not been considered a helpless +tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood +to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim. +He might indeed have been at last expelled from the +Seminary, of which he was the chief ornament, had +it not been that the Count went to the Rector and explained +that the idea had been his from beginning to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +end, and that it was with the utmost difficulty he +could induce Speug even to be present. For, as I +said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always +stood by his friends through thick and thin; but the +thrashing which Speug got from Bulldog was monumental, +and in preparation for it that ingenious +youth put on three folds of underclothing.</p> + +<p>What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not +the punishment, which was cheap at the money, but +the loss of the next two items in his programme. He +had planned a boxing competition, in which the main +feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc +Robertson and himself, to decide finally which was +the better man, for they had fought six times and +the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a +profligate genius outside the class-rooms, had also +imagined a pony race with hurdles; and as about +twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had ponies, +of which they were always bragging, and Speug had +the pick of his father's stables, he modestly believed +that the affair would be worth seeing. When the +hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had already +begun to make entries and to arrange weights +with his father's valuable assistance, he took the +matter so much to heart that his health gave way, +and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit +at the Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in +the highest spirits and full of stories.</p> + +<p>For some time after this painful incident the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +Count lay low and adopted a deprecating manner +when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown; +but he gave his friends to understand that his resources +were not at an end, and that he had a surprise +in store for the Seminary. Speug ran over every +form of sport in casual conversation to discover what +was in the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn +and grew more mysterious every day. One Saturday +evening in midsummer he took Speug and +Nestie into his confidence, explaining that his idea +would be announced to the assembled school by himself +next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to do, +as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or +fencing, or the sword dance. With their permission +he would say one word which would be enough for +persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that +word was "Tournament;" and then he would speak +of nothing else except the beauty of the evening light +upon the river, which he declared to be "ravishing," +and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate +which he carried in his pocket, and shared generously +with his "dogs." As he parted with his friends the +Count tapped his nose and winked at them—"Tournament—great, +magnificent, you will see, ha, ha! +you will see;" and Speug went home in a state of +utter confusion, coming finally to the conclusion that +the Count intended to introduce some French game, +and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose +the Count tooth and nail, for everybody knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +that French games were only for girls, and would +bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary. +During Sunday Nestie had turned the matter over in +his mind, and being full of Scott's novels he was +able on Monday to give the astonished school a full +programme with the most minute particulars. The +tournament was to be held in the North Meadow; the +judge was to be the Commander of the cavalry at the +barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to +be herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the +Queen of Beauty; and the combatants were to be +such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course +Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie +freely suggested dish-covers would be useful as +breastplates, broom-handles would come in conveniently +for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden, +sturdy boys of the lower forms would be +used instead. The two knights who challenged one +another would rush from opposite ends of the lists, +meet in the centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to +horse, and man to man, and the one that overthrew +the other would receive the prize; and at the thought +of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson, +each in full armour, the delighted school +smacked their lips.</p> + +<p>"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said +Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody a shilling that Speug +coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting; but"—feeling +as if it were almost too good to be true—"I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +dinna believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar." +And after the school had spoken of nothing else for a +day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly +whether such things were true.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon ami</i>," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's +romance with much relish, "you will pardon me, +but it is a <i>banalité</i>, that is what you call a stupidity, +to ask whether so good a <i>jeu d'esprit</i> is true. True? +Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie, +he does not live among facts, he flies in the air, in the +atmosphere of poetry. He is a <i>raconteur</i>. A tournament +with knights on the North Meadow—good! +Our little Nestie, he has been reading <i>Ivanhoe</i> and +he is a troubadour." And the Count took off his hat +in homage to Nestie's remarkable powers as an +author of fiction.</p> + +<p>"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the +body, for the mind. My dogs are jolly dogs; they +can run, they can leap, they can swim, they can kick +the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They +must write their very best words, they must show +that they have beautiful minds; and they will do so, +I swear they will, in the tournament, which will not +be on the meadow—no; too many cows there, and +too many washers of clothes—but in seclusion, in the +class-room of that brave man called the Bulldog. It +will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm, +"of heads: and the best head, that head will +have the prize, <i>voilà </i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down +upon his desk that Wednesday afternoon when the +whole upper school was gathered in his class-room, +bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion +to lay before you which he will explain in his +own words and which has the sanction of the Rector. +Ye will be pleased to give the Count a respectful +hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog +was there to see that the Count's deserts and his +treatment strictly corresponded.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog, +"and you," and now he bowed to the boys, "all my +friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a +favour which your politeness will not allow you to +refuse. Next Saturday I will dare to hold a reception +in this place, with the permission of the good +Bull—— I do forget myself—I mean the distinguished +master. And when you come, I promise you +that I will not offer you coffee—pouf! it is not for +the brave boys I see before me, <i>non</i>," and the Count +became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle +sentence on the——" ("Blackboard," suggested +Bulldog). "<i>Merci</i>, yes, the blackboard; no, the honourable +master he will have the goodness to write it +in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that +is all, and you will sit for one hour in this room +where you make your studies, and you will write all +the beautiful things which come into your heads +about that sentence. You will then do me the pleas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>ure +of letting me carry home all those beautiful +things, and I will read them; and the writer who +affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of +many volumes, and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost," +interpolated Bulldog) "will present it on the great +day in the Town Hall.</p> + +<p>"No one, not even the honourable master himself, +will know that leetle sentence till it be written on +the—the——" ("Blackboard," said Bulldog, with +asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many +things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom +I do felicitate the honourable master will write much +learning," and the Count made a graceful inclination +in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the +brave boys who love the sport, they will also write, +ah! ah!"—and the Count nodded cheerfully in the +direction of Speug—"such wonderful things. There +will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and +so it will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the +Count with much satisfaction, "the fair play."</p> + +<p>Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained +that no one need come unless he wished, but +that anyone who didn't come was missing the opportunity +of securing an honourable distinction, and +would also show himself to be an ungrateful little +scoundrel for all that the Count had done for the +Seminary.</p> + +<p>"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native +shrewdness, "aifter all his palaver it's naething but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +anither confounded exercise," for that worthy had +suffered much through impositions, and had never +been able to connect one sentence with another in an +intelligent manner. "The Dowbiggins can go if they +want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm going +next Saturday to Woody Island—will you come, +Speug?" And it hung in the balance whether or not +the Count would be openly affronted next Saturday +when he found himself in the company of half a +dozen "swats," while his "jolly dogs" were off in a +pack to their island of romance.</p> + +<p>Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room +on Saturday afternoon, except under brute +force, and yet he felt it would be ungrateful after all +his kindness to leave the Count in the company of +such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance +of all the sporting prizes he had won +at the Count's hands, and the sight of the Count +cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart +and moved him to the most unselfish act of his life. +"Jock Howieson," said Speug, with considerable dignity, +"ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it +'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black +both yir een for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a +match, cricket or football, the last four years, and the +Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports +and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who +stands ginger-beer at Lucky MacWhae's, answer me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then clinching +every argument on "Who paid for the broken +glass? I'm doon richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."</p> + +<p>"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock, +writhing under this torrent of reproach. "I think I +see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the Romans, +or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room, +and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye +'ill no' play ony tricks on me, Peter McGuffie."</p> + +<p>"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no' +promise to write."</p> + +<p>"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's +wiles.</p> + +<p>"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school +knew, not only that he would go, though he had to +sit six hours instead of one, but also that every self-respecting +boy in the Seminary must also put in an +appearance at the Count's reception.</p> + +<p>"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on +the way home, "since you p—pulled me out of the Tay, +and I should say that you have a good chance of +the prize. What the Count wants is ori—gin—ginality, +and I never heard a chap with so much original +talk as you've got, Speug. Just you put some of it +down, like what you give to the P—pennies, and you'll +come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever +won."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries +were open to all Scotland," said Speug, "ye would +pass the post first and trottin'."</p> + +<div class="nanospace"> </div> +<div class="center">"<span class="smcap">How I Spent My Saturday,</span>"</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + +<p>was what the school saw on the board when the +Count removed the white cloth, and then he gave a +brief exposition of his desires.</p> + +<p>"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not +what you ought, but what you want. Were you at +the cricket match, you will tell me of the capture of +the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear +of the woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate +allusion to Mr. Byles's poaching experiences was +much appreciated); "or you were among the books, +then you will describe what you love in them; or +you were looking at a horse, I expect to hear about +that horse"; and the whole school understood that +this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an exact +picture of an Irish mare that his father had just +bought. "The subject, ah!" said the Count, "that +does not matter; it is the manner, the style, the +<i>esprit</i>, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the +good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till +you have finished."</p> + +<p>"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the +credit of the school and to please the Count. If +I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part to teach +him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +out he goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut, +make the most o't," and the tournament was open.</p> + +<p>Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper, +and only giving a casual glance to see that no one +took advantage of the strange circumstances, was +really watching his flock very closely, and checking +his judgment of each one by this new test. Dull, +conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins began at once, +in order that they might not lose a moment of time, +but might put as much written stuff upon the paper +as possible; yet now and again they stopped and +looked round helplessly because they had no books +and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the +first time how little they had in their own heads.</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye +were naithing but a painted show, and it 'ill do ye +good to find that out for yirselves."</p> + +<p>Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole +matter as a new form of entertainment, and as he +could not have put into anything approaching connected +words the experiences of his last Saturday, +he employed the time in cutting up his unwritten +paper into squares of an inch, and making them into +pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind +from being too much absorbed in study. He did +this once too often, and Bulldog went down to call +upon him with a cane and with plain, simple +words.</p> + +<p>"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +went back to his desk, "but there's the making of a +man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able to write a +decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots +Greys down to the ground."</p> + +<p>Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under +the customary form of oath, that he would write +something, and whatever he wrote he would hand in, +though it was only twenty words, and Speug never +went back from his oath. When Howieson caught +the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no doubt +that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he +struggled with strong temptation, and when old +friends made facetious signs to him he hesitated more +than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified +amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole +mind was devoted to literary composition, and that +he did not know what they meant by this impertinent +intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly +jumped once in his seat as if he had been stung by a +wasp, and it is certainly true that at that moment +there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and first +finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was +devoted to literature. The language which Cosh +allowed himself to use in the heat of the moment was +so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention, +who told him that if he wanted to say anything +like that again he must say it in Latin, and that he +ought to take notice of the excellent conduct of Peter +McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>likely +to win the prize. And as the master returned +to his seat his back was seen to shake, and the wink +with which Speug favoured the class, in a brief rest +from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery. +Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in—what +a poor creature Cosh was, and what good stuff +could be found in Speug; and he also knew everything +that was done—why Cosh had said what he +said, and why Speug at that moment was lost in +study. Bulldog was not disappointed when Nestie's +face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew +why his favourite little lad did not write anything +for fifteen minutes, but looked steadily out at the +window and across the North Meadow, and he returned +to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction +when Nestie at last settled down to work and wrote +without ceasing, except when now and again he +hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his +ear to know how it sounded. For the desire of +Bulldog's heart was that Nestie should win, and if—though +that, of course, was too absurd—Speug by +the help of the favouring gods should come in +second, Bulldog would feel that he had not lived in +vain.</p> + +<p>"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke +your t's," said Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye +how ye're to sign yir names," and then the Count, +who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced +again to the desk.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It would be one great joy to have your autographs," +said the Count, "and I would place them in +a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour forbids. +As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging, +it is necessary that I be—ah! I have forgotten +the word—yes! show the fair play. No, I must not +know the names; for if I read the name of my +friend the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting +Speug" (at this indecent allusion Speug grew +purple and gave the bench in front of him to understand +by well-known signs that if they looked at him +again he might give them something to look for outside), +"I would say that Speug is a sportsman but +he is not a <i>littérateur</i>, and I might not do my comrade +the full justice. And if I read the name of the +composed, the studious, the profound young gentlemen +who are before me" (and it was fortunate the +Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would +know that it must be the best before I read it, and +that would not be the fair play.</p> + +<p>"No! you will write on your admirable essay a +motto—what you please—and your name you will +put in an envelope, so," and the Count wrote his own +name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful +silence, on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope +with a graceful flourish: "and outside you will put +your motto, so it will be all the fair play, and in the +Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to +declare the result. <i>Voila!</i> Has my plan your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +distinguished approbation?" and the Count made a +respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be +fairer, you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow +myself to wish you adieu for this day."</p> + +<p>When the school assembled for conference among +the Russian guns, their minds were divided between +two subjects. The first was what Speug had written, +on which that strenuous student would give no +information, resenting the inquiry both as an insult +to his abilities and an illustration of vain curiosity on +the part of the school. Nestie, however, volunteered +the trustworthy information that Speug had spent his +whole time explaining the good which he had got +from being kept in one Saturday forenoon and doing +mathematical problems under the eye of Bulldog. +And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter +to "suck up" to the master in this disgraceful +fashion just for the sake of getting a prize. Peter +confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done +his best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock +Cup, but that he didn't think there were six words +properly spelt from beginning to end, and that if he +escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to +half a dozen bottles of ginger-beer.</p> + +<p>Regarding the winner—for that was the other +subject—there was a unanimous and sad judgment; +that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but that +Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would +carry off the prize, as he had carried off all the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +prizes; and that, if so, they would let him know how +they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it +would be wise for him to go home with the Count's +prize and all the other prizes in a cab, with the windows +up.</p> + +<p>The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the +great events in the Muirtown year, and to it the +memory of a Seminary lad goes back with keen interest. +All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies +had been sitting in the class-room of the Seminary, +holding Latin books in their hands, which they +opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn +approval over the translation by Thomas John and +other chosen worthies, while the parents wandered +from place to place and identified their sons, who +refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was +looking. What mothers endured cannot be put into +words, when they saw their darling boys (whom +they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday +clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions +that they were not to break their collars nor soil +their jackets, nor disarrange their hair the whole +day, or they need not come home in the evening) +turn up in a class-room before the respectables of +Muirtown as if their heads had not known a brush +for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their +white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and +an ounce of flour in a prominent place on their once +speckless jacket.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness +of despair, "that is my Jimmy, I canna deny it; +but ye may well ask, for he's more like a street waufie +than onything else. On a day like this, and when I +see what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I +could almost wish he had been born a girl."</p> + +<p>"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna +speak like that, for it's no chancy, he micht be taken +away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye +your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time +I saw him, as I'm a livin' woman, there wasna more +than two inches of his necktie left, and he was +fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel +in the playground. Ye needna expect peace +if the Almichty give ye laddies, but I wouldna change +them for lassies—na, na, I'll no' go that length."</p> + +<p>And the two matrons sustained themselves with +the thought that if their boys were only a mere +wreck of what they had been in the morning, other +people's boys were no better, and some of them were +worse, for one of them had inflicted such damages on +his trousers that, although he was able to face the +public, he had to retire as from the royal presence; +nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive +a malignant dislike to the few boys who were +spick and span, and to have a certain secret pride +even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate +showed that they were far removed from the low +estate of lassies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>The great function of the day came off at two +o'clock, and before the hour the hall was packed +with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers, uncles, +aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while +the boys themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled +than ever, were scattered throughout the +crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and +enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers; +others were gathered in clumps and arranging a +reception for the more unpopular prize-winners; +others were prowling up and down the passages, +exchanging sweetmeats and responding (very +coldly) to the greeting of relatives in the seats, for +the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad +was that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden +aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie senior came in with the +general attention of the audience, and seated himself +in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not +that Mr. McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings, +and certainly not because Speug had ever +appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr. +McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the +Count and his high appreciation of what he considered +the Count's sporting offer, and Mr. McGuffie +was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings +that he was willing, although he admitted that +he had no tip, to have a bet with anyone in his +vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished +his son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie +coming in first and half a length ahead, which was +not so much based upon any knowledge of Nestie's +literary qualifications as on the strange friendship +between Nestie and his promising son. As the +respectable Free Kirk elder who sat next Mr. +McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr. +McGuffie put a straw in his mouth and timed the +arrival of the Provost.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 411px; height: 598px;"> +<a name="i158" id="i158"></a><img src="images/i158.jpg" width="411" height="598" alt=""Before the hour the hall was packed."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +and masters, together with the notables of Muirtown, +appeared on the platform, the boys availed themselves +of the license of the day, shouting, cheering, +yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry +with pellets of paper shot with extraordinary dexterity +from little elastic catapults, till at last Bulldog, +who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted +the proceedings, rose and demanded silence +for the Provost, who explained at wide intervals that +he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the +boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls, +but not from the parents); that he was sure the +fathers and mothers were proud of their boys to-day +(climax of howls); that he had once been a boy +himself (unanimous shout of "No" from the boys); +that he had even fought in a snowball fight (loud +expressions of horror); that he was glad the Seminary +was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which +the Provost's speech came to an end, and Bulldog +rose to keep order).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>One by one the prize-winners were called up from +the side of their fond parents, and if they were liked +and had won their prizes with the goodwill of their +fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was +heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day, +and loud above it sounded the voice of Speug, who, +though he had never received a prize in his life, and +never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc +Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the +half-back of the fifteen, showed that he had a head +as well as hands. When a prig got too many prizes +there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last +a loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from +Speug relieved the feelings of the delighted school, +and the unpopular prize-winner left the platform +amid the chorus of the farmyard—cows, sheep, +horses, dogs, cats and a triumphant ass all uniting +to do him honour. It was their day, and Bulldog +gave them their rights, provided they did not continue +too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog +had the same judgment as themselves.</p> + +<p>To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering +and thirsting for the declaration of the +Count's prize, because there never had been such a +competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was +one of our characters. When he came forward, wonderfully +dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole and +waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody +in turn, from the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +reception was monumental and was crowned by the +stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having +thanked the company for their reception, with his +hand upon his heart, and having assured the charming +mothers of his young friends of his (the +Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself +the slave of their sisters, and having expressed +his profound reverence for the magistrates (at which +several bailies tried to look as if they were only men, +but failed), the Count approached the great moment +of the day.</p> + +<p>The papers, he explained upon his honour, were +all remarkable, and it had been impossible for him +to sleep, because he could not tear himself away from +the charming reflections of his young friends. (As +the boys recognised this to be only a just compliment +to their thoughtful disposition and literary genius, +Bulldog had at last to arise and quell the storm.) +There was one paper, however, which the Count +compared to Mont Blanc, because it rose above all +the others. It was "ravishing," the Count asserted, +"superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius." +The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful +young women, it was all one poem. And as the +whole hall waited, refusing to breathe, the Count enjoyed +a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished +poem—for it is not prose, it is poetry—I +will read his motto." Then the Count read, "Faint +Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your +Excellency to open this envelope and to read the +name to this distinguished audience." Before the +Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope, +Speug, who was in the secret of the motto, +jumped up on his seat and, turning with his face to +the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice +through the stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux." +And above the great shout that went up from the +throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear, +the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had +guessed the winner without ever seeing the paper.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="MOOSSY" id="MOOSSY"></a>MOOSSY</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">IX</h3> + + +<p>If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +mention of "Moossy," then it is no use his pleading +the years which have passed and the great affairs +which have filled his life; you know at once that he +is an impostor and has never had the privilege of +passing through Muirtown Seminary. Upon the +genuine boy—fifty years old now, but green at heart—the +word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it +the worries of life and the years that have gone are +forgotten, and the eyes light up and the face relaxes, +and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair for +the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life +in the Seminary, with plain food and strenuous +games; with well-worn and well-torn clothes; where +little trouble was taken to give interest to your work, +and little praise awarded when you did it well; where +you were bullied by the stronger fellows without redress, +and thrashed for very little reason; where +there were also many coarsenesses which were sick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>ening +at the time to any lad with a sense of decency, +and which he is glad, if he can, to forget; but, at +least, there was one oasis in the wilderness where +there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and +that was the "Department of Modern Languages," +over which Moossy was supposed to preside.</p> + +<p>Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now +there is a graduate of the University of Paris and a +fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown French, +and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four +swordcuts on his face to explain to Muirtown the +mysteries of the German sentence. Indignant boys, +who have heard appetising tales of the days which +are gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental +tongues as if they were serious languages like Latin +and Greek, and are actually kept in if they have not +done a French verb. They are required to write an +account of their holidays in German, and are directed +to enlarge their vocabulary by speaking in foreign +tongues among themselves. Things have come to +such a pass it is said—but I do not believe one word +of this—that the modern Speug, before he pulls off +the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and flings it into the +lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be careful +to say "<i>Erlauben Sie mir</i>," and that the modern +Dowbiggin, before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and +inquire with mild surprise, "<i>Was wollen Sie, mein +Freund?</i>" and precocious lads will delight their +parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +daily bread in the language and accent of Paris, because +for the moment they have forgotten English. +It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake +it, that Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining +their necessary wants in any speech except +their own as they were in the days of our fathers, and +that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day, +he would get his food at the buffet by making signs +with his fingers, as his father had done before him +and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also +take care, as his fathers did, that he would not be +cheated in his change nor be put upon by any +"Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best +with Seminary lads—and their kind elsewhere—but +they will not find it easy to shape their +unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded +in the background of his mind that he belongs +to an imperial race and is born to be a ruler, +that every man will sooner or later have to speak +his language, and that it is undignified to condescend +to French. The Briton is pleased to know that foreign +nations have some means of communication between +themselves—as, indeed, the lower animals +have, if you go into the matter; but since the Almighty +has put an English (or Scots) tongue in his +mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence +not to use it. It is, however, an excellent thing to +have the graduates, and the trim class-room, and the +tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +conversation classes—Speug at a conversation class!—and +all the rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago—and +Moossy!</p> + +<p>Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy +was a nameless man, for although it must have been +printed on the board in the vestibule of the school, +which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can +now hint at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest +his surname. The name of the Count had been +sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him, +and which was the tribute of our respectful admiration, +but "Moossy" was a term of good-humoured +contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial +town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but +yet, with the instincts of a race of Chieftains and +Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds between +our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No +doubt the Count was womanish in his dress, and had +fantastic manners, but we knew he was a gallant gentleman, +who was afraid of nobody and was always +ready to serve his friends; he was <i>débonnaire</i>, and +counted himself the equal of anyone in Muirtown, +but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was +a little man, to begin with, and had made himself +small by stooping till his head had sunk upon his +chest and his shoulders had risen to his ears; his hair +fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his ill-dressed +beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and +face showed only the slightest acquaintance with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +soap and water, and although Speug was not always +careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than +once had been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to +wash himself, yet Speug had a healthy contempt +for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed, +had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, +and the cloak which he wore on a winter day was a +scandal to the town. His feet were large and flat, +and his knees touched as the one passed the other, +and the Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight +of him shambling across the North Meadow. He +looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so +dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and +flung him in our faces. The Rector was also careless +of his dress, and mooned along the road, but then +everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and +that if you woke him from his meditation he would +answer you in Greek; but even Speug understood +that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted +about through Muirtown, and filtered down to the +boys, that he was a bankrupt tradesman who had +fled from some little German town and landed in +Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little +English, and a little French, as German tradesmen +can, he had been appointed by an undiscriminating +Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the +Seminary. It is certain he had very little education +and no confidence in himself, and so he was ever +cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +for these great men regarded themselves as beings +bordering on the supernatural; and he was ever +deferring and giving in to the boys, which was the +maddest thing that any master could do, and only +confirmed every boy in his judgment that Moossy +was one of the most miserable of God's creatures.</p> + +<p>His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded +as a pleasant relaxation after the labours of +the day, and to escape from the government of Bulldog +to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, +as we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a +tender heart towards the wants and enjoyments of +boys. It goes without saying that no work was done, +for there were only half a dozen who had any desire +to work, and they were not allowed, in justice to +themselves and to their fellows, to waste the mercies +which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion, +Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but +it failed in his hands the first time he tried to use it, +which was not at all wonderful, as Jock Howieson, +who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as +an invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's +cane with a horse-hair, so that it split into two at a +stroke, and one piece flying back struck Moossy on +the face.</p> + +<p>"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's +plenty that Bulldog has a cane, without yon meeserable +wretch"; and that was the last effort which +Moossy made to exercise discipline.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the +boys would behave and learn their verbs. For about +ten minutes there was quietness, and then, at the +sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form +and working diligently upon a French translation, +which he could do better than Moossy himself, Speug +would make a signal to the form, and, leading off +from the foot himself, the form would give one +quick, unanimous, and masterful push, and Thomas +John next instant was sitting on the floor; while if, +by any possibility, they could land all his books on +him as he lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle, +the form was happy and called in their friends +of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at the +noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over +and inquire the cause, that a boy so exemplary and +diligent should be sitting on the floor with the +remains of his work around him; and as Thomas +John knew that it would be worth his life to tell the +reason, Moossy and he pretended to regard it as one +of the unavoidable accidents of life, and after +Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the +ink wiped off his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form +to quietness and diligence. He knew what had happened, +and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum +if he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we +all despised him for his cowardice. Had there been +enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just as +Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +then as he sat in his seat, brazen and unashamed, we +would all have respected Moossy, and no one more +than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have +had a new relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited +man, in whom there was no fight, who held a post he +was not fit for, and held it to get a poor living for +himself and one who was dearer to him than his own +life. So helpless was he, and so timid, that there +were times when the boys grew weary of their teasing +and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb +in order to pass the time.</p> + +<p>When the spring was in their blood—for, like all +young animals, they felt its stirring—then there +were wonderful scenes in Moossy's class-room. He +dared not stand in those days between two forms, +with his face to the one and his back to the other, +because of the elastic catapults and the sharp little +paper bullets, which, in spite of his long hair, would +always find out his ears; and if he turned round to +face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked +theirs, and between the two he was driven to the end +of the room; and then, in his very presence, without +a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle +their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured +German, Moossy prayed for peace. Times there +were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting of the bullet +Moossy said bad words, and although they were +in German, the boys knew that it was swearing, and +Speug's voice would be loudest in horror.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 600px; height: 389px;"> +<a name="i170" id="i170"></a><img src="images/i170.jpg" width="600" height="389" alt=""Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +in the Seminary! If the Town Council gets word +of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For masel'," +Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly +ashamed." And as that accomplished young gentleman +had acquired in the stables a wealth of profanity +which was the amazement of the school, his protest +had all the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise +for what he had said, and beseech the school +neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they had +heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be +warning Thomas John that if he, Speug—censor of +morals—caught him cursing and swearing like +Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards +bring him before the Lord Provost and magistrates.</p> + +<p>There was no end to the devices of the Seminary +for enjoying themselves and tormenting Moossy; +and had it not been for Nestie, who had some +reserves of taste, the fun would have been much +more curious. As it was, Moossy never knew when +he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as if +the class-room for modern languages were the chosen +home for the reptiles of the district. One morning, +when he opened his desk, a lively young Scots terrier +puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly +frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed. +He had learned to open the door of his class-room +cautiously, not knowing whether a German Diction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>ary +might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his +head. His ink-bottle would be curiously attached to +his French Grammar, so that when he lifted the book +the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink over +his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to +his coat. Boys going up to write on the blackboard, +where they never wrote anything but nonsense, +would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon +the back of Moossy's coat as they returned; and if +one after the other, adding to the work of art, could +draw what was supposed to be a human face upon +Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the +hour. There were times when Moossy felt the hand +even on the looseness of that foolish coat, and turned +suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen +impudence of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into +the stolid and unintelligent expression of Howieson's +face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one boy +was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their +books and pronouncing on a principal of their own, +would do the verb with him and continue in a loud +and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one +by one, and then they were full of indignation at +being hindered in their studies of the German language.</p> + +<p>Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest +his own incompetence should be exposed and his +bread be taken from him; and of this the boys,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly +aware, and the torture might have gone on for years +had it not been for the intervention of Bulldog and a +certain incident. As the French class-room was +above the mathematical, any special disturbance +could be heard in the quietness below; and whatever +else they did, the students of foreign languages were +careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed, +the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's +room was the danger of Bulldog's arrival, who was +engaged that hour with the little boys and had ample +leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise +above, and for want of occupation was itching to +get at old friends like Howieson. There are times, +however, when even a savage forgets himself, and +one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room +reached an historical height. It had been discovered +that any dislike which Moossy may have had to a +puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket, +was nothing to the horror with which he regarded +mice. As soon as it was known that Moossy would +as soon have had a tiger in the French class-room as +a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of +foreign languages should take a new departure. One +morning the boys came in with such punctuality, and +settled to their work with such demure diligence, +that even Moossy was suspicious and watched +them anxiously. For ten minutes there was nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +heard but the drone of the class mangling German +sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in consternation, +"A mouse!"</p> + +<p>"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?" +and Moossy was much shaken.</p> + +<p>"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse +was just disappearing under the desk; "and there's +another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is fair swarming, +and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your +leg. Take care, man, for ony sake."</p> + +<p>"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go; +I vill the desk ascend," and with the aid of a chair +Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he entrenched +himself against attack, believing that at +that height he would be safe from "mices."</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 427px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i174" id="i174"></a><img src="images/i174.jpg" width="427" height="600" alt=""The school fell over benches and over one another."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"The school fell over benches and over one another."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had +burst upon the French class-room the scholars should +meet the calamity like men, and asked Moossy's permission +to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy +and his pupils had one mind, and the school gave +itself to its heart's content, and without a thought of +consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more +difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is +doubled when no one wishes to catch it; and so the +school fell over benches, and over one another, and +jumped over the desks and scrambled under them, +ever pretending to have caught a mouse, and really +succeeding once in smothering an unfortunate animal +beneath the weight of half a dozen boys. Thomas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom +by an accident in which Howieson took a leading +part, and the German Dictionary intended for a +mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which led +to an encounter between that indignant youth and +Bauldie, in which mice were forgotten. The blackboard +was brought down with a crash, and a form +was securely planted on its ruins. High above the +babel Moossy could be heard crying encouragement, +and demanding whether the "mices" had been +caught, but nothing would induce him to come down +from his fastness. When things were at their highest, +and gay spirits like Speug were beginning to +conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to +a mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that +he had mounted a desk, not to catch a mouse, but to +give a cheer, and was standing there without collar +or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all +the trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered. +And it was a beautiful tribute to the personality +of that excellent man, that the whole room crystallised +in an instant, and everyone remained motionless, +frozen, as it were, in the act.</p> + +<p>Bulldog looked round with that calm composure +which sat so well upon him, taking in Moossy +perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form, +Speug sitting with easy dignity on the top of +Thomas John, and half a dozen worthies still tied +together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown +Seminary.</p> + +<p>"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of +ten seconds, "is evidently a verra divertin' subject +of study, and I wonder that any pupil is left in the +department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock, +that ye needed to stand on a form before you could +do your German, and I suppose that is the French +class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude, but I'm +pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I +really am."</p> + +<p>"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor +Moossy came down from his desk and began to +explain. "My impression is that you are right, as +far as I can judge—and I have some acquaintance +with the circumstances. There are a considerable +number of mices in this room, a good many more +mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this +morning. The mices I see were in my class-room +this morning, and they were very quiet and peaceable +mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after +this, or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse +me," and Bulldog embraced the whole scene in a +comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign class-room +and go down and see what my laddies are +doing with their writing"; and when Bulldog closed +the door Howieson realised that he owed his escape +to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +but that the joyful day in modern languages +had come to an end. There would be no more +"mices."</p> + +<p>Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were +out for a ramble in the country, and turning into a +lane where the hedgerows were breaking into green, +and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes, +they came upon a sight which made them pause so +that they could only stand and look. Down the lane +a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and +broken thing which had seen its best days thirty +years ago. In the chair a woman was sitting, or +rather lying, very plainly but comfortably dressed, +and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that +she had suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding +to the breath of spring. As they stood, +the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked +a handful of primroses and gave them to the woman; +and as he bent over her, holding up the primroses +before her eyes, and as they talked together, even +the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He +adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her +position in the chair, and then went back to drag +it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding track; +and the boys stood and stared and looked at one +another, for the man who was caring so gently for +this invalid, and toiling so manfully with the lumbering +chair, was Moossy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't +like us to see him. I say, he ain't a bad sort—Moossy—after +all. Bet you a bottle of g-ginger-beer +that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."</p> + +<p>They were leaving the lane when they heard an +exclamation, and going back they found that the +miserable machine had slipped into the ditch and +there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of +recovery. With many an "Ach!" and other words, +too, he was bewailing the situation and hanging over +his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and +trying if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the +weight upon the lower side, while every minute the +wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.</p> + +<p>"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless +v-vagabond?" said Nestie to Speug. "Come along +and give a hand to Moossy," who was so pleased to +get some help in the lonely place that he forgot +the revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the +shafts, who had the strength of a man in his compact +little body, and Moossy pulling on the other side, +the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a +torrent of gratitude from Moossy and his wife, +partly in English, but mostly in German, but all quite +plain to the boys, for gratitude is always understood +in any language. They came bravely along the lane, +Speug pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to +make sure she had not been hurt, and Nestie plucking +flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the lane,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +while Moossy declared them to be "<i>Zwei herzliche +Knaben</i>."</p> + +<p>When they came to the main road, Speug would +not give up his work, but brought the carriage manfully +to the little cottage, hidden in a garden, where +Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in—she +was so light that Moossy could lift her himself—she +compelled the boys to come in, too, and Moossy +made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange +German cakes, which were not half bad, and to which +they both did ample justice. Going home, Nestie +looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie, and +though no words passed it was understood that the +days of the troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of +Muirtown were ended.</p> + +<p>During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at +the Seminary it would not be true to say that he +became a good or useful master, for he had neither +the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were +always respectful and did their work, for they were +very far removed from being angels; but Moossy did +pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he suffered +no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy +was not left to be his own horse from day to day, +but that the stronger varlets of the Seminary should +take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach. +Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from +sentiment, and he gave it carefully to be understood +that he only did the thing for a joke; but there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +no question that more than once Jock brought +Moossy's carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully +along that lane and other lanes, and it is a fact +that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came out with one +of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was +called, was driven far and wide about the country +around Muirtown.</p> + +<p>"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist, +Speug," said Nestie, "and I expect to hear that you +are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug +promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to +be admitted would be Nestie, and that he would teach +him manners.</p> + +<p>It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one +died in Germany and left him a little money, so +that he could give up the hopeless drudgery of the +Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon +the banks of the Rhine. His wife, who had been +improving under Dr. Manley's care, began to brisk +up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when +one afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some +dozen boys were there to see them off, and it was +Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place her +comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled +their pocket-money—selling one or two treasures +to swell the sum—that Moossy and his wife might +go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love, +and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her +hands. They still called him Moossy, as they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +done before, and he looked, to tell the truth, almost +as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he +was in great spirits and much touched by the kindness +of his tormentors. As the English mail pulled +out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the +boys ran along the platform beside the carriage +shaking hands with Moossy through the open window +and passing in their gifts.</p> + +<p>"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable +humour, but the last sight Moossy had of +Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow +and waving farewell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_LAST_RESOURCE" id="A_LAST_RESOURCE"></a>A LAST RESOURCE</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">X</h3> + + +<p>That the Rector should be ill and absent from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +his classes from time to time was quite in the order +of things, because he was a scholar and absent-minded +to a degree—going to bed in the morning, +and being got out of bed in rather less than time for +his work; eating when it occurred to him, but preferring, +on the whole, not to eat at all; wearing very +much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he +added a heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in +the height of summer and going without it when +there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for his +scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school +loved him; not because he edited a "Cæsar" and +compiled a set of Latin exercises, for which perfectly +unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated +him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes +past nine, and his form was able to jeer at Bulldog's +boys as they hastened into their class-room with +much discretion at one minute before the hour. +Because he used to be so much taken up with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +happy phrase in Horace that he would forget the +presence of his class, and walk up and down before +the fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes +he was so hoarse that he could only communicate +with the class by signs, which they unanimously +misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be +absent for a whole week, and his form was thrown +in with another, with the result of much enjoyable +friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He +was respected and never was annoyed, not even by +ruffians like Howieson, because everyone knew that +the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with all +his eccentric ways, and the <i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> had +a leader every spring on the achievements of his +scholars. Edinburgh professors who came to examine +the school used to fill up their speeches on the +prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector, +supported by classical quotations, during which the +boys cheered rapturously and the Rector looked as +if he were going to be hung. He was one of the +recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely +referred to at municipal banquets by bailies whose +hearts had grown merry within them drinking the +Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration +to the toast of "the Fair City" with the North +Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River Tay and +the County Gaol.</p> + +<p>Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may +have been his negligences of dress and occupation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +in private life—and on this subject Nestie and Speug +told fearful lies—he exhibited the most exasperating +regularity in public, from his copper-plate handwriting +to his speckless dress, but especially by an inhuman +and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one +with a heart within him and some regard to the comfort +of his fellow creatures, especially boys, had any +right to observe times and seasons with such exactness. +During all our time, except on the one great +occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be +ill, not even with a cold; and it was said that he never +had been for a day off duty, even in the generation +before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce +of superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease, +and there was a feeling in the background of +our minds that for any illness to have attacked Bulldog +would have been an act of impertinence which he +would have known how to deal with. It was firmly +believed that for the last fifty years—and some said +eighty, but that was poetry—Bulldog had entered his +class-room every morning, except on Saturdays, +Sundays, and holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to +begin work at the stroke of nine. There was a +pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there +had been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind +that the bridge had been drifted up, and no one could +cross that morning from the other side. The boys +from the south side of the town had brought news +of the drift to the school, and the earlier arrivals,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +who had come in hope of a snow-fight, were so +mightily taken with the news that they hurried to +the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift, +and danced with joy at the thought that on the other +side Bulldog was standing, for once helpless and dismayed. +Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son, +had shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog +to come over, secure in the fact that he could not +be seen across its height, and in the hope that Bulldog +would not know his voice. When they were +weary celebrating the event, and after a pleasant encounter +with a hastily organised regiment of message +boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the +school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready +for the midday fight with the "Pennies." For the +pure joy of it they opened the door of the mathematical +class-room, merely to see how it looked when +Bulldog was not there, and found that estimable +teacher at his desk, waiting to receive them with +bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in +Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others +that he had climbed over it in the early morning, +before Muirtown was awake; but it was found out +afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison, +the salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded +river, that it took them an hour to reach the Muirtown +side, and that they had both been nearly +drowned in the adventure.</p> + +<p>"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +a little late, but the roads are heavy this morning. +Come to the fire and warm yir hands before ye begin +yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and +Mr. McGuffie senior used to tell his son with much +relish that their hands were warmed. The school +was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog +would be prepared to swim the river rather than +miss a day in the mathematical class-room.</p> + +<p>It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble" +season had just begun, when Howieson, after a +vicious and well-directed stroke which won him three +"brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had +seen Bulldog go in; for, notwithstanding the years +which came and went, his passing in was always an +occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not +been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that +he had not arrived; and even when the school +trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's desk +empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to +take advantage of the circumstances. No one knew +where he might be lying in wait, and from what +quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful +with what docility the boys began to work +under the mild and beneficent reign of Mr. Byles, +who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins +in the unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon +wore on there was certainly some curiosity, and Nestie +was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts; but +it was understood to be a point of honour with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +Nestie, as a member of his household, to give no information +about Bulldog's movements, and so the +school were none the wiser. There was some wild +talk during the hour, and a dozen stories were afloat +by afternoon. Next morning it was boldly said that +Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what +truth was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged +Nestie to deny the slander. That ingenious +young gentleman replied vaguely but politely, and +veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant +detail that the school went in for the second day to +the class-room rejoicing with trembling, and not at +all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a carriage +and pair, possibly with a large comforter round +his throat, but otherwise full of spirits and perfectly +fit for duty. It was only after the twelve o'clock +break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie +that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence, +and felt like the Children of Israel on the +other bank of the Red Sea. Some were for celebrating +their independence in the North Meadow and +treating Mr. Byles with absolute contempt; but +there were others who judged with some acuteness +that they could have the North Meadow any day, but +they might never again have a full hour in the mathematical +class-room without Bulldog. There seemed +a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid the +scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical +class went in to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +high spirits and without one missing. It is true that +the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some reluctance +in attending to their studies, but it was +pointed out to them in a very firm and persuasive +way by Speug that it would be disgraceful for them +to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class +could not allow such an act of treachery. Speug was +so full of honest feeling that he saw Thomas John +safely within the door, and, since he threatened an +unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold +from behind. There is no perfectly full and accurate +account extant of what took place between twelve +and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but +what may be called contributions to history oozed +out and were gratefully welcomed by the school. It +was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr. Byles +to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle +drew a fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and +being much encouraged by the applause of the class, +and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a pipe +into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked +one of Mr. Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then +went to his seat with a sense of modest worth. That +Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic appreciation, +resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and, +moved by a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it +from the board; but the senior members of the class +would on no account allow any work by a young +but promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +struggle in wiping Mr. Byles's own face with the +chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of entering +into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went +to Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug, +seizing the opportunity so pleasantly afforded, locked +Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and so kept +him out of any further mischief for the rest of the +hour. That as Mr. Byles had been deposed from +office on account of his incapacity, and the place of +mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was +unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address, +from Bulldog's desk, replete with popular +humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to be +giving such attention to his studies as might have +been expected, Speug ordered that he be brought up +for punishment, which was promptly done by +Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of +Thomas John's iniquitous career, Speug gave him +the tawse with much faithfulness, Bauldie seeing +that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming +fashion; then that unhappy young gentleman was +sent to his seat with a warning from Speug that this +must never occur again. That Nestie, having stealthily +left the room, gave such an accurate imitation +of Bulldog's voice in the passage—"Pack of little +fiddlers taking advantage of my absence; but I'll +warm them"—that there was an instantaneous rush +for the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie +appeared, the mathematical class-room was as quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +as pussy, and Speug was ostentatiously working at +a mathematical problem. There are men living +who look back on that day with modest, thankful +hearts, finding in its remembrance a solace in old age +for the cares of life; and the scene on which they +dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been +whitened for his abominable trick, standing on the +top of Bulldog's desk, and singing a school song with +the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy, +while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled +Dowbiggin to join in the chorus, and Byles could be +heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how soon +we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet +innocence of our first years! how poor are the +rewards of ambition compared with the simple pleasures +of childhood!</p> + +<p>It could not be expected that we should ever have +another day as good again, but everyone had a firm +confidence in the originality of Speug when it was a +question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round +the Russian guns next morning—for, as I have said, +the guns were our forum and place of public address—and, +while affecting an attitude of studied indifference, +we waited with desire to hear the plan of +campaign from our leader's lips. But Speug, like all +great generals, was full of surprises, and that morning +he was silent and unapproachable. Various suggestions +were made for brightening the mathematical +labours and cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +Howieson, weary of their futility, proposed that the +whole class should go up to the top of the North +Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug +broke silence.</p> + +<p>"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh +may go with ye, and if he's drowned it'll be no loss, +nor, for that matter, if the half of ye are carried +down the river. For myself, I'm going to the +mathematical class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles +I'll fight him in the back yard in the dinner-hour for +half a dozen stone-gingers."</p> + +<p>"Is there onything wrang with your head, +Speug?" For the thought of Peter busy with a triangle +under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr. +Byles could only be explained in one way.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists, +either. The fact is——" And then Speug hesitated, +realising amid his many excellences a certain +deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie, +what are ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and +tell them aboot—what ye told me this meenut." And +the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit, +on which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.</p> + +<p>"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it +won't do to-t-to-day. Bully's very ill, and Doctor +Manley is afraid that he may—d-die, and it would be +beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog +is—maybe——" And Nestie came down hurriedly +from the gun and went behind the crowd, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive manner, +all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself +to be quite indifferent.</p> + +<p>Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be +going hard with Bulldog; for there was not in broad +Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul in his +great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh, +with half a dozen honours of Scotland, England, +and France. He had an insight into cases that +was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which +nobody but his own chemist could make up, he had +expedients of treatment that never occurred to any +other man, and then he had a way with him that +used to bring people up from the gates of death and +fill despairing relatives with hope. His arrival in the +sick room, a little man, with brusque, sharp, straightforward +manner, seemed in itself to change the whole +face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He +would not hear that any disease was serious, but he +treated it as if it were; he would not allow a gloomy +face in a sick room, and his language to women who +began to whimper, when he got them outside the +room, was such as tom cats would be ashamed of; +and he regarded the idea of any person below eighty +dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence. +All over Perthshire country doctors in their +hours of anxiety and perplexity sent for Manley; and +when two men like William McClure and John +Manley took a job in hand together, Death might as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +well leave and go to another case, for he would not +have a look in with those champions in the doorway. +English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for +the Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and +then would go up to London and swear in the clubs +that there was a man down there in a country town +of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End +swell doctors put together. He would not allow big +names of diseases to be used in his hearing, believing +that the shadow killed more people than the reality, +and fighting with all his might against the melancholy +delight that Scots people have in serious sickness +and other dreary dispensations. When Manley +returned one autumn from a week's holiday and +found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning +in the streets over their minister, because he was +dying of diphtheria, and his young wife asking grace +to give her husband up if it were the will of God, +Manley went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation, +declaring that to call a sore throat diphtheria +was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a mere +mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for +a judgment." It happened, however, that his treatment +was exactly the same as that for diphtheria, +and although he remarked that he didn't know +whether it was necessary for him to come back again +for such an ordinary case, he did drop in by a series +of accidents twice a day for more than a week; and +although no one dared to whisper it in his presence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +there are people who think to this day that the minister +had diphtheria. As Manley, however, insisted +that it was nothing but a sore throat, the minister +felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation +would have thanked Manley in a body had it not been +that he would have laughed aloud. Many a boy remembered +the day when he had been ill and sweating +with terror lest he should die—although he wouldn't +have said that to any living creature—and Manley +had come in like a breeze of fresh air, and declared +that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog," +with nothing wrong about him, except the desire to +escape for three days from Bulldog.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the +most mischievous little rascal, except Peter McGuffie, +in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll give you +three days in bed, and your mother will let you have +something nice to eat, and then out you go and back +to the Seminary," and going out of the door Manley +would turn round and shake his fist at the bed, "just +a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before +the boy was out of bed, but he was never afraid +again, and had some heart to fight his disease.</p> + +<p>Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that, +if Manley had allowed death to be even mentioned +in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than likely +that they would never see the master of the mathematical +department again. And boys are a perfect +absurdity, for—as sure as death—they were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost all, +with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of +them he had thrashed many times; he had never +petted any of them, and never more than six times, +perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But +that morning, as they stood silent, awkward and +angry, round the guns, there is no doubt about it, +the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to +see his erect figure and stern face come across the +North Meadow, never to hear him say again from +the desk, "Attention to your work, you little fiddlers"; +never to watch him promenading down between the +benches, overseeing each boy's task and stimulating +the negligent on some tender part of their bodies; +never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought +of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and +Speug, resenting what he judged the impertinent +spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his head, and +"learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody +knows, boys have no sentiment and no feeling, so the +collapse of that morning must be set down to pure +cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles +ruled over them without resistance, and might have +thrashed them if he had so pleased and had not +ventured to use Bulldog's cane.</p> + +<p>Had they not been boys, they would have called at +Bulldog's to learn how he was. Being boys, they +avoided his name and pretended they were indiffer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>ent; +but when they met Manley on the bridge that +afternoon, and judged he had come from Bulldog's, +they studied his face with the skill of wild animals, +and concluded each one for himself that things were +going badly with the master. They picked up every +scrap of information from their fathers in the evening, +although they fiercely resented the suggestion of +their mothers that they would be concerned about +"Mr. MacKinnon's illness"—as if they cared +whether a master were ill or well, as if it were not +better for them that he should be ill, especially such +an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother +was very much disappointed by this lack of feeling, +and said to her husband at night that she had expected +better things from Archibald; but if she had +gone suddenly into Bauldie's room—for that was his +real name, Archibald being only the thing given in +baptism—she would have found that truculent +worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with +the blankets, lest his elder brother, who slept in the +same room, should hear him. You have no reason +to believe me, and his mother would not have believed +me, but—as sure as death—Bauldie was crying +because Bulldog was sick unto death.</p> + +<p>Next morning Speug and a couple of friends +happened by the merest accident to be loitering at +Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and examining +with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +very time when that worthy magistrate came out and +questioned Dr. Manley "How things were going up-bye +wi' the maister?"</p> + +<p>"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the +case; it looks bad, very bad indeed, and I'm not a +croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a strong man, +not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but +he has lost interest in things, and isn't making an +effort to get better; just lying quiet and looking at +you—says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get him +waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."</p> + +<p>"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment +at the thought of Bulldog dying, as it were, of +gentleness.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way +with those strong, healthy men, who have never +known a day's sickness till they are old; they break +up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog +didn't thrash you and me, else we would have been +better men; but he has attended to our boys."</p> + +<p>"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie +shook his head, sadly mourning over a man who had +laid down his life in discharge of discipline. But the +boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened +the strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a +heap upon the street, whereat there was a brisk interchange +of ideas, and then the company went on its +way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.</p> + +<p>Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +that was the reason that Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered, +taking offence if anyone looked at him, +and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing +during the dinner-hour. It was supposed +that he had broken bounds and gone to Woody +Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and +that while the class was wasting its time with Byles, +Peter was playing the Red Indian. He did not deny +the charge next day, and took an hour's detention in +the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time +he was supposed to be stalking Indians behind the +trees, and shooting them as they floated down the +river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his +father's stable, hidden from sight, and—as sure as +death—Speug was trying to pray for Bulldog.</p> + +<p>The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of +the natural man, and Mr. McGuffie junior had never +been present at any form of family prayers, nor had +he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under +any minister in particular. He had no training in +devotional exercises, although he had enjoyed an +elaborate education in profanity under his father and +the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely +his own.</p> + +<p>"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say +Ye hear onybody. I'm Peter McGuffie, but mebbe +Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good +laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but +I'm awful fond of Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff this time +I'll never say any bad words again—as sure as death—and +I'll never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's +face, and I'll never steal birds' eggs, and I'll +never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash my face +and—my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule, +and I'll do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let +off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill Bulldog."</p> + +<p>When Dr. Manley came out from the master's +garden door that evening he stumbled upon Speug, +who was looking very miserable, but began to whistle +violently the moment he was detected, and denied +that he had come to ask for news.</p> + +<p>"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell +me lies, for I know you, Speug, and your father +before you. I wish I'd good news to give you, but +I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing +from Bulldog."</p> + +<p>For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the +road and thrust his hands deep into his pockets; +then the corners of his mouth began to twitch, and +turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while +his tough little body that had stood many a fight +shook all over. Doctor Manley was the first person +that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him +to protect him from the gaze of any wandering message +boys who might come along the lane. By and +by Speug began to speak between his sobs.</p> + +<p>"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +I dinna like to let on.... I heard ye say that ye +couldna rouse Bulldog to take an interest in onything, +and I thought o' something."</p> + +<p>"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his +hands on the boy's shoulder and encouraged him to +proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust me."</p> + +<p>"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a +lickin'; if he juist had a cane in his hands and a +laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be himsel' +again, and—there's no a laddie in schule he's licked +as often as me. And I cam up——" and Speug +stuck.</p> + +<p>"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean. +You've mentioned the medicine; 'pon my word, I +believe it's just the very thing that will do the trick. +Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what +I was seeking after, and I've been doctoring those +Muirtown sinners for more than thirty years. Come +along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and we'll +go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug +through the garden and into the house. "Wait a +minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll come back +to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs +and found his friend in the lobby, confused +and frightened for the first time in his life, and Nestie +saw the marks of distress upon his face. "Doctor +M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm +round his neck) "you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown. +It's awfully d-decent of you, and it'll p-please<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as +consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought +him forward to the bedside, and at last he had +courage to look, and it took him all his time to play +the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so +gentle, with his face almost as white as the pillow, +and his hands upon the bedclothes wasted like to the +hands of a skeleton. The master smiled faintly, and +seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars, +but he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in +the background and allowed the boys to manage their +own business, being the wisest of men as well as the +kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug +and gave him every encouragement, Peter could not +find a word, but stood helpless, biting his lip and +looking the very picture of abject misery.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 383px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i202" id="i202"></a><img src="images/i202.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt=""His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you. +He is very sorry that you are ill, and so are all the +boys. Peter thought you might be wearying to—to +use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a +little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid +an old cane he had hunted up, a cane retired from +service, upon the bed within reach of Bulldog's hand. +A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, +the first expression of interest he had shown during +his illness. He turned his head and looked at Peter, +the figure of chastened mischief. The remembrance +of the past—the mathematical class-room, the blackboard +with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>scratching of the pens, came up to him, and his soul +was stirred within him. His hand closed again upon +the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw +open upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one +little stroke with all the strength he had. "The +fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers can't do +without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye +and overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. +Manley hurried the boys out of the room, who went +into the garden, and, being joined by the master's +dog, the three together played every monkey trick +they knew, while upstairs in the sick-room Manley +declared that Bulldog had turned the corner and +would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."</p> + +<p>The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to +his native stable-yard, for this was only proper +courtesy to a consulting physician. He called him +"Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all +the way, whereat Peter was so abashed that friends +seeing him sitting in Manley's phaeton, with such an +expression on his face, spread abroad the tale that +the doctor was bringing him home with two broken +legs as the result of riding a strange horse. The +doctor bade him good-bye in the presence of his +father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school +on the news of Bulldog's convalescence, and next +day stone-ginger was flowing like water down the +throats of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_PLEASANT_SIN" id="A_PLEASANT_SIN"></a>A PLEASANT SIN</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XI</h3> + + +<p>Captious people, such as ministers of religion and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +old maids of the precise kind, considered that the +Seminary were guilty of many sins and mentioned +them freely; but those excellent people erred through +lack of vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, +putting the Dowbiggins' clothes into a state +of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the "Pennies," +having a stand-up fight between two well-matched +champions, say, once a month, and "ragging" +Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of evil, +but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the +high spirit of those who were active, and teaching +the Christian grace of meekness to those who were +passive. There was only one act which the Seminary +knew it ought not to do, and which all the boys +wanted to do, which they enjoyed very much in doing, +and were quite willing to be punished for doing. +The besetting sin of a school—a country school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>—which +will remain its sin until the days of the millennium +have fairly set in, was playing truant.</p> + +<p>This crime was equivalent to high treason in the +State, and consisted in a boy absenting himself from +school without the knowledge of his parents, and +without the consent of his master, for a day or half +of a day. The boy did not disappear because he was +ill, for he was on such occasions outrageously well: +nor because he was overburdened by work, for the +truants always guarded themselves against brain +fag; nor because he wanted to hang about the streets, +or smoke in secret places. He was simply seized with +the passion of the open air and of the country. To +tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' +eggs and watching the ways of wild animals; to guddle +for trout under the stones of some clear running +mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on +a summer day, or to join the haymakers on a farm, +and do a full day's work, as long as lesson time and +harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, +as if an animal had broken out from a menagerie; +there was joy in thinking, as you lay beside your +burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows +mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their +sums, under Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home +in the evening, tired, but satisfied, and passing the +empty Seminary with defiance. There is no joy—I +mean sin—but has its drawbacks, and there were +clouds in the truant's sky. Country folk had their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +own suspicions when they came on a couple of boys +going at large on a working day, when the school +was in session, as one might have a shrewd guess +if he came upon two convicts in their professional +dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But +there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who +have escaped from a cage, unless it be a tigress looking +for her dinner, and no one would have thought +of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and +Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished +him for his evil doings—as I shall tell.</p> + +<p>"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, +as he came upon them sitting by the burnside eating +bread and cheese and counting up their trout, "I'm +judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, +or mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir +health. Or is this the reward for doing yir work so +well? Ye have all the appearance of scholars." And +then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery +and the confusion of the boys.</p> + +<p>"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest +mended, and ye mind where leears go to. But I'm +thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk to +wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries +in the garden up by, just about ripe."</p> + +<p>So they all went up to the farm kitchen and +had a glorious tuck in, and were afterwards turned +loose among the strawberries, while the farmer +watched them with keen delight and a remembrance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +of past days. Whose place in heaven for such +deeds of charity is already secure.</p> + +<p>The authorities at home were not so lenient, and +the experienced truant was careful, when he could, +to time his arrival home about five o'clock in the +afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and +one hour more of special confinement. According +to the truant's code he was not allowed to tell a +lie about his escapade, either at home or at school, +but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed +statement of the truth. If his father charged him +with being kept in at school for not having done his +work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed +it to go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. +When, however, a boy was by habit and +repute a truant, his father learned by experience +and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had +an extra touch of the sun on his face, and his clothing +was disorderly beyond usual, and his manner was +especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please +every person quite remarkable, and if in moments of +unconsciousness he seemed to be chewing the cud of +some recent pleasure, the father was apt to subject +him to a searching cross-examination. And his +mother had to beg the boy off with many a plea, such +as mothers know how to use; and if the others did +not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, +she could always send the good man back upon his +memory, and put it to his conscience whether he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin the +boy had inherited from himself.</p> + +<p>It was next morning that the truant really paid +for his pleasure; and the price was sharp, for there +was no caning to be compared with that which +followed a day in the country. It was a point of +honour that no boy should show distress; but even +veterans bit their lips as the cane fell first on the +right hand and then on the left, and right across the +palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the +hand, if the cane was young and flexible. Speug, +though a man of war and able to endure anything, +used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather +was cold, before going in to the inquisition, and +after he had received a switching of the first order +he would go down to the lade and cool his hands in +the running water. It was an interesting spectacle +to see four able-bodied sinners, who yesterday +had given themselves to the study of Nature, now +kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our +waters of Lethe; but you must remember that they +made no moan before the boys, and no complaint +against the master. The school received them with +respect when they came out, and Speug would +indicate with a wink and a jerk of his head that +Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to +be trifled with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered +cub ventured to come too near when Peter +was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to +be looking where he had no business."</p> + +<p>Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some +weak-hearted boys, but it never prevented any of the +hardy ruffians from having their day out when the +fever seized them. Playing truant was the same +thing for a boy as bolting for a high-spirited horse; +done once, the animal is bound to try it again, and to +both, the joy of their respective sins must be very +much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead +and then go astray in cold blood, because this sin was +not an act of malice aforethought—it was a sudden +impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the +blood. Had one determined on Tuesday night to +take Wednesday, it might have turned out in our +fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as +soon be playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in +the dinner-hour, or, for that matter, amusing himself +in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the morning +ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or +water—arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, +and planning how to escape a lesson he had not prepared; +but he was helpless against Nature if she set +herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose +outside the door than the summer air, sweet and +fresh, began to play upon his face and reminded him +of a certain wood. As he went through the streets +of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that +morning in the sunshine, brought up a pool where a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +fat trout was sure to be lying. As he crossed the +North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the +Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and +flowers, and sent his blood a-tingling. The books upon +his back grew woefully heavy, and the Seminary reminded +him of the city gaol frowning out on the +fields with its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered +by the lade and saw the clear water running +briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a +glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie +Woods with their mysterious depths, and +rising high above the houses on the other side of the +river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The +bell rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river +is running through his heart, and the greenery is before +his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs through +the open window awakens the instinct of the wild +animal in his breast and invites him to be free. +Speug has a slate before him, but he is not pretending +to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, +and sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make +its bolt. He catches Howieson's eye and reads that +Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal of Bauldie +whether he prefers compound fractions to a +swim, and Bauldie explains, also by signal, that, +much as he loves fractions, he will be obliging that +afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth +would complete the party; and when Speug lifts his +eyebrows with great dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>ell, +three desks off, "Piggie," like the gallant spirit +that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be +found wanting. Not a word has been said, and no +one will say "Truant" at any time, but at the next +break the four separate themselves quietly and unobtrusively +from their fellows, and by the time the last +boy has gone through the door, they are scudding +across the meadow to Speug's stable-yard, where +they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing +more is needed than a hunch of bread and some +fish-hooks; but as they ran Speug had dropped the +word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island +was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the +town, long and narrow, formed with a division of +the river into its main current and a sluggish backwater. +It was covered with dense brushwood, except +where here and there a patch of green turf was +left bare, and the island was indented with little bays +where the river rippled on clean sand and gravel. +It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself +in it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and +then you had to find your comrades by signal; and +it had little tracks through it, and there was one +place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to +be a cave, and where certainly two boys could get +out of sight if they lay very close together and did +not mind being half smothered. When you went +to Woody Island, and left the mainland, you were +understood to blot out the Seminary and Muirtown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was +somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the +possession of the children of the forest; the ashes +of their fires could be seen any day there, and you +could come upon their wigwams in one of the open +spots. There was a place where they had massacred +three trappers and taken their scalps, and in that +cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian scout, +lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth +of his rifle peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned +braves at bay for a whole day. It was a +fairy world in which our Indian tales could be reproduced +upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the +heroes we had so often admired. The equipment for +the day consisted of four tomahawks (three axes out +of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals +which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols +(one belonging to Speug and the other to Bauldie); +a couple of toy rifles—not things for kids, mark you, +but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire +caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage +cloth from Peter's yard; and a kettle for boiling +water—I mean cooking the game—which Jock +Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy +had to visit his home on pretence of returning for a +book, and bring away the necessary articles of war +and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; +and then everything, axes included, and, if possible, +the rifles had to be hidden away about their persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +until the four, skulking by back lanes, and separating +from one another, reached the top of the North +Meadow, after which they went up the bank of the +river, none daring to make them afraid. They were +out of bounds now, and the day was before them for +weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into +an Indian trapper, and giving directions about how +they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne +Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate +whether they would have a chance of meeting with +the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to +try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, +because, although they had not yet entered the Indian +territory, the crafty foe might have scouts out on +this side of the river, and in that case there was no +hope of Woody Island. The Indians would be in +ambush among the trees on the bank, and the four +would be shot down as they crossed.</p> + +<p>Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's +Indians, but a white man—a renegade—who, to his +shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was +always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. +This miscreant was a farmer on the mainland, who +was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a determined +objection to any boys, or other savages, +except, as I have said, the Seminole tribe living on +the island, and who used to threaten pains and penalties +against anyone whom he caught on his land. +One never knew when he might be about, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +was absolutely necessary to reach the island without +his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug +used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday +dinner, and then creep along the bank of the +river and ferry himself across with the other trappers +in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to +the other side of the island and kept there for the +return voyage in the evening, so that the farmer was +helpless to reach the island, and could only address +the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from +the bank, which was sent back to him in faithful +echo. This forenoon the farmer happened to be +hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite the +island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, +for now the four had to drop down and crawl along +through the thick grass by the river's edge, availing +themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay, +with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed +so near the farmer that they could hear him speak +and hear the click of the hoes as the people worked +in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously +and looked through between the branches of a shrub, +you could see him, and Bauldie actually covered him +with his rifle. The unconscious farmer knew not +that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon +Bauldie's trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his +chief, for he would dearly have loved to fire a cap, +but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the trapper +dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +explained that the renegade had certainly deserved +death, but that it was dangerous to fire with so many +of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other +side of the river. By and by the farmer and his +people had worked themselves to the other end of +the field, and the trappers, having ascertained that +there were no Indians watching them, prepared to +cross. Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out +suddenly and unadvisedly, for the farmer had +chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have +mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, +for they would have stripped and swum across, and +back again when they were tired of the other side, +for every one of them could swim like an otter; but +that day they were trappers, with arms, and food, +and a tent, and powder which must be kept dry, to +say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief consultation, +and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot +the farmer dead on the spot, and as many of his +people as they could. Speug, who had been prowling +around—though cautiously, mind you, and ever +watching for a sign of the Seminoles—gave a low, +mysterious whistle, which was one of the signs +among the trappers; and when the others joined +him he pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." +It was an ancient boat which the farmer's father had +used, and which had lain for years upon the bank, +unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, +it had two holes at least in it, and there were no oars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +It was a thing which, in the farmer's hand, would +have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had the +semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy +trappers. Very carefully did they work it to the +bank, lest it should slip a whole plank on the road, +and very gently did they drop it in, lest the Seminoles +should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with +his bonnet, and Bauldie the second with his; Jock +spread his jacket over an oozy part. They shipped +all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and +the others, stripping off their clothes and adding +them to the cargo of the boat, pushed out the boat +before them, swimming by its side. It was a mere +question of time whether the boat would go down in +mid-channel; but so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, +ready at any moment to swim for his life, and so +powerfully did the others push, swimming with their +feet and one hand, and with the other hand guiding +the boat, that they brought it over safely to the other +side; and the fact that half their clothes were wet +through mattered little to men who had often hidden +from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their +eyes and nose out; and, at any rate, the food was +safe. The matches and the percussion caps also were +dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the +worst emergency, they would have been carried on +the top of his head if he also had been obliged to +swim. They brought the boat into a little creek, and, +communicating by signs to one another—for they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +were too old hunters to be speaking now, when there +might be a party of Seminoles in that very wood—Speug +and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree +with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" +and Bauldie drew the boat up under cover of the +bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that even a Seminole's +keen eyes would not have been able to detect +it. The trappers made another hiding-place, and left +there the superfluous garments of civilisation, confining +themselves to a shirt and trousers, and a belt +which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and +Jock, as the two veterans who could discover the +trail of the Seminoles by a twisted leaf on a +branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their +friends to lie low, and they themselves disappeared +into the brushwood. They had gone to scout, and to +make sure that no wandering party of Indians was +in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed +three times, "Piggie" nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie +hooted like an owl, then they knew that it was +safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom +they found on the edge of a clearing, leaning on their +rifles in a picturesque attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" +led, and the others followed, pausing now and +again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal +from "Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each +took up his position behind a tree. But it was a false +alarm. Then they went on as before, till they came +to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where +they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, +lighting a fire, which they did with immense success, +and proceeding to cook dinner. As they +had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any +wandering Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild +turkey, which, in other circumstances, would have +been their food; but they made tea (very badly, and +largely because they wished to use the kettle), and +they had bread and butter, which had turned into oil +through the warmth of Bauldie's person, a half ham +which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for which +"Piggie" will have to account some day, and +six jam tarts which Howieson bought with his last +farthing, and which had been reduced practically to +one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles +of stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, +and afforded them a big mouthful each, as they +drank without any cup, and shared honestly by +calculation of time.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 430px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i218" id="i218"></a><img src="images/i218.jpg" width="430" height="600" alt=""They drank without any cup."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"They drank without any cup."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>What a day they had! They fought Indians from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +one end of the island to the other, killing and scalping +twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter current +on the other side, and they dried themselves in the +sun, and in the sun they slept till they were +burned red; and then just as they were thinking that +it was time to go back to the camp and gather together +their belongings and set off for home, Speug +gave a whistle that had in it this time no pretence of +danger, and bolted into the wood, followed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, +or the Seminoles had sent a message, they never +knew, but the farmer was on the island and proceeding +in their direction through the brushwood. Speug +did not think that he had seen them, and he would +not quite know where they were, and in an instant +that leader of men had formed what he thought the +best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the +other three, who executed a war-dance at the mere +thought of the strategy, and then departed hurriedly +for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not +ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, +and just gave the farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried +up the island.</p> + +<p>"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait +till I catch ye; trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be +bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be in the nicht, or I'm no +farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please, but +I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back +in, for I've found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, +and knocked the bottom oot o' it."</p> + +<p>It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, +and then Speug was standing on the edge of the +water at the top of the island, where the current runs +swift and strong towards the other side.</p> + +<p>"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red +all over, but not with modesty. "I thought I heard +somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the +island. Have ye come to bathe?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little +deevil, and, my word, I'll bathe ye," and the farmer +made for Speug.</p> + +<p>"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy +almost had his hands on him, and dived into the +river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified man; +and then, as he went down with the current which +took him over to the opposite side, he invited the +farmer to come in. When he landed Speug bade +the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped +he would enjoy himself among his Indian friends.</p> + +<p>"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll +be after ye, and though I ransack Muirtown I'll find +ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle to go back to the +town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be," +and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat, +which he had loosely fastened to one of the trees. +When he reached the spot it was not to be found, +but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed +place on the other side, chained and padlocked. For +the other three trappers had gathered all their +possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen, +and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves +across with rapidity and dignity. Once more +Speug bade the farmer good-night, extending both +hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was +in front of the other, and the thumb of the inner +hand attached to Speug's nose. He thoughtfully +offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed, +wishing him a pleasant night and telling him where +he would find the shank of a ham. As Peter dressed +himself, his friends could only look at him in silent +admiration, till at the thought of the renegade +trapped so neatly and confined for at least a night +on his own island, Howieson slapped his legs and +triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown +and to civilisation full of joy.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="GUERILLA_WARFARE" id="GUERILLA_WARFARE"></a>GUERILLA WARFARE</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XII</h3> + + +<p>There is no person in a Scots country town to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +be compared with a Bailie for authority and +dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown, +was a glory to his order. Provosts might come +and go—creatures of three years—but this man remained +in office for ever, and so towered above his +brethren of the same kind, that the definite article +was attached to his title, and to quote "the Bailie" +without his name was the recognised form and an +end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to +him, and, entering into the designs of Providence, +had given him a bodily appearance corresponding +to his judicial position. He stood six feet in his +boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression +of six inches more. His waistband passed +forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man justice, +his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested +in folds upon his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven, +solemn, immovable countenance suggested +unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice +was deep and husky, and the clearance of his throat +with which he emphasised his deliverances could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +heard half a street away and was like the sealing of +a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had +he seen his boots—at least upon his feet—and his +gait, as became his elevation, was a stately amble, +as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea, +driving the water before her bow and yet swaying +gently from side to side in her progress. Sunday +and Saturday—except when officiating at the Sacrament, +and of course he was then in full blacks—the +Bailie wore exactly the same kind of dress—a +black frock-coat, close buttoned, and grey trousers, +with a dark blue stock, his one concession to +colour. As his position was quite assured, being, +in the opinion of many, second only to that of the +Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his +clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two +stains upon his paunch as a means of identification. +Walking through the town, he stood at his full +height, with his hands folded upon the third button +of his coat; but when he reached the North +Meadow, on his way home, and passed the Seminary, +he allowed his head to droop, and clasped +his hands behind after the manner of the great +Napoleon, and then it was understood that the +Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of +State. People made way for him upon the streets +as he sailed along, and were pleased with a recognition, +which always took the form of a judgment +from the Bench, even though it dealt only with the +weather or the crops.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no occasion, either in the Council or +in the Presbytery, when the Bailie did not impress; +but every one agreed that he rose to his height on +the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of +law, could be sprung on him, no sensational incident +ever stirred him, no excitement of the people +ever carried him away. He was the terror of the +publicans, and would refuse a license if he saw fit +without any fear; but if the teetotalers tried to dictate +to him, he would turn upon them and rend his +own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown +sinner was convicted in his court he would preface +his sentence with a ponderous exhortation, and if +the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the +accused to go as an act of grace, but warn him +never to appear again, lest a worse thing should befall +him. There are profane people in every community, +and there were those in Muirtown who +used to say in private places that the Bailie was +only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but +the local lawyers found it best to treat him with +respect; and until the Seminary boys took his +Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No +doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported +into a petty case to browbeat the local +Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when +that eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions +to "the defunct," said that if he heard anything +more about "the defunct" he would adjourn +the case for a week, and allow him to appear in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +own interests. Then the advocate explained with +elaborate politeness that he was afraid that even the +summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce +this party, and that his appearance, if he came, +might secure the court to himself.</p> + +<p>"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate +with unmoved dignity, "that the man is dead. +Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if you +had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had +your case better prepared, and not wasted our time +with the talk of dead people. You are still young, +and when you have had more experience you will +know that it is only the evidence of living witnesses +that can be received in a court of justice. Proceed +with your case and confine yourself to relevant evidence—yes, +sir, relevant evidence."</p> + +<p>It only shows the inherent greatness of the man, +that in private life the Bailie followed the calling of +an Italian warehouseman, which really, in plain +words, was the same thing as a superior grocer, +nor was he above his trade for eight hours of the +day. When not engaged in official work, he could +be found behind his counter, and yet even there he +seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron +he wore as a robe of office, he heard what the ladies +had to say with a judicial air, correcting them if +they hinted at any tea costing less than four and +sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be +brought forward for inspection, as if it had been a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +prisoner in the dock, probing it with searching +severity and giving a judgment upon it from +which there was no appeal. He distinguished between +customers, assigning to each such provisions +as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring +in a paternal manner after the welfare of their +children, and when the case was concluded—that is +to say, the tea and the sugar bought—even condescending +to a certain high level of local gossip. +When the customer left the shop it was with a +sense of privilege, as if one had been called up for +a little to sit with the judge. It was understood +that only people of a certain standing were +included among the Bailie's customers, and the +sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his +door marked out his province of business. Yet if +a little lassie stumbled into the shop and asked for +a pennyworth of peppermints, he would order her +to be served, adding a peppermint or two more, +and some good advice which sent away the little +woman much impressed; for though the Bailie +committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered +terribly in consequence thereof, he was a +good and honest man.</p> + +<p>The Bailie made only one public mistake in his +life, but it was on the largest scale, and every one +wondered that a man so sagacious should have deliberately +entered into a feud with the boys of the +Seminary. The Bailie had battled in turn with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Licensed Victuallers, who as a fighting body are +not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom +every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves +alone; with the Tories, who were his opponents, +and with the Liberals, his own party, when he happened +to disagree with them; with the Town Council, +whom he vanquished, and with the Salmon +Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms; but +all those battles were as nothing to a campaign +with the boys. There is all the difference in the +world between a war with regulars, conducted according +to the rules of military science, and a series +of guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are +with the alert and light-armed enemy. Any personage +who goes to war with boys is bound to be +beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can +hardly ever hurt them, and never possibly can conquer +them; and they will buzz round him like +wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him +to shame before the public, will tease him on his +most sensitive side, will lie in wait for him in unexpected +places with an ingenuity and a perseverance +and a mercilessness which are born of the Devil, +who in such matters is the unfailing ally of all +genuine boys.</p> + +<p>It was no doubt annoying to a person of the +Bailie's dignity and orderliness to see the terrace +in which the Seminary stood, and which had the +honour of containing his residence, turned into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +playground, and outrageous that Jock Howieson, +playing rounders in front of a magistrate's residence, +should send the ball crack through the plate-glass +window of a magistrate's dining-room. It +was fearsome conduct on the part of Jock, and +even the ball itself should have known better; but +the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did +not intend to lose his ball and his game also, and +the maddest thing the magistrate could do was to +make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough +to go to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint, +but as he could not identify the culprit, and +no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed +worsted, and the address which he gave the boys +was received with derision. When he turned from +the boys to the master, he fared no better, for Bulldog +who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect +for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his +(Bulldog's) jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of +the Seminary, and that it was not his business to +keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant, +when the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys +in the courtyard, forgot the respect due to a magistrate, +and refused point-blank, besides adding a +gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented, +to let the matter drop, or else he'd repent +the day when he interfered with the laddies.</p> + +<p>"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and +I was through the Crimean War—ye can see my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +medals; but it takes me all my time to keep the +pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye +meddle wi' them outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye, +Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye afore they're done +w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o' +managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them. +Noo, when they broke the glass in the Count's +windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna +identify them and paid the cost himself! He may +be French, but he's long-headed, for him and the +laddies are that friendly there's naething they +woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o' +mind, Bailie, and yir poseetion in Muirtown, dinna +quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine laddies as +laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born +deevils."</p> + +<p>There is a foolish streak in every man, and the +Bailie went on to his doom. As the authorities of +the Seminary refused to do their duty—for which +he would remember them in the Council when +questions of salary and holidays came up—the +Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own +thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a +magistrate; and one morning an able-bodied constable +appeared on the scene and informed the +amazed school that he was there to prevent them +playing on the Terrace. No doubt he did his +duty according to his light, but neither he nor six +constables could have quelled the Seminary any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +more than you can hold quicksilver in your hand. +When he walked with stately step up and down the +broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the +Seminary went up and played opposite the Bailie's +house, introducing his name into conversation, with +opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of +his person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally +weaving the story of his life into a verse of poetry +which was composed by Speug, but is not suitable +for a book of family reading. If the constable, +with the fear of the magistrate before his eyes, went +up to stand as a guard of honour before the Bailie's +house, the school went down then to the Russian guns +and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the +constable to come back to the Seminary, and telling +him what they would do to him. They formed a +bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out +of reach, and marched along with him, backward +and forward; other days they chaffed and teased him +till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power +to arrest them, and in his heart he sympathised +with them. And then, at last, being weary of the +constable, the school turned its attention to the +Bailie.</p> + +<p>One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was +held in the North Meadow, beyond the supervision +of the constable, and after the Bailie had been +called every name of abuse known to the Seminary, +and Speug had ransacked the resources of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +stable yard in profanity, he declared that the time +had now come for active operation, and that the +war must be carried into the enemy's country. +Speug declared his conviction in the vernacular of +the school, which is here translated into respectable +language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful +birth and discreditable pedigree, that his conduct +as a boy was beyond description, and that his +private life was stained with every vice; that his intellect +would give him a right to be confined in the +county asylum, and that he had also qualified by +his way of living for the county gaol; that he didn't +wash more than once a year, and that the smell of +him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it +was a pity he didn't attend to his own business, and +that he had very little business to do; that he would +soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't bankrupt +already it was only because he cheated with his +change; that he sanded his sugar, and that his +weights and measures were a scandal; but that the +Seminary must do what they could to lead him to +honest ways and teach him industry, and that he +(Speug) with the aid of one or two friends +would do his best for the reformation of Bailie +MacConachie, and in this way return good for evil, +as Mr. Byles, assistant in the department of mathematics, +used to teach. And the school waited with +expectation for the missionary effort upon which +Speug with the assistance of Howieson and Bauldie, +was understood to be engaged.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>Next Friday evening an art committee met in a +stable-loft on the premises of Mr. McGuffie senior, +and devoted their skill—which was greater than +they ever showed in their work—to the elaboration +of a high-class advertisement which was to be +shown round a certain district in Muirtown, and +which they hoped would stimulate the custom at +Bailie MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided +two large boards such as might be hung one +on the breast and one on the back of a man, and +those Speug had cut to the proper size and pasted +over with thick white paper. Upon them Bauldie, +who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently +for a space of two hours, with the assistance +and encouragement of his friends, and when +they set the boards up against the wall the committee +was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the +advertisement with much unction—</p> + +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="center"> +<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Sale of Bankrupt Stock</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">at</span><br /> +BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br /> +<i>THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN</i>,<br /> +49, <span class="smcap">St. Andrew Street.</span><br /> + +<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND. + +<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +<i>Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Glass of Whisky Free to all Purchasers.</span><br /> +<i>Poor People Specially Invited.</i><br /> +<i>Be early.</i> <i>Be early.</i><br /> + +BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br /> +<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span></div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + + +<p>The three artists contained themselves till they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +came to the last "Cheap Tea!" then Jock knocked +Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell +on the top of them, and they rolled in one +bundle of delight, arising from time to time to +study the advertisement and taste its humour.</p> + +<p>"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an +Elder of the Kirk! That'll learn him to be complaining +of his windows."</p> + +<p>"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself +an Italian warehouseman. I would give half +a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady Kilspindie there," +stammered Jock with delight.</p> + +<p>"'Glass of whisky free!'"—and Speug took a +fresh turn in the hay—"it's against law to drink +whisky in a grocer's shop—and him a magistrate! +He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."</p> + +<p>"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My +word! They'll be there, all the waufies of Muirtown; +there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of +whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his +knuckles.</p> + +<p>Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was +going along the Terrace to his house and congratulating +himself that on that day at least he was free +from all annoyance by the way, another character +of Muirtown had started out through a very different +part of the fair city. London John was as +well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +in his way was quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt, +without an ounce of superfluous flesh, and with an +inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat +which he had worn for at least a quarter of a +century, and a tall hat which he had rescued from +an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of trousers, +and something in the form of a shirt which was +only seen when he laid aside the outer garment for +active service, London John stalked with majesty +through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his +living as a sandwich man, or by carrying in coals, +or by going errands, or by emptying ashpits. He +could neither read nor write, but he remembered a +number and never forgot what was due to him, and +the solitary subject on which he spoke was the +wonders of London, where it was supposed he had +lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His +coming was always welcome in the poorer parts of +the town, for the sake of his discourse on London, +but never had he received such an ovation before +in the Vennel, which was largely inhabited by +tramps and tinkers, unskilled labourers and casuals +of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have +aroused their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a +free glass of whisky the deepest emotions of the +Vennel were stirred.</p> + +<p>"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler +Tam, who jogged round the country with petty +wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a +glass of whisky free! Ma certes? let me get a sight +o' that," and London John was brought to a standstill +while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a +crowd who could appreciate the cheapness of the +tea, and whose tongues began to hang out at the +very thought of the whisky.</p> + +<p>"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at +the suggestion of such deceit. "He daurna do sic +a thing, else his shop would be gutted. Na, na, it +reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny +and ye get a pound of tea and a glass of +whisky. I count it handsome o' the Bailie; and if +they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how +a man is abused."</p> + +<p>"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess +Mitchell, who had had a difference of opinion with +another lady in the Vennel and received the Bailie's +best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to +hear him preach a sermon as long as my leg besides—confound +him for a smooth-tongued, psalm-singin', +bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no +grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm +no mindin' so much about the tea. The sooner +we're at the place the better, for I'll be bound +there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown +than a' the last year." And there was a general +feeling that the Vennel had better make no delay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +lest some other locality should obtain the first +call.</p> + +<p>As London John went on his way the news +spread through the back streets and closes, and the +Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive ears. +And if any person was inclined to doubt there was +the advertisement in plain terms, and over the +board with its engaging news the austere and unmoved +countenance of London John. That +worthy could give no information about the remarkable +placard, not even from whom he received +it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it +through the Vennel and neighbouring streets for +two hours, and that he had received a shilling for +his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie +MacConachie's when his task was done. He also +explained that in London, where he used to reside, +whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for the +asking. But his hearers had no interest that day +in London.</p> + +<p>It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday +dinner, and long before he reached St. Andrew's +Street, that something was happening, and he wondered +whether they were changing the cavalry at +the barracks. People looked curiously at him, and +having made as though they would have spoken, +passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned +into the familiar street, down which he was accus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>tomed +to parade with a double weight of dignity, +an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper +was out at his door, and would indeed have +been along the street, had he not judged it wiser +to protect his property, and the windows above the +shop were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable +place of business the street was crammed +from side to side with a seething mob, through +which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a +dogcart with slender success and complaining +loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women +were there, together with their husbands, having +finished the day's work; country folk who dropped +into town on the Saturday had been attracted +to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come +out from their dens and lodging-houses, together +with that casual population which has nothing particular +to do and is glad of any excitement. They +were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, +but they were all collected in answer +to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer; they were +also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of +them particularly ready for the whisky. The first +to arrive on the scene had been Tinkler Tam, who +put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money +upon the counter with a crash, and informed the +Bailie's senior assistant that to save time he would +just take the whisky while they were making up +the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +for an impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, +in the course of a varied life, was not unaccustomed +to be called disrespectful names, and it was not the +first time he had been requested to leave high class +premises; but for once, at least, he had a perfectly +good conscience and a strong ground of complaint.</p> + +<p>"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye +meeserable, white-faced effeegy of a counter-jumper? +If I werena present on business I would +put such a face on you that yir mother wouldna +know you; but I'm here wi' my friends" (great +applause from the doorway, where the crowd was +listening to the interview) "for a commercial +transaction. Div ye no ken, ye misshapen object, +that we're here on a special invitation of yir master, +sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation +given under oath by Jess Mitchell), "and +I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye two-faced, +leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support +from the street).</p> + +<p>The ambassador of the proletariat—whose constituency +filled the outer part of the shop, pressed +their faces against the window and swayed with impatience +across the street, and also seized a lamp-post +for purposes of observation—rehearsed the +terms of the advertisement with considerable accuracy +and expounded them with various figures of +speech, and then issued his ultimatum.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a +magistrate o' Perth, and a man whom I've met on +public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before +the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here +in response to a public advertisement in terms +thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call +these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled +my side of the covenant, and I here and now before +these witnesses demand the tea and the whisky as +above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were +greatly impressed by this judicial effort, and were +getting every minute more thirsty).</p> + +<p>"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no +here himsel' to receive his friends; but what is done +by the servant is done by the master—that's good +law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who +at the smell of the shop was getting beyond control); +"and I give ye two meenuts, my dainty +young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming +at the end of that time, the law will allow us to +help ourselves, and gin ye offer ony resistance I'll +pit ye and yir neebour inside the sugar-cask." And +it was fortunate for every person concerned that +the police, who had been somewhat perplexed by +the circumstances, arrived at the scene, and turned +Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and +themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at +this point that the Bailie arrived and was received +with frantic applause and a Babel of appeal.</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 424px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i240" id="i240"></a><img src="images/i240.jpg" width="424" height="600" alt=""Before him stood London John bearing the +seductive advertisement."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Before him stood London John bearing the +seductive advertisement."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +else yir shop will be wreckit. Where ha' ye been? +The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye started +on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie. +He's coming to start the auction. Three cheers for +Bailie MacConachie!" And the Bailie, limp and +dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled +through the crowd to see the Italian warehouse +guarded by the police, and the mob of Muirtown +clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while +face to face with him stood London John, who had +now been produced for the occasion, bearing on his +back and breast the seductive advertisement.</p> + +<p>"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost +all self-control as he read the legend on the board. +"A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately planned +fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist—juist +damnable! Bankrupt—who is bankrupt? +Is't me?" And the veins on the Bailie's neck +swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny! +I never had such trash in my shop. Three shillings +is the lowest, and I never recommended it. +Whisky!—there is not a drop in the shop. Who +dare say I would turn this shop into a public-house? +I'll be at the bottom of this, though it cost +me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry +round the board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't +tell the truth I'll commit ye to gaol this very +meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +his wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered +by his own prominent position, and not at all +concerned about the Bailie's threat.</p> + +<p>"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel, +with great composure, "a big, stout man like yirsel', +Bailie, that gied me the boards and a shillin'; +or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he +was a little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the +neck. Dod! I'm no very sure, though, but that +it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's tartan +plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a +bit lassie wi' bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin' +noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie, for she said to me, +'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I +would like to tell you about London." And if the +police had not silenced London John, the Bailie +at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy, +for it was evident that the trail was blind and there +was no getting to the real person behind London +John.</p> + +<p>The crowd had listened with considerable patience +and self-restraint to this conversation, but +as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died +away, and they realised that some one had fooled +them, they looked out for a victim, and settled +upon the Bailie.</p> + +<p>"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler +Tam, standing out from the midst of the crowd,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced the +Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing +tricks on the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin' +them from their work to waste their time at your +shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If +it had been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie, +I wouldna hev said much aboot it; but at your +age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a trick, it's +perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's +hard labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be +a Bailie o' Muirtown. It was fearsome to hear ye +askin' London John who gave him the shillin' +when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then +the puir body, when ye threatened him, brought in +the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and I'm +naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make +use of a poor natural that hasna his wits, juist to +feed my vanity and gither a crowd round my shop." +Then the crowd united in three long groans, and +possibly might have shown their indignation in a +still more pronounced form, but the police, being +still further reinforced, drove them along the +streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses +of his shop.</p> + +<p>Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the +shop with Howieson and Bauldie, and demanded a +pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked +to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +there be as mony o' the Bailie's friends callin' at +the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will no be +able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace." +And as a matter of fact the offensive patrol +was withdrawn, and the Seminary resumed possession +of the debatable ground.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH" id="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH"></a>THE FALL OF GOLIATH</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XIII</h3> + + +<p>Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +risked a war with the boys of the Seminary, and it +was colossal folly on his part to continue the war +after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement. +No doubt it was humiliating to have his +respectable place of business filled with the mob of +Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and +threatening him with penalties as a covenant-breaker +when they did not get it; he had also very +good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration +which gathered the vagrants to his shop came +from the Seminary. His best policy, however, +would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and +if the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and +told the boys plainly that he knew quite well they +were at the bottom of the affair, that they were a set +of confounded young rascals, that he had intended +to hang six of them and send the rest to penal servitude, +that he was going to forgive them for the +sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had +not been half bad fun after all, that there would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +no more policemen before the Seminary, and there +must be no more windows smashed in his (the +Bailie's) house—the Seminary, which always respected +a fellow who took his licking with good +humour and didn't squeal, would have given the +Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public +career, and a covenant of peace would have been +made between him and the boys which would never +have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass +been broken by a Seminary ball, the value thereof +in a packet of halfpence, with an expression of regret, +would have been handed in before evening. +The honorary freedom of the school would have +been conferred on the Bailie, without any public +ceremony, but with immense practical advantage, +and although the Bailie was surfeited with civic +honours, yet even he might have tasted a new +pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the +boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass +in stately walk, and to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the +Bailie's road," and to receive a salute from tailless +Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside +the school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley. +If Providence had given a touch of imagination +to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen +by a position approaching that of the angels, he +would have come to terms at once with the boys, +in which case bygones would have been bygones, +and he would have been spared much humiliation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> + +<p>Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to +get the better of him, raging furiously in public +places, and breathing forth threatenings about +what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown, +which otherwise might have pitied him, held its +sides. He kept our single detective at work for a +fortnight, who finally extracted from London John +that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement +had been given him by a man uncommonly +like the detective himself and that +the said "boardies" were not to be compared +with those he used to carry in London. The +detective also learned, on a somewhat risky +visit to Mr. McGuffie's stables, that the Speug +had spent the whole day of that historical Saturday +till the hour of two—when he called for peppermints +at the Bailie's shop—in cleaning out his +rabbit-hutch and other domestic duties—this on +the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's grooms, +each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere, +or fight the detective, with gloves or without +gloves, in the stable-yard or any other place +which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going +from bad to worse, offered a reward of £5 for +any information which would lead to the conviction +of the offender, and received thirty letters—so +many anonymous, attacking his character, public +and private, and so many signed, from various +cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>signed +to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans, +to the Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped +outside the city. They were all annoying, but +there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick. +One was written from the security of Glasgow, in +which the writer promised, on receipt of the reward, +to send a full account of the conspiracy, and, +having got the money, replied briefly that he left +the matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the +second, which asked for no reward except the +writer's sense of having done his duty, and which +hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight +to his senior assistant, he might find he had been +nourishing a viper in his bosom, and that a young +man with such a smug appearance could be little +else than a rascal. This letter, which was written +in a schoolboy hand, and had five words misspelt, +was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None +of the letters seemed to help the matter forward, +and life at the Bailie's residence was very troubled +during those weeks.</p> + +<p>When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread +through the Seminary, the boys were much pained, +for it was sad to see an old man forgetting himself +and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed, +as if all they had done for the Bailie was +simply love's labour lost, and that they must begin +again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The +Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +of quiet, well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still, +if war was forced upon them, and detectives set +upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and +their families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing +could have been more successful than the last +campaign; and, although Speug had never boasted, +and none dared say that he had anything to do +with it, there was a feeling in the Seminary that the +conduct of the next campaign was safe in his hands. +As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one +ought not to detract from genius, but there can be +no doubt that Fortune played into the hands of +Speug.</p> + +<p>Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour, +and the walk of the Bailie was marvellous to behold; +but it was rather poor business for Speug to walk +half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the +Bailie in an exact imitation of the magistrate's +manner, although the school was hugely delighted. +If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had +been on his side; but when he turned round and +gave Speug a sound box on the side of the head, he +lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a +chain of consequences, arose the scandal which +almost drove the Bailie from Muirtown. Speug +could not have hoped for anything so good as that +foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw +his opportunity. Many a stroke had he endured +in his day, from his father and from the grooms,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from +Bulldog when he caught him red-handed, and from +the boys in a fight, and there was no one of his age +so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand +been any other than that of Bailie MacConachie, +Speug would have made derisive gestures and invited +the second stroke. As it was, he staggered +across the pavement and fell with a heavy thud +upon the street, where, after one sharp, piercing +cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans +could be heard along the Terrace. His one hope +was that, when he had seized the occasion with +such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail +to play up and support his <i>rôle</i>, and, although they +were cleverer at reality than acting they entered +heartily into their opportunity.</p> + +<p>"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson +tenderly, as he stooped over the prostrate figure. +"Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan like +that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye +gatherin' round like that for an keepin' away the +air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some o' ye lift +his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for +ony's sake, and bring some water in yir bonnets."</p> + +<p>It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the +unconscious form of their beloved friend, and carrying +him carefully across the pavement, and placing +Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and +then rendering what would now be called first aid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +to the wounded, while that ingenuous youth kept +his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to +show that he was still living. Never in his life had +Providence given him a chance of playing so much +mischief, and he was not going to be disobedient. +They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air, +they anxiously searched the side of his head for the +wound, and washed away imaginary blood with +very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his +forehead with such profuseness that the water ran +down his chest, whereat Speug expressed himself +in low but stern tones, so Nestie advised them to +stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys +were only prevented from taking off his boots by a +seasonable warning from Bauldie and a reasonable +fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was reinforced +by all the message-boys within sight, and +several ladies who were coming home from the +shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose railings +Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress, +came out—their hearts full of compassion and their +hands of remedies. As Jock and Bauldie did +not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at +once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his +head and the railings, while the other chafed his +forehead with scent, and both insisted that Dr. +Manley should be sent for at once. This was the +first suggestion which seemed to have any effect on +Peter, for it would not at all have suited his plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +that that matter-of-fact physician should have arrived +on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious +smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose, Speug +showed signs of returning consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he +wasn't killed. A blow behind the ear is often fatal. +He's coming round nicely. The colour is returning +to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you +say?" as Jock Howieson unfolded to the ladies in +simple, straightforward, truthful words the story +of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any +man would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At +this moment Peter, who had been reconnoitring +the whole scene through his half-closed eyes, +seized the opportunity to wink to the mourners +with such irresistible effect as to prove once again +the close connection between tears and laughter.) +"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic +female. "He ought to be ashamed of himself; +but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make +the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his +head."</p> + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image border2" style="width: 404px; height: 600px;"> +<a name="i252" id="i252"></a><img src="images/i252.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt=""A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to +the patient's nose."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to +the patient's nose."</span> +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="nanospace"> </div> + +<p>Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little +weary of inaction, he was helped to his feet, and +after one or two staggers seemed to come to himself, +and submitted with agreeable humour to the +attention of his friends, who dusted him from head +to foot, under the superintendence of the ladies and +to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>now entering into the meaning of the scene. His +bonnet, which had been thoughtfully used as a +water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his +head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his +head in Bauldie's handkerchief, partly because +there was a limit even to his endurance, and because +Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose +in the course of the day. The maiden ladies +were anxious that he should rest in their house, but +Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home, +where he could break the news himself to his +anxious father. And so an impressive procession +was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the +way, and then Speug, upheld on the one hand by +Nestie, and on the other by Jock, while Bauldie +commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys +at a distance, in order to secure due respect +for the sufferer. It was with difficulty that Speug +could sustain his <i>rôle</i> until he and his friends got +safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when +they plunged into a straw-shed and rolled together +in one heap of triumphant mischief.</p> + +<p>"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it +would be pure waste for you to be a h-horsedealer. +You must go on the st-stage. The way you came +whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and +do you know, Peter, you looked quite nice when +you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty +boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an +impident young brat. I heard every word, and she +never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked round +thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the +water down my breast, I'd give him something to +remember. I'm wet to the skin," and Speug made +a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the +leg, who pulled down Nestie by the hair of the +head, and they all fought together in high glee. +Speug extricated himself and demanded news of +the Bailie. Then the three told Speug the story +together in bits, one beginning where another +left off.</p> + +<p>"He was that astonished when ye coupit over +that he couldna speak, and Jock cried, 'The Bailie +has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye up, +but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to +strike ye a second time." "It would have done +you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking along to +his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch +out of him, and taking a look back to see what was +h-happening." "Aye, and he stoppit opposite the +lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty +a cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna +think Cosh had the spirit." "He was ashamed to +stand at the w-window, but I saw him p-peeping out +behind the curtains, just to find out whether you +were living." "If his servant lass didna follow us +across the meadow, and, my word, she's back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the now +for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter." +"What w-would you say, Peter, just +to die altogether, and we would gi-give you an A1 +funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do +it, I'll write your l-life myself. It's perfectly +sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell on Nestie, +and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced +together once more in the straw.</p> + +<p>"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young +gentlemen," and Mr. McGuffie's English groom +looked down on the boys; "but you're missin' the +Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has +come 'isself, and if he ain't been hexplainin' to the +master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug down. +He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took +up the runnin', and—my eye and Betty Martin—ain't +he talkin'! Not cussin'—no, not one swear +word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my +Alfred David, if the master ain't preachin' for all +the world as if he was a blessed beak on the Bench +and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as +good as a circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and +in exactly one and a quarter seconds the boys were +an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie +senior gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie +MacConachie, which he had been doing already for +some time with much effect.</p> + +<p>"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +street, walkin' as ye walk, and so ye knocked him +down in open day? Why should he not be doing +as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that +nobody dare step the same way on the streets of +Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies +are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are; +but I never heard yet that the street belonged to +them, and that a laddie was in danger of death if +he followed in their steps. That would be a fine +pass. Aren't boys always imitatin' somebody? +Why, you stupid old fool, half the laddies in this +district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're +standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each +one with a straw in his mouth, and the bit legs of +him straddled, and his bonnet on the side of his +head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow, +just the eemage of myself. What would ye think +of me if I knockit one of them down, ye double-distilled +old fool?</p> + +<p>"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased +to think that the laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer, +are trying to be magistrates. Didna the +Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the +prizes to 'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie, +and try to be like him?' And now, when +one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn +round on the street and half kill him, till he had to +be brought home half faintin' to his father's house!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye bloodthirsty +old ruffian!</p> + +<p>"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made +enough inquiries, by all accounts, on the Terrace. +Expression of regret, was it? We don't want yir +regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top? +I wonder ye have the face! Ye break a laddie's +head and then offer him a top! I can buy tops myself +for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're +standing there after manglin' a poor, defenceless, +harmless, motherless laddie! Ye should be +ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there +was any public spirit in this town, ye would be +drummed out o' the place!</p> + +<p>"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"—and Mr. +McGuffie adopted a conciliatory tone—"the best of +us will make mistakes, and ye've made a particularly +big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie +in the face of the public of Muirtown. Ye may +bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's settle this +matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye +say ye're sorry, and ye don't want any noise made +about it. Well, now, I've lived here man and boy +for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell +you I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any +horse, ye needn't be afraid to buy that horse, and +I'll deal with ye on the square.</p> + +<p>"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +ought to be pretty even as fighting men. Ye have +the pull of me in height, but I would say that I am +nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy +weight, and I am a middle weight, but there isn't +much in that. We could meet pretty level with +the gloves.</p> + +<p>"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed +here, and stripped and fought the matter of six +rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no mischief +done, and no bad blood left, and that would +be the end of the matter.</p> + +<p>"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk. +What do ye take me for? Do ye mean to say I'd +split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that +Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn +with the gloves! Ye don't do me justice. Why, +there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever +hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect +ye, and count ye an able-bodied man, which is +more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal, Bailie? +Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of +myself, ought I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace +to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown is pretty +easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a +prizefight, ye haverin' old body? But I see how +the wind blows. If the other man stands a bare +five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready, +ye're mighty handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly +old sneak? But when ye're offered the chance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace. +My opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a +mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to think ye're +a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me, +MacConachie, for I might lose control and send ye +out of the stable-yard, with my foot followin'! My +advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some of +the grooms got hold of ye they would make an +awful mess of ye—they're not just particularly fond +of magistrates, and they've a great notion of Peter.</p> + +<p>"One word before we part, Bailie," and the +Bailie took that word walking, "So far as I understand, +ye might be arrested for assault, and I might +prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just +this once with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a +Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an elder in the Kirk, +and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all +that, MacConachie, remember ye're just a man. +Ye're swollen up and fozzy with pride and vanity, +and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let +loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider +ye're just a man. Ye're wily and cunning and +pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own way +in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart, +ye're just a man. Ye've sat on the Bench and laid +down the law, and when ye wagged yir head everybody +kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat +they thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie, +dinna forget it, ye're just a man. Ye needna<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway +of the stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the +street with exhortations. "I've said all I wanted +to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've fought +with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans, +ye've fought with this body and with that +body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought ye +were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled +with the laddies, and they've licket ye once, +Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie, and if ye +dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll +be the end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."</p> + +<p>When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard +he called for his son, and passed a careful hand over +Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug was +a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that +there lay before him a long and useful life.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE" id="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE"></a>THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XIV</h3> + + +<p>Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +high principle and domestic habits used to go +home in the dinner-hour and take the meal with +their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity +of repairing the rents made in their clothes since +morning, and giving them good advice on their behaviour. +Thoroughly good boys, who had been +tossed to and fro, much against their will, in the +tempest of morning play, were glad to go into harbour +and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled, +but also re-fitted and re-painted for the +troubled voyage of the afternoon; and boys not so +entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other models +of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because, +although there might be an embarrassing +review of garments, and awkward questions might +be asked about a mark on the face, there was always +a toothsome dainty for a growing laddie, +weary with intellectual work and the toils of a +snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +took Mr. McGuffie senior in various directions, +and as in no case were the arrangements of his +house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely +regular character, there was no meal to which his +promising son—Speug—could return with any +confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a +practice of going home at one o'clock, unless there +was a special event at the stables, such as the arrival +of a new horse, in which case he invited a few +friends to an inspection, with light refreshments; +or unless, having racked his brain to the utmost for +four hours, he was still in sheer despair of mischief. +With one or two other young friends of a like +mind, he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour +in what might be called extramural studies—rowing +over to the island below the bridge against the +tide and coming back gloriously with the current; +assisting the salmon-fishers to draw their nets and +gather the silver spoil; in the happy snow-time +raiding the playground of a rival school when the +boys were away, and leaving insulting remarks +wrought in snow; or attending the drill of +the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other +guerillas, he carried his biltong and mealies with +him, and took his meal anywhere and by preference +when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason +why Speug in after years made one of the best +of South African fighters.</p> + +<p>When Speug was disinclined for active occupa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>tion, +and desired to improve his mind by contact +with the greater world, he took a cab, or hotel 'bus +(the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at +Speug's disposal, and his edifying conversation was +much enjoyed by the driver), and went to spend his +hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody +knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be +classed with Niagara or the Jungfrau for interest, +and at any time is worth seeing. It pleased Speug, +whose interests were varied and human rather than +classical and literary, to receive the English express, +or even one from Edinburgh, as it swept into +the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast train fairly +off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary +to give understanding assistance; and to pass +the time of day with the guards, ticket-collectors, +and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would allow +him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage, +with its pigeon-holes and its ingenious +apparatus for delivering letters at roadside stations +while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour +of what might be called irregular study, but one +never knows what he may pick up if he only keeps +his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as open +as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown +railway station that Peter found the opportunity for +what he ever considered his most successful +achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the +recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>When a cab passed the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> 'bus at +the entrance to the station, and the cabman signalled +to Peter on the box-seat, and referred to the +contents with an excited thumb and great joy on +his face, Peter knew that there would be something +worth seeing when the cab emptied at the ticket-office; +but he could not have imagined anything +so entirely satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie +emerged, dressed in the famous frock-coat and +grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial +stock, but without his usual calm and dignity. +His coat was only half buttoned, his tie was slightly +awry, and although his hat had been distinctly +tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was +too much occupied to set it right. Instead of +clearing his throat as he alighted among the waiting +porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance +of honouring a live Bailie going forth upon his +journey, he did not seem to wish for any public reception, +or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact +had every sign of a man who desired to be +<i>incognito</i>.</p> + +<p>"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie +hastily explained to an obliging porter, and he +stood between the man and the cab so as to block +all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business +and ... seeing a friend off."</p> + +<p>As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to +disperse the porters, the driver, leaning over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +roof of the cab, winked with much unction to Peter, +and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would +be worth while for him to wait and see the mysterious +friend. Speug, in fact, understood from +all this telegraphic communication that there were +going to be circumstances of a quite remarkable +character, and in which he—Peter McGuffie—was +expected to be personally interested. He dragged +Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with +him, behind a pile of luggage, and from their hiding-place +they saw, to their utter amazement, a +second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet +withal triumphantly, out of the cab. The same +height as the great man himself, and built after the +same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress, +except that the trousers were baggier, and the coat +shabbier, and the collar frayed at the edges, and +the hat had the appearance of having been used +either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both +purposes, at different times; and the air of this +second, but by no means ghostly, Bailie was like +that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing, +with the addition of a certain joviality of expression +and benignant humanity, and a certain indifference +to all the trials and difficulties of life +which is characteristic of a man who has been +"tasting," not wisely, but too well.</p> + +<p>"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously, +as the figure came with a heavy lurch on the pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>ment. +"The faintness may pass off. Take care of +your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to +the ticket-office and propped it against the wall +while he went to take the tickets.</p> + +<p>It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk +might have been due to weakness of the heart, for +you never can tell, and one ought to be charitable; +but there was no sign of an invalid about this new +Bailie, nor was he at all too exhausted for genial +conversation. He explained during the other +Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to +listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than +exhaustive, that he had been paying a visit to Muirtown +for the good of his health, and that he felt +better—in fact, very much better; that where he +lived the supply of liquid refreshment was limited, +and that in consequence he had suffered through +weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay +longer in a place where there was every comfort of +life, and that nothing would have induced him to +leave but the immoral conduct of his twin brother; +that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being +his brother, was fearfully given to drink, and +that he, James MacConachie, could no longer stay +with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a +Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment +would not tarry, and indeed, according to his language, +was already pronounced. He also gave a +certificate of character to the refreshment to be ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>tained +at the <i>Black Bull</i>, Muirtown, and cheerfully +invited any person who had a friendly heart to go +with him there and then to drink the Queen's health. +On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded +his address—which had been mightily enjoyed +by three porters, a couple of Highland +drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed +through the police-court when the Bailie was on +the Bench, and an elderly lady, who was anxious +that a doctor should be sent for—by explaining +once more that his brother was a gentleman beside +whom the Pharisees were straightforward and +honourable members of society.</p> + +<p>As the procession was again re-formed, and the +two Bailies left the ticket-office together, one of +them waving a regretful farewell to his sympathetic +congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of +triumph; for the contrast between the twin brethren +afforded just that kind of comedy which appeals +to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct +that the incident would be of service in the +war between the Bailie and the Seminary, which +had gone on for a year and showed no signs of +closing.</p> + +<p>"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in +the country, I'll warrant," said Speug to Jock, in +great spirits, "and there's naebody in Muirtown kens +he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the +very eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +clothes on. It would take Dr. Manley himself or +the Chief Constable to tell the one from the ither. +Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o' +that lad, we would have a michty time. I would +give my four rabbits and ... and my skye terrier +pup just for an hour of him." And although they +had no hope that circumstances would deal so +kindly with them, yet they went on to the platform +to see the last of the two Bailies.</p> + +<p>Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening +conversation, who at first reminded his brother +of a drunkard's end, which had no effect, and then +threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance, +which had an immediate effect, the figure consented +to be taken along the platform, and might even have +been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the +word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly +large type, attracted his attention.</p> + +<p>"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing +jubilantly to the board. "I declare it juist a Providence. +It's no that I'm thirsty, Bailie, and I canna +bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine, +though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'. +No, I'm no thirsty, but I've a sinkin' at the heart. +Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together afore we +part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no +grudge, and I'll let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure +had the Bailie almost at the door of the refreshment-room +before he could make a stand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye +say? Gude forgie ye. I wonder ye're not black +ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye +along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover +yir character. Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for +I'm no the man I was once. The fact is, I havna +strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me +get a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform." +And the horrified Bailie had to accept the +assistance of a porter to support his exhausted +brother and to guide him to his carriage.</p> + +<p>From an adjacent third class compartment, +where Speug and Jock promptly secreted themselves, +they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to +his frail kinsman—that he must on no account +come out of the carriage; that he must hold his +tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers; +that he must not mention his—the Bailie's—name, +nor claim to be connected with him; and +that he must not come back to Muirtown again until +the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to +heart as he valued his weekly allowance. The +Bailie also expressed his deep regret, which, indeed, +seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave +by the Dundee train before the departure of the +slow Fife train by which his double travelled. And +when this fact emerged—that the other Bailie was +to be left even for five minutes at their disposal—Speug +threw Howieson's bonnet to the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +compartment, with his own following in a rapture +of joy.</p> + +<p>"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment +to the Bailie on the platform, who was torn +between his profitable business engagement at +Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his +own devices. "After the way ye've treated me and +put me to shame afore the platform, I wouldna stay +another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds. +I am no angry, Bailie," the figure continued with +mournful dignity, "for that's no my speerit, but I'm +hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye maun, +and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for +ony sake dinna be tastin' in Dundee and disgracin' +the family. Drink is an awfu' failin', but ye canna +say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried +to catch the Dundee train the figure shook its head +mournfully, with the air of one who hopes for the +best, but who has had too good reason to expect +the worst.</p> + +<p>"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a +fine mixture of haste and importance before the +figure which was still moralising to itself on the +evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o' +the Seminary is expectin' ye to address the laddies +this afternoon, and they'll be waitin' this very +meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made +signs that he should come at once, and offered to +secure a cab. The figure could only shake its head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +and explain that on account of the disgraceful conduct +of a relative, who had given way to drink, it +had no heart for public appearances; but the idea +of a return to the enjoyment of Muirtown was evidently +filtering in.</p> + +<p>"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded +Speug. "A porter threipit (insisted) that he had +seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody +can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will +be terrible pleased to see ye, Bailie."</p> + +<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and +the figure was plainly roused. "Him in the Dundee +train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in every +family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o' +mine that's taken to bad habits, and I've juist to +support him and keep him oot o' sicht. It's an +awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately +brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie +MacConachie. Laddies, was't at the <i>Black Bull</i> +they're expectin' me?"</p> + +<p>"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a +word at the Seminary in passin'," and Speug signalled +to a ticket-collector who had just come upon +the scene.</p> + +<p>"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot +o' the carriage, for he's forgotten an engagement at +the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie faint with +the heat?"</p> + +<p>"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +helped the magistrate on to the platform, "it's +family trouble. Are ye connected with the <i>Black +Bull</i>? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved +young man, and these are twa fine laddies." And +outside the station, surrounded by a sympathising +circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit +of Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned +every one to beware of strong drink, and urged +them to take the pledge without delay. He also +inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there +from the <i>Black Bull</i> and explained that the Rector +of the Seminary, with his laddies, was waiting for +him in that place of hospitality. He added that he +had been on his way to the General Assembly of +the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling elder, and he +warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine. +But at last they got him into the cab, where, after +a pathetic appeal to Speug and his companion to +learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David, +he fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p>By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged +the attention of the sergeant in the back-yard, +who considered that Jock was playing truant +and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman, +fortunately an able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance +induced the Bailie to leave the cab and +convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's +class-room. At this point the great man fell +into low spirits, and bemoaned the failure of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought the +immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he +obtained an immediate tonic, he would succumb to +a broken heart. He also charged Speug with +treachery in having brought him to the County +Gaol instead of to the <i>Black Bull</i>. It was painfully +explained him that he was now in the +Seminary, and within that door an anxious school +was waiting for him—Bailie MacConachie—and +his address.</p> + +<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that +I was a drunken body? I'll teach them to smuggle +me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie (disreputable +character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars, +but I'm here" (with much triumph), "and I'm +Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And +the Bailie was evidently full awake.</p> + +<p>"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family +troubles shakes the mind. Take the pledge when +ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when ye're +old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten. +Noo, laddie" (with much cunning), "If I am to +address the school, what think ye would be a fine +subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility, +especially me being a Bailie. If ye can +mind onything, laddie, I'll give ye sixpence next +time we meet."</p> + +<p>Although Speug was reticent in the class, for +reasons that commended themselves to his practi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>cal +judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech upon +occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of +Bailie MacConachie's double that it had been a +very foolish thing for him—the Bailie—to quarrel +with the Seminary about their playground upon +the Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness +to strike him—the Speug—upon the head and +nearly injure him for life, but that he—the Bailie—was +sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would +never do the like again as long as he was Bailie of +Muirtown; and Speug concluded, while the cabman +stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye +micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for +me—Speug—ye know."</p> + +<p>"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie, +"for it's a fact. Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome +power o' the gab (mouth); I expect to see +ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at +the <i>Black Bull</i>, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the +Rector I'm at the door—Bailie MacConachie of +Muirtown."</p> + +<p>Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of +mathematics, arithmetic, and writing, and, it might +also be added, master of discipline, Speug would +as soon have ventured into his presence on such an +errand as into the lion's den of the travelling +menagerie which had recently visited Muirtown, +and at which he had spent many an unlicensed +hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +boys, a short-sighted, absent-minded, unsuspicious +scholar, who lived in a world of his own with +Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly +roused (to sorrow) by a false quantity or (to joy) +by a happy translation.</p> + +<p>Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence +in Speug's genius for mischief and effrontery +of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless +when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance, +and politely intimated to the Rector that a magistrate +of Muirtown had come and desired to speak +to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw +himself from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or +the school had energy to cheer, the wonderful +Bailie was launched into the room with almost too +much vigour by the cabman, who remained in the +shadow and whispered a last direction to "hold up +your head and keep to the right." They had forgotten—Speug's +only oversight—to take off the +Bailie's hat, which was set jauntily on the side of +his head, and the course which he took through the +room was devious, and mainly regulated by the +furniture, while his expression was a fine blend of +affable dignity and genial good humour. "Gosh!" +exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of +the class, who understood that their enemy had +been delivered into their hands, and that Peter McGuffie—their +own Speug—had been the means +thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +the very countenance, line by line, and the very +clothes, piece by piece, though looking a trifle +shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it +was evident that he had been "tasting," and that +very freely.</p> + +<p>"I am—er—proud to bid you welcome, Mr. +Bailie," said the Rector, bowing with old-fashioned +courtesy, and not having the faintest idea what like +was the figure before him. "We are always delighted +to receive a visit from any of the magistrates +of the city, who are to our humble school" (and +here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas +was to Horace, whose <i>curiosa felicitas</i> we are +now studying. Is it your pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to +examine the school?"</p> + +<p>During this stately reception the Bailie came to +rest upon a desk, and regarded the Rector's flowing +gown with unconcealed admiration, which he indicated +to the school by frank gestures.</p> + +<p>"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the +laddies answer 'The Chief End of Man,' and to say +juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you +and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're +expected. I juist looked in to say——" And here +the worthy man's thoughts began to wander, and he +made an indistinct allusion to the <i>Black Bull</i>, so that +Speug had to prompt him severely from behind. +"Aye, aye! we're all poor, frail creatures, and I'm +the last man to hurt the feelings of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones +be bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect +more than ... Speug an honourable tradesman" +(breaking away on his own account with +much spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate +father. What? All a mistake from beginning +to end. Family trouble did it—conduct of a relative," +and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal +dignitaries were a species of human beings so +strange and incalculable to the Rector, that he was +hardly amazed at anything that they might say; +and having some vague idea that there had been a +quarrel between the Seminary and some Bailie or +other, about something or other, some time or +other, he concluded that this was an official intimation +that the quarrel was over, and that it was in +style and allusion according to the habits of municipal +circles.</p> + +<p>"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful +duty, as Rector of the Seminary, to thank you +for your presence here to-day—the Mercury of the +gods, if I may say so—and for your courteous intimation +that the—er—controversy to which you—er—have +delicately alluded is healed. Any dispute +between the Council and the Seminary could only +have a favourable issue. <i>Amantium irae amoris +integratio</i> has had another illustration, Mr. Bailie; +but it would please us that you should hear the +class translate the Ode we have in hand, which hap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>pens +to be '<i>Ad Sodales</i>.'" And a boy began to +translate "<i>Nunc est bibendum</i>."</p> + +<p>"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who +had been taking a brief nap, was immediately conscious. +"Man, ye never said a truer word. Work +hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna +forget the Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement +wi' me, and he'll no be back for an hour. +Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed +Rector), "it's time we were off." And the Bailie, +making a hurried rush for the door, found himself +in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught +the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room, +and suspected trouble.</p> + +<p>"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean +veteran, as he brought the Bailie to an equilibrium. +"Could onybody have expected this?" +And then, with much presence of mind, he closed +the door of the Latin class-room and conducted the +Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while the magistrate +remonstrated that the Rector was coming with +him, and that both were going to discuss the +higher education of youth at the <i>Black Bull</i>.</p> + +<p>"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to +the <i>Black Bull</i>, or ony other bull, ye're to go this +afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose. If ye maun +taste, would it no have been more respectable to +keep indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +yourself afore the Seminary? It's no becomin' in +a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the laddies."</p> + +<p>It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing +figure at the blameless home of Bailie MacConachie, +although it is right to say that this visit +was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous +protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to +the day of his death, the real and proper Bailie +spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining +to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted" +in his life, and that on the day in question he had +been transacting private business in Dundee.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE" id="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE"></a>THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XV</h3> + + +<p>As the East is distant from the West, so far was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +Muirtown Seminary removed in its manners and +customs from an English public school; but at one +point they met on common ground, and that was +the "tuck-shop." It does not matter that an English +house master be careful to provide an ample +supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even +add, on occasion, toothsome dainties, such as jam +at Sunday tea, and sausages for a Saturday supper, +they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud, +that they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast, +so ghostly has it grown, and that they would +be ashamed to offer their dinner to the beasts +which perish. They will write such descriptions +home, and hold such conferences with friends +spending the holidays with them, and they will all +vie with one another in applying such weird and +fearsome adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +meat, potatoes, and pudding—but at the mention +of pudding they will simply look at one another and +be silent, despairing of the English language—that +their horrified parents will take counsel together +by the hour whether their poor boy ought not to +be taken from school and surrounded by home +comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of +this drastic measure, he protests strongly, and insists +that it would ruin him for life; for, to do the +ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and +swished every second day, and bullied between +times, till his life is hardy worth living, he will still +stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of residence +to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the +pretty bedroom with white curtains, nor the long +lie in the morning, nor a party in the evening, nor +all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage +for the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at +the bathroom, and the babel at the dinner-table, +and the recreations which enliven "prep," and the +excitement of a house match, and the hazardous +delights of football, and the tricks on a new boy, +and the buttered eggs—a dozen at least between +two at a study supper. It only remains therefore +that his father should write a pathetic letter to the +<i>Standard</i>, and that other parents should join in, +for a fortnight, explaining to the English public +that the manhood of the country is being destroyed +in its early years, and the boys at school will read<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +the letters aloud with much unction, and declare +that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly," +while their mother sends them generous remittances +that they may obtain nourishing food to +supplement their starvation rations. This money +will be spent rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the +"tuck-shop," where some old servant of the school +is making a small fortune in providing for the boys +such meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight +Tom and his friends, for he is not a fellow to see his +chums die before his eyes, will live on the fat of the +land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines, +sausages, and eggs.</p> + +<p>Seminary boys had their meals at home, and +were very soundly fed with porridge and milk in +the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their conduct +had been passably decent. Scots broth and +meat for dinner, with an occasional pudding, and +a tea in the evening which began with something +solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and, +although such things may very likely be done now, +when we are all screaming about our rights, no +boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the +<i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> complaining of the home +scale of diet. Yet, being boys, neither could they +be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means +of living, but required certain extra delicacies to +help them through the day. It was not often that +a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +once only had gold been seen—when Dr. Manley +paid Speug a medical fee for his advice in Bulldog's +sickness—but there were few in the Seminary +who were not able to rattle some pennies together, +and, in the end, every penny found its way to the +till of that comprehensive merchant and remarkable +woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the +other old houses beside it have been pulled down +long ago, to make room for a handsome block of +buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by +the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of +the "Breadalbane Emporium," where you can +buy everything from a frying pan to a drawing-room +suite, but where you cannot get a certain +delicacy called "gundy," which Mrs. McWhae +alone could make as it ought to be made, and at +the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to +water. Mrs. McWhae did not sell books nor clothes, +nor any other effeminate luxury of life, but she kept +in stock everything that was really necessary to the +life of a well-living and high-minded boy. There +he could obtain marbles from the common clay, +six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six +for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a +red and blue pattern on a white ground, which were +a halfpenny each, and climbed to "glassies" at a +penny each; and there was one glass leviathian +which contained all colours within its sphere, and +which was kept only to be handled and admired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +Tops were there, too, from polished little beauties +with shining steel tips, which were intended only +for amusement, and were spun with fine white cord, +to unadorned, massive, vicious-looking warriors +with sharpened projecting points, which were intended +for the battlefield, and were spun with +rough, strong twine, and which, dexterously used, +would split another top from head to foot as when +you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites +in the season was something to see, and although +she did not venture upon cricket-bats, which were +sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls, she had +every other kind of ball—solid gutta-percha balls, +for hasty games in the "breaks," white skin-covered +rounder balls, and hollow india-rubber balls, which +you could fill with water at the lade, and then use +with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed, +employed this "softie" in silly games of their own, +trying whether they could make it rebound a +hundred times from the ground, but we had no +doubt about its proper use in the purposes of +Creation. And Mrs. McWhae—peace to her +ashes!—provided all things in meat and drink which +a boy could desire; unless, of course, on some great +occasion he wished to revel imperially—then he +went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations +have turned their eager feet, and beyond which +nothing is left to desire. Fenwick's, however, was +rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where +you could get ginger-beer of her own making at +a penny a bottle, better than that which they sold +at the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> at sixpence; and treacle-beer +also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was +double the size and was enough for two fellows; +and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry and +could not get home to dinner, so tough that +only a boy's teeth could tear them to pieces; and +tarts, so full that it required long skill to secure +every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well +worth licking afterwards; and peppermint balls of +black and white, one of which would keep your +mouth sweet for an hour of Latin—that is, if you +only sucked gently and didn't crunch. But the +glory of the establishment was the "gundy." +There was a room behind the shop where Mrs. +McWhae, who was a widow, elderly and not prepossessing, +lived and slept, and dressed herself, and +cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions, +washed, and there she prepared her tempting meats +and drinks for the Seminary. We lived in a pre-scientific +age, and did not go curiously into the +origin of things, being content to take the Creation +as it stood, and to use the gifts of the gods in +their finished form. But I believe that "gundy" +was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which +our hostess boiled to a certain point, and then with +her own fair hands, which it was said she wetted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by the +constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour; +after which she cut the finished product into sticks +of a foot long, and wrapped it up in evil-looking +brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders +of wonders! all within that paper, and the paper +itself, you could have for one halfpenny! Good! +There is no word for it, as the preachers say, +"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich, +so satisfying, so stimulating, and the amount thereof +so full and so tenacious. Why, that "gundy" +would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about +your mouth, and spread itself out, that he was a +clever fellow who had drained its last resources +within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a +military gentleman, who, it was understood, had +performed prodigies of valour in the Black Watch, +and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who +only dealt upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute +was able to use her hands effectively. Like +most women she was open to blandishments, and +Nestie Molyneux, with his English tongue and +pretty ways, could get round the old lady, and she +had profound though inexpressed respect for +Speug, whom she regarded as a straightforward +fighter, and the two friends would sometimes be +allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see +her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints +dropped by those two favoured customers that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +above theory of the making of this delectable +sweet has been formed.</p> + +<p>It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit +Mrs. McWhae's during the "breaks," and to spend +three minutes in those happy precincts and not be +absolutely late for the next class; and during the +dinner-hour her shop was crowded, and the steps +outside and the very pavement were blocked by the +Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer. +Little boys who had been fortunate enough +to get their provisions early, and were coming out +to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid +their treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger +fellow should supply himself without the trouble of +waiting his turn, and defer payment to the end of +the year. And one of the lords of the school +would on occasion clear out a dozen of the small +fry, in order that he might select his refreshments +comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club, +with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps +on which the members could stand, and from the +steps you commanded three streets, so that there +were many things to see, and in snowball time +many things to do. McWhae's had only one inconvenience, +and that was that the line of communication +could be cut off by raiding parties from the +"Pennies" and other rival schools. When the +snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy was +strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +supplies under charge of a convoy, and if anything +could have added to the flavour of the "gundy," it +was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane +Street to get it, and your way back to enjoy +it, that you had lost your bonnet in a scrimmage, +and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling +down your back. Precious then was the dainty +sweet as the water which the mighty men brought +to David from the well of Bethlehem.</p> + +<p>"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up +the dinner-hour with Nestie Molyneux, on the +upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the +'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake +of the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> passed, with a dozen smart +and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly, and, wheeling +round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared +up the road which ran to Drumtochty. +"And where think ye have their royal highnesses +been?"</p> + +<p>If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and +the boys call themselves Columbians, it is very profane +to an absolutely respectable Scots saint, and +very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call +them "Bumbees"; but Speug was neither reverent +nor polite, and the Seminary, although mainly occupied +with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant +grudge against the new public school at St. +Columba's, which had been recently started in a +romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +number of excellent and perhaps slightly superior +persons, who were justly aghast at the somewhat +rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots +grammar schools, and who did not desire that +Scots lads of the better class should be sent of +necessity to the English public schools. Their +idea was to establish a public school after the English +method in Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept +terms, and had dormitories, and a chapel, and playing-fields, +and did everything on a smaller scale +which was done at Rugby and Harrow. The +masters of St. Columba's would have nothing to do +with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary. +The Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown +and sniffed through the town. Two or three +boys had been taken from the Seminary, because +it was vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order +to get into genteel society. And those things had +gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary, +which was certainly a rough school, but at the same +time very proud and patriotic, and there was a +latent desire in the mind of the Seminary that the +Columbians should come down in snow-time and +show their contempt for the Muirtown grammar +school, when that school would explain to the +Columbians what it thought of them and all their +works. As this pleasure was denied the Seminary, +and the sight of the brake was too much for +Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +yelled opprobrious names, in which the word +"Bumbee" was distinct and prominent.</p> + +<p>"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I +am a-ashamed of you. D-don't you know that the +'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and +w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven +wickets to fall. G-good s-sport, my Speug; read +it in the newspaper."</p> + +<p>"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had +as muckle spunk in them; seven wickets, did ye +say, against the English? If I had kenned that, +Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given +them a cheer. Seven wickets—they did the job +properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with +relish.</p> + +<p>"Speug!"—and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness—"I +have an idea. Why shouldn't the +Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next +s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this +summer, and begin s-soon next year and t-try them +in July."</p> + +<p>"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was +cheered at the thought of any battle, and he regarded +Nestie with admiration, and then his face +fell and he declared it of no use.</p> + +<p>"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek! +and if they came they'd lick us clean. They have a +professional and they play from morning till night. +We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +we'd never get them oot; and if we went in, they'd +have us oot in half an 'oor."</p> + +<p>"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary +as if you were a 'Penny'! Didn't the county professional +say that Robertson was the b-best young +player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits +a good b-ball, and no b-bowler can get you out, +Speug, and there are other chaps just want p-practice. +We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff +fight for the old Seminary."</p> + +<p>"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously, +as they went back to school at the trot; "ye're the +trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock Howieson +is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a +wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat. +Gosh!" exclaimed Speug, as they wheeled into the +back-yard, "we'll try it."</p> + +<p>The Seminary were slow to move, but once they +took fire they burned gloriously; and when Dunc +Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been +sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable +deputation, returned and informed the school assembled +round the Russian guns that the "Bumbees" +would send down their second eleven, since +the first was too old for the Seminary, and play a +single innings match on a Saturday afternoon in +the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up +their voice in joyful anticipation.</p> + +<p>It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +consented in terms of condescension by way of +encouraging local sport, as they had tried to organise +a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite +understood that the result would be a hopeless defeat +for the Seminary. They were coming, and +the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they +were beaten in cricket, well, it couldn't be helped, +but it was the first time Bulldog's boys had been +beaten in anything, and they would know the +reason why.</p> + +<p>Special practice began that evening and continued +that evening, and every other evening except +Sundays as long as light lasted and on till the +middle of October, when football could no longer +be delayed. Practice began again a month before +the proper season and continued on the same lines +till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary +was fairly up, and from the Rector who began +freely to refer to the Olympian games, to the little +chaps who had just come from a dame's school and +were proud to field balls at bowling practice, +the whole school was swept into the excitement of +the coming event, and it is said that Bulldog +stumped over every evening after dinner to watch +the play and was the last to leave.</p> + +<p>"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's +j-just itching to have a bat himself. Say, Speug, +if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but if we +p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p> + +<p>News spread through the town that the Seminary +was to fight the "Bumbees" for the glory of +the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle in all +directions. Our cricket club had played upon the +Meadow as best it could; but now the Council of +the city set apart a piece of ground, and six of the +leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled, +so that there might be a good pitch for playing +and something worth seeing on the day of battle. +There were half a dozen good players in +Muirtown in those days, two of whom were in the +All Scotland eleven, and they used to come along +in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the +county professional now and again dropped in, just +to see whether he could bowl Speug out, and after +half an hour's hopeless attack upon that imperturbable +youth, the professional declared the Seminary +had a chance. But the word was passed round +that there should be no boasting, and that Muirtown +must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable +defeat. Mr. McGuffie senior was the only +man on the morning of the match who was prepared +to bet on even terms, and his offers were +refused by the citizens, first because betting was +sinful, and, second, it was possible, though not +likely, they might lose.</p> + +<p>The Columbians came down as usual in a brake, +with only two horses this time, and made a pretty +show when they were dressed in their white flan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>nels +and school colours, and every one admitted +that they were a good-looking and well-set-up +eleven; they brought half a dozen other fellows +with them, to help to cheer their victory and to +keep their score, and a master to be umpire. The +Seminary eleven were in all colours and such dress +as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and +Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels, +but Speug in a grey shirt and a pair of tight tweed +trousers of preposterous pattern, which were +greatly admired by his father's grooms—and, for +that matter, by the whole school; and although +Jock Howieson had been persuaded into flannel +bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red +shirt of outrageous appearance, which was enough +to frighten any bowler. Jack Moncrieffe, the +Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland, +was umpire for the Seminary, and the very +sight of him taught the first lesson of respect to the +"Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim Fleming, +the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching +the Seminary all the summer, they began to feel +that it might be a real match, not merely a few +lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage +a common school, don't you know.</p> + +<p>There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown +men, together with a goodly sprinkling of Muirtown +mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his +position early, just in front of the tent, and never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +moved till the match was over; nor did he speak, +save once; but the Seminary knew that he was +thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics +had his eye upon them. Some distance off, +the Count—that faithful friend of his Seminary +"dogs"—promenaded up and down a beat of some +dozen yards, and spent the time in one long excitement, +cheering with weird foreign accent when a +good hit was made, swearing in French when anything +went wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the +loss of a Seminary wicket, and hurrying to shake +hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had +done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket. +Mr. McGuffie moved through the crowd from time +to time, and finally succeeded in making a bet on +the most advantageous terms with that eminent +dignitary, the Earl of Kilspindie's coachman, who +was so contemptuous of the Seminary from the +Castle point of view that he took the odds of five +to one in sovereigns that they would be beaten. +And on the outskirts of the crowd, half ashamed +to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered +Bailie MacConachie.</p> + +<p>The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice +of Jim Fleming sent the Columbians in, and there +was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for +the Frenchman did not count—who denied that +the strangers played a good, clean game—pretty +form, and brave scoring; and on their part the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the +Seminary knew how to field, wherever they had +learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could pass +Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible +with Speug as long-stop, for those were the +days when there were long-stops. Cosh had his +faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary +thought more of him after a miraculous catch which +he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at square-leg, +might not be able to prevent a two occasionally, +but he refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was +a graceless bowler and an offence to the eye, but +his balls were always in the line of the middle +stump, and their rate that of an express train; and +Nestie not only had a pretty style, but a way of insinuating +himself among the wickets which four +Columbians had not the power to refuse. There +was a bit of work at long-field, which even the +Columbians could not help cheering, though it lost +them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was +sent up from cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and +so took another wicket, wrung a word of private +praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the +Seminary was fighting against heavy odds, an uphill, +hopeless battle, and when the visitors went +out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr. +McGuffie senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and +only the Count prophesied triumph, going round +and shaking hands individually with every one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the +sky. Bailie MacConachie, by this time was lost in +the crowd, working his way gradually to the front, +and looking as if he would have liked to cheer, but +thinking it better not to call attention to his +presence. Then the Seminary went in, and there +is no question but that they had hard times at the +hands of the Columbians, who were well trained +and played all together. Robertson, who was the +hope of the Seminary, went out for twenty, and +Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only +managed twelve, and the other fellows were too +easily bowled or caught out, each adding something, +but none doing much, till at last the score +stood at sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary +in. Things were looking very black, and even the +Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face suggested +that next Monday the whole school would be +thrashed, and that a special treat would be reserved +for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however, with a +sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make +another bet with his lordship's coachman, and increased +the odds from five to ten, and the dignitary +declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his +money.</p> + +<p>"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses +pass the line. I've seen many a race changed before +the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his position +in the front row to see the end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and +only one wicket to fall, and the Columbians discounted +their victory in a gentlemanly fashion, +while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give +them no chances," he said to Howieson, as that +stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been +at the wicket for some time, but had only scored +ten. Any over might close the match, and perhaps +the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for +three overs passed and the two friends of many a +scrimmage were still in, and neither of them had +shown any intention of going out. Quite the +contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and +Howieson, who played with the gracefulness of a +cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his +wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his +own account.</p> + +<p>"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him +oot sune? I tell you he's settlin' down for the +afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour +deevil. The fact is"—Mr. McGuffie took a circle of +spectators into his confidence—"they're juist gettin' +into the stride." The Count preened his +plumage and plucked up heart again, while the +Seminary lads, gathered in a solid mass to the left +of the tent, were afraid to cheer lest they should +invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern, +could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be +better matched," said Nestie. "Speug and Jock<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>—they've +had l-lots of things in hand together, and +they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment +Speug sent a ball to the boundary. Now there +were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three runs +to make.</p> + +<p>They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness, +blocking the balls which were dangerous and +could not be played; declining to give the faintest +chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather +than be run out, and so the score crept up with a +two from Howieson, who had got into a habit of +twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and +a three and a four from Speug, and another two +from Howieson, and a three from Speug.</p> + +<p>Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted +to the coachman, "Take you again, Petrie—ten to +one, five to one, three to one against the Seminary?" +And when there was no answer, Mr. +McGuffie offered to take it even from anybody, +and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was +Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and +everything except the glory of Muirtown, was now +standing beside Speug's father and did not care. +"Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching +the look in MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones, +we're a' Muirtown men the day"; and then +his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye +odds, coachman—two to one against the 'Bumbees'" +for Howieson had scored another two, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +two more runs would win the match for the +Seminary.</p> + +<p>Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson, +instead of stopping the ball with his bat, must +needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried +the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?" +Was his leg before wicket or not? And +for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian, +Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and +children, held their breath. It would have been +maddening to have been beaten only by one run, +and after such a gallant fight.</p> + +<p>"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds; +but it seemed ten minutes, and a yell went up from +the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie MacConachie +took off his hat and wiped his forehead, +which Mr. McGuffie noted with sympathy and laid +up to the Bailie's credit. There was another crisis +at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown, +but it was very keenly present to the minds of the +Columbians. One over more and the time limit +would be reached and the game closed. If the +Seminary could make two runs, they would win; +if the Columbians could get Speug's wicket, they +would win. They put on their most dangerous +man, whose ball had a trick of coming down just +six inches in front of the block, and then, having +escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming +perilously near the wicket. His attack compelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +the most watchful defence, and hardly allowed the +chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but +could do no more with them; the third got past +and shaved the wicket; the fourth Speug sent to +slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth, full +of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear +seized the heart of Muirtown that the last would +capture the wickets and give the victory to the +visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for +it was sent to land inside the block, just so much +nearer as might deceive the batsman accustomed +to the former distance. No sooner had it left the +bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and +gnawed his moustache. Every eye followed the +ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety +of it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew +together unconsciously in common hope. Robertson, +the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into +the ground, and opposite, between the field and the +river, the leader of that rapscallion school, the +"Pennies," stood erect, intent, open-mouthed with +his crew around, for once silent and motionless. +Speug took a swift stride forward and met the ball +nearly three feet from the ground, and, gathering +up all the strength in his tough little body, he +caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it +over square-leg's head, who had come in too near +and made one hopeless clutch at it, and through +the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +every side to let it pass as they had never yielded +to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown had found +voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the +"Pennies" had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into +the air, for, the ball was in the river, and the Seminary +had won by three runs and one wicket.</p> + +<p>Things happened then which are beyond the pen +of man, but it was freely said that the "Hurrah" +of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the +hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the +Count, in his joy over the victory of his "jolly +dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat, and +would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own +hat in triumph. This is certain, that the Seminary +carried Speug and Howieson both protesting, from +the North Meadow, in through the big school +door; that Bulldog walked at the head of the procession, +like a general coming home in his glory; +that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him; +that, after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed +one cheer more for Bailie MacConachie, and +that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's house +for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie +home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + + +<hr /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE" id="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE"></a>BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE</h2> + +<h3 class="chapter2">XVI</h3> + + +<p>When the rumour flew through Muirtown in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +Spring that Bulldog was to resign at the close +of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and +treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector +who was more a learned ghost than a human being, +or the English master who had grown stout +and pursey, or some of the other masters who came +and went like shadows, Muirtown had not given +another thought to the matter, but Bulldog retiring, +it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown +held its sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was +the cause; and then Dr. Manley stormed through +half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known +Dugald MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except +once when that little scoundrel Speug, or rather he +should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician, +brought his master through triumphantly +with a trifle of assistance from himself as a general +practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog? +Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify +in public places, and was supported by all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his education +at Drumtochty that the mathematical master +of Muirtown Academy had thrashed them all as +boys, every man jack of them, being then not +much older than themselves, and that he was +now—barring his white hair—rather fresher than +in the days of their youth? Had success departed +at last from the mathematical class-room, +after resting there as in a temple of wingless +victory for three generations? Was it not known +everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather +was a senior pupil when Bulldog took +the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply romped +through Edinburgh University gathering medals, +prizes, bursaries, fellowships, and everything else +that a mathematician could lay his hands on, and +then had won a scholarship at Trinity College, +Cambridge, with papers that were talked about in +the College for fourteen days, and were laid past by +one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May +be, and this was no doubt the very heart of the jest, +Bulldog had lost control of the boys, and his right +hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys were +insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries +as to when they had their last interview with the +tawse and whether the canings were as nippy as +ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its +favourite master was an expert in every branch of +his calling and dealt with the grandchildren as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers. +And Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing +the bridge one morning as alert in step and austere +in countenance as ever, asked him how he was +keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself +the luxury of a chuckle as one who has made a +jocose remark.</p> + +<p>It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown +when the following letter was read in the Town +Council and was known next morning to every +citizen from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.</p> + +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="center"><i>To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown.</i></div> + +<div class="blockquote">"<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—I beg to resign, as from the close +of the present term, the position of Master of +Mathematics, Arithmetic and Writing, in Muirtown +Seminary, and to thank the council for the +trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight +years.</div> + +<div class="center">"I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Your obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"<span class="smcap">Dugald MacKinnon.</span>"</span></div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + + +<p>When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began +between Bulldog and the citizens which lasted +for four intense weeks in which the town was at +fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and +calmer than ever. And he won all along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful +admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and, +for such a document, almost heated in feeling, to +which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but guarded +reply. The Council intimated that they would +consider his letter to be non-existent, and not even +put him to the trouble of withdrawing, and Mr. +MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in +that case he must trouble the Council with an exact +copy. The Council then appointed a deputation +to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself +unworthy of such an unprecedented honour, +and declined to see them. And then the Council, +in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable, +strained their powers to the utmost with immense +unanimity, and voted a handsome pension to +"Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in +grateful, although unworthy recognition of the +unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable service he has +rendered to the education of this ancient city for a +period of more than half a century, during which +time nearly two thousand lads have been sent forth +equipped for the practical business of life in Muirtown, +in the great cities of our land and unto the +ends of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in +a letter of perfect handwriting that he was quite undeserving +of such a resolution, as he had done +nothing more than his duty, and that he could not +accept any retiring allowance—first, because he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +was not sure that it was strictly legal, and, secondly, +because he had made provision for his last years, +but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most +obliged servant." It was then determined to entertain +this obdurate man at a banquet, and +to make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr. +MacKinnon was again most grateful for the kindness +of his fellow citizens and the honour they +proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he +would neither accept the banquet nor a piece of +plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a +city slow but sure of understanding, and with a +silent sense of the fitness of things, that Mr. Dugald +MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus +for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without +conciliation, giving no favours and receiving +none, but doing his part by the laddies of Muirtown +with all his strength of mind and conscience +and right arm, was not going to weaken at the end +of his career. For him to rise at the close of a +dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would +have been out of keeping with his severe and lonely +past, and for him to be a pensioner, even of the +Town Council, would have been an indignity. He +had reigned longer and more absolutely than any +master in the annals of the Seminary, and to the +last day he had held the sceptre without flinching. +As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible, +he would lay aside the purple, and disappear into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +private life. And Muirtown was proud of Bulldog.</p> + +<p>Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown +in all their glory, and his fellow citizens united in +one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet settled +with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions +or any other way their appreciation of their +master, and they had followed the futile attempts +of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful +that grown up people should be so far left +to themselves as to suppose that Bulldog, their +own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined +by Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a +dithering idiot with a silver jug in his hands, or +some such trash, while his hands were itching to +thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed +them long ago. When the boys heard their fathers +raging at Bulldog's proud obstinacy they offered +no remark, but when they got together they +chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort +and compensation for many an honest thrashing, +in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of +Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No +rebellion against him had ever had the faintest +gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped without +his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the +last and full of devilry, agreed together by an instinct +rather than a conference that they would +close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +He had governed them with an iron hand, and they +had been proud to be governed, considering the +wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable +than the kisses of McIntyres', but they +would have one big revenge and then Bulldog and +his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long +confabulations together in the Rector's class-room +while that learned man was reading aloud some +new and specially ingenious translation of an ode +and in the class-room of modern languages, while +Moossy's successor was trying to teach Jock +Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the +German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop +when the "gundy" allowed them to speak at all, +and at the Russian guns where they gathered in +the break instead of playing rounders. The junior +boys were not admitted to those mysterious meetings, +but were told to wait and see what they would +see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a +word of it oozed out in the town. But the Seminary +was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog +would repent the years of his tyranny.</p> + +<p>Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it +was going to be a big affair, and Speug directed +that a war chest should at once be established. No +one outside the secret junta knew what was going +to be done with the money, but orders were issued +that by hook or crook every boy in school except +the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +Jock Howieson, who was not an accomplished +classical scholar nor specially versed in geometry +but who could keep the most intricate accounts in +his head with unerring accuracy, and knew every +boy in the Seminary by head mark. And although +he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed +with other powers of persuasion, and he would be +a very daring young gentleman indeed, and almost +indifferent to circumstances, who did not pay his +sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday. +Jock made no demands, and gave no receipts; he +engaged in no conversation whatever, but simply +waited and took. If any one tried to compound +with Jock for threepence, one look at the miserable +produced the sixpence; and when little Cosh following +in the devious steps of his elder brother insinuated +that he had paid already, Jock dropped +him into the lade to refresh his memory. No one +directly inquired what was to be done with the +money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock, +and that it would be well spent by the mighty four +who now ruled the school: Jock, Bauldie, Nestie, +and Speug—Dunc Robertson after a brief course at +Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's +regiment. And it was also known that every halfpenny +was going to give a big surprise to Bulldog, +so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers +with obsequious respect for commercial reasons, +and coaxed additional pennies out of their mothers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits to +maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop, +turning away their eyes and noses from vanity, and +sold to grinding capitalists their tops, marbles, +young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every +Monday the silent but observant treasurer received +for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at the rate of sixpence a +head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like +an oyster, and there was not one informer among +the 208; but curiosity grew hot, and there were +many speculations, and it was widely believed that +the money would be used in sending a cane of the +most magnificent proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance +of his teaching days, and a mark of +respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to +himself, dared to suggest this to Speug; and when +he looked round at some distance off, Speug's eye +was still upon him, and he declared from his experience +that it was not healthy to question Speug. +Two hundred and four boys, however, with the +observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent +upon discovery could not be altogether baffled, and +various bits of reliable information were passed +round the school. That the four had gone one +evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now +on terms of high popularity with the school; that +the Count who was even then sickening for his +death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident +could kill, had also been present; that at dif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>ferent +times the Count had been seen examining +the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches +were carried by every man of standing in the Scots +Midlands, and pronouncing his judgment on their +appearance with vivacious gestures; that the Bailie +had been seen examining the interior of a watch +with awful solemnity while Councillor Gillespie +hung upon his decision; and, to crown all, that Mr. +McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the +head of the firm, during which he had given him +gratuitous advice on three coming races, had left +Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced language +that if certain persons did not obtain certain things +for £40 he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person +giving to betting, would wager ten to one that the +place of business would close in a year. It was +whispered therefore in the corridors, with some +show of truth, that the Seminary was going to take +vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that the gift, +whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop. +And the school speculated whether there was any +one of their number, even Speug himself, who +would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and +whether, if he did, that uncompromising man +might not occupy his last week of mastership in +thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest +unto the youngest, for their blazing impertinence.</p> + +<p>The closing day was a Thursday that year, and +it was characteristic of Bulldog that he met his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +classes as usual on Wednesday, and when Howieson +disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid, +having disgraced himself more moderately on four +preceding days that he administered discipline on +Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the +last boy Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up +as to be absolutely unendurable for the rest of the +day, and boasted of the distinction for many a year. +As four o'clock approached, the boys began to +grow restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not +perfectly steady when he closed the last problem +with Q. E. D.</p> + +<p>"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried +the argument to its conclusion according to the +principles of things, and the book is finished. +There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, +we will spend it in revising the work of the Senior +Algebra Class."</p> + +<p>Their work has not been revised unto this day, +for at that moment the door opened without any +one knocking, and without any one offering an +apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, +and scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, +and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the +Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied +by Bailie MacConachie, whose dignity was +fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand gracefully +to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included +everybody in an affable nod; and behind this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown Seminary +who was not already in the mathematical class-room. +Bulldog turned upon them like a lion +caught in a snare, and if he had had only thirty +seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would +have driven the whole deputation, old and young, +out of the class-room and dealt with the conspirators +who remained unto the setting of the sun. +But it was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with +minute care, and before Bulldog could say a word +Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say +much.</p> + +<p>"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us +for it is our last offence, and we have this time a +fair excuse. Your laddies could not let you leave +that desk and go out of this room for the last time +without telling you that they are grateful, because +you have tried to make them scholars, and to make +them men. If any of us be able in after years to +do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything +else to your teaching and your discipline."</p> + +<p>Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman +the four had chosen, began.</p> + +<p>"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, +but everything Pirie said is true, and we are proud +of our chief."</p> + +<p>"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the +watch and chain which we ask the master to do us +the honour of wearing through the days to come,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to +the desk, "crowns our offence, but you will know +how to read it!"</p> + +<div class="microspace"> </div> +<div class="center"> +"TO BULLDOG,<br /> +<span class="stext">WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION<br /> +OF<br /> +HIS LADDIES.</span>" +</div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + +<p>It was Bailie MacConachie—may everything be +pardoned to him—who started the cheer; but it +was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and ditch, +and it was of such a kind that the mathematical +class-room had to be repaired before the beginning +of next term. During the storm Bulldog stood +with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white +as his hair, and when at last there was silence he +tried to speak, but the tender heart had broken the +iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."</p> + +<p>The Count, with quick tact, led off the second +cheer, and the boys filed out of the class-room. +Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before +him, and covered his face with his hands. When +an hour later he walked across the North Meadow +there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie MacFarlane, +who met him on the bridge (and passed +without speaking), noticed that Bulldog was wearing +his laddies' gift.</p> + +<p>Sitting in his garden that evening and looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +down upon the plain, Bulldog called Nestie to his +side, and pointed to the river. The evening sun +was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and +on the orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft +light, a rough weather-beaten coaster, which had +fought her way through many a gale in the North +Sea, and could not hold together much longer was +dropping down with the tide. Newer and swifter +vessels would take her place in the days to come, +but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully, +and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots +rivers was carrying her gently to the eternal ocean.</p> +<div class="minispace"> </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30089 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26a0a90 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #30089 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30089) diff --git a/old/30089-8.txt b/old/30089-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c620a96..0000000 --- a/old/30089-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7440 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren
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-Title: Young Barbarians
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-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG BARBARIANS ***
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-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WAS STANDING IN THE CENTRE OF THE LARGE ENTRANCE
-HALL."]
-
-
-
- YOUNG
- BARBARIANS
-
- _By_
- IAN MACLAREN
- Author of "_Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush_"
-
- ILLUSTRATED
-
- NEW YORK
- Dodd, Mead and Company
- 1910
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1899 and 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company,
- as
- A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
-
- Copyright, 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company.
-
- Copyright, 1901,
- By Dodd, Mead and Company.
-
- _First Edition, Published October, 1901_
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- I
- PAGE
-
- "SPEUG" 1
-
- II
-
- BULLDOG 21
-
- III
-
- NESTIE 39
-
- IV
-
- A FAMOUS VICTORY 59
-
- V
-
- HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY 85
-
- VI
-
- THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES 103
-
- VII
-
- THE COUNT 121
-
- VIII
-
- A TOURNAMENT 139
-
- IX
-
- MOOSSY 163
-
- X
-
- A LAST RESOURCE 183
-
- XI
-
- A PLEASANT SIN 205
-
- XII
-
- GUERILLA WARFARE 223
-
- XIII
-
- THE FALL OF GOLIATH 245
-
- XIV
-
- THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE 261
-
- XV
-
- THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY 281
-
- XVI
-
- BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE 305
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- "Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
- entrance hall." Frontispiece
-
- "Peter dared not lift his head." 36
-
- "'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'" 50
-
- "Seized an excellent position behind two Russian
- guns." 66
-
- "Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear." 92
-
- "Speug was dragged along the walk." 96
-
- "They were so friendly that they gathered
- round the party." 114
-
- "They were brought in a large spring cart." 118
-
- "Watching a battle royal between the tops." 134
-
- "Before the hour the hall was packed." 158
-
- "Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor." 170
-
- "The school fell over benches and over another." 174
-
- "His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority." 202
-
- "They drank without any cup." 218
-
- "Before him stood London John bearing the seductive
- advertisement." 240
-
- "A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held
- to the patient's nose." 252
-
-
-
-
-"SPEUG"
-
-I
-
-
-Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building of the classical order,
-facing the north meadow and commanding from its upper windows a fine
-view of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon its gravel bed.
-Behind the front building was the paved court where the boys played
-casual games in the breaks of five minutes between the hours of study,
-and this court had an entrance from a narrow back street along which, in
-snow time, a detachment of the enemy from the other schools might steal
-any hour and take us by disastrous surprise. There were those who wished
-that we had been completely walled up at the back, for then we had met
-the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But the braver souls
-of our commonwealth considered that this back way, affording
-opportunities for ambushes, sallies, subtle tactics, and endless
-vicissitudes, lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the whole
-winter through and most of the summer, and brought it nearer to the
-condition of Red Indian fighting, which was our favourite reading and
-our example of heroism. Again and again we studied the adventures of
-Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not only on account of his hairbreadth
-escapes when he eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and
-detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning of a leaf on the
-ground, but also in order to find out new methods of deceit by which we
-could allure our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods of attack
-by which we could successfully outflank them on the broader street and
-drive them into their own retreats with public ignominy.
-
-Within the building the glory of the Seminary was a massive stone stair,
-circular in shape, and having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by
-a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the masters descended at
-nine o'clock for the opening of the school, with Bulldog, who was the
-mathematical master and the awful pride of the school, at their head,
-and it was strictly forbidden that any boy, should be found within the
-"well." As it was the most tempting of places for the deposit of
-anything in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to little boys,
-and especially as any boy found in the well was sure to be caned, there
-was an obvious and irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter
-McGuffie, commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch tongue "Speug," and
-one of the two heads of our commonwealth, used to wait with an
-expression of such demureness that it ought to have been a danger
-signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and a row of boys were
-standing in expectation with their backs to the forbidden place. Then,
-passing swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and threw them
-over, and suddenly seizing a tempting urchin landed him on the bed of
-caps which had been duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth
-of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog as he passed
-made a mental note of the prisoner's name, and identified the various
-bonnetless boys, and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the day,
-attended to each culprit separately and carefully. If any person, from
-the standpoint of this modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some
-innocent victim did not state his case and lay the blame upon the
-guilty, then it is enough to say that that person had never been a
-scholar at Muirtown Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge of the
-character and methods of Peter McGuffie. Had any boy of our time given
-information to a master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he
-would have had the coldest reception at the hands of Bulldog, and when
-his conduct was known to the school he might be assured of such constant
-and ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he would have been
-ready to drown himself in the Tay rather than continue his studies at
-Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the Scots Midlands, and a
-sporting man of established repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced,
-loud-voiced, clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head, whose
-calves and whose manner were the secret admiration of Muirtown. Quiet
-citizens of irreproachable respectability and religious orthodoxy
-regarded him with a pride which they would never confess; not because
-they would have spoken or acted as he did for a king's ransom, and not
-because they would have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to
-die--considering, as they did, that the future of a horsedealer and an
-owner of racing horses was dark in the extreme--but because he was a
-perfect specimen of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to be
-known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie McCallum, for instance,
-could have no dealings with McGuffie senior, and would have been
-scandalised had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his shop
-and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the Bailie used to chuckle
-after an appreciative fashion at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate
-with much inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits--how he
-had encountered southern horsedealers and sent them home humbled with
-defeat, and had won hopeless races over the length and breadth of the
-land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark, "and McGuffie is
-no' the man for an elder; but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him
-at a bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was a local hero, and
-on their way home from school they loitered to study him, standing in
-the gateway of his stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and
-shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends at the distance of
-half a street. When he was in good humour he would nod to the lads and
-wink to them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted to
-perform the same feat all the way home and were filled with despair. It
-did not matter that we were fed, by careful parents, with books
-containing the history of good men who began life with 2_s._ 11_d._, and
-died leaving a quarter of a million, made by selling soft goods and
-attending church, and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of
-boys who died young and, before they died, delighted society with
-observations of the most edifying character on the shortness of life. We
-had rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.
-
-Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model of all the virtues that
-were worthy of a boy's imitation, and his son with undisguised envy,
-because he had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because he had the
-run of the stables, because he was on terms of easy familiarity with his
-father's grooms, and because he was encouraged to do those things which
-we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted to do those things which
-he hated to do. All the good advice we ever got, and all the examples of
-those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons of the Rev. Dr.
-Dowbiggin, were blown to the winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in
-the high dogcart beside his father, while that talented man was showing
-off to Muirtown a newly broken horse. Speug's position on that seat of
-unique dignity was more than human, and none of us would have dared to
-recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter was quite unspoiled
-by his privileges, and would wink to his humble friends upon the street
-after his most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved him his
-father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive society were not
-failings either of Mr. McGuffie senior or of his hopeful son. Both were
-willing to fight any person of their own size (or, indeed, much bigger),
-as well as to bargain with anybody, and at any time, about anything,
-from horses to marbles.
-
-Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during her lifetime was a woman of
-decided character, whom the grooms regarded with more terror than they
-did her husband, and whom her husband himself treated with great
-respect, a respect which grew into unaffected reverence when he was
-returning from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional
-duties, to a late hour in the evening. As her afflicted husband refused
-to marry again, in decided terms, Peter, their only child, had been
-brought up from an early age among grooms and other people devoted to
-the care and study of horses. In this school he received an education
-which was perhaps more practical and varied than finished and polite. It
-was not to be wondered, therefore, that his manners were simple and
-natural to a degree, and that he was never the prey, either in any
-ordinary circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although a motherless
-lad, he was never helpless, and from the first was able to hold his own
-and to make his hands keep his head.
-
-His orphan condition excited the compassion of respectable matrons, but
-their efforts to tend him in his loneliness were not always successful,
-nor even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie. When Mrs.
-Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in what was called the "work among
-children," and who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity on
-Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to play with her boys,
-who were a head taller and paragons of excellence, the result was
-unfortunate, and afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an
-exhortation. Peter was brought back to the parental mansion by Dr.
-Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour, and received a cordial welcome from a
-congregation of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at the Manse
-with much detail and agreeable humour. During the brief space at his
-disposal he had put every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of
-repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with burnt cork so that
-their mother did not recognise her children. He had also taught them a
-negro melody of a very taking description, and had reinforced their
-vocabulary with the very cream of the stable. From that day Mrs.
-Dowbiggin warned the mothers of Muirtown against allowing their boys to
-associate with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on the street
-without an expression of open delight.
-
-When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being then ten years old, to
-the Seminary for admittance, it was a chance that he was not refused and
-that we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's profession and
-reputation were a stumbling-block to the rector, who was a man of
-austere countenance and strict habits of life, and Peter himself was a
-very odd-looking piece of humanity and had already established his own
-record. He was under-sized and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in
-countenance, and with beady black eyes which on occasion lit up his face
-as when one illuminates the front of a house, but the occasions were
-rarely those which would commend themselves to the headmaster of a
-public school. How the dealer in horses removed the rector's
-difficulties was never accurately known, but boys passing the door of
-the rector's retiring-room when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie
-overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown was able to
-understand the situation. It was understood that in a conflict of words
-the rector, an absent-minded scholar of shrinking manner, was not
-likely to come off best, and it is certain that the head of the school
-ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie as "a man of great resolution
-of character and endowed with the gift of forcible speech." As regards
-the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief directions before
-leaving, and in the presence of his fellow-scholars, of which this only
-was overheard, and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance: "Never
-give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting words Mr. McGuffie
-senior departed through the front door amid a hush of admiration,
-leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well" which was to be the
-scene of many of his future waggeries.
-
-With the progress of civilisation school life in Scotland has taken on a
-high degree of refinement, and rumour has it--but what will people not
-say?--that a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary and will receive
-a respectful welcome from the generation following Peter, and that the
-whole school will devote itself to his comfort for days--showing him
-where to hang his cap, initiating him into games, assisting him with his
-lessons, and treating his feelings with delicate respect. It has been my
-own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former barbarian age, to read
-the rules, which, I believe, are now printed in black letters with red
-capitals and hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings will
-not allow me to give them all, but the following have moved me almost to
-tears:--
-
-Rule 1.--That every boy attending this school is expected to behave
-himself in speech and deed as a gentleman.
-
-Rule 2.--That anyone writing upon a wall, or in any way marking the
-school furniture, will be considered to have committed an offence, and
-will be punished.
-
-Rule 3.--That every boy is exhorted to treat every other with courtesy,
-and anyone guilty of rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to
-the headmaster.
-
-Rule 4.--That it is expected of every boy to cultivate neatness of
-appearance, and especially to see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and
-other articles of clothing be not soiled.
-
-These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere and one very different
-from that in which we passed our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this
-kind softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan simplicity.
-The very sight of a newcomer in a speckless suit, with an irreproachable
-tie and both tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound emotion
-in the school and carried it beyond self-control. What could be expected
-of a fellow so bedecked and preserved as if he had just stepped out of a
-bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his pride and perfection--the
-very beginning of a Pharisee--he would only go from bad to worse and
-come at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists, but
-we did feel it was our duty to rescue this lad. It might be, of course,
-that we could not finally save him, but he ought at least to have a
-chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction in at once removing
-the two offensive tails by one vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a
-collar was a work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy is
-successful with all cases, and we had our failures, which we think about
-unto this day, and which have only justified our sad predictions. Boys
-like the two Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given up in
-despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed day by day and their
-faces remaining in all circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month
-the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of conventionality, and
-was only outdone by Peter himself in studied negligence of attire.
-
-Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it did not last long,
-for certain practical reasons.
-
-"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?" was the
-encouraging salutation offered by a solicitor's son to the stumpy little
-figure bereft of its father and left to fight its battles alone.
-
-"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o' a thievin' lawyer,"
-and although Peter was four years younger and small for his age, he
-showed that he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms without
-profit, and his opponent attended no more classes that day. This
-encounter excited the deepest interest and revived the whole life of the
-school. One lad after another experimented on Peter and made as much of
-it as drawing a badger. He was often hurt, but he never uttered any cry.
-He gave rather more than he got, and lads going home in the afternoon
-could see him giving an account of the studies of the day to an admiring
-audience in the stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone, and
-for the impudence of him, and his courage, and his endurance, and his
-general cockiness, and his extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was
-called "Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively
-expressed the admiration of the school.
-
-It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter was a scholar, or,
-indeed, gave any voluntary attention to the course of learning laid down
-by the authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed at the foot of
-every class, maintaining a certain impenetrable front when a question
-came his length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never risking his
-position in the school by exposing himself to contempt. When Thomas John
-Dowbiggin was distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by
-translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's History, Speug used
-to watch him with keen interest, and employ his leisure time in
-arranging some little surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas
-John's life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so inconsistent,
-that as often as Duncan Robertson answered more promptly than Thomas
-John, and obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with unaffected
-delight, and he was even known to smack his lips audibly. When the
-rector's back was turned he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas
-John's discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the united class
-did him homage, and even Thomas John was shaken out of his equanimity;
-but then Duncan Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment,
-and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and had not in his Highland body
-the faintest trace of a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing
-reproof of everything that was said and done outside of lesson time in
-Muirtown School.
-
-Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating adventures none
-was to be compared with him. Was it not Speug who floated down the
-tunnel through which a swift running stream of clean water reached the
-Tay, and allured six others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were
-drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception of the
-Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black mouth of the tunnel and reward
-his success with a cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's
-military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work in a pit at the
-top of the Meadow, which was called the Redan and was blown up with
-gunpowder one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily buried
-beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing both eyebrows? And when an
-old lady living next the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug
-and some other genial spirits for having broken one of her windows in a
-snowball fight, he made no sign and uttered no threat, but in the
-following autumn he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy
-in the four upper forms--except the Dowbiggins, who declined
-politely--and to distribute a handful for a scramble among the little
-boys. There was much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity,
-and it certainly was remarkable that the pear was of the same kind as
-the old lady cultivated with much pride, and that her fruit was gathered
-for her in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable of anything
-except telling a lie. He could swim the Tay at its broadest and almost
-at its swiftest, could ride any horse in his father's stable, could
-climb any tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game, from
-marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based on smuggling, to football,
-where he was a very dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting
-was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There was nothing he could not
-do with his hands, and no one whom he was not ready to face.
-
-Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and the exact type of a
-turbulent Lowland Scot, without whom the Seminary had missed its life
-and colour, and who by sheer force of courage and strength asserted
-himself as our chief captain. After many years have passed, Speug stands
-out a figure of size and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other
-poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried off medals,
-prizes, certificates of merit, and everything else which could be
-obtained in Muirtown Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted
-all evening at next day's work. The town was weary of seeing Thomas John
-and his brother--each wearing the same smug expression, and each in
-faultlessly neat attire--processing up in turn to receive their honours
-from the hands of the Lord Provost, and the town would cheer with
-enthusiasm when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance, being
-glad to escape from the oppression of the Dowbiggin _régime_. Nor was
-the town altogether wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at
-their own value, and declining to believe that the strength of the
-country was after their fashion. When Thomas John reached the University
-he did not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family, and by the
-time he reached the pulpit no one could endure his unredeemed dulness.
-When last I heard of him he was secretary to a blameless society which
-has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten Tribes, and it occurs
-to me that it would have been a good thing for Thomas John to have been
-blown up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have become a man.
-
-After the Seminary had done its best for Speug he retired upon his
-laurels and went to assist his father in the business of horsedealing,
-to which he brought an invincible courage and a large experience in
-bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw him breaking in young
-horses on the roads round Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in
-a steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland. When Mr. McGuffie
-senior was killed by an Irish mare, Peter sold the establishment and
-went into foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at intervals
-of five years from Australia, Texas, the Plate, Cape of Good Hope,
-assured and reckless as ever, but always straightforward, masterful,
-open-handed, and gallant. His exploits are over now, and all England
-read his last, how he sent on in safety a settler's household through a
-narrow pass in Matabele Land, and with a handful of troopers held the
-savages in check until pursuit was vain.
-
-"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote the war correspondent,
-"that Captain McGuffie, of the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men
-had been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his back to a
-rock in a narrow place he defended himself with such skill and courage
-that the Matabele declared him the best fighting man they had ever met,
-and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet." Only last week two
-Seminary men were reading that account together and recalling Peter, and
-such is the inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death (from
-apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would have been much less lamented.
-"That is just how Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved a
-fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient memories of Peter's
-boyhood, and read the despatch of the commanding officer, with his
-reference to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and then they
-looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated papers, the eyes as bold
-and mischievous as ever. "Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of
-divinity--may he be forgiven!--"well done, Speug, a terrier of the old
-Scots breed."
-
-Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was Duncan Ronald
-Stewart Robertson, commonly known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything
-except honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite of Peter
-McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor
-in Rannoch, with half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed,
-and certainly since history began. For hundreds of years they had been
-warriors, fighting other clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for
-Prince Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for England as
-officers in the Highland regiments. The present laird had been in the
-Crimean war and the Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was
-colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to our examination in full
-uniform, having first inspected the local garrison on the meadow, it was
-the greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he came in, counting
-the medals on his breast, amidst which we failed not to notice the
-Victoria Cross. We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him when
-he mounted his horse outside and rode along the terrace, and Peter led a
-detachment by the back way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one
-cheer more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad, with red
-hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not handsome, but carrying himself
-with much dignity and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting
-trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson wore the kilt and
-never looked anything else but a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the
-shabbiest, and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners were those
-of his blood, but a freer and heartier and more harum-scarum fellow
-never lived. It is a pleasant remembrance, after many years, to see
-again a group of lads round the big fire in the winter time, and to hear
-Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad, "How Horatius kept the bridge
-in the brave days of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and
-proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's Academy and
-simply compel a conflict. Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell
-at Tel-el-Kebir, and there is one Seminary man at least who keeps the
-portraits of the two captains--Peter McGuffie, the Scot, the
-horsedealer's son, and a very vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan
-Robertson, the Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself from
-head to foot--in remembrance of a school which was rough and
-old-fashioned, where, indeed, softness and luxury were impossible, but
-where men were made who had the heart in them to live and die for their
-country.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG
-
-II
-
-
-The headmaster of a certain great English school is accustomed to
-enlarge in private on the secret of boy management, and this is the sum
-of his wisdom--Be kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put your
-foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This deliverance must, of
-course, as its eminent author intends, be read with sense, and with any
-modification it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but it is
-confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong in character and
-scholarship, lay himself out to be a boy's friend--using affectionate
-language, overseeing his health, letting him off impositions, sparing
-the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence--and the boy will
-respond, without any doubt, but it will be after his own fashion. The
-boy will take that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity; he will
-call him by some disparaging nickname, with an unholy approximation to
-truth; he will concoct tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will
-fling back his benefits with contempt; he will make his life a misery,
-and will despise him as long as he lives. Let a man of masculine
-character and evident ability set himself to rule and drill boys,
-holding no unnecessary converse with them, working them to the height of
-their powers, insisting on the work being done, not fearing to punish
-with severity, using terrible language on occasion, dealing with every
-boy alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise with
-enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking sarcasm--which boys hate
-and never forgive--and he will have his reward. They will rage against
-him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go home in companies,
-but ever with an intense appreciation of his masterliness; they will
-recall with keen enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity on
-prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine his achievements, and
-pass it down to the generation following; they will dog his steps on the
-street with admiration, all the truer because mingled with awe. And the
-very thrashings of such a man will be worth the having, and become the
-subject of boasting in after years.
-
-There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary whose career was short and
-inglorious, as well as very disappointing to those who believed in the
-goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs. Dowbiggin his idea of a
-schoolmaster's duty, and won the heart of that estimable person,
-although the Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards
-hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not quite grasped the boy
-nature, at least in Muirtown.
-
-"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love for boys--for I was the
-youngest of our family, and the rest were girls--seven dear girls,
-gentle and sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you think that
-boys, as well as older people, are ruled by kindness and not by force?
-When I remember how I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would
-wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you please. I dote on muffins!
-So I am a schoolmaster."
-
-"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can tell you, for the
-place is just a den of savages! Will you believe me, that a boy rolled
-James on the ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday--and James is
-so particular about being neat!--and when I complained to Mr. MacKinnon,
-he laughed in my face and told me that it would do the laddie good?
-There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me that he is called
-'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve of disrespect, I must say it is
-an excellent name for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the Doctor,
-'If the masters are like that, what can you expect of the boys?'"
-
-"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will soon be some improvement;
-and it will not be my fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a
-master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will feel as to a mother,
-to whom they will confide their difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles'
-face had a soft, tender, far-away look.
-
-It was only for one winter that he carried on his mission, but it
-remains a green and delectable memory with old boys of the Seminary. How
-he would not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he explained,
-but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour, during which time he
-remonstrated with Peter for his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom
-he had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted compatriots
-climbed up one by one to the window and viewed him under Mr. Byles'
-ministrations with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them by signs
-that they would have to pay handsomely for their treat. How he would
-come on Jock Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously
-refusing even to button his coat, and would insist on affording him the
-shelter of an umbrella, to Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that
-Peter was following with derisive criticism. How, by way of
-conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his coat-tail pocket and
-offer them at unsuitable times to the leading anarchists, who regarded
-this imbecility as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr. Byles'
-sudden resignation was largely due to an engineering feat of Peter's,
-who had many outrages to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less
-than three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely that an
-exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the delighted school, had its due
-effect.
-
-"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no peppermint drops nor pats on
-the head that'll rule Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on
-the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll take my advice,
-Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation in a lassies' school. Ye're ower
-dainty for Muirtown Seminary."
-
-This was not a charge which his worst enemy could bring against Mr.
-Dugald MacKinnon, and because he was the very opposite--a most
-unflinching, resolute, iron man--he engraved himself on the hearts of
-three generations of Muirtown men. They were a dour, hard-headed,
-enterprising lot--a blend from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the
-stiff carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with some good south
-country stuff--and there are not many big cities on either side of the
-Atlantic where two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be found. They
-always carry in their hearts the "Fair City"--which lieth in a basin
-among the hills, beside the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots
-Florence; and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon their home,
-but the terminus of recollection is ever the same. When they have
-dallied with the swimming in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which
-looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and the golf on the
-meadows, and the mighty snow fights in days where there were men (that
-is, boys) in the land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly
-says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with long-drawn pleasure, as one
-tasting a delicate liquor; and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a
-world of joy lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing
-themselves, and then conversation really begins, and being excited, they
-drop into the Scots tongue.
-
-"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at his desk in the
-mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in ower the top o' his spectacles,
-an' juist considerin' wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that
-day."
-
-"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the second, "an' as
-straight as a rush, though a'm thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty,
-some threipit (insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him--div ye
-mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward in his head--oscillatin'
-like? Sall, they were fearsome."
-
-"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o' nine"--the third man
-cannot be restrained--"an' the crack o' his cane on the desk an'
-'Silence'; man, ye micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the
-prayer."
-
-"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids, Jock?"
-
-"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt. "Ae day I pit a
-peen into that smooth-faced wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna
-bear the look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig. Did
-Bulldog open his een an' look?"
-
-The audience has no remembrance of such a humiliating descent.
-
-"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist repeated the first
-sentence o' the prayer ower again in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes
-dune, doon he comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"
-
-"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating the sequel.
-
-"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin. 'Who asked you to
-join in the prayer?' an' ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street.
-Bulldog hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent admiration
-for a space.
-
-"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord deliver the laddies
-before Thee from lying----'"
-
-"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.
-
-"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.
-
-"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes Jock.
-
-"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased to put common
-sense in their heads, and Thy fear in their hearts, and----'"
-
-"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days of their life,'" chant
-the other two together.
-
-"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard a better, lads; he
-walkit up to his words, did Bulldog, an' he did his wark well." And as
-they thought of that iron age, the railway president and the big banker
-and the corn merchant--for that is what the fellows have come to--smack
-their lips with relish and kindly regret.
-
-It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that the human history
-of the ages is repeated in the individual, and the natural boy is a
-savage, with the aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to
-circumstances, stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible passion
-for fighting, unfeigned admiration for strength, and slavish respect for
-the strong man. By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and
-settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable--will be
-concerned about his own boys having wet feet, and will preside at
-meetings for the prevention of cruelty to animals; but he has to go
-through his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian stage a
-philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy. His master must have the
-qualities of a brigand chief, an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and
-an iron hand. On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol from
-his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the audacious rebel dead on the
-spot. So perfectly did Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had
-an unholy turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume and arms of
-Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief of prodigious valour and marvellous
-exploits. This likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested
-and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's possession, and
-although Jock paid the penalty, as was most due, yet it was believed
-that Bulldog was much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the
-picture in his desk.
-
-His achievements in his own field, which extended from the supervision
-of handwriting to instruction in mathematics, were sustained and
-marvellous. When a boy was committed to his care at or about the age of
-eight, before which age he attended a girls' school and fed his
-imagination on what was in store for him under Bulldog, the great man
-wrote at the head of his copy-book, in full text and something better
-than copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." With this
-animating sentiment the neophyte made a fearful beginning, and his
-master assisted him to transcribe it for years to come through half text
-and small text, till he could accomplish it with such delicate
-up-strokes and massive down-strokes, such fine curves and calculated
-distances, that the writing could hardly be distinguished from the
-original, and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and bailies at the
-annual examination. It is said now that no school of any name in the
-land would condescend to teach writing, and that boys coming from such
-high places can compass their own signatures with difficulty, and are
-quite illegible after a gentlemanly fashion; but it was otherwise in one
-old grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy produced at the
-Seminary that Muirtown bankers, lawyers, and other great personages used
-to drop in of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master, would go
-over the copy-books and pick out suitable lads for their offices. And it
-is a solemn fact that one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London
-without a single introduction and obtained a situation in the great firm
-of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater & Co., on the strength of a letter
-and sheet of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose reason was
-giving way under the scrawling of the junior clerks. Bulldog considered
-that his pupils' handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of their
-departure. When they came to see him at school from Glasgow, London, and
-beyond the sea, as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides
-giving them an affectionate welcome, which began at the door and ended
-at the desk, he never failed to produce their letters and point out the
-decadence in careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.
-
-Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose father insisted on the higher
-education, was allured into geometry and raised to the dignity of the
-blackboard, where he did his work in face of the school with fear and
-trembling. This was public life, and carried extremes of honour and
-disgrace. When Willie Pirie appeared at the board--who is now a
-Cambridge don of such awful learning that his juniors, themselves
-distinguished persons, can only imagine where he is in pure
-mathematics--the school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to
-see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing in an angle here and
-a circle there, and utilising half the alphabet for signs, while he
-maintained the reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice,
-Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one hand and in the other a
-cloth with which at a time he would wipe his forehead till it was white
-with chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When the end came,
-Bulldog would seize the word out of Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D.,
-Q ... E ... D. Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff
-profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the pointer under the other.
-"William Pirie, ye'll be a wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance.
-Splendid!"
-
-It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to indicate the nature of an
-isosceles triangle and confused it with a square, supporting his
-artistic efforts with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid to
-one general ruin. For a while the master explained and corrected, then
-he took refuge in an ominous silence, after which, at each new
-development, he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock, seeing him
-make for the cane, modestly withdrew, but did not reach his place of
-retreat without assistance and much plain truth.
-
-"It's a shame to take any fee from your father, Jock Howieson, and it's
-little use trying to give ye any education. Ye've the thickest head and
-the least sense in all the schule. Man, they should take you home and
-set ye on eggs to bring out chickens; ye micht manage that wi' care. The
-first three propositions, Jock, before ye leave this room, without a
-slip, or _ma certes_!" and Jock understood that if he misused his time
-his instructor would make good use of his.
-
-It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty schoolroom for ten minutes
-before the reassembling at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should
-be late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen present and
-forty-three absent, he could only look at Dowbiggin, and when that
-exemplary youth explained that the school had gone up to the top of the
-Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still enjoying themselves,
-Bulldog was much lifted.
-
-"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for the mind, but it's
-necessary to bring a glow to the skin aifterwards, or there micht be a
-chill," and he searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the
-treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.
-
-It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and a procession of forty-two
-entered panting and breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried
-his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by Peter, whose hair
-was like unto that of a drowned rat, and whose unconcealed desire was
-for obscurity. The nineteen could only smack their lips with
-expectation and indicate by signs the treat awaiting their comrades.
-
-"I've had chairge of the departments of writing, arithmetic, and
-mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary," began Bulldog, "for fifty-five
-years laist Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae passed
-through my hands. Some o' them were gude and some were bad"--Mr.
-MacKinnon spoke with a judicial calmness that was awful--"some were yir
-grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set of impudent,
-brazen-faced little scoundrels----" Then his composure failed him as he
-looked at the benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves, for it
-will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"
-
-For a while no one moved, and then Dunc Robertson rose in his place and
-made speech for his fellows like a gentleman's son.
-
-"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not our blame; we had been
-bathing in the golfers' pool, and were dressing to run down to school in
-good time. Little Nestie--I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir--had stayed in a
-little longer, and someone cried, 'Nestie's drowning!' and there the
-little chap was, being carried away by the current."
-
-"Is 'Nestie'--drowned?" and they all noticed the break in Bulldog's
-voice, and remembered that if he showed indulgence to anyone it was to
-the little English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as one out of
-due place.
-
-"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have taken him home; but he was
-very nearly gone," and Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man,
-and--and it would have been terrible to see him die before our eyes."
-
-"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white, and Jock swore afterwards
-the tears were in his eyes--but that we did not believe.
-
-"It was one of the boys, sir"--Robertson's voice was very proud--"and it
-was a gallant deed; but I can't give his name, because he made me
-promise not to tell."
-
-The master looked round the school, and there was a flush on his cheek.
-
-"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal, and Jock stood in
-his place.
-
-"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."
-
-"It was Speug, sir, an'--it wes michty; but a' wudna hae telt had ye no
-askit, an'--it's no my blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where
-Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and Peter, who had obeyed this
-order in other circumstances with an immovable countenance, now
-presented the face of one who had broken a till.
-
-"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word of it, that each laddie in
-this room may remember it as lang as he lives."
-
-"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us had started for school ...
-and when I got back McGuffie had jumped and was out in the current
-waiting for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last, white on the
-water, and shouted to Peter, and ... he had him in a minute, and ...
-made for shore; big swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it
-except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to rub Nestie till he came
-round, and ... he smiled to us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to
-trouble you chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick, and ...
-that's all, sir."
-
-"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly broke out Speug, goaded
-beyond endurance; "ye helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle
-tae blame as me."
-
-"All I did, sir"--and Robertson's face was burning red--"was to meet
-Peter and take Nestie off his hands quite near the bank; he had the
-danger; I ... did nothing--was too late, in fact, to be of use."
-
-Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt at exculpation, but
-Bulldog was himself again and gripped the reins of authority.
-
-"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder; "no arguing in my
-presence. You're an impudent fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all
-your days, the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie in
-Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien was that of a dog with a
-bad conscience.
-
-"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought with snowballs; ye've
-played truant times without number; and as for your tricks in school,
-they're beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the capper on the
-concern wi' this business!
-
-"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence is plain"--and now
-Bulldog began to speak with great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie
-out of his depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not lift his
-head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)
-
-"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers, but, instead
-of acting like ony quiet, decent, well-brought-up laddie, and walking
-down to the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed that
-the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin), "ye jumped clothes and
-all into the Tay." (There was evidently no extenuating feature, and
-Peter's expression was hopeless.)
-
-"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's in ye, Peter McGuffie,
-made ye swim out where the river was running strongest and an
-able-bodied man wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget yirsel
-and risk yer life?" But for the first time there was no bravery left in
-Peter to answer; his wickedness was beyond excuse, as he now felt.
-
-[Illustration: "PETER DARED NOT LIFT HIS HEAD."]
-
-"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death. And ye did it,
-peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've dune since ye came into muirtown
-academy? as for you, duncan robertson, ye may say what ye like, but it's
-my opinion that ye're no one grain better. Peter got in first, for he's
-a perfect genius for mischief--he's aye on the spot--but ye were after
-him as soon as ye could--you're art and part, baith o' ye, in the
-exploit." it was clear now that dunc was in the same condemnation and
-would share the same reward; whereat peter's heart was lifted, for
-robertson's treachery cried to heaven for judgment.
-
-"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"--and Bulldog pointed to
-the lists in gold of the former pupils who had distinguished themselves
-over the world--prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers, preachers,
-lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and an honour to have a place in
-it, and there are two new names to be added.
-
-"Laddies"--and Bulldog came down from his desk and stood opposite the
-culprits, whose one wish was that the floor might open beneath them and
-swallow them up--"you are the sons of men, and I knew you had the
-beginnings of men in you. I am proud ... to shake hands with you, and to
-be ... your master. Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes and
-change yir clothes, and be back inside half an hour, or it will be the
-worse for ye! And, look ye here, I would like to know ... how Nestie
-is."
-
-His walk through the room was always full of majesty, but on that day it
-passed imagination, and from time to time he could be heard in a
-soliloquy, "A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands, though, men of
-their hands! Their fathers' sons! Well done, Peter!" To which the
-benches listened with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after this
-fashion.
-
-When the school assembled next Monday morning the boys read in fresh,
-shining letters--
-
-"Peter McGuffie and Duncan R. S. Robertson, who at the risk of their own
-lives saved a schoolfellow from drowning."
-
-It stood before the school, so that all could see; but if anyone dared
-to make a sign in that direction as he passed Speug's desk, his life was
-not worth living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug never
-completely recovered from the moral disgrace of that day.
-
-
-
-
-NESTIE
-
-III
-
-
-It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead and that his father was
-the Baptist minister of Muirtown--a denomination whose adherents were
-few and whose practices were vaguely associated with the mill lade--and
-for two years before he appeared at school Nestie and his father were
-quite familiar to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies'
-school, not far from the Seminary, where he was much petted by the big
-girls, and his father could be seen waiting for him every afternoon at
-dismissal time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on being spoken
-to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion of lasting sorrow in his
-eyes, Mr. Molyneux would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia
-MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was a simple fact that when,
-meditating his sermon one day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
-midst and his son insisted on introducing him to the boarders and to
-Miss Letitia, the poor man went home to bed and left the pulpit next
-Sunday to an amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to arrive on
-the opposite side of the terrace about a quarter to three, and, as the
-hour drew near, reconnoitre the door from behind a clump of bushes at
-the foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance with a
-bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him shamelessly, and then, catching
-sight of the anxious face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
-down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, disappear round the
-corner. The minister used to take a hasty survey lest they should become
-a sport to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss his boy
-was synonymous with mental incapacity, and then--it was a cat of a girl
-who oversaw the meeting--they hugged one another for the space of a
-whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what can be done if your
-heart is in it and your hat is allowed to go without care. Had a
-Seminary boy seen the sight--but the savages were caged at that
-hour--his feet would have been glued to the ground with amazement, and
-he had gone away full of silent gratitude that Providence had cast his
-lot north of the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that the
-father and son had been separated for, say, six whole hours--or
-almost--and it was necessary to re-establish relations. When this had
-been done satisfactorily the two crossed a wooden bridge into the Meadow
-arm-in-arm--Mr. Molyneux unconsciously wearing his hat with a rakish air
-on the side of his head. Between this hour and sunset was their
-pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did were varied and
-remarkable. Sometimes they would disappear into the woods above
-Muirtown, and return home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden with
-wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they planted in their tiny
-garden and watered together with tender solicitude. Other times they
-played what was supposed to be golf over a course of their own selection
-and creation at the top of the Meadow, and if by any chance the minister
-got a ball into a hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
-apologised for his insolent success. Times there were--warm, summer
-days--when the minister would bring a book with him and read to Nestie
-as they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these days they would
-fall a-talking, and it would end in a photograph being taken from a
-case, and after they had studied it together, both would kiss the face,
-which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular frequenters of the
-North Meadow began to take an interest in the pair, so that the golfers
-would cry "Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the way of the
-balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the chief of the salmon-fishers
-and a man of rosy countenance, rowed them up to Woody Island, and then
-allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the North Meadow and
-beneath the two bridges, and landed them at the South Meadow, refusing
-all recompense with fierce words. Motherly old ladies whose families
-were off their hands, and who took in the situation at a glance, used to
-engage Mr. Molyneux in conversation in order to warn him about Nestie's
-flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp at nightfall. And many who
-never spoke to them, and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment
-with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the tears of things as the
-pair, strange and lonely, yet contented and happy, passed them in the
-evening.
-
-When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss Letitia's, his father
-began to hang round the Seminary taking observations, and his heart was
-heavy within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at football--a dozen
-of the aboriginal savages fighting together in a heap, a mass of legs,
-arms, heads--and been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians
-and English, from which he emerged without his hat, umbrella, or book,
-and after he had been eyewitness of an encounter between Jock Howieson
-and Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered to teach
-Nestie at home.
-
-"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie, and I am not sure
-whether you are quite ... fit for their ... habits. There is a master,
-too, called ... Bulldog, and I am afraid----" and Mr. Molyneux looked
-wistfully at his boy.
-
-"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't d-deserve two lumps of
-sugar," for ever since they were alone he had taken his mother's place
-and poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward? A boy must learn to
-play games, you know, and they won't be hard on a little chap at first.
-I'll soon learn f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a
-little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother was as bwave as ... a
-s-soldier?"
-
-"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux fell into the innocent
-little snare. "If you had only seen the pony your mother used to ride on
-her father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do you know, nobody
-could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress. It r-reared and ... k-kicked,
-Nestie"--the little man spoke with awe--"and once ran away; but your
-mother could always manage it. She looked so handsome on 'Gypsy'; and
-you have her spirit. I'm very ... t-timid."
-
-"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's real d-danger."
-Nestie was now on his father's knee, with a hand round his neck. "Who
-faced the cow on the meadows when she was charging, and the nurse had
-left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the truth."
-
-"That was because ... the poor little man would have been killed ...
-anyone would have d-done that, and ... I d-did not think what I was
-d-doing...."
-
-"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father shamefully, even unto his
-face; "and everybody read in the paper how the child wasn't near the
-cow, and the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you ... ran away;
-for shame, now!
-
-"Did you go to the people that had the dip ... dip ... in the throat, or
-not?--that's a word I can't manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and
-the girls say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic--Victoria
-Cwoss."
-
-"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."
-
-"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary, pater;" and so he went.
-
-"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall where his father had left him, a neat, slim little figure
-in an Eton suit and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads in
-kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland bonnets in various
-stages of roughness and decay.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he looked round with a
-bright little smile, although inwardly very nervous.
-
-"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague sense that Nestie, with
-his finished little manner, his English accent, his unusual dress, and
-his high-sounding name, was an offence to the Seminary. "Get yir hat oot
-o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's straw skimming into the forbidden
-"well."
-
-Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited the temper which
-mistressed "Gypsy," and boys who remembered Speug's first exploit
-expected to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.
-
-"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an instant later, and he
-recovered his hat very neatly. "I can leap a little, you know, not
-m-much yet," and again he smiled round the ring.
-
-Nothing quite like this had happened before in the Seminary, and there
-was a pause in the proceedings, which was the salvation of Nestie, and
-far more of Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first sight of
-Nestie and had been considering the whole situation in silence. Peter
-had a sudden inspiration.
-
-"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost kindly accent,
-moving a little forward as for purposes of identification.
-
-"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but perhaps you would like
-to say Molyneux. What is your name?"
-
-"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it runs on the
-tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie, or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi'
-ye gie's a cry." And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter sent
-the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well" just as Bulldog came down
-to his room.
-
-"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the owner of the bonnet
-and passed on to his class-room. "In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore
-the schule comes."
-
-"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that worthy followed him
-mechanically, while the school held their breath; "it would be kind of
-you to intwodoosh--it's a little difficult that word--me to the
-master."
-
-"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog at the sight of the two,
-for speech was paralysed in Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.
-
-"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna mind it ... Nestie ...
-he dinna know the way...." And Speug broke down and cast a despairing
-look at the cane.
-
-"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who were making fun of me, and
-I asked him to bwing me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."
-
-"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion with unconcealed
-delight; "that is quite his public character in this school, and there's
-nobody better known. My advice"--here Bulldog stopped, and looked from
-Speug to Nestie as one who was about to say something and had changed
-his mind--"is to ... be friends with Peter."
-
-So when the school took their places Nestie was seated next to Speug,
-and it was understood in a week that Nestie was ready to take his fair
-share in any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the baser
-sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie, he had to balance
-accounts with Speug, and that the last farthing would be faithfully
-exacted.
-
-As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that Speug was a young
-gentleman of high conduct and excellent manners--and Nestie, with all
-his sweetness, was as obstinate as a mule--nothing remained for Speug
-but to act as far as he could up to his new character. With this example
-of diligence by his side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged
-from long division and plunged into the rule of three, while Nestie
-marvelled at his accomplishments--"for I'm not a clever chap like you,
-P-Peter." Speug had also accumulated a considerable collection of pencil
-sketches, mostly his own, in which life at Muirtown Seminary was treated
-very broadly indeed, and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be
-appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have some scruple in having
-his own name connected with it, it was consigned to the flames, and any
-offer of an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur in
-Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence. His personal habits
-had been negligent to a fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his
-hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances he had
-overlooked, and would indeed have exposed himself to scathing criticism
-had it not been that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as it
-went, of a markedly practical turn.
-
-As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of chivalry, and all the
-virtues which he had discovered at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see
-him, and so Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening--an
-invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward confusion of face.
-All the time which could be saved that day from the sermons was devoted
-by Mr. Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it was pretty to
-see the Molyneuxs going from shop to shop collecting the feast. With
-much cunning Nestie had drawn from Speug that fried sausages (pork) with
-mashed potatoes, followed up by jam tarts and crowned with (raisin)
-cake, was a meal to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and
-marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was not watching at the
-upper window for Peter's coming he was gloating over the table, and
-pater, putting last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran out
-and in to see that nothing had been forgotten, for they did not give
-many feasts, and this was one of gratitude. Peter was late, because he
-had gathered his whole establishment to dress him, including the old
-groom, who wished him to go in corduroy breeches and top boots, and
-Speug was polished to the extent of shining. He was also so modest that
-he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie began to discourse on
-his goodness he cast glances at the door and perspired visibly, on which
-occasions he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief. Amid all
-his experiences on land and water, on horseback and among boys--_i. e._,
-savages--he had never yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist,
-and he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced, however, to
-trifle with the tea, and in the end did very fairly, regaining his
-native composure so far as to describe a new horse his father had
-bought, and the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables.
-Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and showed him his various
-treasures--a writing-desk with a secret drawer; _The Sandalwood Traders_
-by Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks complete; and
-then he uncovered something hidden in a case, whereat Speug was utterly
-astonished.
-
-"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and some day I'll wear it,
-you know; your mother's g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"
-
-"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her." And then, anxious to
-change the subject, he produced a new knife with six blades. Before
-leaving he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to guide him
-in their upbringing after a proper fashion. Without having ventured into
-the field of sentiment, there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a
-way to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such an account of the
-tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that night, that the horsedealer, although
-not given to Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the little
-Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping through the sermon, but
-putting five shillings in the plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely
-at his father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's
-Academy and turned various things over in his mind.
-
-If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had gone out of Peter
-through his friendship with Nestie, he erred greatly, and this Robert
-Cosh learned to his cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and
-very likely he did not know himself, but he must needs waylay Nestie in
-Breadalbane Street one day after schooltime and speak opprobriously to
-him, finishing up--
-
-"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering (stammering) dookie
-(Baptist) minister."
-
-"My father's one of the best men living"--Nestie was in an honourable
-temper--"and you are an ill-bred c-cad."
-
-Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before Cosh had done with him
-had not Speug arrived on the scene, having been in the gundy (candy)
-shop not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh had a poor
-chance at any time with Peter, but now that worthy's arm was nerved with
-fierce indignation, and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh, whose
-appearance on arriving home was remarkable. His story was even more so,
-and was indeed so affecting, not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh
-came into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards to settle
-matters.
-
-"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones charged with dignity,
-"to explain the cause of my son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a
-poultice on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself for
-days."
-
-[Illustration: "'YOU ARE AN ILL-BRED C-CAD.'"]
-
-"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons, a' can tell ye,
-Bailie; ye're richt to bring him back as sune as ye could; was't
-toothache?"
-
-"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of your scholars, the
-maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating scoondrel in Muirtown."
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed Bulldog's practical
-acquaintance with affairs. "Did ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"
-
-No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction that was beyond all
-evidence.
-
-"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had ye a justification?"
-
-Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour had one article at
-least--never to tell on a fellow.
-
-"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw the preparations for
-Peter's punishment and could not contain himself.
-
-"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't tell me that there were
-two at puir Robert, Bailie; if Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic
-a veeciously inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'
-
-"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation. Robert Cosh, what
-have ye to say? Speak up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be
-sure o' that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
-the truth."
-
-Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the smallest morsel of truth in
-any shape or form, and, in spite of strong encouragement from the
-magistrate, preserved an impenetrable silence.
-
-"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance, "is mair than ordinary
-modesty; we 'ill take another witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got
-to say?"
-
-"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my t-temper, and ... and
-... I said things ... the pater's ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me
-once or twice--but I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir, wanted
-to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but that was how it happened."
-
-"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head taller and much broader
-and four years older. Ye called his father names, and then cut his lip
-when he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little scratches on yir
-own face. That would be Peter. Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain,
-and we 'ill go to judgment.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and it does not matter two
-brass peens what Robert Cosh says about him, and ye're no an
-ill-disposed laddie yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what doesna concern ye, and ye
-seem to think that Providence gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye
-pull him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o' the hands o'
-Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark sae neatly this time that I havena
-the heart to thrash ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma
-man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but yir heart is richt;
-see that ye always use yir fists as well as ye did that day.
-
-"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have been convicted of
-three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled a good man--for that three
-strokes with the cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the
-whole school--for that three strokes; and, lastly, being moved of the
-devil, ye went home and told lies to a magistrate--for that six strokes.
-Three on each hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count.
-Right hand first."
-
-"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."
-
-"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate; "would ye interfere with
-the course o' justice in another man's jureesdiction, and you a
-magistrate?" And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome manner.
-
-The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had changed his mind, and
-Robert, who had expected great things from the magistrate's protection,
-abandoned himself to despair and walked humbly for many days to come.
-
-Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog, growing uneasy,
-called on his way home.
-
-"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the minor key of Scots
-sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox (for such an outlandish name was ever a
-trial) is far through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to come
-an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation is the feenish.
-
-"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an' he's verra sober
-(weak); but his head's clear, an' the laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae
-(sorry) for him, for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm
-dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."
-
-The gentle little minister was not far from his end, and Nestie was
-nursing him as best he could. He sponged his father's face--threatening
-to let the soap get into his eyes if he were not obedient--and dried it
-with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin brown hair slowly and
-caressingly, as he had often done on Sundays when his father was weary.
-Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of being afraid, Nestie
-smiled a pathetic welcome, which showed either what a poor actor the
-master was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar was a very
-shrewd little man.
-
-"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he was n-naughty and got
-cold, and he has been so ill; but he must get better, for you know there
-are ... just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely without the
-pater."
-
-"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon, for we h-have been
-... dear friends, that's how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is
-a ... brave little man, as you know, and mother and I will not forget
-him ... you came to ask for Nestie, and it was God's will, for I h-have
-a f-favour to ask of you."
-
-Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but said nothing. Only he
-took the minister's hand in his and waited. He also put his other arm
-round Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.
-
-"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are all dead; there is
-nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie, and he cannot live alone. C-could you
-get some family who would be ... where he might be at ... h-home?
-
-"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a little, for Nestie is a
-famous little house-k-keeper; and maybe there's enough to keep him ...
-till he grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank, and you'll
-... manage for him, won't you?"
-
-Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not find his voice--for a
-wonder, but his hand tightened on the minister's, and he drew Nestie
-nearer to him.
-
-"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have no c-claim on you, for we
-are strangers in Muirtown, and you ... have many boys. But you've been
-kind to Nestie, and he ... loves you."
-
-The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his eyes.
-
-"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice, "I'm willing to manage
-Nestie's estate, big or small, and I'll give an account of all
-intromissions to the Court, but I must decline to look out a home for
-Nestie.
-
-"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and some of them are very
-comforting) "are good freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster
-and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like to hear a young
-voice."
-
-Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner than ever--in sound.
-
-"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and maybe so is mine (Nestie
-nodded), so if the wee man wouldna be feared to live wi' ...
-Bulldog--oh, I know fine what the rascals call me--he 'ill have a heart
-welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father and mother, for yir
-laddie at the Day o' Judgment."
-
-"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all His benefits?' I
-cannot thank you ... (the minister was now very weak); but you will not
-... miss your reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me, Nestie."
-
-For a short while he slept, and they watched for any sign of
-consciousness.
-
-"It was too soon"--he was speaking, but not to them--"for Nestie ... to
-come, Maud; he must stay ... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his
-master will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be a man,
-dear."
-
-The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing the face he loved
-and had lost awhile.
-
-"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute later he was weeping
-bitterly and clinging with all his might to the schoolmaster, who came
-perilously near to tears himself.
-
-"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and mother to ye, Nestie,"
-said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary,
-and known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown lads.
-
-
-
-
-A FAMOUS VICTORY
-
-IV
-
-
-The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides our two chief enemies,
-the "Pennies" and McIntyres, there were, in the holes and corners of the
-town, obscure schools where little companies of boys got some kind of
-education and were not quite devoid of proper spirit. During a really
-respectable snow-storm--which lasted for a month and gave us an
-opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement with our
-rivals, so that the town of Muirtown was our own for the next seven
-days--a scouting party from the Seminary in search of adventures had an
-encounter with a Free Kirk school, which was much enjoyed and spoken
-about for weeks beside the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out a
-permanent campaign by which the boys going home southwards could look in
-from time to time on the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness
-to take charge of the operation. It was also said that an Episcopal or
-Papist school--we made no subtile direct distinctions at the
-Seminary--in the northern district might afford some sport, and the
-leadership in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the other
-captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not last the whole year round even
-in a Scots town; but it was wonderful what could be done in summer by
-the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and Lennie's English
-Grammar, and at the worst there always remained our fists. The pleasure
-of planning these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it seemed
-to us that by spreading our forces we might have perpetual warfare from
-January to December and over the length and breadth of the town, so that
-no one would be compelled to return to his home of an evening without
-the hope of a battle, and every street of the town would be
-distinguished by conflict. Nothing came, however, of those spirited
-enterprises that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their mutual
-quarrels, which, we understood, were very bitter, and entering
-into a covenant of falsehood--their lying filled us with holy
-indignation--attacked us front and rear while we were having an innocent
-game of Russians and English on the North Meadow. Although taken
-unawares and poorly provided with weapons we made a good fight; but in
-the end we were scattered so completely that Speug never reached the
-school again that day, for which he was thrashed by Bulldog next
-morning, and Dunc came in with a front tooth gone and one black eye,
-for which he was soundly thrashed at once.
-
-During all that summer we denounced the amazing meanness of the other
-side, and turned over plans for splitting the alliance, so that we might
-deal with each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted a
-negotiation--watchfully and across the street, for the treachery of the
-other side was beyond description--and tried to come to terms with the
-representative of our least hated opponent. He even thought, and Peter
-was not guileless, that he had secured their neutrality, when they
-suddenly burst forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
-school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. His feelings were not
-much hurt by the talk, in which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after
-he had abandoned negotiation and had settled down to vituperation, but
-Seminary boys whose homeward route took them past the hostile
-territories had to be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time of
-bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, and might have
-finally broken its spirit had it not have been for the historical battle
-in the beginning of November, when McGuffie and Robertson led us to
-victory, and the power of the allies was smashed for years. So great,
-indeed, was their defeat that in early spring Peter has been known to
-withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the season and of his own
-personal profit, for the simple purpose of promenading through the
-enemies' sphere of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult in
-at their gates.
-
-One of the schools must have been a charity for the education of poor
-lads, since it was known to us as the "Penny School," and it was a
-familiar cry ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The Pennies are
-coming!" when we promptly turned out to give them the welcome which, to
-do them justice, they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny a week
-or a penny a month we did not know, or whether, indeed, they paid a
-penny at all, but it pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
-beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came at last to wear it
-proudly, like many other people who have been called by nicknames and
-turned the nickname into an honour, for they would follow up a
-particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's a penny for ye!"
-They were sturdy varlets, quite indifferent as to boots and stockings,
-and equally so as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
-Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary--whose boys had given
-pledges to respectability, and who had to answer searching questions as
-to their personal appearance every evening--had it not been for
-stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a horsedealer, did not
-apply an over strict standard of judgment to his son's manners or
-exploits, and Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a soldier's
-son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline for the Army.
-
-Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, but it was as
-nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's school, which called itself an
-academy, and had a Latin master and held examinations and affected
-social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew that the Seminary had
-existed in the time of Queen Mary, and some said went back to the days
-of William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to whether the
-present building was then in existence. Everyone also knew that
-McIntyre's whole concern belonged to himself, and that he collected the
-fees in every class on Friday morning, that he took home what was over
-after paying his assistants, and that butcher meat for the McIntyre
-family next week depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies from
-the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going in to get a new pair of
-boots at Meiklewham's would have a fine sense of pride in being measured
-by an old opponent whose face had often looked out on him from the mist
-of battle. This pretentious and windy institution even attempted the
-absurdity of a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost sitting
-in state and glaring before him with a Horace in his hands upside down,
-McIntyre's minister would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and
-courtesy and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary boy been
-offered the painful choice, he would almost as soon have gone to the
-Pennies as to McIntyre, for in that case he had not been an impostor and
-a fraud.
-
-For a week the weather had been hovering on frost, and on Wednesday
-afternoon the snow began to fall with that quiet and steady downpour
-which means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great spirits, declaring
-to an admiring circle of junior boys that if Providence were kind and
-the snow continued there would be something worth living for at the
-dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a serious affair, and was
-conducted after a scientific fashion, it never commenced until there was
-a good body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could be gathered up
-without earth and stones. The unpardonable sin of our warfare was
-slipping a stone into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the
-wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime was cast out from
-every school. There was a general understanding between parties that the
-mercies were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to refrain
-themselves until there was a fair and lasting supply of ammunition. It
-was still snowing on Thursday morning, and there were some who said that
-war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson, ever a daring and rash
-spirit, declared we should repent it if we were not ready against one
-o'clock. Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing was likely
-to take place that day except desultory skirmishes, and that the whole
-day ought to be spent in accumulating a store of snowballs against
-Friday, when there was no question that we should have to face the
-united schools in a decisive battle. This was the only instance where
-our captains ever made a mistake, and they atoned for their error of
-judgment by the valour and skill with which they retrieved what seemed a
-hopeless defeat.
-
-As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could be seen glancing
-anxiously out at the window, and he secured an opportunity with Dunc for
-a hasty conference during the geometry lesson. About a quarter to one he
-turned from his slate and cocked his ear, and in two minutes afterwards
-every boy in Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had begun and
-that we had been taken by surprise. Scouts from McIntyre's, as we
-afterwards learned, had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a
-school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our playground. They
-had carried back news that we were not yet prepared for battle, and our
-firm opinion was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's had
-allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in order to take us at a
-disadvantage. Before the bell rang and the senior classes were dismissed
-the Seminary knew that our enemies had seized the field of battle, but
-we did not know until we came out the extent of the disaster.
-
-The Pennies had come down the back street and had established
-themselves opposite the narrow entrance between two sheds through which
-three only could walk abreast from our playground to the street. They
-had also sent a daring body of their lighter and more agile lads to the
-top of the sheds which separated our playground from the street, and
-they had conveyed down an enormous store of ammunition, so that the
-courtyard was absolutely at their mercy, and anyone emerging from the
-corridor was received with a shower of well-made and hard snowballs
-against which there was no standing. Even if we ran this risk and
-crossed the open space we could then be raked by the fire from the shed,
-and a charge through the narrow passage to the street would be in the
-last degree hazardous. There were twelve feet of passage, and there were
-not many who would care to face a stream of snowballs driven by the
-vigorous hands of the Pennies down this passage as through a pipe.
-Instead of meeting our enemies on the street, we had been penned up
-within our own school. McIntyre's had come down the terrace and seized
-an excellent position behind two Russian guns which stood opposite our
-school and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They had made
-these guns into a kind of fort, from behind whose shelter, reinforced by
-a slight barricade of jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had
-driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless discomfiture. It came
-upon us that we had been shut up back and front, and shut up with the
-poorest supply of snowballs and very little snow with which to repair
-our resources.
-
-[Illustration: "SEIZED AN EXCELLENT POSITION BEHIND TWO RUSSIAN GUNS."]
-
-While the younger boys raged and stormed in the safety of the corridors,
-Dunc and Speug retired for consultation. In two minutes they came out
-and gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered together round the
-"well" and in the "well," and on the stairs and along the corridors. It
-was at this moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name which he covered
-with glory before the close of the day. As he had no class between
-twelve and one, he had been observing events, and with the aid of two or
-three other little boys had done what he could to repair the neglect of
-yesterday. In spite of a rain of snowballs he had availed himself of a
-sheltered corner in the playground and had worked without ceasing at the
-preparation of the balls. Every ball as it was made was dipped into a
-pail of water and then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was
-soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two hundred balls
-ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head on his shoulders. Now," said Speug,
-speaking from halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for a
-beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to the open. As soon as
-we've cleared the background every ane o' the two junior classes is to
-mak' balls as hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the fighting
-line.
-
-"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions; Dunc will take
-thirty of ye and drive McIntyre frae the guns and along the terrace till
-ye turn them into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye--and I want nae
-Dowbiggins--'ll come with me, and we'll bring the Pennies aff the shed
-quicker than they got up, and drive them up the back streets till we
-land them wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors 'ill keep
-us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and me will ken the reason at two
-o'clock.
-
-"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows that can run and are
-no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll rin round by the North Street and the
-Cathedral and come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut off
-McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools. Dae nothin' till ye see
-Dunc and me drivin' the lot up Breadalbane Street, then come down from
-the back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin' they'll be
-wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a' be done."
-
-Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch, each boy supplied with
-two balls and with twenty youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's
-balls were falling on the front wall and coming in through the porch.
-One of them struck Dunc on the side of the head, but he forbade any
-return fire.
-
-"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the better for us";
-and then, looking round, "Are ye ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary!
-Seminary!" he led his division across the terrace and fell upon
-McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short, sharp scrimmage, during
-which Dunc levelled the leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began
-to retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand encounter
-and scuffle on the snow. As soon as Dunc's division had cleared the
-front, Jock Howieson collected his lads and started along the terrace in
-the opposite direction at a sharp run, carrying no balls, for they
-intended to make them on the scene of operation. When the other two
-divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful band. "MacFarlane, take
-six birkies, climb up the waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed,
-couping the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad at the
-fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o' the left-hand shed, and
-'gin ye can clout that Penny that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach
-him to keep in the street next day.
-
-"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie and Jamie Johnston 'ill
-lead ye down the passage. We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak'
-'em, and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in yir hand. Pit
-yir bonnits in yir pocket--they'll no be muckle use--button yir jackets,
-and when the three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow close
-in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug, who was in his glory that
-day. "I'll need a laddie to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a
-laddie that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time." Below thirty
-of the junior school were waiting and looking at Speug like dogs for a
-biscuit. He threw his eye over the group, any one of which would have
-given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown in a cricket bat
-and his last kite, to have been chosen.
-
-"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white and ye're terrible
-polite, but there's a sperit in ye. Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and
-noo, you juniors, aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's
-well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a ball when we drive
-the Pennies down the back road." Then Speug moved to the back corridor
-and arranged his division, with Nestie behind him, and Bauldie and Jamie
-Johnston on the right hand and on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's
-detachments close behind, who were to turn off to the right hand and the
-left as they emerged from the corridor; the rest were to follow Speug
-through the passage of danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in
-the hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see that they
-would leave a mark when they struck a Penny. The third he took in his
-right hand, and Nestie had the reserve.
-
-"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better gae in and sit doun
-beside the fire with the Dowbiggins," and since nobody responded to this
-genial invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and in a minute
-was across the playground and at the mouth of the passage, while
-Mackenzie and MacFarlane were already scrambling up the walls of the
-sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and sending his first ball
-direct into the face of the foremost Penny, and following it up with a
-second and a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a catapolt,
-and receiving anything from twelve to twenty balls between him and
-Bauldie and Johnston, the three led the way down the passage, Nestie
-close behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls. They met at
-the outer end of the passage--the Pennies and Speug's lot--and for about
-thirty seconds they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting, shouting
-boy life, and then, so steady was the play of Speug's fists, so able the
-assistance of the other two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so
-rapid the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among the Pennies, the
-Pennies gave way and Speug and his band burst into the back street, the
-leader with his jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars
-of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the balls behind him.
-
-The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face to face in the back
-street, with a space of about ten yards between, and both parties made
-arrangements for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies could be
-seen bringing balls from Breadalbane Street, and the Pennies themselves
-made such hasty readjustments of their negligent attire as were
-rendered necessary by the vigour of the last fighting. Their commander
-was a sturdy lad about fifteen years of age, with a great shock of red
-hair and fists like iron. His favourite method of charge was to lead his
-army in the form of an inverted V, he being himself at the apex, and to
-force his way through the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug
-did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself in the centre and
-threw out his two lieutenants far out on the right hand and on the left,
-so that when the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his
-division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right and left
-flanks--tactics which in Speug's experience always caused dismay in the
-attacking force. The younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample
-resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers without jackets now
-or bonnets, and as they brought out the supplies of balls through the
-passage of victory they received nods of approval from Speug, each nod
-being something like a decoration. It was fine to see Speug examining
-the balls to see that they were properly made and of a hardness which
-would give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.
-
-Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude. When the
-Seminary lads fought their way through the passage they cut off the
-retreat of three Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on the
-top of the right-hand shed.
-
-"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with ironic politeness;
-"that's no' the ordinar' road into the Seminary;" and then, as they
-hesitated on the edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in
-these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he said, "naebody 'ill
-touch ye"; and then he ordered an open passage to be made through the
-ranks of the Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate Pennies
-walked, no one laying a hand upon them, but various humourists
-expressing their hopes that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that
-it wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a black eye, that they
-hoped one of them hadn't lost his jacket on the roof of the shed, and
-that they were none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected
-to meet them later on--which gracious salutations the Pennies received
-in bitter silence as they ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped
-clear of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the two armies they
-turned round with insulting gestures, and one of them cried, "Ye'll get
-yir paiks (thrashing) for this or the day be done!"
-
-Their arrival among their friends and the slight commotion which it
-caused in the front ranks of the Pennies was a chance for Speug, who
-gave the signal for the charge and made himself directly for the leader
-of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of time can describe the
-conflict between the two leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at
-close distance, every one going to its mark, and one leaving an
-indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous forehead. They then came to
-close grip, and there was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for
-many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual, they fell upon
-wrestling, and here it seemed that Redhead must have the advantage, for
-he was taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During the wrestle
-there was something like a lull in the fighting, and both Pennies and
-Seminaries, now close together, held their hands till Speug, with a
-cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by an English groom in
-his father's stable, got the advantage, and the two champions came down
-in the snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a shout of triumph,
-and the scouts running to and fro with the balls behind joined in with,
-"Well done, Speug!"
-
-Speug had all the instincts of a true general and was not the man to
-spend his time in unprofitable exultation. It was a great chance to take
-the Pennies when they were without their leader and discomfited by his
-fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving his way through the midst
-of the enemy, who were now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and
-Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on either side and were
-attacking them in parallel lines. MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down
-from the shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear of the
-Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but was almost helpless in the
-confusion, and thought it the best strategy to make a rush to the clear
-ground in the rear of his position, calling his followers after him; and
-now the Pennies gathered at the far end of the street, beaten in tactics
-and in fighting, but ever strong in heart, and full of insolence.
-"That," said Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief
-which he carried in his trousers pocket, and hastily attending to some
-of his wounds, "that wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit
-close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties as Bauldie and
-Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie, all bearing scars, clustered round
-their commander with expressions of admiration. "Yon was a bonny twirl,
-and you coupit him weel." "Sall, they've gotten their licks," while
-Speug modestly disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the
-Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and that Redhead nearly
-got the mastery.
-
-At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was heard in the rear of the
-Pennies, and Speug knew that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the
-full length of the terrace and was now fighting them in Breadalbane
-Street. "Forward!" cried Speug. "Dunc's on the back of them," and
-Redhead at the same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering his
-retreat with a shower of balls, and united with McIntyre's, who were
-retiring before Robertson and the second division of the Seminaries.
-Amid cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan met where the back
-street opens into Breadalbane Street, and their divisions amalgamated,
-exchanging notes on the battle and examining one another's personal
-appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen, and not many jackets,
-which had either been left behind or thrown off or torn off in personal
-conflict with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but that no one
-could tell, and there were some whose waistcoats were now held by one
-button. Two or three also had been compelled to drop out of active
-battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their faces with snow and
-trusting to be able to see clear enough for the final charge; and still
-the juniors were making their balls and had established a new magazine
-at the end of the terrace. Several of these impenitent little wretches
-had themselves been in the thick of the fight, and could be seen
-pointing proudly to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What a
-time certain mothers would have that evening when their warriors came
-home, some of them without caps, which would never be recovered, most of
-them with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of them with
-disfigured faces, all of them drenched to the skin, and every one of
-them full of infinite satisfaction and gladness of heart! Their fathers,
-who had heard about the battle before they came home and had not failed
-to discover who had won, being all Seminary lads themselves, would also
-be much lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the savagery
-of their boys, would wonder where the police were, would threaten their
-sons with all manner of punishments if this ever happened again, and
-would declare their intention of laying a complaint before the chief
-constable. As, however, it was absolutely necessary in the interests of
-justice that the whole facts should be known before they took action,
-they would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative, with every
-personal conflict and ruse of war, from their sons, and only when the
-last incident had been related would announce their grave and final
-displeasure.
-
-As for the police, who were not numerous in Muirtown, and who lived on
-excellent good terms with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have
-a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming on, and were detained
-by important duty in distant streets. It was always, however, believed
-by the Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at the
-distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at the far extremity of
-Breadalbane Street, following the fight with rapt attention, and in the
-case of the Pennies winning, which had been their own school, smacking
-their lips and slapping their hands under pretence of warming themselves
-in the cold weather, and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching
-off in opposite directions, lest they should be tempted to interfere,
-which they would have considered contrary to the rules of fair play,
-and giving their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some ingenuous
-modern person will ask, "What were the masters of the Seminary about
-during this hour?" The Rector was sitting by the fire in his
-retiring-room, reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint sounds of
-war reached his ears he would stir the fire and lament, like the quiet
-old scholar that he was, that Providence had made him ruler of such a
-band of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope that his
-barbarians would not come off second. As for Bulldog, his mind was torn
-between two delights--the anticipation of the exercise which he would
-have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were having to-day--and
-nothing more entirely endeared Bulldog to his savages than the fact
-that, instead of going home to dinner during this hour, which was his
-usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit. He was obliged to buy
-it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane Street, from which he could command
-a perfect view of the whole battle, especially as he happened to stand
-in the doorway of the shop, and never returned to school till the crisis
-of war was over. He was careful to explain to the school that he had
-himself gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders in mischief,
-and it was on such an occasion that Speug, keeping his right cheek
-immovable towards Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with
-irresistible effect.
-
-Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown Seminary, who had been a
-sergeant in the Black Watch and had been wounded three times in the
-Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector and reinforced by all
-law-abiding parents, were to prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the
-school for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such an
-unfortunate affair take place he was directed to plunge into the midst
-and by force of arm to bring the Seminaries home to their own fireside,
-leaving rough and rude schools like the Pennies and McIntyre's to fight
-at their wicked will. For did not the Seminary lads move in polite
-society, except Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have
-become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to say nothing of bailies
-on the bench and elders of the Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal
-McGlashan carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter as in
-the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations which Speug and
-he had together in anticipation of the snow time, when you may believe
-if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting Speug to obedience
-and gentleness, or if you please that he was giving the commander of the
-Seminary certain useful hints which he himself had picked up from the
-"red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that when the Seminaries went out
-that day in battle array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires with
-great diligence, so that he was not able to see them depart. Afterwards
-it was the merest duty for him to stand at the end of the passage of
-victory, lest the Pennies or any other person should venture on another
-outrage; and if he was late in calling his boys back from Breadalbane
-Street, that was only because the cold had made his wounds to smart
-again, and he could only follow them in the rear till the battle was
-over. When the evil was done there was no use of vain regret, and in the
-afternoon the sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts of
-the battle from one and another, and then he would declare that there
-were lads in Muirtown Seminary who would have done well at Inkermann and
-the storming of the Redan.
-
-Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight, with the back road to
-the Seminary on the right hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the
-Pennies on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations, for it
-gave opportunity for deploying in divisions, for front attack and for
-flank, as well as for royal charges which extended across the street.
-McIntyres and Pennies had been recruited from their several schools and
-supplied afresh with ammunition. Redhead took command of the united
-force and arranged them across the street in his favourite wedge, with
-the base resting on the home street, and this time he gave the signal,
-and so impetuous was their charge that they drove their way almost
-through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself, through sheer
-weight of attack, was laid flat in the middle of the street. Robertson
-and his officers rallied their forces, but it was possible that the
-Seminaries might have lost the day had it not been for the masterly
-foresight of Speug and the opportune arrival of Jock Howieson. That
-worthy had taken his division by a circuitous route, in which they had
-been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal school which wanted a fight on
-its own account and had to receive some passing attention. A little
-late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then, judging it better not to
-come down Breadalbane Street, where his attack would have been exposed,
-he made his way on the right of the street by passages known only to
-himself, and having supplied his division with ammunition from a
-snow-drift in a back entry, he came into the home street, which was the
-only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them off from their base.
-Leaving a handful of lads to prevent the scouts coming out from the
-Pennies or the McIntyres with information, and driving before him the
-ammunition train of the enemy, he came round into Breadalbane Street
-with twenty-five tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and
-just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting man to have spent
-something like half an hour wandering round circuitous streets and
-holding ridiculous conflicts with unknown schools when the battle of
-Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown, was hanging in the
-balance.
-
-Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the new division they were
-upon his rear, and a play of snowballs fell upon the back of the
-Pennies. This was more than even veteran forces could endure, and in
-spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired his balls alternately
-back and forward, his forces fell into a panic. They broke and drove
-their way through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment from
-balls fired at a distance of a few feet, and then, in spite of the
-efforts of their officers, who fought till they were black and blue, but
-chiefly red, the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping the
-rearguard of Howieson's before them like straws in a stream, made for
-their respective schools. The Seminaries in one united body, headed by
-the three commanders and attended by the whole junior school, visited
-the Pennies' school first, whose gates were promptly closed, and having
-challenged the Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and fight like
-men--Redhead being offered the chance of single combat with Dunc or
-Speug or Jock Howieson--the Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's
-Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning had no gate, Speug led
-the Seminaries into the centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys
-having no spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-rooms.
-As they would not come out, in spite of a shower of courteous
-invitations, Speug stood in the centre of their courtyard and called the
-gods to witness that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries
-had won. A marvellous figure was he, without bonnet, without collar,
-without tie, without jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but
-a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers, but glorious in
-victory. Taking a snowball from Nestie, who was standing by his side,
-openly and in face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window, he sent
-it with unerring aim through the largest pane of glass in McIntyre's own
-room. "That," said Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here."
-Then he collected his forces and led them home down the cross street and
-into Breadalbane Street, down the middle of Breadalbane Street, and
-round the terrace, and in by the front door into the Seminary. As they
-came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and the juniors, who had rushed on
-before, met them at the door and gave three cheers, first for Speug,
-then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson, which homage and tribute of
-victory Speug received with affected contempt but great pride of heart.
-In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful henchman,
-little Nestie Molyneux, who, always a delicate-looking little laddie,
-was now an altogether abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping
-hair, and battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of the whole
-school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and although since then he has
-been in many places and has had various modest triumphs, that still
-remains the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.
-
-
-
-
-HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY
-
-V
-
-
-It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents to live in public
-and shake hands with every person; but absolute monarchs, who govern
-with an iron hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public
-mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had walked homeward with
-his boys in an affectionate manner, and inquired after their sisters,
-like his temporary assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting
-babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp, the drawing-master--Augustus de
-Lacy Topp--who wore a brown velvet jacket and represented sentiment in a
-form verging on lunacy; or if he had invited his classes to drink coffee
-in a very shabby little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to
-Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson, the stupidest lad in
-the Seminary, would have been shocked, and would have felt that the
-Creation was out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog was
-polite conversation, or private hospitality. His speech was confined to
-the class-room, and there was most practical; and his hospitality,
-which was generous and widespread, was invariably public. His _rôle_ was
-to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted above feeling, and had it not
-been for Nestie he had sustained it to the day of his death.
-
-Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting that he had
-approached his century, others being content with "Weel on to eighty."
-None hinted at less than seventy. No one could remember his coming to
-Muirtown, and none knew whence he came. His birthplace was commonly
-believed to be the West Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing
-with a case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic. Bailie
-McCallum used to refer in convivial moments to his schooldays under
-Bulldog, and always left it to be inferred that had it not been for that
-tender, fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in Muirtown.
-Fathers of families who were elders in the kirk, and verging on grey
-hair, would hear no complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the
-yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with profit--they now
-said--was good enough for their children. He seemed to us in those days
-like Melchizedek, without father or mother, beginning or end of days;
-and now that Bulldog has lain for many a year in a quiet Perthshire
-kirkyard, it is hardly worth while visiting Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the bridge at 8.45, with
-such rigid punctuality that the clerks in the Post Office checked the
-clock by him, and he returned by the way he had gone, over the North
-Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom to close the
-administration of discipline at the same hour as the teaching,
-considering with justice that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather
-take the cane than be kept in, where from the windows he could see the
-North Meadow in its greenness, and the river running rapidly on an
-afternoon. It would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in a
-Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked and could not have
-maintained his necessary reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house
-upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown from the other side
-of the river. It was a hill which began with wood and ended in a lofty
-crag; and even from his house, halfway up and among the trees, Bulldog
-could look down upon Muirtown, compactly built together on the plain
-beneath, and thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily from
-its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that Bulldog gave himself to
-poetry, but having once varied his usual country holiday by a visit to
-Italy, he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that Muirtown
-reminded him of Florence as you saw that city from Fiesole, with the
-ancient kirk of St. John rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay
-instead of the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage in her
-cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that the Arno was but a poor,
-shrunken river compared with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been
-born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown, and always
-believed that there was no river to be found anywhere like unto the Tay.
-His garden was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance was by a
-wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within these walls no one knew, but
-many had imagined. Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced
-Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the archway, and then it was
-in their plan to form a ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from
-the top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior and observe
-Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's courage failed at the critical
-moment, and they returned without news to the disappointed school.
-
-Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in those days, but the
-hardest heart was touched with compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his
-father and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced in their
-master; but it was with trembling, and the thought of spending the
-evening hours and all one's spare time in his genial company excited our
-darkest imagination. To write our copy-books and do our problems under
-Bulldog's eye was a bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to
-life, but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond words.
-
-As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog was never perfectly
-happy except when he was plying the cane, it was taken for granted that
-Nestie would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the afternoon of
-one day to the morning of the next, and when Nestie appeared, on the
-third morning after his change of residence, the school was waiting to
-receive him.
-
-His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side, with his hands in his
-pockets, talking at his ease and laughing lightly, amazed us on first
-sight, but did not count for much, because we considered this manner a
-policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy. After all, he was
-only doing what every one of us would have done in the same
-circumstances--conciliating the tyrant and covering his own sufferings.
-We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with his guardian, and
-then we closed in round him and licked our lips, for the story that
-Nestie could tell would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.
-
-Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with questions which came in
-a fine confusion from many voices, and to which he was hardly expected
-to give an immediate answer.
-
-"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has Bulldog tawse in the
-house?" "Div ye catch it regular?" "Does he come after you to your
-bedroom?" "Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden door locked?" "Could
-ye climb over the wall if he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let
-ye bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons a' night?" "What
-does Bulldog eat for his dinner?" "Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he
-ever say onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog sleeping?"
-"Are ye feared to be with him?" "Would the police take ye away if he was
-hurting ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?" "Would he let ye
-make gundy (candy) by the kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at
-yir books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?" "What do ye call him in
-the house?" "Would ye call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy
-if the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in the garden?" "Would
-ye daur to lay a finger on them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?"
-"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?" And then Speug
-interfered, and commanded silence that Nestie might satisfy the
-curiosity of the school.
-
-"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite form of address. "Noo,
-Nestie, come awa' wi' yir evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"
-
-"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm getting on with
-Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with fun, for he'd a nice little sense
-of humour, and never could resist the temptation of letting it play upon
-our slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare you seem to
-know all about what h-happens. I'll j-just tell you something about it,
-but it'll make you creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round
-Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and if I'm not down at
-half-past, Bulldog comes for me with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point
-rubbed himself behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six 'p-props'
-from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions" (a groan from the school): "for
-breakfast we've porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with
-Bulldog--one, two, three, four--with the spoonfuls. He's got the c-cane
-on the table." ("Gosh" from a boy at the back, and general sympathy.)
-"He has the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy." ("It cowes
-all.") "There are three regular c-canings every day, one in the morning,
-and one in the afternoon, and one before you go to bed." At this point
-Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to Nestie's account, and
-knew that he had a luxuriant imagination, interfered.
-
-"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little scoundrel, and ye're
-telling lees straicht forward," and the school went into the class-room
-divided in opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been feeding
-their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but others were inclined to
-believe anything of Bulldog's household arrangements. During the hour
-Speug studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in the break he
-laid hold of that ingenious young gentleman by the ear and led him apart
-into a quiet corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth. Nestie
-whispered something in Speug's ear which shook even that worthy's
-composure.
-
-"Did ye say rabbits?"
-
-"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, and Speug was more
-confounded than he had ever been in all his blameless life.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if ye tell lees."
-
-"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell lies, but sometimes I
-compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, and he feeds them himself."
-
-"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"--for this was with us the final test
-of truth.
-
-"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon Speug had so much to
-think about that he gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him with
-nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably correct drawing of
-two lop-eared rabbits.
-
-Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow together after school, and
-before they parted at the bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit
-in his new home that evening from Speug; but, although modesty was not
-Speug's prevailing characteristic, he would on no account accept the
-flattering invitation. Maybe he was going to drive with his father, who
-was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was going out on the river in a
-boat, or maybe the stable gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose
-for a run, or maybe----
-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WHISPERED SOMETHING IN SPEUG'S EAR."]
-
-"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons, Speug, for once in your
-life," said Nestie, who, his head on one side, was studying Speug's
-embarrassment.
-
-"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug, turning a dark red at
-this insult. "Nane o' yir impidence."
-
-"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie, and dodged at the same
-time behind a lamp-post. "Why, Speug, I didn't know you were
-f-frightened of anything."
-
-"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it had been Jock Howieson
-said that, I'd black his eyes. What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable
-little shrimp?"
-
-"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but just let me g-guess. It
-might be climbing the hill; or did you think you might meet one of the
-'Pennies,' and he would fight you; or, Speug--an idea occurs to me--do
-you feel as if you did not want to spend an hour--just a nice, quiet
-hour--all alone with Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in
-the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm ashamed of you, when poor
-little me has to live with him now every day."
-
-"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll learn ye to give me
-chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog, and I dinna care if he chases me
-round the garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."
-
-"You _are_ afraid, Speug; you _dare_ not come." And Nestie kept
-carefully out of Speug's reach.
-
-"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this very night at seven
-o'clock, but I'll no come in unless ye're at the garden door."
-
-Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day, and was afraid neither
-of man nor beast, but his heart sank within him for the first time in
-his life when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to the
-residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing but his pledged word, and a
-reputation for courage which must not be tarnished, since it rested on
-nothing else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door. He was before
-his time, and Nestie had not yet come to meet him, and he could allow
-his imagination to picture what was within the walls, and what might
-befall his unfortunate self before he went down that lane again. His one
-consolation and support was in the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the
-case, as Nestie had sworn with an oath which never had been broken at
-the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that dreadful enclosure,
-there was hope for him; for if he knew about anything, he knew about
-rabbits, and if anyone had to do with rabbits--and although it was
-incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?--there must be
-some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog. Speug began to speculate whether
-he might not be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits and
-examine thoroughly into their condition, and escape from the garden
-without a personal interview with its owner; and at the thought thereof
-Speug's heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had delighted
-the Seminary, none, for its wonder and daring, its sheer amazingness,
-could be compared with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie," he
-murmured to himself, as he remembered that little Englishman's prodigal
-imagination, "is a maist extraordinary leear, but he said 'as sure as
-death.'"
-
-"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have opened the door. Come along
-and shake hands with the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And
-Speug was dragged along the walk between the gooseberry bushes, which in
-no other circumstances would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up
-to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution. He heard
-someone coming down the walk, and he lifted up his eyes to know the
-worst, and in that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted the
-unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for the like of that
-countenance could not be found on any other man within the United
-Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that
-Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of justice. The nose and
-the chin, and the iron-grey whiskers and hair, and above all those
-revolving eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what had happened to
-Bulldog's face, for it was like unto that of another man? The sternness
-had gone out of it, and--there was no doubt about it--Bulldog was
-smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and irresistible smile.
-It had taken the iron lines out of his face and shaped his lips to the
-kindliest curve, and deprived his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed
-the judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given him--it was a
-positive fact--another pair of eyes. They still revolved, but not now
-like the guns in the turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and
-left. They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light from a
-harbour tower. There never was such a genial and humoursome face, so
-full of fun and humanity, as that which looked down on the speechless
-Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation. Where were
-the pepper-and-salt trousers and the formal black coat and vest, which
-seemed somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's reign?
-and the hat, and the gloves, and the stick--what had become of his
-trappings? Was there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers, down
-at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the seams, as those that
-covered the feet of Bulldog in that garden. The very sight of those
-slippers, with their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and
-ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism, was the first
-thing which cheered the heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no
-problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to scorn. Where did he ever
-get those trousers, and from whose hands did they originally come,
-baggy at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden mould and
-torn with garden bushes?
-
-[Illustration: "SPEUG WAS DRAGGED ALONG THE WALK."]
-
-Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered place on the side
-of the hill; but would any person believe that the master of
-mathematics, besides writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was
-going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two of his pupils,
-without the vestige of a waistcoat. Speug now was braced for wonders,
-but even he was startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of earlier
-age than the trousers, with which it had no connexion in colour. It may
-once have had four buttons, but only two were left now; there was a tear
-in its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden wall, the
-handle of a hammer projected from one pocket, and a pruning-knife from
-the other. And if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in the
-side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was a knife in his hand,
-with six blades and a corkscrew and a gimlet and the thing for taking
-the stones out of a horse's hoof--oath again repeated--and Bulldog was
-trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his finger. Speug, now
-ascending from height to height, was not surprised to see no necktie,
-and would have been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a wild
-hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it might be crowned with a
-Highland bonnet, minus the tails; but instead thereof there was a hat,
-possibly once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured,
-and worn so rakishly, partly on the back and partly on the side of his
-head, that Speug was inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could
-befall him in that garden.
-
-"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing figure. "Ye've been
-long of coming. There's something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened
-up the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce his knife, which
-was not so bad after all, for it had six departments, and one of them
-was a file, which was wanting in Bulldog's.
-
-"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie. "It's split more tops
-than any one in the school; it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its
-deadly steel point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to look
-unconscious as the owner of this instrument of war.
-
-"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's many a year since
-I've spun a top. Where's yir string?" and he strode up the walk winding
-the top, and the boys behind looked at one another, while Nestie
-triumphed openly.
-
-"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered. "Ain't he great? And just you
-wait; you haven't begun to see things yet, not h-half."
-
-Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a right hand that had not
-lost its cunning, but rather had been strengthened by much cane
-exercise. "It's sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to
-touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its time, and the
-three hung over that top with fond interest, as Bulldog timed the
-performance with his watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.
-
-"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master. "I would like to
-have yir advice," and as they went down through the garden they halted
-at a place, and the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and took
-crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on the thrushes bade him
-welcome, and he showed the boys where the swallows had built every year,
-and they also flew round his head.
-
-"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be afraid o' you, will
-they, Dandie?" and the old terrier which followed at his heels wagged
-his tail and indicated that he also was on good terms with every living
-thing in the garden.
-
-No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to believe it, even
-although Speug tried to inculcate faith with his fists, that Bulldog had
-carried out a litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and
-that, before the three of them laid themselves out for a supper of
-strawberries, Speug had given to his master the best knowledge at his
-command on the amount of green food which might be given with safety to
-a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down with authority that a
-moderate amount of tea-leaves and oatmeal might be allowed as an
-occasional dainty.
-
-After the attack on the strawberries, in which Speug greatly
-distinguished himself, and Bulldog urged him on with encouraging words,
-they had tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign of cane or
-tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the corks himself, and managed once
-to drench Speug gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with his
-famous red handkerchief and was inordinately proud, while Nestie
-declared that the thing had been done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened
-him with the tawse for insulting his master.
-
-"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of rock before ye go," and
-Bulldog produced the only rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth
-eating--Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure, and rich, and
-well-flavoured; and when Speug knew not whether to choose the
-peppermint, that is black and white, or the honey rock, which is brown
-and creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was red outside and
-white within, his host insisted that he should take a piece of each, and
-they would last him till he reached his home.
-
-"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at the garden gate,
-"ye're the most aggravating little scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and
-the devilry that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're fine
-company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and Nestie and me will be
-glad to see ye when ye're no engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget
-to come, Peter."
-
-Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely among the rabbits, again
-forsook him, but he was able to indicate that he would seize an early
-opportunity of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald MacKinnon in his
-own home; and when Bulldog thrashed him next day for not having prepared
-an exercise the night before, the incident only seemed to complete
-Speug's pride and satisfaction.
-
-
-
-
-THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES
-
-VI
-
-
-Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience of the Seminary by
-various efforts to improve its mind and manners, but when he proposed at
-the beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays with botanical
-excursions to Kilspindie Woods, which, as everybody knows, are three
-miles from Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt that if
-there was any moral order in the universe something must happen. From
-the middle of September, when the school opened, on to the beginning of
-October, when football started, our spare time was given to kites, which
-we flew from the North Meadow in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug
-had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon upon it painted in
-blue and yellow and red--the red for the fire coming out of his
-mouth--and a tail of eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened
-with a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could have launched the
-monster from the ground--bigger than Peter by a foot--and nursed it
-through the lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in the
-higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the dragon was but the size
-of a man's hand in the clear autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon
-his back, with his hands below his head, and the stick with the kite
-string beneath his feet, and gaze up at the speck above, with an
-expression so lifted above this present world that a circle of juniors
-could only look at him with silent admiration and speculate whether they
-would ever become so good and great.
-
-It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying was chiefly done upon
-your back, for it gave endless opportunities for intricate manoeuvres
-and spectacular display. When Peter was in the vein he would collect
-twelve mighties--each with a kite worth seeing--and bringing the kites
-low enough for the glory of their size and tails to be visible they
-would turn and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and distance
-with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan would watch the review with
-keen interest and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the band
-would work their way up to the head of the Meadow in the teeth of a
-north-wester, and forming in line, with half a dozen yards between each
-boy, would let the kites go and follow them at the run as the kites tore
-through the air and almost pulled their owners' arms out of the sockets.
-It was so fine a demonstration that the women bleaching their clothes
-would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's shirts to let Speug keep his
-course--knowing very well that he would have kept it otherwise over the
-shirts--and golfers, who expect everyone to get out of their way on pain
-of sudden death, would stop upon the putting green to see the kites go
-down in the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded at their
-heels. If the housewives shook their heads as they spread out the shirts
-on the grass again--weighing them down with clean stones that they might
-not follow the kites--it was with secret delight, for there is no
-wholesome woman who does not rejoice in a boy and regard his most
-vexatious mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod, the keenest of
-golfers and the most touchy of Celts, declared that this condemned old
-Island was not dead yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy
-young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty ploy that Mr. Byles
-proposed to take the Seminary for a botanical excursion.
-
-It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr. Byles announced the new
-departure, and, even if Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an
-inscrutable countenance, the school was too much amazed to interrupt.
-Having touched on the glories of the creation amid which we lived, Mr.
-Byles pointed out, in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen
-terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics as they all did so
-diligently--Jock Howieson's eye turned instinctively to Bulldog's
-cane--but they must also know some natural science in order to become,
-as he hoped they would, cultured men--Speug was just able to cast a
-longing glance at Thomas John. That no pursuit was easier and more
-delightful than botany, especially among wild flowers. That on Saturday
-he proposed to go with as many as would join him to ransack the
-treasures of Kilspindie Woods. That these woods were very rich, he
-believed, in flowers, among which he mentioned wild geraniums--at which
-the school began to recover and rustle. That the boys might dry the
-geraniums and make books for Christmas presents with them, and that he
-hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary containing all the wild flowers
-of the district. The school was now getting into good spirits, and
-Bulldog allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy who desired to
-improve his mind was to put on his oldest suit and bring a bag to carry
-the plants in and be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow. Then
-Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk with energy and dismissed the
-school, and Nestie told Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.
-
-Outside the school gathered together on the terrace around the Russian
-guns, which was our Forum, and after five seconds' pause, during which
-we gathered inspiration from each others' faces, a great shout of
-laughter went up to the sky, full-toned, unanimous, prolonged. Any sense
-of humour in the Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany class,
-with expeditions, was irresistible.
-
-"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely tickled; "it cowes a'.
-An' what was the ither flooer--'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be
-poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be making a book for a
-present to Bulldog."
-
-"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins, who were making
-off, as mass meetings did not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir
-feet or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if ye do. Give us
-a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then there was instant silence, for Nestie
-had a nice little trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a
-school where delicate gifts were rare.
-
-"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his hand with Mr. Byles's
-favourite polite deprecating gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear
-boys, that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet, Peter
-McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed, and I 'ope, I mean
-h-hope, you will make an effort to l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common
-object of Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands--Howieson, I
-must ask you not to annoy Thomas John Dowbiggin--the c-colour is a
-lovely gold, and yet--no talking, if you please, it is r-rude--we pass
-it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take a dandelion h-home to
-his sister. Now go hout ... or rather out, quietly."
-
-"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried Bauldie; and Johnston
-passed a half stick of gundy to Nestie to refresh him after his labours.
-"Are ony o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles traking thro'
-the Kilspindie Woods, with thae bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his
-heels, carryin' an airmful o' roots and sic like."
-
-"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o' Byles and a litter o'
-Dowbiggins!"--and Jock was very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a
-procession o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe airm in
-airm!"
-
-This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the matter for the
-Seminary, as a score of its worthies marching across the bridge in the
-interests of science, like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for
-ever. So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should see the Byles
-expedition off next morning, and then hold a field day of kites in the
-meadow.
-
-The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that means that when a
-prim, conventional, respectable man takes in his head to dress as a
-Bohemian, the effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious to show
-that he could be quite the gay rustic when he pleased, and he was got up
-in a cap, much crushed, and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar
-corresponding, and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained with
-futile chemical experiments. He was also equipped with a large canvas
-bag, slung over his shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained
-could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place if it were damp
-beneath. The Dowbiggins had entered into the spirit of the thing, and
-were in clothes reserved for their country holidays. They had each an
-umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether were a pair of objects to whom
-no one would have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie made him
-a social outcast, had declared himself a convert to natural science, and
-was sucking up to Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought that
-they would like to know something about flowers, made up the Botanical
-Society.
-
-They were a lonely little group standing on the terrace, while Mr. Byles
-was securing a trowel and other instruments of war from his room, but a
-large and representative gathering of the Seminary did their best to
-cheer and instruct them.
-
-Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which bulged from the bag of
-the younger Dowbiggin contained spirituous liquors, and warned the two
-juniors to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to drinking.
-He also expressed an earnest hope that a rumour flying round the school
-about tobacco was not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was
-horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a tender care of his
-health and personal appearance, not to bully Lord Kilspindie's
-gamekeepers, nor to put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with
-the rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things not to tell
-lies.
-
-Thomas John was beset with requests--that he would leave a lock of his
-hair in case he should not return, that he would mention the name of the
-pawn-broker from whom he got his clothes, that he would bring home a
-bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, that he would secure a supply of
-turnips to make lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
-Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he would be careful
-to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles might drop on the road, and that he
-should not use bad language under any circumstances.
-
-"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said Mr. Byles, who had come
-out in time to catch the last exhortation: "it is far better to
-himprove, I mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set of
-children; but we all hope that you will have a nice fly, don't we,
-boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a quarter might have provoked a
-demonstration had not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an amazing
-circumstance. As the botanists started, Speug, who had maintained an
-unusual silence all morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and gave
-Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering for scientific
-research. After their friends had recovered themselves they buzzed round
-the two, who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable affectation
-of sedateness, but received no satisfaction. Speug contented himself
-with warning off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with the idea
-of forming a mock procession, and then giving them a wink of
-extraordinary suggestiveness. But Nestie was more communicative, and
-explained the situation at length----
-
-"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not know it; he fairly
-loves g-geranniums, and is sorry that he wasted his time on k-kites and
-snowballs. We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we don't want you
-to trouble us." But this was not knowledge.
-
-It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie tailed off at the
-bridge, and Speug, halfway across, turned round and winked again, it was
-with regret that they betook themselves to their kites, and more than
-once they found themselves casting longing glances to the distant woods,
-where Speug was now pursuing the study of botany.
-
-"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung motionless in the sky,
-"this is weel enough, but tak' my word for't it's nothing to the game
-they're playin' in yon woods."
-
-"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna see muckle game in that: I
-would as soon dig potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had a
-prosaic mind and had little imagination.
-
-"Geranniums! ger---- havers, that's no' what Speug is after, you bet.
-He's got a big splore (exploit) on hand or he never crossed Muirtown
-Brig in such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. Peter'ill lose
-the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill stick them in a bog, or"--and
-Jock could hardly hold his kite--"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill
-row them over to Woody Island and leave them there till Monday, with
-naething but bread and milk and the net to sleep in." And the joy of
-Jock and Bauldie at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to
-their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of sympathy with
-their fellow-creatures.
-
-If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign on the way to the woods,
-for he was a model of propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. He
-showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of the Dowbiggins, so that
-these two young gentlemen relaxed the vigilant attention with which they
-usually regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with Cosh. As for the
-master, Peter simply placed himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating
-on the extent of the woods and their richness in flowers--"just fair
-scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest o' them:" offering to take the
-expedition by the nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting
-on the number and beauty and tameness of the pheasants, till Mr. Byles
-was charmed and was himself surprised at the humanising influence of
-scientific pursuits.
-
-Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore, for he led them by so
-direct a way that, before they came to the place of flowers, the
-expedition--except the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in
-Nestie's charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next door to
-babies--had climbed five dykes, all with loose stones, fought through
-three thickets very prickly indeed, crawled underneath two hedges,
-crossed three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired themselves
-times without number. Cosh had jostled against Speug in leaping from one
-dry spot to another and come down rolling in the mud, which made his
-appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in helping Thomas John out of a
-very entangling place, had been so zealous that the seat had been almost
-entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and although Mr. Byles
-had done his best with pins, the result was not edifying; his brother's
-straw hat had fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he jumped
-from a wall, and was of no further service, and so the younger
-Dowbiggin--"who is so refined in his ways," as his mother used to
-say--wore as his headgear a handkerchief which had been used for
-cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, whom fate might have
-spared, misfortunes had accumulated. His trousers had been sadly mangled
-from the knee downwards as he crawled through a hole, and had to be
-wound round his legs with string, and although Speug had pulled his cap
-out of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as to leave the peak
-behind, and he was so clumsy, with the best intentions, that he allowed
-another branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side of the head
-and left a mark above his eye, which distinctly suggested a prizefight
-to anyone not acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character.
-Peter himself had come unscathed from the perils of land and water, save
-a dash of mud here and there and a suspicion of wet about his feet,
-which shows how bad people fare better than good. The company was so
-bedraggled and discouraged that their minds did not seem set on wild
-flowers, and in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and thoughtful,
-led the botanists to a pleasant glade, away from thickets and bogs,
-where the pheasants made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. Byles
-was much cheered by this change of environment, and grew eloquent on the
-graceful shape and varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly
-that they gathered round the party, which was not wonderful, as a keeper
-fed them every day, but which Mr. Byles explained was due to the
-instinct of the beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that we
-love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, and made the Dowbiggins
-promise that they would never shoot pheasants or any other game, and
-there is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as they did not
-know one end of a gun from another, and would no sooner have dared to
-fire one than they would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought
-occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they should now have their
-lunch and feed the birds with the fragments. He was wondering also
-whether it would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, just to
-hold it in the hand and let it go again.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE SO FRIENDLY THAT THEY GATHERED ROUND THE
-PARTY."]
-
-When things had come to this pass--and he never had expected anything so
-good--Speug withdrew unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran
-swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with the juniors.
-
-"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, "div ye see that path?
-Cut along it as hard as ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the
-Muirtown Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. For Byles
-and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's
-pheasants that I'm expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
-Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, "that I savit ye from sic
-company."
-
-"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had disappeared, "I've never
-clypit (told tales) once since I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a
-nice job, but div ye no' think that the head keeper should know that
-poachers are in the preserves?"
-
-"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's house, "especially
-when there's a g-gang of them and such b-bad-looking fellows--v-vice
-just written on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young and so
-w-wicked."
-
-"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin' along, as if the dogs were
-aifter them?" and the head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's
-you, Speug--and what are you doin' in the woods the day? there's no eggs
-now." For sporting people are a confederacy, and there was not a
-coachman or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve miles of
-Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie senior, and not many who did not
-also have the acquaintance of his hopeful son.
-
-"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep our wind richt, an' we
-cam on a man and three boys among the pheasants in the low park."
-
-"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's birds?"
-
-"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin', but they were feedin'
-them, and we saw a net."
-
-"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, Tom, get up out of yir beds
-this meenut; the poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin' them
-alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for stock: and broad daylight;
-it beats everything. He 'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely.
-And the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an' the end o'
-September. Dod: it's a depairture in poachin'." And as the sight of Mr.
-Byles burst on his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two
-Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a specially venturesome
-one, the head keeper almost lost the power of speech.
-
-"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles looked up to see three armed
-keepers commanding their helpless party, and one of them purple with
-rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could give you a hand in
-catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart would be of ony use ...
-confound your cheek!
-
-"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, did ye,
-and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they? How is
-that, lads? I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for
-brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match. Maybe you're a
-Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an orphan asylum?
-
-"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary, that's what you are, is
-it, ye awfu' like blackguard, an' the laddies are the sons o' a
-respectable Free Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no'
-the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir time and try again. I'm
-enjoying it. Is't by the hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty
-to ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue o' ye.
-
-"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge a charge o' shot in
-ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye,
-professor an' students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an'
-we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He hasna tried a learned
-institution like this since he mounted the bench. March in front, but
-dinna try to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic a band
-o' waufies!"
-
-Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, having seen all
-without being seen, now started for Muirtown to gather the kite-players
-and as many of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival of the
-botanists. They were brought in a large spring-cart--Mr. Byles seated
-between the head keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three
-huddled like calves in the space behind--a mass of mud, tatters, and
-misery, from which the solemn, owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap
-was now gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As they were handed
-over to the police the Seminary, which had been at first struck dumb,
-recovered speech and expressed itself with much vivacity.
-
-"Who would have thought Byles had as much spirit? Sall, he 'ill be
-rinnin' horses at Muirtown Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards,
-Thomas--yir breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have been hard on
-yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?" "Has his Lordship kept yir
-bonnet, Dowbiggin?" "It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys are only
-in the savage state, and the discomfiture of such immaculate
-propriety was very sweet to the Seminary.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE BROUGHT IN A LARGE SPRING CART."]
-
-So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper, who saw in Mr. Byles's
-effort a new and cunning form of poaching he was not prepared for, and
-so weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the Bailie on duty
-was for sentencing them at once, and would hardly wait for the testimony
-of friends. It took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary
-and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from their studies in hot haste and
-confusion of face, to clear the accused, and even then the worthy
-magistrate thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to administer a
-rebuke and warning so solemn that it became one of the treasures of
-memory for all Seminary lads.
-
-"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, and you may go this time;
-but let me never see you here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome
-to think that an educated man"--this to Byles--"instead of setting an
-example to the laddies under your charge, should be accused of a mean
-and cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I cannot look at
-your face without having grave doubts. And to think that the sons of a
-respected minister of the kirk should be found in such company, and with
-all the appearance of vagrants, must be a great trial to their father,
-and I am sure he has the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I
-never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in such a position.
-All I can hope is that this will be a lesson to you to keep clear of
-evil companions and evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable
-citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day--that is all I have to
-say."
-
-Outside the court-room the head keeper caught Speug and gave him his
-mind.
-
-"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that English-speakin' imp is
-little better. My belief is that this has been a pliskie (trick) o'
-yours frae beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o'
-advice--don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, or it will be the
-worse for you."
-
-
-
-
-THE COUNT
-
-VII
-
-
-If you excluded two or three Englishmen who spoke with an accent
-suggestive of an effeminate character, and had a fearsome habit of
-walking on the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master at the
-Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering, the foreign element
-in Muirtown during the classical days consisted of the Count. He never
-claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate the title, but he
-declined the honour of our title with so much dignity that it seemed
-only to prove his right, and by and by he answered to the name with
-simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for deprecation, but
-which came to be considered a polite acknowledgement. His real name was
-not known in Muirtown--not because he had not given it, but because it
-could not be pronounced, being largely composed of x's and k's, with an
-irritating parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of learning to
-spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for it was one of the Count's
-foreign ways to carry a card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being
-introduced to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card with the right
-hand while he took off his hat with the left, and bowed almost to a
-right angle. Upon those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane
-would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing whether so unholy a
-name might not go off and shatter his hand; and during the Count's
-obeisance, which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded him
-with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, during this performance of
-the Count's, used to be divided between regret that any human being
-should condescend to such tricks, and profound thankfulness that
-Muirtown was not part of a foreign country where people were brought up
-with the manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was nourished by
-the manner of the Count's dress, which would have been a commonplace on
-a _boulevard_, but astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and
-always lent an element of piquant interest to our streets. His perfectly
-brushed hat, broadish in the brim and curled at the sides, which he wore
-at the faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather boots, which
-it was supposed he obtained in Paris, and wore out at the rate of a pair
-a month--all was unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat which
-stimulated conversation. It was so tight and fitted so perfectly,
-revealing the outlines of his slender form, and there was such an
-indecent absence of waist--waist was a strong point with Muirtown men,
-and in the case of persons who had risen to office, like the Provost,
-used to run to fifty inches--that a report went round the town that the
-Count was a woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than refuted by
-the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, which he made with Satanic
-ingenuity while you were looking at him, and that he gave a display of
-fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment in the barracks,
-for it was shrewdly pointed out that those were just the very
-accomplishments of French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have
-crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost been obliged to
-command the Count's departure, had it not been for the shrewdness and
-good nature of the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a fair maid
-in Muirtown--and in those days she was fairest of her succession: let
-this flower lie on her grave. She declared to her friends that she had
-watched the Count closely and had never once seen him examine a woman's
-dress when the woman wasn't looking; and after that no person of
-discernment in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's sex. It was,
-however, freely said--and that story was never contradicted--that he
-wore stays, and every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his
-landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with every wile of
-conversation, and even lawyers' wives, pretending to inquire for rooms
-for a friend, used to lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but
-that worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not quite insensible
-to the dignity of a mystery.
-
-"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after; but beggin' your
-pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and my mouth's closed. The Count disna
-ken the difference atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the money he wastes
-on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; but he never had the blessin' of a
-Gospel ministry nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. As
-regards stays, whether he wears them or disna wear them I'm no' prepared
-to say, for I thank goodness that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes
-nor entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The Count pays his
-rent in advance every Monday morning; he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I
-told him it was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the house, and
-if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to support his spine, which I'm
-no' sayin' he did, Mistress Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the
-weather is inclining to snow."
-
-His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it may have been
-constructed; and it was a pleasant sight to see the Count go down our
-main street on a summer afternoon, approving himself with a side glance
-in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an attitude at our
-bookseller's when a new print was exposed in the window, waving his
-cigarette and blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was
-considered a "tempting of Providence," making his respectful salutations
-to every lady whom he knew, and responding with "Celestial, my friend!"
-to Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing weather." When he
-sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard, like Solomon in all his glory, that
-great man, who always persisted in regarding the Count as a sporting
-character, would touch the rim of his hat with his forefinger--an honour
-he paid to few--and, after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
-with much relish. This astounding spectacle very early attracted the
-attention of the Seminary boys, and during his first summer in Muirtown
-it was agreed that he would make an excellent target for snowball
-practice during next winter. The temptation was not one which could have
-been resisted, and it is to be feared that the Count would have been
-confined to the house when the snow was on the ground had it not been
-for an incident which showed him in a new light, and established him,
-stays or no stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There had
-been a glorious fight on the first day of the war with the "Pennies,"
-and when they were beaten, a dozen of them, making a brave rearguard
-fight, took up their position with the Count's windows as their
-background. There were limits to license even in those brave old days,
-and it was understood that the windows of houses, especially private
-houses, and still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,
-should not be broken, and if they were broken the culprits were hunted
-down and interviewed by "Bulldog" at length. When the "Pennies" placed
-themselves under the protection of the Count's glass, which was really
-an unconscious act of meanness on their part, the Seminary distinctly
-hesitated; but Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples as he knew
-no fear.
-
-"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain; and when the "Pennies"
-were driven along the street, the windows had been so effectually dashed
-that there was not a sound pane of glass in the Count's sitting-room. As
-the victorious army returned to their capital, and the heat of battle
-died down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in minds not given to
-care, for Mistress Jamieson was not the woman to have her glass broken
-for nothing, and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with all his
-dandyism, would not take this affront lightly. As a matter of fact,
-Mistress Jamieson made a personal call upon the Rector that evening, and
-explained with much eloquence to that timid, harassed scholar that,
-unless his boys were kept in better order, Muirtown would not be a place
-for human habitation; and before she left she demanded the blood of the
-offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its present condition to Sodom
-and Gomorrah. As the Rector was always willing to leave discipline in
-the capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners would almost
-certainly be in his class in the forenoon, the Count, who had witnessed
-the whole battle from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had
-afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away the _débris_, went to
-give his evidence and identify the culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic
-occasion, and he rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful
-recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side--the Count carrying
-himself with all the grace and dignity of a foreign ambassador come to
-settle an international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than ever,
-because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that discipline must be
-maintained.
-
-The Count explained with many flourishes that he was desolated to come
-for the first time to this so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand
-so distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands on him ("Dis the
-body mean Lucky Jamieson?" whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had
-ever been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded him with a
-disdain beyond words.) The Rector of this place of learning had also
-done him, an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to come and
-assist at this function of justice; and although, as the Count
-explained, he was no longer a soldier, obedience was still the breath of
-his nostrils. Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to be
-questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the Count bowed again to
-Bulldog, placing his hand upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming
-attitude against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his cane, and
-feeling that he had acquitted himself with credit.
-
-"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir," and Bulldog's glance
-conveyed that such a figure as the Count's ought not to be exposed in
-snowtime; "but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the
-circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of the Seminary are
-allowed to exercise themselves in the snowtime within limits. If they
-fight wi' neighbouring schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they
-break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme penalty. Now, I'm
-informed that some of the young scoundrels--and I believe the very
-laddies are in this class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to
-catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was entirely occupied with
-mathematical figures)--"have committed a breach of the peace at Mistress
-Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"--and Bulldog regarded the
-Count with increasing disfavour, as he thought of such a popinjay giving
-evidence against his laddies--"is, to look round this class-room and
-point out, so far as ye may be able, any boy or boys who drove a
-snowball or snowballs through the windows of your residence."
-
-During this judicial utterance the eyes of the Count wandered over the
-school with the most provoking intelligence, and conveyed even to the
-dullest, with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown was not
-capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old gentleman, that the boys were a
-set of sad dogs, capable of any mischief, that some of them were bound
-to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of all that he, the Count,
-knew who would get it, and that he was about to give evidence in an
-instant with the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When his glance
-lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful and unhesitating
-recognition that Speug was almost abashed, and knew for certain that for
-him at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson, plunging into
-arithmetic of his own accord for once, calculated rapidly what would be
-his share of the broken glass. Neither of them would have denied what he
-did to save himself twenty thrashings; but they shared Bulldog's disgust
-that a free-born Scot should be convicted on the evidence of a
-foreigner, whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts and
-tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to go round seated on the
-top of our solitary barrel-organ.
-
-"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog sternly; and there was a
-silence that could be felt, whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out
-with the Count's cane.
-
-The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's face; he became grave and
-anxious, and changed from a man of the world, who had been exchanging a
-jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in the Court of Justice.
-
-"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what you call my soul and
-conscience," and the Count indicated with his hand where both those
-faculties were contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity, I
-will say profanity, to break the windows of my good friend and hostess,
-Madame Jamieson."
-
-The Count gave himself to the work of selection, but there was no longer
-a ray of intelligence in his face. He was confused and perplexed, he
-looked here and he looked there, he made little impatient gestures, he
-said a bad French word, he flung up a hand in despair, he turned to
-Bulldog with a frantic gesture, as of a man who thought he could have
-done something at once, and found he could not do it at all. Once more
-he faced the school, and then Speug, with that instinct of acute
-observation which belongs to a savage, began to understand, and gave
-Howieson a suggestive kick.
-
-"As a man of honour," said the Count with much solemnity, "I give my
-testimony, and I declare that I do not see one of the boys who did
-forget themselves yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to
-Madame's domicile."
-
-And it would have been curious if he had seen the boys, for the Count
-was looking over their heads, and studying the distant view of the
-meadow and the River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.
-
-The mind of Speug was now clear upon the Count, and Bulldog also
-understood, and in two seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy
-through a mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical
-class-room knew that, although the Count might have had the misfortune
-to be born in foreign parts, and did allow himself to dress like a
-dancing-master, inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had them on,
-there was the heart of a man who would not tell tales on any fellow, and
-who also liked his bit of fun.
-
-"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly concealed satisfaction,
-"that ye're no' in a poseetion to recognise the culprits, for if they're
-no' here my conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown. We can
-ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much obleeged for yir attendance."
-
-"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which has the fortune to
-introduce me to this charming company," and the Count bowed first to
-Bulldog and then to the school with such a marked indication in one
-direction that Speug almost blushed. "My sorrow is to be so stupid a
-witness; but, monsieur, you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor
-eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the Count bowed in all
-directions, "to replace the glass in Madame's house, and the incident,
-pouf! it is forgotten."
-
-There was a swift glance from all parts of the class-room, and
-permission was read in Bulldog's face. Next instant the mathematical
-class-room was rent with applause, such as could only be given when
-fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and Speug led the
-circus.
-
-"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog came as near as possible
-to a bow, "that ye have acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the
-boys of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to come and go among
-us as ye please."
-
-The departure of the Count, still bowing, with Bulldog attending him to
-the door and offering him overshoes to cover the polished leather boots,
-was a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of the morning was
-not worth mentioning.
-
-During the lunch hour the school was harangued in short, pithy terms by
-Speug, and in obedience to his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in
-a solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave a volley of
-cheers. The Count was more gratified than by anything that had happened
-to him since he came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the newly
-repaired windows he made an eloquent speech, in which he referred to Sir
-Walter Scott and Queen Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other
-romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the "Pennies" and the
-Seminary was worthy of the great Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be _un
-brave garçon_; expressed his regret that he could not receive the
-school in his limited apartments, but invited them to cross with him to
-the Seminary tuck-shop, where he entertained the whole set to Mistress
-MacWhae's best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that Mistress
-Jamieson should come forward to the window with him and bow to the
-school, while he held her hand--which the Count felt would have been a
-really interesting tableau. It certainly would have been, but Mistress
-Jamieson refused to assist in the most decided terms.
-
-"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand in hand wi' him, and
-bowin', if ye please, to thae blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o'
-good character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it would ill set me
-to play such tricks. But I'll say this for the Count--he behaved
-handsome; and I'm judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in
-my house so long as the Count is in it." And there never was.
-
-It were not possible to imagine anything more different than a Muirtown
-boy and the Count; but boys judge by an instinct which never fails
-within its own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with all his
-foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends gathered around him and
-flourished exceedingly, being largely invented by Nestie, and offered
-for consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug, who let it be
-understood that to deny or even to smile at Nestie's most incredible
-invention would be a ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn
-a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the Emperor of Austria's
-daughter and had been exiled by the imperial parent, but that the
-Princess was true to the Count, and that any day he might be called from
-Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of Vienna; that he was
-himself a king of some mysterious European State, who had been driven
-out by conspirators, but whose people were going to restore him, and
-that some day Speug would be staying with the Count in his royal abode
-and possibly sitting beside him on the throne. During this romance Speug
-felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty, which was quite
-consistent with keeping a watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal
-who might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely ask him what he was
-laughing at, and offer to give him something to laugh for. That the
-Count was himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society which
-extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords, and that whenever
-any tyrant became intolerable, the warrant for his death was sent from
-Mistress Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed Nestie produced
-another, and it was no longer necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy
-Indian tales or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction was
-now bound up and walking about in the Count.
-
-[Illustration: "WATCHING A BATTLE ROYAL BETWEEN THE TOPS."]
-
-Between him and the boys there grew up a fast friendship, and he was
-never thoroughly happy now unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He
-attended every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned how,
-kept the score, giving a cheer at every new run and tearing his hair
-when any of his boys were bowled out. He rushed round the football field
-without his cane, and generally without his hat; and high above all
-cheers could be heard his "Bravo--bravo, forwards! Speug!" as that
-enterprising player cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It
-mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were ruined, and his
-speckless clothes soiled, he would not have cared though he had burst
-his stays, so long as the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with
-them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health in flowing
-ginger-beer. During the play hour his walk seemed ever to bring him to
-the North Meadow, and if a ball by accident, for none would have done it
-by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his
-own pronunciation and bowed in response to this mark of attention. It
-was a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands resting on his
-knees, watching a battle royal between the tops of Speug and Howieson;
-and if anything could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin a
-top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown tongues.
-
-As the boys came to the school in the morning and went home in the
-evening up Breadalbane Street, the Count was always sitting at one of
-the windows which had been broken, ready to wave his hand to any one who
-saluted him, and in the afternoon he would often open the window to get
-the school news and to learn whether there would be a match on Saturday.
-As time went on this alliance told upon the Count's outer man; he never
-lost his gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he ever have
-been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had lived to the age of
-Methuselah, have been made an elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew
-thicker, though they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher,
-though they were always well made, and his ties became quieter, and his
-week-day hat was like that of other men, and, except on Sundays,
-Muirtown never saw the glory of the former days. With his new interest
-in life, everyone noticed that the Count had grown simpler and kindlier,
-and Muirtown folk, who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt,
-began to love him through their boys. He would walk home with Bulldog on
-a summer evening, the strangest pair that ever went together; and it was
-said that many little improvements for the comfort of the lads, and many
-little schemes for their happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the
-Count. It was believed that the time did come when he could have
-returned to his own land, but that he did not go because he was a lonely
-man and had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he died, now many
-years ago, he left his little all for the benefit of his "jolly dogs,"
-and the Count, who had no mourners of his blood, was followed to his
-grave by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A TOURNAMENT
-
-VIII
-
-
-Since the day when Speug and a few young friends had broken every pane
-of glass in the Count's windows, and the Count had paid for the damage
-like a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all his spare
-cash--which we thought afterwards was not very much--in encouraging
-athletic exercises among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of every
-other convert, was much greater than his knowledge, and left to his own
-devices he would certainly have gone far astray; but with the able
-assistance of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel, it was
-astonishing what a variety could be infused into the sports. When every
-ordinary competition had been held, and champions had been declared (and
-this had never been done before in the history of the school) for the
-hundred yards, the quarter, and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse
-and over the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu
-meeting of parents), for broad jumping and high jumping, for throwing
-the cricket ball and kicking the football, Speug came out with a quite
-new programme which was rapturously received, and had it not met with a
-cross-providence would have lasted over four happy Saturdays and
-considerably reduced the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was
-a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be trifled with, and
-four boys were saved from death by a salmon cobble, whose owner
-fortunately turned up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by
-this event that he not only lost his hat in the river, but being
-prevented from going in to help, for the very good reason that he could
-not swim a stroke, he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel
-of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might serve as a
-lifebelt. The second item, upon which Speug prided himself very much,
-was a climbing match, and for this he had selected a tree which seemed
-to be designed for the purpose, since it had a rook's nest on its
-highest branch, and no branches at all for the first twenty feet. The
-conditions were, that every boy above twelve should have his chance, and
-the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into the rook's nest, and
-came down in the shortest time, should get the prize. The Seminary above
-twelve were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday morning, and in
-one kirk next day thanks were offered in the first prayer in peculiarly
-dignified and guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had not
-been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was killed, and no limbs
-were broken, but Speug, who was not allowed to enter for this
-competition, but acted as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the
-sight of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy, once to
-release his friend Howieson, who had missed a branch and was hanging by
-his feet, and the second time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended
-by the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a gigantic apple on
-the branch. It was understood that the Seminary had never enjoyed
-themselves so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's moral
-courage failed during the performance, and at the most critical moment
-he was afraid to look. When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement
-of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at church-doors and street
-corners, and it was conveyed to the Rector--who knew nothing about the
-matter, and was so absent-minded that if he had passed would never have
-seen what was going on--that if Providence was going to be tempted in
-this fashion again, the matter would be brought before the Town Council.
-The Count himself would have been faithfully dealt with had he not been
-considered a helpless tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood
-to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim. He might indeed have
-been at last expelled from the Seminary, of which he was the chief
-ornament, had it not been that the Count went to the Rector and
-explained that the idea had been his from beginning to end, and that it
-was with the utmost difficulty he could induce Speug even to be present.
-For, as I said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always stood by
-his friends through thick and thin; but the thrashing which Speug got
-from Bulldog was monumental, and in preparation for it that ingenious
-youth put on three folds of underclothing.
-
-What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not the punishment, which
-was cheap at the money, but the loss of the next two items in his
-programme. He had planned a boxing competition, in which the main
-feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc Robertson and himself,
-to decide finally which was the better man, for they had fought six
-times and the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a profligate
-genius outside the class-rooms, had also imagined a pony race with
-hurdles; and as about twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had
-ponies, of which they were always bragging, and Speug had the pick of
-his father's stables, he modestly believed that the affair would be
-worth seeing. When the hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had
-already begun to make entries and to arrange weights with his father's
-valuable assistance, he took the matter so much to heart that his health
-gave way, and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit at the
-Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in the highest spirits and full
-of stories.
-
-For some time after this painful incident the Count lay low and adopted
-a deprecating manner when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown;
-but he gave his friends to understand that his resources were not at an
-end, and that he had a surprise in store for the Seminary. Speug ran
-over every form of sport in casual conversation to discover what was in
-the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn and grew more mysterious
-every day. One Saturday evening in midsummer he took Speug and Nestie
-into his confidence, explaining that his idea would be announced to the
-assembled school by himself next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to
-do, as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or fencing, or
-the sword dance. With their permission he would say one word which would
-be enough for persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that word
-was "Tournament;" and then he would speak of nothing else except the
-beauty of the evening light upon the river, which he declared to be
-"ravishing," and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate which he
-carried in his pocket, and shared generously with his "dogs." As he
-parted with his friends the Count tapped his nose and winked at
-them--"Tournament--great, magnificent, you will see, ha, ha! you will
-see;" and Speug went home in a state of utter confusion, coming finally
-to the conclusion that the Count intended to introduce some French game,
-and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose the Count tooth
-and nail, for everybody knew that French games were only for girls, and
-would bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary. During Sunday
-Nestie had turned the matter over in his mind, and being full of Scott's
-novels he was able on Monday to give the astonished school a full
-programme with the most minute particulars. The tournament was to be
-held in the North Meadow; the judge was to be the Commander of the
-cavalry at the barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to be
-herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the Queen of Beauty; and the
-combatants were to be such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course
-Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie freely suggested
-dish-covers would be useful as breastplates, broom-handles would come in
-conveniently for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden, sturdy boys
-of the lower forms would be used instead. The two knights who challenged
-one another would rush from opposite ends of the lists, meet in the
-centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to horse, and man to man, and the
-one that overthrew the other would receive the prize; and at the thought
-of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson, each in full armour,
-the delighted school smacked their lips.
-
-"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody
-a shilling that Speug coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting;
-but"--feeling as if it were almost too good to be true--"I dinna
-believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar." And after the school had
-spoken of nothing else for a day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly
-whether such things were true.
-
-"_Mon ami_," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's romance with much
-relish, "you will pardon me, but it is a _banalité_, that is what you
-call a stupidity, to ask whether so good a _jeu d'esprit_ is true. True?
-Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie, he does not
-live among facts, he flies in the air, in the atmosphere of poetry. He
-is a _raconteur_. A tournament with knights on the North Meadow--good!
-Our little Nestie, he has been reading _Ivanhoe_ and he is a
-troubadour." And the Count took off his hat in homage to Nestie's
-remarkable powers as an author of fiction.
-
-"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the body, for the mind.
-My dogs are jolly dogs; they can run, they can leap, they can swim, they
-can kick the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They must write
-their very best words, they must show that they have beautiful minds;
-and they will do so, I swear they will, in the tournament, which will
-not be on the meadow--no; too many cows there, and too many washers of
-clothes--but in seclusion, in the class-room of that brave man called
-the Bulldog. It will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm,
-"of heads: and the best head, that head will have the prize, _voilà_."
-
-"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down upon his desk that
-Wednesday afternoon when the whole upper school was gathered in his
-class-room, bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion to
-lay before you which he will explain in his own words and which has the
-sanction of the Rector. Ye will be pleased to give the Count a
-respectful hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog was there
-to see that the Count's deserts and his treatment strictly corresponded.
-
-"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog, "and you," and now he bowed
-to the boys, "all my friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a
-favour which your politeness will not allow you to refuse. Next Saturday
-I will dare to hold a reception in this place, with the permission of
-the good Bull---- I do forget myself--I mean the distinguished master.
-And when you come, I promise you that I will not offer you coffee--pouf!
-it is not for the brave boys I see before me, _non_," and the Count
-became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle sentence on
-the----" ("Blackboard," suggested Bulldog). "_Merci_, yes, the
-blackboard; no, the honourable master he will have the goodness to write
-it in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that is all, and you
-will sit for one hour in this room where you make your studies, and you
-will write all the beautiful things which come into your heads about
-that sentence. You will then do me the pleasure of letting me carry
-home all those beautiful things, and I will read them; and the writer
-who affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of many volumes,
-and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost," interpolated Bulldog) "will present it
-on the great day in the Town Hall.
-
-"No one, not even the honourable master himself, will know that leetle
-sentence till it be written on the--the----" ("Blackboard," said
-Bulldog, with asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many
-things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom I do felicitate the
-honourable master will write much learning," and the Count made a
-graceful inclination in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the
-brave boys who love the sport, they will also write, ah! ah!"--and the
-Count nodded cheerfully in the direction of Speug--"such wonderful
-things. There will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and so it
-will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the Count with much
-satisfaction, "the fair play."
-
-Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained that no one need
-come unless he wished, but that anyone who didn't come was missing the
-opportunity of securing an honourable distinction, and would also show
-himself to be an ungrateful little scoundrel for all that the Count had
-done for the Seminary.
-
-"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native shrewdness, "aifter all his
-palaver it's naething but anither confounded exercise," for that worthy
-had suffered much through impositions, and had never been able to
-connect one sentence with another in an intelligent manner. "The
-Dowbiggins can go if they want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm
-going next Saturday to Woody Island--will you come, Speug?" And it hung
-in the balance whether or not the Count would be openly affronted next
-Saturday when he found himself in the company of half a dozen "swats,"
-while his "jolly dogs" were off in a pack to their island of romance.
-
-Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room on Saturday
-afternoon, except under brute force, and yet he felt it would be
-ungrateful after all his kindness to leave the Count in the company of
-such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance of all the
-sporting prizes he had won at the Count's hands, and the sight of the
-Count cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart and moved
-him to the most unselfish act of his life. "Jock Howieson," said Speug,
-with considerable dignity, "ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it
-'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black both yir een
-for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a match, cricket or football, the
-last four years, and the Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports
-and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who stands ginger-beer at Lucky
-MacWhae's, answer me that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then
-clinching every argument on "Who paid for the broken glass? I'm doon
-richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."
-
-"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock, writhing under this torrent
-of reproach. "I think I see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the
-Romans, or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room,
-and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye 'ill no' play ony tricks
-on me, Peter McGuffie."
-
-"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no' promise to write."
-
-"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's wiles.
-
-"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school knew, not only that he
-would go, though he had to sit six hours instead of one, but also that
-every self-respecting boy in the Seminary must also put in an appearance
-at the Count's reception.
-
-"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on the way home, "since
-you p--pulled me out of the Tay, and I should say that you have a good
-chance of the prize. What the Count wants is ori--gin--ginality, and I
-never heard a chap with so much original talk as you've got, Speug. Just
-you put some of it down, like what you give to the P--pennies, and
-you'll come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever won."
-
-"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries were open to all
-Scotland," said Speug, "ye would pass the post first and trottin'."
-
- "HOW I SPENT MY SATURDAY,"
-
-was what the school saw on the board when the Count removed the white
-cloth, and then he gave a brief exposition of his desires.
-
-"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not what you ought, but
-what you want. Were you at the cricket match, you will tell me of the
-capture of the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear of the
-woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate allusion to Mr.
-Byles's poaching experiences was much appreciated); "or you were among
-the books, then you will describe what you love in them; or you were
-looking at a horse, I expect to hear about that horse"; and the whole
-school understood that this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an
-exact picture of an Irish mare that his father had just bought. "The
-subject, ah!" said the Count, "that does not matter; it is the manner,
-the style, the _esprit_, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the
-good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till you have
-finished."
-
-"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the credit of the school and
-to please the Count. If I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part
-to teach him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another, out he
-goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut, make the most o't," and the
-tournament was open.
-
-Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper, and only giving a casual
-glance to see that no one took advantage of the strange circumstances,
-was really watching his flock very closely, and checking his judgment of
-each one by this new test. Dull, conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins
-began at once, in order that they might not lose a moment of time, but
-might put as much written stuff upon the paper as possible; yet now and
-again they stopped and looked round helplessly because they had no books
-and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the first time how
-little they had in their own heads.
-
-"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye were naithing but a
-painted show, and it 'ill do ye good to find that out for yirselves."
-
-Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole matter as a new form of
-entertainment, and as he could not have put into anything approaching
-connected words the experiences of his last Saturday, he employed the
-time in cutting up his unwritten paper into squares of an inch, and
-making them into pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind from
-being too much absorbed in study. He did this once too often, and
-Bulldog went down to call upon him with a cane and with plain, simple
-words.
-
-"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he went back to his desk,
-"but there's the making of a man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able
-to write a decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots Greys
-down to the ground."
-
-Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under the customary form of
-oath, that he would write something, and whatever he wrote he would hand
-in, though it was only twenty words, and Speug never went back from his
-oath. When Howieson caught the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no
-doubt that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he struggled with
-strong temptation, and when old friends made facetious signs to him he
-hesitated more than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified
-amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole mind was devoted to
-literary composition, and that he did not know what they meant by this
-impertinent intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly jumped
-once in his seat as if he had been stung by a wasp, and it is certainly
-true that at that moment there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and
-first finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was devoted to
-literature. The language which Cosh allowed himself to use in the heat
-of the moment was so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention,
-who told him that if he wanted to say anything like that again he must
-say it in Latin, and that he ought to take notice of the excellent
-conduct of Peter McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all
-unlikely to win the prize. And as the master returned to his seat his
-back was seen to shake, and the wink with which Speug favoured the
-class, in a brief rest from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery.
-Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in--what a poor creature
-Cosh was, and what good stuff could be found in Speug; and he also knew
-everything that was done--why Cosh had said what he said, and why Speug
-at that moment was lost in study. Bulldog was not disappointed when
-Nestie's face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew why his
-favourite little lad did not write anything for fifteen minutes, but
-looked steadily out at the window and across the North Meadow, and he
-returned to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction when Nestie at
-last settled down to work and wrote without ceasing, except when now and
-again he hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his ear to
-know how it sounded. For the desire of Bulldog's heart was that Nestie
-should win, and if--though that, of course, was too absurd--Speug by the
-help of the favouring gods should come in second, Bulldog would feel
-that he had not lived in vain.
-
-"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke your t's," said
-Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye how ye're to sign yir names," and
-then the Count, who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced
-again to the desk.
-
-"It would be one great joy to have your autographs," said the Count,
-"and I would place them in a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour
-forbids. As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging, it is
-necessary that I be--ah! I have forgotten the word--yes! show the fair
-play. No, I must not know the names; for if I read the name of my friend
-the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting Speug" (at this
-indecent allusion Speug grew purple and gave the bench in front of him
-to understand by well-known signs that if they looked at him again he
-might give them something to look for outside), "I would say that Speug
-is a sportsman but he is not a _littérateur_, and I might not do my
-comrade the full justice. And if I read the name of the composed, the
-studious, the profound young gentlemen who are before me" (and it was
-fortunate the Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would know
-that it must be the best before I read it, and that would not be the
-fair play.
-
-"No! you will write on your admirable essay a motto--what you
-please--and your name you will put in an envelope, so," and the Count
-wrote his own name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful silence,
-on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope with a graceful flourish:
-"and outside you will put your motto, so it will be all the fair play,
-and in the Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to declare
-the result. _Voila!_ Has my plan your distinguished approbation?" and
-the Count made a respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be fairer,
-you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow myself to wish you adieu for
-this day."
-
-When the school assembled for conference among the Russian guns, their
-minds were divided between two subjects. The first was what Speug had
-written, on which that strenuous student would give no information,
-resenting the inquiry both as an insult to his abilities and an
-illustration of vain curiosity on the part of the school. Nestie,
-however, volunteered the trustworthy information that Speug had spent
-his whole time explaining the good which he had got from being kept in
-one Saturday forenoon and doing mathematical problems under the eye of
-Bulldog. And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter to "suck up"
-to the master in this disgraceful fashion just for the sake of getting a
-prize. Peter confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done his
-best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock Cup, but that he didn't
-think there were six words properly spelt from beginning to end, and
-that if he escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to half a
-dozen bottles of ginger-beer.
-
-Regarding the winner--for that was the other subject--there was a
-unanimous and sad judgment; that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but
-that Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would carry off the prize,
-as he had carried off all the other prizes; and that, if so, they would
-let him know how they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it would
-be wise for him to go home with the Count's prize and all the other
-prizes in a cab, with the windows up.
-
-The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the great events in the
-Muirtown year, and to it the memory of a Seminary lad goes back with
-keen interest. All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies had been
-sitting in the class-room of the Seminary, holding Latin books in their
-hands, which they opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn
-approval over the translation by Thomas John and other chosen worthies,
-while the parents wandered from place to place and identified their
-sons, who refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was looking.
-What mothers endured cannot be put into words, when they saw their
-darling boys (whom they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday
-clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions that they were
-not to break their collars nor soil their jackets, nor disarrange their
-hair the whole day, or they need not come home in the evening) turn up
-in a class-room before the respectables of Muirtown as if their heads
-had not known a brush for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their
-white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and an ounce of flour
-in a prominent place on their once speckless jacket.
-
-"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness of despair, "that
-is my Jimmy, I canna deny it; but ye may well ask, for he's more like a
-street waufie than onything else. On a day like this, and when I see
-what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I could almost wish he
-had been born a girl."
-
-"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna speak like that, for it's no
-chancy, he micht be taken away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye
-your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time I saw him, as I'm
-a livin' woman, there wasna more than two inches of his necktie left,
-and he was fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel in
-the playground. Ye needna expect peace if the Almichty give ye laddies,
-but I wouldna change them for lassies--na, na, I'll no' go that length."
-
-And the two matrons sustained themselves with the thought that if their
-boys were only a mere wreck of what they had been in the morning, other
-people's boys were no better, and some of them were worse, for one of
-them had inflicted such damages on his trousers that, although he was
-able to face the public, he had to retire as from the royal presence;
-nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive a malignant
-dislike to the few boys who were spick and span, and to have a certain
-secret pride even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate showed that
-they were far removed from the low estate of lassies.
-
-The great function of the day came off at two o'clock, and before the
-hour the hall was packed with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers,
-uncles, aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while the boys
-themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled than ever, were
-scattered throughout the crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and
-enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers; others were
-gathered in clumps and arranging a reception for the more unpopular
-prize-winners; others were prowling up and down the passages, exchanging
-sweetmeats and responding (very coldly) to the greeting of relatives in
-the seats, for the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad was
-that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie
-senior came in with the general attention of the audience, and seated
-himself in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not that Mr.
-McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings, and certainly not
-because Speug had ever appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr.
-McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the Count and his high
-appreciation of what he considered the Count's sporting offer, and Mr.
-McGuffie was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings that
-he was willing, although he admitted that he had no tip, to have a bet
-with anyone in his vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished his
-son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie coming in first and half
-a length ahead, which was not so much based upon any knowledge of
-Nestie's literary qualifications as on the strange friendship between
-Nestie and his promising son. As the respectable Free Kirk elder who sat
-next Mr. McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr. McGuffie
-put a straw in his mouth and timed the arrival of the Provost.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE THE HOUR THE HALL WAS PACKED."]
-
-When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies and masters, together
-with the notables of Muirtown, appeared on the platform, the boys
-availed themselves of the license of the day, shouting, cheering,
-yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry with pellets of paper
-shot with extraordinary dexterity from little elastic catapults, till at
-last Bulldog, who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted the
-proceedings, rose and demanded silence for the Provost, who explained at
-wide intervals that he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the
-boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls, but not from the
-parents); that he was sure the fathers and mothers were proud of their
-boys to-day (climax of howls); that he had once been a boy himself
-(unanimous shout of "No" from the boys); that he had even fought in a
-snowball fight (loud expressions of horror); that he was glad the
-Seminary was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which the Provost's
-speech came to an end, and Bulldog rose to keep order).
-
-One by one the prize-winners were called up from the side of their fond
-parents, and if they were liked and had won their prizes with the
-goodwill of their fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was
-heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day, and loud above it
-sounded the voice of Speug, who, though he had never received a prize in
-his life, and never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc
-Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the half-back of the
-fifteen, showed that he had a head as well as hands. When a prig got too
-many prizes there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last a
-loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from Speug relieved the
-feelings of the delighted school, and the unpopular prize-winner left
-the platform amid the chorus of the farmyard--cows, sheep, horses, dogs,
-cats and a triumphant ass all uniting to do him honour. It was their
-day, and Bulldog gave them their rights, provided they did not continue
-too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog had the same judgment as
-themselves.
-
-To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering and thirsting for the
-declaration of the Count's prize, because there never had been such a
-competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was one of our characters.
-When he came forward, wonderfully dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole
-and waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody in turn, from
-the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his reception was monumental and was
-crowned by the stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having thanked
-the company for their reception, with his hand upon his heart, and
-having assured the charming mothers of his young friends of his (the
-Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself the slave of
-their sisters, and having expressed his profound reverence for the
-magistrates (at which several bailies tried to look as if they were only
-men, but failed), the Count approached the great moment of the day.
-
-The papers, he explained upon his honour, were all remarkable, and it
-had been impossible for him to sleep, because he could not tear himself
-away from the charming reflections of his young friends. (As the boys
-recognised this to be only a just compliment to their thoughtful
-disposition and literary genius, Bulldog had at last to arise and quell
-the storm.) There was one paper, however, which the Count compared to
-Mont Blanc, because it rose above all the others. It was "ravishing,"
-the Count asserted, "superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius."
-The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful young women,
-it was all one poem. And as the whole hall waited, refusing to breathe,
-the Count enjoyed a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished
-poem--for it is not prose, it is poetry--I will read his motto." Then
-the Count read, "Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the
-Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your Excellency to open this
-envelope and to read the name to this distinguished audience." Before
-the Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope, Speug, who
-was in the secret of the motto, jumped up on his seat and, turning with
-his face to the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice through the
-stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux." And above the great shout that
-went up from the throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear,
-the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had guessed the winner
-without ever seeing the paper.
-
-
-
-
-MOOSSY
-
-IX
-
-
-If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the mention of "Moossy,"
-then it is no use his pleading the years which have passed and the great
-affairs which have filled his life; you know at once that he is an
-impostor and has never had the privilege of passing through Muirtown
-Seminary. Upon the genuine boy--fifty years old now, but green at
-heart--the word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it the worries
-of life and the years that have gone are forgotten, and the eyes light
-up and the face relaxes, and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair
-for the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life in the Seminary,
-with plain food and strenuous games; with well-worn and well-torn
-clothes; where little trouble was taken to give interest to your work,
-and little praise awarded when you did it well; where you were bullied
-by the stronger fellows without redress, and thrashed for very little
-reason; where there were also many coarsenesses which were sickening at
-the time to any lad with a sense of decency, and which he is glad, if he
-can, to forget; but, at least, there was one oasis in the wilderness
-where there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and that was the
-"Department of Modern Languages," over which Moossy was supposed to
-preside.
-
-Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now there is a graduate of
-the University of Paris and a fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown
-French, and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four swordcuts on
-his face to explain to Muirtown the mysteries of the German sentence.
-Indignant boys, who have heard appetising tales of the days which are
-gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental tongues as if they were
-serious languages like Latin and Greek, and are actually kept in if they
-have not done a French verb. They are required to write an account of
-their holidays in German, and are directed to enlarge their vocabulary
-by speaking in foreign tongues among themselves. Things have come to
-such a pass it is said--but I do not believe one word of this--that the
-modern Speug, before he pulls off the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and
-flings it into the lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be
-careful to say "_Erlauben Sie mir_," and that the modern Dowbiggin,
-before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and inquire with mild surprise,
-"_Was wollen Sie, mein Freund?_" and precocious lads will delight their
-parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their daily bread in the
-language and accent of Paris, because for the moment they have forgotten
-English. It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake it, that
-Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining their necessary wants
-in any speech except their own as they were in the days of our fathers,
-and that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day, he would get
-his food at the buffet by making signs with his fingers, as his father
-had done before him and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also take
-care, as his fathers did, that he would not be cheated in his change nor
-be put upon by any "Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best with
-Seminary lads--and their kind elsewhere--but they will not find it easy
-to shape their unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded in the
-background of his mind that he belongs to an imperial race and is born
-to be a ruler, that every man will sooner or later have to speak his
-language, and that it is undignified to condescend to French. The Briton
-is pleased to know that foreign nations have some means of communication
-between themselves--as, indeed, the lower animals have, if you go into
-the matter; but since the Almighty has put an English (or Scots) tongue
-in his mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence not to use
-it. It is, however, an excellent thing to have the graduates, and the
-trim class-room, and the tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and
-the conversation classes--Speug at a conversation class!--and all the
-rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago--and Moossy!
-
-Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy was a nameless man, for
-although it must have been printed on the board in the vestibule of the
-school, which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can now hint
-at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest his surname. The name of
-the Count had been sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him, and
-which was the tribute of our respectful admiration, but "Moossy" was a
-term of good-humoured contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial
-town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but yet, with the instincts
-of a race of Chieftains and Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds
-between our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No doubt the Count
-was womanish in his dress, and had fantastic manners, but we knew he was
-a gallant gentleman, who was afraid of nobody and was always ready to
-serve his friends; he was _débonnaire_, and counted himself the equal of
-anyone in Muirtown, but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
-a little man, to begin with, and had made himself small by stooping till
-his head had sunk upon his chest and his shoulders had risen to his
-ears; his hair fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his
-ill-dressed beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and face showed only
-the slightest acquaintance with soap and water, and although Speug was
-not always careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than once had
-been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to wash himself, yet Speug had a
-healthy contempt for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
-had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, and the cloak which
-he wore on a winter day was a scandal to the town. His feet were large
-and flat, and his knees touched as the one passed the other, and the
-Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight of him shambling across the
-North Meadow. He looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
-dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and flung him in our faces.
-The Rector was also careless of his dress, and mooned along the road,
-but then everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and that if you
-woke him from his meditation he would answer you in Greek; but even
-Speug understood that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted about
-through Muirtown, and filtered down to the boys, that he was a bankrupt
-tradesman who had fled from some little German town and landed in
-Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little English, and a little
-French, as German tradesmen can, he had been appointed by an
-undiscriminating Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the Seminary.
-It is certain he had very little education and no confidence in himself,
-and so he was ever cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,
-for these great men regarded themselves as beings bordering on the
-supernatural; and he was ever deferring and giving in to the boys, which
-was the maddest thing that any master could do, and only confirmed every
-boy in his judgment that Moossy was one of the most miserable of God's
-creatures.
-
-His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded as a pleasant
-relaxation after the labours of the day, and to escape from the
-government of Bulldog to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, as
-we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a tender heart towards the
-wants and enjoyments of boys. It goes without saying that no work was
-done, for there were only half a dozen who had any desire to work, and
-they were not allowed, in justice to themselves and to their fellows, to
-waste the mercies which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion,
-Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but it failed in his hands the
-first time he tried to use it, which was not at all wonderful, as Jock
-Howieson, who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as an
-invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's cane with a horse-hair,
-so that it split into two at a stroke, and one piece flying back struck
-Moossy on the face.
-
-"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's plenty that Bulldog
-has a cane, without yon meeserable wretch"; and that was the last effort
-which Moossy made to exercise discipline.
-
-Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the boys would behave and
-learn their verbs. For about ten minutes there was quietness, and then,
-at the sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form and working
-diligently upon a French translation, which he could do better than
-Moossy himself, Speug would make a signal to the form, and, leading off
-from the foot himself, the form would give one quick, unanimous, and
-masterful push, and Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor;
-while if, by any possibility, they could land all his books on him as he
-lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle, the form was happy and
-called in their friends of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at
-the noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over and inquire the
-cause, that a boy so exemplary and diligent should be sitting on the
-floor with the remains of his work around him; and as Thomas John knew
-that it would be worth his life to tell the reason, Moossy and he
-pretended to regard it as one of the unavoidable accidents of life, and
-after Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the ink wiped off
-his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form to quietness and diligence. He
-knew what had happened, and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum if
-he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we all despised him for his
-cowardice. Had there been enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just
-as Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and then as he sat in
-his seat, brazen and unashamed, we would all have respected Moossy, and
-no one more than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have had a new
-relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited man, in whom there was no
-fight, who held a post he was not fit for, and held it to get a poor
-living for himself and one who was dearer to him than his own life. So
-helpless was he, and so timid, that there were times when the boys grew
-weary of their teasing and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb
-in order to pass the time.
-
-When the spring was in their blood--for, like all young animals, they
-felt its stirring--then there were wonderful scenes in Moossy's
-class-room. He dared not stand in those days between two forms, with his
-face to the one and his back to the other, because of the elastic
-catapults and the sharp little paper bullets, which, in spite of his
-long hair, would always find out his ears; and if he turned round to
-face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked theirs, and between
-the two he was driven to the end of the room; and then, in his very
-presence, without a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle
-their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured German, Moossy
-prayed for peace. Times there were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting
-of the bullet Moossy said bad words, and although they were in German,
-the boys knew that it was swearing, and Speug's voice would be loudest
-in horror.
-
-[Illustration: "THOMAS JOHN NEXT INSTANT WAS SITTING ON THE FLOOR."]
-
-"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear in the Seminary! If
-the Town Council gets word of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For
-masel'," Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly ashamed." And as
-that accomplished young gentleman had acquired in the stables a wealth
-of profanity which was the amazement of the school, his protest had all
-the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise for what he had said, and
-beseech the school neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they
-had heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be warning Thomas John
-that if he, Speug--censor of morals--caught him cursing and swearing
-like Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards bring him
-before the Lord Provost and magistrates.
-
-There was no end to the devices of the Seminary for enjoying themselves
-and tormenting Moossy; and had it not been for Nestie, who had some
-reserves of taste, the fun would have been much more curious. As it was,
-Moossy never knew when he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as
-if the class-room for modern languages were the chosen home for the
-reptiles of the district. One morning, when he opened his desk, a lively
-young Scots terrier puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly
-frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed. He had learned to
-open the door of his class-room cautiously, not knowing whether a German
-Dictionary might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his head. His
-ink-bottle would be curiously attached to his French Grammar, so that
-when he lifted the book the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink
-over his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to his coat. Boys
-going up to write on the blackboard, where they never wrote anything but
-nonsense, would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon the back of
-Moossy's coat as they returned; and if one after the other, adding to
-the work of art, could draw what was supposed to be a human face upon
-Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the hour. There were
-times when Moossy felt the hand even on the looseness of that foolish
-coat, and turned suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen impudence
-of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into the stolid and unintelligent
-expression of Howieson's face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one
-boy was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their books and
-pronouncing on a principal of their own, would do the verb with him and
-continue in a loud and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one
-by one, and then they were full of indignation at being hindered in
-their studies of the German language.
-
-Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest his own incompetence
-should be exposed and his bread be taken from him; and of this the
-boys, with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly aware, and
-the torture might have gone on for years had it not been for the
-intervention of Bulldog and a certain incident. As the French class-room
-was above the mathematical, any special disturbance could be heard in
-the quietness below; and whatever else they did, the students of foreign
-languages were careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed,
-the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's room was the danger of
-Bulldog's arrival, who was engaged that hour with the little boys and
-had ample leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise above,
-and for want of occupation was itching to get at old friends like
-Howieson. There are times, however, when even a savage forgets himself,
-and one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room reached an historical
-height. It had been discovered that any dislike which Moossy may have
-had to a puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket, was
-nothing to the horror with which he regarded mice. As soon as it was
-known that Moossy would as soon have had a tiger in the French
-class-room as a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of
-foreign languages should take a new departure. One morning the boys came
-in with such punctuality, and settled to their work with such demure
-diligence, that even Moossy was suspicious and watched them anxiously.
-For ten minutes there was nothing heard but the drone of the class
-mangling German sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in
-consternation, "A mouse!"
-
-"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?" and Moossy was much shaken.
-
-"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse was just disappearing
-under the desk; "and there's another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is
-fair swarming, and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your leg. Take
-care, man, for ony sake."
-
-"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go; I vill the desk ascend,"
-and with the aid of a chair Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he
-entrenched himself against attack, believing that at that height he
-would be safe from "mices."
-
-[Illustration: "THE SCHOOL FELL OVER BENCHES AND OVER ONE ANOTHER."]
-
-Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had burst upon the French
-class-room the scholars should meet the calamity like men, and asked
-Moossy's permission to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy and his
-pupils had one mind, and the school gave itself to its heart's content,
-and without a thought of consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more
-difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is doubled when no
-one wishes to catch it; and so the school fell over benches, and over
-one another, and jumped over the desks and scrambled under them, ever
-pretending to have caught a mouse, and really succeeding once in
-smothering an unfortunate animal beneath the weight of half a dozen
-boys. Thomas John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom by an
-accident in which Howieson took a leading part, and the German
-Dictionary intended for a mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which
-led to an encounter between that indignant youth and Bauldie, in which
-mice were forgotten. The blackboard was brought down with a crash, and a
-form was securely planted on its ruins. High above the babel Moossy
-could be heard crying encouragement, and demanding whether the "mices"
-had been caught, but nothing would induce him to come down from his
-fastness. When things were at their highest, and gay spirits like Speug
-were beginning to conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to a
-mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that he had mounted a desk,
-not to catch a mouse, but to give a cheer, and was standing there
-without collar or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all the
-trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered. And it was a
-beautiful tribute to the personality of that excellent man, that the
-whole room crystallised in an instant, and everyone remained motionless,
-frozen, as it were, in the act.
-
-Bulldog looked round with that calm composure which sat so well upon
-him, taking in Moossy perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form, Speug
-sitting with easy dignity on the top of Thomas John, and half a dozen
-worthies still tied together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to
-which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown Seminary.
-
-"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of ten seconds, "is
-evidently a verra divertin' subject of study, and I wonder that any
-pupil is left in the department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock,
-that ye needed to stand on a form before you could do your German, and I
-suppose that is the French class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude,
-but I'm pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I really am."
-
-"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor Moossy came down from
-his desk and began to explain. "My impression is that you are right, as
-far as I can judge--and I have some acquaintance with the circumstances.
-There are a considerable number of mices in this room, a good many more
-mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this morning. The mices I
-see were in my class-room this morning, and they were very quiet and
-peaceable mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after this,
-or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse me," and Bulldog embraced
-the whole scene in a comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign
-class-room and go down and see what my laddies are doing with their
-writing"; and when Bulldog closed the door Howieson realised that he
-owed his escape to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room, but
-that the joyful day in modern languages had come to an end. There would
-be no more "mices."
-
-Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were out for a ramble in the
-country, and turning into a lane where the hedgerows were breaking into
-green, and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes, they came
-upon a sight which made them pause so that they could only stand and
-look. Down the lane a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and
-broken thing which had seen its best days thirty years ago. In the chair
-a woman was sitting, or rather lying, very plainly but comfortably
-dressed, and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that she had
-suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding to the breath of spring.
-As they stood, the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked a
-handful of primroses and gave them to the woman; and as he bent over
-her, holding up the primroses before her eyes, and as they talked
-together, even the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He
-adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her position in the chair, and
-then went back to drag it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding
-track; and the boys stood and stared and looked at one another, for the
-man who was caring so gently for this invalid, and toiling so manfully
-with the lumbering chair, was Moossy.
-
-"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't like us to see him. I
-say, he ain't a bad sort--Moossy--after all. Bet you a bottle of
-g-ginger-beer that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."
-
-They were leaving the lane when they heard an exclamation, and going
-back they found that the miserable machine had slipped into the ditch
-and there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of recovery. With many
-an "Ach!" and other words, too, he was bewailing the situation and
-hanging over his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and trying
-if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the weight upon the lower
-side, while every minute the wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.
-
-"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless v-vagabond?" said
-Nestie to Speug. "Come along and give a hand to Moossy," who was so
-pleased to get some help in the lonely place that he forgot the
-revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the shafts, who had the
-strength of a man in his compact little body, and Moossy pulling on the
-other side, the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a torrent of
-gratitude from Moossy and his wife, partly in English, but mostly in
-German, but all quite plain to the boys, for gratitude is always
-understood in any language. They came bravely along the lane, Speug
-pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to make sure she had not been
-hurt, and Nestie plucking flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the
-lane, while Moossy declared them to be "_Zwei herzliche Knaben_."
-
-When they came to the main road, Speug would not give up his work, but
-brought the carriage manfully to the little cottage, hidden in a garden,
-where Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in--she was so light that
-Moossy could lift her himself--she compelled the boys to come in, too,
-and Moossy made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange German
-cakes, which were not half bad, and to which they both did ample
-justice. Going home, Nestie looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie,
-and though no words passed it was understood that the days of the
-troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of Muirtown were ended.
-
-During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at the Seminary it would
-not be true to say that he became a good or useful master, for he had
-neither the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were always
-respectful and did their work, for they were very far removed from being
-angels; but Moossy did pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he
-suffered no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy was not left
-to be his own horse from day to day, but that the stronger varlets of
-the Seminary should take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach.
-Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from sentiment, and he gave
-it carefully to be understood that he only did the thing for a joke; but
-there is no question that more than once Jock brought Moossy's
-carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully along that lane and
-other lanes, and it is a fact that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came
-out with one of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was
-called, was driven far and wide about the country around Muirtown.
-
-"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist, Speug," said Nestie,
-"and I expect to hear that you are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug
-promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to be admitted would
-be Nestie, and that he would teach him manners.
-
-It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one died in Germany and
-left him a little money, so that he could give up the hopeless drudgery
-of the Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon the banks of
-the Rhine. His wife, who had been improving under Dr. Manley's care,
-began to brisk up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when one
-afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some dozen boys were there to see
-them off, and it was Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place
-her comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled their
-pocket-money--selling one or two treasures to swell the sum--that Moossy
-and his wife might go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love,
-and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her hands. They still
-called him Moossy, as they had done before, and he looked, to tell the
-truth, almost as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he was in
-great spirits and much touched by the kindness of his tormentors. As the
-English mail pulled out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the
-boys ran along the platform beside the carriage shaking hands with
-Moossy through the open window and passing in their gifts.
-
-"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable humour, but the last
-sight Moossy had of Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow and
-waving farewell.
-
-
-
-
-A LAST RESOURCE
-
-X
-
-
-That the Rector should be ill and absent from his classes from time to
-time was quite in the order of things, because he was a scholar and
-absent-minded to a degree--going to bed in the morning, and being got
-out of bed in rather less than time for his work; eating when it
-occurred to him, but preferring, on the whole, not to eat at all;
-wearing very much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he added a
-heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in the height of summer and
-going without it when there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for
-his scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school loved him;
-not because he edited a "Cæsar" and compiled a set of Latin exercises,
-for which perfectly unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated
-him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes past nine, and his
-form was able to jeer at Bulldog's boys as they hastened into their
-class-room with much discretion at one minute before the hour. Because
-he used to be so much taken up with a happy phrase in Horace that he
-would forget the presence of his class, and walk up and down before the
-fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes he was so hoarse that
-he could only communicate with the class by signs, which they
-unanimously misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be absent for a
-whole week, and his form was thrown in with another, with the result of
-much enjoyable friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He was
-respected and never was annoyed, not even by ruffians like Howieson,
-because everyone knew that the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with
-all his eccentric ways, and the _Muirtown Advertiser_ had a leader every
-spring on the achievements of his scholars. Edinburgh professors who
-came to examine the school used to fill up their speeches on the
-prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector, supported by
-classical quotations, during which the boys cheered rapturously and the
-Rector looked as if he were going to be hung. He was one of the
-recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely referred to at municipal
-banquets by bailies whose hearts had grown merry within them drinking
-the Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration to the toast of
-"the Fair City" with the North Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River
-Tay and the County Gaol.
-
-Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may have been his negligences of
-dress and occupation in private life--and on this subject Nestie and
-Speug told fearful lies--he exhibited the most exasperating regularity
-in public, from his copper-plate handwriting to his speckless dress, but
-especially by an inhuman and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one with
-a heart within him and some regard to the comfort of his fellow
-creatures, especially boys, had any right to observe times and seasons
-with such exactness. During all our time, except on the one great
-occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be ill, not even with a
-cold; and it was said that he never had been for a day off duty, even in
-the generation before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce of
-superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease, and there was a feeling
-in the background of our minds that for any illness to have attacked
-Bulldog would have been an act of impertinence which he would have known
-how to deal with. It was firmly believed that for the last fifty
-years--and some said eighty, but that was poetry--Bulldog had entered
-his class-room every morning, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and
-holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to begin work at the stroke of nine.
-There was a pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there had
-been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind that the bridge had been
-drifted up, and no one could cross that morning from the other side. The
-boys from the south side of the town had brought news of the drift to
-the school, and the earlier arrivals, who had come in hope of a
-snow-fight, were so mightily taken with the news that they hurried to
-the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift, and danced with joy
-at the thought that on the other side Bulldog was standing, for once
-helpless and dismayed. Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son, had
-shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog to come over, secure in
-the fact that he could not be seen across its height, and in the hope
-that Bulldog would not know his voice. When they were weary celebrating
-the event, and after a pleasant encounter with a hastily organised
-regiment of message boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the
-school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready for the midday fight
-with the "Pennies." For the pure joy of it they opened the door of the
-mathematical class-room, merely to see how it looked when Bulldog was
-not there, and found that estimable teacher at his desk, waiting to
-receive them with bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in
-Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others that he had climbed
-over it in the early morning, before Muirtown was awake; but it was
-found out afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison, the
-salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded river, that it took them
-an hour to reach the Muirtown side, and that they had both been nearly
-drowned in the adventure.
-
-"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're a little late, but the
-roads are heavy this morning. Come to the fire and warm yir hands before
-ye begin yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and Mr. McGuffie
-senior used to tell his son with much relish that their hands were
-warmed. The school was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog
-would be prepared to swim the river rather than miss a day in the
-mathematical class-room.
-
-It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble" season had just
-begun, when Howieson, after a vicious and well-directed stroke which won
-him three "brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had seen Bulldog
-go in; for, notwithstanding the years which came and went, his passing
-in was always an occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not
-been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that he had not arrived;
-and even when the school trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's
-desk empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to take advantage
-of the circumstances. No one knew where he might be lying in wait, and
-from what quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful with
-what docility the boys began to work under the mild and beneficent reign
-of Mr. Byles, who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins in the
-unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon wore on there was certainly
-some curiosity, and Nestie was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts;
-but it was understood to be a point of honour with Nestie, as a member
-of his household, to give no information about Bulldog's movements, and
-so the school were none the wiser. There was some wild talk during the
-hour, and a dozen stories were afloat by afternoon. Next morning it was
-boldly said that Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what truth
-was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged Nestie to deny the
-slander. That ingenious young gentleman replied vaguely but politely,
-and veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant detail that
-the school went in for the second day to the class-room rejoicing with
-trembling, and not at all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a
-carriage and pair, possibly with a large comforter round his throat, but
-otherwise full of spirits and perfectly fit for duty. It was only after
-the twelve o'clock break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie
-that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence, and felt
-like the Children of Israel on the other bank of the Red Sea. Some were
-for celebrating their independence in the North Meadow and treating Mr.
-Byles with absolute contempt; but there were others who judged with some
-acuteness that they could have the North Meadow any day, but they might
-never again have a full hour in the mathematical class-room without
-Bulldog. There seemed a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid
-the scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical class went in
-to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in high spirits and without one
-missing. It is true that the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some
-reluctance in attending to their studies, but it was pointed out to them
-in a very firm and persuasive way by Speug that it would be disgraceful
-for them to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class could not
-allow such an act of treachery. Speug was so full of honest feeling that
-he saw Thomas John safely within the door, and, since he threatened an
-unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold from behind. There
-is no perfectly full and accurate account extant of what took place
-between twelve and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but what
-may be called contributions to history oozed out and were gratefully
-welcomed by the school. It was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr.
-Byles to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle drew a
-fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and being much encouraged by the
-applause of the class, and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a
-pipe into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked one of Mr.
-Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then went to his seat with a sense
-of modest worth. That Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic
-appreciation, resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and, moved by
-a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it from the board; but the senior
-members of the class would on no account allow any work by a young but
-promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the struggle in wiping
-Mr. Byles's own face with the chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of
-entering into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went to
-Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug, seizing the opportunity so
-pleasantly afforded, locked Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and
-so kept him out of any further mischief for the rest of the hour. That
-as Mr. Byles had been deposed from office on account of his incapacity,
-and the place of mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was
-unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address, from Bulldog's
-desk, replete with popular humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to
-be giving such attention to his studies as might have been expected,
-Speug ordered that he be brought up for punishment, which was promptly
-done by Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of Thomas John's
-iniquitous career, Speug gave him the tawse with much faithfulness,
-Bauldie seeing that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming fashion;
-then that unhappy young gentleman was sent to his seat with a warning
-from Speug that this must never occur again. That Nestie, having
-stealthily left the room, gave such an accurate imitation of Bulldog's
-voice in the passage--"Pack of little fiddlers taking advantage of my
-absence; but I'll warm them"--that there was an instantaneous rush for
-the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie appeared, the
-mathematical class-room was as quiet as pussy, and Speug was
-ostentatiously working at a mathematical problem. There are men living
-who look back on that day with modest, thankful hearts, finding in its
-remembrance a solace in old age for the cares of life; and the scene on
-which they dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been whitened for
-his abominable trick, standing on the top of Bulldog's desk, and singing
-a school song with the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy,
-while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled Dowbiggin to join in the
-chorus, and Byles could be heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how
-soon we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet innocence
-of our first years! how poor are the rewards of ambition compared with
-the simple pleasures of childhood!
-
-It could not be expected that we should ever have another day as good
-again, but everyone had a firm confidence in the originality of Speug
-when it was a question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round the
-Russian guns next morning--for, as I have said, the guns were our forum
-and place of public address--and, while affecting an attitude of studied
-indifference, we waited with desire to hear the plan of campaign from
-our leader's lips. But Speug, like all great generals, was full of
-surprises, and that morning he was silent and unapproachable. Various
-suggestions were made for brightening the mathematical labours and
-cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last Howieson, weary of their futility,
-proposed that the whole class should go up to the top of the North
-Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug broke silence.
-
-"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh may go with ye, and if
-he's drowned it'll be no loss, nor, for that matter, if the half of ye
-are carried down the river. For myself, I'm going to the mathematical
-class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles I'll fight him in the back yard
-in the dinner-hour for half a dozen stone-gingers."
-
-"Is there onything wrang with your head, Speug?" For the thought of
-Peter busy with a triangle under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr.
-Byles could only be explained in one way.
-
-"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists, either. The fact
-is----" And then Speug hesitated, realising amid his many excellences a
-certain deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie, what are
-ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and tell them aboot--what ye told me
-this meenut." And the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit, on
-which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.
-
-"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it won't do to-t-to-day.
-Bully's very ill, and Doctor Manley is afraid that he may--d-die, and it
-would be beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog
-is--maybe----" And Nestie came down hurriedly from the gun and went
-behind the crowd, while Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive
-manner, all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself to be quite
-indifferent.
-
-Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be going hard with Bulldog;
-for there was not in broad Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul
-in his great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh, with half
-a dozen honours of Scotland, England, and France. He had an insight into
-cases that was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which nobody
-but his own chemist could make up, he had expedients of treatment that
-never occurred to any other man, and then he had a way with him that
-used to bring people up from the gates of death and fill despairing
-relatives with hope. His arrival in the sick room, a little man, with
-brusque, sharp, straightforward manner, seemed in itself to change the
-whole face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He would not
-hear that any disease was serious, but he treated it as if it were; he
-would not allow a gloomy face in a sick room, and his language to women
-who began to whimper, when he got them outside the room, was such as tom
-cats would be ashamed of; and he regarded the idea of any person below
-eighty dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence. All
-over Perthshire country doctors in their hours of anxiety and perplexity
-sent for Manley; and when two men like William McClure and John Manley
-took a job in hand together, Death might as well leave and go to
-another case, for he would not have a look in with those champions in
-the doorway. English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for the
-Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and then would go up to
-London and swear in the clubs that there was a man down there in a
-country town of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End swell
-doctors put together. He would not allow big names of diseases to be
-used in his hearing, believing that the shadow killed more people than
-the reality, and fighting with all his might against the melancholy
-delight that Scots people have in serious sickness and other dreary
-dispensations. When Manley returned one autumn from a week's holiday and
-found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning in the streets over
-their minister, because he was dying of diphtheria, and his young wife
-asking grace to give her husband up if it were the will of God, Manley
-went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation, declaring that to call
-a sore throat diphtheria was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a
-mere mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for a judgment."
-It happened, however, that his treatment was exactly the same as that
-for diphtheria, and although he remarked that he didn't know whether it
-was necessary for him to come back again for such an ordinary case, he
-did drop in by a series of accidents twice a day for more than a week;
-and although no one dared to whisper it in his presence, there are
-people who think to this day that the minister had diphtheria. As
-Manley, however, insisted that it was nothing but a sore throat, the
-minister felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation would have
-thanked Manley in a body had it not been that he would have laughed
-aloud. Many a boy remembered the day when he had been ill and sweating
-with terror lest he should die--although he wouldn't have said that to
-any living creature--and Manley had come in like a breeze of fresh air,
-and declared that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog," with
-nothing wrong about him, except the desire to escape for three days from
-Bulldog.
-
-"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the most mischievous
-little rascal, except Peter McGuffie, in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll
-give you three days in bed, and your mother will let you have something
-nice to eat, and then out you go and back to the Seminary," and going
-out of the door Manley would turn round and shake his fist at the bed,
-"just a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before the boy was
-out of bed, but he was never afraid again, and had some heart to fight
-his disease.
-
-Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that, if Manley had allowed
-death to be even mentioned in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than
-likely that they would never see the master of the mathematical
-department again. And boys are a perfect absurdity, for--as sure as
-death--they were not glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost
-all, with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of them he had
-thrashed many times; he had never petted any of them, and never more
-than six times, perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But that
-morning, as they stood silent, awkward and angry, round the guns, there
-is no doubt about it, the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to
-see his erect figure and stern face come across the North Meadow, never
-to hear him say again from the desk, "Attention to your work, you little
-fiddlers"; never to watch him promenading down between the benches,
-overseeing each boy's task and stimulating the negligent on some tender
-part of their bodies; never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought
-of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and Speug, resenting
-what he judged the impertinent spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his
-head, and "learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody knows, boys have
-no sentiment and no feeling, so the collapse of that morning must be set
-down to pure cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles ruled over
-them without resistance, and might have thrashed them if he had so
-pleased and had not ventured to use Bulldog's cane.
-
-Had they not been boys, they would have called at Bulldog's to learn how
-he was. Being boys, they avoided his name and pretended they were
-indifferent; but when they met Manley on the bridge that afternoon, and
-judged he had come from Bulldog's, they studied his face with the skill
-of wild animals, and concluded each one for himself that things were
-going badly with the master. They picked up every scrap of information
-from their fathers in the evening, although they fiercely resented the
-suggestion of their mothers that they would be concerned about "Mr.
-MacKinnon's illness"--as if they cared whether a master were ill or
-well, as if it were not better for them that he should be ill,
-especially such an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother was very
-much disappointed by this lack of feeling, and said to her husband at
-night that she had expected better things from Archibald; but if she had
-gone suddenly into Bauldie's room--for that was his real name, Archibald
-being only the thing given in baptism--she would have found that
-truculent worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with the blankets,
-lest his elder brother, who slept in the same room, should hear him. You
-have no reason to believe me, and his mother would not have believed me,
-but--as sure as death--Bauldie was crying because Bulldog was sick unto
-death.
-
-Next morning Speug and a couple of friends happened by the merest
-accident to be loitering at Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and
-examining with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the very time
-when that worthy magistrate came out and questioned Dr. Manley "How
-things were going up-bye wi' the maister?"
-
-"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the case; it looks bad,
-very bad indeed, and I'm not a croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a
-strong man, not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but he has lost
-interest in things, and isn't making an effort to get better; just lying
-quiet and looking at you--says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get
-him waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."
-
-"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment at the thought of
-Bulldog dying, as it were, of gentleness.
-
-"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way with those strong,
-healthy men, who have never known a day's sickness till they are old;
-they break up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog didn't
-thrash you and me, else we would have been better men; but he has
-attended to our boys."
-
-"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie shook his head, sadly
-mourning over a man who had laid down his life in discharge of
-discipline. But the boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened the
-strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a heap upon the street,
-whereat there was a brisk interchange of ideas, and then the company
-went on its way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.
-
-Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps that was the reason that
-Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered, taking offence if anyone looked at
-him, and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing
-during the dinner-hour. It was supposed that he had broken bounds and
-gone to Woody Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and that
-while the class was wasting its time with Byles, Peter was playing the
-Red Indian. He did not deny the charge next day, and took an hour's
-detention in the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time he was
-supposed to be stalking Indians behind the trees, and shooting them as
-they floated down the river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his
-father's stable, hidden from sight, and--as sure as death--Speug was
-trying to pray for Bulldog.
-
-The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of the natural man, and
-Mr. McGuffie junior had never been present at any form of family
-prayers, nor had he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under any
-minister in particular. He had no training in devotional exercises,
-although he had enjoyed an elaborate education in profanity under his
-father and the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely his own.
-
-"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say Ye hear onybody. I'm
-Peter McGuffie, but mebbe Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good
-laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but I'm awful fond of
-Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog, God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff
-this time I'll never say any bad words again--as sure as death--and I'll
-never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's face, and I'll never
-steal birds' eggs, and I'll never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash
-my face and--my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule, and I'll
-do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill
-Bulldog."
-
-When Dr. Manley came out from the master's garden door that evening he
-stumbled upon Speug, who was looking very miserable, but began to
-whistle violently the moment he was detected, and denied that he had
-come to ask for news.
-
-"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell me lies, for I know
-you, Speug, and your father before you. I wish I'd good news to give
-you, but I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing from Bulldog."
-
-For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the road and thrust his hands
-deep into his pockets; then the corners of his mouth began to twitch,
-and turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while his tough little
-body that had stood many a fight shook all over. Doctor Manley was the
-first person that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him to protect
-him from the gaze of any wandering message boys who might come along the
-lane. By and by Speug began to speak between his sobs.
-
-"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but I dinna like to
-let on.... I heard ye say that ye couldna rouse Bulldog to take an
-interest in onything, and I thought o' something."
-
-"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his hands on the boy's
-shoulder and encouraged him to proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust
-me."
-
-"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a lickin'; if he juist
-had a cane in his hands and a laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be
-himsel' again, and--there's no a laddie in schule he's licked as often
-as me. And I cam up----" and Speug stuck.
-
-"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean. You've mentioned the
-medicine; 'pon my word, I believe it's just the very thing that will do
-the trick. Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what I was
-seeking after, and I've been doctoring those Muirtown sinners for more
-than thirty years. Come along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and
-we'll go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug through the garden
-and into the house. "Wait a minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll
-come back to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs and
-found his friend in the lobby, confused and frightened for the first
-time in his life, and Nestie saw the marks of distress upon his face.
-"Doctor M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm round his neck)
-"you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown. It's awfully d-decent of you,
-and it'll p-please Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as
-consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought him forward to the
-bedside, and at last he had courage to look, and it took him all his
-time to play the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so gentle,
-with his face almost as white as the pillow, and his hands upon the
-bedclothes wasted like to the hands of a skeleton. The master smiled
-faintly, and seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars, but
-he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in the background and allowed
-the boys to manage their own business, being the wisest of men as well
-as the kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug and gave him every
-encouragement, Peter could not find a word, but stood helpless, biting
-his lip and looking the very picture of abject misery.
-
-"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you. He is very sorry
-that you are ill, and so are all the boys. Peter thought you might be
-wearying to--to use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
-little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid an old cane he had
-hunted up, a cane retired from service, upon the bed within reach of
-Bulldog's hand. A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, the
-first expression of interest he had shown during his illness. He turned
-his head and looked at Peter, the figure of chastened mischief. The
-remembrance of the past--the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
-with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the scratching of the pens,
-came up to him, and his soul was stirred within him. His hand closed
-again upon the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw open
-upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the
-strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers
-can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and
-overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out
-of the room, who went into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
-dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while
-upstairs in the sick-room Manley declared that Bulldog had turned the
-corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."
-
-[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED AGAIN UPON THE SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY."]
-
-The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable-yard,
-for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called
-him "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat
-Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's
-phaeton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale
-that the doctor was bringing him home with two broken legs as the result
-of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-bye in the presence
-of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news
-of Bulldog's convalescence, and next day stone-ginger was flowing like
-water down the throats of the Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A PLEASANT SIN
-
-XI
-
-
-Captious people, such as ministers of religion and old maids of the
-precise kind, considered that the Seminary were guilty of many sins and
-mentioned them freely; but those excellent people erred through lack of
-vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, putting the Dowbiggins'
-clothes into a state of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the
-"Pennies," having a stand-up fight between two well-matched champions,
-say, once a month, and "ragging" Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of
-evil, but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the high spirit of
-those who were active, and teaching the Christian grace of meekness to
-those who were passive. There was only one act which the Seminary knew
-it ought not to do, and which all the boys wanted to do, which they
-enjoyed very much in doing, and were quite willing to be punished for
-doing. The besetting sin of a school--a country school--which will
-remain its sin until the days of the millennium have fairly set in, was
-playing truant.
-
-This crime was equivalent to high treason in the State, and consisted in
-a boy absenting himself from school without the knowledge of his
-parents, and without the consent of his master, for a day or half of a
-day. The boy did not disappear because he was ill, for he was on such
-occasions outrageously well: nor because he was overburdened by work,
-for the truants always guarded themselves against brain fag; nor because
-he wanted to hang about the streets, or smoke in secret places. He was
-simply seized with the passion of the open air and of the country. To
-tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' eggs and watching the
-ways of wild animals; to guddle for trout under the stones of some clear
-running mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on a summer day, or
-to join the haymakers on a farm, and do a full day's work, as long as
-lesson time and harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, as if
-an animal had broken out from a menagerie; there was joy in thinking, as
-you lay beside your burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
-mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their sums, under
-Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home in the evening, tired, but
-satisfied, and passing the empty Seminary with defiance. There is no
-joy--I mean sin--but has its drawbacks, and there were clouds in the
-truant's sky. Country folk had their own suspicions when they came on a
-couple of boys going at large on a working day, when the school was in
-session, as one might have a shrewd guess if he came upon two convicts
-in their professional dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
-there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who have escaped from a
-cage, unless it be a tigress looking for her dinner, and no one would
-have thought of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
-Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished him for his evil
-doings--as I shall tell.
-
-"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, as he came upon them
-sitting by the burnside eating bread and cheese and counting up their
-trout, "I'm judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, or
-mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir health. Or is this
-the reward for doing yir work so well? Ye have all the appearance of
-scholars." And then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery and
-the confusion of the boys.
-
-"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest mended, and ye mind where
-leears go to. But I'm thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk
-to wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries in the garden up
-by, just about ripe."
-
-So they all went up to the farm kitchen and had a glorious tuck in, and
-were afterwards turned loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
-watched them with keen delight and a remembrance of past days. Whose
-place in heaven for such deeds of charity is already secure.
-
-The authorities at home were not so lenient, and the experienced truant
-was careful, when he could, to time his arrival home about five o'clock
-in the afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and one hour more
-of special confinement. According to the truant's code he was not
-allowed to tell a lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
-but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed statement of the
-truth. If his father charged him with being kept in at school for not
-having done his work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed it to
-go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. When, however,
-a boy was by habit and repute a truant, his father learned by experience
-and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had an extra touch of the
-sun on his face, and his clothing was disorderly beyond usual, and his
-manner was especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please every
-person quite remarkable, and if in moments of unconsciousness he seemed
-to be chewing the cud of some recent pleasure, the father was apt to
-subject him to a searching cross-examination. And his mother had to beg
-the boy off with many a plea, such as mothers know how to use; and if
-the others did not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, she
-could always send the good man back upon his memory, and put it to his
-conscience whether he ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin
-the boy had inherited from himself.
-
-It was next morning that the truant really paid for his pleasure; and
-the price was sharp, for there was no caning to be compared with that
-which followed a day in the country. It was a point of honour that no
-boy should show distress; but even veterans bit their lips as the cane
-fell first on the right hand and then on the left, and right across the
-palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the hand, if the cane was
-young and flexible. Speug, though a man of war and able to endure
-anything, used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather was cold,
-before going in to the inquisition, and after he had received a
-switching of the first order he would go down to the lade and cool his
-hands in the running water. It was an interesting spectacle to see four
-able-bodied sinners, who yesterday had given themselves to the study of
-Nature, now kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our waters of
-Lethe; but you must remember that they made no moan before the boys, and
-no complaint against the master. The school received them with respect
-when they came out, and Speug would indicate with a wink and a jerk of
-his head that Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to be trifled
-with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered cub ventured to come
-too near when Peter was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are
-that Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to be looking
-where he had no business."
-
-Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some weak-hearted boys, but
-it never prevented any of the hardy ruffians from having their day out
-when the fever seized them. Playing truant was the same thing for a boy
-as bolting for a high-spirited horse; done once, the animal is bound to
-try it again, and to both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
-much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead and then go astray in cold
-blood, because this sin was not an act of malice aforethought--it was a
-sudden impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the blood. Had
-one determined on Tuesday night to take Wednesday, it might have turned
-out in our fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as soon be
-playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in the dinner-hour, or, for
-that matter, amusing himself in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the
-morning ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
-water--arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, and planning how to
-escape a lesson he had not prepared; but he was helpless against Nature
-if she set herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose outside
-the door than the summer air, sweet and fresh, began to play upon his
-face and reminded him of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
-of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that morning in the
-sunshine, brought up a pool where a fat trout was sure to be lying. As
-he crossed the North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
-Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and flowers, and sent his
-blood a-tingling. The books upon his back grew woefully heavy, and the
-Seminary reminded him of the city gaol frowning out on the fields with
-its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered by the lade and saw the
-clear water running briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
-glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie Woods with
-their mysterious depths, and rising high above the houses on the other
-side of the river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The bell
-rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river is running through his
-heart, and the greenery is before his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs
-through the open window awakens the instinct of the wild animal in his
-breast and invites him to be free. Speug has a slate before him, but he
-is not pretending to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, and
-sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make its bolt. He catches
-Howieson's eye and reads that Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal
-of Bauldie whether he prefers compound fractions to a swim, and Bauldie
-explains, also by signal, that, much as he loves fractions, he will be
-obliging that afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth would
-complete the party; and when Speug lifts his eyebrows with great
-dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitchell, three desks off, "Piggie," like the
-gallant spirit that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be found
-wanting. Not a word has been said, and no one will say "Truant" at any
-time, but at the next break the four separate themselves quietly and
-unobtrusively from their fellows, and by the time the last boy has gone
-through the door, they are scudding across the meadow to Speug's
-stable-yard, where they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
-more is needed than a hunch of bread and some fish-hooks; but as they
-ran Speug had dropped the word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
-was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the town, long and
-narrow, formed with a division of the river into its main current and a
-sluggish backwater. It was covered with dense brushwood, except where
-here and there a patch of green turf was left bare, and the island was
-indented with little bays where the river rippled on clean sand and
-gravel. It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself in
-it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and then you had to find your
-comrades by signal; and it had little tracks through it, and there was
-one place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to be a cave, and
-where certainly two boys could get out of sight if they lay very close
-together and did not mind being half smothered. When you went to Woody
-Island, and left the mainland, you were understood to blot out the
-Seminary and Muirtown and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
-somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the possession of the
-children of the forest; the ashes of their fires could be seen any day
-there, and you could come upon their wigwams in one of the open spots.
-There was a place where they had massacred three trappers and taken
-their scalps, and in that cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian
-scout, lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth of his rifle
-peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned braves at bay for a
-whole day. It was a fairy world in which our Indian tales could be
-reproduced upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the heroes we had
-so often admired. The equipment for the day consisted of four tomahawks
-(three axes out of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
-which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols (one belonging to
-Speug and the other to Bauldie); a couple of toy rifles--not things for
-kids, mark you, but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
-caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage cloth from Peter's
-yard; and a kettle for boiling water--I mean cooking the game--which
-Jock Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy had to visit his
-home on pretence of returning for a book, and bring away the necessary
-articles of war and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; and
-then everything, axes included, and, if possible, the rifles had to be
-hidden away about their persons until the four, skulking by back lanes,
-and separating from one another, reached the top of the North Meadow,
-after which they went up the bank of the river, none daring to make them
-afraid. They were out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
-weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into an Indian trapper, and
-giving directions about how they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
-Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate whether they would have a
-chance of meeting with the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
-try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, because, although
-they had not yet entered the Indian territory, the crafty foe might have
-scouts out on this side of the river, and in that case there was no hope
-of Woody Island. The Indians would be in ambush among the trees on the
-bank, and the four would be shot down as they crossed.
-
-Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's Indians, but a white man--a
-renegade--who, to his shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
-always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. This miscreant was
-a farmer on the mainland, who was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a
-determined objection to any boys, or other savages, except, as I have
-said, the Seminole tribe living on the island, and who used to threaten
-pains and penalties against anyone whom he caught on his land. One never
-knew when he might be about, and it was absolutely necessary to reach
-the island without his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
-used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday dinner, and then
-creep along the bank of the river and ferry himself across with the
-other trappers in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to the
-other side of the island and kept there for the return voyage in the
-evening, so that the farmer was helpless to reach the island, and could
-only address the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from the
-bank, which was sent back to him in faithful echo. This forenoon the
-farmer happened to be hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite
-the island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, for now the four had
-to drop down and crawl along through the thick grass by the river's
-edge, availing themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
-with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed so near the
-farmer that they could hear him speak and hear the click of the hoes as
-the people worked in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
-and looked through between the branches of a shrub, you could see him,
-and Bauldie actually covered him with his rifle. The unconscious farmer
-knew not that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon Bauldie's
-trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his chief, for he would dearly
-have loved to fire a cap, but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the
-trapper dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards explained that
-the renegade had certainly deserved death, but that it was dangerous to
-fire with so many of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
-side of the river. By and by the farmer and his people had worked
-themselves to the other end of the field, and the trappers, having
-ascertained that there were no Indians watching them, prepared to cross.
-Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out suddenly and unadvisedly, for
-the farmer had chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
-mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, for they would have
-stripped and swum across, and back again when they were tired of the
-other side, for every one of them could swim like an otter; but that day
-they were trappers, with arms, and food, and a tent, and powder which
-must be kept dry, to say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief
-consultation, and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot the farmer
-dead on the spot, and as many of his people as they could. Speug, who
-had been prowling around--though cautiously, mind you, and ever watching
-for a sign of the Seminoles--gave a low, mysterious whistle, which was
-one of the signs among the trappers; and when the others joined him he
-pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." It was an ancient boat which
-the farmer's father had used, and which had lain for years upon the
-bank, unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, it had two
-holes at least in it, and there were no oars. It was a thing which, in
-the farmer's hand, would have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had
-the semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy trappers. Very
-carefully did they work it to the bank, lest it should slip a whole
-plank on the road, and very gently did they drop it in, lest the
-Seminoles should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with his bonnet, and
-Bauldie the second with his; Jock spread his jacket over an oozy part.
-They shipped all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and the
-others, stripping off their clothes and adding them to the cargo of the
-boat, pushed out the boat before them, swimming by its side. It was a
-mere question of time whether the boat would go down in mid-channel; but
-so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, ready at any moment to swim for his
-life, and so powerfully did the others push, swimming with their feet
-and one hand, and with the other hand guiding the boat, that they
-brought it over safely to the other side; and the fact that half their
-clothes were wet through mattered little to men who had often hidden
-from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their eyes and nose out;
-and, at any rate, the food was safe. The matches and the percussion caps
-also were dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the worst
-emergency, they would have been carried on the top of his head if he
-also had been obliged to swim. They brought the boat into a little
-creek, and, communicating by signs to one another--for they were too
-old hunters to be speaking now, when there might be a party of Seminoles
-in that very wood--Speug and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
-with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" and Bauldie drew
-the boat up under cover of the bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that
-even a Seminole's keen eyes would not have been able to detect it. The
-trappers made another hiding-place, and left there the superfluous
-garments of civilisation, confining themselves to a shirt and trousers,
-and a belt which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and Jock, as the
-two veterans who could discover the trail of the Seminoles by a twisted
-leaf on a branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their friends
-to lie low, and they themselves disappeared into the brushwood. They had
-gone to scout, and to make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
-in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed three times, "Piggie"
-nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie hooted like an owl, then they knew that
-it was safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom they found on
-the edge of a clearing, leaning on their rifles in a picturesque
-attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" led, and the others followed, pausing now
-and again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal from
-"Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each took up his position
-behind a tree. But it was a false alarm. Then they went on as before,
-till they came to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
-they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, lighting a fire,
-which they did with immense success, and proceeding to cook dinner. As
-they had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any wandering
-Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild turkey, which, in other
-circumstances, would have been their food; but they made tea (very
-badly, and largely because they wished to use the kettle), and they had
-bread and butter, which had turned into oil through the warmth of
-Bauldie's person, a half ham which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for
-which "Piggie" will have to account some day, and six jam tarts which
-Howieson bought with his last farthing, and which had been reduced
-practically to one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles of
-stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, and afforded them a big
-mouthful each, as they drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
-calculation of time.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY DRANK WITHOUT ANY CUP."]
-
-What a day they had! They fought Indians from one end of the island to
-the other, killing and scalping twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter
-current on the other side, and they dried themselves in the sun, and in
-the sun they slept till they were burned red; and then just as they were
-thinking that it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
-their belongings and set off for home, Speug gave a whistle that had in
-it this time no pretence of danger, and bolted into the wood, followed
-by the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, or the Seminoles
-had sent a message, they never knew, but the farmer was on the island
-and proceeding in their direction through the brushwood. Speug did not
-think that he had seen them, and he would not quite know where they
-were, and in an instant that leader of men had formed what he thought
-the best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the other three,
-who executed a war-dance at the mere thought of the strategy, and then
-departed hurriedly for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
-ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, and just gave the
-farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried up the island.
-
-"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait till I catch ye;
-trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be
-in the nicht, or I'm no farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please,
-but I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back in, for I've
-found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, and knocked the bottom oot
-o' it."
-
-It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, and then Speug was
-standing on the edge of the water at the top of the island, where the
-current runs swift and strong towards the other side.
-
-"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red all over, but not with
-modesty. "I thought I heard somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
-island. Have ye come to bathe?"
-
-"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little deevil, and, my word,
-I'll bathe ye," and the farmer made for Speug.
-
-"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy almost had his hands on
-him, and dived into the river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified
-man; and then, as he went down with the current which took him over to
-the opposite side, he invited the farmer to come in. When he landed
-Speug bade the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped he would
-enjoy himself among his Indian friends.
-
-"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll be after ye, and
-though I ransack Muirtown I'll find ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle
-to go back to the town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be,"
-and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat, which he had loosely
-fastened to one of the trees. When he reached the spot it was not to be
-found, but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed place on the
-other side, chained and padlocked. For the other three trappers had
-gathered all their possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen,
-and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves across with
-rapidity and dignity. Once more Speug bade the farmer good-night,
-extending both hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was in
-front of the other, and the thumb of the inner hand attached to Speug's
-nose. He thoughtfully offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or
-to the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed, wishing him a
-pleasant night and telling him where he would find the shank of a ham.
-As Peter dressed himself, his friends could only look at him in silent
-admiration, till at the thought of the renegade trapped so neatly and
-confined for at least a night on his own island, Howieson slapped his
-legs and triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown and to
-civilisation full of joy.
-
-
-
-
-GUERILLA WARFARE
-
-XII
-
-
-There is no person in a Scots country town to be compared with a Bailie
-for authority and dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown, was a
-glory to his order. Provosts might come and go--creatures of three
-years--but this man remained in office for ever, and so towered above
-his brethren of the same kind, that the definite article was attached to
-his title, and to quote "the Bailie" without his name was the recognised
-form and an end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to him, and,
-entering into the designs of Providence, had given him a bodily
-appearance corresponding to his judicial position. He stood six feet in
-his boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression of six inches
-more. His waistband passed forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man
-justice, his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested in folds upon
-his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven, solemn, immovable countenance
-suggested unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice was deep and husky,
-and the clearance of his throat with which he emphasised his
-deliverances could be heard half a street away and was like the sealing
-of a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had he seen his
-boots--at least upon his feet--and his gait, as became his elevation,
-was a stately amble, as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea,
-driving the water before her bow and yet swaying gently from side to
-side in her progress. Sunday and Saturday--except when officiating at
-the Sacrament, and of course he was then in full blacks--the Bailie wore
-exactly the same kind of dress--a black frock-coat, close buttoned, and
-grey trousers, with a dark blue stock, his one concession to colour. As
-his position was quite assured, being, in the opinion of many, second
-only to that of the Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his
-clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two stains upon his paunch
-as a means of identification. Walking through the town, he stood at his
-full height, with his hands folded upon the third button of his coat;
-but when he reached the North Meadow, on his way home, and passed the
-Seminary, he allowed his head to droop, and clasped his hands behind
-after the manner of the great Napoleon, and then it was understood that
-the Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of State. People made
-way for him upon the streets as he sailed along, and were pleased with a
-recognition, which always took the form of a judgment from the Bench,
-even though it dealt only with the weather or the crops.
-
-There was no occasion, either in the Council or in the Presbytery, when
-the Bailie did not impress; but every one agreed that he rose to his
-height on the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of law, could be
-sprung on him, no sensational incident ever stirred him, no excitement
-of the people ever carried him away. He was the terror of the publicans,
-and would refuse a license if he saw fit without any fear; but if the
-teetotalers tried to dictate to him, he would turn upon them and rend
-his own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown sinner was convicted in
-his court he would preface his sentence with a ponderous exhortation,
-and if the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the accused to go
-as an act of grace, but warn him never to appear again, lest a worse
-thing should befall him. There are profane people in every community,
-and there were those in Muirtown who used to say in private places that
-the Bailie was only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but the
-local lawyers found it best to treat him with respect; and until the
-Seminary boys took his Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No
-doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported into a petty case to
-browbeat the local Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when that
-eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions to "the defunct," said
-that if he heard anything more about "the defunct" he would adjourn the
-case for a week, and allow him to appear in his own interests. Then the
-advocate explained with elaborate politeness that he was afraid that
-even the summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce this party, and
-that his appearance, if he came, might secure the court to himself.
-
-"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate with unmoved dignity,
-"that the man is dead. Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if
-you had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had your case better
-prepared, and not wasted our time with the talk of dead people. You are
-still young, and when you have had more experience you will know that it
-is only the evidence of living witnesses that can be received in a court
-of justice. Proceed with your case and confine yourself to relevant
-evidence--yes, sir, relevant evidence."
-
-It only shows the inherent greatness of the man, that in private life
-the Bailie followed the calling of an Italian warehouseman, which
-really, in plain words, was the same thing as a superior grocer, nor was
-he above his trade for eight hours of the day. When not engaged in
-official work, he could be found behind his counter, and yet even there
-he seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron he wore as a robe of
-office, he heard what the ladies had to say with a judicial air,
-correcting them if they hinted at any tea costing less than four and
-sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be brought forward for
-inspection, as if it had been a prisoner in the dock, probing it with
-searching severity and giving a judgment upon it from which there was no
-appeal. He distinguished between customers, assigning to each such
-provisions as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring in a
-paternal manner after the welfare of their children, and when the case
-was concluded--that is to say, the tea and the sugar bought--even
-condescending to a certain high level of local gossip. When the customer
-left the shop it was with a sense of privilege, as if one had been
-called up for a little to sit with the judge. It was understood that
-only people of a certain standing were included among the Bailie's
-customers, and the sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his
-door marked out his province of business. Yet if a little lassie
-stumbled into the shop and asked for a pennyworth of peppermints, he
-would order her to be served, adding a peppermint or two more, and some
-good advice which sent away the little woman much impressed; for though
-the Bailie committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered
-terribly in consequence thereof, he was a good and honest man.
-
-The Bailie made only one public mistake in his life, but it was on the
-largest scale, and every one wondered that a man so sagacious should
-have deliberately entered into a feud with the boys of the Seminary. The
-Bailie had battled in turn with the Licensed Victuallers, who as a
-fighting body are not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom
-every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves alone; with the Tories,
-who were his opponents, and with the Liberals, his own party, when he
-happened to disagree with them; with the Town Council, whom he
-vanquished, and with the Salmon Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms;
-but all those battles were as nothing to a campaign with the boys. There
-is all the difference in the world between a war with regulars,
-conducted according to the rules of military science, and a series of
-guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are with the alert and
-light-armed enemy. Any personage who goes to war with boys is bound to
-be beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can hardly ever hurt
-them, and never possibly can conquer them; and they will buzz round him
-like wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him to shame before
-the public, will tease him on his most sensitive side, will lie in wait
-for him in unexpected places with an ingenuity and a perseverance and a
-mercilessness which are born of the Devil, who in such matters is the
-unfailing ally of all genuine boys.
-
-It was no doubt annoying to a person of the Bailie's dignity and
-orderliness to see the terrace in which the Seminary stood, and which
-had the honour of containing his residence, turned into a playground,
-and outrageous that Jock Howieson, playing rounders in front of a
-magistrate's residence, should send the ball crack through the
-plate-glass window of a magistrate's dining-room. It was fearsome
-conduct on the part of Jock, and even the ball itself should have known
-better; but the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did not intend
-to lose his ball and his game also, and the maddest thing the magistrate
-could do was to make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough to go
-to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint, but as he could not
-identify the culprit, and no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed
-worsted, and the address which he gave the boys was received with
-derision. When he turned from the boys to the master, he fared no
-better, for Bulldog who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect
-for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his (Bulldog's)
-jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of the Seminary, and that it was
-not his business to keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant, when
-the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys in the courtyard, forgot the
-respect due to a magistrate, and refused point-blank, besides adding a
-gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented, to let the matter
-drop, or else he'd repent the day when he interfered with the laddies.
-
-"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and I was through the
-Crimean War--ye can see my medals; but it takes me all my time to keep
-the pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye meddle wi' them
-outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye, Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye
-afore they're done w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o'
-managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them. Noo, when they broke the
-glass in the Count's windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna
-identify them and paid the cost himself! He may be French, but he's
-long-headed, for him and the laddies are that friendly there's naething
-they woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o' mind, Bailie, and yir
-poseetion in Muirtown, dinna quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine
-laddies as laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born deevils."
-
-There is a foolish streak in every man, and the Bailie went on to his
-doom. As the authorities of the Seminary refused to do their duty--for
-which he would remember them in the Council when questions of salary and
-holidays came up--the Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own
-thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a magistrate; and one
-morning an able-bodied constable appeared on the scene and informed the
-amazed school that he was there to prevent them playing on the Terrace.
-No doubt he did his duty according to his light, but neither he nor six
-constables could have quelled the Seminary any more than you can hold
-quicksilver in your hand. When he walked with stately step up and down
-the broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the Seminary went up and
-played opposite the Bailie's house, introducing his name into
-conversation, with opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of his
-person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally weaving the story of
-his life into a verse of poetry which was composed by Speug, but is not
-suitable for a book of family reading. If the constable, with the fear
-of the magistrate before his eyes, went up to stand as a guard of honour
-before the Bailie's house, the school went down then to the Russian guns
-and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the constable to come back to
-the Seminary, and telling him what they would do to him. They formed a
-bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out of reach, and marched
-along with him, backward and forward; other days they chaffed and teased
-him till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power to arrest
-them, and in his heart he sympathised with them. And then, at last,
-being weary of the constable, the school turned its attention to the
-Bailie.
-
-One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was held in the North Meadow,
-beyond the supervision of the constable, and after the Bailie had been
-called every name of abuse known to the Seminary, and Speug had
-ransacked the resources of the stable yard in profanity, he declared
-that the time had now come for active operation, and that the war must
-be carried into the enemy's country. Speug declared his conviction in
-the vernacular of the school, which is here translated into respectable
-language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful birth and
-discreditable pedigree, that his conduct as a boy was beyond
-description, and that his private life was stained with every vice; that
-his intellect would give him a right to be confined in the county
-asylum, and that he had also qualified by his way of living for the
-county gaol; that he didn't wash more than once a year, and that the
-smell of him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it was a pity
-he didn't attend to his own business, and that he had very little
-business to do; that he would soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't
-bankrupt already it was only because he cheated with his change; that he
-sanded his sugar, and that his weights and measures were a scandal; but
-that the Seminary must do what they could to lead him to honest ways and
-teach him industry, and that he (Speug) with the aid of one or two
-friends would do his best for the reformation of Bailie MacConachie, and
-in this way return good for evil, as Mr. Byles, assistant in the
-department of mathematics, used to teach. And the school waited with
-expectation for the missionary effort upon which Speug with the
-assistance of Howieson and Bauldie, was understood to be engaged.
-
-Next Friday evening an art committee met in a stable-loft on the
-premises of Mr. McGuffie senior, and devoted their skill--which was
-greater than they ever showed in their work--to the elaboration of a
-high-class advertisement which was to be shown round a certain district
-in Muirtown, and which they hoped would stimulate the custom at Bailie
-MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided two large boards such as might
-be hung one on the breast and one on the back of a man, and those Speug
-had cut to the proper size and pasted over with thick white paper. Upon
-them Bauldie, who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently for
-a space of two hours, with the assistance and encouragement of his
-friends, and when they set the boards up against the wall the committee
-was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the advertisement with much
-unction--
-
-
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
- SALE OF BANKRUPT STOCK
- AT
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN_,
- 49, ST. ANDREW STREET.
-
- ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND.
-
- _Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday._
- GLASS OF WHISKY FREE TO ALL PURCHASERS.
- _Poor People Specially Invited._
- _Be early._ _Be early._
-
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
-
-The three artists contained themselves till they came to the last "Cheap
-Tea!" then Jock knocked Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell on
-the top of them, and they rolled in one bundle of delight, arising from
-time to time to study the advertisement and taste its humour.
-
-"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an Elder of the Kirk!
-That'll learn him to be complaining of his windows."
-
-"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself an Italian
-warehouseman. I would give half a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady
-Kilspindie there," stammered Jock with delight.
-
-"'Glass of whisky free!'"--and Speug took a fresh turn in the hay--"it's
-against law to drink whisky in a grocer's shop--and him a magistrate!
-He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."
-
-"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My word! They'll be there, all
-the waufies of Muirtown; there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of
-whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his knuckles.
-
-Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was going along the Terrace
-to his house and congratulating himself that on that day at least he was
-free from all annoyance by the way, another character of Muirtown had
-started out through a very different part of the fair city. London John
-was as well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and in his way was
-quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt, without an ounce of superfluous
-flesh, and with an inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat
-which he had worn for at least a quarter of a century, and a tall hat
-which he had rescued from an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of
-trousers, and something in the form of a shirt which was only seen when
-he laid aside the outer garment for active service, London John stalked
-with majesty through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his living as a
-sandwich man, or by carrying in coals, or by going errands, or by
-emptying ashpits. He could neither read nor write, but he remembered a
-number and never forgot what was due to him, and the solitary subject on
-which he spoke was the wonders of London, where it was supposed he had
-lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His coming was always
-welcome in the poorer parts of the town, for the sake of his discourse
-on London, but never had he received such an ovation before in the
-Vennel, which was largely inhabited by tramps and tinkers, unskilled
-labourers and casuals of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have aroused
-their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a free glass of whisky the
-deepest emotions of the Vennel were stirred.
-
-"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler Tam, who jogged round the
-country with petty wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,
-old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a glass of whisky free!
-Ma certes? let me get a sight o' that," and London John was brought to a
-standstill while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a crowd who could
-appreciate the cheapness of the tea, and whose tongues began to hang out
-at the very thought of the whisky.
-
-"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at the suggestion of
-such deceit. "He daurna do sic a thing, else his shop would be gutted.
-Na, na, it reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny and
-ye get a pound of tea and a glass of whisky. I count it handsome o' the
-Bailie; and if they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how a man
-is abused."
-
-"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess Mitchell, who had had a
-difference of opinion with another lady in the Vennel and received the
-Bailie's best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to hear him
-preach a sermon as long as my leg besides--confound him for a
-smooth-tongued, psalm-singin', bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no
-grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm no mindin' so much
-about the tea. The sooner we're at the place the better, for I'll be
-bound there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown than a' the last
-year." And there was a general feeling that the Vennel had better make
-no delay, lest some other locality should obtain the first call.
-
-As London John went on his way the news spread through the back streets
-and closes, and the Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive
-ears. And if any person was inclined to doubt there was the
-advertisement in plain terms, and over the board with its engaging news
-the austere and unmoved countenance of London John. That worthy could
-give no information about the remarkable placard, not even from whom he
-received it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it through the
-Vennel and neighbouring streets for two hours, and that he had received
-a shilling for his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie
-MacConachie's when his task was done. He also explained that in London,
-where he used to reside, whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for
-the asking. But his hearers had no interest that day in London.
-
-It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday dinner, and long before
-he reached St. Andrew's Street, that something was happening, and he
-wondered whether they were changing the cavalry at the barracks. People
-looked curiously at him, and having made as though they would have
-spoken, passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned into the familiar
-street, down which he was accustomed to parade with a double weight of
-dignity, an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper was out
-at his door, and would indeed have been along the street, had he not
-judged it wiser to protect his property, and the windows above the shop
-were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable place of business
-the street was crammed from side to side with a seething mob, through
-which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a dogcart with slender
-success and complaining loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
-were there, together with their husbands, having finished the day's
-work; country folk who dropped into town on the Saturday had been
-attracted to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come out from
-their dens and lodging-houses, together with that casual population
-which has nothing particular to do and is glad of any excitement. They
-were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, but they
-were all collected in answer to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer;
-they were also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of them
-particularly ready for the whisky. The first to arrive on the scene had
-been Tinkler Tam, who put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
-upon the counter with a crash, and informed the Bailie's senior
-assistant that to save time he would just take the whisky while they
-were making up the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop for an
-impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, in the course of a varied life,
-was not unaccustomed to be called disrespectful names, and it was not
-the first time he had been requested to leave high class premises; but
-for once, at least, he had a perfectly good conscience and a strong
-ground of complaint.
-
-"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye meeserable, white-faced
-effeegy of a counter-jumper? If I werena present on business I would put
-such a face on you that yir mother wouldna know you; but I'm here wi' my
-friends" (great applause from the doorway, where the crowd was listening
-to the interview) "for a commercial transaction. Div ye no ken, ye
-misshapen object, that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
-sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation given under oath
-by Jess Mitchell), "and I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye
-two-faced, leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support from the
-street).
-
-The ambassador of the proletariat--whose constituency filled the outer
-part of the shop, pressed their faces against the window and swayed with
-impatience across the street, and also seized a lamp-post for purposes
-of observation--rehearsed the terms of the advertisement with
-considerable accuracy and expounded them with various figures of speech,
-and then issued his ultimatum.
-
-"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a magistrate o' Perth, and a
-man whom I've met on public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before
-the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here in response to a public
-advertisement in terms thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call
-these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled my side of the
-covenant, and I here and now before these witnesses demand the tea and
-the whisky as above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were greatly
-impressed by this judicial effort, and were getting every minute more
-thirsty).
-
-"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no here himsel' to receive
-his friends; but what is done by the servant is done by the
-master--that's good law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who at
-the smell of the shop was getting beyond control); "and I give ye two
-meenuts, my dainty young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming
-at the end of that time, the law will allow us to help ourselves, and
-gin ye offer ony resistance I'll pit ye and yir neebour inside the
-sugar-cask." And it was fortunate for every person concerned that the
-police, who had been somewhat perplexed by the circumstances, arrived at
-the scene, and turned Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and
-themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at this point that the
-Bailie arrived and was received with frantic applause and a Babel of
-appeal.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE HIM STOOD LONDON JOHN BEARING THE SEDUCTIVE
-ADVERTISEMENT."]
-
-"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick, else yir shop will be
-wreckit. Where ha' ye been? The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye
-started on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie. He's coming
-to start the auction. Three cheers for Bailie MacConachie!" And the
-Bailie, limp and dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled through
-the crowd to see the Italian warehouse guarded by the police, and the
-mob of Muirtown clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while face to
-face with him stood London John, who had now been produced for the
-occasion, bearing on his back and breast the seductive advertisement.
-
-"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost all self-control as he
-read the legend on the board. "A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately
-planned fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist--juist
-damnable! Bankrupt--who is bankrupt? Is't me?" And the veins on the
-Bailie's neck swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny! I never
-had such trash in my shop. Three shillings is the lowest, and I never
-recommended it. Whisky!--there is not a drop in the shop. Who dare say I
-would turn this shop into a public-house? I'll be at the bottom of this,
-though it cost me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry round the
-board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't tell the truth I'll commit ye
-to gaol this very meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of his
-wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered by his own prominent
-position, and not at all concerned about the Bailie's threat.
-
-"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel, with great composure, "a
-big, stout man like yirsel', Bailie, that gied me the boards and a
-shillin'; or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he was a
-little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the neck. Dod! I'm no very
-sure, though, but that it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's
-tartan plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a bit lassie wi'
-bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin' noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie,
-for she said to me, 'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I would
-like to tell you about London." And if the police had not silenced
-London John, the Bailie at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy,
-for it was evident that the trail was blind and there was no getting to
-the real person behind London John.
-
-The crowd had listened with considerable patience and self-restraint to
-this conversation, but as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died
-away, and they realised that some one had fooled them, they looked out
-for a victim, and settled upon the Bailie.
-
-"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler Tam, standing out from
-the midst of the crowd, and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced
-the Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing tricks on
-the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin' them from their work to waste their
-time at your shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If it had
-been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie, I wouldna hev said
-much aboot it; but at your age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a
-trick, it's perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's hard
-labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be a Bailie o' Muirtown. It
-was fearsome to hear ye askin' London John who gave him the shillin'
-when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then the puir body, when
-ye threatened him, brought in the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and
-I'm naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make use of a poor
-natural that hasna his wits, juist to feed my vanity and gither a crowd
-round my shop." Then the crowd united in three long groans, and possibly
-might have shown their indignation in a still more pronounced form, but
-the police, being still further reinforced, drove them along the
-streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses of his shop.
-
-Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the shop with Howieson and
-Bauldie, and demanded a pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked
-to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If there be as mony o' the
-Bailie's friends callin' at the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will
-no be able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace." And as a
-matter of fact the offensive patrol was withdrawn, and the Seminary
-resumed possession of the debatable ground.
-
-
-
-
-THE FALL OF GOLIATH
-
-XIII
-
-
-Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he risked a war with the boys of
-the Seminary, and it was colossal folly on his part to continue the war
-after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement. No doubt it
-was humiliating to have his respectable place of business filled with
-the mob of Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and threatening him
-with penalties as a covenant-breaker when they did not get it; he had
-also very good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration which
-gathered the vagrants to his shop came from the Seminary. His best
-policy, however, would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and if
-the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and told the boys plainly
-that he knew quite well they were at the bottom of the affair, that they
-were a set of confounded young rascals, that he had intended to hang six
-of them and send the rest to penal servitude, that he was going to
-forgive them for the sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had
-not been half bad fun after all, that there would be no more policemen
-before the Seminary, and there must be no more windows smashed in his
-(the Bailie's) house--the Seminary, which always respected a fellow who
-took his licking with good humour and didn't squeal, would have given
-the Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public career, and a
-covenant of peace would have been made between him and the boys which
-would never have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass been broken
-by a Seminary ball, the value thereof in a packet of halfpence, with an
-expression of regret, would have been handed in before evening. The
-honorary freedom of the school would have been conferred on the Bailie,
-without any public ceremony, but with immense practical advantage, and
-although the Bailie was surfeited with civic honours, yet even he might
-have tasted a new pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the
-boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass in stately walk, and
-to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the Bailie's road," and to receive a salute
-from tailless Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside the
-school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley. If Providence had given a
-touch of imagination to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen by
-a position approaching that of the angels, he would have come to terms
-at once with the boys, in which case bygones would have been bygones,
-and he would have been spared much humiliation.
-
-Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to get the better of him,
-raging furiously in public places, and breathing forth threatenings
-about what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown, which
-otherwise might have pitied him, held its sides. He kept our single
-detective at work for a fortnight, who finally extracted from London
-John that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement had been
-given him by a man uncommonly like the detective himself and that the
-said "boardies" were not to be compared with those he used to carry in
-London. The detective also learned, on a somewhat risky visit to Mr.
-McGuffie's stables, that the Speug had spent the whole day of that
-historical Saturday till the hour of two--when he called for peppermints
-at the Bailie's shop--in cleaning out his rabbit-hutch and other
-domestic duties--this on the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's
-grooms, each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere, or fight
-the detective, with gloves or without gloves, in the stable-yard or any
-other place which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going from bad
-to worse, offered a reward of £5 for any information which would lead to
-the conviction of the offender, and received thirty letters--so many
-anonymous, attacking his character, public and private, and so many
-signed, from various cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was
-assigned to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans, to the
-Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped outside the city. They
-were all annoying, but there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick.
-One was written from the security of Glasgow, in which the writer
-promised, on receipt of the reward, to send a full account of the
-conspiracy, and, having got the money, replied briefly that he left the
-matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the second, which asked for
-no reward except the writer's sense of having done his duty, and which
-hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight to his senior
-assistant, he might find he had been nourishing a viper in his bosom,
-and that a young man with such a smug appearance could be little else
-than a rascal. This letter, which was written in a schoolboy hand, and
-had five words misspelt, was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None
-of the letters seemed to help the matter forward, and life at the
-Bailie's residence was very troubled during those weeks.
-
-When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread through the Seminary,
-the boys were much pained, for it was sad to see an old man forgetting
-himself and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed, as if all
-they had done for the Bailie was simply love's labour lost, and that
-they must begin again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The
-Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body of quiet,
-well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still, if war was forced upon them, and
-detectives set upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and their
-families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing could have been more
-successful than the last campaign; and, although Speug had never
-boasted, and none dared say that he had anything to do with it, there
-was a feeling in the Seminary that the conduct of the next campaign was
-safe in his hands. As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one
-ought not to detract from genius, but there can be no doubt that Fortune
-played into the hands of Speug.
-
-Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour, and the walk of the
-Bailie was marvellous to behold; but it was rather poor business for
-Speug to walk half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the Bailie in
-an exact imitation of the magistrate's manner, although the school was
-hugely delighted. If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had been
-on his side; but when he turned round and gave Speug a sound box on the
-side of the head, he lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a
-chain of consequences, arose the scandal which almost drove the Bailie
-from Muirtown. Speug could not have hoped for anything so good as that
-foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw his opportunity. Many a
-stroke had he endured in his day, from his father and from the grooms,
-when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from Bulldog when he caught
-him red-handed, and from the boys in a fight, and there was no one of
-his age so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand been any other
-than that of Bailie MacConachie, Speug would have made derisive gestures
-and invited the second stroke. As it was, he staggered across the
-pavement and fell with a heavy thud upon the street, where, after one
-sharp, piercing cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans could be
-heard along the Terrace. His one hope was that, when he had seized the
-occasion with such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail to play
-up and support his _rôle_, and, although they were cleverer at reality
-than acting they entered heartily into their opportunity.
-
-"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson tenderly, as he stooped
-over the prostrate figure. "Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan
-like that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye gatherin' round
-like that for an keepin' away the air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some
-o' ye lift his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for ony's sake,
-and bring some water in yir bonnets."
-
-It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the unconscious form of
-their beloved friend, and carrying him carefully across the pavement,
-and placing Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and then
-rendering what would now be called first aid to the wounded, while that
-ingenuous youth kept his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to
-show that he was still living. Never in his life had Providence given
-him a chance of playing so much mischief, and he was not going to be
-disobedient. They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air, they
-anxiously searched the side of his head for the wound, and washed away
-imaginary blood with very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his
-forehead with such profuseness that the water ran down his chest,
-whereat Speug expressed himself in low but stern tones, so Nestie
-advised them to stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys were
-only prevented from taking off his boots by a seasonable warning from
-Bauldie and a reasonable fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was
-reinforced by all the message-boys within sight, and several ladies who
-were coming home from the shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose
-railings Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress, came
-out--their hearts full of compassion and their hands of remedies. As
-Jock and Bauldie did not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at
-once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his head and the
-railings, while the other chafed his forehead with scent, and both
-insisted that Dr. Manley should be sent for at once. This was the first
-suggestion which seemed to have any effect on Peter, for it would not at
-all have suited his plans that that matter-of-fact physician should
-have arrived on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious smelling-salts
-was held to the patient's nose, Speug showed signs of returning
-consciousness.
-
-"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he wasn't killed. A blow
-behind the ear is often fatal. He's coming round nicely. The colour is
-returning to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you say?" as Jock
-Howieson unfolded to the ladies in simple, straightforward, truthful
-words the story of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any man
-would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At this moment Peter, who had
-been reconnoitring the whole scene through his half-closed eyes, seized
-the opportunity to wink to the mourners with such irresistible effect as
-to prove once again the close connection between tears and laughter.)
-"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic female. "He ought to
-be ashamed of himself; but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make
-the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his head."
-
-[Illustration: "A BOTTLE OF FEROCIOUS SMELLING-SALTS WAS HELD TO THE
-PATIENT'S NOSE."]
-
-Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little weary of inaction, he
-was helped to his feet, and after one or two staggers seemed to come to
-himself, and submitted with agreeable humour to the attention of his
-friends, who dusted him from head to foot, under the superintendence of
-the ladies and to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were now
-entering into the meaning of the scene. His bonnet, which had been
-thoughtfully used as a water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his
-head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his head in Bauldie's
-handkerchief, partly because there was a limit even to his endurance,
-and because Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose in the course
-of the day. The maiden ladies were anxious that he should rest in their
-house, but Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home, where he
-could break the news himself to his anxious father. And so an impressive
-procession was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the way, and
-then Speug, upheld on the one hand by Nestie, and on the other by Jock,
-while Bauldie commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys at a
-distance, in order to secure due respect for the sufferer. It was with
-difficulty that Speug could sustain his _rôle_ until he and his friends
-got safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when they plunged into
-a straw-shed and rolled together in one heap of triumphant mischief.
-
-"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it would be pure waste for
-you to be a h-horsedealer. You must go on the st-stage. The way you came
-whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and do you know, Peter, you
-looked quite nice when you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty
-boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."
-
-"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an impident young brat.
-I heard every word, and she never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked
-round thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the water down my
-breast, I'd give him something to remember. I'm wet to the skin," and
-Speug made a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the leg, who
-pulled down Nestie by the hair of the head, and they all fought together
-in high glee. Speug extricated himself and demanded news of the Bailie.
-Then the three told Speug the story together in bits, one beginning
-where another left off.
-
-"He was that astonished when ye coupit over that he couldna speak, and
-Jock cried, 'The Bailie has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye
-up, but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to strike ye a second
-time." "It would have done you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking
-along to his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch out of
-him, and taking a look back to see what was h-happening." "Aye, and he
-stoppit opposite the lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty a
-cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna think Cosh had the
-spirit." "He was ashamed to stand at the w-window, but I saw him
-p-peeping out behind the curtains, just to find out whether you were
-living." "If his servant lass didna follow us across the meadow, and, my
-word, she's back to the Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the
-now for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter." "What
-w-would you say, Peter, just to die altogether, and we would gi-give you
-an A1 funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do it, I'll write
-your l-life myself. It's perfectly sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell
-on Nestie, and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced together once more
-in the straw.
-
-"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young gentlemen," and Mr.
-McGuffie's English groom looked down on the boys; "but you're missin'
-the Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has come 'isself, and if he
-ain't been hexplainin' to the master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug
-down. He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took up the runnin',
-and--my eye and Betty Martin--ain't he talkin'! Not cussin'--no, not one
-swear word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my Alfred David, if the
-master ain't preachin' for all the world as if he was a blessed beak on
-the Bench and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as good as a
-circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and in exactly one and a quarter
-seconds the boys were an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie senior
-gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie MacConachie, which he had been
-doing already for some time with much effect.
-
-"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the street, walkin' as ye
-walk, and so ye knocked him down in open day? Why should he not be doing
-as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that nobody dare step the same
-way on the streets of Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies
-are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are; but I never heard yet
-that the street belonged to them, and that a laddie was in danger of
-death if he followed in their steps. That would be a fine pass. Aren't
-boys always imitatin' somebody? Why, you stupid old fool, half the
-laddies in this district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're
-standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each one with a straw in
-his mouth, and the bit legs of him straddled, and his bonnet on the side
-of his head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow, just the
-eemage of myself. What would ye think of me if I knockit one of them
-down, ye double-distilled old fool?
-
-"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased to think that the
-laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer, are trying to be magistrates.
-Didna the Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the prizes to
-'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie, and try to be like him?'
-And now, when one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn round
-on the street and half kill him, till he had to be brought home half
-faintin' to his father's house! Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye
-bloodthirsty old ruffian!
-
-"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made enough inquiries, by all
-accounts, on the Terrace. Expression of regret, was it? We don't want
-yir regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top? I wonder ye have
-the face! Ye break a laddie's head and then offer him a top! I can buy
-tops myself for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're standing there
-after manglin' a poor, defenceless, harmless, motherless laddie! Ye
-should be ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there was any
-public spirit in this town, ye would be drummed out o' the place!
-
-"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"--and Mr. McGuffie adopted a
-conciliatory tone--"the best of us will make mistakes, and ye've made a
-particularly big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie in the face of
-the public of Muirtown. Ye may bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's
-settle this matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye say ye're
-sorry, and ye don't want any noise made about it. Well, now, I've lived
-here man and boy for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell you
-I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any horse, ye needn't be afraid
-to buy that horse, and I'll deal with ye on the square.
-
-"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we ought to be pretty even
-as fighting men. Ye have the pull of me in height, but I would say that
-I am nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy weight, and I am a
-middle weight, but there isn't much in that. We could meet pretty level
-with the gloves.
-
-"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed here, and stripped and
-fought the matter of six rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no
-mischief done, and no bad blood left, and that would be the end of the
-matter.
-
-"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk. What do ye take me for?
-Do ye mean to say I'd split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that
-Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn with the gloves! Ye don't
-do me justice. Why, there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever
-hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect ye, and count ye an
-able-bodied man, which is more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal,
-Bailie? Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of myself, ought
-I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown
-is pretty easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a prizefight, ye
-haverin' old body? But I see how the wind blows. If the other man stands
-a bare five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready, ye're mighty
-handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly old sneak? But when ye're offered the
-chance of facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace. My
-opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to
-think ye're a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me, MacConachie,
-for I might lose control and send ye out of the stable-yard, with my
-foot followin'! My advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some
-of the grooms got hold of ye they would make an awful mess of
-ye--they're not just particularly fond of magistrates, and they've a
-great notion of Peter.
-
-"One word before we part, Bailie," and the Bailie took that word
-walking, "So far as I understand, ye might be arrested for assault, and
-I might prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just this once
-with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an
-elder in the Kirk, and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all that,
-MacConachie, remember ye're just a man. Ye're swollen up and fozzy with
-pride and vanity, and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let
-loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider ye're just a man.
-Ye're wily and cunning and pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own
-way in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart, ye're just a man.
-Ye've sat on the Bench and laid down the law, and when ye wagged yir
-head everybody kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat they
-thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie, dinna forget it, ye're just a
-man. Ye needna hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway of the
-stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the street with exhortations.
-"I've said all I wanted to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've
-fought with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans, ye've fought
-with this body and with that body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought
-ye were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled with the laddies,
-and they've licket ye once, Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie,
-and if ye dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll be the
-end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."
-
-When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard he called for his son, and
-passed a careful hand over Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug
-was a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that there lay before
-him a long and useful life.
-
-
-
-
-THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE
-
-XIV
-
-
-Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of high principle and
-domestic habits used to go home in the dinner-hour and take the meal
-with their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity of repairing the
-rents made in their clothes since morning, and giving them good advice
-on their behaviour. Thoroughly good boys, who had been tossed to and
-fro, much against their will, in the tempest of morning play, were glad
-to go into harbour and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled,
-but also re-fitted and re-painted for the troubled voyage of the
-afternoon; and boys not so entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other
-models of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because, although
-there might be an embarrassing review of garments, and awkward questions
-might be asked about a mark on the face, there was always a toothsome
-dainty for a growing laddie, weary with intellectual work and the toils
-of a snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer took Mr. McGuffie
-senior in various directions, and as in no case were the arrangements of
-his house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely regular character,
-there was no meal to which his promising son--Speug--could return with
-any confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a practice of going
-home at one o'clock, unless there was a special event at the stables,
-such as the arrival of a new horse, in which case he invited a few
-friends to an inspection, with light refreshments; or unless, having
-racked his brain to the utmost for four hours, he was still in sheer
-despair of mischief. With one or two other young friends of a like mind,
-he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour in what might be called
-extramural studies--rowing over to the island below the bridge against
-the tide and coming back gloriously with the current; assisting the
-salmon-fishers to draw their nets and gather the silver spoil; in the
-happy snow-time raiding the playground of a rival school when the boys
-were away, and leaving insulting remarks wrought in snow; or attending
-the drill of the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other guerillas, he
-carried his biltong and mealies with him, and took his meal anywhere and
-by preference when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason why Speug in
-after years made one of the best of South African fighters.
-
-When Speug was disinclined for active occupation, and desired to
-improve his mind by contact with the greater world, he took a cab, or
-hotel 'bus (the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at Speug's
-disposal, and his edifying conversation was much enjoyed by the driver),
-and went to spend his hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody
-knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be classed with Niagara
-or the Jungfrau for interest, and at any time is worth seeing. It
-pleased Speug, whose interests were varied and human rather than
-classical and literary, to receive the English express, or even one from
-Edinburgh, as it swept into the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast
-train fairly off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary to
-give understanding assistance; and to pass the time of day with the
-guards, ticket-collectors, and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would
-allow him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage, with
-its pigeon-holes and its ingenious apparatus for delivering letters at
-roadside stations while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour
-of what might be called irregular study, but one never knows what he may
-pick up if he only keeps his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as
-open as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown railway station
-that Peter found the opportunity for what he ever considered his most
-successful achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the
-recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.
-
-When a cab passed the _Muirtown Arms_ 'bus at the entrance to the
-station, and the cabman signalled to Peter on the box-seat, and referred
-to the contents with an excited thumb and great joy on his face, Peter
-knew that there would be something worth seeing when the cab emptied at
-the ticket-office; but he could not have imagined anything so entirely
-satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie emerged, dressed in the famous
-frock-coat and grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial stock,
-but without his usual calm and dignity. His coat was only half buttoned,
-his tie was slightly awry, and although his hat had been distinctly
-tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was too much occupied
-to set it right. Instead of clearing his throat as he alighted among the
-waiting porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance of honouring a
-live Bailie going forth upon his journey, he did not seem to wish for
-any public reception, or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact had
-every sign of a man who desired to be _incognito_.
-
-"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie hastily explained to an
-obliging porter, and he stood between the man and the cab so as to block
-all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business and ... seeing a
-friend off."
-
-As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to disperse the porters, the
-driver, leaning over the roof of the cab, winked with much unction to
-Peter, and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would be worth
-while for him to wait and see the mysterious friend. Speug, in fact,
-understood from all this telegraphic communication that there were going
-to be circumstances of a quite remarkable character, and in which
-he--Peter McGuffie--was expected to be personally interested. He dragged
-Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with him, behind a pile of
-luggage, and from their hiding-place they saw, to their utter amazement,
-a second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet withal triumphantly,
-out of the cab. The same height as the great man himself, and built
-after the same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress, except
-that the trousers were baggier, and the coat shabbier, and the collar
-frayed at the edges, and the hat had the appearance of having been used
-either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both purposes, at
-different times; and the air of this second, but by no means ghostly,
-Bailie was like that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing,
-with the addition of a certain joviality of expression and benignant
-humanity, and a certain indifference to all the trials and difficulties
-of life which is characteristic of a man who has been "tasting," not
-wisely, but too well.
-
-"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously, as the figure came with
-a heavy lurch on the pavement. "The faintness may pass off. Take care
-of your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to the ticket-office
-and propped it against the wall while he went to take the tickets.
-
-It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk might have been due to
-weakness of the heart, for you never can tell, and one ought to be
-charitable; but there was no sign of an invalid about this new Bailie,
-nor was he at all too exhausted for genial conversation. He explained
-during the other Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to
-listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than exhaustive, that he
-had been paying a visit to Muirtown for the good of his health, and that
-he felt better--in fact, very much better; that where he lived the
-supply of liquid refreshment was limited, and that in consequence he had
-suffered through weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay
-longer in a place where there was every comfort of life, and that
-nothing would have induced him to leave but the immoral conduct of his
-twin brother; that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being his
-brother, was fearfully given to drink, and that he, James MacConachie,
-could no longer stay with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a
-Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment would not tarry, and
-indeed, according to his language, was already pronounced. He also gave
-a certificate of character to the refreshment to be obtained at the
-_Black Bull_, Muirtown, and cheerfully invited any person who had a
-friendly heart to go with him there and then to drink the Queen's
-health. On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded his
-address--which had been mightily enjoyed by three porters, a couple of
-Highland drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed through the
-police-court when the Bailie was on the Bench, and an elderly lady, who
-was anxious that a doctor should be sent for--by explaining once more
-that his brother was a gentleman beside whom the Pharisees were
-straightforward and honourable members of society.
-
-As the procession was again re-formed, and the two Bailies left the
-ticket-office together, one of them waving a regretful farewell to his
-sympathetic congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of triumph; for
-the contrast between the twin brethren afforded just that kind of comedy
-which appeals to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct that
-the incident would be of service in the war between the Bailie and the
-Seminary, which had gone on for a year and showed no signs of closing.
-
-"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in the country, I'll
-warrant," said Speug to Jock, in great spirits, "and there's naebody in
-Muirtown kens he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the very
-eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld clothes on. It would
-take Dr. Manley himself or the Chief Constable to tell the one from the
-ither. Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o' that lad, we
-would have a michty time. I would give my four rabbits and ... and my
-skye terrier pup just for an hour of him." And although they had no hope
-that circumstances would deal so kindly with them, yet they went on to
-the platform to see the last of the two Bailies.
-
-Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening conversation, who
-at first reminded his brother of a drunkard's end, which had no effect,
-and then threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance, which had an
-immediate effect, the figure consented to be taken along the platform,
-and might even have been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the
-word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly large type, attracted his
-attention.
-
-"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing jubilantly to the
-board. "I declare it juist a Providence. It's no that I'm thirsty,
-Bailie, and I canna bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine,
-though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'. No, I'm no thirsty,
-but I've a sinkin' at the heart. Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together
-afore we part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no grudge, and I'll
-let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure had the Bailie almost at the door of
-the refreshment-room before he could make a stand.
-
-"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye say? Gude forgie ye. I
-wonder ye're not black ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye
-along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover yir character.
-Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for I'm no the man I was once. The
-fact is, I havna strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me get
-a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform." And the
-horrified Bailie had to accept the assistance of a porter to support his
-exhausted brother and to guide him to his carriage.
-
-From an adjacent third class compartment, where Speug and Jock promptly
-secreted themselves, they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to his
-frail kinsman--that he must on no account come out of the carriage; that
-he must hold his tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers;
-that he must not mention his--the Bailie's--name, nor claim to be
-connected with him; and that he must not come back to Muirtown again
-until the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to heart as he
-valued his weekly allowance. The Bailie also expressed his deep regret,
-which, indeed, seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave by the
-Dundee train before the departure of the slow Fife train by which his
-double travelled. And when this fact emerged--that the other Bailie was
-to be left even for five minutes at their disposal--Speug threw
-Howieson's bonnet to the end of the compartment, with his own following
-in a rapture of joy.
-
-"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment to the Bailie on
-the platform, who was torn between his profitable business engagement at
-Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his own devices. "After
-the way ye've treated me and put me to shame afore the platform, I
-wouldna stay another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds. I am no
-angry, Bailie," the figure continued with mournful dignity, "for that's
-no my speerit, but I'm hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye
-maun, and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for ony sake dinna be
-tastin' in Dundee and disgracin' the family. Drink is an awfu' failin',
-but ye canna say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried to catch
-the Dundee train the figure shook its head mournfully, with the air of
-one who hopes for the best, but who has had too good reason to expect
-the worst.
-
-"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a fine mixture of haste
-and importance before the figure which was still moralising to itself on
-the evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o' the Seminary is
-expectin' ye to address the laddies this afternoon, and they'll be
-waitin' this very meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made signs
-that he should come at once, and offered to secure a cab. The figure
-could only shake its head and explain that on account of the
-disgraceful conduct of a relative, who had given way to drink, it had no
-heart for public appearances; but the idea of a return to the enjoyment
-of Muirtown was evidently filtering in.
-
-"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded Speug. "A porter threipit
-(insisted) that he had seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody
-can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will be terrible pleased to
-see ye, Bailie."
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and the figure was plainly
-roused. "Him in the Dundee train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in
-every family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o' mine that's
-taken to bad habits, and I've juist to support him and keep him oot o'
-sicht. It's an awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately
-brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie MacConachie. Laddies,
-was't at the _Black Bull_ they're expectin' me?"
-
-"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a word at the Seminary in
-passin'," and Speug signalled to a ticket-collector who had just come
-upon the scene.
-
-"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot o' the carriage, for he's
-forgotten an engagement at the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie
-faint with the heat?"
-
-"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector helped the magistrate
-on to the platform, "it's family trouble. Are ye connected with the
-_Black Bull_? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved young man, and
-these are twa fine laddies." And outside the station, surrounded by a
-sympathising circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit of
-Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned every one to beware of
-strong drink, and urged them to take the pledge without delay. He also
-inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there from the _Black Bull_
-and explained that the Rector of the Seminary, with his laddies, was
-waiting for him in that place of hospitality. He added that he had been
-on his way to the General Assembly of the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling
-elder, and he warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine. But at last
-they got him into the cab, where, after a pathetic appeal to Speug and
-his companion to learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David, he
-fell fast asleep.
-
-By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged the attention of the
-sergeant in the back-yard, who considered that Jock was playing truant
-and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman, fortunately an
-able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance induced the Bailie to leave
-the cab and convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's
-class-room. At this point the great man fell into low spirits, and
-bemoaned the failure of a strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought
-the immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he obtained an
-immediate tonic, he would succumb to a broken heart. He also charged
-Speug with treachery in having brought him to the County Gaol instead of
-to the _Black Bull_. It was painfully explained him that he was now in
-the Seminary, and within that door an anxious school was waiting for
-him--Bailie MacConachie--and his address.
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that I was a drunken body?
-I'll teach them to smuggle me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie
-(disreputable character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars, but I'm here" (with
-much triumph), "and I'm Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And the
-Bailie was evidently full awake.
-
-"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family troubles shakes the mind.
-Take the pledge when ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when
-ye're old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten. Noo, laddie"
-(with much cunning), "If I am to address the school, what think ye would
-be a fine subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility,
-especially me being a Bailie. If ye can mind onything, laddie, I'll give
-ye sixpence next time we meet."
-
-Although Speug was reticent in the class, for reasons that commended
-themselves to his practical judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech
-upon occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of Bailie
-MacConachie's double that it had been a very foolish thing for him--the
-Bailie--to quarrel with the Seminary about their playground upon the
-Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness to strike him--the
-Speug--upon the head and nearly injure him for life, but that he--the
-Bailie--was sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would never do
-the like again as long as he was Bailie of Muirtown; and Speug
-concluded, while the cabman stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye
-micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for me--Speug--ye know."
-
-"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie, "for it's a fact.
-Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome power o' the gab (mouth); I
-expect to see ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at the
-_Black Bull_, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the Rector I'm at the
-door--Bailie MacConachie of Muirtown."
-
-Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of mathematics,
-arithmetic, and writing, and, it might also be added, master of
-discipline, Speug would as soon have ventured into his presence on such
-an errand as into the lion's den of the travelling menagerie which had
-recently visited Muirtown, and at which he had spent many an unlicensed
-hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of boys, a short-sighted,
-absent-minded, unsuspicious scholar, who lived in a world of his own
-with Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly roused (to sorrow) by a
-false quantity or (to joy) by a happy translation.
-
-Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence in Speug's genius for
-mischief and effrontery of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless
-when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance, and politely intimated
-to the Rector that a magistrate of Muirtown had come and desired to
-speak to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw himself
-from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or the school had energy to cheer,
-the wonderful Bailie was launched into the room with almost too much
-vigour by the cabman, who remained in the shadow and whispered a last
-direction to "hold up your head and keep to the right." They had
-forgotten--Speug's only oversight--to take off the Bailie's hat, which
-was set jauntily on the side of his head, and the course which he took
-through the room was devious, and mainly regulated by the furniture,
-while his expression was a fine blend of affable dignity and genial good
-humour. "Gosh!" exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of the
-class, who understood that their enemy had been delivered into their
-hands, and that Peter McGuffie--their own Speug--had been the means
-thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was the very countenance,
-line by line, and the very clothes, piece by piece, though looking a
-trifle shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it was evident
-that he had been "tasting," and that very freely.
-
-"I am--er--proud to bid you welcome, Mr. Bailie," said the Rector,
-bowing with old-fashioned courtesy, and not having the faintest idea
-what like was the figure before him. "We are always delighted to receive
-a visit from any of the magistrates of the city, who are to our humble
-school" (and here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas was to
-Horace, whose _curiosa felicitas_ we are now studying. Is it your
-pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to examine the school?"
-
-During this stately reception the Bailie came to rest upon a desk, and
-regarded the Rector's flowing gown with unconcealed admiration, which he
-indicated to the school by frank gestures.
-
-"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the laddies answer 'The Chief
-End of Man,' and to say juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you
-and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're expected. I juist
-looked in to say----" And here the worthy man's thoughts began to
-wander, and he made an indistinct allusion to the _Black Bull_, so that
-Speug had to prompt him severely from behind. "Aye, aye! we're all poor,
-frail creatures, and I'm the last man to hurt the feelings of the
-Seminary. Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones be
-bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect more than ... Speug an
-honourable tradesman" (breaking away on his own account with much
-spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate father. What? All a
-mistake from beginning to end. Family trouble did it--conduct of a
-relative," and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal dignitaries
-were a species of human beings so strange and incalculable to the
-Rector, that he was hardly amazed at anything that they might say; and
-having some vague idea that there had been a quarrel between the
-Seminary and some Bailie or other, about something or other, some time
-or other, he concluded that this was an official intimation that the
-quarrel was over, and that it was in style and allusion according to the
-habits of municipal circles.
-
-"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful duty, as Rector of the
-Seminary, to thank you for your presence here to-day--the Mercury of the
-gods, if I may say so--and for your courteous intimation that
-the--er--controversy to which you--er--have delicately alluded is
-healed. Any dispute between the Council and the Seminary could only have
-a favourable issue. _Amantium irae amoris integratio_ has had another
-illustration, Mr. Bailie; but it would please us that you should hear
-the class translate the Ode we have in hand, which happens to be '_Ad
-Sodales_.'" And a boy began to translate "_Nunc est bibendum_."
-
-"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who had been taking a brief
-nap, was immediately conscious. "Man, ye never said a truer word. Work
-hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna forget the
-Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement wi' me, and he'll no be back
-for an hour. Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed Rector),
-"it's time we were off." And the Bailie, making a hurried rush for the
-door, found himself in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught
-the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room, and suspected
-trouble.
-
-"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean veteran, as he
-brought the Bailie to an equilibrium. "Could onybody have expected
-this?" And then, with much presence of mind, he closed the door of the
-Latin class-room and conducted the Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while
-the magistrate remonstrated that the Rector was coming with him, and
-that both were going to discuss the higher education of youth at the
-_Black Bull_.
-
-"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to the _Black Bull_, or
-ony other bull, ye're to go this afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose.
-If ye maun taste, would it no have been more respectable to keep
-indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of yourself afore the
-Seminary? It's no becomin' in a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the
-laddies."
-
-It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing figure at the
-blameless home of Bailie MacConachie, although it is right to say that
-this visit was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous
-protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to the day of his death, the
-real and proper Bailie spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining
-to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted" in his life, and
-that on the day in question he had been transacting private business in
-Dundee.
-
-
-
-
-THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY
-
-XV
-
-
-As the East is distant from the West, so far was Muirtown Seminary
-removed in its manners and customs from an English public school; but at
-one point they met on common ground, and that was the "tuck-shop." It
-does not matter that an English house master be careful to provide an
-ample supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even add, on occasion,
-toothsome dainties, such as jam at Sunday tea, and sausages for a
-Saturday supper, they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud, that
-they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast, so ghostly has it
-grown, and that they would be ashamed to offer their dinner to the
-beasts which perish. They will write such descriptions home, and hold
-such conferences with friends spending the holidays with them, and they
-will all vie with one another in applying such weird and fearsome
-adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee, meat, potatoes, and
-pudding--but at the mention of pudding they will simply look at one
-another and be silent, despairing of the English language--that their
-horrified parents will take counsel together by the hour whether their
-poor boy ought not to be taken from school and surrounded by home
-comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of this drastic measure, he
-protests strongly, and insists that it would ruin him for life; for, to
-do the ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and swished every
-second day, and bullied between times, till his life is hardy worth
-living, he will still stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of
-residence to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the pretty bedroom with
-white curtains, nor the long lie in the morning, nor a party in the
-evening, nor all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage for
-the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at the bathroom, and the
-babel at the dinner-table, and the recreations which enliven "prep," and
-the excitement of a house match, and the hazardous delights of football,
-and the tricks on a new boy, and the buttered eggs--a dozen at least
-between two at a study supper. It only remains therefore that his father
-should write a pathetic letter to the _Standard_, and that other parents
-should join in, for a fortnight, explaining to the English public that
-the manhood of the country is being destroyed in its early years, and
-the boys at school will read the letters aloud with much unction, and
-declare that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly," while their
-mother sends them generous remittances that they may obtain nourishing
-food to supplement their starvation rations. This money will be spent
-rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the "tuck-shop," where some old servant
-of the school is making a small fortune in providing for the boys such
-meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight Tom and his friends, for
-he is not a fellow to see his chums die before his eyes, will live on
-the fat of the land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines,
-sausages, and eggs.
-
-Seminary boys had their meals at home, and were very soundly fed with
-porridge and milk in the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their
-conduct had been passably decent. Scots broth and meat for dinner, with
-an occasional pudding, and a tea in the evening which began with
-something solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and, although
-such things may very likely be done now, when we are all screaming about
-our rights, no boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the _Muirtown
-Advertiser_ complaining of the home scale of diet. Yet, being boys,
-neither could they be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means of
-living, but required certain extra delicacies to help them through the
-day. It was not often that a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket,
-and once only had gold been seen--when Dr. Manley paid Speug a medical
-fee for his advice in Bulldog's sickness--but there were few in the
-Seminary who were not able to rattle some pennies together, and, in the
-end, every penny found its way to the till of that comprehensive
-merchant and remarkable woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the other old
-houses beside it have been pulled down long ago, to make room for a
-handsome block of buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by
-the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of the "Breadalbane
-Emporium," where you can buy everything from a frying pan to a
-drawing-room suite, but where you cannot get a certain delicacy called
-"gundy," which Mrs. McWhae alone could make as it ought to be made, and
-at the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to water. Mrs. McWhae
-did not sell books nor clothes, nor any other effeminate luxury of life,
-but she kept in stock everything that was really necessary to the life
-of a well-living and high-minded boy. There he could obtain marbles from
-the common clay, six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six
-for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a red and blue pattern
-on a white ground, which were a halfpenny each, and climbed to
-"glassies" at a penny each; and there was one glass leviathian which
-contained all colours within its sphere, and which was kept only to be
-handled and admired. Tops were there, too, from polished little
-beauties with shining steel tips, which were intended only for
-amusement, and were spun with fine white cord, to unadorned, massive,
-vicious-looking warriors with sharpened projecting points, which were
-intended for the battlefield, and were spun with rough, strong twine,
-and which, dexterously used, would split another top from head to foot
-as when you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites in the season
-was something to see, and although she did not venture upon
-cricket-bats, which were sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls,
-she had every other kind of ball--solid gutta-percha balls, for hasty
-games in the "breaks," white skin-covered rounder balls, and hollow
-india-rubber balls, which you could fill with water at the lade, and
-then use with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed, employed this
-"softie" in silly games of their own, trying whether they could make it
-rebound a hundred times from the ground, but we had no doubt about its
-proper use in the purposes of Creation. And Mrs. McWhae--peace to her
-ashes!--provided all things in meat and drink which a boy could desire;
-unless, of course, on some great occasion he wished to revel
-imperially--then he went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations have
-turned their eager feet, and beyond which nothing is left to desire.
-Fenwick's, however, was rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and
-we were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where you could get
-ginger-beer of her own making at a penny a bottle, better than that
-which they sold at the _Muirtown Arms_ at sixpence; and treacle-beer
-also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was double the size and was
-enough for two fellows; and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry
-and could not get home to dinner, so tough that only a boy's teeth could
-tear them to pieces; and tarts, so full that it required long skill to
-secure every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well worth licking
-afterwards; and peppermint balls of black and white, one of which would
-keep your mouth sweet for an hour of Latin--that is, if you only sucked
-gently and didn't crunch. But the glory of the establishment was the
-"gundy." There was a room behind the shop where Mrs. McWhae, who was a
-widow, elderly and not prepossessing, lived and slept, and dressed
-herself, and cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions, washed,
-and there she prepared her tempting meats and drinks for the Seminary.
-We lived in a pre-scientific age, and did not go curiously into the
-origin of things, being content to take the Creation as it stood, and to
-use the gifts of the gods in their finished form. But I believe that
-"gundy" was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which our hostess
-boiled to a certain point, and then with her own fair hands, which it
-was said she wetted with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by
-the constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour; after which she
-cut the finished product into sticks of a foot long, and wrapped it up
-in evil-looking brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders of
-wonders! all within that paper, and the paper itself, you could have for
-one halfpenny! Good! There is no word for it, as the preachers say,
-"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich, so satisfying, so
-stimulating, and the amount thereof so full and so tenacious. Why, that
-"gundy" would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about your mouth,
-and spread itself out, that he was a clever fellow who had drained its
-last resources within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a military
-gentleman, who, it was understood, had performed prodigies of valour in
-the Black Watch, and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who only dealt
-upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute was able to use her hands
-effectively. Like most women she was open to blandishments, and Nestie
-Molyneux, with his English tongue and pretty ways, could get round the
-old lady, and she had profound though inexpressed respect for Speug,
-whom she regarded as a straightforward fighter, and the two friends
-would sometimes be allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see
-her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints dropped by those two
-favoured customers that the above theory of the making of this
-delectable sweet has been formed.
-
-It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit Mrs. McWhae's during
-the "breaks," and to spend three minutes in those happy precincts and
-not be absolutely late for the next class; and during the dinner-hour
-her shop was crowded, and the steps outside and the very pavement were
-blocked by the Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer.
-Little boys who had been fortunate enough to get their provisions early,
-and were coming out to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid their
-treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger fellow should supply
-himself without the trouble of waiting his turn, and defer payment to
-the end of the year. And one of the lords of the school would on
-occasion clear out a dozen of the small fry, in order that he might
-select his refreshments comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club,
-with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps on which the members
-could stand, and from the steps you commanded three streets, so that
-there were many things to see, and in snowball time many things to do.
-McWhae's had only one inconvenience, and that was that the line of
-communication could be cut off by raiding parties from the "Pennies" and
-other rival schools. When the snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy
-was strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down supplies under
-charge of a convoy, and if anything could have added to the flavour of
-the "gundy," it was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane Street
-to get it, and your way back to enjoy it, that you had lost your bonnet
-in a scrimmage, and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling down
-your back. Precious then was the dainty sweet as the water which the
-mighty men brought to David from the well of Bethlehem.
-
-"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up the dinner-hour with Nestie
-Molyneux, on the upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the
-'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake of the _Muirtown
-Arms_ passed, with a dozen smart and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly,
-and, wheeling round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared up the
-road which ran to Drumtochty. "And where think ye have their royal
-highnesses been?"
-
-If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and the boys call themselves
-Columbians, it is very profane to an absolutely respectable Scots saint,
-and very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call them "Bumbees";
-but Speug was neither reverent nor polite, and the Seminary, although
-mainly occupied with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant grudge
-against the new public school at St. Columba's, which had been recently
-started in a romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a number of
-excellent and perhaps slightly superior persons, who were justly aghast
-at the somewhat rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots
-grammar schools, and who did not desire that Scots lads of the better
-class should be sent of necessity to the English public schools. Their
-idea was to establish a public school after the English method in
-Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept terms, and had dormitories, and a
-chapel, and playing-fields, and did everything on a smaller scale which
-was done at Rugby and Harrow. The masters of St. Columba's would have
-nothing to do with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary. The
-Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown and sniffed through the
-town. Two or three boys had been taken from the Seminary, because it was
-vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order to get into genteel society.
-And those things had gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary,
-which was certainly a rough school, but at the same time very proud and
-patriotic, and there was a latent desire in the mind of the Seminary
-that the Columbians should come down in snow-time and show their
-contempt for the Muirtown grammar school, when that school would explain
-to the Columbians what it thought of them and all their works. As this
-pleasure was denied the Seminary, and the sight of the brake was too
-much for Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and yelled
-opprobrious names, in which the word "Bumbee" was distinct and
-prominent.
-
-"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I am a-ashamed of you.
-D-don't you know that the 'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and
-w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven wickets to fall. G-good
-s-sport, my Speug; read it in the newspaper."
-
-"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had as muckle spunk in them;
-seven wickets, did ye say, against the English? If I had kenned that,
-Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given them a cheer. Seven
-wickets--they did the job properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with
-relish.
-
-"Speug!"--and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness--"I have an idea.
-Why shouldn't the Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next
-s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this summer, and begin s-soon
-next year and t-try them in July."
-
-"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was cheered at the thought
-of any battle, and he regarded Nestie with admiration, and then his face
-fell and he declared it of no use.
-
-"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek! and if they came they'd
-lick us clean. They have a professional and they play from morning till
-night. We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first, we'd never
-get them oot; and if we went in, they'd have us oot in half an 'oor."
-
-"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary as if you were a 'Penny'!
-Didn't the county professional say that Robertson was the b-best young
-player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits a good b-ball, and no
-b-bowler can get you out, Speug, and there are other chaps just want
-p-practice. We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff fight for the
-old Seminary."
-
-"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously, as they went back to
-school at the trot; "ye're the trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock
-Howieson is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a
-wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat. Gosh!" exclaimed Speug,
-as they wheeled into the back-yard, "we'll try it."
-
-The Seminary were slow to move, but once they took fire they burned
-gloriously; and when Dunc Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been
-sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable deputation, returned
-and informed the school assembled round the Russian guns that the
-"Bumbees" would send down their second eleven, since the first was too
-old for the Seminary, and play a single innings match on a Saturday
-afternoon in the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up their
-voice in joyful anticipation.
-
-It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only consented in terms of
-condescension by way of encouraging local sport, as they had tried to
-organise a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite understood that the
-result would be a hopeless defeat for the Seminary. They were coming,
-and the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they were beaten in
-cricket, well, it couldn't be helped, but it was the first time
-Bulldog's boys had been beaten in anything, and they would know the
-reason why.
-
-Special practice began that evening and continued that evening, and
-every other evening except Sundays as long as light lasted and on till
-the middle of October, when football could no longer be delayed.
-Practice began again a month before the proper season and continued on
-the same lines till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary
-was fairly up, and from the Rector who began freely to refer to the
-Olympian games, to the little chaps who had just come from a dame's
-school and were proud to field balls at bowling practice, the whole
-school was swept into the excitement of the coming event, and it is said
-that Bulldog stumped over every evening after dinner to watch the play
-and was the last to leave.
-
-"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's j-just itching to have a
-bat himself. Say, Speug, if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but
-if we p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."
-
-News spread through the town that the Seminary was to fight the
-"Bumbees" for the glory of the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle
-in all directions. Our cricket club had played upon the Meadow as best
-it could; but now the Council of the city set apart a piece of ground,
-and six of the leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled, so
-that there might be a good pitch for playing and something worth seeing
-on the day of battle. There were half a dozen good players in Muirtown
-in those days, two of whom were in the All Scotland eleven, and they
-used to come along in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the
-county professional now and again dropped in, just to see whether he
-could bowl Speug out, and after half an hour's hopeless attack upon that
-imperturbable youth, the professional declared the Seminary had a
-chance. But the word was passed round that there should be no boasting,
-and that Muirtown must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable defeat.
-Mr. McGuffie senior was the only man on the morning of the match who was
-prepared to bet on even terms, and his offers were refused by the
-citizens, first because betting was sinful, and, second, it was
-possible, though not likely, they might lose.
-
-The Columbians came down as usual in a brake, with only two horses this
-time, and made a pretty show when they were dressed in their white
-flannels and school colours, and every one admitted that they were a
-good-looking and well-set-up eleven; they brought half a dozen other
-fellows with them, to help to cheer their victory and to keep their
-score, and a master to be umpire. The Seminary eleven were in all
-colours and such dress as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and
-Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels, but Speug in a grey
-shirt and a pair of tight tweed trousers of preposterous pattern, which
-were greatly admired by his father's grooms--and, for that matter, by
-the whole school; and although Jock Howieson had been persuaded into
-flannel bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red shirt of
-outrageous appearance, which was enough to frighten any bowler. Jack
-Moncrieffe, the Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland,
-was umpire for the Seminary, and the very sight of him taught the first
-lesson of respect to the "Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim
-Fleming, the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching the Seminary all
-the summer, they began to feel that it might be a real match, not merely
-a few lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage a common
-school, don't you know.
-
-There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown men, together with a
-goodly sprinkling of Muirtown mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his
-position early, just in front of the tent, and never moved till the
-match was over; nor did he speak, save once; but the Seminary knew that
-he was thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics had his eye
-upon them. Some distance off, the Count--that faithful friend of his
-Seminary "dogs"--promenaded up and down a beat of some dozen yards, and
-spent the time in one long excitement, cheering with weird foreign
-accent when a good hit was made, swearing in French when anything went
-wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the loss of a Seminary wicket, and
-hurrying to shake hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had
-done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket. Mr. McGuffie moved
-through the crowd from time to time, and finally succeeded in making a
-bet on the most advantageous terms with that eminent dignitary, the Earl
-of Kilspindie's coachman, who was so contemptuous of the Seminary from
-the Castle point of view that he took the odds of five to one in
-sovereigns that they would be beaten. And on the outskirts of the crowd,
-half ashamed to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered Bailie
-MacConachie.
-
-The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice of Jim Fleming sent the
-Columbians in, and there was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for
-the Frenchman did not count--who denied that the strangers played a
-good, clean game--pretty form, and brave scoring; and on their part the
-Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the Seminary knew how to
-field, wherever they had learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could
-pass Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible with Speug as
-long-stop, for those were the days when there were long-stops. Cosh had
-his faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary thought more of him
-after a miraculous catch which he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at
-square-leg, might not be able to prevent a two occasionally, but he
-refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was a graceless bowler and an
-offence to the eye, but his balls were always in the line of the middle
-stump, and their rate that of an express train; and Nestie not only had
-a pretty style, but a way of insinuating himself among the wickets which
-four Columbians had not the power to refuse. There was a bit of work at
-long-field, which even the Columbians could not help cheering, though it
-lost them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was sent up from
-cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and so took another wicket, wrung a word
-of private praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the Seminary was
-fighting against heavy odds, an uphill, hopeless battle, and when the
-visitors went out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr. McGuffie
-senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and only the Count prophesied
-triumph, going round and shaking hands individually with every one of
-his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the sky. Bailie
-MacConachie, by this time was lost in the crowd, working his way
-gradually to the front, and looking as if he would have liked to cheer,
-but thinking it better not to call attention to his presence. Then the
-Seminary went in, and there is no question but that they had hard times
-at the hands of the Columbians, who were well trained and played all
-together. Robertson, who was the hope of the Seminary, went out for
-twenty, and Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only managed
-twelve, and the other fellows were too easily bowled or caught out, each
-adding something, but none doing much, till at last the score stood at
-sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary in. Things were looking
-very black, and even the Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face
-suggested that next Monday the whole school would be thrashed, and that
-a special treat would be reserved for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however,
-with a sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make another bet
-with his lordship's coachman, and increased the odds from five to ten,
-and the dignitary declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his money.
-
-"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses pass the line. I've seen
-many a race changed before the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his
-position in the front row to see the end.
-
-Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and only one wicket to fall,
-and the Columbians discounted their victory in a gentlemanly fashion,
-while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give them no chances," he said to
-Howieson, as that stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been at
-the wicket for some time, but had only scored ten. Any over might close
-the match, and perhaps the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for three
-overs passed and the two friends of many a scrimmage were still in, and
-neither of them had shown any intention of going out. Quite the
-contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and Howieson, who played with
-the gracefulness of a cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his
-wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his own account.
-
-"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him oot sune? I tell you he's
-settlin' down for the afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour
-deevil. The fact is"--Mr. McGuffie took a circle of spectators into his
-confidence--"they're juist gettin' into the stride." The Count preened
-his plumage and plucked up heart again, while the Seminary lads,
-gathered in a solid mass to the left of the tent, were afraid to cheer
-lest they should invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern,
-could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be better matched," said
-Nestie. "Speug and Jock--they've had l-lots of things in hand together,
-and they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment Speug sent a ball to
-the boundary. Now there were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three
-runs to make.
-
-They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness, blocking the balls
-which were dangerous and could not be played; declining to give the
-faintest chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather than be run
-out, and so the score crept up with a two from Howieson, who had got
-into a habit of twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and a
-three and a four from Speug, and another two from Howieson, and a three
-from Speug.
-
-Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted to the coachman, "Take
-you again, Petrie--ten to one, five to one, three to one against the
-Seminary?" And when there was no answer, Mr. McGuffie offered to take it
-even from anybody, and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was
-Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and everything except the
-glory of Muirtown, was now standing beside Speug's father and did not
-care. "Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching the look in
-MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones, we're a' Muirtown men the
-day"; and then his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye odds,
-coachman--two to one against the 'Bumbees'" for Howieson had scored
-another two, and two more runs would win the match for the Seminary.
-
-Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson, instead of stopping the
-ball with his bat, must needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried
-the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?" Was his leg before
-wicket or not? And for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian,
-Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and children, held their breath.
-It would have been maddening to have been beaten only by one run, and
-after such a gallant fight.
-
-"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds; but it seemed ten minutes,
-and a yell went up from the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie
-MacConachie took off his hat and wiped his forehead, which Mr. McGuffie
-noted with sympathy and laid up to the Bailie's credit. There was
-another crisis at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown, but it was
-very keenly present to the minds of the Columbians. One over more and
-the time limit would be reached and the game closed. If the Seminary
-could make two runs, they would win; if the Columbians could get Speug's
-wicket, they would win. They put on their most dangerous man, whose ball
-had a trick of coming down just six inches in front of the block, and
-then, having escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming perilously
-near the wicket. His attack compelled the most watchful defence, and
-hardly allowed the chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but could
-do no more with them; the third got past and shaved the wicket; the
-fourth Speug sent to slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth,
-full of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear seized the heart
-of Muirtown that the last would capture the wickets and give the victory
-to the visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for it was
-sent to land inside the block, just so much nearer as might deceive the
-batsman accustomed to the former distance. No sooner had it left the
-bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and gnawed his moustache. Every
-eye followed the ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety of
-it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew together unconsciously in
-common hope. Robertson, the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into
-the ground, and opposite, between the field and the river, the leader of
-that rapscallion school, the "Pennies," stood erect, intent,
-open-mouthed with his crew around, for once silent and motionless. Speug
-took a swift stride forward and met the ball nearly three feet from the
-ground, and, gathering up all the strength in his tough little body, he
-caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it over square-leg's
-head, who had come in too near and made one hopeless clutch at it, and
-through the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on every side to
-let it pass as they had never yielded to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown
-had found voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the "Pennies"
-had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into the air, for, the ball was in
-the river, and the Seminary had won by three runs and one wicket.
-
-Things happened then which are beyond the pen of man, but it was freely
-said that the "Hurrah" of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the
-hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the Count, in his joy over
-the victory of his "jolly dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat,
-and would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own hat in triumph.
-This is certain, that the Seminary carried Speug and Howieson both
-protesting, from the North Meadow, in through the big school door; that
-Bulldog walked at the head of the procession, like a general coming home
-in his glory; that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him; that,
-after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed one cheer more for
-Bailie MacConachie, and that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's
-house for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie home.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE
-
-XVI
-
-
-When the rumour flew through Muirtown in Spring that Bulldog was to
-resign at the close of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and
-treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector who was more a
-learned ghost than a human being, or the English master who had grown
-stout and pursey, or some of the other masters who came and went like
-shadows, Muirtown had not given another thought to the matter, but
-Bulldog retiring, it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown held its
-sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was the cause; and then Dr. Manley
-stormed through half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known Dugald
-MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except once when that little scoundrel
-Speug, or rather he should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician,
-brought his master through triumphantly with a trifle of assistance from
-himself as a general practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog?
-Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify in public places, and
-was supported by all the other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his
-education at Drumtochty that the mathematical master of Muirtown Academy
-had thrashed them all as boys, every man jack of them, being then not
-much older than themselves, and that he was now--barring his white
-hair--rather fresher than in the days of their youth? Had success
-departed at last from the mathematical class-room, after resting there
-as in a temple of wingless victory for three generations? Was it not
-known everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather was a senior
-pupil when Bulldog took the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply
-romped through Edinburgh University gathering medals, prizes, bursaries,
-fellowships, and everything else that a mathematician could lay his
-hands on, and then had won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge,
-with papers that were talked about in the College for fourteen days, and
-were laid past by one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May be, and
-this was no doubt the very heart of the jest, Bulldog had lost control
-of the boys, and his right hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys
-were insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries as to when they
-had their last interview with the tawse and whether the canings were as
-nippy as ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its favourite master
-was an expert in every branch of his calling and dealt with the
-grandchildren as thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers. And
-Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing the bridge one morning as
-alert in step and austere in countenance as ever, asked him how he was
-keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself the luxury of a
-chuckle as one who has made a jocose remark.
-
-It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown when the following letter was
-read in the Town Council and was known next morning to every citizen
-from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.
-
-
-_To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown._
-
- "Gentlemen,--I beg to resign, as from the close of the present
- term, the position of Master of Mathematics, Arithmetic and
- Writing, in Muirtown Seminary, and to thank the council for the
- trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight years.
-
- "I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,
- "Your obedient servant,
- "Dugald MacKinnon."
-
-
-When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began between Bulldog and the
-citizens which lasted for four intense weeks in which the town was at
-fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and calmer than ever. And he
-won all along the line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful
-admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and, for such a document,
-almost heated in feeling, to which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but
-guarded reply. The Council intimated that they would consider his letter
-to be non-existent, and not even put him to the trouble of withdrawing,
-and Mr. MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in that case he must
-trouble the Council with an exact copy. The Council then appointed a
-deputation to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself unworthy
-of such an unprecedented honour, and declined to see them. And then the
-Council, in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable, strained
-their powers to the utmost with immense unanimity, and voted a handsome
-pension to "Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in grateful,
-although unworthy recognition of the unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable
-service he has rendered to the education of this ancient city for a
-period of more than half a century, during which time nearly two
-thousand lads have been sent forth equipped for the practical business
-of life in Muirtown, in the great cities of our land and unto the ends
-of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in a letter of perfect
-handwriting that he was quite undeserving of such a resolution, as he
-had done nothing more than his duty, and that he could not accept any
-retiring allowance--first, because he was not sure that it was strictly
-legal, and, secondly, because he had made provision for his last years,
-but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most obliged servant." It
-was then determined to entertain this obdurate man at a banquet, and to
-make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr. MacKinnon was again most
-grateful for the kindness of his fellow citizens and the honour they
-proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he would neither accept the
-banquet nor a piece of plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a city
-slow but sure of understanding, and with a silent sense of the fitness
-of things, that Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus
-for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without conciliation,
-giving no favours and receiving none, but doing his part by the laddies
-of Muirtown with all his strength of mind and conscience and right arm,
-was not going to weaken at the end of his career. For him to rise at the
-close of a dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would have been
-out of keeping with his severe and lonely past, and for him to be a
-pensioner, even of the Town Council, would have been an indignity. He
-had reigned longer and more absolutely than any master in the annals of
-the Seminary, and to the last day he had held the sceptre without
-flinching. As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible, he would
-lay aside the purple, and disappear into private life. And Muirtown was
-proud of Bulldog.
-
-Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown in all their glory, and
-his fellow citizens united in one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet
-settled with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions or any
-other way their appreciation of their master, and they had followed the
-futile attempts of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful
-that grown up people should be so far left to themselves as to suppose
-that Bulldog, their own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined by
-Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a dithering idiot with a
-silver jug in his hands, or some such trash, while his hands were
-itching to thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed them long
-ago. When the boys heard their fathers raging at Bulldog's proud
-obstinacy they offered no remark, but when they got together they
-chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort and compensation for
-many an honest thrashing, in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of
-Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No rebellion against him had
-ever had the faintest gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped
-without his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the last and full
-of devilry, agreed together by an instinct rather than a conference that
-they would close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection. He had
-governed them with an iron hand, and they had been proud to be governed,
-considering the wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable than
-the kisses of McIntyres', but they would have one big revenge and then
-Bulldog and his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long
-confabulations together in the Rector's class-room while that learned
-man was reading aloud some new and specially ingenious translation of an
-ode and in the class-room of modern languages, while Moossy's successor
-was trying to teach Jock Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the
-German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop when the "gundy" allowed them
-to speak at all, and at the Russian guns where they gathered in the
-break instead of playing rounders. The junior boys were not admitted to
-those mysterious meetings, but were told to wait and see what they would
-see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a word of it oozed out in
-the town. But the Seminary was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog
-would repent the years of his tyranny.
-
-Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it was going to be a big
-affair, and Speug directed that a war chest should at once be
-established. No one outside the secret junta knew what was going to be
-done with the money, but orders were issued that by hook or crook every
-boy in school except the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to Jock
-Howieson, who was not an accomplished classical scholar nor specially
-versed in geometry but who could keep the most intricate accounts in his
-head with unerring accuracy, and knew every boy in the Seminary by head
-mark. And although he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed
-with other powers of persuasion, and he would be a very daring young
-gentleman indeed, and almost indifferent to circumstances, who did not
-pay his sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday. Jock made no
-demands, and gave no receipts; he engaged in no conversation whatever,
-but simply waited and took. If any one tried to compound with Jock for
-threepence, one look at the miserable produced the sixpence; and when
-little Cosh following in the devious steps of his elder brother
-insinuated that he had paid already, Jock dropped him into the lade to
-refresh his memory. No one directly inquired what was to be done with
-the money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock, and that it would
-be well spent by the mighty four who now ruled the school: Jock,
-Bauldie, Nestie, and Speug--Dunc Robertson after a brief course at
-Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's regiment. And it was
-also known that every halfpenny was going to give a big surprise to
-Bulldog, so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers with
-obsequious respect for commercial reasons, and coaxed additional pennies
-out of their mothers on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits
-to maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop, turning away their eyes
-and noses from vanity, and sold to grinding capitalists their tops,
-marbles, young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every Monday
-the silent but observant treasurer received for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at
-the rate of sixpence a head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like
-an oyster, and there was not one informer among the 208; but curiosity
-grew hot, and there were many speculations, and it was widely believed
-that the money would be used in sending a cane of the most magnificent
-proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance of his teaching days, and a
-mark of respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to himself, dared
-to suggest this to Speug; and when he looked round at some distance off,
-Speug's eye was still upon him, and he declared from his experience that
-it was not healthy to question Speug. Two hundred and four boys,
-however, with the observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent upon
-discovery could not be altogether baffled, and various bits of reliable
-information were passed round the school. That the four had gone one
-evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now on terms of high
-popularity with the school; that the Count who was even then sickening
-for his death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident could
-kill, had also been present; that at different times the Count had been
-seen examining the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches were
-carried by every man of standing in the Scots Midlands, and pronouncing
-his judgment on their appearance with vivacious gestures; that the
-Bailie had been seen examining the interior of a watch with awful
-solemnity while Councillor Gillespie hung upon his decision; and, to
-crown all, that Mr. McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the
-head of the firm, during which he had given him gratuitous advice on
-three coming races, had left Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced
-language that if certain persons did not obtain certain things for £40
-he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person giving to betting, would wager
-ten to one that the place of business would close in a year. It was
-whispered therefore in the corridors, with some show of truth, that the
-Seminary was going to take vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that
-the gift, whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop. And the
-school speculated whether there was any one of their number, even Speug
-himself, who would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and whether, if he
-did, that uncompromising man might not occupy his last week of
-mastership in thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest unto the
-youngest, for their blazing impertinence.
-
-The closing day was a Thursday that year, and it was characteristic of
-Bulldog that he met his classes as usual on Wednesday, and when
-Howieson disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid, having disgraced
-himself more moderately on four preceding days that he administered
-discipline on Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the last boy
-Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up as to be absolutely
-unendurable for the rest of the day, and boasted of the distinction for
-many a year. As four o'clock approached, the boys began to grow
-restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not perfectly steady when he
-closed the last problem with Q. E. D.
-
-"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried the argument to its
-conclusion according to the principles of things, and the book is
-finished. There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, we will
-spend it in revising the work of the Senior Algebra Class."
-
-Their work has not been revised unto this day, for at that moment the
-door opened without any one knocking, and without any one offering an
-apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, and scholar of
-Trinity College, Cambridge, and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
-Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied by Bailie
-MacConachie, whose dignity was fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand
-gracefully to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included everybody in an
-affable nod; and behind this imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown
-Seminary who was not already in the mathematical class-room. Bulldog
-turned upon them like a lion caught in a snare, and if he had had only
-thirty seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would have driven
-the whole deputation, old and young, out of the class-room and dealt
-with the conspirators who remained unto the setting of the sun. But it
-was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with minute care, and before
-Bulldog could say a word Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
-much.
-
-"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us for it is our last
-offence, and we have this time a fair excuse. Your laddies could not let
-you leave that desk and go out of this room for the last time without
-telling you that they are grateful, because you have tried to make them
-scholars, and to make them men. If any of us be able in after years to
-do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything else to your
-teaching and your discipline."
-
-Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman the four had chosen, began.
-
-"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, but everything Pirie
-said is true, and we are proud of our chief."
-
-"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the watch and chain which
-we ask the master to do us the honour of wearing through the days to
-come, and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to the desk,
-"crowns our offence, but you will know how to read it!"
-
- "TO BULLDOG,
- WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION
- OF
- HIS LADDIES."
-
-It was Bailie MacConachie--may everything be pardoned to him--who
-started the cheer; but it was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and
-ditch, and it was of such a kind that the mathematical class-room had to
-be repaired before the beginning of next term. During the storm Bulldog
-stood with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white as his hair,
-and when at last there was silence he tried to speak, but the tender
-heart had broken the iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."
-
-The Count, with quick tact, led off the second cheer, and the boys filed
-out of the class-room. Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
-him, and covered his face with his hands. When an hour later he walked
-across the North Meadow there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie
-MacFarlane, who met him on the bridge (and passed without speaking),
-noticed that Bulldog was wearing his laddies' gift.
-
-Sitting in his garden that evening and looking down upon the plain,
-Bulldog called Nestie to his side, and pointed to the river. The evening
-sun was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and on the
-orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft light, a rough
-weather-beaten coaster, which had fought her way through many a gale in
-the North Sea, and could not hold together much longer was dropping down
-with the tide. Newer and swifter vessels would take her place in the
-days to come, but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
-and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots rivers was carrying her gently
-to the eternal ocean.
-
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Young Barbarians
-
-Author: Ian Maclaren
-
-Release Date: September 25, 2009 [EBook #30089]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG BARBARIANS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Meredith Bach, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
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-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-<div class="image"><img src="images/icover.jpg" width="380" height="450" alt="Cover" title="" /></div>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 395px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="ifrontis" id="ifrontis"></a><img src="images/ifrontis.jpg" width="395" height="600" alt=""Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall."</span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image"><img src="images/ititle.png" width="415" height="700" alt="YOUNG
-BARBARIANS
-
-By
-IAN MACLAREN
-Author of "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush"
-
-ILLUSTRATED
-
-NEW YORK
-Dodd, Mead and Company
-1910" title="" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h4>Copyright, 1899 and 1900,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>,<br />
-as<br />
-A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4>Copyright, 1900,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">The Curtis Publishing Company</span>.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4>Copyright, 1901,<br />
-By <span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead and Company</span>.</h4>
-
-<hr class="hr2" />
-
-<h4><i>First Edition, Published October, 1901</i></h4>
-
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></div>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="3" summary="table of contents" width="40%">
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">I</td></tr>
-<tr><td></td><td align="right" class="stext">PAGE</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">"<span class="smcap">Speug</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#SPEUG">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">II</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOG">21</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">III</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nestie</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#NESTIE">39</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Famous Victory</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_FAMOUS_VICTORY">59</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">V</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">His Private Capacity</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY">85</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Disgrace of Mr. Byles</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_DISGRACE_OF">103</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Count</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_COUNT">121</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">VIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Tournament</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_TOURNAMENT">139</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">IX</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Moossy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#MOOSSY">163</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">X</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Last Resource</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_LAST_RESOURCE">183</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Pleasant Sin</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#A_PLEASANT_SIN">205</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Guerilla Warfare</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#GUERILLA_WARFARE">223</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fall of Goliath</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH">245</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XIV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Bailie's Double</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE">261</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XV</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Triumph of the Seminary</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE">281</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">XVI</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bulldog's Recompense</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE">305</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="list of illustrations">
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie was standing in the centre of the large entrance hall."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#ifrontis">Frontispiece</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i036">36</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i050">50</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i066">66</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i092">92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i096">96</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were so friendly that they gathered round the party."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i114">114</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i118">118</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i134">134</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i158">158</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i170">170</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"The school fell over benches and over another."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i174">174</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i202">202</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"They drank without any cup."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i218">218</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Before him stood London John bearing the seductive advertisement."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i240">240</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose."</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i252">252</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<hr class="front" />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="SPEUG" id="SPEUG"></a>"SPEUG"</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">I</h3>
-
-
-<p>Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
-of the classical order, facing the north meadow and
-commanding from its upper windows a fine view
-of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon
-its gravel bed. Behind the front building was the
-paved court where the boys played casual games in
-the breaks of five minutes between the hours of
-study, and this court had an entrance from a narrow
-back street along which, in snow time, a detachment
-of the enemy from the other schools might
-steal any hour and take us by disastrous surprise.
-There were those who wished that we had been completely
-walled up at the back, for then we had met
-the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But
-the braver souls of our commonwealth considered
-that this back way, affording opportunities for ambushes,
-sallies, subtle tactics, and endless vicissitudes,
-lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the
-whole winter through and most of the summer, and
-brought it nearer to the condition of Red Indian
-fighting, which was our favourite reading and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
-example of heroism. Again and again we studied
-the adventures of Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not
-only on account of his hairbreadth escapes when he
-eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and
-detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning
-of a leaf on the ground, but also in order to find
-out new methods of deceit by which we could allure
-our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods
-of attack by which we could successfully outflank
-them on the broader street and drive them into their
-own retreats with public ignominy.</p>
-
-<p>Within the building the glory of the Seminary
-was a massive stone stair, circular in shape, and
-having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by
-a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the
-masters descended at nine o'clock for the opening
-of the school, with Bulldog, who was the mathematical
-master and the awful pride of the school, at their
-head, and it was strictly forbidden that any boy,
-should be found within the "well." As it was the
-most tempting of places for the deposit of anything
-in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to
-little boys, and especially as any boy found in the
-well was sure to be caned, there was an obvious and
-irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter McGuffie,
-commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch
-tongue "Speug," and one of the two heads of our
-commonwealth, used to wait with an expression of
-such demureness that it ought to have been a danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
-signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and
-a row of boys were standing in expectation with
-their backs to the forbidden place. Then, passing
-swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and
-threw them over, and suddenly seizing a tempting
-urchin landed him on the bed of caps which had been
-duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth
-of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog
-as he passed made a mental note of the prisoner's
-name, and identified the various bonnetless boys,
-and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the
-day, attended to each culprit separately and carefully.
-If any person, from the standpoint of this
-modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some
-innocent victim did not state his case and lay
-the blame upon the guilty, then it is enough to say
-that that person had never been a scholar at Muirtown
-Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge
-of the character and methods of Peter McGuffie.
-Had any boy of our time given information to a
-master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he
-would have had the coldest reception at the hands
-of Bulldog, and when his conduct was known to the
-school he might be assured of such constant and
-ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he
-would have been ready to drown himself in the Tay
-rather than continue his studies at Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-Scots Midlands, and a sporting man of established
-repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced, loud-voiced,
-clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head,
-whose calves and whose manner were the secret admiration
-of Muirtown. Quiet citizens of irreproachable
-respectability and religious orthodoxy regarded
-him with a pride which they would never confess;
-not because they would have spoken or acted as he
-did for a king's ransom, and not because they would
-have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to die—considering,
-as they did, that the future of a horsedealer
-and an owner of racing horses was dark in
-the extreme—but because he was a perfect specimen
-of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to
-be known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie
-McCallum, for instance, could have no dealings with
-McGuffie senior, and would have been scandalised
-had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his
-shop and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the
-Bailie used to chuckle after an appreciative fashion
-at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate with much
-inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits—how
-he had encountered southern horsedealers and
-sent them home humbled with defeat, and had won
-hopeless races over the length and breadth of the
-land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark,
-"and McGuffie is no' the man for an elder;
-but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him at a
-bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
-a local hero, and on their way home from school they
-loitered to study him, standing in the gateway of his
-stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and
-shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends
-at the distance of half a street. When he was in
-good humour he would nod to the lads and wink to
-them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted
-to perform the same feat all the way home
-and were filled with despair. It did not matter that
-we were fed, by careful parents, with books containing
-the history of good men who began life with
-2<i>s.</i> 11<i>d.</i>, and died leaving a quarter of a million,
-made by selling soft goods and attending church,
-and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of
-boys who died young and, before they died, delighted
-society with observations of the most edifying
-character on the shortness of life. We had
-rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.</p>
-
-<p>Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model
-of all the virtues that were worthy of a boy's imitation,
-and his son with undisguised envy, because he
-had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because
-he had the run of the stables, because he was on
-terms of easy familiarity with his father's grooms,
-and because he was encouraged to do those things
-which we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted
-to do those things which he hated to do. All
-the good advice we ever got, and all the examples
-of those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
-of the Rev. Dr. Dowbiggin, were blown to the
-winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in the high
-dogcart beside his father, while that talented man
-was showing off to Muirtown a newly broken horse.
-Speug's position on that seat of unique dignity was
-more than human, and none of us would have dared
-to recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter
-was quite unspoiled by his privileges, and would
-wink to his humble friends upon the street after his
-most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved
-him his father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive
-society were not failings either of Mr. McGuffie
-senior or of his hopeful son. Both were
-willing to fight any person of their own size (or,
-indeed, much bigger), as well as to bargain with
-anybody, and at any time, about anything, from
-horses to marbles.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during
-her lifetime was a woman of decided character,
-whom the grooms regarded with more terror than
-they did her husband, and whom her husband himself
-treated with great respect, a respect which grew
-into unaffected reverence when he was returning
-from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional
-duties, to a late hour in the evening. As
-her afflicted husband refused to marry again, in decided
-terms, Peter, their only child, had been
-brought up from an early age among grooms and
-other people devoted to the care and study of horses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-In this school he received an education which was
-perhaps more practical and varied than finished and
-polite. It was not to be wondered, therefore, that
-his manners were simple and natural to a degree,
-and that he was never the prey, either in any ordinary
-circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although
-a motherless lad, he was never helpless, and
-from the first was able to hold his own and to make
-his hands keep his head.</p>
-
-<p>His orphan condition excited the compassion of
-respectable matrons, but their efforts to tend him
-in his loneliness were not always successful, nor
-even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie.
-When Mrs. Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in
-what was called the "work among children," and
-who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity
-on Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to
-play with her boys, who were a head taller and paragons
-of excellence, the result was unfortunate, and
-afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an exhortation.
-Peter was brought back to the parental
-mansion by Dr. Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour,
-and received a cordial welcome from a congregation
-of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at
-the Manse with much detail and agreeable humour.
-During the brief space at his disposal he had put
-every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of
-repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with
-burnt cork so that their mother did not recognise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
-her children. He had also taught them a negro melody
-of a very taking description, and had reinforced
-their vocabulary with the very cream of the stable.
-From that day Mrs. Dowbiggin warned the mothers
-of Muirtown against allowing their boys to associate
-with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on
-the street without an expression of open delight.</p>
-
-<p>When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being
-then ten years old, to the Seminary for admittance,
-it was a chance that he was not refused and that
-we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's
-profession and reputation were a stumbling-block
-to the rector, who was a man of austere countenance
-and strict habits of life, and Peter himself
-was a very odd-looking piece of humanity and had
-already established his own record. He was under-sized
-and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in countenance,
-and with beady black eyes which on
-occasion lit up his face as when one illuminates the
-front of a house, but the occasions were rarely those
-which would commend themselves to the headmaster
-of a public school. How the dealer in horses removed
-the rector's difficulties was never accurately
-known, but boys passing the door of the rector's retiring-room
-when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie
-overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown
-was able to understand the situation. It was understood
-that in a conflict of words the rector, an absent-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>minded
-scholar of shrinking manner, was not likely
-to come off best, and it is certain that the head of
-the school ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie
-as "a man of great resolution of character and endowed
-with the gift of forcible speech." As regards
-the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief
-directions before leaving, and in the presence of his
-fellow-scholars, of which this only was overheard,
-and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance:
-"Never give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting
-words Mr. McGuffie senior departed
-through the front door amid a hush of admiration,
-leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well"
-which was to be the scene of many of his future
-waggeries.</p>
-
-<p>With the progress of civilisation school life in
-Scotland has taken on a high degree of refinement,
-and rumour has it—but what will people not say?—that
-a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary
-and will receive a respectful welcome from the
-generation following Peter, and that the whole
-school will devote itself to his comfort for days—showing
-him where to hang his cap, initiating him
-into games, assisting him with his lessons, and treating
-his feelings with delicate respect. It has been
-my own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former
-barbarian age, to read the rules, which, I believe, are
-now printed in black letters with red capitals and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings
-will not allow me to give them all, but the following
-have moved me almost to tears:—</p>
-
-<p>Rule 1.—That every boy attending this school is
-expected to behave himself in speech and deed as a
-gentleman.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 2.—That anyone writing upon a wall, or in
-any way marking the school furniture, will be considered
-to have committed an offence, and will be
-punished.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 3.—That every boy is exhorted to treat
-every other with courtesy, and anyone guilty of
-rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to the
-headmaster.</p>
-
-<p>Rule 4.—That it is expected of every boy to
-cultivate neatness of appearance, and especially to
-see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and other articles
-of clothing be not soiled.</p>
-
-<p>These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere
-and one very different from that in which we passed
-our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this kind
-softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan
-simplicity. The very sight of a newcomer in a
-speckless suit, with an irreproachable tie and both
-tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound
-emotion in the school and carried it beyond self-control.
-What could be expected of a fellow so bedecked
-and preserved as if he had just stepped out
-of a bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
-pride and perfection—the very beginning of a Pharisee—he
-would only go from bad to worse and come
-at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists,
-but we did feel it was our duty to rescue
-this lad. It might be, of course, that we could not
-finally save him, but he ought at least to have a
-chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction
-in at once removing the two offensive tails by one
-vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a collar was a
-work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy
-is successful with all cases, and we had our failures,
-which we think about unto this day, and which have
-only justified our sad predictions. Boys like the two
-Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given
-up in despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed
-day by day and their faces remaining in all
-circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month
-the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of
-conventionality, and was only outdone by Peter himself
-in studied negligence of attire.</p>
-
-<p>Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it
-did not last long, for certain practical reasons.</p>
-
-<p>"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?"
-was the encouraging salutation offered by
-a solicitor's son to the stumpy little figure bereft of
-its father and left to fight its battles alone.</p>
-
-<p>"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o'
-a thievin' lawyer," and although Peter was four
-years younger and small for his age, he showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
-he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms
-without profit, and his opponent attended no more
-classes that day. This encounter excited the deepest
-interest and revived the whole life of the school.
-One lad after another experimented on Peter and
-made as much of it as drawing a badger. He was
-often hurt, but he never uttered any cry. He gave
-rather more than he got, and lads going home in the
-afternoon could see him giving an account of the
-studies of the day to an admiring audience in the
-stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone,
-and for the impudence of him, and his courage, and
-his endurance, and his general cockiness, and his
-extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was called
-"Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively
-expressed the admiration of the school.</p>
-
-<p>It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter
-was a scholar, or, indeed, gave any voluntary attention
-to the course of learning laid down by the
-authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed
-at the foot of every class, maintaining a
-certain impenetrable front when a question came his
-length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never
-risking his position in the school by exposing himself
-to contempt. When Thomas John Dowbiggin was
-distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by
-translating Cæsar into English like unto Macaulay's
-History, Speug used to watch him with keen interest,
-and employ his leisure time in arranging some little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
-surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas John's
-life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so
-inconsistent, that as often as Duncan Robertson
-answered more promptly than Thomas John, and
-obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with
-unaffected delight, and he was even known to smack
-his lips audibly. When the rector's back was turned
-he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas John's
-discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the
-united class did him homage, and even Thomas John
-was shaken out of his equanimity; but then Duncan
-Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment,
-and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and
-had not in his Highland body the faintest trace of
-a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing reproof
-of everything that was said and done outside
-of lesson time in Muirtown School.</p>
-
-<p>Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating
-adventures none was to be compared with
-him. Was it not Speug who floated down the
-tunnel through which a swift running stream of
-clean water reached the Tay, and allured six
-others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were
-drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception
-of the Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black
-mouth of the tunnel and reward his success with a
-cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's
-military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work
-in a pit at the top of the Meadow, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-called the Redan and was blown up with gunpowder
-one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily
-buried beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing
-both eyebrows? And when an old lady living next
-the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug and
-some other genial spirits for having broken one of
-her windows in a snowball fight, he made no sign
-and uttered no threat, but in the following autumn
-he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy
-in the four upper forms—except the Dowbiggins,
-who declined politely—and to distribute a handful
-for a scramble among the little boys. There was
-much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity,
-and it certainly was remarkable that the pear
-was of the same kind as the old lady cultivated with
-much pride, and that her fruit was gathered for her
-in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable
-of anything except telling a lie. He could swim the
-Tay at its broadest and almost at its swiftest, could
-ride any horse in his father's stable, could climb any
-tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game,
-from marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based
-on smuggling, to football, where he was a very
-dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting
-was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There
-was nothing he could not do with his hands, and no
-one whom he was not ready to face.</p>
-
-<p>Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and
-the exact type of a turbulent Lowland Scot, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
-whom the Seminary had missed its life and colour,
-and who by sheer force of courage and strength
-asserted himself as our chief captain. After many
-years have passed, Speug stands out a figure of size
-and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other
-poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried
-off medals, prizes, certificates of merit, and
-everything else which could be obtained in Muirtown
-Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted
-all evening at next day's work. The town was
-weary of seeing Thomas John and his brother—each
-wearing the same smug expression, and each in
-faultlessly neat attire—processing up in turn to receive
-their honours from the hands of the Lord
-Provost, and the town would cheer with enthusiasm
-when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance,
-being glad to escape from the oppression of
-the Dowbiggin <i>régime</i>. Nor was the town altogether
-wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at
-their own value, and declining to believe that the
-strength of the country was after their fashion.
-When Thomas John reached the University he did
-not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family,
-and by the time he reached the pulpit no one could
-endure his unredeemed dulness. When last I heard
-of him he was secretary to a blameless society which
-has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten
-Tribes, and it occurs to me that it would have been
-a good thing for Thomas John to have been blown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
-up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have
-become a man.</p>
-
-<p>After the Seminary had done its best for Speug
-he retired upon his laurels and went to assist his
-father in the business of horsedealing, to which he
-brought an invincible courage and a large experience
-in bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw
-him breaking in young horses on the roads round
-Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in a
-steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland.
-When Mr. McGuffie senior was killed by an Irish
-mare, Peter sold the establishment and went into
-foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at
-intervals of five years from Australia, Texas, the
-Plate, Cape of Good Hope, assured and reckless as
-ever, but always straightforward, masterful, open-handed,
-and gallant. His exploits are over now, and
-all England read his last, how he sent on in safety a
-settler's household through a narrow pass in Matabele
-Land, and with a handful of troopers held the
-savages in check until pursuit was vain.</p>
-
-<p>"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote
-the war correspondent, "that Captain McGuffie, of
-the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men had
-been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his
-back to a rock in a narrow place he defended himself
-with such skill and courage that the Matabele declared
-him the best fighting man they had ever met,
-and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
-Only last week two Seminary men were reading that
-account together and recalling Peter, and such is the
-inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death
-(from apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would
-have been much less lamented. "That is just how
-Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved
-a fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient
-memories of Peter's boyhood, and read the
-despatch of the commanding officer, with his reference
-to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and
-then they looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated
-papers, the eyes as bold and mischievous as ever.
-"Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of divinity—may
-he be forgiven!—"well done, Speug, a terrier of the
-old Scots breed."</p>
-
-<p>Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was
-Duncan Ronald Stewart Robertson, commonly
-known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything except
-honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite
-of Peter McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been
-lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor in Rannoch, with
-half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed,
-and certainly since history began. For hundreds
-of years they had been warriors, fighting other
-clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for Prince
-Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for
-England as officers in the Highland regiments. The
-present laird had been in the Crimean war and the
-Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to
-our examination in full uniform, having first inspected
-the local garrison on the meadow, it was the
-greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he
-came in, counting the medals on his breast, amidst
-which we failed not to notice the Victoria Cross.
-We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him
-when he mounted his horse outside and rode along
-the terrace, and Peter led a detachment by the back
-way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one cheer
-more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad,
-with red hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not
-handsome, but carrying himself with much dignity
-and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting
-trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson
-wore the kilt and never looked anything else but
-a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the shabbiest,
-and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners
-were those of his blood, but a freer and heartier and
-more harum-scarum fellow never lived. It is a pleasant
-remembrance, after many years, to see again a
-group of lads round the big fire in the winter time,
-and to hear Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad,
-"How Horatius kept the bridge in the brave days
-of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and
-proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's
-Academy and simply compel a conflict.
-Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell at Tel-el-Kebir,
-and there is one Seminary man at least who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
-keeps the portraits of the two captains—Peter McGuffie,
-the Scot, the horsedealer's son, and a very
-vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan Robertson, the
-Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself
-from head to foot—in remembrance of a school
-which was rough and old-fashioned, where, indeed,
-softness and luxury were impossible, but where men
-were made who had the heart in them to live and die
-for their country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOG" id="BULLDOG"></a>BULLDOG</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">II</h3>
-
-
-<p>The headmaster of a certain great English school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
-is accustomed to enlarge in private on the secret of
-boy management, and this is the sum of his wisdom—Be
-kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put
-your foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This
-deliverance must, of course, as its eminent author
-intends, be read with sense, and with any modification
-it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but
-it is confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong
-in character and scholarship, lay himself out to be
-a boy's friend—using affectionate language, overseeing
-his health, letting him off impositions, sparing
-the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence—and
-the boy will respond, without any doubt, but it
-will be after his own fashion. The boy will take
-that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity;
-he will call him by some disparaging nickname, with
-an unholy approximation to truth; he will concoct
-tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will fling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
-back his benefits with contempt; he will make his
-life a misery, and will despise him as long as he lives.
-Let a man of masculine character and evident ability
-set himself to rule and drill boys, holding no unnecessary
-converse with them, working them to the
-height of their powers, insisting on the work being
-done, not fearing to punish with severity, using terrible
-language on occasion, dealing with every boy
-alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise
-with enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking
-sarcasm—which boys hate and never forgive—and
-he will have his reward. They will rage against
-him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go
-home in companies, but ever with an intense appreciation
-of his masterliness; they will recall with keen
-enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity
-on prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine
-his achievements, and pass it down to the
-generation following; they will dog his steps on the
-street with admiration, all the truer because mingled
-with awe. And the very thrashings of such a man
-will be worth the having, and become the subject of
-boasting in after years.</p>
-
-<p>There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary
-whose career was short and inglorious, as well as
-very disappointing to those who believed in the
-goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs.
-Dowbiggin his idea of a schoolmaster's duty, and
-won the heart of that estimable person, although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
-Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards
-hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not
-quite grasped the boy nature, at least in Muirtown.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love
-for boys—for I was the youngest of our family, and
-the rest were girls—seven dear girls, gentle and
-sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you
-think that boys, as well as older people, are ruled by
-kindness and not by force? When I remember how
-I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would
-wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you
-please. I dote on muffins! So I am a schoolmaster."</p>
-
-<p>"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can
-tell you, for the place is just a den of savages! Will
-you believe me, that a boy rolled James on the
-ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday—and
-James is so particular about being neat!—and when
-I complained to Mr. MacKinnon, he laughed in my
-face and told me that it would do the laddie good?
-There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me
-that he is called 'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve
-of disrespect, I must say it is an excellent name
-for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the
-Doctor, 'If the masters are like that, what can you
-expect of the boys?'"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will
-soon be some improvement; and it will not be my
-fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will
-feel as to a mother, to whom they will confide their
-difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles' face had a
-soft, tender, far-away look.</p>
-
-<p>It was only for one winter that he carried on his
-mission, but it remains a green and delectable memory
-with old boys of the Seminary. How he would
-not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he
-explained, but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour,
-during which time he remonstrated with Peter for
-his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom he
-had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted
-compatriots climbed up one by one to the window
-and viewed him under Mr. Byles' ministrations
-with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them
-by signs that they would have to pay handsomely
-for their treat. How he would come on Jock
-Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously
-refusing even to button his coat, and would
-insist on affording him the shelter of an umbrella, to
-Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that Peter was
-following with derisive criticism. How, by way of
-conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his
-coat-tail pocket and offer them at unsuitable times
-to the leading anarchists, who regarded this imbecility
-as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr.
-Byles' sudden resignation was largely due to an
-engineering feat of Peter's, who had many outrages
-to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
-three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely
-that an exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the
-delighted school, had its due effect.</p>
-
-<p>"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no
-peppermint drops nor pats on the head that'll rule
-Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on
-the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll
-take my advice, Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation
-in a lassies' school. Ye're ower dainty for Muirtown
-Seminary."</p>
-
-<p>This was not a charge which his worst enemy
-could bring against Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, and
-because he was the very opposite—a most unflinching,
-resolute, iron man—he engraved himself on the
-hearts of three generations of Muirtown men. They
-were a dour, hard-headed, enterprising lot—a blend
-from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the stiff
-carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with
-some good south country stuff—and there are not
-many big cities on either side of the Atlantic where
-two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be
-found. They always carry in their hearts the "Fair
-City"—which lieth in a basin among the hills, beside
-the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots Florence;
-and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon
-their home, but the terminus of recollection is ever
-the same. When they have dallied with the swimming
-in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which
-looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
-the golf on the meadows, and the mighty snow fights
-in days where there were men (that is, boys) in the
-land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly
-says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with
-long-drawn pleasure, as one tasting a delicate liquor;
-and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a world of joy
-lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing
-themselves, and then conversation really begins, and
-being excited, they drop into the Scots tongue.</p>
-
-<p>"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at
-his desk in the mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in
-ower the top o' his spectacles, an' juist considerin'
-wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that day."</p>
-
-<p>"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the
-second, "an' as straight as a rush, though a'm
-thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty, some threipit
-(insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him—div
-ye mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward
-in his head—oscillatin' like? Sall, they were fearsome."</p>
-
-<p>"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o'
-nine"—the third man cannot be restrained—"an' the
-crack o' his cane on the desk an' 'Silence'; man, ye
-micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the
-prayer."</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids,
-Jock?"</p>
-
-<p>"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt.
-"Ae day I pit a peen into that smooth-faced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
-wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna bear the
-look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig.
-Did Bulldog open his een an' look?"</p>
-
-<p>The audience has no remembrance of such a
-humiliating descent.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist
-repeated the first sentence o' the prayer ower again
-in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes dune, doon he
-comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"</p>
-
-<p>"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating
-the sequel.</p>
-
-<p>"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin.
-'Who asked you to join in the prayer?' an'
-ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street. Bulldog
-hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent
-admiration for a space.</p>
-
-<p>"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord
-deliver the laddies before Thee from lying—— '"</p>
-
-<p>"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.</p>
-
-<p>"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.</p>
-
-<p>"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes
-Jock.</p>
-
-<p>"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased
-to put common sense in their heads, and Thy fear in
-their hearts, and—— '"</p>
-
-<p>"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days
-of their life,'" chant the other two together.</p>
-
-<p>"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard
-a better, lads; he walkit up to his words, did Bull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>dog,
-an' he did his wark well." And as they thought
-of that iron age, the railway president and the big
-banker and the corn merchant—for that is what the
-fellows have come to—smack their lips with relish
-and kindly regret.</p>
-
-<p>It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that
-the human history of the ages is repeated in the
-individual, and the natural boy is a savage, with the
-aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to circumstances,
-stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible
-passion for fighting, unfeigned admiration for
-strength, and slavish respect for the strong man.
-By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and
-settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable—will
-be concerned about his own boys having
-wet feet, and will preside at meetings for the prevention
-of cruelty to animals; but he has to go through
-his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian
-stage a philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy.
-His master must have the qualities of a brigand chief,
-an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and an iron hand.
-On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol
-from his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the
-audacious rebel dead on the spot. So perfectly did
-Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had an unholy
-turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume
-and arms of Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief
-of prodigious valour and marvellous exploits. This
-likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
-and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's
-possession, and although Jock paid the penalty,
-as was most due, yet it was believed that Bulldog was
-much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the
-picture in his desk.</p>
-
-<p>His achievements in his own field, which extended
-from the supervision of handwriting to instruction in
-mathematics, were sustained and marvellous. When
-a boy was committed to his care at or about the age
-of eight, before which age he attended a girls' school
-and fed his imagination on what was in store for him
-under Bulldog, the great man wrote at the head of
-his copy-book, in full text and something better than
-copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his
-son." With this animating sentiment the neophyte
-made a fearful beginning, and his master assisted
-him to transcribe it for years to come through half
-text and small text, till he could accomplish it with
-such delicate up-strokes and massive down-strokes,
-such fine curves and calculated distances, that the
-writing could hardly be distinguished from the original,
-and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and
-bailies at the annual examination. It is said now
-that no school of any name in the land would condescend
-to teach writing, and that boys coming from
-such high places can compass their own signatures
-with difficulty, and are quite illegible after a gentlemanly
-fashion; but it was otherwise in one old
-grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>duced
-at the Seminary that Muirtown bankers,
-lawyers, and other great personages used to drop in
-of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master,
-would go over the copy-books and pick out suitable
-lads for their offices. And it is a solemn fact that
-one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London
-without a single introduction and obtained a situation
-in the great firm of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater
-& Co., on the strength of a letter and sheet
-of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose
-reason was giving way under the scrawling of the
-junior clerks. Bulldog considered that his pupils'
-handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of
-their departure. When they came to see him at
-school from Glasgow, London, and beyond the sea,
-as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides
-giving them an affectionate welcome, which began
-at the door and ended at the desk, he never failed to
-produce their letters and point out the decadence in
-careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.</p>
-
-<p>Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose
-father insisted on the higher education, was allured
-into geometry and raised to the dignity of the blackboard,
-where he did his work in face of the
-school with fear and trembling. This was public life,
-and carried extremes of honour and disgrace. When
-Willie Pirie appeared at the board—who is now a
-Cambridge don of such awful learning that his
-juniors, themselves distinguished persons, can only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
-imagine where he is in pure mathematics—the
-school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to
-see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing
-in an angle here and a circle there, and utilising
-half the alphabet for signs, while he maintained the
-reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice,
-Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one
-hand and in the other a cloth with which at a time
-he would wipe his forehead till it was white with
-chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When
-the end came, Bulldog would seize the word out of
-Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D., Q ... E ... D.
-Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff
-profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the
-pointer under the other. "William Pirie, ye'll be a
-wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance. Splendid!"</p>
-
-<p>It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to
-indicate the nature of an isosceles triangle and confused
-it with a square, supporting his artistic efforts
-with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid
-to one general ruin. For a while the master explained
-and corrected, then he took refuge in an
-ominous silence, after which, at each new development,
-he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock,
-seeing him make for the cane, modestly withdrew,
-but did not reach his place of retreat without
-assistance and much plain truth.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a shame to take any fee from your father,
-Jock Howieson, and it's little use trying to give ye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
-any education. Ye've the thickest head and the least
-sense in all the schule. Man, they should take
-you home and set ye on eggs to bring out chickens;
-ye micht manage that wi' care. The first three propositions,
-Jock, before ye leave this room, without a
-slip, or <i>ma certes</i>!" and Jock understood that if he
-misused his time his instructor would make good
-use of his.</p>
-
-<p>It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty
-schoolroom for ten minutes before the reassembling
-at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should be
-late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen
-present and forty-three absent, he could only look at
-Dowbiggin, and when that exemplary youth explained
-that the school had gone up to the top of the
-Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still
-enjoying themselves, Bulldog was much lifted.</p>
-
-<p>"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for
-the mind, but it's necessary to bring a glow to the
-skin aifterwards, or there micht be a chill," and he
-searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the
-treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.</p>
-
-<p>It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and
-a procession of forty-two entered panting and
-breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried
-his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by
-Peter, whose hair was like unto that of a drowned
-rat, and whose unconcealed desire was for obscurity.
-The nineteen could only smack their lips with ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>pectation
-and indicate by signs the treat awaiting
-their comrades.</p>
-
-<p>"I've had chairge of the departments of writing,
-arithmetic, and mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary,"
-began Bulldog, "for fifty-five years laist
-Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae
-passed through my hands. Some o' them were gude
-and some were bad"—Mr. MacKinnon spoke with a
-judicial calmness that was awful—"some were yir
-grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set
-of impudent, brazen-faced little scoundrels——"
-Then his composure failed him as he looked at the
-benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves,
-for it will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"</p>
-
-<p>For a while no one moved, and then Dunc
-Robertson rose in his place and made speech for his
-fellows like a gentleman's son.</p>
-
-<p>"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not
-our blame; we had been bathing in the golfers' pool,
-and were dressing to run down to school in good
-time. Little Nestie—I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir—had
-stayed in a little longer, and someone cried,
-'Nestie's drowning!' and there the little chap was,
-being carried away by the current."</p>
-
-<p>"Is 'Nestie'—drowned?" and they all noticed the
-break in Bulldog's voice, and remembered that if he
-showed indulgence to anyone it was to the little
-English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as
-one out of due place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have
-taken him home; but he was very nearly gone," and
-Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man,
-and—and it would have been terrible to see him die
-before our eyes."</p>
-
-<p>"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white,
-and Jock swore afterwards the tears were in his
-eyes—but that we did not believe.</p>
-
-<p>"It was one of the boys, sir"—Robertson's voice
-was very proud—"and it was a gallant deed; but I
-can't give his name, because he made me promise not
-to tell."</p>
-
-<p>The master looked round the school, and there was
-a flush on his cheek.</p>
-
-<p>"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal,
-and Jock stood in his place.</p>
-
-<p>"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."</p>
-
-<p>"It was Speug, sir, an'—it wes michty; but a'
-wudna hae telt had ye no askit, an'—it's no my
-blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where
-Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and
-Peter, who had obeyed this order in other circumstances
-with an immovable countenance, now presented
-the face of one who had broken a till.</p>
-
-<p>"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word
-of it, that each laddie in this room may remember it
-as lang as he lives."</p>
-
-<p>"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
-had started for school ... and when I got back McGuffie
-had jumped and was out in the current waiting
-for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last,
-white on the water, and shouted to Peter, and ...
-he had him in a minute, and ... made for shore; big
-swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it
-except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to
-rub Nestie till he came round, and ... he smiled to
-us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to trouble you
-chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick,
-and ... that's all, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly
-broke out Speug, goaded beyond endurance; "ye
-helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle tae
-blame as me."</p>
-
-<p>"All I did, sir"—and Robertson's face was burning
-red—"was to meet Peter and take Nestie off his
-hands quite near the bank; he had the danger; I
-... did nothing—was too late, in fact, to be of use."</p>
-
-<p>Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt
-at exculpation, but Bulldog was himself again
-and gripped the reins of authority.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder;
-"no arguing in my presence. You're an impudent
-fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all your days,
-the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie
-in Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien
-was that of a dog with a bad conscience.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
-with snowballs; ye've played truant times without
-number; and as for your tricks in school, they're
-beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the
-capper on the concern wi' this business!</p>
-
-<p>"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence
-is plain"—and now Bulldog began to speak with
-great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie out of his
-depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not
-lift his head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)</p>
-
-<p>"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers,
-but, instead of acting like ony quiet, decent,
-well-brought-up laddie, and walking down to
-the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed
-that the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin),
-"ye jumped clothes and all into the Tay."
-(There was evidently no extenuating feature, and
-Peter's expression was hopeless.)</p>
-
-<p>"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's
-in ye, Peter McGuffie, made ye swim out where the
-river was running strongest and an able-bodied man
-wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget
-yirsel and risk yer life?" But for the first time there
-was no bravery left in Peter to answer; his wickedness
-was beyond excuse, as he now felt.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 375px; height: 598px;">
-<a name="i036" id="i036"></a><img src="images/i036.jpg" width="375" height="598" alt=""Peter dared not lift his head."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Peter dared not lift his head."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death.
-And ye did it, Peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've
-dune since ye came into Muirtown Academy?
-As for you, Duncan Robertson, ye may say what ye
-like, but it's my opinion that ye're no one grain
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>better. Peter got in first, for he's a perfect genius
-for mischief—he's aye on the spot—but ye were after
-him as soon as ye could—you're art and part, baith o'
-ye, in the exploit." It was clear now that Dunc was
-in the same condemnation and would share the same
-reward; whereat Peter's heart was lifted, for Robertson's
-treachery cried to Heaven for judgment.</p>
-
-<p>"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"—and
-Bulldog pointed to the lists in gold of the
-former pupils who had distinguished themselves over
-the world—prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers,
-preachers, lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and
-an honour to have a place in it, and there are two new
-names to be added.</p>
-
-<p>"Laddies"—and Bulldog came down from his
-desk and stood opposite the culprits, whose one wish
-was that the floor might open beneath them and swallow
-them up—"you are the sons of men, and I knew
-you had the beginnings of men in you. I am proud
-... to shake hands with you, and to be ... your master.
-Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes
-and change yir clothes, and be back inside half an
-hour, or it will be the worse for ye! And, look ye
-here, I would like to know ... how Nestie is."</p>
-
-<p>His walk through the room was always full
-of majesty, but on that day it passed imagination,
-and from time to time he could be heard in a soliloquy,
-"A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands,
-though, men of their hands! Their fathers' sons!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
-Well done, Peter!" To which the benches listened
-with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after
-this fashion.</p>
-
-<p>When the school assembled next Monday morning
-the boys read in fresh, shining letters—</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Peter McGuffie</span> and <span class="smcap">Duncan R. S. Robertson</span>,
-who at the risk of their own lives saved a schoolfellow
-from drowning."</p>
-
-<p>It stood before the school, so that all could see;
-but if anyone dared to make a sign in that direction
-as he passed Speug's desk, his life was not worth
-living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug
-never completely recovered from the moral disgrace
-of that day.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="NESTIE" id="NESTIE"></a>NESTIE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">III</h3>
-
-
-<p>It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
-and that his father was the Baptist minister of Muirtown—a
-denomination whose adherents were few
-and whose practices were vaguely associated with
-the mill lade—and for two years before he appeared
-at school Nestie and his father were quite familiar
-to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies'
-school, not far from the Seminary, where he was
-much petted by the big girls, and his father could be
-seen waiting for him every afternoon at dismissal
-time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on
-being spoken to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion
-of lasting sorrow in his eyes, Mr. Molyneux
-would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia
-MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was
-a simple fact that when, meditating his sermon one
-day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
-midst and his son insisted on introducing him to
-the boarders and to Miss Letitia, the poor man went
-home to bed and left the pulpit next Sunday to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
-amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to
-arrive on the opposite side of the terrace about a
-quarter to three, and, as the hour drew near, reconnoitre
-the door from behind a clump of bushes at the
-foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance
-with a bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him
-shamelessly, and then, catching sight of the anxious
-face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
-down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave,
-disappear round the corner. The minister used to
-take a hasty survey lest they should become a sport
-to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss
-his boy was synonymous with mental incapacity,
-and then—it was a cat of a girl who oversaw the
-meeting—they hugged one another for the space of
-a whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what
-can be done if your heart is in it and your hat is
-allowed to go without care. Had a Seminary boy
-seen the sight—but the savages were caged at that
-hour—his feet would have been glued to the ground
-with amazement, and he had gone away full of silent
-gratitude that Providence had cast his lot north of
-the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that
-the father and son had been separated for, say, six
-whole hours—or almost—and it was necessary to
-re-establish relations. When this had been done satisfactorily
-the two crossed a wooden bridge into the
-Meadow arm-in-arm—Mr. Molyneux unconsciously
-wearing his hat with a rakish air on the side of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
-head. Between this hour and sunset was their
-pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did
-were varied and remarkable. Sometimes they would
-disappear into the woods above Muirtown, and return
-home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden
-with wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they
-planted in their tiny garden and watered together
-with tender solicitude. Other times they played
-what was supposed to be golf over a course of their
-own selection and creation at the top of the Meadow,
-and if by any chance the minister got a ball into a
-hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
-apologised for his insolent success. Times there
-were—warm, summer days—when the minister
-would bring a book with him and read to Nestie as
-they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these
-days they would fall a-talking, and it would end in
-a photograph being taken from a case, and after they
-had studied it together, both would kiss the face,
-which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular
-frequenters of the North Meadow began to take an
-interest in the pair, so that the golfers would cry
-"Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the
-way of the balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the
-chief of the salmon-fishers and a man of rosy countenance,
-rowed them up to Woody Island, and then
-allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the
-North Meadow and beneath the two bridges, and
-landed them at the South Meadow, refusing all rec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>ompense
-with fierce words. Motherly old ladies
-whose families were off their hands, and who took in
-the situation at a glance, used to engage Mr. Molyneux
-in conversation in order to warn him about
-Nestie's flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp
-at nightfall. And many who never spoke to them,
-and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment
-with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the
-tears of things as the pair, strange and lonely, yet
-contented and happy, passed them in the evening.</p>
-
-<p>When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss
-Letitia's, his father began to hang round the Seminary
-taking observations, and his heart was heavy
-within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at
-football—a dozen of the aboriginal savages fighting
-together in a heap, a mass of legs, arms, heads—and
-been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians
-and English, from which he emerged without his
-hat, umbrella, or book, and after he had been eyewitness
-of an encounter between Jock Howieson and
-Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered
-to teach Nestie at home.</p>
-
-<p>"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie,
-and I am not sure whether you are quite ... fit for
-their ... habits. There is a master, too, called ...
-Bulldog, and I am afraid——" and Mr. Molyneux
-looked wistfully at his boy.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't
-d-deserve two lumps of sugar," for ever since they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
-were alone he had taken his mother's place and
-poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward?
-A boy must learn to play games, you know, and they
-won't be hard on a little chap at first. I'll soon learn
-f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a
-little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother
-was as bwave as ... a s-soldier?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux
-fell into the innocent little snare. "If you had only
-seen the pony your mother used to ride on her
-father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do
-you know, nobody could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress.
-It r-reared and ... k-kicked, Nestie"—the
-little man spoke with awe—"and once ran away; but
-your mother could always manage it. She looked so
-handsome on 'Gypsy'; and you have her spirit. I'm
-very ... t-timid."</p>
-
-<p>"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's
-real d-danger." Nestie was now on his father's knee,
-with a hand round his neck. "Who faced the cow
-on the meadows when she was charging, and the
-nurse had left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the
-truth."</p>
-
-<p>"That was because ... the poor little man would
-have been killed ... anyone would have d-done that,
-and ... I d-did not think what I was d-doing...."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father
-shamefully, even unto his face; "and everybody read
-in the paper how the child wasn't near the cow, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
-the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you
-... ran away; for shame, now!</p>
-
-<p>"Did you go to the people that had the dip ...
-dip ... in the throat, or not?—that's a word I can't
-manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and the girls
-say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic—Victoria
-Cwoss."</p>
-
-<p>"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary,
-pater;" and so he went.</p>
-
-<p>"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in
-the centre of the large entrance hall where his father
-had left him, a neat, slim little figure in an Eton suit
-and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads
-in kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland
-bonnets in various stages of roughness and decay.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he
-looked round with a bright little smile, although inwardly
-very nervous.</p>
-
-<p>"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague
-sense that Nestie, with his finished little manner, his
-English accent, his unusual dress, and his high-sounding
-name, was an offence to the Seminary.
-"Get yir hat oot o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's
-straw skimming into the forbidden "well."</p>
-
-<p>Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited
-the temper which mistressed "Gypsy," and
-boys who remembered Speug's first exploit expected
-to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an
-instant later, and he recovered his hat very neatly.
-"I can leap a little, you know, not m-much yet," and
-again he smiled round the ring.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing quite like this had happened before in the
-Seminary, and there was a pause in the proceedings,
-which was the salvation of Nestie, and far more of
-Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first
-sight of Nestie and had been considering the whole
-situation in silence. Peter had a sudden inspiration.</p>
-
-<p>"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost
-kindly accent, moving a little forward as for
-purposes of identification.</p>
-
-<p>"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but
-perhaps you would like to say Molyneux. What is
-your name?"</p>
-
-<p>"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it
-runs on the tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie,
-or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi' ye gie's a cry."
-And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter
-sent the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well"
-just as Bulldog came down to his room.</p>
-
-<p>"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the
-owner of the bonnet and passed on to his class-room.
-"In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore the schule
-comes."</p>
-
-<p>"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that
-worthy followed him mechanically, while the school
-held their breath; "it would be kind of you to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
-intwodoosh—it's a little difficult that word—me to
-the master."</p>
-
-<p>"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog
-at the sight of the two, for speech was paralysed in
-Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.</p>
-
-<p>"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna
-mind it ... Nestie ... he dinna know the way...."
-And Speug broke down and cast a despairing look
-at the cane.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who
-were making fun of me, and I asked him to bwing
-me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."</p>
-
-<p>"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion
-with unconcealed delight; "that is quite his
-public character in this school, and there's nobody
-better known. My advice"—here Bulldog stopped,
-and looked from Speug to Nestie as one who was
-about to say something and had changed his mind—"is
-to ... be friends with Peter."</p>
-
-<p>So when the school took their places Nestie was
-seated next to Speug, and it was understood in a
-week that Nestie was ready to take his fair share in
-any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the
-baser sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie,
-he had to balance accounts with Speug, and that the
-last farthing would be faithfully exacted.</p>
-
-<p>As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that
-Speug was a young gentleman of high conduct and
-excellent manners—and Nestie, with all his sweet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>ness,
-was as obstinate as a mule—nothing remained
-for Speug but to act as far as he could up to his new
-character. With this example of diligence by his
-side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged
-from long division and plunged into the rule of three,
-while Nestie marvelled at his accomplishments—"for
-I'm not a clever chap like you, P-Peter." Speug
-had also accumulated a considerable collection of
-pencil sketches, mostly his own, in which life at
-Muirtown Seminary was treated very broadly indeed,
-and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be
-appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have
-some scruple in having his own name connected with
-it, it was consigned to the flames, and any offer of
-an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur
-in Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence.
-His personal habits had been negligent to a
-fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his
-hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances
-he had overlooked, and would indeed have
-exposed himself to scathing criticism had it not been
-that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as
-it went, of a markedly practical turn.</p>
-
-<p>As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of
-chivalry, and all the virtues which he had discovered
-at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see him, and so
-Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening—an
-invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward
-confusion of face. All the time which could be saved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
-that day from the sermons was devoted by Mr.
-Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it
-was pretty to see the Molyneuxs going from shop to
-shop collecting the feast. With much cunning Nestie
-had drawn from Speug that fried sausages
-(pork) with mashed potatoes, followed up by jam
-tarts and crowned with (raisin) cake, was a meal
-to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and
-marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was
-not watching at the upper window for Peter's coming
-he was gloating over the table, and pater, putting
-last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran
-out and in to see that nothing had been forgotten,
-for they did not give many feasts, and this was one
-of gratitude. Peter was late, because he had gathered
-his whole establishment to dress him, including
-the old groom, who wished him to go in corduroy
-breeches and top boots, and Speug was polished to
-the extent of shining. He was also so modest that
-he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie
-began to discourse on his goodness he cast glances
-at the door and perspired visibly, on which occasions
-he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief.
-Amid all his experiences on land and water, on horseback
-and among boys—<i>i. e.</i>, savages—he had never
-yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist, and
-he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced,
-however, to trifle with the tea, and in the end
-did very fairly, regaining his native composure so far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
-as to describe a new horse his father had bought, and
-the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables.
-Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and
-showed him his various treasures—a writing-desk
-with a secret drawer; <i>The Sandalwood Traders</i> by
-Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks
-complete; and then he uncovered something hidden
-in a case, whereat Speug was utterly astonished.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and
-some day I'll wear it, you know; your mother's
-g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"</p>
-
-<p>"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her."
-And then, anxious to change the subject, he produced
-a new knife with six blades. Before leaving
-he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to
-guide him in their upbringing after a proper fashion.
-Without having ventured into the field of sentiment,
-there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a way
-to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such
-an account of the tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that
-night, that the horsedealer, although not given to
-Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the
-little Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping
-through the sermon, but putting five shillings in the
-plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely at his
-father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's
-Academy and turned various things over in his
-mind.</p>
-
-<p>If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
-gone out of Peter through his friendship with Nestie,
-he erred greatly, and this Robert Cosh learned to his
-cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and
-very likely he did not know himself, but he must
-needs waylay Nestie in Breadalbane Street one day
-after schooltime and speak opprobriously to him,
-finishing up—</p>
-
-<p>"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering
-(stammering) dookie (Baptist) minister."</p>
-
-<p>"My father's one of the best men living"—Nestie
-was in an honourable temper—"and you are an ill-bred
-c-cad."</p>
-
-<p>Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before
-Cosh had done with him had not Speug arrived on
-the scene, having been in the gundy (candy) shop
-not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh
-had a poor chance at any time with Peter, but now
-that worthy's arm was nerved with fierce indignation,
-and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh,
-whose appearance on arriving home was remarkable.
-His story was even more so, and was indeed so affecting,
-not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh came
-into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards
-to settle matters.</p>
-
-<p>"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones
-charged with dignity, "to explain the cause of my
-son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a poultice
-on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself
-for days."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 390px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i050" id="i050"></a><img src="images/i050.jpg" width="390" height="600" alt=""'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'"</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
-a' can tell ye, Bailie; ye're richt to bring him
-back as sune as ye could; was't toothache?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of
-your scholars, the maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating
-scoondrel in Muirtown."</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed
-Bulldog's practical acquaintance with affairs. "Did
-ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"</p>
-
-<p>No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction
-that was beyond all evidence.</p>
-
-<p>"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had
-ye a justification?"</p>
-
-<p>Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour
-had one article at least—never to tell on a fellow.</p>
-
-<p>"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw
-the preparations for Peter's punishment and could
-not contain himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't
-tell me that there were two at puir Robert, Bailie; if
-Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic a veeciously
-inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'</p>
-
-<p>"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation.
-Robert Cosh, what have ye to say? Speak
-up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be sure o'
-that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and
-nothing but the truth."</p>
-
-<p>Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the
-smallest morsel of truth in any shape or form, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
-in spite of strong encouragement from the magistrate,
-preserved an impenetrable silence.</p>
-
-<p>"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance,
-"is mair than ordinary modesty; we 'ill take another
-witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got to
-say?"</p>
-
-<p>"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my
-t-temper, and ... and ... I said things ... the pater's
-ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me once or twice—but
-I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir,
-wanted to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but
-that was how it happened."</p>
-
-<p>"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head
-taller and much broader and four years older. Ye
-called his father names, and then cut his lip when
-he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little
-scratches on yir own face. That would be Peter.
-Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain, and we 'ill go to
-judgment.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and
-it does not matter two brass peens what Robert Cosh
-says about him, and ye're no an ill-disposed laddie
-yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.</p>
-
-<p>"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what
-doesna concern ye, and ye seem to think that Providence
-gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye pull
-him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o'
-the hands o' Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark
-sae neatly this time that I havena the heart to thrash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
-ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma
-man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but
-yir heart is richt; see that ye always use yir fists as
-well as ye did that day.</p>
-
-<p>"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have
-been convicted of three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled
-a good man—for that three strokes with the
-cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the whole
-school—for that three strokes; and, lastly, being
-moved of the devil, ye went home and told lies to a
-magistrate—for that six strokes. Three on each
-hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count.
-Right hand first."</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."</p>
-
-<p>"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate;
-"would ye interfere with the course o' justice in
-another man's jureesdiction, and you a magistrate?"
-And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome
-manner.</p>
-
-<p>The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had
-changed his mind, and Robert, who had expected
-great things from the magistrate's protection, abandoned
-himself to despair and walked humbly for
-many days to come.</p>
-
-<p>Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog,
-growing uneasy, called on his way home.</p>
-
-<p>"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the
-minor key of Scots sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox
-(for such an outlandish name was ever a trial) is far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
-through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to
-come an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation
-is the feenish.</p>
-
-<p>"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an'
-he's verra sober (weak); but his head's clear, an' the
-laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae (sorry) for him,
-for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm
-dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."</p>
-
-<p>The gentle little minister was not far from his end,
-and Nestie was nursing him as best he could. He
-sponged his father's face—threatening to let the soap
-get into his eyes if he were not obedient—and dried
-it with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin
-brown hair slowly and caressingly, as he had often
-done on Sundays when his father was weary.
-Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of
-being afraid, Nestie smiled a pathetic welcome,
-which showed either what a poor actor the master
-was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar
-was a very shrewd little man.</p>
-
-<p>"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he
-was n-naughty and got cold, and he has been so ill;
-but he must get better, for you know there are ...
-just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely
-without the pater."</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon,
-for we h-have been ... dear friends, that's
-how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is a ...
-brave little man, as you know, and mother and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
-will not forget him ... you came to ask for Nestie,
-and it was God's will, for I h-have a f-favour to ask
-of you."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but
-said nothing. Only he took the minister's hand in
-his and waited. He also put his other arm round
-Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.</p>
-
-<p>"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are
-all dead; there is nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie,
-and he cannot live alone. C-could you get some
-family who would be ... where he might be at ...
-h-home?</p>
-
-<p>"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a
-little, for Nestie is a famous little house-k-keeper;
-and maybe there's enough to keep him ... till he
-grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank,
-and you'll ... manage for him, won't you?"</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not
-find his voice—for a wonder, but his hand tightened
-on the minister's, and he drew Nestie nearer to him.</p>
-
-<p>"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have
-no c-claim on you, for we are strangers in Muirtown,
-and you ... have many boys. But you've been kind
-to Nestie, and he ... loves you."</p>
-
-<p>The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his
-eyes.</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice,
-"I'm willing to manage Nestie's estate, big or small,
-and I'll give an account of all intromissions to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
-Court, but I must decline to look out a home for
-Nestie.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and
-some of them are very comforting) "are good
-freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster
-and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like
-to hear a young voice."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner
-than ever—in sound.</p>
-
-<p>"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and
-maybe so is mine (Nestie nodded), so if the wee man
-wouldna be feared to live wi' ... Bulldog—oh, I
-know fine what the rascals call me—he 'ill have a
-heart welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father
-and mother, for yir laddie at the Day o' Judgment."</p>
-
-<p>"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all
-His benefits?' I cannot thank you ... (the minister
-was now very weak); but you will not ... miss your
-reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me,
-Nestie."</p>
-
-<p>For a short while he slept, and they watched for
-any sign of consciousness.</p>
-
-<p>"It was too soon"—he was speaking, but not to
-them—"for Nestie ... to come, Maud; he must stay
-... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his master
-will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be
-a man, dear."</p>
-
-<p>The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing
-the face he loved and had lost awhile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute
-later he was weeping bitterly and clinging with all
-his might to the schoolmaster, who came perilously
-near to tears himself.</p>
-
-<p>"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and
-mother to ye, Nestie," said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon,
-master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary, and
-known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown
-lads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY" id="A_FAMOUS_VICTORY"></a>A FAMOUS VICTORY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">IV</h3>
-
-
-<p>The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
-our two chief enemies, the "Pennies" and McIntyres,
-there were, in the holes and corners of the town,
-obscure schools where little companies of boys got
-some kind of education and were not quite devoid of
-proper spirit. During a really respectable snow-storm—which
-lasted for a month and gave us an
-opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement
-with our rivals, so that the town of Muirtown
-was our own for the next seven days—a scouting
-party from the Seminary in search of adventures
-had an encounter with a Free Kirk school, which
-was much enjoyed and spoken about for weeks beside
-the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out
-a permanent campaign by which the boys going
-home southwards could look in from time to time on
-the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness to
-take charge of the operation. It was also said that an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
-Episcopal or Papist school—we made no subtile direct
-distinctions at the Seminary—in the northern
-district might afford some sport, and the leadership
-in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the
-other captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not
-last the whole year round even in a Scots town; but
-it was wonderful what could be done in summer by
-the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Cæsar and
-Lennie's English Grammar, and at the worst there
-always remained our fists. The pleasure of planning
-these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it
-seemed to us that by spreading our forces we might
-have perpetual warfare from January to December
-and over the length and breadth of the town, so that
-no one would be compelled to return to his home of
-an evening without the hope of a battle, and every
-street of the town would be distinguished by conflict.
-Nothing came, however, of those spirited enterprises
-that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their
-mutual quarrels, which, we understood, were very
-bitter, and entering into a covenant of falsehood—their
-lying filled us with holy indignation—attacked
-us front and rear while we were having an innocent
-game of Russians and English on the North Meadow.
-Although taken unawares and poorly provided with
-weapons we made a good fight; but in the end
-we were scattered so completely that Speug never
-reached the school again that day, for which he was
-thrashed by Bulldog next morning, and Dunc came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
-in with a front tooth gone and one black eye, for
-which he was soundly thrashed at once.</p>
-
-<p>During all that summer we denounced the amazing
-meanness of the other side, and turned over plans
-for splitting the alliance, so that we might deal with
-each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted
-a negotiation—watchfully and across the
-street, for the treachery of the other side was beyond
-description—and tried to come to terms with the
-representative of our least hated opponent. He even
-thought, and Peter was not guileless, that he had
-secured their neutrality, when they suddenly burst
-forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
-school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly.
-His feelings were not much hurt by the talk, in
-which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after he had
-abandoned negotiation and had settled down to
-vituperation, but Seminary boys whose homeward
-route took them past the hostile territories had to
-be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time
-of bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown,
-and might have finally broken its spirit had
-it not have been for the historical battle in the beginning
-of November, when McGuffie and Robertson
-led us to victory, and the power of the allies was
-smashed for years. So great, indeed, was their defeat
-that in early spring Peter has been known to
-withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the
-season and of his own personal profit, for the simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
-purpose of promenading through the enemies' sphere
-of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult
-in at their gates.</p>
-
-<p>One of the schools must have been a charity for
-the education of poor lads, since it was known to us
-as the "Penny School," and it was a familiar cry
-ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The
-Pennies are coming!" when we promptly turned out
-to give them the welcome which, to do them justice,
-they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny
-a week or a penny a month we did not know, or
-whether, indeed, they paid a penny at all, but it
-pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
-beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came
-at last to wear it proudly, like many other people who
-have been called by nicknames and turned the nickname
-into an honour, for they would follow up a
-particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's
-a penny for ye!" They were sturdy varlets, quite
-indifferent as to boots and stockings, and equally so
-as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
-Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary—whose
-boys had given pledges to respectability, and
-who had to answer searching questions as to their
-personal appearance every evening—had it not been
-for stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a
-horsedealer, did not apply an over strict standard
-of judgment to his son's manners or exploits, and
-Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
-soldier's son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline
-for the Army.</p>
-
-<p>Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial,
-but it was as nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's
-school, which called itself an academy, and had
-a Latin master and held examinations and affected
-social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew
-that the Seminary had existed in the time of Queen
-Mary, and some said went back to the days of
-William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to
-whether the present building was then in existence.
-Everyone also knew that McIntyre's whole concern
-belonged to himself, and that he collected the fees in
-every class on Friday morning, that he took home
-what was over after paying his assistants, and that
-butcher meat for the McIntyre family next week
-depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies
-from the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going
-in to get a new pair of boots at Meiklewham's would
-have a fine sense of pride in being measured by an
-old opponent whose face had often looked out on
-him from the mist of battle. This pretentious and
-windy institution even attempted the absurdity of
-a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost
-sitting in state and glaring before him with a Horace
-in his hands upside down, McIntyre's minister
-would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and courtesy
-and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary
-boy been offered the painful choice, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
-almost as soon have gone to the Pennies as to McIntyre,
-for in that case he had not been an impostor and
-a fraud.</p>
-
-<p>For a week the weather had been hovering on
-frost, and on Wednesday afternoon the snow began
-to fall with that quiet and steady downpour which
-means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great
-spirits, declaring to an admiring circle of junior boys
-that if Providence were kind and the snow continued
-there would be something worth living for at the
-dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a
-serious affair, and was conducted after a scientific
-fashion, it never commenced until there was a good
-body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could
-be gathered up without earth and stones. The unpardonable
-sin of our warfare was slipping a stone
-into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the
-wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime
-was cast out from every school. There was a general
-understanding between parties that the mercies
-were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to
-refrain themselves until there was a fair and lasting
-supply of ammunition. It was still snowing on
-Thursday morning, and there were some who said
-that war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson,
-ever a daring and rash spirit, declared we should
-repent it if we were not ready against one o'clock.
-Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing
-was likely to take place that day except desultory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
-skirmishes, and that the whole day ought to be spent
-in accumulating a store of snowballs against Friday,
-when there was no question that we should have to
-face the united schools in a decisive battle. This
-was the only instance where our captains ever made
-a mistake, and they atoned for their error of judgment
-by the valour and skill with which they
-retrieved what seemed a hopeless defeat.</p>
-
-<p>As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could
-be seen glancing anxiously out at the window, and
-he secured an opportunity with Dunc for a hasty
-conference during the geometry lesson. About a
-quarter to one he turned from his slate and cocked
-his ear, and in two minutes afterwards every boy in
-Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had
-begun and that we had been taken by surprise.
-Scouts from McIntyre's, as we afterwards learned,
-had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a
-school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our
-playground. They had carried back news that we
-were not yet prepared for battle, and our firm opinion
-was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's
-had allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in
-order to take us at a disadvantage. Before the bell
-rang and the senior classes were dismissed the Seminary
-knew that our enemies had seized the field of
-battle, but we did not know until we came out the
-extent of the disaster.</p>
-
-<p>The Pennies had come down the back street and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
-had established themselves opposite the narrow
-entrance between two sheds through which three
-only could walk abreast from our playground to the
-street. They had also sent a daring body of their
-lighter and more agile lads to the top of the sheds
-which separated our playground from the street, and
-they had conveyed down an enormous store of
-ammunition, so that the courtyard was absolutely at
-their mercy, and anyone emerging from the corridor
-was received with a shower of well-made and hard
-snowballs against which there was no standing.
-Even if we ran this risk and crossed the open space
-we could then be raked by the fire from the shed,
-and a charge through the narrow passage to the
-street would be in the last degree hazardous. There
-were twelve feet of passage, and there were not
-many who would care to face a stream of snowballs
-driven by the vigorous hands of the Pennies down
-this passage as through a pipe. Instead of meeting
-our enemies on the street, we had been penned up
-within our own school. McIntyre's had come down
-the terrace and seized an excellent position behind
-two Russian guns which stood opposite our school
-and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They
-had made these guns into a kind of fort, from behind
-whose shelter, reinforced by a slight barricade of
-jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had
-driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless
-discomfiture. It came upon us that we had been
-shut up back and front, and shut up with the poorest
-supply of snowballs and very little snow with which
-to repair our resources.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 403px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i066" id="i066"></a><img src="images/i066.jpg" width="403" height="600" alt=""Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Seized an excellent position behind two Russian guns."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>While the younger boys raged and stormed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
-safety of the corridors, Dunc and Speug retired for
-consultation. In two minutes they came out and
-gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered
-together round the "well" and in the "well," and
-on the stairs and along the corridors. It was at this
-moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name
-which he covered with glory before the close of the
-day. As he had no class between twelve and one,
-he had been observing events, and with the aid of
-two or three other little boys had done what he could
-to repair the neglect of yesterday. In spite of a rain
-of snowballs he had availed himself of a sheltered
-corner in the playground and had worked without
-ceasing at the preparation of the balls. Every ball
-as it was made was dipped into a pail of water and
-then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was
-soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two
-hundred balls ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head
-on his shoulders. Now," said Speug, speaking from
-halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for
-a beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to
-the open. As soon as we've cleared the background
-every ane o' the two junior classes is to mak' balls as
-hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the
-fighting line.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions;
-Dunc will take thirty of ye and drive McIntyre
-frae the guns and along the terrace till ye turn them
-into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye—and I want
-nae Dowbiggins—'ll come with me, and we'll bring
-the Pennies aff the shed quicker than they got up,
-and drive them up the back streets till we land them
-wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors
-'ill keep us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and
-me will ken the reason at two o'clock.</p>
-
-<p>"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows
-that can run and are no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll
-rin round by the North Street and the Cathedral and
-come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut
-off McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools.
-Dae nothin' till ye see Dunc and me drivin' the lot
-up Breadalbane Street, then come down from the
-back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin'
-they'll be wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a'
-be done."</p>
-
-<p>Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch,
-each boy supplied with two balls and with twenty
-youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's
-balls were falling on the front wall and coming in
-through the porch. One of them struck Dunc on the
-side of the head, but he forbade any return fire.</p>
-
-<p>"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the
-better for us"; and then, looking round, "Are ye
-ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary! Semi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>nary!"
-he led his division across the terrace and fell
-upon McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short,
-sharp scrimmage, during which Dunc levelled the
-leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began to
-retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand
-encounter and scuffle on the snow. As
-soon as Dunc's division had cleared the front, Jock
-Howieson collected his lads and started along the
-terrace in the opposite direction at a sharp run,
-carrying no balls, for they intended to make them
-on the scene of operation. When the other two
-divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful
-band. "MacFarlane, take six birkies, climb up the
-waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed, couping
-the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad
-at the fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o'
-the left-hand shed, and 'gin ye can clout that Penny
-that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach him to keep in
-the street next day.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie
-and Jamie Johnston 'ill lead ye down the passage.
-We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak' 'em,
-and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in
-yir hand. Pit yir bonnits in yir pocket—they'll no
-be muckle use—button yir jackets, and when the
-three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow
-close in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug,
-who was in his glory that day. "I'll need a laddie
-to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a laddie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
-that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time."
-Below thirty of the junior school were waiting and
-looking at Speug like dogs for a biscuit. He threw
-his eye over the group, any one of which would have
-given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown
-in a cricket bat and his last kite, to have been chosen.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white
-and ye're terrible polite, but there's a sperit in ye.
-Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and noo, you juniors,
-aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's
-well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a
-ball when we drive the Pennies down the back road."
-Then Speug moved to the back corridor and arranged
-his division, with Nestie behind him, and
-Bauldie and Jamie Johnston on the right hand and
-on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's detachments
-close behind, who were to turn off to the right
-hand and the left as they emerged from the corridor;
-the rest were to follow Speug through the passage of
-danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in the
-hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see
-that they would leave a mark when they struck a
-Penny. The third he took in his right hand, and
-Nestie had the reserve.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better
-gae in and sit doun beside the fire with the Dowbiggins,"
-and since nobody responded to this genial
-invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and
-in a minute was across the playground and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
-mouth of the passage, while Mackenzie and MacFarlane
-were already scrambling up the walls of the
-sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and
-sending his first ball direct into the face of the foremost
-Penny, and following it up with a second and
-a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a
-catapolt, and receiving anything from twelve to
-twenty balls between him and Bauldie and Johnston,
-the three led the way down the passage, Nestie close
-behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls.
-They met at the outer end of the passage—the Pennies
-and Speug's lot—and for about thirty seconds
-they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting,
-shouting boy life, and then, so steady was the play
-of Speug's fists, so able the assistance of the other
-two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so rapid
-the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among
-the Pennies, the Pennies gave way and Speug and
-his band burst into the back street, the leader with his
-jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars
-of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the
-balls behind him.</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face
-to face in the back street, with a space of about ten
-yards between, and both parties made arrangements
-for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies
-could be seen bringing balls from Breadalbane
-Street, and the Pennies themselves made such hasty
-readjustments of their negligent attire as were ren<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>dered
-necessary by the vigour of the last fighting.
-Their commander was a sturdy lad about fifteen
-years of age, with a great shock of red hair and fists
-like iron. His favourite method of charge was to
-lead his army in the form of an inverted V, he being
-himself at the apex, and to force his way through
-the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug
-did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself
-in the centre and threw out his two lieutenants far
-out on the right hand and on the left, so that when
-the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his
-division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right
-and left flanks—tactics which in Speug's experience
-always caused dismay in the attacking force. The
-younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample
-resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers
-without jackets now or bonnets, and as they brought
-out the supplies of balls through the passage of
-victory they received nods of approval from Speug,
-each nod being something like a decoration. It was
-fine to see Speug examining the balls to see that they
-were properly made and of a hardness which would
-give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.</p>
-
-<p>Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude.
-When the Seminary lads fought their way
-through the passage they cut off the retreat of three
-Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on
-the top of the right-hand shed.</p>
-
-<p>"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
-ironic politeness; "that's no' the ordinar' road into
-the Seminary;" and then, as they hesitated on the
-edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in
-these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he
-said, "naebody 'ill touch ye"; and then he ordered
-an open passage to be made through the ranks of the
-Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate
-Pennies walked, no one laying a hand upon
-them, but various humourists expressing their hopes
-that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that it
-wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a
-black eye, that they hoped one of them hadn't lost his
-jacket on the roof of the shed, and that they were
-none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected
-to meet them later on—which gracious salutations
-the Pennies received in bitter silence as they
-ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped clear
-of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the
-two armies they turned round with insulting gestures,
-and one of them cried, "Ye'll get yir paiks
-(thrashing) for this or the day be done!"</p>
-
-<p>Their arrival among their friends and the slight
-commotion which it caused in the front ranks of the
-Pennies was a chance for Speug, who gave the signal
-for the charge and made himself directly for the
-leader of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of
-time can describe the conflict between the two
-leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at close
-distance, every one going to its mark, and one leav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>ing
-an indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous
-forehead. They then came to close grip, and there
-was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for
-many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual,
-they fell upon wrestling, and here it seemed
-that Redhead must have the advantage, for he was
-taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During
-the wrestle there was something like a lull in the
-fighting, and both Pennies and Seminaries, now
-close together, held their hands till Speug, with a
-cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by
-an English groom in his father's stable, got the advantage,
-and the two champions came down in the
-snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a
-shout of triumph, and the scouts running to and fro
-with the balls behind joined in with, "Well done,
-Speug!"</p>
-
-<p>Speug had all the instincts of a true general and
-was not the man to spend his time in unprofitable
-exultation. It was a great chance to take the Pennies
-when they were without their leader and discomfited
-by his fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving
-his way through the midst of the enemy, who were
-now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and
-Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on
-either side and were attacking them in parallel lines.
-MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down from the
-shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear
-of the Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
-was almost helpless in the confusion, and thought it
-the best strategy to make a rush to the clear ground
-in the rear of his position, calling his followers after
-him; and now the Pennies gathered at the far end of
-the street, beaten in tactics and in fighting, but ever
-strong in heart, and full of insolence. "That," said
-Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief
-which he carried in his trousers pocket, and
-hastily attending to some of his wounds, "that
-wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit
-close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties
-as Bauldie and Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie,
-all bearing scars, clustered round their commander
-with expressions of admiration. "Yon was
-a bonny twirl, and you coupit him weel." "Sall,
-they've gotten their licks," while Speug modestly
-disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the
-Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and
-that Redhead nearly got the mastery.</p>
-
-<p>At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was
-heard in the rear of the Pennies, and Speug knew
-that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the
-full length of the terrace and was now fighting them
-in Breadalbane Street. "Forward!" cried Speug.
-"Dunc's on the back of them," and Redhead at the
-same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering
-his retreat with a shower of balls, and united
-with McIntyre's, who were retiring before Robertson
-and the second division of the Seminaries. Amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
-cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan
-met where the back street opens into Breadalbane
-Street, and their divisions amalgamated, exchanging
-notes on the battle and examining one another's personal
-appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen,
-and not many jackets, which had either been left
-behind or thrown off or torn off in personal conflict
-with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but
-that no one could tell, and there were some whose
-waistcoats were now held by one button. Two or
-three also had been compelled to drop out of active
-battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their
-faces with snow and trusting to be able to see clear
-enough for the final charge; and still the juniors
-were making their balls and had established a new
-magazine at the end of the terrace. Several of these
-impenitent little wretches had themselves been in the
-thick of the fight, and could be seen pointing proudly
-to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What
-a time certain mothers would have that evening when
-their warriors came home, some of them without
-caps, which would never be recovered, most of them
-with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of
-them with disfigured faces, all of them drenched to
-the skin, and every one of them full of infinite satisfaction
-and gladness of heart! Their fathers, who
-had heard about the battle before they came home
-and had not failed to discover who had won, being
-all Seminary lads themselves, would also be much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
-lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the
-savagery of their boys, would wonder where the police
-were, would threaten their sons with all manner of
-punishments if this ever happened again, and would
-declare their intention of laying a complaint before
-the chief constable. As, however, it was absolutely
-necessary in the interests of justice that the whole
-facts should be known before they took action, they
-would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative,
-with every personal conflict and ruse of war, from
-their sons, and only when the last incident had been
-related would announce their grave and final displeasure.</p>
-
-<p>As for the police, who were not numerous in
-Muirtown, and who lived on excellent good terms
-with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have
-a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming
-on, and were detained by important duty in distant
-streets. It was always, however, believed by the
-Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at
-the distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at
-the far extremity of Breadalbane Street, following
-the fight with rapt attention, and in the case of the
-Pennies winning, which had been their own school,
-smacking their lips and slapping their hands under
-pretence of warming themselves in the cold weather,
-and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching
-off in opposite directions, lest they should be
-tempted to interfere, which they would have con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>sidered
-contrary to the rules of fair play, and giving
-their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some
-ingenuous modern person will ask, "What were the
-masters of the Seminary about during this hour?"
-The Rector was sitting by the fire in his retiring-room,
-reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint
-sounds of war reached his ears he would stir the fire
-and lament, like the quiet old scholar that he was,
-that Providence had made him ruler of such a band
-of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope
-that his barbarians would not come off second. As
-for Bulldog, his mind was torn between two delights—the
-anticipation of the exercise which he would
-have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were
-having to-day—and nothing more entirely endeared
-Bulldog to his savages than the fact that, instead of
-going home to dinner during this hour, which was
-his usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit.
-He was obliged to buy it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane
-Street, from which he could command a perfect
-view of the whole battle, especially as he happened
-to stand in the doorway of the shop, and never
-returned to school till the crisis of war was over. He
-was careful to explain to the school that he had himself
-gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders
-in mischief, and it was on such an occasion that
-Speug, keeping his right cheek immovable towards
-Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with
-irresistible effect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown
-Seminary, who had been a sergeant in the Black
-Watch and had been wounded three times in the
-Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector
-and reinforced by all law-abiding parents, were to
-prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the school
-for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such
-an unfortunate affair take place he was directed to
-plunge into the midst and by force of arm to bring
-the Seminaries home to their own fireside, leaving
-rough and rude schools like the Pennies and
-McIntyre's to fight at their wicked will. For did
-not the Seminary lads move in polite society, except
-Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have
-become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to
-say nothing of bailies on the bench and elders of the
-Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal McGlashan
-carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter
-as in the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations
-which Speug and he had together in anticipation
-of the snow time, when you may believe
-if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting
-Speug to obedience and gentleness, or if you please
-that he was giving the commander of the Seminary
-certain useful hints which he himself had picked up
-from the "red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that
-when the Seminaries went out that day in battle
-array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires
-with great diligence, so that he was not able to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
-them depart. Afterwards it was the merest duty for
-him to stand at the end of the passage of victory, lest
-the Pennies or any other person should venture on
-another outrage; and if he was late in calling his
-boys back from Breadalbane Street, that was only
-because the cold had made his wounds to smart
-again, and he could only follow them in the rear till
-the battle was over. When the evil was done there
-was no use of vain regret, and in the afternoon the
-sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts
-of the battle from one and another, and then he
-would declare that there were lads in Muirtown Seminary
-who would have done well at Inkermann and
-the storming of the Redan.</p>
-
-<p>Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight,
-with the back road to the Seminary on the right
-hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the Pennies
-on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations,
-for it gave opportunity for deploying in divisions,
-for front attack and for flank, as well as for
-royal charges which extended across the street. McIntyres
-and Pennies had been recruited from their
-several schools and supplied afresh with ammunition.
-Redhead took command of the united force
-and arranged them across the street in his favourite
-wedge, with the base resting on the home street,
-and this time he gave the signal, and so impetuous
-was their charge that they drove their way almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
-through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself,
-through sheer weight of attack, was laid flat in
-the middle of the street. Robertson and his officers
-rallied their forces, but it was possible that the Seminaries
-might have lost the day had it not been for the
-masterly foresight of Speug and the opportune
-arrival of Jock Howieson. That worthy had
-taken his division by a circuitous route, in
-which they had been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal
-school which wanted a fight on its own account
-and had to receive some passing attention. A little
-late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then,
-judging it better not to come down Breadalbane
-Street, where his attack would have been exposed,
-he made his way on the right of the street by
-passages known only to himself, and having supplied
-his division with ammunition from a snow-drift in a
-back entry, he came into the home street, which was
-the only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them
-off from their base. Leaving a handful of lads to
-prevent the scouts coming out from the Pennies or
-the McIntyres with information, and driving before
-him the ammunition train of the enemy, he came
-round into Breadalbane Street with twenty-five
-tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and
-just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting
-man to have spent something like half an hour wandering
-round circuitous streets and holding ridicu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>lous
-conflicts with unknown schools when the battle
-of Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown,
-was hanging in the balance.</p>
-
-<p>Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the
-new division they were upon his rear, and a play of
-snowballs fell upon the back of the Pennies. This
-was more than even veteran forces could endure, and
-in spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired
-his balls alternately back and forward, his forces fell
-into a panic. They broke and drove their way
-through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment
-from balls fired at a distance of a few feet,
-and then, in spite of the efforts of their officers, who
-fought till they were black and blue, but chiefly red,
-the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping
-the rearguard of Howieson's before them like
-straws in a stream, made for their respective schools.
-The Seminaries in one united body, headed by the
-three commanders and attended by the whole junior
-school, visited the Pennies' school first, whose gates
-were promptly closed, and having challenged the
-Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and
-fight like men—Redhead being offered the chance of
-single combat with Dunc or Speug or Jock Howieson—the
-Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's
-Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning
-had no gate, Speug led the Seminaries into the
-centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys having no
-spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>rooms.
-As they would not come out, in spite of a
-shower of courteous invitations, Speug stood in the
-centre of their courtyard and called the gods to witness
-that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries
-had won. A marvellous figure was he, without
-bonnet, without collar, without tie, without
-jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but
-a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers,
-but glorious in victory. Taking a snowball from
-Nestie, who was standing by his side, openly and in
-face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window,
-he sent it with unerring aim through the largest pane
-of glass in McIntyre's own room. "That," said
-Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here."
-Then he collected his forces and led them home down
-the cross street and into Breadalbane Street, down
-the middle of Breadalbane Street, and round the terrace,
-and in by the front door into the Seminary.
-As they came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and
-the juniors, who had rushed on before, met
-them at the door and gave three cheers, first for
-Speug, then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson,
-which homage and tribute of victory Speug received
-with affected contempt but great pride of heart.
-In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful
-henchman, little Nestie Molyneux, who, always
-a delicate-looking little laddie, was now an altogether
-abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping hair, and
-battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
-the whole school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and
-although since then he has been in many places and
-has had various modest triumphs, that still remains
-the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY" id="HIS_PRIVATE_CAPACITY"></a>HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">V</h3>
-
-
-<p>It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
-to live in public and shake hands with every person;
-but absolute monarchs, who govern with an iron
-hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public
-mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had
-walked homeward with his boys in an affectionate
-manner, and inquired after their sisters, like his temporary
-assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting
-babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp,
-the drawing-master—Augustus de Lacy Topp—who
-wore a brown velvet jacket and represented
-sentiment in a form verging on lunacy; or if he had
-invited his classes to drink coffee in a very shabby
-little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to
-Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson,
-the stupidest lad in the Seminary, would have been
-shocked, and would have felt that the Creation was
-out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog
-was polite conversation, or private hospitality.
-His speech was confined to the class-room, and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
-was most practical; and his hospitality, which was
-generous and widespread, was invariably public. His
-<i>rôle</i> was to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted
-above feeling, and had it not been for Nestie he had
-sustained it to the day of his death.</p>
-
-<p>Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting
-that he had approached his century, others being
-content with "Weel on to eighty." None hinted at
-less than seventy. No one could remember his coming
-to Muirtown, and none knew whence he came.
-His birthplace was commonly believed to be the West
-Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing with a
-case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic.
-Bailie McCallum used to refer in convivial moments
-to his schooldays under Bulldog, and always left it
-to be inferred that had it not been for that tender,
-fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in
-Muirtown. Fathers of families who were elders in
-the kirk, and verging on grey hair, would hear no
-complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the
-yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with
-profit—they now said—was good enough for their
-children. He seemed to us in those days like Melchizedek,
-without father or mother, beginning or end
-of days; and now that Bulldog has lain for many a
-year in a quiet Perthshire kirkyard, it is hardly worth
-while visiting Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the
-bridge at 8.45, with such rigid punctuality that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
-clerks in the Post Office checked the clock by him,
-and he returned by the way he had gone, over the
-North Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom
-to close the administration of discipline at the
-same hour as the teaching, considering with justice
-that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather take
-the cane than be kept in, where from the windows
-he could see the North Meadow in its greenness, and
-the river running rapidly on an afternoon. It
-would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in
-a Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked
-and could not have maintained his necessary
-reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house
-upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown
-from the other side of the river. It was a hill
-which began with wood and ended in a lofty crag;
-and even from his house, halfway up and among the
-trees, Bulldog could look down upon Muirtown,
-compactly built together on the plain beneath, and
-thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily
-from its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that
-Bulldog gave himself to poetry, but having once
-varied his usual country holiday by a visit to Italy,
-he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that
-Muirtown reminded him of Florence as you saw that
-city from Fiesole, with the ancient kirk of St. John
-rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay instead of
-the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage
-in her cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
-the Arno was but a poor, shrunken river compared
-with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been
-born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown,
-and always believed that there was no river to
-be found anywhere like unto the Tay. His garden
-was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance
-was by a wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within
-these walls no one knew, but many had imagined.
-Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced
-Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the
-archway, and then it was in their plan to form a
-ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from the
-top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior
-and observe Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's
-courage failed at the critical moment, and they returned
-without news to the disappointed school.</p>
-
-<p>Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in
-those days, but the hardest heart was touched with
-compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his father
-and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced
-in their master; but it was with trembling,
-and the thought of spending the evening hours and
-all one's spare time in his genial company excited
-our darkest imagination. To write our copy-books
-and do our problems under Bulldog's eye was a
-bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to life,
-but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond
-words.</p>
-
-<p>As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
-was never perfectly happy except when he was plying
-the cane, it was taken for granted that Nestie
-would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the
-afternoon of one day to the morning of the next, and
-when Nestie appeared, on the third morning after his
-change of residence, the school was waiting to receive
-him.</p>
-
-<p>His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side,
-with his hands in his pockets, talking at his ease and
-laughing lightly, amazed us on first sight, but did not
-count for much, because we considered this manner
-a policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy.
-After all, he was only doing what every one of us
-would have done in the same circumstances—conciliating
-the tyrant and covering his own sufferings.
-We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with
-his guardian, and then we closed in round him and
-licked our lips, for the story that Nestie could tell
-would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.</p>
-
-<p>Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with
-questions which came in a fine confusion from many
-voices, and to which he was hardly expected to give
-an immediate answer.</p>
-
-<p>"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has
-Bulldog tawse in the house?" "Div ye catch it
-regular?" "Does he come after you to your bedroom?"
-"Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden
-door locked?" "Could ye climb over the wall if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
-he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let ye
-bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons
-a' night?" "What does Bulldog eat for his dinner?"
-"Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he ever say
-onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog
-sleeping?" "Are ye feared to be with him?"
-"Would the police take ye away if he was hurting
-ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?"
-"Would he let ye make gundy (candy) by the
-kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at yir
-books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?"
-"What do ye call him in the house?" "Would ye
-call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy if
-the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in
-the garden?" "Would ye daur to lay a finger on
-them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?"
-"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?"
-And then Speug interfered, and commanded silence
-that Nestie might satisfy the curiosity of the school.</p>
-
-<p>"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite
-form of address. "Noo, Nestie, come awa' wi' yir
-evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm
-getting on with Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with
-fun, for he'd a nice little sense of humour, and never
-could resist the temptation of letting it play upon our
-slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare
-you seem to know all about what h-happens. I'll
-j-just tell you something about it, but it'll make you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
-creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round
-Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and
-if I'm not down at half-past, Bulldog comes for me
-with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point rubbed himself
-behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six
-'p-props' from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions"
-(a groan from the school): "for breakfast we've
-porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with
-Bulldog—one, two, three, four—with the spoonfuls.
-He's got the c-cane on the table." ("Gosh" from a
-boy at the back, and general sympathy.) "He has
-the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy."
-("It cowes all.") "There are three regular c-canings
-every day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon,
-and one before you go to bed." At this point
-Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to
-Nestie's account, and knew that he had a luxuriant
-imagination, interfered.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little
-scoundrel, and ye're telling lees straicht forward,"
-and the school went into the class-room divided in
-opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been
-feeding their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but
-others were inclined to believe anything of Bulldog's
-household arrangements. During the hour Speug
-studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in
-the break he laid hold of that ingenious young
-gentleman by the ear and led him apart into a quiet
-corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
-Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear which
-shook even that worthy's composure.</p>
-
-<p>"Did ye say rabbits?"</p>
-
-<p>"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence,
-and Speug was more confounded than he had ever
-been in all his blameless life.</p>
-
-<p>"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if
-ye tell lees."</p>
-
-<p>"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell
-lies, but sometimes I compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits,
-and he feeds them himself."</p>
-
-<p>"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"—for this was
-with us the final test of truth.</p>
-
-<p>"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon
-Speug had so much to think about that he
-gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him
-with nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably
-correct drawing of two lop-eared rabbits.</p>
-
-<p>Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow
-together after school, and before they parted at the
-bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit in his
-new home that evening from Speug; but, although
-modesty was not Speug's prevailing characteristic,
-he would on no account accept the flattering invitation.
-Maybe he was going to drive with his father,
-who was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was
-going out on the river in a boat, or maybe the stable
-gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose for a
-run, or maybe——</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 348px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i092" id="i092"></a><img src="images/i092.jpg" width="348" height="600" alt=""Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
-Speug, for once in your life," said Nestie, who, his
-head on one side, was studying Speug's embarrassment.</p>
-
-<p>"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug,
-turning a dark red at this insult. "Nane o' yir
-impidence."</p>
-
-<p>"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie,
-and dodged at the same time behind a lamp-post.
-"Why, Speug, I didn't know you were f-frightened
-of anything."</p>
-
-<p>"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it
-had been Jock Howieson said that, I'd black his eyes.
-What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable little
-shrimp?"</p>
-
-<p>"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but
-just let me g-guess. It might be climbing the hill;
-or did you think you might meet one of the 'Pennies,'
-and he would fight you; or, Speug—an idea occurs
-to me—do you feel as if you did not want to spend
-an hour—just a nice, quiet hour—all alone with
-Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in
-the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm
-ashamed of you, when poor little me has to live with
-him now every day."</p>
-
-<p>"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll
-learn ye to give me chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog,
-and I dinna care if he chases me round the
-garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"You <i>are</i> afraid, Speug; you <i>dare</i> not come." And
-Nestie kept carefully out of Speug's reach.</p>
-
-<p>"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this
-very night at seven o'clock, but I'll no come in unless
-ye're at the garden door."</p>
-
-<p>Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day,
-and was afraid neither of man nor beast, but his
-heart sank within him for the first time in his life
-when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to
-the residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing
-but his pledged word, and a reputation for courage
-which must not be tarnished, since it rested on nothing
-else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door.
-He was before his time, and Nestie had not yet come
-to meet him, and he could allow his imagination
-to picture what was within the walls, and what might
-befall his unfortunate self before he went down that
-lane again. His one consolation and support was in
-the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the case, as Nestie
-had sworn with an oath which never had been broken
-at the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that
-dreadful enclosure, there was hope for him; for if he
-knew about anything, he knew about rabbits, and if
-anyone had to do with rabbits—and although it was
-incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?—there
-must be some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog.
-Speug began to speculate whether he might not
-be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits
-and examine thoroughly into their condition, and es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>cape
-from the garden without a personal interview
-with its owner; and at the thought thereof Speug's
-heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had
-delighted the Seminary, none, for its wonder and
-daring, its sheer amazingness, could be compared
-with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie,"
-he murmured to himself, as he remembered that little
-Englishman's prodigal imagination, "is a maist extraordinary
-leear, but he said 'as sure as death.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have
-opened the door. Come along and shake hands with
-the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And
-Speug was dragged along the walk between the
-gooseberry bushes, which in no other circumstances
-would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up
-to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution.
-He heard someone coming down the walk,
-and he lifted up his eyes to know the worst, and in
-that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted
-the unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for
-the like of that countenance could not be found on
-any other man within the United Kingdom of Great
-Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that
-Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of
-justice. The nose and the chin, and the iron-grey
-whiskers and hair, and above all those revolving
-eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what
-had happened to Bulldog's face, for it was like unto
-that of another man? The sternness had gone out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
-it, and—there was no doubt about it—Bulldog was
-smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and
-irresistible smile. It had taken the iron lines out of his
-face and shaped his lips to the kindliest curve, and deprived
-his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed the
-judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given
-him—it was a positive fact—another pair of eyes.
-They still revolved, but not now like the guns in the
-turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and left.
-They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light
-from a harbour tower. There never was such a
-genial and humoursome face, so full of fun and humanity,
-as that which looked down on the speechless
-Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation.
-Where were the pepper-and-salt trousers
-and the formal black coat and vest, which seemed
-somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's
-reign? and the hat, and the gloves, and the
-stick—what had become of his trappings? Was
-there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers,
-down at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the
-seams, as those that covered the feet of Bulldog in
-that garden. The very sight of those slippers, with
-their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and
-ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism,
-was the first thing which cheered the
-heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no
-problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to
-scorn. Where did he ever get those trousers, and
-from whose hands did they originally come, baggy
-at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden
-mould and torn with garden bushes?</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 387px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i096" id="i096"></a><img src="images/i096.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt=""Speug was dragged along the walk."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Speug was dragged along the walk."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
-place on the side of the hill; but would any person
-believe that the master of mathematics, besides
-writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was
-going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two
-of his pupils, without the vestige of a waistcoat.
-Speug now was braced for wonders, but even he was
-startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of
-earlier age than the trousers, with which it had no
-connexion in colour. It may once have had four buttons,
-but only two were left now; there was a tear in
-its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden
-wall, the handle of a hammer projected from
-one pocket, and a pruning-knife from the other. And
-if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in
-the side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was
-a knife in his hand, with six blades and a corkscrew
-and a gimlet and the thing for taking the stones out
-of a horse's hoof—oath again repeated—and Bulldog
-was trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his
-finger. Speug, now ascending from height to height,
-was not surprised to see no necktie, and would have
-been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a
-wild hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it
-might be crowned with a Highland bonnet, minus the
-tails; but instead thereof there was a hat, possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured,
-and worn so rakishly, partly on the back
-and partly on the side of his head, that Speug was
-inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could befall
-him in that garden.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing
-figure. "Ye've been long of coming. There's
-something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened up
-the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce
-his knife, which was not so bad after all, for it had
-six departments, and one of them was a file, which
-was wanting in Bulldog's.</p>
-
-<p>"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie.
-"It's split more tops than any one in the school;
-it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its deadly steel
-point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to
-look unconscious as the owner of this instrument of
-war.</p>
-
-<p>"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's
-many a year since I've spun a top. Where's yir
-string?" and he strode up the walk winding the top,
-and the boys behind looked at one another, while
-Nestie triumphed openly.</p>
-
-<p>"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered.
-"Ain't he great? And just you wait; you haven't
-begun to see things yet, not h-half."</p>
-
-<p>Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a
-right hand that had not lost its cunning, but rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
-had been strengthened by much cane exercise. "It's
-sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to
-touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its
-time, and the three hung over that top with fond interest,
-as Bulldog timed the performance with his
-watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master.
-"I would like to have yir advice," and as they went
-down through the garden they halted at a place, and
-the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and
-took crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on
-the thrushes bade him welcome, and he showed the
-boys where the swallows had built every year, and
-they also flew round his head.</p>
-
-<p>"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be
-afraid o' you, will they, Dandie?" and the old terrier
-which followed at his heels wagged his tail and indicated
-that he also was on good terms with every
-living thing in the garden.</p>
-
-<p>No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to
-believe it, even although Speug tried to inculcate
-faith with his fists, that Bulldog had carried out a
-litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and
-that, before the three of them laid themselves out for
-a supper of strawberries, Speug had given to his
-master the best knowledge at his command on the
-amount of green food which might be given with
-safety to a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
-with authority that a moderate amount of tea-leaves
-and oatmeal might be allowed as an occasional
-dainty.</p>
-
-<p>After the attack on the strawberries, in which
-Speug greatly distinguished himself, and Bulldog
-urged him on with encouraging words, they had
-tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign
-of cane or tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the
-corks himself, and managed once to drench Speug
-gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with
-his famous red handkerchief and was inordinately
-proud, while Nestie declared that the thing had been
-done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened him with
-the tawse for insulting his master.</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of
-rock before ye go," and Bulldog produced the only
-rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth
-eating—Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure,
-and rich, and well-flavoured; and when Speug knew
-not whether to choose the peppermint, that is black
-and white, or the honey rock, which is brown and
-creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was
-red outside and white within, his host insisted that
-he should take a piece of each, and they would last
-him till he reached his home.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at
-the garden gate, "ye're the most aggravating little
-scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and the devilry
-that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
-fine company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and
-Nestie and me will be glad to see ye when ye're no
-engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget to come,
-Peter."</p>
-
-<p>Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely
-among the rabbits, again forsook him, but he was
-able to indicate that he would seize an early opportunity
-of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald
-MacKinnon in his own home; and when Bulldog
-thrashed him next day for not having prepared an
-exercise the night before, the incident only seemed
-to complete Speug's pride and satisfaction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_DISGRACE_OF" id="THE_DISGRACE_OF"></a>THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VI</h3>
-
-
-<p>Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-of the Seminary by various efforts to improve
-its mind and manners, but when he proposed at the
-beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays
-with botanical excursions to Kilspindie Woods,
-which, as everybody knows, are three miles from
-Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt
-that if there was any moral order in the universe
-something must happen. From the middle of September,
-when the school opened, on to the beginning
-of October, when football started, our spare time was
-given to kites, which we flew from the North Meadow
-in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug
-had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon
-upon it painted in blue and yellow and red—the red
-for the fire coming out of his mouth—and a tail of
-eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened with
-a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could
-have launched the monster from the ground—bigger
-than Peter by a foot—and nursed it through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in
-the higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the
-dragon was but the size of a man's hand in the clear
-autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon his
-back, with his hands below his head, and the stick
-with the kite string beneath his feet, and gaze up at
-the speck above, with an expression so lifted above
-this present world that a circle of juniors could only
-look at him with silent admiration and speculate
-whether they would ever become so good and
-great.</p>
-
-<p>It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying
-was chiefly done upon your back, for it gave endless
-opportunities for intricate man[oe]uvres and spectacular
-display. When Peter was in the vein he would
-collect twelve mighties—each with a kite worth seeing—and
-bringing the kites low enough for the glory
-of their size and tails to be visible they would turn
-and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and
-distance with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan
-would watch the review with keen interest
-and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the
-band would work their way up to the head of the
-Meadow in the teeth of a north-wester, and forming
-in line, with half a dozen yards between each boy,
-would let the kites go and follow them at the run as
-the kites tore through the air and almost pulled their
-owners' arms out of the sockets. It was so fine a
-demonstration that the women bleaching their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-clothes would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's
-shirts to let Speug keep his course—knowing very
-well that he would have kept it otherwise over the
-shirts—and golfers, who expect everyone to get out
-of their way on pain of sudden death, would stop
-upon the putting green to see the kites go down in
-the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded
-at their heels. If the housewives shook their heads
-as they spread out the shirts on the grass again—weighing
-them down with clean stones that they
-might not follow the kites—it was with secret delight,
-for there is no wholesome woman who does
-not rejoice in a boy and regard his most vexatious
-mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod,
-the keenest of golfers and the most touchy of Celts,
-declared that this condemned old Island was not dead
-yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy
-young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty
-ploy that Mr. Byles proposed to take the Seminary
-for a botanical excursion.</p>
-
-<p>It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr.
-Byles announced the new departure, and, even if
-Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an inscrutable
-countenance, the school was too much amazed
-to interrupt. Having touched on the glories of the
-creation amid which we lived, Mr. Byles pointed out,
-in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen
-terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics
-as they all did so diligently—Jock Howieson's eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
-turned instinctively to Bulldog's cane—but they must
-also know some natural science in order to become,
-as he hoped they would, cultured men—Speug was
-just able to cast a longing glance at Thomas John.
-That no pursuit was easier and more delightful than
-botany, especially among wild flowers. That on
-Saturday he proposed to go with as many as would
-join him to ransack the treasures of Kilspindie
-Woods. That these woods were very rich, he believed,
-in flowers, among which he mentioned wild
-geraniums—at which the school began to recover
-and rustle. That the boys might dry the geraniums
-and make books for Christmas presents with them,
-and that he hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary
-containing all the wild flowers of the district. The
-school was now getting into good spirits, and Bulldog
-allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy
-who desired to improve his mind was to put on his
-oldest suit and bring a bag to carry the plants in and
-be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow.
-Then Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk
-with energy and dismissed the school, and Nestie told
-Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.</p>
-
-<p>Outside the school gathered together on the terrace
-around the Russian guns, which was our Forum,
-and after five seconds' pause, during which we gathered
-inspiration from each others' faces, a great
-shout of laughter went up to the sky, full-toned,
-unanimous, prolonged. Any sense of humour in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
-Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany
-class, with expeditions, was irresistible.</p>
-
-<p>"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely
-tickled; "it cowes a'. An' what was the
-ither flooer—'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be
-poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be
-making a book for a present to Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins,
-who were making off, as mass meetings did
-not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir feet
-or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if
-ye do. Give us a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then
-there was instant silence, for Nestie had a nice little
-trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a
-school where delicate gifts were rare.</p>
-
-<p>"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his
-hand with Mr. Byles's favourite polite deprecating
-gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear boys,
-that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet,
-Peter McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed,
-and I 'ope, I mean h-hope, you will make an effort to
-l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common object of
-Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands—Howieson,
-I must ask you not to annoy Thomas
-John Dowbiggin—the c-colour is a lovely gold, and
-yet—no talking, if you please, it is r-rude—we pass
-it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take
-a dandelion h-home to his sister. Now go hout ...
-or rather out, quietly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried
-Bauldie; and Johnston passed a half stick of gundy
-to Nestie to refresh him after his labours. "Are ony
-o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles
-traking thro' the Kilspindie Woods, with thae
-bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his heels, carryin' an
-airmful o' roots and sic like."</p>
-
-<p>"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o'
-Byles and a litter o' Dowbiggins!"—and Jock was
-very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a procession
-o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe
-airm in airm!"</p>
-
-<p>This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the
-matter for the Seminary, as a score of its worthies
-marching across the bridge in the interests of science,
-like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for ever.
-So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should
-see the Byles expedition off next morning, and then
-hold a field day of kites in the meadow.</p>
-
-<p>The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that
-means that when a prim, conventional, respectable
-man takes in his head to dress as a Bohemian, the
-effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious
-to show that he could be quite the gay rustic when he
-pleased, and he was got up in a cap, much crushed,
-and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar corresponding,
-and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained
-with futile chemical experiments. He was also
-equipped with a large canvas bag, slung over his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
-shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained
-could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place
-if it were damp beneath. The Dowbiggins had
-entered into the spirit of the thing, and were in
-clothes reserved for their country holidays. They
-had each an umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether
-were a pair of objects to whom no one would
-have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie
-made him a social outcast, had declared himself a
-convert to natural science, and was sucking up to
-Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought
-that they would like to know something about flowers,
-made up the Botanical Society.</p>
-
-<p>They were a lonely little group standing on the
-terrace, while Mr. Byles was securing a trowel and
-other instruments of war from his room, but a large
-and representative gathering of the Seminary did
-their best to cheer and instruct them.</p>
-
-<p>Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which
-bulged from the bag of the younger Dowbiggin contained
-spirituous liquors, and warned the two juniors
-to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to
-drinking. He also expressed an earnest hope that a
-rumour flying round the school about tobacco was
-not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was
-horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a
-tender care of his health and personal appearance,
-not to bully Lord Kilspindie's gamekeepers, nor to
-put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
-rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things
-not to tell lies.</p>
-
-<p>Thomas John was beset with requests—that he
-would leave a lock of his hair in case he should not
-return, that he would mention the name of the pawn-broker
-from whom he got his clothes, that he would
-bring home a bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog,
-that he would secure a supply of turnips to make
-lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
-Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he
-would be careful to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles
-might drop on the road, and that he should not use
-bad language under any circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said
-Mr. Byles, who had come out in time to catch the
-last exhortation: "it is far better to himprove, I
-mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set
-of children; but we all hope that you will have a nice
-fly, don't we, boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a
-quarter might have provoked a demonstration had
-not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an
-amazing circumstance. As the botanists started,
-Speug, who had maintained an unusual silence all
-morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and
-gave Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering
-for scientific research. After their friends
-had recovered themselves they buzzed round the two,
-who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable
-affectation of sedateness, but received no sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>isfaction.
-Speug contented himself with warning
-off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with
-the idea of forming a mock procession, and then giving
-them a wink of extraordinary suggestiveness.
-But Nestie was more communicative, and explained
-the situation at length——</p>
-
-<p>"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not
-know it; he fairly loves g-geranniums, and is sorry
-that he wasted his time on k-kites and snowballs.
-We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we
-don't want you to trouble us." But this was not
-knowledge.</p>
-
-<p>It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie
-tailed off at the bridge, and Speug, halfway across,
-turned round and winked again, it was with regret
-that they betook themselves to their kites, and more
-than once they found themselves casting longing
-glances to the distant woods, where Speug was now
-pursuing the study of botany.</p>
-
-<p>"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung
-motionless in the sky, "this is weel enough, but tak'
-my word for't it's nothing to the game they're
-playin' in yon woods."</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna
-see muckle game in that: I would as soon dig
-potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had
-a prosaic mind and had little imagination.</p>
-
-<p>"Geranniums! ger—— havers, that's no' what
-Speug is after, you bet. He's got a big splore (ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>ploit)
-on hand or he never crossed Muirtown Brig in
-such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do.
-Peter'ill lose the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill
-stick them in a bog, or"—and Jock could hardly hold
-his kite—"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill row
-them over to Woody Island and leave them there till
-Monday, with naething but bread and milk and the
-net to sleep in." And the joy of Jock and Bauldie
-at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to
-their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of
-sympathy with their fellow-creatures.</p>
-
-<p>If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign
-on the way to the woods, for he was a model of
-propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable.
-He showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of
-the Dowbiggins, so that these two young gentlemen
-relaxed the vigilant attention with which they usually
-regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with
-Cosh. As for the master, Peter simply placed
-himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating on the
-extent of the woods and their richness in flowers—"just
-fair scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest
-o' them:" offering to take the expedition by the
-nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting
-on the number and beauty and tameness of
-the pheasants, till Mr. Byles was charmed and was
-himself surprised at the humanising influence of
-scientific pursuits.</p>
-
-<p>Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
-for he led them by so direct a way that, before they
-came to the place of flowers, the expedition—except
-the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in Nestie's
-charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next
-door to babies—had climbed five dykes, all with loose
-stones, fought through three thickets very prickly
-indeed, crawled underneath two hedges, crossed
-three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired
-themselves times without number. Cosh had jostled
-against Speug in leaping from one dry spot to another
-and come down rolling in the mud, which made
-his appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in
-helping Thomas John out of a very entangling place,
-had been so zealous that the seat had been almost
-entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and
-although Mr. Byles had done his best with pins, the
-result was not edifying; his brother's straw hat had
-fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he
-jumped from a wall, and was of no further service,
-and so the younger Dowbiggin—"who is so refined
-in his ways," as his mother used to say—wore as his
-headgear a handkerchief which had been used for
-cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles,
-whom fate might have spared, misfortunes had accumulated.
-His trousers had been sadly mangled
-from the knee downwards as he crawled through a
-hole, and had to be wound round his legs with
-string, and although Speug had pulled his cap out
-of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
-to leave the peak behind, and he was so clumsy,
-with the best intentions, that he allowed another
-branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side
-of the head and left a mark above his eye, which
-distinctly suggested a prizefight to anyone not
-acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character.
-Peter himself had come unscathed from the
-perils of land and water, save a dash of mud here and
-there and a suspicion of wet about his feet, which
-shows how bad people fare better than good. The
-company was so bedraggled and discouraged that
-their minds did not seem set on wild flowers, and
-in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and
-thoughtful, led the botanists to a pleasant glade,
-away from thickets and bogs, where the pheasants
-made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr.
-Byles was much cheered by this change of environment,
-and grew eloquent on the graceful shape and
-varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly
-that they gathered round the party, which was not
-wonderful, as a keeper fed them every day, but which
-Mr. Byles explained was due to the instinct of the
-beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that
-we love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport,
-and made the Dowbiggins promise that they would
-never shoot pheasants or any other game, and there
-is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as
-they did not know one end of a gun from another,
-and would no sooner have dared to fire one than they
-would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought
-occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they
-should now have their lunch and feed the birds with
-the fragments. He was wondering also whether it
-would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net,
-just to hold it in the hand and let it go again.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 384px; height: 595px;">
-<a name="i114" id="i114"></a><img src="images/i114.jpg" width="384" height="595" alt=""They were so friendly that they gathered round
-the party."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They were so friendly that they gathered round
-the party."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>When things had come to this pass—and he never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
-had expected anything so good—Speug withdrew
-unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran
-swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with
-the juniors.</p>
-
-<p>"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents,
-"div ye see that path? Cut along it as hard as
-ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the Muirtown
-Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses.
-For Byles and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on
-sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's pheasants that I'm
-expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
-Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously,
-"that I savit ye from sic company."</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had
-disappeared, "I've never clypit (told tales) once since
-I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a nice job, but
-div ye no' think that the head keeper should know
-that poachers are in the preserves?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's
-house, "especially when there's a g-gang of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-and such b-bad-looking fellows—v-vice just written
-on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young
-and so w-wicked."</p>
-
-<p>"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin'
-along, as if the dogs were aifter them?" and the
-head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's
-you, Speug—and what are you doin' in the woods
-the day? there's no eggs now." For sporting people
-are a confederacy, and there was not a coachman
-or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve
-miles of Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie
-senior, and not many who did not also have the
-acquaintance of his hopeful son.</p>
-
-<p>"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep
-our wind richt, an' we cam on a man and three
-boys among the pheasants in the low park."</p>
-
-<p>"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's
-birds?"</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin',
-but they were feedin' them, and we saw a net."</p>
-
-<p>"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you,
-Tom, get up out of yir beds this meenut; the
-poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin'
-them alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for
-stock: and broad daylight; it beats everything. He
-'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely. And
-the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an'
-the end o' September. Dod: it's a depairture in
-poachin'." And as the sight of Mr. Byles burst on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
-his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two
-Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a
-specially venturesome one, the head keeper almost
-lost the power of speech.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles
-looked up to see three armed keepers commanding
-their helpless party, and one of them purple with
-rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could
-give you a hand in catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart
-would be of ony use ... confound your cheek!</p>
-
-<p>"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants
-a biscuit, did ye, and the boys thought they would
-like to stroke one, would they? How is that, lads?
-I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for
-brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match.
-Maybe you're a Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an
-orphan asylum?</p>
-
-<p>"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary,
-that's what you are, is it, ye awfu' like blackguard,
-an' the laddies are the sons o' a respectable Free
-Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no'
-the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir
-time and try again. I'm enjoying it. Is't by the
-hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty to
-ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue
-o' ye.</p>
-
-<p>"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge
-a charge o' shot in ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in
-Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye, professor an'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
-students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an'
-we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He
-hasna tried a learned institution like this since he
-mounted the bench. March in front, but dinna try
-to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic
-a band o' waufies!"</p>
-
-<p>Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie,
-having seen all without being seen, now started
-for Muirtown to gather the kite-players and as many
-of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival
-of the botanists. They were brought in a large
-spring-cart—Mr. Byles seated between the head
-keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three
-huddled like calves in the space behind—a mass of
-mud, tatters, and misery, from which the solemn,
-owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap was now
-gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As
-they were handed over to the police the Seminary,
-which had been at first struck dumb, recovered speech
-and expressed itself with much vivacity.</p>
-
-<p>"Who would have thought Byles had as much
-spirit? Sall, he 'ill be rinnin' horses at Muirtown
-Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards, Thomas—yir
-breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have
-been hard on yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?"
-"Has his Lordship kept yir bonnet, Dowbiggin?"
-"It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys
-are only in the savage state, and the discomfiture of
-such immaculate propriety was very sweet to the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 385px; height: 594px;">
-<a name="i118" id="i118"></a><img src="images/i118.jpg" width="385" height="594" alt=""They were brought in a large spring cart."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They were brought in a large spring cart."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
-who saw in Mr. Byles's effort a new and cunning
-form of poaching he was not prepared for, and so
-weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the
-Bailie on duty was for sentencing them at once, and
-would hardly wait for the testimony of friends. It
-took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary
-and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from
-their studies in hot haste and confusion of face, to
-clear the accused, and even then the worthy magistrate
-thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to
-administer a rebuke and warning so solemn that it
-became one of the treasures of memory for all
-Seminary lads.</p>
-
-<p>"After what I have heard I cannot convict you,
-and you may go this time; but let me never see you
-here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome to
-think that an educated man"—this to Byles—"instead
-of setting an example to the laddies under
-your charge, should be accused of a mean and
-cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I
-cannot look at your face without having grave
-doubts. And to think that the sons of a respected
-minister of the kirk should be found in such company,
-and with all the appearance of vagrants, must
-be a great trial to their father, and I am sure he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
-the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I
-never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in
-such a position. All I can hope is that this will be
-a lesson to you to keep clear of evil companions and
-evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable
-citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day—that
-is all I have to say."</p>
-
-<p>Outside the court-room the head keeper caught
-Speug and gave him his mind.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that
-English-speakin' imp is little better. My belief is
-that this has been a pliskie (trick) o' yours frae
-beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o'
-advice—don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods,
-or it will be the worse for you."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_COUNT" id="THE_COUNT"></a>THE COUNT</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VII</h3>
-
-
-<p>If you excluded two or three Englishmen who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
-spoke with an accent suggestive of an effeminate
-character, and had a fearsome habit of walking on
-the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master
-at the Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering,
-the foreign element in Muirtown during the
-classical days consisted of the Count. He never
-claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate
-the title, but he declined the honour of our title with
-so much dignity that it seemed only to prove his
-right, and by and by he answered to the name with
-simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for
-deprecation, but which came to be considered a
-polite acknowledgement. His real name was not
-known in Muirtown—not because he had not given
-it, but because it could not be pronounced, being
-largely composed of x's and k's, with an irritating
-parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of
-learning to spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for
-it was one of the Count's foreign ways to carry a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
-card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being introduced
-to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card
-with the right hand while he took off his hat with
-the left, and bowed almost to a right angle. Upon
-those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane
-would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing
-whether so unholy a name might not go off and
-shatter his hand; and during the Count's obeisance,
-which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded
-him with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown,
-during this performance of the Count's, used
-to be divided between regret that any human being
-should condescend to such tricks, and profound
-thankfulness that Muirtown was not part of a foreign
-country where people were brought up with the
-manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was
-nourished by the manner of the Count's dress, which
-would have been a commonplace on a <i>boulevard</i>, but
-astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and
-always lent an element of piquant interest to our
-streets. His perfectly brushed hat, broadish in the
-brim and curled at the sides, which he wore at the
-faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather
-boots, which it was supposed he obtained in Paris,
-and wore out at the rate of a pair a month—all was
-unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat
-which stimulated conversation. It was so tight and
-fitted so perfectly, revealing the outlines of his slender
-form, and there was such an indecent absence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
-of waist—waist was a strong point with Muirtown
-men, and in the case of persons who had risen to office,
-like the Provost, used to run to fifty inches—that
-a report went round the town that the Count was a
-woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than
-refuted by the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes,
-which he made with Satanic ingenuity while you
-were looking at him, and that he gave a display of
-fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment
-in the barracks, for it was shrewdly pointed out
-that those were just the very accomplishments of
-French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have
-crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost
-been obliged to command the Count's departure, had
-it not been for the shrewdness and good nature of
-the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a
-fair maid in Muirtown—and in those days she was
-fairest of her succession: let this flower lie on her
-grave. She declared to her friends that she had
-watched the Count closely and had never once seen
-him examine a woman's dress when the woman
-wasn't looking; and after that no person of discernment
-in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's
-sex. It was, however, freely said—and that story
-was never contradicted—that he wore stays, and
-every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his
-landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with
-every wile of conversation, and even lawyers' wives,
-pretending to inquire for rooms for a friend, used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
-lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but that
-worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not
-quite insensible to the dignity of a mystery.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after;
-but beggin' your pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and
-my mouth's closed. The Count disna ken the difference
-atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the
-money he wastes on tobacco juist goes to ma heart;
-but he never had the blessin' of a Gospel ministry
-nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young.
-As regards stays, whether he wears them or disna
-wear them I'm no' prepared to say, for I thank goodness
-that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes nor
-entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The
-Count pays his rent in advance every Monday morning;
-he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I told him it
-was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the
-house, and if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to
-support his spine, which I'm no' sayin' he did, Mistress
-Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the weather
-is inclining to snow."</p>
-
-<p>His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it
-may have been constructed; and it was a pleasant
-sight to see the Count go down our main street on a
-summer afternoon, approving himself with a side
-glance in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an
-attitude at our bookseller's when a new print was
-exposed in the window, waving his cigarette and
-blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
-considered a "tempting of Providence," making his
-respectful salutations to every lady whom he knew,
-and responding with "Celestial, my friend!" to
-Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing
-weather." When he sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard,
-like Solomon in all his glory, that great man,
-who always persisted in regarding the Count as a
-sporting character, would touch the rim of his hat
-with his forefinger—an honour he paid to few—and,
-after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
-with much relish. This astounding spectacle very
-early attracted the attention of the Seminary boys,
-and during his first summer in Muirtown it was
-agreed that he would make an excellent target for
-snowball practice during next winter. The temptation
-was not one which could have been resisted, and
-it is to be feared that the Count would have been
-confined to the house when the snow was on the
-ground had it not been for an incident which showed
-him in a new light, and established him, stays or no
-stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There
-had been a glorious fight on the first day of the war
-with the "Pennies," and when they were beaten, a
-dozen of them, making a brave rearguard fight, took
-up their position with the Count's windows as their
-background. There were limits to license even in
-those brave old days, and it was understood that the
-windows of houses, especially private houses, and
-still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
-should not be broken, and if they were broken the
-culprits were hunted down and interviewed by "Bulldog"
-at length. When the "Pennies" placed themselves
-under the protection of the Count's glass,
-which was really an unconscious act of meanness on
-their part, the Seminary distinctly hesitated; but
-Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples
-as he knew no fear.</p>
-
-<p>"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain;
-and when the "Pennies" were driven along the
-street, the windows had been so effectually dashed
-that there was not a sound pane of glass in the
-Count's sitting-room. As the victorious army returned
-to their capital, and the heat of battle died
-down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in
-minds not given to care, for Mistress Jamieson was
-not the woman to have her glass broken for nothing,
-and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with
-all his dandyism, would not take this affront lightly.
-As a matter of fact, Mistress Jamieson made a personal
-call upon the Rector that evening, and explained
-with much eloquence to that timid, harassed
-scholar that, unless his boys were kept in better order,
-Muirtown would not be a place for human habitation;
-and before she left she demanded the blood of
-the offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its
-present condition to Sodom and Gomorrah. As the
-Rector was always willing to leave discipline in the
-capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
-would almost certainly be in his class in the forenoon,
-the Count, who had witnessed the whole battle
-from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had
-afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away
-the <i>débris</i>, went to give his evidence and identify the
-culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic occasion, and he
-rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful
-recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side—the
-Count carrying himself with all the grace and
-dignity of a foreign ambassador come to settle an
-international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than
-ever, because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that
-discipline must be maintained.</p>
-
-<p>The Count explained with many flourishes that
-he was desolated to come for the first time to this
-so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand so
-distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands
-on him ("Dis the body mean Lucky Jamieson?"
-whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had ever
-been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded
-him with a disdain beyond words.) The
-Rector of this place of learning had also done him,
-an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to
-come and assist at this function of justice; and
-although, as the Count explained, he was no longer a
-soldier, obedience was still the breath of his nostrils.
-Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to
-be questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the
-Count bowed again to Bulldog, placing his hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
-upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming attitude
-against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his
-cane, and feeling that he had acquitted himself with
-credit.</p>
-
-<p>"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir,"
-and Bulldog's glance conveyed that such a figure as
-the Count's ought not to be exposed in snowtime;
-"but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the
-circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of
-the Seminary are allowed to exercise themselves in
-the snowtime within limits. If they fight wi' neighbouring
-schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they
-break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme
-penalty. Now, I'm informed that some of the young
-scoundrels—and I believe the very laddies are in this
-class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to
-catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was
-entirely occupied with mathematical figures)—"have
-committed a breach of the peace at Mistress
-Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"—and
-Bulldog regarded the Count with increasing disfavour,
-as he thought of such a popinjay giving evidence
-against his laddies—"is, to look round this
-class-room and point out, so far as ye may be able,
-any boy or boys who drove a snowball or snowballs
-through the windows of your residence."</p>
-
-<p>During this judicial utterance the eyes of the
-Count wandered over the school with the most provoking
-intelligence, and conveyed even to the dullest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
-with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown
-was not capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old
-gentleman, that the boys were a set of sad dogs,
-capable of any mischief, that some of them were
-bound to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of
-all that he, the Count, knew who would get it, and
-that he was about to give evidence in an instant with
-the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When
-his glance lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful
-and unhesitating recognition that Speug was
-almost abashed, and knew for certain that for him
-at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson,
-plunging into arithmetic of his own accord for once,
-calculated rapidly what would be his share of the
-broken glass. Neither of them would have denied
-what he did to save himself twenty thrashings; but
-they shared Bulldog's disgust that a free-born Scot
-should be convicted on the evidence of a foreigner,
-whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts
-and tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to
-go round seated on the top of our solitary barrel-organ.</p>
-
-<p>"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog
-sternly; and there was a silence that could be felt,
-whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out with
-the Count's cane.</p>
-
-<p>The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's
-face; he became grave and anxious, and changed
-from a man of the world, who had been exchanging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
-a jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in
-the Court of Justice.</p>
-
-<p>"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what
-you call my soul and conscience," and the Count indicated
-with his hand where both those faculties were
-contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity,
-I will say profanity, to break the windows of my
-good friend and hostess, Madame Jamieson."</p>
-
-<p>The Count gave himself to the work of selection,
-but there was no longer a ray of intelligence in his
-face. He was confused and perplexed, he looked
-here and he looked there, he made little impatient
-gestures, he said a bad French word, he flung up a
-hand in despair, he turned to Bulldog with a frantic
-gesture, as of a man who thought he could have done
-something at once, and found he could not do it at
-all. Once more he faced the school, and then Speug,
-with that instinct of acute observation which belongs
-to a savage, began to understand, and gave Howieson
-a suggestive kick.</p>
-
-<p>"As a man of honour," said the Count with much
-solemnity, "I give my testimony, and I declare that I
-do not see one of the boys who did forget themselves
-yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to
-Madame's domicile."</p>
-
-<p>And it would have been curious if he had seen the
-boys, for the Count was looking over their heads, and
-studying the distant view of the meadow and the
-River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The mind of Speug was now clear upon the
-Count, and Bulldog also understood, and in two
-seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy through a
-mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical
-class-room knew that, although the Count
-might have had the misfortune to be born in foreign
-parts, and did allow himself to dress like a dancing-master,
-inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had
-them on, there was the heart of a man who would not
-tell tales on any fellow, and who also liked his bit of
-fun.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly
-concealed satisfaction, "that ye're no' in a poseetion
-to recognise the culprits, for if they're no' here my
-conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown.
-We can ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much
-obleeged for yir attendance."</p>
-
-<p>"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which
-has the fortune to introduce me to this charming
-company," and the Count bowed first to Bulldog and
-then to the school with such a marked indication in
-one direction that Speug almost blushed. "My
-sorrow is to be so stupid a witness; but, monsieur,
-you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor
-eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the
-Count bowed in all directions, "to replace the glass
-in Madame's house, and the incident, pouf! it is
-forgotten."</p>
-
-<p>There was a swift glance from all parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
-class-room, and permission was read in Bulldog's
-face. Next instant the mathematical class-room was
-rent with applause, such as could only be given when
-fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and
-Speug led the circus.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog
-came as near as possible to a bow, "that ye have
-acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the boys
-of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to
-come and go among us as ye please."</p>
-
-<p>The departure of the Count, still bowing, with
-Bulldog attending him to the door and offering him
-overshoes to cover the polished leather boots, was
-a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of
-the morning was not worth mentioning.</p>
-
-<p>During the lunch hour the school was harangued
-in short, pithy terms by Speug, and in obedience to
-his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in a
-solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave
-a volley of cheers. The Count was more gratified
-than by anything that had happened to him since he
-came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the
-newly repaired windows he made an eloquent speech,
-in which he referred to Sir Walter Scott and Queen
-Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other
-romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the
-"Pennies" and the Seminary was worthy of the great
-Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be <i>un brave garçon</i>;
-expressed his regret that he could not receive the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
-school in his limited apartments, but invited them to
-cross with him to the Seminary tuck-shop, where he
-entertained the whole set to Mistress MacWhae's
-best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that
-Mistress Jamieson should come forward to the window
-with him and bow to the school, while he held
-her hand—which the Count felt would have been a
-really interesting tableau. It certainly would have
-been, but Mistress Jamieson refused to assist in the
-most decided terms.</p>
-
-<p>"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand
-in hand wi' him, and bowin', if ye please, to thae
-blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o' good
-character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it
-would ill set me to play such tricks. But I'll say this
-for the Count—he behaved handsome; and I'm
-judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in
-my house so long as the Count is in it." And there
-never was.</p>
-
-<p>It were not possible to imagine anything more
-different than a Muirtown boy and the Count; but
-boys judge by an instinct which never fails within its
-own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with
-all his foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends
-gathered around him and flourished exceedingly,
-being largely invented by Nestie, and offered for
-consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug,
-who let it be understood that to deny or even to smile
-at Nestie's most incredible invention would be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
-ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn
-a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the
-Emperor of Austria's daughter and had been exiled
-by the imperial parent, but that the Princess was true
-to the Count, and that any day he might be called
-from Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of
-Vienna; that he was himself a king of some mysterious
-European State, who had been driven out by
-conspirators, but whose people were going to restore
-him, and that some day Speug would be staying
-with the Count in his royal abode and possibly sitting
-beside him on the throne. During this romance
-Speug felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty,
-which was quite consistent with keeping a
-watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal who
-might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely
-ask him what he was laughing at, and offer to give
-him something to laugh for. That the Count was
-himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society
-which extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords,
-and that whenever any tyrant became intolerable,
-the warrant for his death was sent from Mistress
-Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed
-Nestie produced another, and it was no longer
-necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy Indian tales
-or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction
-was now bound up and walking about in the
-Count.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 429px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i134" id="i134"></a><img src="images/i134.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt=""Watching a battle royal between the tops."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Watching a battle royal between the tops."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Between him and the boys there grew up a fast
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>friendship, and he was never thoroughly happy now
-unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He attended
-every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned
-how, kept the score, giving a cheer at every new
-run and tearing his hair when any of his boys were
-bowled out. He rushed round the football field
-without his cane, and generally without his hat; and
-high above all cheers could be heard his "Bravo—bravo,
-forwards! Speug!" as that enterprising player
-cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It
-mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were
-ruined, and his speckless clothes soiled, he would not
-have cared though he had burst his stays, so long as
-the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with
-them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health
-in flowing ginger-beer. During the play hour his
-walk seemed ever to bring him to the North Meadow,
-and if a ball by accident, for none would have
-done it by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he
-cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his own pronunciation and
-bowed in response to this mark of attention. It was
-a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands
-resting on his knees, watching a battle royal between
-the tops of Speug and Howieson; and if anything
-could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin
-a top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown
-tongues.</p>
-
-<p>As the boys came to the school in the morning
-and went home in the evening up Breadalbane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
-Street, the Count was always sitting at one of the
-windows which had been broken, ready to wave
-his hand to any one who saluted him, and in the
-afternoon he would often open the window to get the
-school news and to learn whether there would be a
-match on Saturday. As time went on this alliance
-told upon the Count's outer man; he never lost his
-gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he
-ever have been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had
-lived to the age of Methuselah, have been made an
-elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew thicker, though
-they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher,
-though they were always well made, and his ties
-became quieter, and his week-day hat was like that
-of other men, and, except on Sundays, Muirtown
-never saw the glory of the former days. With his
-new interest in life, everyone noticed that the Count
-had grown simpler and kindlier, and Muirtown folk,
-who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt,
-began to love him through their boys. He
-would walk home with Bulldog on a summer evening,
-the strangest pair that ever went together; and
-it was said that many little improvements for the
-comfort of the lads, and many little schemes for their
-happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the
-Count. It was believed that the time did come when
-he could have returned to his own land, but
-that he did not go because he was a lonely man and
-had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
-died, now many years ago, he left his little all for the
-benefit of his "jolly dogs," and the Count, who had
-no mourners of his blood, was followed to his grave
-by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.</p>
-
-<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_TOURNAMENT" id="A_TOURNAMENT"></a>A TOURNAMENT</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">VIII</h3>
-
-
-<p>Since the day when Speug and a few young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
-friends had broken every pane of glass in the Count's
-windows, and the Count had paid for the damage like
-a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all
-his spare cash—which we thought afterwards was
-not very much—in encouraging athletic exercises
-among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of
-every other convert, was much greater than his
-knowledge, and left to his own devices he would certainly
-have gone far astray; but with the able assistance
-of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel,
-it was astonishing what a variety could be infused
-into the sports. When every ordinary competition
-had been held, and champions had been declared
-(and this had never been done before in the history
-of the school) for the hundred yards, the quarter,
-and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse and over
-the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu
-meeting of parents), for broad jumping and
-high jumping, for throwing the cricket ball and kick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>ing
-the football, Speug came out with a quite new
-programme which was rapturously received, and had
-it not met with a cross-providence would have lasted
-over four happy Saturdays and considerably reduced
-the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was
-a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be
-trifled with, and four boys were saved from death
-by a salmon cobble, whose owner fortunately turned
-up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by
-this event that he not only lost his hat in the river,
-but being prevented from going in to help, for the
-very good reason that he could not swim a stroke,
-he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel
-of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might
-serve as a lifebelt. The second item, upon which
-Speug prided himself very much, was a climbing
-match, and for this he had selected a tree which
-seemed to be designed for the purpose, since it had
-a rook's nest on its highest branch, and no branches
-at all for the first twenty feet. The conditions were,
-that every boy above twelve should have his chance,
-and the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into
-the rook's nest, and came down in the shortest time,
-should get the prize. The Seminary above twelve
-were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday
-morning, and in one kirk next day thanks were offered
-in the first prayer in peculiarly dignified and
-guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had
-not been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
-killed, and no limbs were broken, but Speug, who was
-not allowed to enter for this competition, but acted
-as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the sight
-of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy,
-once to release his friend Howieson, who had missed
-a branch and was hanging by his feet, and the second
-time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended by
-the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a
-gigantic apple on the branch. It was understood
-that the Seminary had never enjoyed themselves
-so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's
-moral courage failed during the performance, and at
-the most critical moment he was afraid to look.
-When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement
-of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at
-church-doors and street corners, and it was conveyed
-to the Rector—who knew nothing about the matter,
-and was so absent-minded that if he had passed
-would never have seen what was going on—that if
-Providence was going to be tempted in this fashion
-again, the matter would be brought before the Town
-Council. The Count himself would have been faithfully
-dealt with had he not been considered a helpless
-tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood
-to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim.
-He might indeed have been at last expelled from the
-Seminary, of which he was the chief ornament, had
-it not been that the Count went to the Rector and explained
-that the idea had been his from beginning to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
-end, and that it was with the utmost difficulty he
-could induce Speug even to be present. For, as I
-said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always
-stood by his friends through thick and thin; but the
-thrashing which Speug got from Bulldog was monumental,
-and in preparation for it that ingenious
-youth put on three folds of underclothing.</p>
-
-<p>What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not
-the punishment, which was cheap at the money, but
-the loss of the next two items in his programme. He
-had planned a boxing competition, in which the main
-feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc
-Robertson and himself, to decide finally which was
-the better man, for they had fought six times and
-the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a
-profligate genius outside the class-rooms, had also
-imagined a pony race with hurdles; and as about
-twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had ponies,
-of which they were always bragging, and Speug had
-the pick of his father's stables, he modestly believed
-that the affair would be worth seeing. When the
-hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had already
-begun to make entries and to arrange weights
-with his father's valuable assistance, he took the
-matter so much to heart that his health gave way,
-and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit
-at the Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in
-the highest spirits and full of stories.</p>
-
-<p>For some time after this painful incident the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
-Count lay low and adopted a deprecating manner
-when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown;
-but he gave his friends to understand that his resources
-were not at an end, and that he had a surprise
-in store for the Seminary. Speug ran over every
-form of sport in casual conversation to discover what
-was in the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn
-and grew more mysterious every day. One Saturday
-evening in midsummer he took Speug and
-Nestie into his confidence, explaining that his idea
-would be announced to the assembled school by himself
-next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to do,
-as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or
-fencing, or the sword dance. With their permission
-he would say one word which would be enough for
-persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that
-word was "Tournament;" and then he would speak
-of nothing else except the beauty of the evening light
-upon the river, which he declared to be "ravishing,"
-and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate
-which he carried in his pocket, and shared generously
-with his "dogs." As he parted with his friends the
-Count tapped his nose and winked at them—"Tournament—great,
-magnificent, you will see, ha, ha!
-you will see;" and Speug went home in a state of
-utter confusion, coming finally to the conclusion that
-the Count intended to introduce some French game,
-and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose
-the Count tooth and nail, for everybody knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
-that French games were only for girls, and would
-bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary.
-During Sunday Nestie had turned the matter over in
-his mind, and being full of Scott's novels he was
-able on Monday to give the astonished school a full
-programme with the most minute particulars. The
-tournament was to be held in the North Meadow; the
-judge was to be the Commander of the cavalry at the
-barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to
-be herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the
-Queen of Beauty; and the combatants were to be
-such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course
-Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie
-freely suggested dish-covers would be useful as
-breastplates, broom-handles would come in conveniently
-for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden,
-sturdy boys of the lower forms would be
-used instead. The two knights who challenged one
-another would rush from opposite ends of the lists,
-meet in the centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to
-horse, and man to man, and the one that overthrew
-the other would receive the prize; and at the thought
-of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson,
-each in full armour, the delighted school
-smacked their lips.</p>
-
-<p>"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said
-Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody a shilling that Speug
-coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting; but"—feeling
-as if it were almost too good to be true—"I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
-dinna believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar."
-And after the school had spoken of nothing else for a
-day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly
-whether such things were true.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Mon ami</i>," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's
-romance with much relish, "you will pardon me,
-but it is a <i>banalité</i>, that is what you call a stupidity,
-to ask whether so good a <i>jeu d'esprit</i> is true. True?
-Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie,
-he does not live among facts, he flies in the air, in the
-atmosphere of poetry. He is a <i>raconteur</i>. A tournament
-with knights on the North Meadow—good!
-Our little Nestie, he has been reading <i>Ivanhoe</i> and
-he is a troubadour." And the Count took off his hat
-in homage to Nestie's remarkable powers as an
-author of fiction.</p>
-
-<p>"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the
-body, for the mind. My dogs are jolly dogs; they
-can run, they can leap, they can swim, they can kick
-the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They
-must write their very best words, they must show
-that they have beautiful minds; and they will do so,
-I swear they will, in the tournament, which will not
-be on the meadow—no; too many cows there, and
-too many washers of clothes—but in seclusion, in the
-class-room of that brave man called the Bulldog. It
-will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm,
-"of heads: and the best head, that head will
-have the prize, <i>voilà</i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down
-upon his desk that Wednesday afternoon when the
-whole upper school was gathered in his class-room,
-bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion
-to lay before you which he will explain in his
-own words and which has the sanction of the Rector.
-Ye will be pleased to give the Count a respectful
-hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog
-was there to see that the Count's deserts and his
-treatment strictly corresponded.</p>
-
-<p>"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog,
-"and you," and now he bowed to the boys, "all my
-friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a
-favour which your politeness will not allow you to
-refuse. Next Saturday I will dare to hold a reception
-in this place, with the permission of the good
-Bull—— I do forget myself—I mean the distinguished
-master. And when you come, I promise you
-that I will not offer you coffee—pouf! it is not for
-the brave boys I see before me, <i>non</i>," and the Count
-became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle
-sentence on the——" ("Blackboard," suggested
-Bulldog). "<i>Merci</i>, yes, the blackboard; no, the honourable
-master he will have the goodness to write it
-in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that
-is all, and you will sit for one hour in this room
-where you make your studies, and you will write all
-the beautiful things which come into your heads
-about that sentence. You will then do me the pleas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>ure
-of letting me carry home all those beautiful
-things, and I will read them; and the writer who
-affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of
-many volumes, and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost,"
-interpolated Bulldog) "will present it on the great
-day in the Town Hall.</p>
-
-<p>"No one, not even the honourable master himself,
-will know that leetle sentence till it be written on
-the—the——" ("Blackboard," said Bulldog, with
-asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many
-things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom
-I do felicitate the honourable master will write much
-learning," and the Count made a graceful inclination
-in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the
-brave boys who love the sport, they will also write,
-ah! ah!"—and the Count nodded cheerfully in the
-direction of Speug—"such wonderful things. There
-will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and
-so it will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the
-Count with much satisfaction, "the fair play."</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained
-that no one need come unless he wished, but
-that anyone who didn't come was missing the opportunity
-of securing an honourable distinction, and
-would also show himself to be an ungrateful little
-scoundrel for all that the Count had done for the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native
-shrewdness, "aifter all his palaver it's naething but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
-anither confounded exercise," for that worthy had
-suffered much through impositions, and had never
-been able to connect one sentence with another in an
-intelligent manner. "The Dowbiggins can go if they
-want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm going
-next Saturday to Woody Island—will you come,
-Speug?" And it hung in the balance whether or not
-the Count would be openly affronted next Saturday
-when he found himself in the company of half a
-dozen "swats," while his "jolly dogs" were off in a
-pack to their island of romance.</p>
-
-<p>Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room
-on Saturday afternoon, except under brute
-force, and yet he felt it would be ungrateful after all
-his kindness to leave the Count in the company of
-such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance
-of all the sporting prizes he had won
-at the Count's hands, and the sight of the Count
-cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart
-and moved him to the most unselfish act of his life.
-"Jock Howieson," said Speug, with considerable dignity,
-"ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it
-'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black
-both yir een for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a
-match, cricket or football, the last four years, and the
-Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports
-and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who
-stands ginger-beer at Lucky MacWhae's, answer me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
-that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then clinching
-every argument on "Who paid for the broken
-glass? I'm doon richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."</p>
-
-<p>"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock,
-writhing under this torrent of reproach. "I think I
-see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the Romans,
-or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room,
-and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye
-'ill no' play ony tricks on me, Peter McGuffie."</p>
-
-<p>"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no'
-promise to write."</p>
-
-<p>"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's
-wiles.</p>
-
-<p>"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school
-knew, not only that he would go, though he had to
-sit six hours instead of one, but also that every self-respecting
-boy in the Seminary must also put in an
-appearance at the Count's reception.</p>
-
-<p>"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on
-the way home, "since you p—pulled me out of the Tay,
-and I should say that you have a good chance of
-the prize. What the Count wants is ori—gin—ginality,
-and I never heard a chap with so much original
-talk as you've got, Speug. Just you put some of it
-down, like what you give to the P—pennies, and you'll
-come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever
-won."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries
-were open to all Scotland," said Speug, "ye would
-pass the post first and trottin'."</p>
-
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-<div class="center">"<span class="smcap">How I Spent My Saturday,</span>"</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<p>was what the school saw on the board when the
-Count removed the white cloth, and then he gave a
-brief exposition of his desires.</p>
-
-<p>"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not
-what you ought, but what you want. Were you at
-the cricket match, you will tell me of the capture of
-the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear
-of the woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate
-allusion to Mr. Byles's poaching experiences was
-much appreciated); "or you were among the books,
-then you will describe what you love in them; or
-you were looking at a horse, I expect to hear about
-that horse"; and the whole school understood that
-this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an exact
-picture of an Irish mare that his father had just
-bought. "The subject, ah!" said the Count, "that
-does not matter; it is the manner, the style, the
-<i>esprit</i>, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the
-good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till
-you have finished."</p>
-
-<p>"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the
-credit of the school and to please the Count. If
-I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part to teach
-him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
-out he goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut,
-make the most o't," and the tournament was open.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper,
-and only giving a casual glance to see that no one
-took advantage of the strange circumstances, was
-really watching his flock very closely, and checking
-his judgment of each one by this new test. Dull,
-conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins began at once,
-in order that they might not lose a moment of time,
-but might put as much written stuff upon the paper
-as possible; yet now and again they stopped and
-looked round helplessly because they had no books
-and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the
-first time how little they had in their own heads.</p>
-
-<p>"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye
-were naithing but a painted show, and it 'ill do ye
-good to find that out for yirselves."</p>
-
-<p>Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole
-matter as a new form of entertainment, and as he
-could not have put into anything approaching connected
-words the experiences of his last Saturday,
-he employed the time in cutting up his unwritten
-paper into squares of an inch, and making them into
-pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind
-from being too much absorbed in study. He did
-this once too often, and Bulldog went down to call
-upon him with a cane and with plain, simple
-words.</p>
-
-<p>"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
-went back to his desk, "but there's the making of a
-man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able to write a
-decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots
-Greys down to the ground."</p>
-
-<p>Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under
-the customary form of oath, that he would write
-something, and whatever he wrote he would hand in,
-though it was only twenty words, and Speug never
-went back from his oath. When Howieson caught
-the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no doubt
-that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he
-struggled with strong temptation, and when old
-friends made facetious signs to him he hesitated more
-than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified
-amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole
-mind was devoted to literary composition, and that
-he did not know what they meant by this impertinent
-intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly
-jumped once in his seat as if he had been stung by a
-wasp, and it is certainly true that at that moment
-there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and first
-finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was
-devoted to literature. The language which Cosh
-allowed himself to use in the heat of the moment was
-so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention,
-who told him that if he wanted to say anything
-like that again he must say it in Latin, and that he
-ought to take notice of the excellent conduct of Peter
-McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>likely
-to win the prize. And as the master returned
-to his seat his back was seen to shake, and the wink
-with which Speug favoured the class, in a brief rest
-from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery.
-Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in—what
-a poor creature Cosh was, and what good stuff
-could be found in Speug; and he also knew everything
-that was done—why Cosh had said what he
-said, and why Speug at that moment was lost in
-study. Bulldog was not disappointed when Nestie's
-face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew
-why his favourite little lad did not write anything
-for fifteen minutes, but looked steadily out at the
-window and across the North Meadow, and he returned
-to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction
-when Nestie at last settled down to work and wrote
-without ceasing, except when now and again he
-hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his
-ear to know how it sounded. For the desire of
-Bulldog's heart was that Nestie should win, and if—though
-that, of course, was too absurd—Speug by
-the help of the favouring gods should come in
-second, Bulldog would feel that he had not lived in
-vain.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke
-your t's," said Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye
-how ye're to sign yir names," and then the Count,
-who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced
-again to the desk.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It would be one great joy to have your autographs,"
-said the Count, "and I would place them in
-a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour forbids.
-As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging,
-it is necessary that I be—ah! I have forgotten
-the word—yes! show the fair play. No, I must not
-know the names; for if I read the name of my
-friend the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting
-Speug" (at this indecent allusion Speug grew
-purple and gave the bench in front of him to understand
-by well-known signs that if they looked at him
-again he might give them something to look for outside),
-"I would say that Speug is a sportsman but
-he is not a <i>littérateur</i>, and I might not do my comrade
-the full justice. And if I read the name of the
-composed, the studious, the profound young gentlemen
-who are before me" (and it was fortunate the
-Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would
-know that it must be the best before I read it, and
-that would not be the fair play.</p>
-
-<p>"No! you will write on your admirable essay a
-motto—what you please—and your name you will
-put in an envelope, so," and the Count wrote his own
-name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful
-silence, on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope
-with a graceful flourish: "and outside you will put
-your motto, so it will be all the fair play, and in the
-Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to
-declare the result. <i>Voila!</i> Has my plan your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
-distinguished approbation?" and the Count made a
-respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be
-fairer, you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow
-myself to wish you adieu for this day."</p>
-
-<p>When the school assembled for conference among
-the Russian guns, their minds were divided between
-two subjects. The first was what Speug had written,
-on which that strenuous student would give no
-information, resenting the inquiry both as an insult
-to his abilities and an illustration of vain curiosity on
-the part of the school. Nestie, however, volunteered
-the trustworthy information that Speug had spent his
-whole time explaining the good which he had got
-from being kept in one Saturday forenoon and doing
-mathematical problems under the eye of Bulldog.
-And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter
-to "suck up" to the master in this disgraceful
-fashion just for the sake of getting a prize. Peter
-confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done
-his best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock
-Cup, but that he didn't think there were six words
-properly spelt from beginning to end, and that if he
-escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to
-half a dozen bottles of ginger-beer.</p>
-
-<p>Regarding the winner—for that was the other
-subject—there was a unanimous and sad judgment;
-that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but that
-Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would
-carry off the prize, as he had carried off all the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
-prizes; and that, if so, they would let him know how
-they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it
-would be wise for him to go home with the Count's
-prize and all the other prizes in a cab, with the windows
-up.</p>
-
-<p>The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the
-great events in the Muirtown year, and to it the
-memory of a Seminary lad goes back with keen interest.
-All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies
-had been sitting in the class-room of the Seminary,
-holding Latin books in their hands, which they
-opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn
-approval over the translation by Thomas John and
-other chosen worthies, while the parents wandered
-from place to place and identified their sons, who
-refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was
-looking. What mothers endured cannot be put into
-words, when they saw their darling boys (whom
-they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday
-clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions
-that they were not to break their collars nor soil
-their jackets, nor disarrange their hair the whole
-day, or they need not come home in the evening)
-turn up in a class-room before the respectables of
-Muirtown as if their heads had not known a brush
-for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their
-white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and
-an ounce of flour in a prominent place on their once
-speckless jacket.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness
-of despair, "that is my Jimmy, I canna deny it;
-but ye may well ask, for he's more like a street waufie
-than onything else. On a day like this, and when I
-see what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I
-could almost wish he had been born a girl."</p>
-
-<p>"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna
-speak like that, for it's no chancy, he micht be taken
-away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye
-your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time
-I saw him, as I'm a livin' woman, there wasna more
-than two inches of his necktie left, and he was
-fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel
-in the playground. Ye needna expect peace
-if the Almichty give ye laddies, but I wouldna change
-them for lassies—na, na, I'll no' go that length."</p>
-
-<p>And the two matrons sustained themselves with
-the thought that if their boys were only a mere
-wreck of what they had been in the morning, other
-people's boys were no better, and some of them were
-worse, for one of them had inflicted such damages on
-his trousers that, although he was able to face the
-public, he had to retire as from the royal presence;
-nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive
-a malignant dislike to the few boys who were
-spick and span, and to have a certain secret pride
-even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate
-showed that they were far removed from the low
-estate of lassies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The great function of the day came off at two
-o'clock, and before the hour the hall was packed
-with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers, uncles,
-aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while
-the boys themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled
-than ever, were scattered throughout the
-crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and
-enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers;
-others were gathered in clumps and arranging a
-reception for the more unpopular prize-winners;
-others were prowling up and down the passages,
-exchanging sweetmeats and responding (very
-coldly) to the greeting of relatives in the seats, for
-the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad
-was that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden
-aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie senior came in with the
-general attention of the audience, and seated himself
-in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not
-that Mr. McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings,
-and certainly not because Speug had ever
-appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr.
-McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the
-Count and his high appreciation of what he considered
-the Count's sporting offer, and Mr. McGuffie
-was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings
-that he was willing, although he admitted that
-he had no tip, to have a bet with anyone in his
-vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished
-his son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie
-coming in first and half a length ahead, which was
-not so much based upon any knowledge of Nestie's
-literary qualifications as on the strange friendship
-between Nestie and his promising son. As the
-respectable Free Kirk elder who sat next Mr.
-McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr.
-McGuffie put a straw in his mouth and timed the
-arrival of the Provost.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 411px; height: 598px;">
-<a name="i158" id="i158"></a><img src="images/i158.jpg" width="411" height="598" alt=""Before the hour the hall was packed."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Before the hour the hall was packed."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
-and masters, together with the notables of Muirtown,
-appeared on the platform, the boys availed themselves
-of the license of the day, shouting, cheering,
-yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry
-with pellets of paper shot with extraordinary dexterity
-from little elastic catapults, till at last Bulldog,
-who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted
-the proceedings, rose and demanded silence
-for the Provost, who explained at wide intervals that
-he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the
-boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls,
-but not from the parents); that he was sure the
-fathers and mothers were proud of their boys to-day
-(climax of howls); that he had once been a boy
-himself (unanimous shout of "No" from the boys);
-that he had even fought in a snowball fight (loud
-expressions of horror); that he was glad the Seminary
-was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which
-the Provost's speech came to an end, and Bulldog
-rose to keep order).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>One by one the prize-winners were called up from
-the side of their fond parents, and if they were liked
-and had won their prizes with the goodwill of their
-fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was
-heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day,
-and loud above it sounded the voice of Speug, who,
-though he had never received a prize in his life, and
-never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc
-Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the
-half-back of the fifteen, showed that he had a head
-as well as hands. When a prig got too many prizes
-there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last
-a loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from
-Speug relieved the feelings of the delighted school,
-and the unpopular prize-winner left the platform
-amid the chorus of the farmyard—cows, sheep,
-horses, dogs, cats and a triumphant ass all uniting
-to do him honour. It was their day, and Bulldog
-gave them their rights, provided they did not continue
-too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog
-had the same judgment as themselves.</p>
-
-<p>To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering
-and thirsting for the declaration of the
-Count's prize, because there never had been such a
-competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was
-one of our characters. When he came forward, wonderfully
-dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole and
-waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody
-in turn, from the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
-reception was monumental and was crowned by the
-stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having
-thanked the company for their reception, with his
-hand upon his heart, and having assured the charming
-mothers of his young friends of his (the
-Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself
-the slave of their sisters, and having expressed
-his profound reverence for the magistrates (at which
-several bailies tried to look as if they were only men,
-but failed), the Count approached the great moment
-of the day.</p>
-
-<p>The papers, he explained upon his honour, were
-all remarkable, and it had been impossible for him
-to sleep, because he could not tear himself away from
-the charming reflections of his young friends. (As
-the boys recognised this to be only a just compliment
-to their thoughtful disposition and literary genius,
-Bulldog had at last to arise and quell the storm.)
-There was one paper, however, which the Count
-compared to Mont Blanc, because it rose above all
-the others. It was "ravishing," the Count asserted,
-"superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius."
-The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful
-young women, it was all one poem. And as the
-whole hall waited, refusing to breathe, the Count enjoyed
-a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished
-poem—for it is not prose, it is poetry—I
-will read his motto." Then the Count read, "Faint
-Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
-Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your
-Excellency to open this envelope and to read the
-name to this distinguished audience." Before the
-Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope,
-Speug, who was in the secret of the motto,
-jumped up on his seat and, turning with his face to
-the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice
-through the stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux."
-And above the great shout that went up from the
-throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear,
-the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had
-guessed the winner without ever seeing the paper.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="MOOSSY" id="MOOSSY"></a>MOOSSY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">IX</h3>
-
-
-<p>If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
-mention of "Moossy," then it is no use his pleading
-the years which have passed and the great affairs
-which have filled his life; you know at once that he
-is an impostor and has never had the privilege of
-passing through Muirtown Seminary. Upon the
-genuine boy—fifty years old now, but green at heart—the
-word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it
-the worries of life and the years that have gone are
-forgotten, and the eyes light up and the face relaxes,
-and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair for
-the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life
-in the Seminary, with plain food and strenuous
-games; with well-worn and well-torn clothes; where
-little trouble was taken to give interest to your work,
-and little praise awarded when you did it well; where
-you were bullied by the stronger fellows without redress,
-and thrashed for very little reason; where
-there were also many coarsenesses which were sick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>ening
-at the time to any lad with a sense of decency,
-and which he is glad, if he can, to forget; but, at
-least, there was one oasis in the wilderness where
-there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and
-that was the "Department of Modern Languages,"
-over which Moossy was supposed to preside.</p>
-
-<p>Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now
-there is a graduate of the University of Paris and a
-fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown French,
-and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four
-swordcuts on his face to explain to Muirtown the
-mysteries of the German sentence. Indignant boys,
-who have heard appetising tales of the days which
-are gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental
-tongues as if they were serious languages like Latin
-and Greek, and are actually kept in if they have not
-done a French verb. They are required to write an
-account of their holidays in German, and are directed
-to enlarge their vocabulary by speaking in foreign
-tongues among themselves. Things have come to
-such a pass it is said—but I do not believe one word
-of this—that the modern Speug, before he pulls off
-the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and flings it into the
-lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be careful
-to say "<i>Erlauben Sie mir</i>," and that the modern
-Dowbiggin, before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and
-inquire with mild surprise, "<i>Was wollen Sie, mein
-Freund?</i>" and precocious lads will delight their
-parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
-daily bread in the language and accent of Paris, because
-for the moment they have forgotten English.
-It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake
-it, that Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining
-their necessary wants in any speech except
-their own as they were in the days of our fathers, and
-that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day,
-he would get his food at the buffet by making signs
-with his fingers, as his father had done before him
-and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also
-take care, as his fathers did, that he would not be
-cheated in his change nor be put upon by any
-"Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best
-with Seminary lads—and their kind elsewhere—but
-they will not find it easy to shape their
-unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded
-in the background of his mind that he belongs
-to an imperial race and is born to be a ruler,
-that every man will sooner or later have to speak
-his language, and that it is undignified to condescend
-to French. The Briton is pleased to know that foreign
-nations have some means of communication between
-themselves—as, indeed, the lower animals
-have, if you go into the matter; but since the Almighty
-has put an English (or Scots) tongue in his
-mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence
-not to use it. It is, however, an excellent thing to
-have the graduates, and the trim class-room, and the
-tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
-conversation classes—Speug at a conversation class!—and
-all the rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago—and
-Moossy!</p>
-
-<p>Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy
-was a nameless man, for although it must have been
-printed on the board in the vestibule of the school,
-which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can
-now hint at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest
-his surname. The name of the Count had been
-sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him,
-and which was the tribute of our respectful admiration,
-but "Moossy" was a term of good-humoured
-contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial
-town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but
-yet, with the instincts of a race of Chieftains and
-Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds between
-our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No
-doubt the Count was womanish in his dress, and had
-fantastic manners, but we knew he was a gallant gentleman,
-who was afraid of nobody and was always
-ready to serve his friends; he was <i>débonnaire</i>, and
-counted himself the equal of anyone in Muirtown,
-but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
-a little man, to begin with, and had made himself
-small by stooping till his head had sunk upon his
-chest and his shoulders had risen to his ears; his hair
-fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his ill-dressed
-beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and
-face showed only the slightest acquaintance with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
-soap and water, and although Speug was not always
-careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than
-once had been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to
-wash himself, yet Speug had a healthy contempt
-for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
-had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary,
-and the cloak which he wore on a winter day was a
-scandal to the town. His feet were large and flat,
-and his knees touched as the one passed the other,
-and the Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight
-of him shambling across the North Meadow. He
-looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
-dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and
-flung him in our faces. The Rector was also careless
-of his dress, and mooned along the road, but then
-everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and
-that if you woke him from his meditation he would
-answer you in Greek; but even Speug understood
-that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted
-about through Muirtown, and filtered down to the
-boys, that he was a bankrupt tradesman who had
-fled from some little German town and landed in
-Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little
-English, and a little French, as German tradesmen
-can, he had been appointed by an undiscriminating
-Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the
-Seminary. It is certain he had very little education
-and no confidence in himself, and so he was ever
-cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
-for these great men regarded themselves as beings
-bordering on the supernatural; and he was ever
-deferring and giving in to the boys, which was the
-maddest thing that any master could do, and only
-confirmed every boy in his judgment that Moossy
-was one of the most miserable of God's creatures.</p>
-
-<p>His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded
-as a pleasant relaxation after the labours of
-the day, and to escape from the government of Bulldog
-to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved,
-as we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a
-tender heart towards the wants and enjoyments of
-boys. It goes without saying that no work was done,
-for there were only half a dozen who had any desire
-to work, and they were not allowed, in justice to
-themselves and to their fellows, to waste the mercies
-which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion,
-Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but
-it failed in his hands the first time he tried to use it,
-which was not at all wonderful, as Jock Howieson,
-who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as
-an invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's
-cane with a horse-hair, so that it split into two at a
-stroke, and one piece flying back struck Moossy on
-the face.</p>
-
-<p>"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's
-plenty that Bulldog has a cane, without yon meeserable
-wretch"; and that was the last effort which
-Moossy made to exercise discipline.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the
-boys would behave and learn their verbs. For about
-ten minutes there was quietness, and then, at the
-sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form
-and working diligently upon a French translation,
-which he could do better than Moossy himself, Speug
-would make a signal to the form, and, leading off
-from the foot himself, the form would give one
-quick, unanimous, and masterful push, and Thomas
-John next instant was sitting on the floor; while if,
-by any possibility, they could land all his books on
-him as he lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle,
-the form was happy and called in their friends
-of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at the
-noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over
-and inquire the cause, that a boy so exemplary and
-diligent should be sitting on the floor with the
-remains of his work around him; and as Thomas
-John knew that it would be worth his life to tell the
-reason, Moossy and he pretended to regard it as one
-of the unavoidable accidents of life, and after
-Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the
-ink wiped off his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form
-to quietness and diligence. He knew what had happened,
-and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum
-if he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we
-all despised him for his cowardice. Had there been
-enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just as
-Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
-then as he sat in his seat, brazen and unashamed, we
-would all have respected Moossy, and no one more
-than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have
-had a new relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited
-man, in whom there was no fight, who held a post he
-was not fit for, and held it to get a poor living for
-himself and one who was dearer to him than his own
-life. So helpless was he, and so timid, that there
-were times when the boys grew weary of their teasing
-and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb
-in order to pass the time.</p>
-
-<p>When the spring was in their blood—for, like all
-young animals, they felt its stirring—then there
-were wonderful scenes in Moossy's class-room. He
-dared not stand in those days between two forms,
-with his face to the one and his back to the other,
-because of the elastic catapults and the sharp little
-paper bullets, which, in spite of his long hair, would
-always find out his ears; and if he turned round to
-face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked
-theirs, and between the two he was driven to the end
-of the room; and then, in his very presence, without
-a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle
-their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured
-German, Moossy prayed for peace. Times there
-were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting of the bullet
-Moossy said bad words, and although they were
-in German, the boys knew that it was swearing, and
-Speug's voice would be loudest in horror.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 600px; height: 389px;">
-<a name="i170" id="i170"></a><img src="images/i170.jpg" width="600" height="389" alt=""Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
-in the Seminary! If the Town Council gets word
-of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For masel',"
-Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly
-ashamed." And as that accomplished young gentleman
-had acquired in the stables a wealth of profanity
-which was the amazement of the school, his protest
-had all the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise
-for what he had said, and beseech the school
-neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they had
-heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be
-warning Thomas John that if he, Speug—censor of
-morals—caught him cursing and swearing like
-Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards
-bring him before the Lord Provost and magistrates.</p>
-
-<p>There was no end to the devices of the Seminary
-for enjoying themselves and tormenting Moossy;
-and had it not been for Nestie, who had some
-reserves of taste, the fun would have been much
-more curious. As it was, Moossy never knew when
-he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as if
-the class-room for modern languages were the chosen
-home for the reptiles of the district. One morning,
-when he opened his desk, a lively young Scots terrier
-puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly
-frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed.
-He had learned to open the door of his class-room
-cautiously, not knowing whether a German Diction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>ary
-might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his
-head. His ink-bottle would be curiously attached to
-his French Grammar, so that when he lifted the book
-the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink over
-his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to
-his coat. Boys going up to write on the blackboard,
-where they never wrote anything but nonsense,
-would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon
-the back of Moossy's coat as they returned; and if
-one after the other, adding to the work of art, could
-draw what was supposed to be a human face upon
-Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the
-hour. There were times when Moossy felt the hand
-even on the looseness of that foolish coat, and turned
-suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen
-impudence of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into
-the stolid and unintelligent expression of Howieson's
-face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one boy
-was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their
-books and pronouncing on a principal of their own,
-would do the verb with him and continue in a loud
-and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one
-by one, and then they were full of indignation at
-being hindered in their studies of the German language.</p>
-
-<p>Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest
-his own incompetence should be exposed and his
-bread be taken from him; and of this the boys,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
-with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly
-aware, and the torture might have gone on for years
-had it not been for the intervention of Bulldog and a
-certain incident. As the French class-room was
-above the mathematical, any special disturbance
-could be heard in the quietness below; and whatever
-else they did, the students of foreign languages were
-careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed,
-the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's
-room was the danger of Bulldog's arrival, who was
-engaged that hour with the little boys and had ample
-leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise
-above, and for want of occupation was itching to
-get at old friends like Howieson. There are times,
-however, when even a savage forgets himself, and
-one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room
-reached an historical height. It had been discovered
-that any dislike which Moossy may have had to a
-puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket,
-was nothing to the horror with which he regarded
-mice. As soon as it was known that Moossy would
-as soon have had a tiger in the French class-room as
-a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of
-foreign languages should take a new departure. One
-morning the boys came in with such punctuality, and
-settled to their work with such demure diligence,
-that even Moossy was suspicious and watched
-them anxiously. For ten minutes there was nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
-heard but the drone of the class mangling German
-sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in consternation,
-"A mouse!"</p>
-
-<p>"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?"
-and Moossy was much shaken.</p>
-
-<p>"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse
-was just disappearing under the desk; "and there's
-another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is fair swarming,
-and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your
-leg. Take care, man, for ony sake."</p>
-
-<p>"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go;
-I vill the desk ascend," and with the aid of a chair
-Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he entrenched
-himself against attack, believing that at
-that height he would be safe from "mices."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 427px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i174" id="i174"></a><img src="images/i174.jpg" width="427" height="600" alt=""The school fell over benches and over one another."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"The school fell over benches and over one another."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had
-burst upon the French class-room the scholars should
-meet the calamity like men, and asked Moossy's permission
-to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy
-and his pupils had one mind, and the school gave
-itself to its heart's content, and without a thought of
-consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more
-difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is
-doubled when no one wishes to catch it; and so the
-school fell over benches, and over one another, and
-jumped over the desks and scrambled under them,
-ever pretending to have caught a mouse, and really
-succeeding once in smothering an unfortunate animal
-beneath the weight of half a dozen boys. Thomas
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom
-by an accident in which Howieson took a leading
-part, and the German Dictionary intended for a
-mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which led
-to an encounter between that indignant youth and
-Bauldie, in which mice were forgotten. The blackboard
-was brought down with a crash, and a form
-was securely planted on its ruins. High above the
-babel Moossy could be heard crying encouragement,
-and demanding whether the "mices" had been
-caught, but nothing would induce him to come down
-from his fastness. When things were at their highest,
-and gay spirits like Speug were beginning to
-conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to
-a mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that
-he had mounted a desk, not to catch a mouse, but to
-give a cheer, and was standing there without collar
-or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all
-the trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered.
-And it was a beautiful tribute to the personality
-of that excellent man, that the whole room crystallised
-in an instant, and everyone remained motionless,
-frozen, as it were, in the act.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog looked round with that calm composure
-which sat so well upon him, taking in Moossy
-perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form,
-Speug sitting with easy dignity on the top of
-Thomas John, and half a dozen worthies still tied
-together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
-which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of
-ten seconds, "is evidently a verra divertin' subject
-of study, and I wonder that any pupil is left in the
-department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock,
-that ye needed to stand on a form before you could
-do your German, and I suppose that is the French
-class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude, but I'm
-pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I
-really am."</p>
-
-<p>"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor
-Moossy came down from his desk and began to
-explain. "My impression is that you are right, as
-far as I can judge—and I have some acquaintance
-with the circumstances. There are a considerable
-number of mices in this room, a good many more
-mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this
-morning. The mices I see were in my class-room
-this morning, and they were very quiet and peaceable
-mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after
-this, or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse
-me," and Bulldog embraced the whole scene in a
-comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign class-room
-and go down and see what my laddies are
-doing with their writing"; and when Bulldog closed
-the door Howieson realised that he owed his escape
-to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
-but that the joyful day in modern languages
-had come to an end. There would be no more
-"mices."</p>
-
-<p>Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were
-out for a ramble in the country, and turning into a
-lane where the hedgerows were breaking into green,
-and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes,
-they came upon a sight which made them pause so
-that they could only stand and look. Down the lane
-a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and
-broken thing which had seen its best days thirty
-years ago. In the chair a woman was sitting, or
-rather lying, very plainly but comfortably dressed,
-and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that
-she had suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding
-to the breath of spring. As they stood,
-the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked
-a handful of primroses and gave them to the woman;
-and as he bent over her, holding up the primroses
-before her eyes, and as they talked together, even
-the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He
-adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her
-position in the chair, and then went back to drag
-it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding track;
-and the boys stood and stared and looked at one
-another, for the man who was caring so gently for
-this invalid, and toiling so manfully with the lumbering
-chair, was Moossy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't
-like us to see him. I say, he ain't a bad sort—Moossy—after
-all. Bet you a bottle of g-ginger-beer
-that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."</p>
-
-<p>They were leaving the lane when they heard an
-exclamation, and going back they found that the
-miserable machine had slipped into the ditch and
-there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of
-recovery. With many an "Ach!" and other words,
-too, he was bewailing the situation and hanging over
-his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and
-trying if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the
-weight upon the lower side, while every minute the
-wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.</p>
-
-<p>"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless
-v-vagabond?" said Nestie to Speug. "Come along
-and give a hand to Moossy," who was so pleased to
-get some help in the lonely place that he forgot
-the revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the
-shafts, who had the strength of a man in his compact
-little body, and Moossy pulling on the other side,
-the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a
-torrent of gratitude from Moossy and his wife,
-partly in English, but mostly in German, but all quite
-plain to the boys, for gratitude is always understood
-in any language. They came bravely along the lane,
-Speug pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to
-make sure she had not been hurt, and Nestie plucking
-flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the lane,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
-while Moossy declared them to be "<i>Zwei herzliche
-Knaben</i>."</p>
-
-<p>When they came to the main road, Speug would
-not give up his work, but brought the carriage manfully
-to the little cottage, hidden in a garden, where
-Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in—she
-was so light that Moossy could lift her himself—she
-compelled the boys to come in, too, and Moossy
-made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange
-German cakes, which were not half bad, and to which
-they both did ample justice. Going home, Nestie
-looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie, and
-though no words passed it was understood that the
-days of the troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of
-Muirtown were ended.</p>
-
-<p>During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at
-the Seminary it would not be true to say that he
-became a good or useful master, for he had neither
-the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were
-always respectful and did their work, for they were
-very far removed from being angels; but Moossy did
-pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he suffered
-no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy
-was not left to be his own horse from day to day,
-but that the stronger varlets of the Seminary should
-take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach.
-Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from
-sentiment, and he gave it carefully to be understood
-that he only did the thing for a joke; but there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
-no question that more than once Jock brought
-Moossy's carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully
-along that lane and other lanes, and it is a fact
-that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came out with one
-of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was
-called, was driven far and wide about the country
-around Muirtown.</p>
-
-<p>"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist,
-Speug," said Nestie, "and I expect to hear that you
-are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug
-promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to
-be admitted would be Nestie, and that he would teach
-him manners.</p>
-
-<p>It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one
-died in Germany and left him a little money, so
-that he could give up the hopeless drudgery of the
-Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon
-the banks of the Rhine. His wife, who had been
-improving under Dr. Manley's care, began to brisk
-up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when
-one afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some
-dozen boys were there to see them off, and it was
-Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place her
-comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled
-their pocket-money—selling one or two treasures
-to swell the sum—that Moossy and his wife might
-go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love,
-and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her
-hands. They still called him Moossy, as they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
-done before, and he looked, to tell the truth, almost
-as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he
-was in great spirits and much touched by the kindness
-of his tormentors. As the English mail pulled
-out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the
-boys ran along the platform beside the carriage
-shaking hands with Moossy through the open window
-and passing in their gifts.</p>
-
-<p>"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable
-humour, but the last sight Moossy had of
-Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow
-and waving farewell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_LAST_RESOURCE" id="A_LAST_RESOURCE"></a>A LAST RESOURCE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">X</h3>
-
-
-<p>That the Rector should be ill and absent from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
-his classes from time to time was quite in the order
-of things, because he was a scholar and absent-minded
-to a degree—going to bed in the morning,
-and being got out of bed in rather less than time for
-his work; eating when it occurred to him, but preferring,
-on the whole, not to eat at all; wearing very
-much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he
-added a heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in
-the height of summer and going without it when
-there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for his
-scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school
-loved him; not because he edited a "Cæsar" and
-compiled a set of Latin exercises, for which perfectly
-unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated
-him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes
-past nine, and his form was able to jeer at Bulldog's
-boys as they hastened into their class-room with
-much discretion at one minute before the hour.
-Because he used to be so much taken up with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
-happy phrase in Horace that he would forget the
-presence of his class, and walk up and down before
-the fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes
-he was so hoarse that he could only communicate
-with the class by signs, which they unanimously
-misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be
-absent for a whole week, and his form was thrown
-in with another, with the result of much enjoyable
-friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He
-was respected and never was annoyed, not even by
-ruffians like Howieson, because everyone knew that
-the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with all
-his eccentric ways, and the <i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> had
-a leader every spring on the achievements of his
-scholars. Edinburgh professors who came to examine
-the school used to fill up their speeches on the
-prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector,
-supported by classical quotations, during which the
-boys cheered rapturously and the Rector looked as
-if he were going to be hung. He was one of the
-recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely
-referred to at municipal banquets by bailies whose
-hearts had grown merry within them drinking the
-Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration
-to the toast of "the Fair City" with the North
-Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River Tay and
-the County Gaol.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may
-have been his negligences of dress and occupation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
-in private life—and on this subject Nestie and Speug
-told fearful lies—he exhibited the most exasperating
-regularity in public, from his copper-plate handwriting
-to his speckless dress, but especially by an inhuman
-and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one
-with a heart within him and some regard to the comfort
-of his fellow creatures, especially boys, had any
-right to observe times and seasons with such exactness.
-During all our time, except on the one great
-occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be
-ill, not even with a cold; and it was said that he never
-had been for a day off duty, even in the generation
-before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce
-of superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease,
-and there was a feeling in the background of
-our minds that for any illness to have attacked Bulldog
-would have been an act of impertinence which he
-would have known how to deal with. It was firmly
-believed that for the last fifty years—and some said
-eighty, but that was poetry—Bulldog had entered his
-class-room every morning, except on Saturdays,
-Sundays, and holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to
-begin work at the stroke of nine. There was a
-pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there
-had been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind
-that the bridge had been drifted up, and no one could
-cross that morning from the other side. The boys
-from the south side of the town had brought news
-of the drift to the school, and the earlier arrivals,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
-who had come in hope of a snow-fight, were so
-mightily taken with the news that they hurried to
-the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift,
-and danced with joy at the thought that on the other
-side Bulldog was standing, for once helpless and dismayed.
-Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son,
-had shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog
-to come over, secure in the fact that he could not
-be seen across its height, and in the hope that Bulldog
-would not know his voice. When they were
-weary celebrating the event, and after a pleasant encounter
-with a hastily organised regiment of message
-boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the
-school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready
-for the midday fight with the "Pennies." For the
-pure joy of it they opened the door of the mathematical
-class-room, merely to see how it looked when
-Bulldog was not there, and found that estimable
-teacher at his desk, waiting to receive them with
-bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in
-Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others
-that he had climbed over it in the early morning,
-before Muirtown was awake; but it was found out
-afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison,
-the salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded
-river, that it took them an hour to reach the Muirtown
-side, and that they had both been nearly
-drowned in the adventure.</p>
-
-<p>"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
-a little late, but the roads are heavy this morning.
-Come to the fire and warm yir hands before ye begin
-yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and
-Mr. McGuffie senior used to tell his son with much
-relish that their hands were warmed. The school
-was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog
-would be prepared to swim the river rather than
-miss a day in the mathematical class-room.</p>
-
-<p>It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble"
-season had just begun, when Howieson, after a
-vicious and well-directed stroke which won him three
-"brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had
-seen Bulldog go in; for, notwithstanding the years
-which came and went, his passing in was always an
-occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not
-been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that
-he had not arrived; and even when the school
-trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's desk
-empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to
-take advantage of the circumstances. No one knew
-where he might be lying in wait, and from what
-quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful
-with what docility the boys began to work
-under the mild and beneficent reign of Mr. Byles,
-who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins
-in the unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon
-wore on there was certainly some curiosity, and Nestie
-was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts; but
-it was understood to be a point of honour with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
-Nestie, as a member of his household, to give no information
-about Bulldog's movements, and so the
-school were none the wiser. There was some wild
-talk during the hour, and a dozen stories were afloat
-by afternoon. Next morning it was boldly said that
-Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what
-truth was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged
-Nestie to deny the slander. That ingenious
-young gentleman replied vaguely but politely, and
-veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant
-detail that the school went in for the second day to
-the class-room rejoicing with trembling, and not at
-all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a carriage
-and pair, possibly with a large comforter round
-his throat, but otherwise full of spirits and perfectly
-fit for duty. It was only after the twelve o'clock
-break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie
-that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence,
-and felt like the Children of Israel on the
-other bank of the Red Sea. Some were for celebrating
-their independence in the North Meadow and
-treating Mr. Byles with absolute contempt; but
-there were others who judged with some acuteness
-that they could have the North Meadow any day, but
-they might never again have a full hour in the mathematical
-class-room without Bulldog. There seemed
-a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid the
-scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical
-class went in to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
-high spirits and without one missing. It is true that
-the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some reluctance
-in attending to their studies, but it was
-pointed out to them in a very firm and persuasive
-way by Speug that it would be disgraceful for them
-to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class
-could not allow such an act of treachery. Speug was
-so full of honest feeling that he saw Thomas John
-safely within the door, and, since he threatened an
-unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold
-from behind. There is no perfectly full and accurate
-account extant of what took place between twelve
-and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but
-what may be called contributions to history oozed
-out and were gratefully welcomed by the school. It
-was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr. Byles
-to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle
-drew a fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and
-being much encouraged by the applause of the class,
-and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a pipe
-into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked
-one of Mr. Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then
-went to his seat with a sense of modest worth. That
-Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic appreciation,
-resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and,
-moved by a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it
-from the board; but the senior members of the class
-would on no account allow any work by a young
-but promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
-struggle in wiping Mr. Byles's own face with the
-chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of entering
-into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went
-to Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug,
-seizing the opportunity so pleasantly afforded, locked
-Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and so kept
-him out of any further mischief for the rest of the
-hour. That as Mr. Byles had been deposed from
-office on account of his incapacity, and the place of
-mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was
-unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address,
-from Bulldog's desk, replete with popular
-humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to be
-giving such attention to his studies as might have
-been expected, Speug ordered that he be brought up
-for punishment, which was promptly done by
-Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of
-Thomas John's iniquitous career, Speug gave him
-the tawse with much faithfulness, Bauldie seeing
-that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming
-fashion; then that unhappy young gentleman was
-sent to his seat with a warning from Speug that this
-must never occur again. That Nestie, having stealthily
-left the room, gave such an accurate imitation
-of Bulldog's voice in the passage—"Pack of little
-fiddlers taking advantage of my absence; but I'll
-warm them"—that there was an instantaneous rush
-for the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie
-appeared, the mathematical class-room was as quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
-as pussy, and Speug was ostentatiously working at
-a mathematical problem. There are men living
-who look back on that day with modest, thankful
-hearts, finding in its remembrance a solace in old age
-for the cares of life; and the scene on which they
-dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been
-whitened for his abominable trick, standing on the
-top of Bulldog's desk, and singing a school song with
-the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy,
-while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled
-Dowbiggin to join in the chorus, and Byles could be
-heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how soon
-we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet
-innocence of our first years! how poor are the
-rewards of ambition compared with the simple pleasures
-of childhood!</p>
-
-<p>It could not be expected that we should ever have
-another day as good again, but everyone had a firm
-confidence in the originality of Speug when it was a
-question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round
-the Russian guns next morning—for, as I have said,
-the guns were our forum and place of public address—and,
-while affecting an attitude of studied indifference,
-we waited with desire to hear the plan of
-campaign from our leader's lips. But Speug, like all
-great generals, was full of surprises, and that morning
-he was silent and unapproachable. Various suggestions
-were made for brightening the mathematical
-labours and cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
-Howieson, weary of their futility, proposed that the
-whole class should go up to the top of the North
-Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug
-broke silence.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh
-may go with ye, and if he's drowned it'll be no loss,
-nor, for that matter, if the half of ye are carried
-down the river. For myself, I'm going to the
-mathematical class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles
-I'll fight him in the back yard in the dinner-hour for
-half a dozen stone-gingers."</p>
-
-<p>"Is there onything wrang with your head,
-Speug?" For the thought of Peter busy with a triangle
-under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr.
-Byles could only be explained in one way.</p>
-
-<p>"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists,
-either. The fact is——" And then Speug hesitated,
-realising amid his many excellences a certain
-deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie,
-what are ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and
-tell them aboot—what ye told me this meenut." And
-the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit,
-on which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.</p>
-
-<p>"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it
-won't do to-t-to-day. Bully's very ill, and Doctor
-Manley is afraid that he may—d-die, and it would be
-beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog
-is—maybe——" And Nestie came down hurriedly
-from the gun and went behind the crowd, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
-Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive manner,
-all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself
-to be quite indifferent.</p>
-
-<p>Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be
-going hard with Bulldog; for there was not in broad
-Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul in his
-great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh,
-with half a dozen honours of Scotland, England,
-and France. He had an insight into cases that
-was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which
-nobody but his own chemist could make up, he had
-expedients of treatment that never occurred to any
-other man, and then he had a way with him that
-used to bring people up from the gates of death and
-fill despairing relatives with hope. His arrival in the
-sick room, a little man, with brusque, sharp, straightforward
-manner, seemed in itself to change the whole
-face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He
-would not hear that any disease was serious, but he
-treated it as if it were; he would not allow a gloomy
-face in a sick room, and his language to women who
-began to whimper, when he got them outside the
-room, was such as tom cats would be ashamed of;
-and he regarded the idea of any person below eighty
-dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence.
-All over Perthshire country doctors in their
-hours of anxiety and perplexity sent for Manley; and
-when two men like William McClure and John
-Manley took a job in hand together, Death might as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
-well leave and go to another case, for he would not
-have a look in with those champions in the doorway.
-English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for
-the Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and
-then would go up to London and swear in the clubs
-that there was a man down there in a country town
-of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End
-swell doctors put together. He would not allow big
-names of diseases to be used in his hearing, believing
-that the shadow killed more people than the reality,
-and fighting with all his might against the melancholy
-delight that Scots people have in serious sickness
-and other dreary dispensations. When Manley
-returned one autumn from a week's holiday and
-found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning
-in the streets over their minister, because he was
-dying of diphtheria, and his young wife asking grace
-to give her husband up if it were the will of God,
-Manley went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation,
-declaring that to call a sore throat diphtheria
-was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a mere
-mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for
-a judgment." It happened, however, that his treatment
-was exactly the same as that for diphtheria,
-and although he remarked that he didn't know
-whether it was necessary for him to come back again
-for such an ordinary case, he did drop in by a series
-of accidents twice a day for more than a week; and
-although no one dared to whisper it in his presence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
-there are people who think to this day that the minister
-had diphtheria. As Manley, however, insisted
-that it was nothing but a sore throat, the minister
-felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation
-would have thanked Manley in a body had it not been
-that he would have laughed aloud. Many a boy remembered
-the day when he had been ill and sweating
-with terror lest he should die—although he wouldn't
-have said that to any living creature—and Manley
-had come in like a breeze of fresh air, and declared
-that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog,"
-with nothing wrong about him, except the desire to
-escape for three days from Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the
-most mischievous little rascal, except Peter McGuffie,
-in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll give you
-three days in bed, and your mother will let you have
-something nice to eat, and then out you go and back
-to the Seminary," and going out of the door Manley
-would turn round and shake his fist at the bed, "just
-a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before
-the boy was out of bed, but he was never afraid
-again, and had some heart to fight his disease.</p>
-
-<p>Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that,
-if Manley had allowed death to be even mentioned
-in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than likely
-that they would never see the master of the mathematical
-department again. And boys are a perfect
-absurdity, for—as sure as death—they were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
-glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost all,
-with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of
-them he had thrashed many times; he had never
-petted any of them, and never more than six times,
-perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But
-that morning, as they stood silent, awkward and
-angry, round the guns, there is no doubt about it,
-the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to
-see his erect figure and stern face come across the
-North Meadow, never to hear him say again from
-the desk, "Attention to your work, you little fiddlers";
-never to watch him promenading down between the
-benches, overseeing each boy's task and stimulating
-the negligent on some tender part of their bodies;
-never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought
-of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and
-Speug, resenting what he judged the impertinent
-spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his head, and
-"learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody
-knows, boys have no sentiment and no feeling, so the
-collapse of that morning must be set down to pure
-cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles
-ruled over them without resistance, and might have
-thrashed them if he had so pleased and had not
-ventured to use Bulldog's cane.</p>
-
-<p>Had they not been boys, they would have called at
-Bulldog's to learn how he was. Being boys, they
-avoided his name and pretended they were indiffer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>ent;
-but when they met Manley on the bridge that
-afternoon, and judged he had come from Bulldog's,
-they studied his face with the skill of wild animals,
-and concluded each one for himself that things were
-going badly with the master. They picked up every
-scrap of information from their fathers in the evening,
-although they fiercely resented the suggestion of
-their mothers that they would be concerned about
-"Mr. MacKinnon's illness"—as if they cared
-whether a master were ill or well, as if it were not
-better for them that he should be ill, especially such
-an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother
-was very much disappointed by this lack of feeling,
-and said to her husband at night that she had expected
-better things from Archibald; but if she had
-gone suddenly into Bauldie's room—for that was his
-real name, Archibald being only the thing given in
-baptism—she would have found that truculent
-worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with
-the blankets, lest his elder brother, who slept in the
-same room, should hear him. You have no reason
-to believe me, and his mother would not have believed
-me, but—as sure as death—Bauldie was crying
-because Bulldog was sick unto death.</p>
-
-<p>Next morning Speug and a couple of friends
-happened by the merest accident to be loitering at
-Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and examining
-with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
-very time when that worthy magistrate came out and
-questioned Dr. Manley "How things were going up-bye
-wi' the maister?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the
-case; it looks bad, very bad indeed, and I'm not a
-croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a strong man,
-not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but
-he has lost interest in things, and isn't making an
-effort to get better; just lying quiet and looking at
-you—says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get him
-waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."</p>
-
-<p>"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment
-at the thought of Bulldog dying, as it were, of
-gentleness.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way
-with those strong, healthy men, who have never
-known a day's sickness till they are old; they break
-up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog
-didn't thrash you and me, else we would have been
-better men; but he has attended to our boys."</p>
-
-<p>"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie
-shook his head, sadly mourning over a man who had
-laid down his life in discharge of discipline. But the
-boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened
-the strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a
-heap upon the street, whereat there was a brisk interchange
-of ideas, and then the company went on its
-way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.</p>
-
-<p>Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
-that was the reason that Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered,
-taking offence if anyone looked at him,
-and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing
-during the dinner-hour. It was supposed
-that he had broken bounds and gone to Woody
-Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and
-that while the class was wasting its time with Byles,
-Peter was playing the Red Indian. He did not deny
-the charge next day, and took an hour's detention in
-the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time
-he was supposed to be stalking Indians behind the
-trees, and shooting them as they floated down the
-river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his
-father's stable, hidden from sight, and—as sure as
-death—Speug was trying to pray for Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of
-the natural man, and Mr. McGuffie junior had never
-been present at any form of family prayers, nor had
-he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under
-any minister in particular. He had no training in
-devotional exercises, although he had enjoyed an
-elaborate education in profanity under his father and
-the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely
-his own.</p>
-
-<p>"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say
-Ye hear onybody. I'm Peter McGuffie, but mebbe
-Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good
-laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but
-I'm awful fond of Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
-God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff this time
-I'll never say any bad words again—as sure as death—and
-I'll never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's
-face, and I'll never steal birds' eggs, and I'll
-never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash my face
-and—my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule,
-and I'll do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let
-off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>When Dr. Manley came out from the master's
-garden door that evening he stumbled upon Speug,
-who was looking very miserable, but began to whistle
-violently the moment he was detected, and denied
-that he had come to ask for news.</p>
-
-<p>"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell
-me lies, for I know you, Speug, and your father
-before you. I wish I'd good news to give you, but
-I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing
-from Bulldog."</p>
-
-<p>For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the
-road and thrust his hands deep into his pockets;
-then the corners of his mouth began to twitch, and
-turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while
-his tough little body that had stood many a fight
-shook all over. Doctor Manley was the first person
-that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him
-to protect him from the gaze of any wandering message
-boys who might come along the lane. By and
-by Speug began to speak between his sobs.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
-I dinna like to let on.... I heard ye say that ye
-couldna rouse Bulldog to take an interest in onything,
-and I thought o' something."</p>
-
-<p>"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his
-hands on the boy's shoulder and encouraged him to
-proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust me."</p>
-
-<p>"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a
-lickin'; if he juist had a cane in his hands and a
-laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be himsel'
-again, and—there's no a laddie in schule he's licked
-as often as me. And I cam up——" and Speug
-stuck.</p>
-
-<p>"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean.
-You've mentioned the medicine; 'pon my word, I
-believe it's just the very thing that will do the trick.
-Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what
-I was seeking after, and I've been doctoring those
-Muirtown sinners for more than thirty years. Come
-along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and we'll
-go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug
-through the garden and into the house. "Wait a
-minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll come back
-to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs
-and found his friend in the lobby, confused
-and frightened for the first time in his life, and Nestie
-saw the marks of distress upon his face. "Doctor
-M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm
-round his neck) "you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown.
-It's awfully d-decent of you, and it'll p-please<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
-Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as
-consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought
-him forward to the bedside, and at last he had
-courage to look, and it took him all his time to play
-the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so
-gentle, with his face almost as white as the pillow,
-and his hands upon the bedclothes wasted like to the
-hands of a skeleton. The master smiled faintly, and
-seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars,
-but he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in
-the background and allowed the boys to manage their
-own business, being the wisest of men as well as the
-kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug
-and gave him every encouragement, Peter could not
-find a word, but stood helpless, biting his lip and
-looking the very picture of abject misery.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 383px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i202" id="i202"></a><img src="images/i202.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt=""His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you.
-He is very sorry that you are ill, and so are all the
-boys. Peter thought you might be wearying to—to
-use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
-little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid
-an old cane he had hunted up, a cane retired from
-service, upon the bed within reach of Bulldog's hand.
-A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye,
-the first expression of interest he had shown during
-his illness. He turned his head and looked at Peter,
-the figure of chastened mischief. The remembrance
-of the past—the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
-with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>scratching of the pens, came up to him, and his soul
-was stirred within him. His hand closed again upon
-the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw
-open upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one
-little stroke with all the strength he had. "The
-fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers can't do
-without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye
-and overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek.
-Manley hurried the boys out of the room, who went
-into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
-dog, the three together played every monkey trick
-they knew, while upstairs in the sick-room Manley
-declared that Bulldog had turned the corner and
-would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."</p>
-
-<p>The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to
-his native stable-yard, for this was only proper
-courtesy to a consulting physician. He called him
-"Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all
-the way, whereat Peter was so abashed that friends
-seeing him sitting in Manley's phaeton, with such an
-expression on his face, spread abroad the tale that
-the doctor was bringing him home with two broken
-legs as the result of riding a strange horse. The
-doctor bade him good-bye in the presence of his
-father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school
-on the news of Bulldog's convalescence, and next
-day stone-ginger was flowing like water down the
-throats of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="A_PLEASANT_SIN" id="A_PLEASANT_SIN"></a>A PLEASANT SIN</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XI</h3>
-
-
-<p>Captious people, such as ministers of religion and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
-old maids of the precise kind, considered that the
-Seminary were guilty of many sins and mentioned
-them freely; but those excellent people erred through
-lack of vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room,
-putting the Dowbiggins' clothes into a state
-of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the "Pennies,"
-having a stand-up fight between two well-matched
-champions, say, once a month, and "ragging"
-Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of evil,
-but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the
-high spirit of those who were active, and teaching
-the Christian grace of meekness to those who were
-passive. There was only one act which the Seminary
-knew it ought not to do, and which all the boys
-wanted to do, which they enjoyed very much in doing,
-and were quite willing to be punished for doing.
-The besetting sin of a school—a country school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>—which
-will remain its sin until the days of the millennium
-have fairly set in, was playing truant.</p>
-
-<p>This crime was equivalent to high treason in the
-State, and consisted in a boy absenting himself from
-school without the knowledge of his parents, and
-without the consent of his master, for a day or half
-of a day. The boy did not disappear because he was
-ill, for he was on such occasions outrageously well:
-nor because he was overburdened by work, for the
-truants always guarded themselves against brain
-fag; nor because he wanted to hang about the streets,
-or smoke in secret places. He was simply seized with
-the passion of the open air and of the country. To
-tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds'
-eggs and watching the ways of wild animals; to guddle
-for trout under the stones of some clear running
-mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on
-a summer day, or to join the haymakers on a farm,
-and do a full day's work, as long as lesson time and
-harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds,
-as if an animal had broken out from a menagerie;
-there was joy in thinking, as you lay beside your
-burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
-mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their
-sums, under Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home
-in the evening, tired, but satisfied, and passing the
-empty Seminary with defiance. There is no joy—I
-mean sin—but has its drawbacks, and there were
-clouds in the truant's sky. Country folk had their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
-own suspicions when they came on a couple of boys
-going at large on a working day, when the school
-was in session, as one might have a shrewd guess
-if he came upon two convicts in their professional
-dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
-there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who
-have escaped from a cage, unless it be a tigress looking
-for her dinner, and no one would have thought
-of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
-Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished
-him for his evil doings—as I shall tell.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say,
-as he came upon them sitting by the burnside eating
-bread and cheese and counting up their trout, "I'm
-judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now,
-or mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir
-health. Or is this the reward for doing yir work so
-well? Ye have all the appearance of scholars." And
-then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery
-and the confusion of the boys.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest
-mended, and ye mind where leears go to. But I'm
-thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk to
-wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries
-in the garden up by, just about ripe."</p>
-
-<p>So they all went up to the farm kitchen and
-had a glorious tuck in, and were afterwards turned
-loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
-watched them with keen delight and a remembrance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
-of past days. Whose place in heaven for such
-deeds of charity is already secure.</p>
-
-<p>The authorities at home were not so lenient, and
-the experienced truant was careful, when he could,
-to time his arrival home about five o'clock in the
-afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and
-one hour more of special confinement. According
-to the truant's code he was not allowed to tell a
-lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
-but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed
-statement of the truth. If his father charged him
-with being kept in at school for not having done his
-work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed
-it to go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy.
-When, however, a boy was by habit and
-repute a truant, his father learned by experience
-and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had
-an extra touch of the sun on his face, and his clothing
-was disorderly beyond usual, and his manner was
-especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please
-every person quite remarkable, and if in moments of
-unconsciousness he seemed to be chewing the cud of
-some recent pleasure, the father was apt to subject
-him to a searching cross-examination. And his
-mother had to beg the boy off with many a plea, such
-as mothers know how to use; and if the others did
-not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain,
-she could always send the good man back upon his
-memory, and put it to his conscience whether he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
-ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin the
-boy had inherited from himself.</p>
-
-<p>It was next morning that the truant really paid
-for his pleasure; and the price was sharp, for there
-was no caning to be compared with that which
-followed a day in the country. It was a point of
-honour that no boy should show distress; but even
-veterans bit their lips as the cane fell first on the
-right hand and then on the left, and right across the
-palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the
-hand, if the cane was young and flexible. Speug,
-though a man of war and able to endure anything,
-used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather
-was cold, before going in to the inquisition, and
-after he had received a switching of the first order
-he would go down to the lade and cool his hands in
-the running water. It was an interesting spectacle
-to see four able-bodied sinners, who yesterday
-had given themselves to the study of Nature, now
-kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our
-waters of Lethe; but you must remember that they
-made no moan before the boys, and no complaint
-against the master. The school received them with
-respect when they came out, and Speug would
-indicate with a wink and a jerk of his head that
-Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to
-be trifled with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered
-cub ventured to come too near when Peter
-was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
-Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to
-be looking where he had no business."</p>
-
-<p>Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some
-weak-hearted boys, but it never prevented any of the
-hardy ruffians from having their day out when the
-fever seized them. Playing truant was the same
-thing for a boy as bolting for a high-spirited horse;
-done once, the animal is bound to try it again, and to
-both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
-much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead
-and then go astray in cold blood, because this sin was
-not an act of malice aforethought—it was a sudden
-impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the
-blood. Had one determined on Tuesday night to
-take Wednesday, it might have turned out in our
-fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as
-soon be playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in
-the dinner-hour, or, for that matter, amusing himself
-in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the morning
-ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
-water—arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day,
-and planning how to escape a lesson he had not prepared;
-but he was helpless against Nature if she set
-herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose
-outside the door than the summer air, sweet and
-fresh, began to play upon his face and reminded him
-of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
-of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that
-morning in the sunshine, brought up a pool where a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
-fat trout was sure to be lying. As he crossed the
-North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
-Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and
-flowers, and sent his blood a-tingling. The books upon
-his back grew woefully heavy, and the Seminary reminded
-him of the city gaol frowning out on the
-fields with its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered
-by the lade and saw the clear water running
-briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
-glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie
-Woods with their mysterious depths, and
-rising high above the houses on the other side of the
-river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The
-bell rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river
-is running through his heart, and the greenery is before
-his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs through
-the open window awakens the instinct of the wild
-animal in his breast and invites him to be free.
-Speug has a slate before him, but he is not pretending
-to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow,
-and sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make
-its bolt. He catches Howieson's eye and reads that
-Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal of Bauldie
-whether he prefers compound fractions to a
-swim, and Bauldie explains, also by signal, that,
-much as he loves fractions, he will be obliging that
-afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth
-would complete the party; and when Speug lifts his
-eyebrows with great dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>ell,
-three desks off, "Piggie," like the gallant spirit
-that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be
-found wanting. Not a word has been said, and no
-one will say "Truant" at any time, but at the next
-break the four separate themselves quietly and unobtrusively
-from their fellows, and by the time the last
-boy has gone through the door, they are scudding
-across the meadow to Speug's stable-yard, where
-they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
-more is needed than a hunch of bread and some
-fish-hooks; but as they ran Speug had dropped the
-word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
-was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the
-town, long and narrow, formed with a division of
-the river into its main current and a sluggish backwater.
-It was covered with dense brushwood, except
-where here and there a patch of green turf was
-left bare, and the island was indented with little bays
-where the river rippled on clean sand and gravel.
-It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself
-in it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and
-then you had to find your comrades by signal; and
-it had little tracks through it, and there was one
-place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to
-be a cave, and where certainly two boys could get
-out of sight if they lay very close together and did
-not mind being half smothered. When you went
-to Woody Island, and left the mainland, you were
-understood to blot out the Seminary and Muirtown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
-and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
-somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the
-possession of the children of the forest; the ashes
-of their fires could be seen any day there, and you
-could come upon their wigwams in one of the open
-spots. There was a place where they had massacred
-three trappers and taken their scalps, and in that
-cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian scout,
-lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth
-of his rifle peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned
-braves at bay for a whole day. It was a
-fairy world in which our Indian tales could be reproduced
-upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the
-heroes we had so often admired. The equipment for
-the day consisted of four tomahawks (three axes out
-of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
-which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols
-(one belonging to Speug and the other to Bauldie);
-a couple of toy rifles—not things for kids, mark you,
-but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
-caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage
-cloth from Peter's yard; and a kettle for boiling
-water—I mean cooking the game—which Jock
-Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy
-had to visit his home on pretence of returning for a
-book, and bring away the necessary articles of war
-and as much food as he could steal from the pantry;
-and then everything, axes included, and, if possible,
-the rifles had to be hidden away about their persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
-until the four, skulking by back lanes, and separating
-from one another, reached the top of the North
-Meadow, after which they went up the bank of the
-river, none daring to make them afraid. They were
-out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
-weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into
-an Indian trapper, and giving directions about how
-they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
-Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate
-whether they would have a chance of meeting with
-the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
-try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him,
-because, although they had not yet entered the Indian
-territory, the crafty foe might have scouts out on
-this side of the river, and in that case there was no
-hope of Woody Island. The Indians would be in
-ambush among the trees on the bank, and the four
-would be shot down as they crossed.</p>
-
-<p>Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's
-Indians, but a white man—a renegade—who, to his
-shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
-always ready to betray the trappers into their hands.
-This miscreant was a farmer on the mainland, who
-was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a determined
-objection to any boys, or other savages,
-except, as I have said, the Seminole tribe living on
-the island, and who used to threaten pains and penalties
-against anyone whom he caught on his land.
-One never knew when he might be about, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
-was absolutely necessary to reach the island without
-his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
-used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday
-dinner, and then creep along the bank of the
-river and ferry himself across with the other trappers
-in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to
-the other side of the island and kept there for the
-return voyage in the evening, so that the farmer was
-helpless to reach the island, and could only address
-the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from
-the bank, which was sent back to him in faithful
-echo. This forenoon the farmer happened to be
-hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite the
-island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure,
-for now the four had to drop down and crawl along
-through the thick grass by the river's edge, availing
-themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
-with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed
-so near the farmer that they could hear him speak
-and hear the click of the hoes as the people worked
-in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
-and looked through between the branches of a shrub,
-you could see him, and Bauldie actually covered him
-with his rifle. The unconscious farmer knew not
-that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon
-Bauldie's trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his
-chief, for he would dearly have loved to fire a cap,
-but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the trapper
-dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
-explained that the renegade had certainly deserved
-death, but that it was dangerous to fire with so many
-of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
-side of the river. By and by the farmer and his
-people had worked themselves to the other end of
-the field, and the trappers, having ascertained that
-there were no Indians watching them, prepared to
-cross. Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out
-suddenly and unadvisedly, for the farmer had
-chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
-mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances,
-for they would have stripped and swum across, and
-back again when they were tired of the other side,
-for every one of them could swim like an otter; but
-that day they were trappers, with arms, and food,
-and a tent, and powder which must be kept dry, to
-say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief consultation,
-and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot
-the farmer dead on the spot, and as many of his
-people as they could. Speug, who had been prowling
-around—though cautiously, mind you, and ever
-watching for a sign of the Seminoles—gave a low,
-mysterious whistle, which was one of the signs
-among the trappers; and when the others joined
-him he pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe."
-It was an ancient boat which the farmer's father had
-used, and which had lain for years upon the bank,
-unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking,
-it had two holes at least in it, and there were no oars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
-It was a thing which, in the farmer's hand, would
-have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had the
-semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy
-trappers. Very carefully did they work it to the
-bank, lest it should slip a whole plank on the road,
-and very gently did they drop it in, lest the Seminoles
-should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with
-his bonnet, and Bauldie the second with his; Jock
-spread his jacket over an oozy part. They shipped
-all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and
-the others, stripping off their clothes and adding
-them to the cargo of the boat, pushed out the boat
-before them, swimming by its side. It was a mere
-question of time whether the boat would go down in
-mid-channel; but so splendidly did "Piggie" bale,
-ready at any moment to swim for his life, and so
-powerfully did the others push, swimming with their
-feet and one hand, and with the other hand guiding
-the boat, that they brought it over safely to the other
-side; and the fact that half their clothes were wet
-through mattered little to men who had often hidden
-from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their
-eyes and nose out; and, at any rate, the food was
-safe. The matches and the percussion caps also were
-dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the
-worst emergency, they would have been carried on
-the top of his head if he also had been obliged to
-swim. They brought the boat into a little creek, and,
-communicating by signs to one another—for they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
-were too old hunters to be speaking now, when there
-might be a party of Seminoles in that very wood—Speug
-and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
-with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie"
-and Bauldie drew the boat up under cover of the
-bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that even a Seminole's
-keen eyes would not have been able to detect
-it. The trappers made another hiding-place, and left
-there the superfluous garments of civilisation, confining
-themselves to a shirt and trousers, and a belt
-which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and
-Jock, as the two veterans who could discover the
-trail of the Seminoles by a twisted leaf on a
-branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their
-friends to lie low, and they themselves disappeared
-into the brushwood. They had gone to scout, and to
-make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
-in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed
-three times, "Piggie" nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie
-hooted like an owl, then they knew that it was
-safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom
-they found on the edge of a clearing, leaning on their
-rifles in a picturesque attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie"
-led, and the others followed, pausing now and
-again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal
-from "Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each
-took up his position behind a tree. But it was a false
-alarm. Then they went on as before, till they came
-to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
-they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent,
-lighting a fire, which they did with immense success,
-and proceeding to cook dinner. As they
-had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any
-wandering Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild
-turkey, which, in other circumstances, would have
-been their food; but they made tea (very badly, and
-largely because they wished to use the kettle), and
-they had bread and butter, which had turned into oil
-through the warmth of Bauldie's person, a half ham
-which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for which
-"Piggie" will have to account some day, and
-six jam tarts which Howieson bought with his last
-farthing, and which had been reduced practically to
-one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles
-of stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued,
-and afforded them a big mouthful each, as they
-drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
-calculation of time.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 430px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i218" id="i218"></a><img src="images/i218.jpg" width="430" height="600" alt=""They drank without any cup."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"They drank without any cup."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>What a day they had! They fought Indians from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
-one end of the island to the other, killing and scalping
-twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter current
-on the other side, and they dried themselves in the
-sun, and in the sun they slept till they were
-burned red; and then just as they were thinking that
-it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
-their belongings and set off for home, Speug
-gave a whistle that had in it this time no pretence of
-danger, and bolted into the wood, followed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
-the other three. Whether he had heard the firing,
-or the Seminoles had sent a message, they never
-knew, but the farmer was on the island and proceeding
-in their direction through the brushwood. Speug
-did not think that he had seen them, and he would
-not quite know where they were, and in an instant
-that leader of men had formed what he thought the
-best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the
-other three, who executed a war-dance at the mere
-thought of the strategy, and then departed hurriedly
-for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
-ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction,
-and just gave the farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried
-up the island.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait
-till I catch ye; trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be
-bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be in the nicht, or I'm no
-farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please, but
-I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back
-in, for I've found that, clever as ye thought yourselves,
-and knocked the bottom oot o' it."</p>
-
-<p>It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug,
-and then Speug was standing on the edge of the
-water at the top of the island, where the current runs
-swift and strong towards the other side.</p>
-
-<p>"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red
-all over, but not with modesty. "I thought I heard
-somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
-island. Have ye come to bathe?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little
-deevil, and, my word, I'll bathe ye," and the farmer
-made for Speug.</p>
-
-<p>"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy
-almost had his hands on him, and dived into the
-river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified man;
-and then, as he went down with the current which
-took him over to the opposite side, he invited the
-farmer to come in. When he landed Speug bade
-the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped
-he would enjoy himself among his Indian friends.</p>
-
-<p>"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll
-be after ye, and though I ransack Muirtown I'll find
-ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle to go back to the
-town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be,"
-and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat,
-which he had loosely fastened to one of the trees.
-When he reached the spot it was not to be found,
-but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed
-place on the other side, chained and padlocked. For
-the other three trappers had gathered all their
-possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen,
-and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves
-across with rapidity and dignity. Once more
-Speug bade the farmer good-night, extending both
-hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was
-in front of the other, and the thumb of the inner
-hand attached to Speug's nose. He thoughtfully
-offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
-the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed,
-wishing him a pleasant night and telling him where
-he would find the shank of a ham. As Peter dressed
-himself, his friends could only look at him in silent
-admiration, till at the thought of the renegade
-trapped so neatly and confined for at least a night
-on his own island, Howieson slapped his legs and
-triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown
-and to civilisation full of joy.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="GUERILLA_WARFARE" id="GUERILLA_WARFARE"></a>GUERILLA WARFARE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XII</h3>
-
-
-<p>There is no person in a Scots country town to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
-be compared with a Bailie for authority and
-dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown,
-was a glory to his order. Provosts might come
-and go—creatures of three years—but this man remained
-in office for ever, and so towered above his
-brethren of the same kind, that the definite article
-was attached to his title, and to quote "the Bailie"
-without his name was the recognised form and an
-end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to
-him, and, entering into the designs of Providence,
-had given him a bodily appearance corresponding
-to his judicial position. He stood six feet in his
-boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression
-of six inches more. His waistband passed
-forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man justice,
-his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested
-in folds upon his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven,
-solemn, immovable countenance suggested
-unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice
-was deep and husky, and the clearance of his throat
-with which he emphasised his deliverances could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
-heard half a street away and was like the sealing of
-a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had
-he seen his boots—at least upon his feet—and his
-gait, as became his elevation, was a stately amble,
-as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea,
-driving the water before her bow and yet swaying
-gently from side to side in her progress. Sunday
-and Saturday—except when officiating at the Sacrament,
-and of course he was then in full blacks—the
-Bailie wore exactly the same kind of dress—a
-black frock-coat, close buttoned, and grey trousers,
-with a dark blue stock, his one concession to
-colour. As his position was quite assured, being,
-in the opinion of many, second only to that of the
-Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his
-clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two
-stains upon his paunch as a means of identification.
-Walking through the town, he stood at his full
-height, with his hands folded upon the third button
-of his coat; but when he reached the North
-Meadow, on his way home, and passed the Seminary,
-he allowed his head to droop, and clasped
-his hands behind after the manner of the great
-Napoleon, and then it was understood that the
-Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of
-State. People made way for him upon the streets
-as he sailed along, and were pleased with a recognition,
-which always took the form of a judgment
-from the Bench, even though it dealt only with the
-weather or the crops.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>There was no occasion, either in the Council or
-in the Presbytery, when the Bailie did not impress;
-but every one agreed that he rose to his height on
-the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of
-law, could be sprung on him, no sensational incident
-ever stirred him, no excitement of the people
-ever carried him away. He was the terror of the
-publicans, and would refuse a license if he saw fit
-without any fear; but if the teetotalers tried to dictate
-to him, he would turn upon them and rend his
-own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown
-sinner was convicted in his court he would preface
-his sentence with a ponderous exhortation, and if
-the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the
-accused to go as an act of grace, but warn him
-never to appear again, lest a worse thing should befall
-him. There are profane people in every community,
-and there were those in Muirtown who
-used to say in private places that the Bailie was
-only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but
-the local lawyers found it best to treat him with
-respect; and until the Seminary boys took his
-Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No
-doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported
-into a petty case to browbeat the local
-Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when
-that eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions
-to "the defunct," said that if he heard anything
-more about "the defunct" he would adjourn
-the case for a week, and allow him to appear in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
-own interests. Then the advocate explained with
-elaborate politeness that he was afraid that even the
-summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce
-this party, and that his appearance, if he came,
-might secure the court to himself.</p>
-
-<p>"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate
-with unmoved dignity, "that the man is dead.
-Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if you
-had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had
-your case better prepared, and not wasted our time
-with the talk of dead people. You are still young,
-and when you have had more experience you will
-know that it is only the evidence of living witnesses
-that can be received in a court of justice. Proceed
-with your case and confine yourself to relevant evidence—yes,
-sir, relevant evidence."</p>
-
-<p>It only shows the inherent greatness of the man,
-that in private life the Bailie followed the calling of
-an Italian warehouseman, which really, in plain
-words, was the same thing as a superior grocer,
-nor was he above his trade for eight hours of the
-day. When not engaged in official work, he could
-be found behind his counter, and yet even there he
-seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron
-he wore as a robe of office, he heard what the ladies
-had to say with a judicial air, correcting them if
-they hinted at any tea costing less than four and
-sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be
-brought forward for inspection, as if it had been a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
-prisoner in the dock, probing it with searching
-severity and giving a judgment upon it from
-which there was no appeal. He distinguished between
-customers, assigning to each such provisions
-as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring
-in a paternal manner after the welfare of their
-children, and when the case was concluded—that is
-to say, the tea and the sugar bought—even condescending
-to a certain high level of local gossip.
-When the customer left the shop it was with a
-sense of privilege, as if one had been called up for
-a little to sit with the judge. It was understood
-that only people of a certain standing were
-included among the Bailie's customers, and the
-sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his
-door marked out his province of business. Yet if
-a little lassie stumbled into the shop and asked for
-a pennyworth of peppermints, he would order her
-to be served, adding a peppermint or two more,
-and some good advice which sent away the little
-woman much impressed; for though the Bailie
-committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered
-terribly in consequence thereof, he was a
-good and honest man.</p>
-
-<p>The Bailie made only one public mistake in his
-life, but it was on the largest scale, and every one
-wondered that a man so sagacious should have deliberately
-entered into a feud with the boys of the
-Seminary. The Bailie had battled in turn with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
-Licensed Victuallers, who as a fighting body are
-not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom
-every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves
-alone; with the Tories, who were his opponents,
-and with the Liberals, his own party, when he happened
-to disagree with them; with the Town Council,
-whom he vanquished, and with the Salmon
-Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms; but
-all those battles were as nothing to a campaign
-with the boys. There is all the difference in the
-world between a war with regulars, conducted according
-to the rules of military science, and a series
-of guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are
-with the alert and light-armed enemy. Any personage
-who goes to war with boys is bound to be
-beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can
-hardly ever hurt them, and never possibly can conquer
-them; and they will buzz round him like
-wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him
-to shame before the public, will tease him on his
-most sensitive side, will lie in wait for him in unexpected
-places with an ingenuity and a perseverance
-and a mercilessness which are born of the Devil,
-who in such matters is the unfailing ally of all
-genuine boys.</p>
-
-<p>It was no doubt annoying to a person of the
-Bailie's dignity and orderliness to see the terrace
-in which the Seminary stood, and which had the
-honour of containing his residence, turned into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
-playground, and outrageous that Jock Howieson,
-playing rounders in front of a magistrate's residence,
-should send the ball crack through the plate-glass
-window of a magistrate's dining-room. It
-was fearsome conduct on the part of Jock, and
-even the ball itself should have known better; but
-the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did
-not intend to lose his ball and his game also, and
-the maddest thing the magistrate could do was to
-make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough
-to go to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint,
-but as he could not identify the culprit, and
-no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed
-worsted, and the address which he gave the boys
-was received with derision. When he turned from
-the boys to the master, he fared no better, for Bulldog
-who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect
-for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his
-(Bulldog's) jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of
-the Seminary, and that it was not his business to
-keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant,
-when the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys
-in the courtyard, forgot the respect due to a magistrate,
-and refused point-blank, besides adding a
-gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented,
-to let the matter drop, or else he'd repent
-the day when he interfered with the laddies.</p>
-
-<p>"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and
-I was through the Crimean War—ye can see my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
-medals; but it takes me all my time to keep the
-pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye
-meddle wi' them outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye,
-Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye afore they're done
-w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o'
-managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them.
-Noo, when they broke the glass in the Count's
-windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna
-identify them and paid the cost himself! He may
-be French, but he's long-headed, for him and the
-laddies are that friendly there's naething they
-woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o'
-mind, Bailie, and yir poseetion in Muirtown, dinna
-quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine laddies as
-laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born
-deevils."</p>
-
-<p>There is a foolish streak in every man, and the
-Bailie went on to his doom. As the authorities of
-the Seminary refused to do their duty—for which
-he would remember them in the Council when
-questions of salary and holidays came up—the
-Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own
-thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a
-magistrate; and one morning an able-bodied constable
-appeared on the scene and informed the
-amazed school that he was there to prevent them
-playing on the Terrace. No doubt he did his
-duty according to his light, but neither he nor six
-constables could have quelled the Seminary any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
-more than you can hold quicksilver in your hand.
-When he walked with stately step up and down the
-broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the
-Seminary went up and played opposite the Bailie's
-house, introducing his name into conversation, with
-opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of
-his person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally
-weaving the story of his life into a verse of poetry
-which was composed by Speug, but is not suitable
-for a book of family reading. If the constable,
-with the fear of the magistrate before his eyes, went
-up to stand as a guard of honour before the Bailie's
-house, the school went down then to the Russian guns
-and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the
-constable to come back to the Seminary, and telling
-him what they would do to him. They formed a
-bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out
-of reach, and marched along with him, backward
-and forward; other days they chaffed and teased him
-till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power
-to arrest them, and in his heart he sympathised
-with them. And then, at last, being weary of the
-constable, the school turned its attention to the
-Bailie.</p>
-
-<p>One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was
-held in the North Meadow, beyond the supervision
-of the constable, and after the Bailie had been
-called every name of abuse known to the Seminary,
-and Speug had ransacked the resources of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
-stable yard in profanity, he declared that the time
-had now come for active operation, and that the
-war must be carried into the enemy's country.
-Speug declared his conviction in the vernacular of
-the school, which is here translated into respectable
-language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful
-birth and discreditable pedigree, that his conduct
-as a boy was beyond description, and that his
-private life was stained with every vice; that his intellect
-would give him a right to be confined in the
-county asylum, and that he had also qualified by
-his way of living for the county gaol; that he didn't
-wash more than once a year, and that the smell of
-him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it
-was a pity he didn't attend to his own business, and
-that he had very little business to do; that he would
-soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't bankrupt
-already it was only because he cheated with his
-change; that he sanded his sugar, and that his
-weights and measures were a scandal; but that the
-Seminary must do what they could to lead him to
-honest ways and teach him industry, and that he
-(Speug) with the aid of one or two friends
-would do his best for the reformation of Bailie
-MacConachie, and in this way return good for evil,
-as Mr. Byles, assistant in the department of mathematics,
-used to teach. And the school waited with
-expectation for the missionary effort upon which
-Speug with the assistance of Howieson and Bauldie,
-was understood to be engaged.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Next Friday evening an art committee met in a
-stable-loft on the premises of Mr. McGuffie senior,
-and devoted their skill—which was greater than
-they ever showed in their work—to the elaboration
-of a high-class advertisement which was to be
-shown round a certain district in Muirtown, and
-which they hoped would stimulate the custom at
-Bailie MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided
-two large boards such as might be hung one
-on the breast and one on the back of a man, and
-those Speug had cut to the proper size and pasted
-over with thick white paper. Upon them Bauldie,
-who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently
-for a space of two hours, with the assistance
-and encouragement of his friends, and when
-they set the boards up against the wall the committee
-was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the
-advertisement with much unction—</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">Sale of Bankrupt Stock</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">at</span><br />
-BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br />
-<i>THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN</i>,<br />
-49, <span class="smcap">St. Andrew Street.</span><br />
-
-<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" />
-
-ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND.
-
-<hr class="hr2" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" />
-
-<i>Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday.</i><br />
-<span class="smcap">Glass of Whisky Free to all Purchasers.</span><br />
-<i>Poor People Specially Invited.</i><br />
-<i>Be early.</i> <i>Be early.</i><br />
-
-BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S<br />
-<span class="under">CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!</span></div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-
-<p>The three artists contained themselves till they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
-came to the last "Cheap Tea!" then Jock knocked
-Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell
-on the top of them, and they rolled in one
-bundle of delight, arising from time to time to
-study the advertisement and taste its humour.</p>
-
-<p>"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an
-Elder of the Kirk! That'll learn him to be complaining
-of his windows."</p>
-
-<p>"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself
-an Italian warehouseman. I would give half
-a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady Kilspindie there,"
-stammered Jock with delight.</p>
-
-<p>"'Glass of whisky free!'"—and Speug took a
-fresh turn in the hay—"it's against law to drink
-whisky in a grocer's shop—and him a magistrate!
-He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."</p>
-
-<p>"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My
-word! They'll be there, all the waufies of Muirtown;
-there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of
-whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his
-knuckles.</p>
-
-<p>Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was
-going along the Terrace to his house and congratulating
-himself that on that day at least he was free
-from all annoyance by the way, another character
-of Muirtown had started out through a very different
-part of the fair city. London John was as
-well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
-in his way was quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt,
-without an ounce of superfluous flesh, and with an
-inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat
-which he had worn for at least a quarter of a
-century, and a tall hat which he had rescued from
-an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of trousers,
-and something in the form of a shirt which was
-only seen when he laid aside the outer garment for
-active service, London John stalked with majesty
-through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his
-living as a sandwich man, or by carrying in coals,
-or by going errands, or by emptying ashpits. He
-could neither read nor write, but he remembered a
-number and never forgot what was due to him, and
-the solitary subject on which he spoke was the
-wonders of London, where it was supposed he had
-lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His
-coming was always welcome in the poorer parts of
-the town, for the sake of his discourse on London,
-but never had he received such an ovation before
-in the Vennel, which was largely inhabited by
-tramps and tinkers, unskilled labourers and casuals
-of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have
-aroused their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a
-free glass of whisky the deepest emotions of the
-Vennel were stirred.</p>
-
-<p>"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler
-Tam, who jogged round the country with petty
-wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
-old clothes, and other débris of a house, "and a
-glass of whisky free! Ma certes? let me get a sight
-o' that," and London John was brought to a standstill
-while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a
-crowd who could appreciate the cheapness of the
-tea, and whose tongues began to hang out at the
-very thought of the whisky.</p>
-
-<p>"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at
-the suggestion of such deceit. "He daurna do sic
-a thing, else his shop would be gutted. Na, na, it
-reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny
-and ye get a pound of tea and a glass of
-whisky. I count it handsome o' the Bailie; and if
-they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how
-a man is abused."</p>
-
-<p>"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess
-Mitchell, who had had a difference of opinion with
-another lady in the Vennel and received the Bailie's
-best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to
-hear him preach a sermon as long as my leg besides—confound
-him for a smooth-tongued, psalm-singin',
-bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no
-grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm
-no mindin' so much about the tea. The sooner
-we're at the place the better, for I'll be bound
-there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown
-than a' the last year." And there was a general
-feeling that the Vennel had better make no delay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
-lest some other locality should obtain the first
-call.</p>
-
-<p>As London John went on his way the news
-spread through the back streets and closes, and the
-Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive ears.
-And if any person was inclined to doubt there was
-the advertisement in plain terms, and over the
-board with its engaging news the austere and unmoved
-countenance of London John. That
-worthy could give no information about the remarkable
-placard, not even from whom he received
-it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it
-through the Vennel and neighbouring streets for
-two hours, and that he had received a shilling for
-his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie
-MacConachie's when his task was done. He also
-explained that in London, where he used to reside,
-whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for the
-asking. But his hearers had no interest that day
-in London.</p>
-
-<p>It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday
-dinner, and long before he reached St. Andrew's
-Street, that something was happening, and he wondered
-whether they were changing the cavalry at
-the barracks. People looked curiously at him, and
-having made as though they would have spoken,
-passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned
-into the familiar street, down which he was accus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>tomed
-to parade with a double weight of dignity,
-an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper
-was out at his door, and would indeed have
-been along the street, had he not judged it wiser
-to protect his property, and the windows above the
-shop were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable
-place of business the street was crammed
-from side to side with a seething mob, through
-which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a
-dogcart with slender success and complaining
-loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
-were there, together with their husbands, having
-finished the day's work; country folk who dropped
-into town on the Saturday had been attracted
-to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come
-out from their dens and lodging-houses, together
-with that casual population which has nothing particular
-to do and is glad of any excitement. They
-were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability,
-but they were all collected in answer
-to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer; they were
-also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of
-them particularly ready for the whisky. The first
-to arrive on the scene had been Tinkler Tam, who
-put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
-upon the counter with a crash, and informed the
-Bailie's senior assistant that to save time he would
-just take the whisky while they were making up
-the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
-for an impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas,
-in the course of a varied life, was not unaccustomed
-to be called disrespectful names, and it was not the
-first time he had been requested to leave high class
-premises; but for once, at least, he had a perfectly
-good conscience and a strong ground of complaint.</p>
-
-<p>"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye
-meeserable, white-faced effeegy of a counter-jumper?
-If I werena present on business I would
-put such a face on you that yir mother wouldna
-know you; but I'm here wi' my friends" (great
-applause from the doorway, where the crowd was
-listening to the interview) "for a commercial
-transaction. Div ye no ken, ye misshapen object,
-that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
-sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation
-given under oath by Jess Mitchell), "and
-I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye two-faced,
-leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support
-from the street).</p>
-
-<p>The ambassador of the proletariat—whose constituency
-filled the outer part of the shop, pressed
-their faces against the window and swayed with impatience
-across the street, and also seized a lamp-post
-for purposes of observation—rehearsed the
-terms of the advertisement with considerable accuracy
-and expounded them with various figures of
-speech, and then issued his ultimatum.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a
-magistrate o' Perth, and a man whom I've met on
-public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before
-the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here
-in response to a public advertisement in terms
-thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call
-these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled
-my side of the covenant, and I here and now before
-these witnesses demand the tea and the whisky as
-above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were
-greatly impressed by this judicial effort, and were
-getting every minute more thirsty).</p>
-
-<p>"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no
-here himsel' to receive his friends; but what is done
-by the servant is done by the master—that's good
-law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who
-at the smell of the shop was getting beyond control);
-"and I give ye two meenuts, my dainty
-young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming
-at the end of that time, the law will allow us to
-help ourselves, and gin ye offer ony resistance I'll
-pit ye and yir neebour inside the sugar-cask." And
-it was fortunate for every person concerned that
-the police, who had been somewhat perplexed by
-the circumstances, arrived at the scene, and turned
-Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and
-themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at
-this point that the Bailie arrived and was received
-with frantic applause and a Babel of appeal.</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 424px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i240" id="i240"></a><img src="images/i240.jpg" width="424" height="600" alt=""Before him stood London John bearing the
-seductive advertisement."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"Before him stood London John bearing the
-seductive advertisement."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
-else yir shop will be wreckit. Where ha' ye been?
-The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye started
-on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie.
-He's coming to start the auction. Three cheers for
-Bailie MacConachie!" And the Bailie, limp and
-dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled
-through the crowd to see the Italian warehouse
-guarded by the police, and the mob of Muirtown
-clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while
-face to face with him stood London John, who had
-now been produced for the occasion, bearing on his
-back and breast the seductive advertisement.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost
-all self-control as he read the legend on the board.
-"A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately planned
-fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist—juist
-damnable! Bankrupt—who is bankrupt?
-Is't me?" And the veins on the Bailie's neck
-swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny!
-I never had such trash in my shop. Three shillings
-is the lowest, and I never recommended it.
-Whisky!—there is not a drop in the shop. Who
-dare say I would turn this shop into a public-house?
-I'll be at the bottom of this, though it cost
-me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry
-round the board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't
-tell the truth I'll commit ye to gaol this very
-meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
-his wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered
-by his own prominent position, and not at all
-concerned about the Bailie's threat.</p>
-
-<p>"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel,
-with great composure, "a big, stout man like yirsel',
-Bailie, that gied me the boards and a shillin';
-or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he
-was a little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the
-neck. Dod! I'm no very sure, though, but that
-it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's tartan
-plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a
-bit lassie wi' bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin'
-noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie, for she said to me,
-'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I
-would like to tell you about London." And if the
-police had not silenced London John, the Bailie
-at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy,
-for it was evident that the trail was blind and there
-was no getting to the real person behind London
-John.</p>
-
-<p>The crowd had listened with considerable patience
-and self-restraint to this conversation, but
-as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died
-away, and they realised that some one had fooled
-them, they looked out for a victim, and settled
-upon the Bailie.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler
-Tam, standing out from the midst of the crowd,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
-and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced the
-Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing
-tricks on the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin'
-them from their work to waste their time at your
-shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If
-it had been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie,
-I wouldna hev said much aboot it; but at your
-age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a trick, it's
-perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's
-hard labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be
-a Bailie o' Muirtown. It was fearsome to hear ye
-askin' London John who gave him the shillin'
-when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then
-the puir body, when ye threatened him, brought in
-the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and I'm
-naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make
-use of a poor natural that hasna his wits, juist to
-feed my vanity and gither a crowd round my shop."
-Then the crowd united in three long groans, and
-possibly might have shown their indignation in a
-still more pronounced form, but the police, being
-still further reinforced, drove them along the
-streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses
-of his shop.</p>
-
-<p>Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the
-shop with Howieson and Bauldie, and demanded a
-pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked
-to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
-there be as mony o' the Bailie's friends callin' at
-the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will no be
-able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace."
-And as a matter of fact the offensive patrol
-was withdrawn, and the Seminary resumed possession
-of the debatable ground.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH" id="THE_FALL_OF_GOLIATH"></a>THE FALL OF GOLIATH</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XIII</h3>
-
-
-<p>Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
-risked a war with the boys of the Seminary, and it
-was colossal folly on his part to continue the war
-after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement.
-No doubt it was humiliating to have his
-respectable place of business filled with the mob of
-Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and
-threatening him with penalties as a covenant-breaker
-when they did not get it; he had also very
-good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration
-which gathered the vagrants to his shop came
-from the Seminary. His best policy, however,
-would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and
-if the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and
-told the boys plainly that he knew quite well they
-were at the bottom of the affair, that they were a set
-of confounded young rascals, that he had intended
-to hang six of them and send the rest to penal servitude,
-that he was going to forgive them for the
-sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had
-not been half bad fun after all, that there would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
-no more policemen before the Seminary, and there
-must be no more windows smashed in his (the
-Bailie's) house—the Seminary, which always respected
-a fellow who took his licking with good
-humour and didn't squeal, would have given the
-Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public
-career, and a covenant of peace would have been
-made between him and the boys which would never
-have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass
-been broken by a Seminary ball, the value thereof
-in a packet of halfpence, with an expression of regret,
-would have been handed in before evening.
-The honorary freedom of the school would have
-been conferred on the Bailie, without any public
-ceremony, but with immense practical advantage,
-and although the Bailie was surfeited with civic
-honours, yet even he might have tasted a new
-pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the
-boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass
-in stately walk, and to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the
-Bailie's road," and to receive a salute from tailless
-Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside
-the school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley.
-If Providence had given a touch of imagination
-to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen
-by a position approaching that of the angels, he
-would have come to terms at once with the boys,
-in which case bygones would have been bygones,
-and he would have been spared much humiliation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to
-get the better of him, raging furiously in public
-places, and breathing forth threatenings about
-what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown,
-which otherwise might have pitied him, held its
-sides. He kept our single detective at work for a
-fortnight, who finally extracted from London John
-that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement
-had been given him by a man uncommonly
-like the detective himself and that
-the said "boardies" were not to be compared
-with those he used to carry in London. The
-detective also learned, on a somewhat risky
-visit to Mr. McGuffie's stables, that the Speug
-had spent the whole day of that historical Saturday
-till the hour of two—when he called for peppermints
-at the Bailie's shop—in cleaning out his
-rabbit-hutch and other domestic duties—this on
-the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's grooms,
-each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere,
-or fight the detective, with gloves or without
-gloves, in the stable-yard or any other place
-which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going
-from bad to worse, offered a reward of £5 for
-any information which would lead to the conviction
-of the offender, and received thirty letters—so
-many anonymous, attacking his character, public
-and private, and so many signed, from various
-cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>signed
-to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans,
-to the Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped
-outside the city. They were all annoying, but
-there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick.
-One was written from the security of Glasgow, in
-which the writer promised, on receipt of the reward,
-to send a full account of the conspiracy, and,
-having got the money, replied briefly that he left
-the matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the
-second, which asked for no reward except the
-writer's sense of having done his duty, and which
-hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight
-to his senior assistant, he might find he had been
-nourishing a viper in his bosom, and that a young
-man with such a smug appearance could be little
-else than a rascal. This letter, which was written
-in a schoolboy hand, and had five words misspelt,
-was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None
-of the letters seemed to help the matter forward,
-and life at the Bailie's residence was very troubled
-during those weeks.</p>
-
-<p>When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread
-through the Seminary, the boys were much pained,
-for it was sad to see an old man forgetting himself
-and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed,
-as if all they had done for the Bailie was
-simply love's labour lost, and that they must begin
-again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The
-Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
-of quiet, well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still,
-if war was forced upon them, and detectives set
-upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and
-their families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing
-could have been more successful than the last
-campaign; and, although Speug had never boasted,
-and none dared say that he had anything to do
-with it, there was a feeling in the Seminary that the
-conduct of the next campaign was safe in his hands.
-As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one
-ought not to detract from genius, but there can be
-no doubt that Fortune played into the hands of
-Speug.</p>
-
-<p>Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour,
-and the walk of the Bailie was marvellous to behold;
-but it was rather poor business for Speug to walk
-half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the
-Bailie in an exact imitation of the magistrate's
-manner, although the school was hugely delighted.
-If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had
-been on his side; but when he turned round and
-gave Speug a sound box on the side of the head, he
-lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a
-chain of consequences, arose the scandal which
-almost drove the Bailie from Muirtown. Speug
-could not have hoped for anything so good as that
-foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw
-his opportunity. Many a stroke had he endured
-in his day, from his father and from the grooms,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
-when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from
-Bulldog when he caught him red-handed, and from
-the boys in a fight, and there was no one of his age
-so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand
-been any other than that of Bailie MacConachie,
-Speug would have made derisive gestures and invited
-the second stroke. As it was, he staggered
-across the pavement and fell with a heavy thud
-upon the street, where, after one sharp, piercing
-cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans
-could be heard along the Terrace. His one hope
-was that, when he had seized the occasion with
-such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail
-to play up and support his <i>rôle</i>, and, although they
-were cleverer at reality than acting they entered
-heartily into their opportunity.</p>
-
-<p>"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson
-tenderly, as he stooped over the prostrate figure.
-"Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan like
-that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye
-gatherin' round like that for an keepin' away the
-air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some o' ye lift
-his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for
-ony's sake, and bring some water in yir bonnets."</p>
-
-<p>It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the
-unconscious form of their beloved friend, and carrying
-him carefully across the pavement, and placing
-Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and
-then rendering what would now be called first aid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
-to the wounded, while that ingenuous youth kept
-his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to
-show that he was still living. Never in his life had
-Providence given him a chance of playing so much
-mischief, and he was not going to be disobedient.
-They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air,
-they anxiously searched the side of his head for the
-wound, and washed away imaginary blood with
-very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his
-forehead with such profuseness that the water ran
-down his chest, whereat Speug expressed himself
-in low but stern tones, so Nestie advised them to
-stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys
-were only prevented from taking off his boots by a
-seasonable warning from Bauldie and a reasonable
-fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was reinforced
-by all the message-boys within sight, and
-several ladies who were coming home from the
-shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose railings
-Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress,
-came out—their hearts full of compassion and their
-hands of remedies. As Jock and Bauldie did
-not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at
-once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his
-head and the railings, while the other chafed his
-forehead with scent, and both insisted that Dr.
-Manley should be sent for at once. This was the
-first suggestion which seemed to have any effect on
-Peter, for it would not at all have suited his plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
-that that matter-of-fact physician should have arrived
-on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious
-smelling-salts was held to the patient's nose, Speug
-showed signs of returning consciousness.</p>
-
-<p>"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he
-wasn't killed. A blow behind the ear is often fatal.
-He's coming round nicely. The colour is returning
-to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you
-say?" as Jock Howieson unfolded to the ladies in
-simple, straightforward, truthful words the story
-of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any
-man would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At
-this moment Peter, who had been reconnoitring
-the whole scene through his half-closed eyes,
-seized the opportunity to wink to the mourners
-with such irresistible effect as to prove once again
-the close connection between tears and laughter.)
-"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic
-female. "He ought to be ashamed of himself;
-but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make
-the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his
-head."</p>
-
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-<div class="image border2" style="width: 404px; height: 600px;">
-<a name="i252" id="i252"></a><img src="images/i252.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt=""A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to
-the patient's nose."" title="" />
-<span class="caption">"A Bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held to
-the patient's nose."</span>
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="nanospace"> </div>
-
-<p>Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little
-weary of inaction, he was helped to his feet, and
-after one or two staggers seemed to come to himself,
-and submitted with agreeable humour to the
-attention of his friends, who dusted him from head
-to foot, under the superintendence of the ladies and
-to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>now entering into the meaning of the scene. His
-bonnet, which had been thoughtfully used as a
-water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his
-head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his
-head in Bauldie's handkerchief, partly because
-there was a limit even to his endurance, and because
-Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose
-in the course of the day. The maiden ladies
-were anxious that he should rest in their house, but
-Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home,
-where he could break the news himself to his
-anxious father. And so an impressive procession
-was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the
-way, and then Speug, upheld on the one hand by
-Nestie, and on the other by Jock, while Bauldie
-commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys
-at a distance, in order to secure due respect
-for the sufferer. It was with difficulty that Speug
-could sustain his <i>rôle</i> until he and his friends got
-safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when
-they plunged into a straw-shed and rolled together
-in one heap of triumphant mischief.</p>
-
-<p>"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it
-would be pure waste for you to be a h-horsedealer.
-You must go on the st-stage. The way you came
-whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and
-do you know, Peter, you looked quite nice when
-you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty
-boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an
-impident young brat. I heard every word, and she
-never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked round
-thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the
-water down my breast, I'd give him something to
-remember. I'm wet to the skin," and Speug made
-a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the
-leg, who pulled down Nestie by the hair of the
-head, and they all fought together in high glee.
-Speug extricated himself and demanded news of
-the Bailie. Then the three told Speug the story
-together in bits, one beginning where another
-left off.</p>
-
-<p>"He was that astonished when ye coupit over
-that he couldna speak, and Jock cried, 'The Bailie
-has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye up,
-but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to
-strike ye a second time." "It would have done
-you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking along to
-his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch
-out of him, and taking a look back to see what was
-h-happening." "Aye, and he stoppit opposite the
-lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty
-a cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna
-think Cosh had the spirit." "He was ashamed to
-stand at the w-window, but I saw him p-peeping out
-behind the curtains, just to find out whether you
-were living." "If his servant lass didna follow us
-across the meadow, and, my word, she's back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
-Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the now
-for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter."
-"What w-would you say, Peter, just
-to die altogether, and we would gi-give you an A1
-funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do
-it, I'll write your l-life myself. It's perfectly
-sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell on Nestie,
-and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced
-together once more in the straw.</p>
-
-<p>"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young
-gentlemen," and Mr. McGuffie's English groom
-looked down on the boys; "but you're missin' the
-Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has
-come 'isself, and if he ain't been hexplainin' to the
-master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug down.
-He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took
-up the runnin', and—my eye and Betty Martin—ain't
-he talkin'! Not cussin'—no, not one swear
-word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my
-Alfred David, if the master ain't preachin' for all
-the world as if he was a blessed beak on the Bench
-and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as
-good as a circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and
-in exactly one and a quarter seconds the boys were
-an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie
-senior gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie
-MacConachie, which he had been doing already for
-some time with much effect.</p>
-
-<p>"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
-street, walkin' as ye walk, and so ye knocked him
-down in open day? Why should he not be doing
-as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that
-nobody dare step the same way on the streets of
-Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies
-are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are;
-but I never heard yet that the street belonged to
-them, and that a laddie was in danger of death if
-he followed in their steps. That would be a fine
-pass. Aren't boys always imitatin' somebody?
-Why, you stupid old fool, half the laddies in this
-district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're
-standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each
-one with a straw in his mouth, and the bit legs of
-him straddled, and his bonnet on the side of his
-head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow,
-just the eemage of myself. What would ye think
-of me if I knockit one of them down, ye double-distilled
-old fool?</p>
-
-<p>"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased
-to think that the laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer,
-are trying to be magistrates. Didna the
-Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the
-prizes to 'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie,
-and try to be like him?' And now, when
-one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn
-round on the street and half kill him, till he had to
-be brought home half faintin' to his father's house!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
-Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye bloodthirsty
-old ruffian!</p>
-
-<p>"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made
-enough inquiries, by all accounts, on the Terrace.
-Expression of regret, was it? We don't want yir
-regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top?
-I wonder ye have the face! Ye break a laddie's
-head and then offer him a top! I can buy tops myself
-for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're
-standing there after manglin' a poor, defenceless,
-harmless, motherless laddie! Ye should be
-ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there
-was any public spirit in this town, ye would be
-drummed out o' the place!</p>
-
-<p>"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"—and Mr.
-McGuffie adopted a conciliatory tone—"the best of
-us will make mistakes, and ye've made a particularly
-big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie
-in the face of the public of Muirtown. Ye may
-bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's settle this
-matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye
-say ye're sorry, and ye don't want any noise made
-about it. Well, now, I've lived here man and boy
-for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell
-you I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any
-horse, ye needn't be afraid to buy that horse, and
-I'll deal with ye on the square.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
-ought to be pretty even as fighting men. Ye have
-the pull of me in height, but I would say that I am
-nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy
-weight, and I am a middle weight, but there isn't
-much in that. We could meet pretty level with
-the gloves.</p>
-
-<p>"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed
-here, and stripped and fought the matter of six
-rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no mischief
-done, and no bad blood left, and that would
-be the end of the matter.</p>
-
-<p>"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk.
-What do ye take me for? Do ye mean to say I'd
-split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that
-Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn
-with the gloves! Ye don't do me justice. Why,
-there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever
-hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect
-ye, and count ye an able-bodied man, which is
-more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal, Bailie?
-Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of
-myself, ought I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace
-to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown is pretty
-easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a
-prizefight, ye haverin' old body? But I see how
-the wind blows. If the other man stands a bare
-five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready,
-ye're mighty handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly
-old sneak? But when ye're offered the chance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
-facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace.
-My opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a
-mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to think ye're
-a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me,
-MacConachie, for I might lose control and send ye
-out of the stable-yard, with my foot followin'! My
-advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some of
-the grooms got hold of ye they would make an
-awful mess of ye—they're not just particularly fond
-of magistrates, and they've a great notion of Peter.</p>
-
-<p>"One word before we part, Bailie," and the
-Bailie took that word walking, "So far as I understand,
-ye might be arrested for assault, and I might
-prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just
-this once with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a
-Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an elder in the Kirk,
-and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all
-that, MacConachie, remember ye're just a man.
-Ye're swollen up and fozzy with pride and vanity,
-and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let
-loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider
-ye're just a man. Ye're wily and cunning and
-pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own way
-in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart,
-ye're just a man. Ye've sat on the Bench and laid
-down the law, and when ye wagged yir head everybody
-kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat
-they thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie,
-dinna forget it, ye're just a man. Ye needna<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
-hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway
-of the stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the
-street with exhortations. "I've said all I wanted
-to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've fought
-with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans,
-ye've fought with this body and with that
-body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought ye
-were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled
-with the laddies, and they've licket ye once,
-Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie, and if ye
-dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll
-be the end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."</p>
-
-<p>When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard
-he called for his son, and passed a careful hand over
-Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug was
-a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that
-there lay before him a long and useful life.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE" id="THE_BAILIES_DOUBLE"></a>THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XIV</h3>
-
-
-<p>Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
-high principle and domestic habits used to go
-home in the dinner-hour and take the meal with
-their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity
-of repairing the rents made in their clothes since
-morning, and giving them good advice on their behaviour.
-Thoroughly good boys, who had been
-tossed to and fro, much against their will, in the
-tempest of morning play, were glad to go into harbour
-and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled,
-but also re-fitted and re-painted for the
-troubled voyage of the afternoon; and boys not so
-entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other models
-of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because,
-although there might be an embarrassing
-review of garments, and awkward questions might
-be asked about a mark on the face, there was always
-a toothsome dainty for a growing laddie,
-weary with intellectual work and the toils of a
-snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
-took Mr. McGuffie senior in various directions,
-and as in no case were the arrangements of his
-house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely
-regular character, there was no meal to which his
-promising son—Speug—could return with any
-confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a
-practice of going home at one o'clock, unless there
-was a special event at the stables, such as the arrival
-of a new horse, in which case he invited a few
-friends to an inspection, with light refreshments;
-or unless, having racked his brain to the utmost for
-four hours, he was still in sheer despair of mischief.
-With one or two other young friends of a like
-mind, he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour
-in what might be called extramural studies—rowing
-over to the island below the bridge against the
-tide and coming back gloriously with the current;
-assisting the salmon-fishers to draw their nets and
-gather the silver spoil; in the happy snow-time
-raiding the playground of a rival school when the
-boys were away, and leaving insulting remarks
-wrought in snow; or attending the drill of
-the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other
-guerillas, he carried his biltong and mealies with
-him, and took his meal anywhere and by preference
-when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason
-why Speug in after years made one of the best
-of South African fighters.</p>
-
-<p>When Speug was disinclined for active occupa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>tion,
-and desired to improve his mind by contact
-with the greater world, he took a cab, or hotel 'bus
-(the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at
-Speug's disposal, and his edifying conversation was
-much enjoyed by the driver), and went to spend his
-hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody
-knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be
-classed with Niagara or the Jungfrau for interest,
-and at any time is worth seeing. It pleased Speug,
-whose interests were varied and human rather than
-classical and literary, to receive the English express,
-or even one from Edinburgh, as it swept into
-the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast train fairly
-off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary
-to give understanding assistance; and to pass
-the time of day with the guards, ticket-collectors,
-and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would allow
-him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage,
-with its pigeon-holes and its ingenious
-apparatus for delivering letters at roadside stations
-while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour
-of what might be called irregular study, but one
-never knows what he may pick up if he only keeps
-his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as open
-as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown
-railway station that Peter found the opportunity for
-what he ever considered his most successful
-achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the
-recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When a cab passed the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> 'bus at
-the entrance to the station, and the cabman signalled
-to Peter on the box-seat, and referred to the
-contents with an excited thumb and great joy on
-his face, Peter knew that there would be something
-worth seeing when the cab emptied at the ticket-office;
-but he could not have imagined anything
-so entirely satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie
-emerged, dressed in the famous frock-coat and
-grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial
-stock, but without his usual calm and dignity.
-His coat was only half buttoned, his tie was slightly
-awry, and although his hat had been distinctly
-tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was
-too much occupied to set it right. Instead of
-clearing his throat as he alighted among the waiting
-porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance
-of honouring a live Bailie going forth upon his
-journey, he did not seem to wish for any public reception,
-or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact
-had every sign of a man who desired to be
-<i>incognito</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie
-hastily explained to an obliging porter, and he
-stood between the man and the cab so as to block
-all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business
-and ... seeing a friend off."</p>
-
-<p>As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to
-disperse the porters, the driver, leaning over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
-roof of the cab, winked with much unction to Peter,
-and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would
-be worth while for him to wait and see the mysterious
-friend. Speug, in fact, understood from
-all this telegraphic communication that there were
-going to be circumstances of a quite remarkable
-character, and in which he—Peter McGuffie—was
-expected to be personally interested. He dragged
-Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with
-him, behind a pile of luggage, and from their hiding-place
-they saw, to their utter amazement, a
-second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet
-withal triumphantly, out of the cab. The same
-height as the great man himself, and built after the
-same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress,
-except that the trousers were baggier, and the coat
-shabbier, and the collar frayed at the edges, and
-the hat had the appearance of having been used
-either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both
-purposes, at different times; and the air of this
-second, but by no means ghostly, Bailie was like
-that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing,
-with the addition of a certain joviality of expression
-and benignant humanity, and a certain indifference
-to all the trials and difficulties of life
-which is characteristic of a man who has been
-"tasting," not wisely, but too well.</p>
-
-<p>"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously,
-as the figure came with a heavy lurch on the pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>ment.
-"The faintness may pass off. Take care of
-your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to
-the ticket-office and propped it against the wall
-while he went to take the tickets.</p>
-
-<p>It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk
-might have been due to weakness of the heart, for
-you never can tell, and one ought to be charitable;
-but there was no sign of an invalid about this new
-Bailie, nor was he at all too exhausted for genial
-conversation. He explained during the other
-Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to
-listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than
-exhaustive, that he had been paying a visit to Muirtown
-for the good of his health, and that he felt
-better—in fact, very much better; that where he
-lived the supply of liquid refreshment was limited,
-and that in consequence he had suffered through
-weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay
-longer in a place where there was every comfort of
-life, and that nothing would have induced him to
-leave but the immoral conduct of his twin brother;
-that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being
-his brother, was fearfully given to drink, and
-that he, James MacConachie, could no longer stay
-with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a
-Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment
-would not tarry, and indeed, according to his language,
-was already pronounced. He also gave a
-certificate of character to the refreshment to be ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>tained
-at the <i>Black Bull</i>, Muirtown, and cheerfully
-invited any person who had a friendly heart to go
-with him there and then to drink the Queen's health.
-On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded
-his address—which had been mightily enjoyed
-by three porters, a couple of Highland
-drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed
-through the police-court when the Bailie was on
-the Bench, and an elderly lady, who was anxious
-that a doctor should be sent for—by explaining
-once more that his brother was a gentleman beside
-whom the Pharisees were straightforward and
-honourable members of society.</p>
-
-<p>As the procession was again re-formed, and the
-two Bailies left the ticket-office together, one of
-them waving a regretful farewell to his sympathetic
-congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of
-triumph; for the contrast between the twin brethren
-afforded just that kind of comedy which appeals
-to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct
-that the incident would be of service in the
-war between the Bailie and the Seminary, which
-had gone on for a year and showed no signs of
-closing.</p>
-
-<p>"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in
-the country, I'll warrant," said Speug to Jock, in
-great spirits, "and there's naebody in Muirtown kens
-he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the
-very eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
-clothes on. It would take Dr. Manley himself or
-the Chief Constable to tell the one from the ither.
-Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o'
-that lad, we would have a michty time. I would
-give my four rabbits and ... and my skye terrier
-pup just for an hour of him." And although they
-had no hope that circumstances would deal so
-kindly with them, yet they went on to the platform
-to see the last of the two Bailies.</p>
-
-<p>Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening
-conversation, who at first reminded his brother
-of a drunkard's end, which had no effect, and then
-threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance,
-which had an immediate effect, the figure consented
-to be taken along the platform, and might even have
-been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the
-word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly
-large type, attracted his attention.</p>
-
-<p>"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing
-jubilantly to the board. "I declare it juist a Providence.
-It's no that I'm thirsty, Bailie, and I canna
-bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine,
-though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'.
-No, I'm no thirsty, but I've a sinkin' at the heart.
-Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together afore we
-part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no
-grudge, and I'll let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure
-had the Bailie almost at the door of the refreshment-room
-before he could make a stand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye
-say? Gude forgie ye. I wonder ye're not black
-ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye
-along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover
-yir character. Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for
-I'm no the man I was once. The fact is, I havna
-strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me
-get a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform."
-And the horrified Bailie had to accept the
-assistance of a porter to support his exhausted
-brother and to guide him to his carriage.</p>
-
-<p>From an adjacent third class compartment,
-where Speug and Jock promptly secreted themselves,
-they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to
-his frail kinsman—that he must on no account
-come out of the carriage; that he must hold his
-tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers;
-that he must not mention his—the Bailie's—name,
-nor claim to be connected with him; and
-that he must not come back to Muirtown again until
-the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to
-heart as he valued his weekly allowance. The
-Bailie also expressed his deep regret, which, indeed,
-seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave
-by the Dundee train before the departure of the
-slow Fife train by which his double travelled. And
-when this fact emerged—that the other Bailie was
-to be left even for five minutes at their disposal—Speug
-threw Howieson's bonnet to the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
-compartment, with his own following in a rapture
-of joy.</p>
-
-<p>"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment
-to the Bailie on the platform, who was torn
-between his profitable business engagement at
-Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his
-own devices. "After the way ye've treated me and
-put me to shame afore the platform, I wouldna stay
-another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds.
-I am no angry, Bailie," the figure continued with
-mournful dignity, "for that's no my speerit, but I'm
-hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye maun,
-and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for
-ony sake dinna be tastin' in Dundee and disgracin'
-the family. Drink is an awfu' failin', but ye canna
-say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried
-to catch the Dundee train the figure shook its head
-mournfully, with the air of one who hopes for the
-best, but who has had too good reason to expect
-the worst.</p>
-
-<p>"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a
-fine mixture of haste and importance before the
-figure which was still moralising to itself on the
-evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o'
-the Seminary is expectin' ye to address the laddies
-this afternoon, and they'll be waitin' this very
-meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made
-signs that he should come at once, and offered to
-secure a cab. The figure could only shake its head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
-and explain that on account of the disgraceful conduct
-of a relative, who had given way to drink, it
-had no heart for public appearances; but the idea
-of a return to the enjoyment of Muirtown was evidently
-filtering in.</p>
-
-<p>"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded
-Speug. "A porter threipit (insisted) that he had
-seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody
-can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will
-be terrible pleased to see ye, Bailie."</p>
-
-<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and
-the figure was plainly roused. "Him in the Dundee
-train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in every
-family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o'
-mine that's taken to bad habits, and I've juist to
-support him and keep him oot o' sicht. It's an
-awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately
-brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie
-MacConachie. Laddies, was't at the <i>Black Bull</i>
-they're expectin' me?"</p>
-
-<p>"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a
-word at the Seminary in passin'," and Speug signalled
-to a ticket-collector who had just come upon
-the scene.</p>
-
-<p>"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot
-o' the carriage, for he's forgotten an engagement at
-the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie faint with
-the heat?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
-helped the magistrate on to the platform, "it's
-family trouble. Are ye connected with the <i>Black
-Bull</i>? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved
-young man, and these are twa fine laddies." And
-outside the station, surrounded by a sympathising
-circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit
-of Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned
-every one to beware of strong drink, and urged
-them to take the pledge without delay. He also
-inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there
-from the <i>Black Bull</i> and explained that the Rector
-of the Seminary, with his laddies, was waiting for
-him in that place of hospitality. He added that he
-had been on his way to the General Assembly of
-the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling elder, and he
-warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine.
-But at last they got him into the cab, where, after
-a pathetic appeal to Speug and his companion to
-learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David,
-he fell fast asleep.</p>
-
-<p>By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged
-the attention of the sergeant in the back-yard,
-who considered that Jock was playing truant
-and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman,
-fortunately an able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance
-induced the Bailie to leave the cab and
-convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's
-class-room. At this point the great man fell
-into low spirits, and bemoaned the failure of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
-strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought the
-immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he
-obtained an immediate tonic, he would succumb to
-a broken heart. He also charged Speug with
-treachery in having brought him to the County
-Gaol instead of to the <i>Black Bull</i>. It was painfully
-explained him that he was now in the
-Seminary, and within that door an anxious school
-was waiting for him—Bailie MacConachie—and
-his address.</p>
-
-<p>"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that
-I was a drunken body? I'll teach them to smuggle
-me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie (disreputable
-character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars,
-but I'm here" (with much triumph), "and I'm
-Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And
-the Bailie was evidently full awake.</p>
-
-<p>"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family
-troubles shakes the mind. Take the pledge when
-ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when ye're
-old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten.
-Noo, laddie" (with much cunning), "If I am to
-address the school, what think ye would be a fine
-subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility,
-especially me being a Bailie. If ye can
-mind onything, laddie, I'll give ye sixpence next
-time we meet."</p>
-
-<p>Although Speug was reticent in the class, for
-reasons that commended themselves to his practi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>cal
-judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech upon
-occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of
-Bailie MacConachie's double that it had been a
-very foolish thing for him—the Bailie—to quarrel
-with the Seminary about their playground upon
-the Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness
-to strike him—the Speug—upon the head and
-nearly injure him for life, but that he—the Bailie—was
-sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would
-never do the like again as long as he was Bailie of
-Muirtown; and Speug concluded, while the cabman
-stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye
-micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for
-me—Speug—ye know."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie,
-"for it's a fact. Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome
-power o' the gab (mouth); I expect to see
-ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at
-the <i>Black Bull</i>, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the
-Rector I'm at the door—Bailie MacConachie of
-Muirtown."</p>
-
-<p>Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of
-mathematics, arithmetic, and writing, and, it might
-also be added, master of discipline, Speug would
-as soon have ventured into his presence on such an
-errand as into the lion's den of the travelling
-menagerie which had recently visited Muirtown,
-and at which he had spent many an unlicensed
-hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
-boys, a short-sighted, absent-minded, unsuspicious
-scholar, who lived in a world of his own with
-Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly
-roused (to sorrow) by a false quantity or (to joy)
-by a happy translation.</p>
-
-<p>Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence
-in Speug's genius for mischief and effrontery
-of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless
-when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance,
-and politely intimated to the Rector that a magistrate
-of Muirtown had come and desired to speak
-to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw
-himself from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or
-the school had energy to cheer, the wonderful
-Bailie was launched into the room with almost too
-much vigour by the cabman, who remained in the
-shadow and whispered a last direction to "hold up
-your head and keep to the right." They had forgotten—Speug's
-only oversight—to take off the
-Bailie's hat, which was set jauntily on the side of
-his head, and the course which he took through the
-room was devious, and mainly regulated by the
-furniture, while his expression was a fine blend of
-affable dignity and genial good humour. "Gosh!"
-exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of
-the class, who understood that their enemy had
-been delivered into their hands, and that Peter McGuffie—their
-own Speug—had been the means
-thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
-the very countenance, line by line, and the very
-clothes, piece by piece, though looking a trifle
-shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it
-was evident that he had been "tasting," and that
-very freely.</p>
-
-<p>"I am—er—proud to bid you welcome, Mr.
-Bailie," said the Rector, bowing with old-fashioned
-courtesy, and not having the faintest idea what like
-was the figure before him. "We are always delighted
-to receive a visit from any of the magistrates
-of the city, who are to our humble school" (and
-here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas
-was to Horace, whose <i>curiosa felicitas</i> we are
-now studying. Is it your pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to
-examine the school?"</p>
-
-<p>During this stately reception the Bailie came to
-rest upon a desk, and regarded the Rector's flowing
-gown with unconcealed admiration, which he indicated
-to the school by frank gestures.</p>
-
-<p>"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the
-laddies answer 'The Chief End of Man,' and to say
-juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you
-and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're
-expected. I juist looked in to say——" And here
-the worthy man's thoughts began to wander, and he
-made an indistinct allusion to the <i>Black Bull</i>, so that
-Speug had to prompt him severely from behind.
-"Aye, aye! we're all poor, frail creatures, and I'm
-the last man to hurt the feelings of the Seminary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
-Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones
-be bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect
-more than ... Speug an honourable tradesman"
-(breaking away on his own account with
-much spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate
-father. What? All a mistake from beginning
-to end. Family trouble did it—conduct of a relative,"
-and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal
-dignitaries were a species of human beings so
-strange and incalculable to the Rector, that he was
-hardly amazed at anything that they might say;
-and having some vague idea that there had been a
-quarrel between the Seminary and some Bailie or
-other, about something or other, some time or
-other, he concluded that this was an official intimation
-that the quarrel was over, and that it was in
-style and allusion according to the habits of municipal
-circles.</p>
-
-<p>"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful
-duty, as Rector of the Seminary, to thank you
-for your presence here to-day—the Mercury of the
-gods, if I may say so—and for your courteous intimation
-that the—er—controversy to which you—er—have
-delicately alluded is healed. Any dispute
-between the Council and the Seminary could only
-have a favourable issue. <i>Amantium irae amoris
-integratio</i> has had another illustration, Mr. Bailie;
-but it would please us that you should hear the
-class translate the Ode we have in hand, which hap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>pens
-to be '<i>Ad Sodales</i>.'" And a boy began to
-translate "<i>Nunc est bibendum</i>."</p>
-
-<p>"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who
-had been taking a brief nap, was immediately conscious.
-"Man, ye never said a truer word. Work
-hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna
-forget the Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement
-wi' me, and he'll no be back for an hour.
-Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed
-Rector), "it's time we were off." And the Bailie,
-making a hurried rush for the door, found himself
-in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught
-the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room,
-and suspected trouble.</p>
-
-<p>"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean
-veteran, as he brought the Bailie to an equilibrium.
-"Could onybody have expected this?"
-And then, with much presence of mind, he closed
-the door of the Latin class-room and conducted the
-Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while the magistrate
-remonstrated that the Rector was coming with
-him, and that both were going to discuss the
-higher education of youth at the <i>Black Bull</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to
-the <i>Black Bull</i>, or ony other bull, ye're to go this
-afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose. If ye maun
-taste, would it no have been more respectable to
-keep indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
-yourself afore the Seminary? It's no becomin' in
-a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the laddies."</p>
-
-<p>It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing
-figure at the blameless home of Bailie MacConachie,
-although it is right to say that this visit
-was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous
-protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to
-the day of his death, the real and proper Bailie
-spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining
-to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted"
-in his life, and that on the day in question he had
-been transacting private business in Dundee.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE" id="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_THE"></a>THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XV</h3>
-
-
-<p>As the East is distant from the West, so far was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
-Muirtown Seminary removed in its manners and
-customs from an English public school; but at one
-point they met on common ground, and that was
-the "tuck-shop." It does not matter that an English
-house master be careful to provide an ample
-supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even
-add, on occasion, toothsome dainties, such as jam
-at Sunday tea, and sausages for a Saturday supper,
-they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud,
-that they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast,
-so ghostly has it grown, and that they would
-be ashamed to offer their dinner to the beasts
-which perish. They will write such descriptions
-home, and hold such conferences with friends
-spending the holidays with them, and they will all
-vie with one another in applying such weird and
-fearsome adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
-meat, potatoes, and pudding—but at the mention
-of pudding they will simply look at one another and
-be silent, despairing of the English language—that
-their horrified parents will take counsel together
-by the hour whether their poor boy ought not to
-be taken from school and surrounded by home
-comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of
-this drastic measure, he protests strongly, and insists
-that it would ruin him for life; for, to do the
-ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and
-swished every second day, and bullied between
-times, till his life is hardy worth living, he will still
-stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of residence
-to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the
-pretty bedroom with white curtains, nor the long
-lie in the morning, nor a party in the evening, nor
-all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage
-for the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at
-the bathroom, and the babel at the dinner-table,
-and the recreations which enliven "prep," and the
-excitement of a house match, and the hazardous
-delights of football, and the tricks on a new boy,
-and the buttered eggs—a dozen at least between
-two at a study supper. It only remains therefore
-that his father should write a pathetic letter to the
-<i>Standard</i>, and that other parents should join in,
-for a fortnight, explaining to the English public
-that the manhood of the country is being destroyed
-in its early years, and the boys at school will read<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
-the letters aloud with much unction, and declare
-that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly,"
-while their mother sends them generous remittances
-that they may obtain nourishing food to
-supplement their starvation rations. This money
-will be spent rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the
-"tuck-shop," where some old servant of the school
-is making a small fortune in providing for the boys
-such meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight
-Tom and his friends, for he is not a fellow to see his
-chums die before his eyes, will live on the fat of the
-land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines,
-sausages, and eggs.</p>
-
-<p>Seminary boys had their meals at home, and
-were very soundly fed with porridge and milk in
-the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their conduct
-had been passably decent. Scots broth and
-meat for dinner, with an occasional pudding, and
-a tea in the evening which began with something
-solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and,
-although such things may very likely be done now,
-when we are all screaming about our rights, no
-boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the
-<i>Muirtown Advertiser</i> complaining of the home
-scale of diet. Yet, being boys, neither could they
-be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means
-of living, but required certain extra delicacies to
-help them through the day. It was not often that
-a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
-once only had gold been seen—when Dr. Manley
-paid Speug a medical fee for his advice in Bulldog's
-sickness—but there were few in the Seminary
-who were not able to rattle some pennies together,
-and, in the end, every penny found its way to the
-till of that comprehensive merchant and remarkable
-woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the
-other old houses beside it have been pulled down
-long ago, to make room for a handsome block of
-buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by
-the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of
-the "Breadalbane Emporium," where you can
-buy everything from a frying pan to a drawing-room
-suite, but where you cannot get a certain
-delicacy called "gundy," which Mrs. McWhae
-alone could make as it ought to be made, and at
-the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to
-water. Mrs. McWhae did not sell books nor clothes,
-nor any other effeminate luxury of life, but she kept
-in stock everything that was really necessary to the
-life of a well-living and high-minded boy. There
-he could obtain marbles from the common clay,
-six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six
-for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a
-red and blue pattern on a white ground, which were
-a halfpenny each, and climbed to "glassies" at a
-penny each; and there was one glass leviathian
-which contained all colours within its sphere, and
-which was kept only to be handled and admired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
-Tops were there, too, from polished little beauties
-with shining steel tips, which were intended only
-for amusement, and were spun with fine white cord,
-to unadorned, massive, vicious-looking warriors
-with sharpened projecting points, which were intended
-for the battlefield, and were spun with
-rough, strong twine, and which, dexterously used,
-would split another top from head to foot as when
-you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites
-in the season was something to see, and although
-she did not venture upon cricket-bats, which were
-sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls, she had
-every other kind of ball—solid gutta-percha balls,
-for hasty games in the "breaks," white skin-covered
-rounder balls, and hollow india-rubber balls, which
-you could fill with water at the lade, and then use
-with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed,
-employed this "softie" in silly games of their own,
-trying whether they could make it rebound a
-hundred times from the ground, but we had no
-doubt about its proper use in the purposes of
-Creation. And Mrs. McWhae—peace to her
-ashes!—provided all things in meat and drink which
-a boy could desire; unless, of course, on some great
-occasion he wished to revel imperially—then he
-went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations
-have turned their eager feet, and beyond which
-nothing is left to desire. Fenwick's, however, was
-rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
-were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where
-you could get ginger-beer of her own making at
-a penny a bottle, better than that which they sold
-at the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> at sixpence; and treacle-beer
-also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was
-double the size and was enough for two fellows;
-and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry and
-could not get home to dinner, so tough that
-only a boy's teeth could tear them to pieces; and
-tarts, so full that it required long skill to secure
-every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well
-worth licking afterwards; and peppermint balls of
-black and white, one of which would keep your
-mouth sweet for an hour of Latin—that is, if you
-only sucked gently and didn't crunch. But the
-glory of the establishment was the "gundy."
-There was a room behind the shop where Mrs.
-McWhae, who was a widow, elderly and not prepossessing,
-lived and slept, and dressed herself, and
-cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions,
-washed, and there she prepared her tempting meats
-and drinks for the Seminary. We lived in a pre-scientific
-age, and did not go curiously into the
-origin of things, being content to take the Creation
-as it stood, and to use the gifts of the gods in
-their finished form. But I believe that "gundy"
-was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which
-our hostess boiled to a certain point, and then with
-her own fair hands, which it was said she wetted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
-with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by the
-constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour;
-after which she cut the finished product into sticks
-of a foot long, and wrapped it up in evil-looking
-brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders
-of wonders! all within that paper, and the paper
-itself, you could have for one halfpenny! Good!
-There is no word for it, as the preachers say,
-"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich,
-so satisfying, so stimulating, and the amount thereof
-so full and so tenacious. Why, that "gundy"
-would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about
-your mouth, and spread itself out, that he was a
-clever fellow who had drained its last resources
-within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a
-military gentleman, who, it was understood, had
-performed prodigies of valour in the Black Watch,
-and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who
-only dealt upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute
-was able to use her hands effectively. Like
-most women she was open to blandishments, and
-Nestie Molyneux, with his English tongue and
-pretty ways, could get round the old lady, and she
-had profound though inexpressed respect for
-Speug, whom she regarded as a straightforward
-fighter, and the two friends would sometimes be
-allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see
-her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints
-dropped by those two favoured customers that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
-above theory of the making of this delectable
-sweet has been formed.</p>
-
-<p>It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit
-Mrs. McWhae's during the "breaks," and to spend
-three minutes in those happy precincts and not be
-absolutely late for the next class; and during the
-dinner-hour her shop was crowded, and the steps
-outside and the very pavement were blocked by the
-Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer.
-Little boys who had been fortunate enough
-to get their provisions early, and were coming out
-to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid
-their treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger
-fellow should supply himself without the trouble of
-waiting his turn, and defer payment to the end of
-the year. And one of the lords of the school
-would on occasion clear out a dozen of the small
-fry, in order that he might select his refreshments
-comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club,
-with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps
-on which the members could stand, and from the
-steps you commanded three streets, so that there
-were many things to see, and in snowball time
-many things to do. McWhae's had only one inconvenience,
-and that was that the line of communication
-could be cut off by raiding parties from the
-"Pennies" and other rival schools. When the
-snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy was
-strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
-supplies under charge of a convoy, and if anything
-could have added to the flavour of the "gundy," it
-was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane
-Street to get it, and your way back to enjoy
-it, that you had lost your bonnet in a scrimmage,
-and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling
-down your back. Precious then was the dainty
-sweet as the water which the mighty men brought
-to David from the well of Bethlehem.</p>
-
-<p>"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up
-the dinner-hour with Nestie Molyneux, on the
-upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the
-'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake
-of the <i>Muirtown Arms</i> passed, with a dozen smart
-and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly, and, wheeling
-round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared
-up the road which ran to Drumtochty.
-"And where think ye have their royal highnesses
-been?"</p>
-
-<p>If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and
-the boys call themselves Columbians, it is very profane
-to an absolutely respectable Scots saint, and
-very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call
-them "Bumbees"; but Speug was neither reverent
-nor polite, and the Seminary, although mainly occupied
-with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant
-grudge against the new public school at St.
-Columba's, which had been recently started in a
-romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
-number of excellent and perhaps slightly superior
-persons, who were justly aghast at the somewhat
-rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots
-grammar schools, and who did not desire that
-Scots lads of the better class should be sent of
-necessity to the English public schools. Their
-idea was to establish a public school after the English
-method in Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept
-terms, and had dormitories, and a chapel, and playing-fields,
-and did everything on a smaller scale
-which was done at Rugby and Harrow. The
-masters of St. Columba's would have nothing to do
-with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary.
-The Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown
-and sniffed through the town. Two or three
-boys had been taken from the Seminary, because
-it was vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order
-to get into genteel society. And those things had
-gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary,
-which was certainly a rough school, but at the same
-time very proud and patriotic, and there was a
-latent desire in the mind of the Seminary that the
-Columbians should come down in snow-time and
-show their contempt for the Muirtown grammar
-school, when that school would explain to the
-Columbians what it thought of them and all their
-works. As this pleasure was denied the Seminary,
-and the sight of the brake was too much for
-Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
-yelled opprobrious names, in which the word
-"Bumbee" was distinct and prominent.</p>
-
-<p>"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I
-am a-ashamed of you. D-don't you know that the
-'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and
-w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven
-wickets to fall. G-good s-sport, my Speug; read
-it in the newspaper."</p>
-
-<p>"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had
-as muckle spunk in them; seven wickets, did ye
-say, against the English? If I had kenned that,
-Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given
-them a cheer. Seven wickets—they did the job
-properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with
-relish.</p>
-
-<p>"Speug!"—and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness—"I
-have an idea. Why shouldn't the
-Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next
-s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this
-summer, and begin s-soon next year and t-try them
-in July."</p>
-
-<p>"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was
-cheered at the thought of any battle, and he regarded
-Nestie with admiration, and then his face
-fell and he declared it of no use.</p>
-
-<p>"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek!
-and if they came they'd lick us clean. They have a
-professional and they play from morning till night.
-We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
-we'd never get them oot; and if we went in, they'd
-have us oot in half an 'oor."</p>
-
-<p>"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary
-as if you were a 'Penny'! Didn't the county professional
-say that Robertson was the b-best young
-player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits
-a good b-ball, and no b-bowler can get you out,
-Speug, and there are other chaps just want p-practice.
-We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff
-fight for the old Seminary."</p>
-
-<p>"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously,
-as they went back to school at the trot; "ye're the
-trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock Howieson
-is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a
-wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat.
-Gosh!" exclaimed Speug, as they wheeled into the
-back-yard, "we'll try it."</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary were slow to move, but once they
-took fire they burned gloriously; and when Dunc
-Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been
-sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable
-deputation, returned and informed the school assembled
-round the Russian guns that the "Bumbees"
-would send down their second eleven, since
-the first was too old for the Seminary, and play a
-single innings match on a Saturday afternoon in
-the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up
-their voice in joyful anticipation.</p>
-
-<p>It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
-consented in terms of condescension by way of
-encouraging local sport, as they had tried to organise
-a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite
-understood that the result would be a hopeless defeat
-for the Seminary. They were coming, and
-the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they
-were beaten in cricket, well, it couldn't be helped,
-but it was the first time Bulldog's boys had been
-beaten in anything, and they would know the
-reason why.</p>
-
-<p>Special practice began that evening and continued
-that evening, and every other evening except
-Sundays as long as light lasted and on till the
-middle of October, when football could no longer
-be delayed. Practice began again a month before
-the proper season and continued on the same lines
-till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary
-was fairly up, and from the Rector who began
-freely to refer to the Olympian games, to the little
-chaps who had just come from a dame's school and
-were proud to field balls at bowling practice,
-the whole school was swept into the excitement of
-the coming event, and it is said that Bulldog
-stumped over every evening after dinner to watch
-the play and was the last to leave.</p>
-
-<p>"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's
-j-just itching to have a bat himself. Say, Speug,
-if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but if we
-p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>News spread through the town that the Seminary
-was to fight the "Bumbees" for the glory of
-the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle in all
-directions. Our cricket club had played upon the
-Meadow as best it could; but now the Council of
-the city set apart a piece of ground, and six of the
-leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled,
-so that there might be a good pitch for playing
-and something worth seeing on the day of battle.
-There were half a dozen good players in
-Muirtown in those days, two of whom were in the
-All Scotland eleven, and they used to come along
-in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the
-county professional now and again dropped in, just
-to see whether he could bowl Speug out, and after
-half an hour's hopeless attack upon that imperturbable
-youth, the professional declared the Seminary
-had a chance. But the word was passed round
-that there should be no boasting, and that Muirtown
-must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable
-defeat. Mr. McGuffie senior was the only
-man on the morning of the match who was prepared
-to bet on even terms, and his offers were
-refused by the citizens, first because betting was
-sinful, and, second, it was possible, though not
-likely, they might lose.</p>
-
-<p>The Columbians came down as usual in a brake,
-with only two horses this time, and made a pretty
-show when they were dressed in their white flan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>nels
-and school colours, and every one admitted
-that they were a good-looking and well-set-up
-eleven; they brought half a dozen other fellows
-with them, to help to cheer their victory and to
-keep their score, and a master to be umpire. The
-Seminary eleven were in all colours and such dress
-as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and
-Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels,
-but Speug in a grey shirt and a pair of tight tweed
-trousers of preposterous pattern, which were
-greatly admired by his father's grooms—and, for
-that matter, by the whole school; and although
-Jock Howieson had been persuaded into flannel
-bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red
-shirt of outrageous appearance, which was enough
-to frighten any bowler. Jack Moncrieffe, the
-Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland,
-was umpire for the Seminary, and the very
-sight of him taught the first lesson of respect to the
-"Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim Fleming,
-the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching
-the Seminary all the summer, they began to feel
-that it might be a real match, not merely a few
-lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage
-a common school, don't you know.</p>
-
-<p>There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown
-men, together with a goodly sprinkling of Muirtown
-mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his
-position early, just in front of the tent, and never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
-moved till the match was over; nor did he speak,
-save once; but the Seminary knew that he was
-thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics
-had his eye upon them. Some distance off,
-the Count—that faithful friend of his Seminary
-"dogs"—promenaded up and down a beat of some
-dozen yards, and spent the time in one long excitement,
-cheering with weird foreign accent when a
-good hit was made, swearing in French when anything
-went wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the
-loss of a Seminary wicket, and hurrying to shake
-hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had
-done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket.
-Mr. McGuffie moved through the crowd from time
-to time, and finally succeeded in making a bet on
-the most advantageous terms with that eminent
-dignitary, the Earl of Kilspindie's coachman, who
-was so contemptuous of the Seminary from the
-Castle point of view that he took the odds of five
-to one in sovereigns that they would be beaten.
-And on the outskirts of the crowd, half ashamed
-to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered
-Bailie MacConachie.</p>
-
-<p>The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice
-of Jim Fleming sent the Columbians in, and there
-was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for
-the Frenchman did not count—who denied that
-the strangers played a good, clean game—pretty
-form, and brave scoring; and on their part the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
-Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the
-Seminary knew how to field, wherever they had
-learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could pass
-Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible
-with Speug as long-stop, for those were the
-days when there were long-stops. Cosh had his
-faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary
-thought more of him after a miraculous catch which
-he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at square-leg,
-might not be able to prevent a two occasionally,
-but he refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was
-a graceless bowler and an offence to the eye, but
-his balls were always in the line of the middle
-stump, and their rate that of an express train; and
-Nestie not only had a pretty style, but a way of insinuating
-himself among the wickets which four
-Columbians had not the power to refuse. There
-was a bit of work at long-field, which even the
-Columbians could not help cheering, though it lost
-them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was
-sent up from cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and
-so took another wicket, wrung a word of private
-praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the
-Seminary was fighting against heavy odds, an uphill,
-hopeless battle, and when the visitors went
-out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr.
-McGuffie senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and
-only the Count prophesied triumph, going round
-and shaking hands individually with every one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
-his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the
-sky. Bailie MacConachie, by this time was lost in
-the crowd, working his way gradually to the front,
-and looking as if he would have liked to cheer, but
-thinking it better not to call attention to his
-presence. Then the Seminary went in, and there
-is no question but that they had hard times at the
-hands of the Columbians, who were well trained
-and played all together. Robertson, who was the
-hope of the Seminary, went out for twenty, and
-Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only
-managed twelve, and the other fellows were too
-easily bowled or caught out, each adding something,
-but none doing much, till at last the score
-stood at sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary
-in. Things were looking very black, and even the
-Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face suggested
-that next Monday the whole school would be
-thrashed, and that a special treat would be reserved
-for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however, with a
-sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make
-another bet with his lordship's coachman, and increased
-the odds from five to ten, and the dignitary
-declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his
-money.</p>
-
-<p>"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses
-pass the line. I've seen many a race changed before
-the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his position
-in the front row to see the end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and
-only one wicket to fall, and the Columbians discounted
-their victory in a gentlemanly fashion,
-while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give
-them no chances," he said to Howieson, as that
-stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been
-at the wicket for some time, but had only scored
-ten. Any over might close the match, and perhaps
-the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for
-three overs passed and the two friends of many a
-scrimmage were still in, and neither of them had
-shown any intention of going out. Quite the
-contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and
-Howieson, who played with the gracefulness of a
-cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his
-wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his
-own account.</p>
-
-<p>"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him
-oot sune? I tell you he's settlin' down for the
-afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour
-deevil. The fact is"—Mr. McGuffie took a circle of
-spectators into his confidence—"they're juist gettin'
-into the stride." The Count preened his
-plumage and plucked up heart again, while the
-Seminary lads, gathered in a solid mass to the left
-of the tent, were afraid to cheer lest they should
-invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern,
-could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be
-better matched," said Nestie. "Speug and Jock<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>—they've
-had l-lots of things in hand together, and
-they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment
-Speug sent a ball to the boundary. Now there
-were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three runs
-to make.</p>
-
-<p>They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness,
-blocking the balls which were dangerous and
-could not be played; declining to give the faintest
-chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather
-than be run out, and so the score crept up with a
-two from Howieson, who had got into a habit of
-twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and
-a three and a four from Speug, and another two
-from Howieson, and a three from Speug.</p>
-
-<p>Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted
-to the coachman, "Take you again, Petrie—ten to
-one, five to one, three to one against the Seminary?"
-And when there was no answer, Mr.
-McGuffie offered to take it even from anybody,
-and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was
-Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and
-everything except the glory of Muirtown, was now
-standing beside Speug's father and did not care.
-"Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching
-the look in MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones,
-we're a' Muirtown men the day"; and then
-his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye
-odds, coachman—two to one against the 'Bumbees'"
-for Howieson had scored another two, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
-two more runs would win the match for the
-Seminary.</p>
-
-<p>Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson,
-instead of stopping the ball with his bat, must
-needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried
-the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?"
-Was his leg before wicket or not? And
-for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian,
-Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and
-children, held their breath. It would have been
-maddening to have been beaten only by one run,
-and after such a gallant fight.</p>
-
-<p>"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds;
-but it seemed ten minutes, and a yell went up from
-the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie MacConachie
-took off his hat and wiped his forehead,
-which Mr. McGuffie noted with sympathy and laid
-up to the Bailie's credit. There was another crisis
-at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown,
-but it was very keenly present to the minds of the
-Columbians. One over more and the time limit
-would be reached and the game closed. If the
-Seminary could make two runs, they would win;
-if the Columbians could get Speug's wicket, they
-would win. They put on their most dangerous
-man, whose ball had a trick of coming down just
-six inches in front of the block, and then, having
-escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming
-perilously near the wicket. His attack compelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
-the most watchful defence, and hardly allowed the
-chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but
-could do no more with them; the third got past
-and shaved the wicket; the fourth Speug sent to
-slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth, full
-of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear
-seized the heart of Muirtown that the last would
-capture the wickets and give the victory to the
-visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for
-it was sent to land inside the block, just so much
-nearer as might deceive the batsman accustomed
-to the former distance. No sooner had it left the
-bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and
-gnawed his moustache. Every eye followed the
-ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety
-of it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew
-together unconsciously in common hope. Robertson,
-the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into
-the ground, and opposite, between the field and the
-river, the leader of that rapscallion school, the
-"Pennies," stood erect, intent, open-mouthed with
-his crew around, for once silent and motionless.
-Speug took a swift stride forward and met the ball
-nearly three feet from the ground, and, gathering
-up all the strength in his tough little body, he
-caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it
-over square-leg's head, who had come in too near
-and made one hopeless clutch at it, and through
-the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
-every side to let it pass as they had never yielded
-to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown had found
-voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the
-"Pennies" had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into
-the air, for, the ball was in the river, and the Seminary
-had won by three runs and one wicket.</p>
-
-<p>Things happened then which are beyond the pen
-of man, but it was freely said that the "Hurrah"
-of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the
-hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the
-Count, in his joy over the victory of his "jolly
-dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat, and
-would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own
-hat in triumph. This is certain, that the Seminary
-carried Speug and Howieson both protesting, from
-the North Meadow, in through the big school
-door; that Bulldog walked at the head of the procession,
-like a general coming home in his glory;
-that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him;
-that, after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed
-one cheer more for Bailie MacConachie, and
-that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's house
-for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie
-home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<hr />
-<h2 class="chapter"><a name="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE" id="BULLDOGS_RECOMPENSE"></a>BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE</h2>
-
-<h3 class="chapter2">XVI</h3>
-
-
-<p>When the rumour flew through Muirtown in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
-Spring that Bulldog was to resign at the close
-of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and
-treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector
-who was more a learned ghost than a human being,
-or the English master who had grown stout
-and pursey, or some of the other masters who came
-and went like shadows, Muirtown had not given
-another thought to the matter, but Bulldog retiring,
-it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown
-held its sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was
-the cause; and then Dr. Manley stormed through
-half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known
-Dugald MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except
-once when that little scoundrel Speug, or rather he
-should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician,
-brought his master through triumphantly
-with a trifle of assistance from himself as a general
-practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog?
-Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify
-in public places, and was supported by all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
-other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his education
-at Drumtochty that the mathematical master
-of Muirtown Academy had thrashed them all as
-boys, every man jack of them, being then not
-much older than themselves, and that he was
-now—barring his white hair—rather fresher than
-in the days of their youth? Had success departed
-at last from the mathematical class-room,
-after resting there as in a temple of wingless
-victory for three generations? Was it not known
-everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather
-was a senior pupil when Bulldog took
-the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply romped
-through Edinburgh University gathering medals,
-prizes, bursaries, fellowships, and everything else
-that a mathematician could lay his hands on, and
-then had won a scholarship at Trinity College,
-Cambridge, with papers that were talked about in
-the College for fourteen days, and were laid past by
-one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May
-be, and this was no doubt the very heart of the jest,
-Bulldog had lost control of the boys, and his right
-hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys were
-insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries
-as to when they had their last interview with the
-tawse and whether the canings were as nippy as
-ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its
-favourite master was an expert in every branch of
-his calling and dealt with the grandchildren as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
-thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers.
-And Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing
-the bridge one morning as alert in step and austere
-in countenance as ever, asked him how he was
-keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself
-the luxury of a chuckle as one who has made a
-jocose remark.</p>
-
-<p>It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown
-when the following letter was read in the Town
-Council and was known next morning to every
-citizen from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center"><i>To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown.</i></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote">"<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—I beg to resign, as from the close
-of the present term, the position of Master of
-Mathematics, Arithmetic and Writing, in Muirtown
-Seminary, and to thank the council for the
-trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight
-years.</div>
-
-<div class="center">"I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Your obedient servant,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"<span class="smcap">Dugald MacKinnon.</span>"</span></div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-
-<p>When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began
-between Bulldog and the citizens which lasted
-for four intense weeks in which the town was at
-fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and
-calmer than ever. And he won all along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
-line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful
-admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and,
-for such a document, almost heated in feeling, to
-which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but guarded
-reply. The Council intimated that they would
-consider his letter to be non-existent, and not even
-put him to the trouble of withdrawing, and Mr.
-MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in
-that case he must trouble the Council with an exact
-copy. The Council then appointed a deputation
-to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself
-unworthy of such an unprecedented honour,
-and declined to see them. And then the Council,
-in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable,
-strained their powers to the utmost with immense
-unanimity, and voted a handsome pension to
-"Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in
-grateful, although unworthy recognition of the
-unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable service he has
-rendered to the education of this ancient city for a
-period of more than half a century, during which
-time nearly two thousand lads have been sent forth
-equipped for the practical business of life in Muirtown,
-in the great cities of our land and unto the
-ends of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in
-a letter of perfect handwriting that he was quite undeserving
-of such a resolution, as he had done
-nothing more than his duty, and that he could not
-accept any retiring allowance—first, because he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
-was not sure that it was strictly legal, and, secondly,
-because he had made provision for his last years,
-but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most
-obliged servant." It was then determined to entertain
-this obdurate man at a banquet, and
-to make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr.
-MacKinnon was again most grateful for the kindness
-of his fellow citizens and the honour they
-proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he
-would neither accept the banquet nor a piece of
-plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a
-city slow but sure of understanding, and with a
-silent sense of the fitness of things, that Mr. Dugald
-MacKinnon, having reigned like Cæsar Augustus
-for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without
-conciliation, giving no favours and receiving
-none, but doing his part by the laddies of Muirtown
-with all his strength of mind and conscience
-and right arm, was not going to weaken at the end
-of his career. For him to rise at the close of a
-dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would
-have been out of keeping with his severe and lonely
-past, and for him to be a pensioner, even of the
-Town Council, would have been an indignity. He
-had reigned longer and more absolutely than any
-master in the annals of the Seminary, and to the
-last day he had held the sceptre without flinching.
-As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible,
-he would lay aside the purple, and disappear into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
-private life. And Muirtown was proud of Bulldog.</p>
-
-<p>Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown
-in all their glory, and his fellow citizens united in
-one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet settled
-with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions
-or any other way their appreciation of their
-master, and they had followed the futile attempts
-of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful
-that grown up people should be so far left
-to themselves as to suppose that Bulldog, their
-own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined
-by Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a
-dithering idiot with a silver jug in his hands, or
-some such trash, while his hands were itching to
-thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed
-them long ago. When the boys heard their fathers
-raging at Bulldog's proud obstinacy they offered
-no remark, but when they got together they
-chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort
-and compensation for many an honest thrashing,
-in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of
-Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No
-rebellion against him had ever had the faintest
-gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped without
-his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the
-last and full of devilry, agreed together by an instinct
-rather than a conference that they would
-close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
-He had governed them with an iron hand, and they
-had been proud to be governed, considering the
-wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable
-than the kisses of McIntyres', but they
-would have one big revenge and then Bulldog and
-his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long
-confabulations together in the Rector's class-room
-while that learned man was reading aloud some
-new and specially ingenious translation of an ode
-and in the class-room of modern languages, while
-Moossy's successor was trying to teach Jock
-Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the
-German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop
-when the "gundy" allowed them to speak at all,
-and at the Russian guns where they gathered in
-the break instead of playing rounders. The junior
-boys were not admitted to those mysterious meetings,
-but were told to wait and see what they would
-see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a
-word of it oozed out in the town. But the Seminary
-was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog
-would repent the years of his tyranny.</p>
-
-<p>Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it
-was going to be a big affair, and Speug directed
-that a war chest should at once be established. No
-one outside the secret junta knew what was going
-to be done with the money, but orders were issued
-that by hook or crook every boy in school except
-the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
-Jock Howieson, who was not an accomplished
-classical scholar nor specially versed in geometry
-but who could keep the most intricate accounts in
-his head with unerring accuracy, and knew every
-boy in the Seminary by head mark. And although
-he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed
-with other powers of persuasion, and he would be
-a very daring young gentleman indeed, and almost
-indifferent to circumstances, who did not pay his
-sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday.
-Jock made no demands, and gave no receipts; he
-engaged in no conversation whatever, but simply
-waited and took. If any one tried to compound
-with Jock for threepence, one look at the miserable
-produced the sixpence; and when little Cosh following
-in the devious steps of his elder brother insinuated
-that he had paid already, Jock dropped
-him into the lade to refresh his memory. No one
-directly inquired what was to be done with the
-money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock,
-and that it would be well spent by the mighty four
-who now ruled the school: Jock, Bauldie, Nestie,
-and Speug—Dunc Robertson after a brief course at
-Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's
-regiment. And it was also known that every halfpenny
-was going to give a big surprise to Bulldog,
-so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers
-with obsequious respect for commercial reasons,
-and coaxed additional pennies out of their mothers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
-on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits to
-maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop,
-turning away their eyes and noses from vanity, and
-sold to grinding capitalists their tops, marbles,
-young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every
-Monday the silent but observant treasurer received
-for eight weeks 5£ 4s., at the rate of sixpence a
-head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like
-an oyster, and there was not one informer among
-the 208; but curiosity grew hot, and there were
-many speculations, and it was widely believed that
-the money would be used in sending a cane of the
-most magnificent proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance
-of his teaching days, and a mark of
-respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to
-himself, dared to suggest this to Speug; and when
-he looked round at some distance off, Speug's eye
-was still upon him, and he declared from his experience
-that it was not healthy to question Speug.
-Two hundred and four boys, however, with the
-observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent
-upon discovery could not be altogether baffled, and
-various bits of reliable information were passed
-round the school. That the four had gone one
-evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now
-on terms of high popularity with the school; that
-the Count who was even then sickening for his
-death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident
-could kill, had also been present; that at dif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>ferent
-times the Count had been seen examining
-the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches
-were carried by every man of standing in the Scots
-Midlands, and pronouncing his judgment on their
-appearance with vivacious gestures; that the Bailie
-had been seen examining the interior of a watch
-with awful solemnity while Councillor Gillespie
-hung upon his decision; and, to crown all, that Mr.
-McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the
-head of the firm, during which he had given him
-gratuitous advice on three coming races, had left
-Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced language
-that if certain persons did not obtain certain things
-for £40 he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person
-giving to betting, would wager ten to one that the
-place of business would close in a year. It was
-whispered therefore in the corridors, with some
-show of truth, that the Seminary was going to take
-vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that the gift,
-whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop.
-And the school speculated whether there was any
-one of their number, even Speug himself, who
-would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and
-whether, if he did, that uncompromising man
-might not occupy his last week of mastership in
-thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest
-unto the youngest, for their blazing impertinence.</p>
-
-<p>The closing day was a Thursday that year, and
-it was characteristic of Bulldog that he met his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
-classes as usual on Wednesday, and when Howieson
-disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid,
-having disgraced himself more moderately on four
-preceding days that he administered discipline on
-Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the
-last boy Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up
-as to be absolutely unendurable for the rest of the
-day, and boasted of the distinction for many a year.
-As four o'clock approached, the boys began to
-grow restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not
-perfectly steady when he closed the last problem
-with Q. E. D.</p>
-
-<p>"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried
-the argument to its conclusion according to the
-principles of things, and the book is finished.
-There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining,
-we will spend it in revising the work of the Senior
-Algebra Class."</p>
-
-<p>Their work has not been revised unto this day,
-for at that moment the door opened without any
-one knocking, and without any one offering an
-apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh,
-and scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge,
-and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
-Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied
-by Bailie MacConachie, whose dignity was
-fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand gracefully
-to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included
-everybody in an affable nod; and behind this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
-imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown Seminary
-who was not already in the mathematical class-room.
-Bulldog turned upon them like a lion
-caught in a snare, and if he had had only thirty
-seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would
-have driven the whole deputation, old and young,
-out of the class-room and dealt with the conspirators
-who remained unto the setting of the sun.
-But it was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with
-minute care, and before Bulldog could say a word
-Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
-much.</p>
-
-<p>"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us
-for it is our last offence, and we have this time a
-fair excuse. Your laddies could not let you leave
-that desk and go out of this room for the last time
-without telling you that they are grateful, because
-you have tried to make them scholars, and to make
-them men. If any of us be able in after years to
-do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything
-else to your teaching and your discipline."</p>
-
-<p>Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman
-the four had chosen, began.</p>
-
-<p>"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line,
-but everything Pirie said is true, and we are proud
-of our chief."</p>
-
-<p>"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the
-watch and chain which we ask the master to do us
-the honour of wearing through the days to come,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
-and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to
-the desk, "crowns our offence, but you will know
-how to read it!"</p>
-
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-<div class="center">
-"TO BULLDOG,<br />
-<span class="stext">WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION<br />
-OF<br />
-HIS LADDIES.</span>"
-</div>
-<div class="microspace"> </div>
-
-<p>It was Bailie MacConachie—may everything be
-pardoned to him—who started the cheer; but it
-was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and ditch,
-and it was of such a kind that the mathematical
-class-room had to be repaired before the beginning
-of next term. During the storm Bulldog stood
-with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white
-as his hair, and when at last there was silence he
-tried to speak, but the tender heart had broken the
-iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."</p>
-
-<p>The Count, with quick tact, led off the second
-cheer, and the boys filed out of the class-room.
-Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
-him, and covered his face with his hands. When
-an hour later he walked across the North Meadow
-there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie MacFarlane,
-who met him on the bridge (and passed
-without speaking), noticed that Bulldog was wearing
-his laddies' gift.</p>
-
-<p>Sitting in his garden that evening and looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
-down upon the plain, Bulldog called Nestie to his
-side, and pointed to the river. The evening sun
-was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and
-on the orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft
-light, a rough weather-beaten coaster, which had
-fought her way through many a gale in the North
-Sea, and could not hold together much longer was
-dropping down with the tide. Newer and swifter
-vessels would take her place in the days to come,
-but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
-and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots
-rivers was carrying her gently to the eternal ocean.</p>
-<div class="minispace"> </div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Young Barbarians
-
-Author: Ian Maclaren
-
-Release Date: September 25, 2009 [EBook #30089]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG BARBARIANS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Meredith Bach, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WAS STANDING IN THE CENTRE OF THE LARGE ENTRANCE
-HALL."]
-
-
-
- YOUNG
- BARBARIANS
-
- _By_
- IAN MACLAREN
- Author of "_Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush_"
-
- ILLUSTRATED
-
- NEW YORK
- Dodd, Mead and Company
- 1910
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1899 and 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company,
- as
- A SCOTS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
-
- Copyright, 1900,
- By The Curtis Publishing Company.
-
- Copyright, 1901,
- By Dodd, Mead and Company.
-
- _First Edition, Published October, 1901_
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- I
- PAGE
-
- "SPEUG" 1
-
- II
-
- BULLDOG 21
-
- III
-
- NESTIE 39
-
- IV
-
- A FAMOUS VICTORY 59
-
- V
-
- HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY 85
-
- VI
-
- THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES 103
-
- VII
-
- THE COUNT 121
-
- VIII
-
- A TOURNAMENT 139
-
- IX
-
- MOOSSY 163
-
- X
-
- A LAST RESOURCE 183
-
- XI
-
- A PLEASANT SIN 205
-
- XII
-
- GUERILLA WARFARE 223
-
- XIII
-
- THE FALL OF GOLIATH 245
-
- XIV
-
- THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE 261
-
- XV
-
- THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY 281
-
- XVI
-
- BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE 305
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- "Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
- entrance hall." Frontispiece
-
- "Peter dared not lift his head." 36
-
- "'You are an ill-bred c-cad.'" 50
-
- "Seized an excellent position behind two Russian
- guns." 66
-
- "Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear." 92
-
- "Speug was dragged along the walk." 96
-
- "They were so friendly that they gathered
- round the party." 114
-
- "They were brought in a large spring cart." 118
-
- "Watching a battle royal between the tops." 134
-
- "Before the hour the hall was packed." 158
-
- "Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor." 170
-
- "The school fell over benches and over another." 174
-
- "His hand closed again upon the sceptre of authority." 202
-
- "They drank without any cup." 218
-
- "Before him stood London John bearing the seductive
- advertisement." 240
-
- "A bottle of ferocious smelling-salts was held
- to the patient's nose." 252
-
-
-
-
-"SPEUG"
-
-I
-
-
-Muirtown Seminary was an imposing building of the classical order,
-facing the north meadow and commanding from its upper windows a fine
-view of the river Tay running rapidly and cleanly upon its gravel bed.
-Behind the front building was the paved court where the boys played
-casual games in the breaks of five minutes between the hours of study,
-and this court had an entrance from a narrow back street along which, in
-snow time, a detachment of the enemy from the other schools might steal
-any hour and take us by disastrous surprise. There were those who wished
-that we had been completely walled up at the back, for then we had met
-the attack at a greater advantage from the front. But the braver souls
-of our commonwealth considered that this back way, affording
-opportunities for ambushes, sallies, subtle tactics, and endless
-vicissitudes, lent a peculiar flavour to the war we waged the whole
-winter through and most of the summer, and brought it nearer to the
-condition of Red Indian fighting, which was our favourite reading and
-our example of heroism. Again and again we studied the adventures of
-Bill Biddon, the Indian spy, not only on account of his hairbreadth
-escapes when he eluded the Indians after a miraculous fashion and
-detected the presence of the red varmint by the turning of a leaf on the
-ground, but also in order to find out new methods of deceit by which we
-could allure our Indians into narrow places, or daring methods of attack
-by which we could successfully outflank them on the broader street and
-drive them into their own retreats with public ignominy.
-
-Within the building the glory of the Seminary was a massive stone stair,
-circular in shape, and having a "well" surrounded on the ground floor by
-a wall some three feet high. Down this stair the masters descended at
-nine o'clock for the opening of the school, with Bulldog, who was the
-mathematical master and the awful pride of the school, at their head,
-and it was strictly forbidden that any boy, should be found within the
-"well." As it was the most tempting of places for the deposit of
-anything in the shape of rubbish, from Highland bonnets to little boys,
-and especially as any boy found in the well was sure to be caned, there
-was an obvious and irresistible opportunity for enterprise. Peter
-McGuffie, commonly called the Sparrow, or in Scotch tongue "Speug," and
-one of the two heads of our commonwealth, used to wait with an
-expression of such demureness that it ought to have been a danger
-signal till Bulldog was halfway down the stair, and a row of boys were
-standing in expectation with their backs to the forbidden place. Then,
-passing swiftly along, he swept off half a dozen caps and threw them
-over, and suddenly seizing a tempting urchin landed him on the bed of
-caps which had been duly prepared. Without turning his head one-eighth
-of an inch, far less condescending to look over, Bulldog as he passed
-made a mental note of the prisoner's name, and identified the various
-bonnetless boys, and then, dividing his duty over the hours of the day,
-attended to each culprit separately and carefully. If any person, from
-the standpoint of this modern and philanthropic day, should ask why some
-innocent victim did not state his case and lay the blame upon the
-guilty, then it is enough to say that that person had never been a
-scholar at Muirtown Seminary, and has not the slightest knowledge of the
-character and methods of Peter McGuffie. Had any boy of our time given
-information to a master, or, in the Scotch tongue, "had clyped," he
-would have had the coldest reception at the hands of Bulldog, and when
-his conduct was known to the school he might be assured of such constant
-and ingenious attention at the hands of Speug that he would have been
-ready to drown himself in the Tay rather than continue his studies at
-Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Speug's father was the leading horsedealer of the Scots Midlands, and a
-sporting man of established repute, a short, thick-set, red-faced,
-loud-voiced, clean-shaven man, with hair cut close to his head, whose
-calves and whose manner were the secret admiration of Muirtown. Quiet
-citizens of irreproachable respectability and religious orthodoxy
-regarded him with a pride which they would never confess; not because
-they would have spoken or acted as he did for a king's ransom, and not
-because they would have liked to stand in his shoes when he came to
-die--considering, as they did, that the future of a horsedealer and an
-owner of racing horses was dark in the extreme--but because he was a
-perfect specimen of his kind and had made the town of Muirtown to be
-known far and wide in sporting circles. Bailie McCallum, for instance,
-could have no dealings with McGuffie senior, and would have been
-scandalised had he attended the Bailie's kirk; but sitting in his shop
-and watching Muirtown life as it passed, the Bailie used to chuckle
-after an appreciative fashion at the sight of McGuffie, and to meditate
-with much inward satisfaction on stories of McGuffie's exploits--how he
-had encountered southern horsedealers and sent them home humbled with
-defeat, and had won hopeless races over the length and breadth of the
-land. "It's an awfu' trade," McCallum used to remark, "and McGuffie is
-no' the man for an elder; but sall, naebody ever got the better o' him
-at a bargain." Among the lads of the Seminary he was a local hero, and
-on their way home from school they loitered to study him, standing in
-the gateway of his stables, straddling his legs, chewing a straw, and
-shouting his views on the Muirtown races to friends at the distance of
-half a street. When he was in good humour he would nod to the lads and
-wink to them with such acuteness and drollery that they attempted to
-perform the same feat all the way home and were filled with despair. It
-did not matter that we were fed, by careful parents, with books
-containing the history of good men who began life with 2_s._ 11_d._, and
-died leaving a quarter of a million, made by selling soft goods and
-attending church, and with other books relating pathetic anecdotes of
-boys who died young and, before they died, delighted society with
-observations of the most edifying character on the shortness of life. We
-had rather have been a horsedealer and kept a stable.
-
-Most of us regarded McGuffie senior as a model of all the virtues that
-were worthy of a boy's imitation, and his son with undisguised envy,
-because he had a father of such undeniable notoriety, because he had the
-run of the stables, because he was on terms of easy familiarity with his
-father's grooms, and because he was encouraged to do those things which
-we were not allowed to do, and never exhorted to do those things which
-he hated to do. All the good advice we ever got, and all the examples of
-those two excellent young gentlemen, the sons of the Rev. Dr.
-Dowbiggin, were blown to the winds when we saw Speug pass, sitting in
-the high dogcart beside his father, while that talented man was showing
-off to Muirtown a newly broken horse. Speug's position on that seat of
-unique dignity was more than human, and none of us would have dared to
-recognise him, but it is only just to add that Peter was quite unspoiled
-by his privileges, and would wink to his humble friends upon the street
-after his most roguish fashion and with a skill which proved him his
-father's son. Social pride and the love of exclusive society were not
-failings either of Mr. McGuffie senior or of his hopeful son. Both were
-willing to fight any person of their own size (or, indeed, much bigger),
-as well as to bargain with anybody, and at any time, about anything,
-from horses to marbles.
-
-Mrs. McGuffie had been long dead, and during her lifetime was a woman of
-decided character, whom the grooms regarded with more terror than they
-did her husband, and whom her husband himself treated with great
-respect, a respect which grew into unaffected reverence when he was
-returning from a distant horse-race and was detained, by professional
-duties, to a late hour in the evening. As her afflicted husband refused
-to marry again, in decided terms, Peter, their only child, had been
-brought up from an early age among grooms and other people devoted to
-the care and study of horses. In this school he received an education
-which was perhaps more practical and varied than finished and polite. It
-was not to be wondered, therefore, that his manners were simple and
-natural to a degree, and that he was never the prey, either in any
-ordinary circumstances, of timidity or of modesty. Although a motherless
-lad, he was never helpless, and from the first was able to hold his own
-and to make his hands keep his head.
-
-His orphan condition excited the compassion of respectable matrons, but
-their efforts to tend him in his loneliness were not always successful,
-nor even appreciated to the full by the young McGuffie. When Mrs.
-Dowbiggin, who had a deep interest in what was called the "work among
-children," and who got her cabs from McGuffie's stable, took pity on
-Peter's unprotected childhood, and invited him to play with her boys,
-who were a head taller and paragons of excellence, the result was
-unfortunate, and afforded Mrs. Dowbiggin the text for many an
-exhortation. Peter was brought back to the parental mansion by Dr.
-Dowbiggin's beadle within an hour, and received a cordial welcome from a
-congregation of grooms, to whom he related his experiences at the Manse
-with much detail and agreeable humour. During the brief space at his
-disposal he had put every toy of the Dowbiggins' in a thorough state of
-repair, and had blacked their innocent faces with burnt cork so that
-their mother did not recognise her children. He had also taught them a
-negro melody of a very taking description, and had reinforced their
-vocabulary with the very cream of the stable. From that day Mrs.
-Dowbiggin warned the mothers of Muirtown against allowing their boys to
-associate with Speug, and Speug could never see her pass on the street
-without an expression of open delight.
-
-When Mr. McGuffie senior brought his son, being then ten years old, to
-the Seminary for admittance, it was a chance that he was not refused and
-that we did not miss our future champion. Mr. McGuffie's profession and
-reputation were a stumbling-block to the rector, who was a man of
-austere countenance and strict habits of life, and Peter himself was a
-very odd-looking piece of humanity and had already established his own
-record. He was under-sized and of exceptional breadth, almost flat in
-countenance, and with beady black eyes which on occasion lit up his face
-as when one illuminates the front of a house, but the occasions were
-rarely those which would commend themselves to the headmaster of a
-public school. How the dealer in horses removed the rector's
-difficulties was never accurately known, but boys passing the door of
-the rector's retiring-room when he was closeted with Mr. McGuffie
-overheard scraps of the conversation, and Muirtown was able to
-understand the situation. It was understood that in a conflict of words
-the rector, an absent-minded scholar of shrinking manner, was not
-likely to come off best, and it is certain that the head of the school
-ever afterwards referred to Mr. McGuffie as "a man of great resolution
-of character and endowed with the gift of forcible speech." As regards
-the son, his affectionate father gave him some brief directions before
-leaving, and in the presence of his fellow-scholars, of which this only
-was overheard, and seemed, indeed, to be the sum and substance: "Never
-give in, ye de'il's buckie." With these inspiriting words Mr. McGuffie
-senior departed through the front door amid a hush of admiration,
-leaving Peter to his fate not far from that "well" which was to be the
-scene of many of his future waggeries.
-
-With the progress of civilisation school life in Scotland has taken on a
-high degree of refinement, and rumour has it--but what will people not
-say?--that a new boy will come in a cab to the Seminary and will receive
-a respectful welcome from the generation following Peter, and that the
-whole school will devote itself to his comfort for days--showing him
-where to hang his cap, initiating him into games, assisting him with his
-lessons, and treating his feelings with delicate respect. It has been my
-own proud satisfaction, as a relic of a former barbarian age, to read
-the rules, which, I believe, are now printed in black letters with red
-capitals and hung in the rooms of Muirtown Seminary. My feelings will
-not allow me to give them all, but the following have moved me almost to
-tears:--
-
-Rule 1.--That every boy attending this school is expected to behave
-himself in speech and deed as a gentleman.
-
-Rule 2.--That anyone writing upon a wall, or in any way marking the
-school furniture, will be considered to have committed an offence, and
-will be punished.
-
-Rule 3.--That every boy is exhorted to treat every other with courtesy,
-and anyone guilty of rudeness to a fellow-scholar is to be reported to
-the headmaster.
-
-Rule 4.--That it is expected of every boy to cultivate neatness of
-appearance, and especially to see that his clothes, collars, cuffs, and
-other articles of clothing be not soiled.
-
-These admirable rules suggest a new atmosphere and one very different
-from that in which we passed our stormy youth, for no sentiment of this
-kind softened life in earlier days or affected our Spartan simplicity.
-The very sight of a newcomer in a speckless suit, with an irreproachable
-tie and both tails on his glengarry bonnet, excited a profound emotion
-in the school and carried it beyond self-control. What could be expected
-of a fellow so bedecked and preserved as if he had just stepped out of a
-bandbox or a tailor's shop? Left alone in his pride and perfection--the
-very beginning of a Pharisee--he would only go from bad to worse and
-come at last to a sad end. We hardly claimed to be philanthropists, but
-we did feel it was our duty to rescue this lad. It might be, of course,
-that we could not finally save him, but he ought at least to have a
-chance, and Speug had a quite peculiar satisfaction in at once removing
-the two offensive tails by one vigorous pull, while the rumpling of a
-collar was a work of missionary zeal. No system of philanthropy is
-successful with all cases, and we had our failures, which we think about
-unto this day, and which have only justified our sad predictions. Boys
-like the two Dowbiggins never improved, and were at last given up in
-despair even by Speug, their tails being renewed day by day and their
-faces remaining in all circumstances quite unmoved; but within a month
-the average boy had laid aside the last remnant of conventionality, and
-was only outdone by Peter himself in studied negligence of attire.
-
-Peter's own course of discipline was sharp, but it did not last long,
-for certain practical reasons.
-
-"What business have you here, ye son of a horse-couper?" was the
-encouraging salutation offered by a solicitor's son to the stumpy little
-figure bereft of its father and left to fight its battles alone.
-
-"Mair business than you, spindleshanks, ye son o' a thievin' lawyer,"
-and although Peter was four years younger and small for his age, he
-showed that he had not learned boxing from his father's grooms without
-profit, and his opponent attended no more classes that day. This
-encounter excited the deepest interest and revived the whole life of the
-school. One lad after another experimented on Peter and made as much of
-it as drawing a badger. He was often hurt, but he never uttered any cry.
-He gave rather more than he got, and lads going home in the afternoon
-could see him giving an account of the studies of the day to an admiring
-audience in the stable-yard. By-and-by he was left severely alone, and
-for the impudence of him, and his courage, and his endurance, and his
-general cockiness, and his extraordinary ingenuity in mischief, he was
-called "Speug," which is Scotch for a sparrow, and figuratively
-expressed the admiration of the school.
-
-It would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter was a scholar, or,
-indeed, gave any voluntary attention to the course of learning laid down
-by the authorities of Muirtown Seminary. He sat unashamed at the foot of
-every class, maintaining a certain impenetrable front when a question
-came his length, and with the instinct of a chieftain never risking his
-position in the school by exposing himself to contempt. When Thomas John
-Dowbiggin was distinguishing himself after an unholy fashion by
-translating Caesar into English like unto Macaulay's History, Speug used
-to watch him with keen interest, and employ his leisure time in
-arranging some little surprise to enliven the even tenor of Thomas
-John's life. So curious a being, however, is a boy, and so inconsistent,
-that as often as Duncan Robertson answered more promptly than Thomas
-John, and obtained the first place, Speug's face lit up with unaffected
-delight, and he was even known to smack his lips audibly. When the
-rector's back was turned he would convey his satisfaction over Thomas
-John's discomfiture with such delightful pantomime that the united class
-did him homage, and even Thomas John was shaken out of his equanimity;
-but then Duncan Robertson's father was colonel of a Highland regiment,
-and Duncan himself was a royal fighter, and had not in his Highland body
-the faintest trace of a prig, while Thomas John's face was a standing
-reproof of everything that was said and done outside of lesson time in
-Muirtown School.
-
-Peter, however, had his own genius, and for captivating adventures none
-was to be compared with him. Was it not Speug who floated down the
-tunnel through which a swift running stream of clean water reached the
-Tay, and allured six others to follow him, none of whom, happily, were
-drowned? and did not the whole school, with the exception of the
-Dowbiggins, await his exit at the black mouth of the tunnel and reward
-his success with a cheer? Was it not Speug, with Duncan Robertson's
-military assistance, who constructed a large earth-work in a pit at the
-top of the Meadow, which was called the Redan and was blown up with
-gunpowder one Saturday afternoon, seven boys being temporarily buried
-beneath the ruins, and Peter himself losing both eyebrows? And when an
-old lady living next the school laid a vicious complaint against Speug
-and some other genial spirits for having broken one of her windows in a
-snowball fight, he made no sign and uttered no threat, but in the
-following autumn he was in a position to afford a ripe pear to each boy
-in the four upper forms--except the Dowbiggins, who declined
-politely--and to distribute a handful for a scramble among the little
-boys. There was much curiosity about the source of Peter's generosity,
-and it certainly was remarkable that the pear was of the same kind as
-the old lady cultivated with much pride, and that her fruit was gathered
-for her in the course of one dark night. Speug was capable of anything
-except telling a lie. He could swim the Tay at its broadest and almost
-at its swiftest, could ride any horse in his father's stable, could
-climb any tree in the meadows, and hold his own in every game, from
-marbles and "catch the keggie," a game based on smuggling, to football,
-where he was a very dangerous forward, and cricket, where his batting
-was fearsome for its force and obstinacy. There was nothing he could not
-do with his hands, and no one whom he was not ready to face.
-
-Speug was a very vigorous barbarian indeed, and the exact type of a
-turbulent Lowland Scot, without whom the Seminary had missed its life
-and colour, and who by sheer force of courage and strength asserted
-himself as our chief captain. After many years have passed, Speug stands
-out a figure of size and reality from among the Dowbiggins and other
-poor fleeting shadows. Thomas John, no doubt, carried off medals,
-prizes, certificates of merit, and everything else which could be
-obtained in Muirtown Seminary by a lad who played no games and swatted
-all evening at next day's work. The town was weary of seeing Thomas John
-and his brother--each wearing the same smug expression, and each in
-faultlessly neat attire--processing up in turn to receive their honours
-from the hands of the Lord Provost, and the town would cheer with
-enthusiasm when Duncan Robertson made an occasional appearance, being
-glad to escape from the oppression of the Dowbiggin _regime_. Nor was
-the town altogether wrong in refusing to appreciate the Dowbiggins at
-their own value, and declining to believe that the strength of the
-country was after their fashion. When Thomas John reached the University
-he did not altogether fulfil the expectations of his family, and by the
-time he reached the pulpit no one could endure his unredeemed dulness.
-When last I heard of him he was secretary to a blameless society which
-has for its object the discovery of the lost Ten Tribes, and it occurs
-to me that it would have been a good thing for Thomas John to have been
-blown up in the destruction of the Redan: he might have become a man.
-
-After the Seminary had done its best for Speug he retired upon his
-laurels and went to assist his father in the business of horsedealing,
-to which he brought an invincible courage and a large experience in
-bargaining. For years his old fellow-scholars saw him breaking in young
-horses on the roads round Muirtown, and he covered himself with glory in
-a steeplechase open to all the riders of Scotland. When Mr. McGuffie
-senior was killed by an Irish mare, Peter sold the establishment and
-went into foreign parts in search of adventure, reappearing at intervals
-of five years from Australia, Texas, the Plate, Cape of Good Hope,
-assured and reckless as ever, but always straightforward, masterful,
-open-handed, and gallant. His exploits are over now, and all England
-read his last, how he sent on in safety a settler's household through a
-narrow pass in Matabele Land, and with a handful of troopers held the
-savages in check until pursuit was vain.
-
-"From the account of prisoners we learn," wrote the war correspondent,
-"that Captain McGuffie, of the Volunteer Horse, fought on after his men
-had been all killed and his last cartridge fired. With his back to a
-rock in a narrow place he defended himself with such skill and courage
-that the Matabele declared him the best fighting man they had ever met,
-and he was found with a mound of dead at his feet." Only last week two
-Seminary men were reading that account together and recalling Peter, and
-such is the inherent wickedness of human nature, that the death (from
-apoplexy) of Thomas John Dowbiggin would have been much less lamented.
-"That is just how Speug would have liked to die, for he dearly loved a
-fight and knew not fear." They revived the ancient memories of Peter's
-boyhood, and read the despatch of the commanding officer, with his
-reference to the gallant service of Captain McGuffie, and then they
-looked at Peter's likeness in the illustrated papers, the eyes as bold
-and mischievous as ever. "Well done, Speug!" said a doctor of
-divinity--may he be forgiven!--"well done, Speug, a terrier of the old
-Scots breed."
-
-Peter's one rival in the idolatry of the school was Duncan Ronald
-Stewart Robertson, commonly known as Dunc, and Dunc was in everything
-except honesty, generosity, and courage, the exact opposite of Peter
-McGuffie. Robertson's ancestors had been lairds of Tomnahurich, a moor
-in Rannoch, with half a dozen farms, since the Deluge, as they believed,
-and certainly since history began. For hundreds of years they had been
-warriors, fighting other clans, fighting among themselves, fighting for
-Prince Charlie, and for more than a century fighting for England as
-officers in the Highland regiments. The present laird had been in the
-Crimean war and the Mutiny, besides occasional expeditions, and was
-colonel of the Perthshire Buffs. When he came to our examination in full
-uniform, having first inspected the local garrison on the meadow, it was
-the greatest day in our time. We cheered him when he came in, counting
-the medals on his breast, amidst which we failed not to notice the
-Victoria Cross. We cheered him in the class-rooms, we cheered him when
-he mounted his horse outside and rode along the terrace, and Peter led a
-detachment by the back way up to Breadalbane Street to give him one
-cheer more. Robertson was a tall, well-knit, athletic lad, with red
-hair, blue eyes, and a freckled face, not handsome, but carrying himself
-with much dignity and grace. Speug always appeared in tight-fitting
-trousers, as became Mr. McGuffie's son, but Robertson wore the kilt and
-never looked anything else but a gentleman, yet his kilt was ever of the
-shabbiest, and neither had his bonnet any tails. His manners were those
-of his blood, but a freer and heartier and more harum-scarum fellow
-never lived. It is a pleasant remembrance, after many years, to see
-again a group of lads round the big fire in the winter time, and to hear
-Duncan Robertson read the stirring ballad, "How Horatius kept the bridge
-in the brave days of old," till Peter can contain himself no longer, and
-proposes that a select band shall go instantly to McIntyre's Academy and
-simply compel a conflict. Dunc went into his father's regiment and fell
-at Tel-el-Kebir, and there is one Seminary man at least who keeps the
-portraits of the two captains--Peter McGuffie, the Scot, the
-horsedealer's son, and a very vulgar varlet indeed, and Duncan
-Robertson, the Celt, a well-born man's son, and a gentleman himself from
-head to foot--in remembrance of a school which was rough and
-old-fashioned, where, indeed, softness and luxury were impossible, but
-where men were made who had the heart in them to live and die for their
-country.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG
-
-II
-
-
-The headmaster of a certain great English school is accustomed to
-enlarge in private on the secret of boy management, and this is the sum
-of his wisdom--Be kind to the boy, and he will despise you; put your
-foot on his neck, and he will worship you. This deliverance must, of
-course, as its eminent author intends, be read with sense, and with any
-modification it must be disappointing to philanthropists, but it is
-confirmed by life. Let a master, not very strong in character and
-scholarship, lay himself out to be a boy's friend--using affectionate
-language, overseeing his health, letting him off impositions, sparing
-the rod, and inciting him to general benevolence--and the boy will
-respond, without any doubt, but it will be after his own fashion. The
-boy will take that master's measure with extraordinary rapidity; he will
-call him by some disparaging nickname, with an unholy approximation to
-truth; he will concoct tricky questions to detect his ignorance; he will
-fling back his benefits with contempt; he will make his life a misery,
-and will despise him as long as he lives. Let a man of masculine
-character and evident ability set himself to rule and drill boys,
-holding no unnecessary converse with them, working them to the height of
-their powers, insisting on the work being done, not fearing to punish
-with severity, using terrible language on occasion, dealing with every
-boy alike without favour or partiality, giving rare praise with
-enthusiasm, and refraining always from mocking sarcasm--which boys hate
-and never forgive--and he will have his reward. They will rage against
-him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go home in companies,
-but ever with an intense appreciation of his masterliness; they will
-recall with keen enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity on
-prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine his achievements, and
-pass it down to the generation following; they will dog his steps on the
-street with admiration, all the truer because mingled with awe. And the
-very thrashings of such a man will be worth the having, and become the
-subject of boasting in after years.
-
-There was a master once in Muirtown Seminary whose career was short and
-inglorious, as well as very disappointing to those who believed in the
-goodness of the boy. Mr. Byles explained to Mrs. Dowbiggin his idea of a
-schoolmaster's duty, and won the heart of that estimable person,
-although the Doctor maintained an instructive silence, and afterwards
-hinted to his spouse that Mr. Byles had not quite grasped the boy
-nature, at least in Muirtown.
-
-"Yes, Mrs. Dowbiggin, I have always had a love for boys--for I was the
-youngest of our family, and the rest were girls--seven dear girls,
-gentle and sweet. They taught me sympathy. And don't you think that
-boys, as well as older people, are ruled by kindness and not by force?
-When I remember how I was treated, I feel this is how other boys would
-wish to be treated. Muffins? Buttered, if you please. I dote on muffins!
-So I am a schoolmaster."
-
-"You are needed at the Seminary, Mr. Byles, I can tell you, for the
-place is just a den of savages! Will you believe me, that a boy rolled
-James on the ground till he was like a clay cat yesterday--and James is
-so particular about being neat!--and when I complained to Mr. MacKinnon,
-he laughed in my face and told me that it would do the laddie good?
-There's a master for you! Thomas John tells me that he is called
-'Bulldog,' and although I don't approve of disrespect, I must say it is
-an excellent name for Mr. MacKinnon. And I've often said to the Doctor,
-'If the masters are like that, what can you expect of the boys?'"
-
-"Let us hope, Mrs. Dowbiggin, that there will soon be some improvement;
-and it will not be my fault if there isn't. What I want to be is not a
-master, but the boys' friend, to whom the boys will feel as to a mother,
-to whom they will confide their difficulties and trials," and Mr. Byles'
-face had a soft, tender, far-away look.
-
-It was only for one winter that he carried on his mission, but it
-remains a green and delectable memory with old boys of the Seminary. How
-he would not use the cane, because it brutalised boys, as he explained,
-but kept Peter McGuffie in for an hour, during which time he
-remonstrated with Peter for his rude treatment of James Dowbiggin, whom
-he had capsized over a form, and how Peter's delighted compatriots
-climbed up one by one to the window and viewed him under Mr. Byles'
-ministrations with keen delight, while Speug imitated to them by signs
-that they would have to pay handsomely for their treat. How he would
-come on Jock Howieson going home in a heavy rain, and ostentatiously
-refusing even to button his coat, and would insist on affording him the
-shelter of an umbrella, to Jock's intense humiliation, who knew that
-Peter was following with derisive criticism. How, by way of
-conciliation, Mr. Byles would carry sweets in his coat-tail pocket and
-offer them at unsuitable times to the leading anarchists, who regarded
-this imbecility as the last insult. It is now agreed that Mr. Byles'
-sudden resignation was largely due to an engineering feat of Peter's,
-who had many outrages to avenge, and succeeded in attaching no less
-than three squibs to the good man's desk; but it is likely that an
-exhortation from Bulldog, overheard by the delighted school, had its due
-effect.
-
-"Humanity or no humanity, my man, it's no peppermint drops nor pats on
-the head that'll rule Muirtown birkies; their fathers were brought up on
-the stick, and the stick'll make the sons men. If ye'll take my advice,
-Mr. Byles, adverteese for a situation in a lassies' school. Ye're ower
-dainty for Muirtown Seminary."
-
-This was not a charge which his worst enemy could bring against Mr.
-Dugald MacKinnon, and because he was the very opposite--a most
-unflinching, resolute, iron man--he engraved himself on the hearts of
-three generations of Muirtown men. They were a dour, hard-headed,
-enterprising lot--a blend from the upland braes of Drumtochty and the
-stiff carse of Gowrie and the Celts of Lock Tay, with some good south
-country stuff--and there are not many big cities on either side of the
-Atlantic where two or three Muirtown men cannot this day be found. They
-always carry in their hearts the "Fair City"--which lieth in a basin
-among the hills, beside the clean, swift-running river, like a Scots
-Florence; and they grow almost eloquent when they start upon their home,
-but the terminus of recollection is ever the same. When they have
-dallied with the swimming in the Tay, and the climbing of the hill which
-looks down on the fair plain as far as Dundee, and the golf on the
-meadows, and the mighty snow fights in days where there were men (that
-is, boys) in the land, and memory is fairly awake, some one suddenly
-says, "Bulldog." "Ah!" cries another, with long-drawn pleasure, as one
-tasting a delicate liquor; and "Bulldog," repeats the third, as if a
-world of joy lay in the word. They rest for a minute, bracing
-themselves, and then conversation really begins, and being excited, they
-drop into the Scots tongue.
-
-"Man," hurries in the first, "a' see him stannin' at his desk in the
-mornin' watchin' the laddies comin' in ower the top o' his spectacles,
-an' juist considerin' wha wud be the better o' a bit thrashin' that
-day."
-
-"Sax feet high gin he wes an inch," bursts in the second, "an' as
-straight as a rush, though a'm thinkin' he wes seventy, or maybe eighty,
-some threipit (insisted) he was near ninety; an' the een o' him--div ye
-mind, lads, hoo they gied back an' forward in his head--oscillatin'
-like? Sall, they were fearsome."
-
-"An' the rush to get in afore the last stroke o' nine"--the third man
-cannot be restrained--"an' the crack o' his cane on the desk an'
-'Silence'; man, ye micht hae heard a moose cross the floor at the
-prayer."
-
-"Div ye think he keekit oot atween his eyelids, Jock?"
-
-"Him? nae fear o't," and Howieson is full of contempt. "Ae day I pit a
-peen into that smooth-faced wratch Dowbiggin, juist because I cudna
-bear the look o' him; an' if he didna squeal like a stuck pig. Did
-Bulldog open his een an' look?"
-
-The audience has no remembrance of such a humiliating descent.
-
-"Na, na," resumes Jock, "he didna need; he juist repeated the first
-sentence o' the prayer ower again in an awfu' voice, an' aifter it wes
-dune, doon he comes to me. 'Whatna prank wes that?'"
-
-"Wes't nippy?" inquires Bauldie with relish, anticipating the sequel.
-
-"Michty," replies Jock; "an' next he taks Dowbiggin. 'Who asked you to
-join in the prayer?' an' ye cud hae heard his yowls on the street.
-Bulldog hed a fine stroke." And the three smoked in silent admiration
-for a space.
-
-"Sandie, div ye mind the sins in the prayer? 'Lord deliver the laddies
-before Thee from lying----'"
-
-"'Cheating,'" breaks in Bauldie.
-
-"'Cowardice,'" adds Sandie.
-
-"'And laziness, which are as the devil,'" completes Jock.
-
-"An' the laist petition, a' likit it fine, 'Be pleased to put common
-sense in their heads, and Thy fear in their hearts, and----'"
-
-"'Give them grace to be honest men all the days of their life,'" chant
-the other two together.
-
-"It wes a purpose-like prayer, an' a' never heard a better, lads; he
-walkit up to his words, did Bulldog, an' he did his wark well." And as
-they thought of that iron age, the railway president and the big banker
-and the corn merchant--for that is what the fellows have come to--smack
-their lips with relish and kindly regret.
-
-It may be disappointing, but it remains a fact, that the human history
-of the ages is repeated in the individual, and the natural boy is a
-savage, with the aboriginal love of sport, hardy indifference to
-circumstances, stoical concealment of feelings, irrepressible passion
-for fighting, unfeigned admiration for strength, and slavish respect for
-the strong man. By-and-by he will be civilised and Christianised, and
-settle down, will become considerate, merciful, peaceable--will be
-concerned about his own boys having wet feet, and will preside at
-meetings for the prevention of cruelty to animals; but he has to go
-through his process of barbarism. During this Red Indian stage a
-philanthropist is not the ideal of the boy. His master must have the
-qualities of a brigand chief, an autocratic will, a fearless mien, and
-an iron hand. On the first symptom of mutiny he must draw a pistol from
-his belt (one of twenty), and shoot the audacious rebel dead on the
-spot. So perfectly did Bulldog fulfil this ideal that Bauldie, who had
-an unholy turn for caricature, once drew him in the costume and arms of
-Chipanwhackewa, an Indian chief of prodigious valour and marvellous
-exploits. This likeness was passed from hand to hand, to be arrested
-and confiscated by its subject when in Jock Howieson's possession, and
-although Jock paid the penalty, as was most due, yet it was believed
-that Bulldog was much pleased by the tribute, and that he kept the
-picture in his desk.
-
-His achievements in his own field, which extended from the supervision
-of handwriting to instruction in mathematics, were sustained and
-marvellous. When a boy was committed to his care at or about the age of
-eight, before which age he attended a girls' school and fed his
-imagination on what was in store for him under Bulldog, the great man
-wrote at the head of his copy-book, in full text and something better
-than copper-plate, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." With this
-animating sentiment the neophyte made a fearful beginning, and his
-master assisted him to transcribe it for years to come through half text
-and small text, till he could accomplish it with such delicate
-up-strokes and massive down-strokes, such fine curves and calculated
-distances, that the writing could hardly be distinguished from the
-original, and might be exhibited to the Lord Provost and bailies at the
-annual examination. It is said now that no school of any name in the
-land would condescend to teach writing, and that boys coming from such
-high places can compass their own signatures with difficulty, and are
-quite illegible after a gentlemanly fashion; but it was otherwise in one
-old grammar school. So famous was the caligraphy produced at the
-Seminary that Muirtown bankers, lawyers, and other great personages used
-to drop in of an afternoon, and having snuffed with the master, would go
-over the copy-books and pick out suitable lads for their offices. And it
-is a solemn fact that one enterprising Muirtown clerk went up to London
-without a single introduction and obtained a situation in the great firm
-of Brancker, Copleston, Goldbeater & Co., on the strength of a letter
-and sheet of figures he sent to old Fyler, the manager, whose reason was
-giving way under the scrawling of the junior clerks. Bulldog considered
-that his pupils' handwriting steadily deteriorated from the day of their
-departure. When they came to see him at school from Glasgow, London, and
-beyond the sea, as they all did, on their visits to Muirtown, besides
-giving them an affectionate welcome, which began at the door and ended
-at the desk, he never failed to produce their letters and point out the
-decadence in careful detail, while the school rejoiced greatly.
-
-Any lad who showed some aptitude, or whose father insisted on the higher
-education, was allured into geometry and raised to the dignity of the
-blackboard, where he did his work in face of the school with fear and
-trembling. This was public life, and carried extremes of honour and
-disgrace. When Willie Pirie appeared at the board--who is now a
-Cambridge don of such awful learning that his juniors, themselves
-distinguished persons, can only imagine where he is in pure
-mathematics--the school, by tacit permission, suspended operations to
-see the performance. As Willie progressed, throwing in an angle here and
-a circle there, and utilising half the alphabet for signs, while he
-maintained the reasoning from point to point in his high, shrill voice,
-Bulldog stood a pace aside, a pointer in one hand and in the other a
-cloth with which at a time he would wipe his forehead till it was white
-with chalk, and his visage was glorious to behold. When the end came,
-Bulldog would seize the word out of Pirie's mouth and shout, "Q. E. D.,
-Q ... E ... D. Splendid. Did ye follow that, laddies?" taking snuff
-profusely, with the cloth under one arm and the pointer under the other.
-"William Pirie, ye'll be a wrangler if ye hae grace o' continuance.
-Splendid!"
-
-It was otherwise when Jock Howieson tried to indicate the nature of an
-isosceles triangle and confused it with a square, supporting his
-artistic efforts with remarks which reduced all the axioms of Euclid to
-one general ruin. For a while the master explained and corrected, then
-he took refuge in an ominous silence, after which, at each new
-development, he played on Jock with the pointer, till Jock, seeing him
-make for the cane, modestly withdrew, but did not reach his place of
-retreat without assistance and much plain truth.
-
-"It's a shame to take any fee from your father, Jock Howieson, and it's
-little use trying to give ye any education. Ye've the thickest head and
-the least sense in all the schule. Man, they should take you home and
-set ye on eggs to bring out chickens; ye micht manage that wi' care. The
-first three propositions, Jock, before ye leave this room, without a
-slip, or _ma certes_!" and Jock understood that if he misused his time
-his instructor would make good use of his.
-
-It was Bulldog's way to promenade the empty schoolroom for ten minutes
-before the reassembling at two, and it was rare indeed that a boy should
-be late. When one afternoon there were only nineteen present and
-forty-three absent, he could only look at Dowbiggin, and when that
-exemplary youth explained that the school had gone up to the top of the
-Meadow for a bathe, and suggested they were still enjoying themselves,
-Bulldog was much lifted.
-
-"Bathing is a healthy exercise, and excellent for the mind, but it's
-necessary to bring a glow to the skin aifterwards, or there micht be a
-chill," and he searched out and felt a superior cane kept for the
-treatment of truants and other grievous offenders.
-
-It was exactly 2.15 when the door opened and a procession of forty-two
-entered panting and breathless, headed by Dunc Robertson, who carried
-his head erect, with a light in his eye, and closed by Peter, whose hair
-was like unto that of a drowned rat, and whose unconcealed desire was
-for obscurity. The nineteen could only smack their lips with
-expectation and indicate by signs the treat awaiting their comrades.
-
-"I've had chairge of the departments of writing, arithmetic, and
-mathematics in the Muirtown Seminary," began Bulldog, "for fifty-five
-years laist Martinmas, and near eighteen hundred laddies hae passed
-through my hands. Some o' them were gude and some were bad"--Mr.
-MacKinnon spoke with a judicial calmness that was awful--"some were yir
-grandfathers, some were yir fathers; but such a set of impudent,
-brazen-faced little scoundrels----" Then his composure failed him as he
-looked at the benches. "What have ye got to say for yirselves, for it
-will be three weeks afore I'm over ye all?"
-
-For a while no one moved, and then Dunc Robertson rose in his place and
-made speech for his fellows like a gentleman's son.
-
-"We are sorry for being late, sir, but it was not our blame; we had been
-bathing in the golfers' pool, and were dressing to run down to school in
-good time. Little Nestie--I mean Ernest Molyneux, sir--had stayed in a
-little longer, and someone cried, 'Nestie's drowning!' and there the
-little chap was, being carried away by the current."
-
-"Is 'Nestie'--drowned?" and they all noticed the break in Bulldog's
-voice, and remembered that if he showed indulgence to anyone it was to
-the little English lad that had appeared in Muirtown life as one out of
-due place.
-
-"No, sir, Nestie's safe, and some women have taken him home; but he was
-very nearly gone," and Dunc was plainly shaken. "He's a good ween man,
-and--and it would have been terrible to see him die before our eyes."
-
-"Who saved Nestie?" Bulldog's face was white, and Jock swore afterwards
-the tears were in his eyes--but that we did not believe.
-
-"It was one of the boys, sir"--Robertson's voice was very proud--"and it
-was a gallant deed; but I can't give his name, because he made me
-promise not to tell."
-
-The master looked round the school, and there was a flush on his cheek.
-
-"John Howieson," with a voice that knew no refusal, and Jock stood in
-his place.
-
-"Give me the laddie's name who savit Nestie."
-
-"It was Speug, sir, an'--it wes michty; but a' wudna hae telt had ye no
-askit, an'--it's no my blame," and Jock cast a deprecatory glance where
-Peter was striving to hide himself behind a slate.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out this moment," and Peter, who had obeyed this
-order in other circumstances with an immovable countenance, now
-presented the face of one who had broken a till.
-
-"Tell the story, Duncan Robertson, every word of it, that each laddie in
-this room may remember it as lang as he lives."
-
-"We had nearly all dressed, and some of us had started for school ...
-and when I got back McGuffie had jumped and was out in the current
-waiting for Nestie to come up. We saw his face at last, white on the
-water, and shouted to Peter, and ... he had him in a minute, and ...
-made for shore; big swimming, sir; not one of us could have done it
-except himself. A salmon-fisher showed us how to rub Nestie till he came
-round, and ... he smiled to us, and said, 'I'm all right; sorry to
-trouble you chaps.' Then we ran down as hard as we could lick, and ...
-that's all, sir."
-
-"Ye're a leear, Duncan Robertson," suddenly broke out Speug, goaded
-beyond endurance; "ye helpit oot Nestie yirself, an' ye're ... as muckle
-tae blame as me."
-
-"All I did, sir"--and Robertson's face was burning red--"was to meet
-Peter and take Nestie off his hands quite near the bank; he had the
-danger; I ... did nothing--was too late, in fact, to be of use."
-
-Speug might have contested this barefaced attempt at exculpation, but
-Bulldog was himself again and gripped the reins of authority.
-
-"Silence!" and his emotion found vent in thunder; "no arguing in my
-presence. You're an impudent fellow, Peter McGuffie, and have been all
-your days, the most troublesome, mischievous, upsetting laddie in
-Muirtown School," and the culprit's whole mien was that of a dog with a
-bad conscience.
-
-"Ye've fought with your fists, and ye've fought with snowballs; ye've
-played truant times without number; and as for your tricks in school,
-they're beyond knowledge. And now ye must needs put the capper on the
-concern wi' this business!
-
-"There's no use denying it, Peter, for the evidence is plain"--and now
-Bulldog began to speak with great deliberation. "Ye saw a little laddie
-out of his depth and likely to be drowned." (Peter dared not lift his
-head this time; it was going to be a bad case.)
-
-"Ye micht have given the alarm and got the salmon-fishers, but, instead
-of acting like ony quiet, decent, well-brought-up laddie, and walking
-down to the school in time for the geometry" (the school believed that
-the master's eye rested on William Dowbiggin), "ye jumped clothes and
-all into the Tay." (There was evidently no extenuating feature, and
-Peter's expression was hopeless.)
-
-"Nor was that all. But the wicked speerit that's in ye, Peter McGuffie,
-made ye swim out where the river was running strongest and an
-able-bodied man wouldna care to go. And what for did ye forget yirsel
-and risk yer life?" But for the first time there was no bravery left in
-Peter to answer; his wickedness was beyond excuse, as he now felt.
-
-[Illustration: "PETER DARED NOT LIFT HIS HEAD."]
-
-"Just to save an orphan laddie frae a watery death. And ye did it,
-peter; an' it ... beats a'thing ye've dune since ye came into muirtown
-academy? as for you, duncan robertson, ye may say what ye like, but it's
-my opinion that ye're no one grain better. Peter got in first, for he's
-a perfect genius for mischief--he's aye on the spot--but ye were after
-him as soon as ye could--you're art and part, baith o' ye, in the
-exploit." it was clear now that dunc was in the same condemnation and
-would share the same reward; whereat peter's heart was lifted, for
-robertson's treachery cried to heaven for judgment.
-
-"Boys of Muirtown, do you see those tablets?"--and Bulldog pointed to
-the lists in gold of the former pupils who had distinguished themselves
-over the world--prizemen, soldiers, travellers, writers, preachers,
-lawyers, doctors. "It's a grand roll, and an honour to have a place in
-it, and there are two new names to be added.
-
-"Laddies"--and Bulldog came down from his desk and stood opposite the
-culprits, whose one wish was that the floor might open beneath them and
-swallow them up--"you are the sons of men, and I knew you had the
-beginnings of men in you. I am proud ... to shake hands with you, and to
-be ... your master. Be off this instant, run like mad to yir homes and
-change yir clothes, and be back inside half an hour, or it will be the
-worse for ye! And, look ye here, I would like to know ... how Nestie
-is."
-
-His walk through the room was always full of majesty, but on that day it
-passed imagination, and from time to time he could be heard in a
-soliloquy, "A pair of young rascals! Men of their hands, though, men of
-their hands! Their fathers' sons! Well done, Peter!" To which the
-benches listened with awe, for never had they known Bulldog after this
-fashion.
-
-When the school assembled next Monday morning the boys read in fresh,
-shining letters--
-
-"Peter McGuffie and Duncan R. S. Robertson, who at the risk of their own
-lives saved a schoolfellow from drowning."
-
-It stood before the school, so that all could see; but if anyone dared
-to make a sign in that direction as he passed Speug's desk, his life was
-not worth living for seven days, and it was felt that Speug never
-completely recovered from the moral disgrace of that day.
-
-
-
-
-NESTIE
-
-III
-
-
-It was understood that Nestie's mother was dead and that his father was
-the Baptist minister of Muirtown--a denomination whose adherents were
-few and whose practices were vaguely associated with the mill lade--and
-for two years before he appeared at school Nestie and his father were
-quite familiar to the boys. Nestie began his education at a ladies'
-school, not far from the Seminary, where he was much petted by the big
-girls, and his father could be seen waiting for him every afternoon at
-dismissal time. A gentle, timid little man, apt to blush on being spoken
-to, with a hesitating speech and a suggestion of lasting sorrow in his
-eyes, Mr. Molyneux would sooner have faced a cannon than Miss Letitia
-MacMuldrow's bevy of young women, and it was a simple fact that when,
-meditating his sermon one day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
-midst and his son insisted on introducing him to the boarders and to
-Miss Letitia, the poor man went home to bed and left the pulpit next
-Sunday to an amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to arrive on
-the opposite side of the terrace about a quarter to three, and, as the
-hour drew near, reconnoitre the door from behind a clump of bushes at
-the foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance with a
-bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him shamelessly, and then, catching
-sight of the anxious face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
-down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, disappear round the
-corner. The minister used to take a hasty survey lest they should become
-a sport to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss his boy
-was synonymous with mental incapacity, and then--it was a cat of a girl
-who oversaw the meeting--they hugged one another for the space of a
-whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what can be done if your
-heart is in it and your hat is allowed to go without care. Had a
-Seminary boy seen the sight--but the savages were caged at that
-hour--his feet would have been glued to the ground with amazement, and
-he had gone away full of silent gratitude that Providence had cast his
-lot north of the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that the
-father and son had been separated for, say, six whole hours--or
-almost--and it was necessary to re-establish relations. When this had
-been done satisfactorily the two crossed a wooden bridge into the Meadow
-arm-in-arm--Mr. Molyneux unconsciously wearing his hat with a rakish air
-on the side of his head. Between this hour and sunset was their
-pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did were varied and
-remarkable. Sometimes they would disappear into the woods above
-Muirtown, and return home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden with
-wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they planted in their tiny
-garden and watered together with tender solicitude. Other times they
-played what was supposed to be golf over a course of their own selection
-and creation at the top of the Meadow, and if by any chance the minister
-got a ball into a hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
-apologised for his insolent success. Times there were--warm, summer
-days--when the minister would bring a book with him and read to Nestie
-as they lay in a grassy hollow together. And on these days they would
-fall a-talking, and it would end in a photograph being taken from a
-case, and after they had studied it together, both would kiss the face,
-which was as if Nestie had kissed himself. Regular frequenters of the
-North Meadow began to take an interest in the pair, so that the golfers
-would cry "Fore" in quite a kindly tone when they got in the way of the
-balls, and one day old Peter Peebles, the chief of the salmon-fishers
-and a man of rosy countenance, rowed them up to Woody Island, and then
-allowed the boat to drop down with the tide past the North Meadow and
-beneath the two bridges, and landed them at the South Meadow, refusing
-all recompense with fierce words. Motherly old ladies whose families
-were off their hands, and who took in the situation at a glance, used to
-engage Mr. Molyneux in conversation in order to warn him about Nestie's
-flannels and the necessity of avoiding damp at nightfall. And many who
-never spoke to them, and would have repudiated the idea of sentiment
-with scorn, had a tender heart and a sense of the tears of things as the
-pair, strange and lonely, yet contented and happy, passed them in the
-evening.
-
-When the time came that Nestie had to leave Miss Letitia's, his father
-began to hang round the Seminary taking observations, and his heart was
-heavy within him. After he had watched a scrimmage at football--a dozen
-of the aboriginal savages fighting together in a heap, a mass of legs,
-arms, heads--and been hustled across the terrace in a rush of Russians
-and English, from which he emerged without his hat, umbrella, or book,
-and after he had been eyewitness of an encounter between Jock Howieson
-and Bauldie over a misunderstanding in marbles, he offered to teach
-Nestie at home.
-
-"Those Scotch boys are very ... h-healthy, Nestie, and I am not sure
-whether you are quite ... fit for their ... habits. There is a master,
-too, called ... Bulldog, and I am afraid----" and Mr. Molyneux looked
-wistfully at his boy.
-
-"Why, pater, you are very n-naughty, and don't d-deserve two lumps of
-sugar," for ever since they were alone he had taken his mother's place
-and poured out the tea. "Do you think I am a coward? A boy must learn to
-play games, you know, and they won't be hard on a little chap at first.
-I'll soon learn f-football and ... the other things. I can play golf a
-little now. Didn't you tell me, pater, that mother was as bwave as ... a
-s-soldier?"
-
-"Of course she was, Nestie," and Mr. Molyneux fell into the innocent
-little snare. "If you had only seen the pony your mother used to ride on
-her father's farm in Essex, where I saw her first! Do you know, nobody
-could ride 'Gypsy' except its mistress. It r-reared and ... k-kicked,
-Nestie"--the little man spoke with awe--"and once ran away; but your
-mother could always manage it. She looked so handsome on 'Gypsy'; and
-you have her spirit. I'm very ... t-timid."
-
-"No, you aren't, not one little bit, pater, if there's real d-danger."
-Nestie was now on his father's knee, with a hand round his neck. "Who
-faced the cow on the meadows when she was charging, and the nurse had
-left the child, eh? Now, pater, tell the truth."
-
-"That was because ... the poor little man would have been killed ...
-anyone would have d-done that, and ... I d-did not think what I was
-d-doing...."
-
-"Yes, I know," and Nestie mocked his father shamefully, even unto his
-face; "and everybody read in the paper how the child wasn't near the
-cow, and the cow was quite nice and well-behaved, and you ... ran away;
-for shame, now!
-
-"Did you go to the people that had the dip ... dip ... in the throat, or
-not?--that's a word I can't manage yet, but I heard Miss Leti-titia and
-the girls say you were like the soldiers 'at got the Vic--Victoria
-Cwoss."
-
-"That's d-different, Nestie; that's my d-duty."
-
-"Well, it's my d-duty to go to the S-Seminary, pater;" and so he went.
-
-"What's your name?" Nestie was standing in the centre of the large
-entrance hall where his father had left him, a neat, slim little figure
-in an Eton suit and straw hat, and the walls were lined by big lads in
-kilts, knickers, tweed suits, and tailless Highland bonnets in various
-stages of roughness and decay.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, and for short, Nestie," and he looked round with a
-bright little smile, although inwardly very nervous.
-
-"Moly-havers," retorted Cosh, who had a vague sense that Nestie, with
-his finished little manner, his English accent, his unusual dress, and
-his high-sounding name, was an offence to the Seminary. "Get yir hat oot
-o' there," and Cosh sent Ernest's straw skimming into the forbidden
-"well."
-
-Molyneux's face turned crimson, for he had inherited the temper which
-mistressed "Gypsy," and boys who remembered Speug's first exploit
-expected to see the newcomer spring at Cosh's face.
-
-"You mean that for f-fun, I s'pose," he said an instant later, and he
-recovered his hat very neatly. "I can leap a little, you know, not
-m-much yet," and again he smiled round the ring.
-
-Nothing quite like this had happened before in the Seminary, and there
-was a pause in the proceedings, which was the salvation of Nestie, and
-far more of Peter McGuffie. He had been arrested by the first sight of
-Nestie and had been considering the whole situation in silence. Peter
-had a sudden inspiration.
-
-"Did ye say Nestie?" inquired Speug, with an almost kindly accent,
-moving a little forward as for purposes of identification.
-
-"My pater calls me that, and ... others did, but perhaps you would like
-to say Molyneux. What is your name?"
-
-"We 'ill call ye 'Nestie'; it's no an ill word, an' it runs on the
-tongue. Ma name is Peter McGuffie, or Speug, an' gin onybody meddle wi'
-ye gie's a cry." And to show the celerity of his assistance Peter sent
-the remains of Cosh's bonnet into the "well" just as Bulldog came down
-to his room.
-
-"Bulldog's in," as that estimable man identified the owner of the bonnet
-and passed on to his class-room. "In aifter him, an' gie yir name, afore
-the schule comes."
-
-"Will you come with me, P-Peter?" and that worthy followed him
-mechanically, while the school held their breath; "it would be kind of
-you to intwodoosh--it's a little difficult that word--me to the
-master."
-
-"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Bulldog at the sight of the two,
-for speech was paralysed in Speug and he was aghast at his own audacity.
-
-"A new laddie ... ca'ed Molly, Mol ... a' canna mind it ... Nestie ...
-he dinna know the way...." And Speug broke down and cast a despairing
-look at the cane.
-
-"Peter pwotected me from the other boys, who were making fun of me, and
-I asked him to bwing me in to you, sir; he was very p-polite."
-
-"Was he?" said Bulldog, regarding Speug's confusion with unconcealed
-delight; "that is quite his public character in this school, and there's
-nobody better known. My advice"--here Bulldog stopped, and looked from
-Speug to Nestie as one who was about to say something and had changed
-his mind--"is to ... be friends with Peter."
-
-So when the school took their places Nestie was seated next to Speug,
-and it was understood in a week that Nestie was ready to take his fair
-share in any honest fun that was going, but that if one of the baser
-sort tried to play the blackguard with Nestie, he had to balance
-accounts with Speug, and that the last farthing would be faithfully
-exacted.
-
-As Nestie had at once settled in his mind that Speug was a young
-gentleman of high conduct and excellent manners--and Nestie, with all
-his sweetness, was as obstinate as a mule--nothing remained for Speug
-but to act as far as he could up to his new character. With this example
-of diligence by his side, he was roused to such exertion that he emerged
-from long division and plunged into the rule of three, while Nestie
-marvelled at his accomplishments--"for I'm not a clever chap like you,
-P-Peter." Speug had also accumulated a considerable collection of pencil
-sketches, mostly his own, in which life at Muirtown Seminary was treated
-very broadly indeed, and as he judged this portfolio unlikely to be
-appreciated by Nestie, and began himself to have some scruple in having
-his own name connected with it, it was consigned to the flames, and any
-offer of an addition, which boys made to Speug as a connoisseur in
-Rabelaisean art, was taken as a ground of offence. His personal habits
-had been negligent to a fault, and Nestie was absurdly careful about his
-hands, so Peter was reduced to many little observances he had
-overlooked, and would indeed have exposed himself to scathing criticism
-had it not been that his sense of humour was limited and, so far as it
-went, of a markedly practical turn.
-
-As Nestie never ceased to exalt this paladin of chivalry, and all the
-virtues which he had discovered at school, Mr. Molyneux hungered to see
-him, and so Speug was invited to tea on a Saturday evening--an
-invitation he accepted with secret pride and outward confusion of face.
-All the time which could be saved that day from the sermons was devoted
-by Mr. Molyneux and his son to the commissariat, and it was pretty to
-see the Molyneuxs going from shop to shop collecting the feast. With
-much cunning Nestie had drawn from Speug that fried sausages (pork) with
-mashed potatoes, followed up by jam tarts and crowned with (raisin)
-cake, was a meal to live for, and all this they had, with shortbread and
-marmalade, thrown in as relishes. When Nestie was not watching at the
-upper window for Peter's coming he was gloating over the table, and
-pater, putting last touches to his exposure of Infant Baptism, ran out
-and in to see that nothing had been forgotten, for they did not give
-many feasts, and this was one of gratitude. Peter was late, because he
-had gathered his whole establishment to dress him, including the old
-groom, who wished him to go in corduroy breeches and top boots, and
-Speug was polished to the extent of shining. He was also so modest that
-he would not speak, nor even look, and when Nestie began to discourse on
-his goodness he cast glances at the door and perspired visibly, on which
-occasions he wiped his forehead with a large red handkerchief. Amid all
-his experiences on land and water, on horseback and among boys--_i. e._,
-savages--he had never yet been exalted as a hero and a philanthropist,
-and he felt uncomfortable in his clothes. He was induced, however, to
-trifle with the tea, and in the end did very fairly, regaining his
-native composure so far as to describe a new horse his father had
-bought, and the diabolical wickedness of the tame fox at the stables.
-Afterwards Nestie took Speug to his room and showed him his various
-treasures--a writing-desk with a secret drawer; _The Sandalwood Traders_
-by Ballantyne; a box of real tools, with nails and tacks complete; and
-then he uncovered something hidden in a case, whereat Speug was utterly
-astonished.
-
-"Yes, it's a watch; my mother left it to me, and some day I'll wear it,
-you know; your mother's g-gone, too, Peter, isn't she?"
-
-"Aye," replied Peter, "but a' dinna mind o' her." And then, anxious to
-change the subject, he produced a new knife with six blades. Before
-leaving he promised to give Nestie a pair of rabbits, and to guide him
-in their upbringing after a proper fashion. Without having ventured into
-the field of sentiment, there is no doubt Peter had carried himself in a
-way to satisfy Mr. Molyneux, and he himself gave such an account of the
-tea to Mr. McGuffie senior, that night, that the horsedealer, although
-not given to Pharisaical observance of the Sabbath, attended the little
-Baptist chapel next day in state, sleeping through the sermon, but
-putting five shillings in the plate, while Peter, sitting most demurely
-at his father's side, identified two of his enemies of McIntyre's
-Academy and turned various things over in his mind.
-
-If anyone, however, supposed that the spirit had gone out of Peter
-through his friendship with Nestie, he erred greatly, and this Robert
-Cosh learned to his cost. What possessed him no one could guess, and
-very likely he did not know himself, but he must needs waylay Nestie in
-Breadalbane Street one day after schooltime and speak opprobriously to
-him, finishing up--
-
-"Awa' wi' ye; yir father's a meeserable yammering (stammering) dookie
-(Baptist) minister."
-
-"My father's one of the best men living"--Nestie was in an honourable
-temper--"and you are an ill-bred c-cad."
-
-Poor Nestie would have been half-killed before Cosh had done with him
-had not Speug arrived on the scene, having been in the gundy (candy)
-shop not far off, and then there were circumstances. Cosh had a poor
-chance at any time with Peter, but now that worthy's arm was nerved with
-fierce indignation, and Nestie had to beg for mercy for Cosh, whose
-appearance on arriving home was remarkable. His story was even more so,
-and was indeed so affecting, not to say picturesque, that Bailie Cosh
-came into Bulldog's room with his son two days afterwards to settle
-matters.
-
-"A' called, Maister MacKinnon," he said, in tones charged with dignity,
-"to explain the cause of my son Robert's absence; he was in bed with a
-poultice on his face twenty-four hours, an' he'll no be himself for
-days."
-
-[Illustration: "'YOU ARE AN ILL-BRED C-CAD.'"]
-
-"He is no in condeetion to lose time wi' his lessons, a' can tell ye,
-Bailie; ye're richt to bring him back as sune as ye could; was't
-toothache?"
-
-"No, it wasna toothache, but the ill-usage o' one of your scholars, the
-maist impudent, ill-doing, aggravating scoondrel in Muirtown."
-
-"Peter McGuffie, come out here," which showed Bulldog's practical
-acquaintance with affairs. "Did ye give Robert Cosh a licking?"
-
-No answer from Speug, but a look of satisfaction that was beyond all
-evidence.
-
-"Was that just yir natural iniquity, Peter, or had ye a justification?"
-
-Dogged silence of Speug, whose code of honour had one article at
-least--never to tell on a fellow.
-
-"Please, sir, may I speak?" cried Nestie, as he saw the preparations for
-Peter's punishment and could not contain himself.
-
-"Were you in this job, too, Nestie? You didn't tell me that there were
-two at puir Robert, Bailie; if Nestie got his hand on your son, he's sic
-a veeciously inclined character that it's a wonder Robert's leevin.'
-
-"Now, Bailie, we'll conduct a judeecial investigation. Robert Cosh, what
-have ye to say? Speak up like a man, an' I'll see justice done ye, be
-sure o' that; but mind ye, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
-the truth."
-
-Robert Cosh declined to contribute even the smallest morsel of truth in
-any shape or form, and, in spite of strong encouragement from the
-magistrate, preserved an impenetrable silence.
-
-"This," said Bulldog, with a shrewd glance, "is mair than ordinary
-modesty; we 'ill take another witness. Ernest Molyneux, what have ye got
-to say?"
-
-"Cosh called my father names, and ... I lost my t-temper, and ... and
-... I said things ... the pater's ill, sir, so I ... and Cosh stwuck me
-once or twice--but I don't mind that; only Peter, you see, sir, wanted
-to help me. I'm afraid he h-hurtit Cosh, but that was how it happened."
-
-"Stand beside Nestie, Cosh ... so; half a head taller and much broader
-and four years older. Ye called his father names, and then cut his lip
-when he answered. Just so. There are some pretty little scratches on yir
-own face. That would be Peter. Well, Bailie, the case is pretty plain,
-and we 'ill go to judgment.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, yir father's a good man, and it does not matter two
-brass peens what Robert Cosh says about him, and ye're no an
-ill-disposed laddie yersel.' Ye may go to your seat.
-
-"Peter McGuffie, ye're aye meddlin' wi' what doesna concern ye, and ye
-seem to think that Providence gave Nestie into yir chairge. One day ye
-pull him oot o' the river, and anither ye take him oot o' the hands o'
-Robert Cosh. But ye've done your wark sae neatly this time that I havena
-the heart to thrash ye. Ye may go to your seat, too; and, Peter, ma
-man, just one word of advice. Yir head is thick, but yir heart is richt;
-see that ye always use yir fists as well as ye did that day.
-
-"Robert Cosh, ye've had a fair trial, and ye have been convicted of
-three heinous sins. First, ye miscalled a good man--for that three
-strokes with the cane; next, ye ill-used the quietest laddie in the
-whole school--for that three strokes; and, lastly, being moved of the
-devil, ye went home and told lies to a magistrate--for that six strokes.
-Three on each hand to-day and to-morrow will just settle the count.
-Right hand first."
-
-"Mr. MacKinnon, I protest...."
-
-"What?" and Bulldog turned on the magistrate; "would ye interfere with
-the course o' justice in another man's jureesdiction, and you a
-magistrate?" And Bulldog's eyes began to rotate in a fearsome manner.
-
-The Bailie allowed it to be understood that he had changed his mind, and
-Robert, who had expected great things from the magistrate's protection,
-abandoned himself to despair and walked humbly for many days to come.
-
-Next day Nestie was not in his place, and Bulldog, growing uneasy,
-called on his way home.
-
-"Aye, aye," and the landlady's voice sank into the minor key of Scots
-sympathy, "Maister Mollynoox (for such an outlandish name was ever a
-trial) is far through wi't; the doctor says he never had much to come
-an' go on, and noo this whup o' inflammation is the feenish.
-
-"The doctor doesna expect him to see mornin', an' he's verra sober
-(weak); but his head's clear, an' the laddie's wi' him. Ma hert is wae
-(sorry) for him, for the twa hev been that bund up thegither that a'm
-dootin' Nestie 'ill never get ower the pairtin'."
-
-The gentle little minister was not far from his end, and Nestie was
-nursing him as best he could. He sponged his father's face--threatening
-to let the soap get into his eyes if he were not obedient--and dried it
-with a soft towel; then he brushed the soft, thin brown hair slowly and
-caressingly, as he had often done on Sundays when his father was weary.
-Turning round, he saw Bulldog, and instead of being afraid, Nestie
-smiled a pathetic welcome, which showed either what a poor actor the
-master was, with all his canings, or that his English scholar was a very
-shrewd little man.
-
-"Th-thank you f-for coming to see father, sir; he was n-naughty and got
-cold, and he has been so ill; but he must get better, for you know there
-are ... just the two of us, and ... I would be ... lonely without the
-pater."
-
-"Nestie does not wish to part with me, Mr. MacKinnon, for we h-have been
-... dear friends, that's how it was, and we loved ... mother; but he is
-a ... brave little man, as you know, and mother and I will not forget
-him ... you came to ask for Nestie, and it was God's will, for I h-have
-a f-favour to ask of you."
-
-Bulldog went over and sat down by the bed, but said nothing. Only he
-took the minister's hand in his and waited. He also put his other arm
-round Nestie, and never did he look fiercer.
-
-"I have no relatives, and his m-mother's family are all dead; there is
-nobody to be g-guardian to Nestie, and he cannot live alone. C-could you
-get some family who would be ... where he might be at ... h-home?
-
-"You know we are not rich, but we've s-saved a little, for Nestie is a
-famous little house-k-keeper; and maybe there's enough to keep him ...
-till he grows big; and I'll give you the receipt at the bank, and you'll
-... manage for him, won't you?"
-
-Bulldog cleared his throat to speak, but could not find his voice--for a
-wonder, but his hand tightened on the minister's, and he drew Nestie
-nearer to him.
-
-"Of course, Mr. MacKinnon, I know that we have no c-claim on you, for we
-are strangers in Muirtown, and you ... have many boys. But you've been
-kind to Nestie, and he ... loves you."
-
-The minister stopped, breathless, and closed his eyes.
-
-"Mr. Molyneux," began Bulldog in a stern voice, "I'm willing to manage
-Nestie's estate, big or small, and I'll give an account of all
-intromissions to the Court, but I must decline to look out a home for
-Nestie.
-
-"Nestie and me" (bad grammar has its uses, and some of them are very
-comforting) "are good freends. My house has just an auld schoolmaster
-and an housekeeper in it, and whiles we would like to hear a young
-voice."
-
-Bulldog paused and then went on, his voice sterner than ever--in sound.
-
-"Now Bell's bark is worse than her bite, and maybe so is mine (Nestie
-nodded), so if the wee man wouldna be feared to live wi' ...
-Bulldog--oh, I know fine what the rascals call me--he 'ill have a heart
-welcome, and ... I'll answer to ye baith, father and mother, for yir
-laddie at the Day o' Judgment."
-
-"'What shall I render ... unto the Lord ... for all His benefits?' I
-cannot thank you ... (the minister was now very weak); but you will not
-... miss your reward. May the God of the orphan.... Kiss me, Nestie."
-
-For a short while he slept, and they watched for any sign of
-consciousness.
-
-"It was too soon"--he was speaking, but not to them--"for Nestie ... to
-come, Maud; he must stay ... at school. He is a good boy, and ... his
-master will ... take care of him ... Nestie will grow to be a man,
-dear."
-
-The minister was nearing the other side, and seeing the face he loved
-and had lost awhile.
-
-"It's mother," whispered Nestie, and a minute later he was weeping
-bitterly and clinging with all his might to the schoolmaster, who came
-perilously near to tears himself.
-
-"They're together now, and ... I'll be father and mother to ye, Nestie,"
-said Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, master of mathematics in Muirtown Seminary,
-and known as Bulldog to three generations of Muirtown lads.
-
-
-
-
-A FAMOUS VICTORY
-
-IV
-
-
-The Seminary perfectly understood that, besides our two chief enemies,
-the "Pennies" and McIntyres, there were, in the holes and corners of the
-town, obscure schools where little companies of boys got some kind of
-education and were not quite devoid of proper spirit. During a really
-respectable snow-storm--which lasted for a month and gave us an
-opportunity of bringing affairs to a temporary settlement with our
-rivals, so that the town of Muirtown was our own for the next seven
-days--a scouting party from the Seminary in search of adventures had an
-encounter with a Free Kirk school, which was much enjoyed and spoken
-about for weeks beside the big fire. Speug began, indeed, to lay out a
-permanent campaign by which the boys going home southwards could look in
-from time to time on the Free Kirkers, and he indicated his willingness
-to take charge of the operation. It was also said that an Episcopal or
-Papist school--we made no subtile direct distinctions at the
-Seminary--in the northern district might afford some sport, and the
-leadership in this case was to be left to Duncan Robertson, the other
-captain of the commonwealth. Snow did not last the whole year round even
-in a Scots town; but it was wonderful what could be done in summer by
-the use of book-bags, well stuffed out with Caesar and Lennie's English
-Grammar, and at the worst there always remained our fists. The pleasure
-of planning these forays is still a grateful recollection, for it seemed
-to us that by spreading our forces we might have perpetual warfare from
-January to December and over the length and breadth of the town, so that
-no one would be compelled to return to his home of an evening without
-the hope of a battle, and every street of the town would be
-distinguished by conflict. Nothing came, however, of those spirited
-enterprises that year, because our two rivals, laying aside their mutual
-quarrels, which, we understood, were very bitter, and entering
-into a covenant of falsehood--their lying filled us with holy
-indignation--attacked us front and rear while we were having an innocent
-game of Russians and English on the North Meadow. Although taken
-unawares and poorly provided with weapons we made a good fight; but in
-the end we were scattered so completely that Speug never reached the
-school again that day, for which he was thrashed by Bulldog next
-morning, and Dunc came in with a front tooth gone and one black eye,
-for which he was soundly thrashed at once.
-
-During all that summer we denounced the amazing meanness of the other
-side, and turned over plans for splitting the alliance, so that we might
-deal with each power separately and finally. Speug even conducted a
-negotiation--watchfully and across the street, for the treachery of the
-other side was beyond description--and tried to come to terms with the
-representative of our least hated opponent. He even thought, and Peter
-was not guileless, that he had secured their neutrality, when they
-suddenly burst forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
-school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. His feelings were not
-much hurt by the talk, in which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after
-he had abandoned negotiation and had settled down to vituperation, but
-Seminary boys whose homeward route took them past the hostile
-territories had to be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time of
-bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, and might have
-finally broken its spirit had it not have been for the historical battle
-in the beginning of November, when McGuffie and Robertson led us to
-victory, and the power of the allies was smashed for years. So great,
-indeed, was their defeat that in early spring Peter has been known to
-withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the season and of his own
-personal profit, for the simple purpose of promenading through the
-enemies' sphere of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult in
-at their gates.
-
-One of the schools must have been a charity for the education of poor
-lads, since it was known to us as the "Penny School," and it was a
-familiar cry ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The Pennies are
-coming!" when we promptly turned out to give them the welcome which, to
-do them justice, they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny a week
-or a penny a month we did not know, or whether, indeed, they paid a
-penny at all, but it pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
-beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came at last to wear it
-proudly, like many other people who have been called by nicknames and
-turned the nickname into an honour, for they would follow up a
-particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's a penny for ye!"
-They were sturdy varlets, quite indifferent as to boots and stockings,
-and equally so as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
-Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary--whose boys had given
-pledges to respectability, and who had to answer searching questions as
-to their personal appearance every evening--had it not been for
-stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a horsedealer, did not
-apply an over strict standard of judgment to his son's manners or
-exploits, and Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a soldier's
-son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline for the Army.
-
-Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, but it was as
-nothing to our hatred of McIntyre's school, which called itself an
-academy, and had a Latin master and held examinations and affected
-social equality with the Seminary. Everyone knew that the Seminary had
-existed in the time of Queen Mary, and some said went back to the days
-of William Wallace, although we had some doubts as to whether the
-present building was then in existence. Everyone also knew that
-McIntyre's whole concern belonged to himself, and that he collected the
-fees in every class on Friday morning, that he took home what was over
-after paying his assistants, and that butcher meat for the McIntyre
-family next week depended on the result. McIntyre drew his supplies from
-the small tradesmen, and a Seminary lad, going in to get a new pair of
-boots at Meiklewham's would have a fine sense of pride in being measured
-by an old opponent whose face had often looked out on him from the mist
-of battle. This pretentious and windy institution even attempted the
-absurdity of a yearly prizegiving, when, instead of the Provost sitting
-in state and glaring before him with a Horace in his hands upside down,
-McIntyre's minister would hold forth on diligence and tidiness and
-courtesy and such like contemptible virtues. Had a Seminary boy been
-offered the painful choice, he would almost as soon have gone to the
-Pennies as to McIntyre, for in that case he had not been an impostor and
-a fraud.
-
-For a week the weather had been hovering on frost, and on Wednesday
-afternoon the snow began to fall with that quiet and steady downpour
-which means a lasting storm. Speug went home in great spirits, declaring
-to an admiring circle of junior boys that if Providence were kind and
-the snow continued there would be something worth living for at the
-dinner hour on Friday. As the snowball war was a serious affair, and was
-conducted after a scientific fashion, it never commenced until there was
-a good body of snow upon the ground and pure snow could be gathered up
-without earth and stones. The unpardonable sin of our warfare was
-slipping a stone into a snowball: this was the same as poisoning the
-wells, and the miscreant who perpetrated this crime was cast out from
-every school. There was a general understanding between parties that the
-mercies were not to be wasted, and that the schools were to refrain
-themselves until there was a fair and lasting supply of ammunition. It
-was still snowing on Thursday morning, and there were some who said that
-war might now be declared; and Jock Howieson, ever a daring and rash
-spirit, declared we should repent it if we were not ready against one
-o'clock. Speug and Dunc were however of opinion that nothing was likely
-to take place that day except desultory skirmishes, and that the whole
-day ought to be spent in accumulating a store of snowballs against
-Friday, when there was no question that we should have to face the
-united schools in a decisive battle. This was the only instance where
-our captains ever made a mistake, and they atoned for their error of
-judgment by the valour and skill with which they retrieved what seemed a
-hopeless defeat.
-
-As the hours wore on to one o'clock Speug could be seen glancing
-anxiously out at the window, and he secured an opportunity with Dunc for
-a hasty conference during the geometry lesson. About a quarter to one he
-turned from his slate and cocked his ear, and in two minutes afterwards
-every boy in Bulldog's class-room understood that the war had begun and
-that we had been taken by surprise. Scouts from McIntyre's, as we
-afterwards learned, had risked the danger of playing truant, which in a
-school like theirs cost nothing, and had visited our playground. They
-had carried back news that we were not yet prepared for battle, and our
-firm opinion was that the authorities of Penny's and McIntyre's had
-allowed their schools out at half-past twelve, in order to take us at a
-disadvantage. Before the bell rang and the senior classes were dismissed
-the Seminary knew that our enemies had seized the field of battle, but
-we did not know until we came out the extent of the disaster.
-
-The Pennies had come down the back street and had established
-themselves opposite the narrow entrance between two sheds through which
-three only could walk abreast from our playground to the street. They
-had also sent a daring body of their lighter and more agile lads to the
-top of the sheds which separated our playground from the street, and
-they had conveyed down an enormous store of ammunition, so that the
-courtyard was absolutely at their mercy, and anyone emerging from the
-corridor was received with a shower of well-made and hard snowballs
-against which there was no standing. Even if we ran this risk and
-crossed the open space we could then be raked by the fire from the shed,
-and a charge through the narrow passage to the street would be in the
-last degree hazardous. There were twelve feet of passage, and there were
-not many who would care to face a stream of snowballs driven by the
-vigorous hands of the Pennies down this passage as through a pipe.
-Instead of meeting our enemies on the street, we had been penned up
-within our own school. McIntyre's had come down the terrace and seized
-an excellent position behind two Russian guns which stood opposite our
-school and about twenty feet from our front entrance. They had made
-these guns into a kind of fort, from behind whose shelter, reinforced by
-a slight barricade of jackets, they commanded our entrance, and had
-driven in the first boys who emerged, in hopeless discomfiture. It came
-upon us that we had been shut up back and front, and shut up with the
-poorest supply of snowballs and very little snow with which to repair
-our resources.
-
-[Illustration: "SEIZED AN EXCELLENT POSITION BEHIND TWO RUSSIAN GUNS."]
-
-While the younger boys raged and stormed in the safety of the corridors,
-Dunc and Speug retired for consultation. In two minutes they came out
-and gave their orders to the mass of boys gathered together round the
-"well" and in the "well," and on the stairs and along the corridors. It
-was at this moment that Nestie Molyneux obtained a name which he covered
-with glory before the close of the day. As he had no class between
-twelve and one, he had been observing events, and with the aid of two or
-three other little boys had done what he could to repair the neglect of
-yesterday. In spite of a rain of snowballs he had availed himself of a
-sheltered corner in the playground and had worked without ceasing at the
-preparation of the balls. Every ball as it was made was dipped into a
-pail of water and then, half frozen, was laid in a corner where it was
-soon frozen altogether. "There'll be the feck o' two hundred balls
-ready. Ma certes! Nestie has a head on his shoulders. Now," said Speug,
-speaking from halfway up the stair, "we'll start with thae balls for a
-beginnin', and wi' them we'll fecht our way out to the open. As soon as
-we've cleared the background every ane o' the two junior classes is to
-mak' balls as hard as he can lick and bring them forward to the fighting
-line.
-
-"We'll divide the senior school into three divisions; Dunc will take
-thirty of ye and drive McIntyre frae the guns and along the terrace till
-ye turn them into Breadalbane Street. Thirty o' ye--and I want nae
-Dowbiggins--'ll come with me, and we'll bring the Pennies aff the shed
-quicker than they got up, and drive them up the back streets till we
-land them wi' the rest in Breadalbane Street; and the juniors 'ill keep
-us well supplied with balls, else Dunc and me will ken the reason at two
-o'clock.
-
-"Jock Howieson, ye're to tak' thirty swank fellows that can run and are
-no 'feart to be left alane. Ye'll rin round by the North Street and the
-Cathedral and come down the top of Breadalbane Street till ye cut off
-McIntyre's and the Pennies frae their schools. Dae nothin' till ye see
-Dunc and me drivin' the lot up Breadalbane Street, then come down from
-the back end of them wi' all your might, and I'm thinkin' they'll be
-wanting to be inside their ain yard afore a' be done."
-
-Dunc assembled his corps inside the front porch, each boy supplied with
-two balls and with twenty youngsters behind bringing up more. McIntyre's
-balls were falling on the front wall and coming in through the porch.
-One of them struck Dunc on the side of the head, but he forbade any
-return fire.
-
-"They're wastin' their balls," he said; "it'll be the better for us";
-and then, looking round, "Are ye ready? Charge!" and shouting "Seminary!
-Seminary!" he led his division across the terrace and fell upon
-McIntyre's behind the guns. It was a short, sharp scrimmage, during
-which Dunc levelled the leader of McIntyre's, and then the enemy began
-to retreat slowly down the terrace, with many a hand-to-hand encounter
-and scuffle on the snow. As soon as Dunc's division had cleared the
-front, Jock Howieson collected his lads and started along the terrace in
-the opposite direction at a sharp run, carrying no balls, for they
-intended to make them on the scene of operation. When the other two
-divisions were off, Speug addressed his faithful band. "MacFarlane, take
-six birkies, climb up the waterspout, and clean the richt-hand shed,
-couping the Pennies into the street. Mackenzie, ye're no bad at the
-fightin'; tak' anither sax and empty the roof o' the left-hand shed, and
-'gin ye can clout that Penny that's sittin' on the riggin' it'll teach
-him to keep in the street next day.
-
-"Noo, that leaves eighteen, and me and Bauldie and Jamie Johnston 'ill
-lead ye down the passage. We'll need six balls each, as hard as ye mak'
-'em, and the rest o' ye tak' two in yir arms and one in yir hand. Pit
-yir bonnits in yir pocket--they'll no be muckle use--button yir jackets,
-and when the three o' us gae down the passage for ony sake follow close
-in behind. Just ae thing more," said Speug, who was in his glory that
-day. "I'll need a laddie to keep me gaein' with balls, and I want a
-laddie that has some spunk, for he'll hae a rough time." Below thirty
-of the junior school were waiting and looking at Speug like dogs for a
-biscuit. He threw his eye over the group, any one of which would have
-given his best knife and all his marbles, and thrown in a cricket bat
-and his last kite, to have been chosen.
-
-"Nestie," said Speug, "ye're little and ye're white and ye're terrible
-polite, but there's a sperit in ye. Ye'll carry ma balls this day, and
-noo, you juniors, aff to the ball-making, and see that Nestie's bonnet's
-well filled, and there's no any of us wanting for a ball when we drive
-the Pennies down the back road." Then Speug moved to the back corridor
-and arranged his division, with Nestie behind him, and Bauldie and Jamie
-Johnston on the right hand and on the left, Mackenzie's and MacFarlane's
-detachments close behind, who were to turn off to the right hand and the
-left as they emerged from the corridor; the rest were to follow Speug
-through the passage of danger. Speug took two balls and placed them in
-the hollow of his left arm, feeling them carefully to see that they
-would leave a mark when they struck a Penny. The third he took in his
-right hand, and Nestie had the reserve.
-
-"Noo," he said, "gin anybody be feared he'd better gae in and sit doun
-beside the fire with the Dowbiggins," and since nobody responded to this
-genial invitation Speug gave one shout of "Seminary!" and in a minute
-was across the playground and at the mouth of the passage, while
-Mackenzie and MacFarlane were already scrambling up the walls of the
-sheds. Covering his face with his left arm and sending his first ball
-direct into the face of the foremost Penny, and following it up with a
-second and a third driven with unerring aim and the force of a catapolt,
-and receiving anything from twelve to twenty balls between him and
-Bauldie and Johnston, the three led the way down the passage, Nestie
-close behind Speug and handing him a new supply of balls. They met at
-the outer end of the passage--the Pennies and Speug's lot--and for about
-thirty seconds they swayed in one mass of struggling, fighting, shouting
-boy life, and then, so steady was the play of Speug's fists, so able the
-assistance of the other two, so strong the pressure from behind, and so
-rapid the shower of balls sent over Speug's head among the Pennies, the
-Pennies gave way and Speug and his band burst into the back street, the
-leader with his jacket torn off his back, and his face bearing the scars
-of conflict, but full of might, and Nestie with the balls behind him.
-
-The Seminary lads and the Pennies were now face to face in the back
-street, with a space of about ten yards between, and both parties made
-arrangements for the final conflict. The scouts of the Pennies could be
-seen bringing balls from Breadalbane Street, and the Pennies themselves
-made such hasty readjustments of their negligent attire as were
-rendered necessary by the vigour of the last fighting. Their commander
-was a sturdy lad about fifteen years of age, with a great shock of red
-hair and fists like iron. His favourite method of charge was to lead his
-army in the form of an inverted V, he being himself at the apex, and to
-force his way through the other side on the principle of a wedge. Speug
-did not believe in this arrangement. He led himself in the centre and
-threw out his two lieutenants far out on the right hand and on the left,
-so that when the Pennies forced their way into the middle of his
-division, Bauldie and Johnson were on their right and left
-flanks--tactics which in Speug's experience always caused dismay in the
-attacking force. The younger boys of the Seminary had by this time ample
-resources of ammunition ready, working like tigers without jackets now
-or bonnets, and as they brought out the supplies of balls through the
-passage of victory they received nods of approval from Speug, each nod
-being something like a decoration. It was fine to see Speug examining
-the balls to see that they were properly made and of a hardness which
-would give satisfaction to the expectant Pennies.
-
-Some pleasant incidents occurred during this interlude. When the
-Seminary lads fought their way through the passage they cut off the
-retreat of three Pennies who were still fighting with MacFarlane on the
-top of the right-hand shed.
-
-"What are ye daein' up there?" said Speug, with ironic politeness;
-"that's no' the ordinar' road into the Seminary;" and then, as they
-hesitated on the edge of the water pipe, Speug conceived what was in
-these days a fine form of humour. "Come down," he said, "naebody 'ill
-touch ye"; and then he ordered an open passage to be made through the
-ranks of the Seminaries. Down between two lines the unfortunate Pennies
-walked, no one laying a hand upon them, but various humourists
-expressing their hopes that they had enjoyed the top of the shed, that
-it wasn't MacFarlane that had given one of them a black eye, that they
-hoped one of them hadn't lost his jacket on the roof of the shed, and
-that they were none the worse for their exertion, and that they expected
-to meet them later on--which gracious salutations the Pennies received
-in bitter silence as they ran the gauntlet; and when they had escaped
-clear of the Seminaries and stood halfway between the two armies they
-turned round with insulting gestures, and one of them cried, "Ye'll get
-yir paiks (thrashing) for this or the day be done!"
-
-Their arrival among their friends and the slight commotion which it
-caused in the front ranks of the Pennies was a chance for Speug, who
-gave the signal for the charge and made himself directly for the leader
-of the Pennies. No pen at this distance of time can describe the
-conflict between the two leaders, who fired forth balls at each other at
-close distance, every one going to its mark, and one leaving an
-indelible impress upon Speug's ingenuous forehead. They then came to
-close grip, and there was a tussle, for which both had been waiting for
-many a day. From fists, which were not quite ineffectual, they fell upon
-wrestling, and here it seemed that Redhead must have the advantage, for
-he was taller in stature and more sinuous in body. During the wrestle
-there was something like a lull in the fighting, and both Pennies and
-Seminaries, now close together, held their hands till Speug, with a
-cunning turn of the leg that he had been taught by an English groom in
-his father's stable, got the advantage, and the two champions came down
-in the snow, Redhead below. The Seminaries set up a shout of triumph,
-and the scouts running to and fro with the balls behind joined in with,
-"Well done, Speug!"
-
-Speug had all the instincts of a true general and was not the man to
-spend his time in unprofitable exultation. It was a great chance to take
-the Pennies when they were without their leader and discomfited by his
-fall, and in an instant Speug was up, driving his way through the midst
-of the enemy, who were now divided in the centre, whilst Johnston and
-Bauldie had crept up by the side of the houses on either side and were
-attacking them in parallel lines. MacFarlane and Mackenzie had come down
-from the shed with their detachment and were busy in the rear of the
-Seminaries. Redhead fought like a hero, but was almost helpless in the
-confusion, and thought it the best strategy to make a rush to the clear
-ground in the rear of his position, calling his followers after him; and
-now the Pennies gathered at the far end of the street, beaten in tactics
-and in fighting, but ever strong in heart, and full of insolence.
-"That," said Speug, wiping his face with his famous red handkerchief
-which he carried in his trousers pocket, and hastily attending to some
-of his wounds, "that wesna' bad"; and then turning to Nestie, "Ye keepit
-close, my mannie." Speug's officers, such mighties as Bauldie and
-Johnston, MacFarlane and Mackenzie, all bearing scars, clustered round
-their commander with expressions of admiration. "Yon was a bonny twirl,
-and you coupit him weel." "Sall, they've gotten their licks," while
-Speug modestly disclaimed all credit, and spoke generously of the
-Pennies, declaring that they had fought well, and that Redhead nearly
-got the mastery.
-
-At that moment a shout of "Seminary!" was heard in the rear of the
-Pennies, and Speug knew that Duncan Robertson had driven McIntyre's the
-full length of the terrace and was now fighting them in Breadalbane
-Street. "Forward!" cried Speug. "Dunc's on the back of them," and
-Redhead at the same moment hurriedly withdrew his forces, covering his
-retreat with a shower of balls, and united with McIntyre's, who were
-retiring before Robertson and the second division of the Seminaries.
-Amid cries of "Seminary! Seminary!" Speug and Duncan met where the back
-street opens into Breadalbane Street, and their divisions amalgamated,
-exchanging notes on the battle and examining one another's personal
-appearance. There was not a bonnet to be seen, and not many jackets,
-which had either been left behind or thrown off or torn off in personal
-conflict with the Pennies; collars may have remained, but that no one
-could tell, and there were some whose waistcoats were now held by one
-button. Two or three also had been compelled to drop out of active
-battle and were hanging in the rear, rubbing their faces with snow and
-trusting to be able to see clear enough for the final charge; and still
-the juniors were making their balls and had established a new magazine
-at the end of the terrace. Several of these impenitent little wretches
-had themselves been in the thick of the fight, and could be seen
-pointing proudly to a clout on the forehead and a cut on the lip. What a
-time certain mothers would have that evening when their warriors came
-home, some of them without caps, which would never be recovered, most of
-them with buttonless waistcoats and torn jackets, half of them with
-disfigured faces, all of them drenched to the skin, and every one of
-them full of infinite satisfaction and gladness of heart! Their fathers,
-who had heard about the battle before they came home and had not failed
-to discover who had won, being all Seminary lads themselves, would also
-be much lifted, but would feign to be extremely angry at the savagery
-of their boys, would wonder where the police were, would threaten their
-sons with all manner of punishments if this ever happened again, and
-would declare their intention of laying a complaint before the chief
-constable. As, however, it was absolutely necessary in the interests of
-justice that the whole facts should be known before they took action,
-they would skilfully extract the whole Homeric narrative, with every
-personal conflict and ruse of war, from their sons, and only when the
-last incident had been related would announce their grave and final
-displeasure.
-
-As for the police, who were not numerous in Muirtown, and who lived on
-excellent good terms with everybody, except tramps, they seemed to have
-a prophetic knowledge when a snow-fight was coming on, and were detained
-by important duty in distant streets. It was always, however, believed
-by the Seminary that two of the police could be seen, one at the
-distance of the bridge over the Tay, the other at the far extremity of
-Breadalbane Street, following the fight with rapt attention, and in the
-case of the Pennies winning, which had been their own school, smacking
-their lips and slapping their hands under pretence of warming themselves
-in the cold weather, and in the event of the Seminaries winning marching
-off in opposite directions, lest they should be tempted to interfere,
-which they would have considered contrary to the rules of fair play,
-and giving their own school a mean advantage. Perhaps some ingenuous
-modern person will ask, "What were the masters of the Seminary about
-during this hour?" The Rector was sitting by the fire in his
-retiring-room, reading a winter ode of Horace, and as faint sounds of
-war reached his ears he would stir the fire and lament, like the quiet
-old scholar that he was, that Providence had made him ruler of such a
-band of barbarians; but he would also cherish the hope that his
-barbarians would not come off second. As for Bulldog, his mind was torn
-between two delights--the anticipation of the exercise which he would
-have next day, and the pleasure which his lads were having to-day--and
-nothing more entirely endeared Bulldog to his savages than the fact
-that, instead of going home to dinner during this hour, which was his
-usual custom, he contented himself with a biscuit. He was obliged to buy
-it in a baker's shop in Breadalbane Street, from which he could command
-a perfect view of the whole battle, especially as he happened to stand
-in the doorway of the shop, and never returned to school till the crisis
-of war was over. He was careful to explain to the school that he had
-himself gone for the purpose of identifying the ringleaders in mischief,
-and it was on such an occasion that Speug, keeping his right cheek
-immovable towards Bulldog, would wink to the assembled school with
-irresistible effect.
-
-Nor ought one to forget the janitor of Muirtown Seminary, who had been a
-sergeant in the Black Watch and had been wounded three times in the
-Crimean War. His orders, as given by the Rector and reinforced by all
-law-abiding parents, were to prevent any boy of the Seminary leaving the
-school for the purpose of a snowball fight, and should such an
-unfortunate affair take place he was directed to plunge into the midst
-and by force of arm to bring the Seminaries home to their own fireside,
-leaving rough and rude schools like the Pennies and McIntyre's to fight
-at their wicked will. For did not the Seminary lads move in polite
-society, except Speug, and were they not going to be, as they have
-become, clergymen and lawyers, and physicians, to say nothing of bailies
-on the bench and elders of the Kirk? These orders Sergeant Dougal
-McGlashan carried out, not so much in the bondage of the letter as in
-the fulness of the spirit. Many were the conversations which Speug and
-he had together in anticipation of the snow time, when you may believe
-if you please that that peaceable man was exhorting Speug to obedience
-and gentleness, or if you please that he was giving the commander of the
-Seminary certain useful hints which he himself had picked up from the
-"red line" at Balaclava. Certain it is that when the Seminaries went out
-that day in battle array the sergeant was engaged mending the fires with
-great diligence, so that he was not able to see them depart. Afterwards
-it was the merest duty for him to stand at the end of the passage of
-victory, lest the Pennies or any other person should venture on another
-outrage; and if he was late in calling his boys back from Breadalbane
-Street, that was only because the cold had made his wounds to smart
-again, and he could only follow them in the rear till the battle was
-over. When the evil was done there was no use of vain regret, and in the
-afternoon the sergeant stood beside the big fire and heard accounts of
-the battle from one and another, and then he would declare that there
-were lads in Muirtown Seminary who would have done well at Inkermann and
-the storming of the Redan.
-
-Breadalbane Street, which was broad and straight, with the back road to
-the Seminary on the right hand, and the street to McIntyre's and the
-Pennies on the left, had been the battle-ground of generations, for it
-gave opportunity for deploying in divisions, for front attack and for
-flank, as well as for royal charges which extended across the street.
-McIntyres and Pennies had been recruited from their several schools and
-supplied afresh with ammunition. Redhead took command of the united
-force and arranged them across the street in his favourite wedge, with
-the base resting on the home street, and this time he gave the signal,
-and so impetuous was their charge that they drove their way almost
-through the ranks of the Seminaries, and Speug himself, through sheer
-weight of attack, was laid flat in the middle of the street. Robertson
-and his officers rallied their forces, but it was possible that the
-Seminaries might have lost the day had it not been for the masterly
-foresight of Speug and the opportune arrival of Jock Howieson. That
-worthy had taken his division by a circuitous route, in which they had
-been obstructed by a miserable Episcopal school which wanted a fight on
-its own account and had to receive some passing attention. A little
-late, Howieson reached the Cathedral, and then, judging it better not to
-come down Breadalbane Street, where his attack would have been exposed,
-he made his way on the right of the street by passages known only to
-himself, and having supplied his division with ammunition from a
-snow-drift in a back entry, he came into the home street, which was the
-only line of retreat for the enemy, and cut them off from their base.
-Leaving a handful of lads to prevent the scouts coming out from the
-Pennies or the McIntyres with information, and driving before him the
-ammunition train of the enemy, he came round into Breadalbane Street
-with twenty-five tough fighters raging and fuming for the battle and
-just in the nick of time. It was hard for any fighting man to have spent
-something like half an hour wandering round circuitous streets and
-holding ridiculous conflicts with unknown schools when the battle of
-Waterloo, with the fate of the Empire of Muirtown, was hanging in the
-balance.
-
-Before Redhead had notice of the arrival of the new division they were
-upon his rear, and a play of snowballs fell upon the back of the
-Pennies. This was more than even veteran forces could endure, and in
-spite of the heroic efforts of Redhead, who fired his balls alternately
-back and forward, his forces fell into a panic. They broke and drove
-their way through Howieson's division, receiving severe punishment from
-balls fired at a distance of a few feet, and then, in spite of the
-efforts of their officers, who fought till they were black and blue, but
-chiefly red, the enemy rushed down the home street and, sweeping the
-rearguard of Howieson's before them like straws in a stream, made for
-their respective schools. The Seminaries in one united body, headed by
-the three commanders and attended by the whole junior school, visited
-the Pennies' school first, whose gates were promptly closed, and having
-challenged the Pennies with opprobrious words to come out and fight like
-men--Redhead being offered the chance of single combat with Dunc or
-Speug or Jock Howieson--the Seminaries then made their way to McIntyre's
-Academy. As this unfortunate place of learning had no gate, Speug led
-the Seminaries into the centre of their courtyard, McIntyre's boys
-having no spirit left in them and being now hidden in the class-rooms.
-As they would not come out, in spite of a shower of courteous
-invitations, Speug stood in the centre of their courtyard and called the
-gods to witness that it had been a fair fight and that the Seminaries
-had won. A marvellous figure was he, without bonnet, without collar,
-without tie, without jacket, without waistcoat, with nothing on him but
-a flannel shirt and those marvellous horsey trousers, but glorious in
-victory. Taking a snowball from Nestie, who was standing by his side,
-openly and in face of McIntyre's masters, gathered at a window, he sent
-it with unerring aim through the largest pane of glass in McIntyre's own
-room. "That," said Speug, "'ill tell ye the Seminaries have been here."
-Then he collected his forces and led them home down the cross street and
-into Breadalbane Street, down the middle of Breadalbane Street, and
-round the terrace, and in by the front door into the Seminary. As they
-came down they sang, "Scots wha hae," and the juniors, who had rushed on
-before, met them at the door and gave three cheers, first for Speug,
-then for Dunc, and then for Jock Howieson, which homage and tribute of
-victory Speug received with affected contempt but great pride of heart.
-In order to conceal his feelings he turned to his faithful henchman,
-little Nestie Molyneux, who, always a delicate-looking little laddie,
-was now an altogether abject spectacle, with torn clothes, dripping
-hair, and battered face. "Nestie," said Speug, in hearing of the whole
-school, "ye're a plucky little deevil," and although since then he has
-been in many places and has had various modest triumphs, that still
-remains the proudest moment in Nestie Molyneux's life.
-
-
-
-
-HIS PRIVATE CAPACITY
-
-V
-
-
-It is well enough for popular rulers like presidents to live in public
-and shake hands with every person; but absolute monarchs, who govern
-with an iron hand and pay not the slightest attention to the public
-mind, ought to be veiled in mystery. If Bulldog had walked homeward with
-his boys in an affectionate manner, and inquired after their sisters,
-like his temporary assistant, Mr. Byles, or had played with interesting
-babies on the North Meadow, as did Topp, the drawing-master--Augustus de
-Lacy Topp--who wore a brown velvet jacket and represented sentiment in a
-form verging on lunacy; or if he had invited his classes to drink coffee
-in a very shabby little home, as poor Moossy did, and treated them to
-Beethoven's Symphonies, then even Jock Howieson, the stupidest lad in
-the Seminary, would have been shocked, and would have felt that the
-Creation was out of gear. The last thing we had expected of Bulldog was
-polite conversation, or private hospitality. His speech was confined to
-the class-room, and there was most practical; and his hospitality,
-which was generous and widespread, was invariably public. His _role_ was
-to be austere, unapproachable, and lifted above feeling, and had it not
-been for Nestie he had sustained it to the day of his death.
-
-Opinion varied about Bulldog's age, some insisting that he had
-approached his century, others being content with "Weel on to eighty."
-None hinted at less than seventy. No one could remember his coming to
-Muirtown, and none knew whence he came. His birthplace was commonly
-believed to be the West Highlands, and it was certain that in dealing
-with a case of aggravated truancy he dropped into Gaelic. Bailie
-McCallum used to refer in convivial moments to his schooldays under
-Bulldog, and always left it to be inferred that had it not been for that
-tender, fostering care, he had not risen to his high estate in Muirtown.
-Fathers of families who were elders in the kirk, and verging on grey
-hair, would hear no complaints of Bulldog, for they had passed under the
-yoke in their youth, and what they had endured with profit--they now
-said--was good enough for their children. He seemed to us in those days
-like Melchizedek, without father or mother, beginning or end of days;
-and now that Bulldog has lain for many a year in a quiet Perthshire
-kirkyard, it is hardly worth while visiting Muirtown Seminary.
-
-Every morning, except in vacation, he crossed the bridge at 8.45, with
-such rigid punctuality that the clerks in the Post Office checked the
-clock by him, and he returned by the way he had gone, over the North
-Meadow, at 4.15, for it was his grateful custom to close the
-administration of discipline at the same hour as the teaching,
-considering with justice that any of the Muirtown varlets would rather
-take the cane than be kept in, where from the windows he could see the
-North Meadow in its greenness, and the river running rapidly on an
-afternoon. It would have been out of place for Bulldog to live in a
-Muirtown street, where he must have been overlooked and could not have
-maintained his necessary reserve. Years ago he had built himself a house
-upon the slope of the hill which commanded Muirtown from the other side
-of the river. It was a hill which began with wood and ended in a lofty
-crag; and even from his house, halfway up and among the trees, Bulldog
-could look down upon Muirtown, compactly built together on the plain
-beneath, and thinly veiled in the grey smoke which rose up lazily from
-its homes. It cannot be truthfully said that Bulldog gave himself to
-poetry, but having once varied his usual country holiday by a visit to
-Italy, he ever afterwards declared at dinner-table that Muirtown
-reminded him of Florence as you saw that city from Fiesole, with the
-ancient kirk of St. John rising instead of the Duomo, and the Tay
-instead of the Arno. He admitted that Florence had the advantage in her
-cathedral, but he stoutly insisted that the Arno was but a poor,
-shrunken river compared with his own; for wherever Bulldog may have been
-born, he boasted himself to be a citizen of Muirtown, and always
-believed that there was no river to be found anywhere like unto the Tay.
-His garden was surrounded with a high wall, and the entrance was by a
-wooden door, and how Bulldog lived within these walls no one knew, but
-many had imagined. Speug, with two daring companions, had once traced
-Bulldog home and seen him disappear through the archway, and then it was
-in their plan to form a ladder one above the other, and that Peter, from
-the top thereof, should behold the mysterious interior and observe
-Bulldog in private life; but even Speug's courage failed at the critical
-moment, and they returned without news to the disappointed school.
-
-Pity was not the characteristic of Seminary life in those days, but the
-hardest heart was touched with compassion when Nestie Molyneux lost his
-father and went to stay with Bulldog. The Seminary rejoiced in their
-master; but it was with trembling, and the thought of spending the
-evening hours and all one's spare time in his genial company excited our
-darkest imagination. To write our copy-books and do our problems under
-Bulldog's eye was a bracing discipline which lent a kind of zest to
-life, but to eat and drink with Bulldog was a fate beyond words.
-
-As it was an article of faith with us that Bulldog was never perfectly
-happy except when he was plying the cane, it was taken for granted that
-Nestie would be his solitary means of relaxation, from the afternoon of
-one day to the morning of the next, and when Nestie appeared, on the
-third morning after his change of residence, the school was waiting to
-receive him.
-
-His walking across the meadow by Bulldog's side, with his hands in his
-pockets, talking at his ease and laughing lightly, amazed us on first
-sight, but did not count for much, because we considered this manner a
-policy of expediency and an act of hypocrisy. After all, he was
-only doing what every one of us would have done in the same
-circumstances--conciliating the tyrant and covering his own sufferings.
-We kept a respectful distance till Nestie parted with his guardian, and
-then we closed in round him and licked our lips, for the story that
-Nestie could tell would make any Indian tale hardly worth the reading.
-
-Babel was let loose, and Nestie was pelted with questions which came in
-a fine confusion from many voices, and to which he was hardly expected
-to give an immediate answer.
-
-"What like is the cane he keeps at home?" "Has Bulldog tawse in the
-house?" "Div ye catch it regular?" "Does he come after you to your
-bedroom?" "Have ye onything to eat?" "Is the garden door locked?" "Could
-ye climb over the wall if he was thrashing you too sore?" "Did he let
-ye bring yir rabbits?" "Have ye to work at yir lessons a' night?" "What
-does Bulldog eat for his dinner?" "Does he ever speak to you?" "Does he
-ever say onything about the school?" "Did ye ever see Bulldog sleeping?"
-"Are ye feared to be with him?" "Would the police take ye away if he was
-hurting ye?" "Is there ony other body in the house?" "Would he let ye
-make gundy (candy) by the kitchen fire?" "Have ye to work all night at
-yir books?" "Does he make ye brush his boots?" "What do ye call him in
-the house?" "Would ye call him Bulldog for a shilling's-worth of gundy
-if the garden gate was open?" "Has he ony apples in the garden?" "Would
-ye daur to lay a finger on them?" "How often have ye to wash yir hands?"
-"Would ye get yir licks if yir hair wasna brushed?" And then Speug
-interfered, and commanded silence that Nestie might satisfy the
-curiosity of the school.
-
-"Haud yir blethering tongues!" was his polite form of address. "Noo,
-Nestie, come awa' wi' yir evidence. What like is't to live wi' Bulldog?"
-
-"It's awfully g-good of you fellows to ask how I'm getting on with
-Bully," and Nestie's eyes lit up with fun, for he'd a nice little sense
-of humour, and never could resist the temptation of letting it play upon
-our slow-witted, matter-of-fact intellects. "And I declare you seem to
-know all about what h-happens. I'll j-just tell you something about it,
-but it'll make you creepy," and then all the circle gathered in round
-Nestie. "I have to rise at five in the morning, and if I'm not down at
-half-past, Bulldog comes for me with a c-cane" (Howieson at this point
-rubbed himself behind gently). "Before breakfast we have six 'p-props'
-from Euclid and two vulgar f-fractions" (a groan from the school): "for
-breakfast we've porridge and milk, and I have to keep time with
-Bulldog--one, two, three, four--with the spoonfuls. He's got the c-cane
-on the table." ("Gosh" from a boy at the back, and general sympathy.)
-"He has the t-tawse hung in the lobby so as to be handy." ("It cowes
-all.") "There are three regular c-canings every day, one in the morning,
-and one in the afternoon, and one before you go to bed." At this point
-Speug, who had been listening with much doubt to Nestie's account, and
-knew that he had a luxuriant imagination, interfered.
-
-"Nestie," he said, "ye're an abandoned little scoundrel, and ye're
-telling lees straicht forward," and the school went into the class-room
-divided in opinion. Some were suspicious that Nestie had been feeding
-their curiosity with highly spiced meat, but others were inclined to
-believe anything of Bulldog's household arrangements. During the hour
-Speug studied Nestie's countenance with interest, and in the break he
-laid hold of that ingenious young gentleman by the ear and led him apart
-into a quiet corner, where he exhorted him to unbosom the truth. Nestie
-whispered something in Speug's ear which shook even that worthy's
-composure.
-
-"Did ye say rabbits?"
-
-"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, and Speug was more
-confounded than he had ever been in all his blameless life.
-
-"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if ye tell lees."
-
-"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell lies, but sometimes I
-compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, and he feeds them himself."
-
-"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"--for this was with us the final test
-of truth.
-
-"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon Speug had so much to
-think about that he gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him with
-nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably correct drawing of
-two lop-eared rabbits.
-
-Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow together after school, and
-before they parted at the bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit
-in his new home that evening from Speug; but, although modesty was not
-Speug's prevailing characteristic, he would on no account accept the
-flattering invitation. Maybe he was going to drive with his father, who
-was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was going out on the river in a
-boat, or maybe the stable gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose
-for a run, or maybe----
-
-[Illustration: "NESTIE WHISPERED SOMETHING IN SPEUG'S EAR."]
-
-"Maybe you are going to learn your l-lessons, Speug, for once in your
-life," said Nestie, who, his head on one side, was studying Speug's
-embarrassment.
-
-"A'm to do naething o' the kind," retorted Speug, turning a dark red at
-this insult. "Nane o' yir impidence."
-
-"Maybe you're f-frightened to come," said Nestie, and dodged at the same
-time behind a lamp-post. "Why, Speug, I didn't know you were
-f-frightened of anything."
-
-"Naither I am," said Speug stoutly; "an' if it had been Jock Howieson
-said that, I'd black his eyes. What sud I be frightened of, ye miserable
-little shrimp?"
-
-"Really, I don't know, Speug," said Nestie; "but just let me g-guess. It
-might be climbing the hill; or did you think you might meet one of the
-'Pennies,' and he would fight you; or, Speug--an idea occurs to me--do
-you feel as if you did not want to spend an hour--just a nice, quiet
-hour--all alone with Bulldog? You and he are such f-friends, Speug, in
-the Seminary. Afraid of Bulldog? Speug, I'm ashamed of you, when poor
-little me has to live with him now every day."
-
-"When I get a grip o' you, Nestie Molyneux, I'll learn ye to give me
-chat. I never was afraid of Bulldog, and I dinna care if he chases me
-round the garden wi' a stick, but I'm no coming."
-
-"You _are_ afraid, Speug; you _dare_ not come." And Nestie kept
-carefully out of Speug's reach.
-
-"You are a liar," cried Speug. "I'll come up this very night at seven
-o'clock, but I'll no come in unless ye're at the garden door."
-
-Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day, and was afraid neither
-of man nor beast, but his heart sank within him for the first time in
-his life when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to the
-residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon. Nothing but his pledged word, and a
-reputation for courage which must not be tarnished, since it rested on
-nothing else, brought him up the lane to Bulldog's door. He was before
-his time, and Nestie had not yet come to meet him, and he could allow
-his imagination to picture what was within the walls, and what might
-befall his unfortunate self before he went down that lane again. His one
-consolation and support was in the lop-eared rabbits; and if it were the
-case, as Nestie had sworn with an oath which never had been broken at
-the Seminary, that there were rabbits within that dreadful enclosure,
-there was hope for him; for if he knew about anything, he knew about
-rabbits, and if anyone had to do with rabbits--and although it was
-incredible, yet had not Nestie sworn it with an oath?--there must be
-some bowels of mercy even in Bulldog. Speug began to speculate whether
-he might not be able, with Nestie's loyal help, to reach the rabbits and
-examine thoroughly into their condition, and escape from the garden
-without a personal interview with its owner; and at the thought thereof
-Speug's heart was lifted. For of all his exploits which had delighted
-the Seminary, none, for its wonder and daring, its sheer amazingness,
-could be compared with a stolen visit to Bulldog's rabbits. "Nestie," he
-murmured to himself, as he remembered that little Englishman's prodigal
-imagination, "is a maist extraordinary leear, but he said 'as sure as
-death.'"
-
-"Why, Speug, is that you? You ought to have opened the door. Come along
-and shake hands with the master; he's just l-longing to see you." And
-Speug was dragged along the walk between the gooseberry bushes, which in
-no other circumstances would he have passed unnoticed, and was taken up
-to be introduced with the air of a dog going to execution. He heard
-someone coming down the walk, and he lifted up his eyes to know the
-worst, and in that moment it appeared as if reason had deserted the
-unhappy Speug. It was the face of Bulldog, for the like of that
-countenance could not be found on any other man within the United
-Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Yes, it was Bulldog, and that
-Speug would be prepared to swear in any court of justice. The nose and
-the chin, and the iron-grey whiskers and hair, and above all those
-revolving eyes. There could not be any mistake. But what had happened to
-Bulldog's face, for it was like unto that of another man? The sternness
-had gone out of it, and--there was no doubt about it--Bulldog was
-smiling, and it was an altogether comprehensive and irresistible smile.
-It had taken the iron lines out of his face and shaped his lips to the
-kindliest curve, and deprived his nose of its aggressive air, and robbed
-the judicial appearance of his whiskers, and it had given him--it was a
-positive fact--another pair of eyes. They still revolved, but not now
-like the guns in the turret of a monitor dealing destruction right and
-left. They were shining and twinkling like the kindly light from a
-harbour tower. There never was such a genial and humoursome face, so
-full of fun and humanity, as that which looked down on the speechless
-Speug. Nor was that all; it was a complete transformation. Where were
-the pepper-and-salt trousers and the formal black coat and vest, which
-seemed somehow to symbolise the inflexible severity of Bulldog's reign?
-and the hat, and the gloves, and the stick--what had become of his
-trappings? Was there ever such a pair of disreputable old slippers, down
-at the heel, out at the sides, broken at the seams, as those that
-covered the feet of Bulldog in that garden. The very sight of those
-slippers, with their suggestion of slackness and unpunctuality and
-ignorance of all useful knowledge and general Bohemianism, was the first
-thing which cheered the heart of Speug. Those slippers would tolerate no
-problems from Euclid and would laugh a cane to scorn. Where did he ever
-get those trousers, and from whose hands did they originally come,
-baggy at the knee and loose everywhere, stained with garden mould and
-torn with garden bushes?
-
-[Illustration: "SPEUG WAS DRAGGED ALONG THE WALK."]
-
-Without question it was a warm night in that sheltered place on the side
-of the hill; but would any person believe that the master of
-mathematics, besides writing and arithmetic, in Muirtown Seminary, was
-going about in his garden, and before the eyes of two of his pupils,
-without the vestige of a waistcoat. Speug now was braced for wonders,
-but even he was startled with Bulldog's jacket, which seemed of earlier
-age than the trousers, with which it had no connexion in colour. It may
-once have had four buttons, but only two were left now; there was a tear
-in its side that must have been made by a nail in the garden wall, the
-handle of a hammer projected from one pocket, and a pruning-knife from
-the other. And if there was not a pipe in Bulldog's mouth, stuck in the
-side of his cheek, "as sure as death!" There was a knife in his hand,
-with six blades and a corkscrew and a gimlet and the thing for taking
-the stones out of a horse's hoof--oath again repeated--and Bulldog was
-trying the edge of the biggest blade upon his finger. Speug, now
-ascending from height to height, was not surprised to see no necktie,
-and would have been prepared to see no collar. He had now even a wild
-hope that when he reached Bulldog's head it might be crowned with a
-Highland bonnet, minus the tails; but instead thereof there was a hat,
-possibly once a wide-awake, so bashed, and shapeless, and discoloured,
-and worn so rakishly, partly on the back and partly on the side of his
-head, that Speug was inwardly satisfied, and knew that no evil could
-befall him in that garden.
-
-"Speug, my mannie, how are ye?" said this amazing figure. "Ye've been
-long of coming. There's something like a knife, eh!" and Bulldog opened
-up the whole concern and challenged Speug to produce his knife, which
-was not so bad after all, for it had six departments, and one of them
-was a file, which was wanting in Bulldog's.
-
-"Show the master your peerie, Speug," said Nestie. "It's split more tops
-than any one in the school; it's a r-ripper," and Nestie exhibited its
-deadly steel point with much pride, while Speug endeavoured to look
-unconscious as the owner of this instrument of war.
-
-"Dod, I'll have a try myself," said Bulldog. "It's many a year since
-I've spun a top. Where's yir string?" and he strode up the walk winding
-the top, and the boys behind looked at one another, while Nestie
-triumphed openly.
-
-"Are you frightened, Speug?" he whispered. "Ain't he great? And just you
-wait; you haven't begun to see things yet, not h-half."
-
-Upon the doorstep Bulldog spun the top with a right hand that had not
-lost its cunning, but rather had been strengthened by much cane
-exercise. "It's sleeping," he cried in huge delight. "If you dare to
-touch it, pity you!" but no one wished to shorten its time, and the
-three hung over that top with fond interest, as Bulldog timed the
-performance with his watch, which he extricated from his trouser pocket.
-
-"Ye're a judge of rabbits, Speug," said the master. "I would like to
-have yir advice," and as they went down through the garden they halted
-at a place, and the robins came and sat on Bulldog's shoulder and took
-crumbs out of his hand, and a little further on the thrushes bade him
-welcome, and he showed the boys where the swallows had built every year,
-and they also flew round his head.
-
-"If ye dinna meddle with them, the birds 'ill no be afraid o' you, will
-they, Dandie?" and the old terrier which followed at his heels wagged
-his tail and indicated that he also was on good terms with every living
-thing in the garden.
-
-No one in the Seminary ever could be brought to believe it, even
-although Speug tried to inculcate faith with his fists, that Bulldog had
-carried out a litter of young rabbits in his hat for inspection, and
-that, before the three of them laid themselves out for a supper of
-strawberries, Speug had given to his master the best knowledge at his
-command on the amount of green food which might be given with safety to
-a rabbit of adult years, and had laid it down with authority that a
-moderate amount of tea-leaves and oatmeal might be allowed as an
-occasional dainty.
-
-After the attack on the strawberries, in which Speug greatly
-distinguished himself, and Bulldog urged him on with encouraging words,
-they had tarts and lemonade in the house, where not a sign of cane or
-tawse could be found. Bulldog drew the corks himself, and managed once
-to drench Speug gloriously, whereat that worthy wiped his face with his
-famous red handkerchief and was inordinately proud, while Nestie
-declared that the thing had been done on purpose, and Bulldog threatened
-him with the tawse for insulting his master.
-
-"Div ye think, Speug, ye could manage a piece of rock before ye go," and
-Bulldog produced the only rock that a Muirtown man will ever think worth
-eating--Fenwick's own very best, thick, and pure, and rich, and
-well-flavoured; and when Speug knew not whether to choose the
-peppermint, that is black and white, or the honey rock, which is brown
-and creamy, or the cinnamon, which in those days was red outside and
-white within, his host insisted that he should take a piece of each, and
-they would last him till he reached his home.
-
-"Speug," and Bulldog bade farewell to his pupil at the garden gate,
-"ye're the most aggravating little scoundrel in Muirtown Seminary, and
-the devilry that's in you I bear witness is bottomless; but ye're fine
-company, and ye 'ill, maybe, be a man yet, and Nestie and me will be
-glad to see ye when ye're no engaged with yir study. Ye 'ill no forget
-to come, Peter."
-
-Peter's tongue, which had been wagging freely among the rabbits, again
-forsook him, but he was able to indicate that he would seize an early
-opportunity of again paying his respects to Mr. Dugald MacKinnon in his
-own home; and when Bulldog thrashed him next day for not having prepared
-an exercise the night before, the incident only seemed to complete
-Speug's pride and satisfaction.
-
-
-
-
-THE DISGRACE OF MR. BYLES
-
-VI
-
-
-Bulldog's southern assistant had tried the patience of the Seminary by
-various efforts to improve its mind and manners, but when he proposed at
-the beginning of the autumn term to occupy Saturdays with botanical
-excursions to Kilspindie Woods, which, as everybody knows, are three
-miles from Muirtown, and a paradise of pheasants, it was felt that if
-there was any moral order in the universe something must happen. From
-the middle of September, when the school opened, on to the beginning of
-October, when football started, our spare time was given to kites, which
-we flew from the North Meadow in the equinoctial gales gloriously. Speug
-had one of heroic size, with the figure of a dragon upon it painted in
-blue and yellow and red--the red for the fire coming out of his
-mouth--and a tail of eight joints, ending in a bunch of hay fastened
-with a ribbon. None but a sportsman like Speug could have launched the
-monster from the ground--bigger than Peter by a foot--and nursed it
-through the lower spaces till it caught the wind, and held it in the
-higher as it tore upwards and forwards till the dragon was but the size
-of a man's hand in the clear autumn sky. Then Peter would lie down upon
-his back, with his hands below his head, and the stick with the kite
-string beneath his feet, and gaze up at the speck above, with an
-expression so lifted above this present world that a circle of juniors
-could only look at him with silent admiration and speculate whether they
-would ever become so good and great.
-
-It must not be thought, however, that kite-flying was chiefly done upon
-your back, for it gave endless opportunities for intricate manoeuvres
-and spectacular display. When Peter was in the vein he would collect
-twelve mighties--each with a kite worth seeing--and bringing the kites
-low enough for the glory of their size and tails to be visible they
-would turn and wheel and advance and retire, keeping line and distance
-with such accuracy that Sergeant McGlashan would watch the review with
-keen interest and afterwards give his weighty approval. Then the band
-would work their way up to the head of the Meadow in the teeth of a
-north-wester, and forming in line, with half a dozen yards between each
-boy, would let the kites go and follow them at the run as the kites tore
-through the air and almost pulled their owners' arms out of the sockets.
-It was so fine a demonstration that the women bleaching their clothes
-would pick up half a dozen of the goodman's shirts to let Speug keep his
-course--knowing very well that he would have kept it otherwise over the
-shirts--and golfers, who expect everyone to get out of their way on pain
-of sudden death, would stop upon the putting green to see the kites go
-down in the wind with the laddies red-faced and bareheaded at their
-heels. If the housewives shook their heads as they spread out the shirts
-on the grass again--weighing them down with clean stones that they might
-not follow the kites--it was with secret delight, for there is no
-wholesome woman who does not rejoice in a boy and regard his most
-vexatious mischief with charity. And old Major MacLeod, the keenest of
-golfers and the most touchy of Celts, declared that this condemned old
-Island was not dead yet when it could turn out such a gang of sturdy
-young ruffians. And it was instead of such a mighty ploy that Mr. Byles
-proposed to take the Seminary for a botanical excursion.
-
-It was in the mathematical class-room that Mr. Byles announced the new
-departure, and, even if Bulldog had not been keeping watch with an
-inscrutable countenance, the school was too much amazed to interrupt.
-Having touched on the glories of the creation amid which we lived, Mr.
-Byles pointed out, in what the newspapers call "neat and well-chosen
-terms," that it was not enough to learn mathematics as they all did so
-diligently--Jock Howieson's eye turned instinctively to Bulldog's
-cane--but they must also know some natural science in order to become,
-as he hoped they would, cultured men--Speug was just able to cast a
-longing glance at Thomas John. That no pursuit was easier and more
-delightful than botany, especially among wild flowers. That on Saturday
-he proposed to go with as many as would join him to ransack the
-treasures of Kilspindie Woods. That these woods were very rich, he
-believed, in flowers, among which he mentioned wild geraniums--at which
-the school began to recover and rustle. That the boys might dry the
-geraniums and make books for Christmas presents with them, and that he
-hoped to see a herbarium in the Seminary containing all the wild flowers
-of the district. The school was now getting into good spirits, and
-Bulldog allowed his eye to fall on Speug. That any boy who desired to
-improve his mind was to put on his oldest suit and bring a bag to carry
-the plants in and be in front of the Seminary at nine to-morrow. Then
-Bulldog brought his cane down on the desk with energy and dismissed the
-school, and Nestie told Peter that his mouth had begun to twitch.
-
-Outside the school gathered together on the terrace around the Russian
-guns, which was our Forum, and after five seconds' pause, during which
-we gathered inspiration from each others' faces, a great shout of
-laughter went up to the sky, full-toned, unanimous, prolonged. Any sense
-of humour in the Seminary was practical, and Mr. Byles's botany class,
-with expeditions, was irresistible.
-
-"Geranniums!" cried Howieson, who was immensely tickled; "it cowes a'.
-An' what was the ither flooer--'herbarries'? It's michty; it'ill be
-poppies an' mustard seed next. Speug, ye'ill be making a book for a
-present to Bulldog."
-
-"Tak care o' yirsel," Bauldie shouted to the Dowbiggins, who were making
-off, as mass meetings did not agree with them, "an' see ye dinna wet yir
-feet or dirty yir hands. Ye'ill get yir wheeps at home if ye do. Give us
-a bit o' Byles, Nestie," and then there was instant silence, for Nestie
-had a nice little trick of mimicry which greatly endeared him to a
-school where delicate gifts were rare.
-
-"S-silence, if you please," and Nestie held up his hand with Mr. Byles's
-favourite polite deprecating gesture. "I hear a smile. Remember, d-dear
-boys, that this is a serious s-subject. Do p-please sit quiet, Peter
-McGuffie; your fidgetin' is very t-tryin' indeed, and I 'ope, I mean
-h-hope, you will make an effort to l-learn. This, my l-lads, is a common
-object of Nature which I 'old, that is hold, in my h-hands--Howieson, I
-must ask you not to annoy Thomas John Dowbiggin--the c-colour is a
-lovely gold, and yet--no talking, if you please, it is r-rude--we pass
-it every day without n-notice. Each boy may take a dandelion h-home to
-his sister. Now go hout ... or rather out, quietly."
-
-"Gosh, it's just Byles to the ground!" cried Bauldie; and Johnston
-passed a half stick of gundy to Nestie to refresh him after his labours.
-"Are ony o' you chaps goin'? It wud be worth seein' Byles traking thro'
-the Kilspindie Woods, with thae bleatin' sheep o' Dowbiggins at his
-heels, carryin' an airmful o' roots and sic like."
-
-"You'ill no catch me tramping oot at the tail o' Byles and a litter o'
-Dowbiggins!"--and Jock was very emphatic. "Dod, it'ill just be like a
-procession o' MacMuldrow's lassies, two and two, and maybe airm in
-airm!"
-
-This fearful and malignant suggestion settled the matter for the
-Seminary, as a score of its worthies marching across the bridge in the
-interests of science, like a boarding-school, would be a scandal for
-ever. So it was agreed that a body of sympathisers should see the Byles
-expedition off next morning, and then hold a field day of kites in the
-meadow.
-
-The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that means that when a
-prim, conventional, respectable man takes in his head to dress as a
-Bohemian, the effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious to show
-that he could be quite the gay rustic when he pleased, and he was got up
-in a cap, much crushed, and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar
-corresponding, and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained with
-futile chemical experiments. He was also equipped with a large canvas
-bag, slung over his shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained
-could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place if it were damp
-beneath. The Dowbiggins had entered into the spirit of the thing, and
-were in clothes reserved for their country holidays. They had each an
-umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether were a pair of objects to whom
-no one would have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie made him
-a social outcast, had declared himself a convert to natural science, and
-was sucking up to Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought that
-they would like to know something about flowers, made up the Botanical
-Society.
-
-They were a lonely little group standing on the terrace, while Mr. Byles
-was securing a trowel and other instruments of war from his room, but a
-large and representative gathering of the Seminary did their best to
-cheer and instruct them.
-
-Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which bulged from the bag of
-the younger Dowbiggin contained spirituous liquors, and warned the two
-juniors to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to drinking.
-He also expressed an earnest hope that a rumour flying round the school
-about tobacco was not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin's clothes was
-horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a tender care of his
-health and personal appearance, not to bully Lord Kilspindie's
-gamekeepers, nor to put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with
-the rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things not to tell
-lies.
-
-Thomas John was beset with requests--that he would leave a lock of his
-hair in case he should not return, that he would mention the name of the
-pawn-broker from whom he got his clothes, that he would bring home a
-bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, that he would secure a supply of
-turnips to make lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
-Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he would be careful
-to gather up any "h's" Mr. Byles might drop on the road, and that he
-should not use bad language under any circumstances.
-
-"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said Mr. Byles, who had come
-out in time to catch the last exhortation: "it is far better to
-himprove, I mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set of
-children; but we all hope that you will have a nice fly, don't we,
-boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a quarter might have provoked a
-demonstration had not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an amazing
-circumstance. As the botanists started, Speug, who had maintained an
-unusual silence all morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and gave
-Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering for scientific
-research. After their friends had recovered themselves they buzzed round
-the two, who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable affectation
-of sedateness, but received no satisfaction. Speug contented himself
-with warning off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with the idea
-of forming a mock procession, and then giving them a wink of
-extraordinary suggestiveness. But Nestie was more communicative, and
-explained the situation at length----
-
-"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not know it; he fairly
-loves g-geranniums, and is sorry that he wasted his time on k-kites and
-snowballs. We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we don't want you
-to trouble us." But this was not knowledge.
-
-It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie tailed off at the
-bridge, and Speug, halfway across, turned round and winked again, it was
-with regret that they betook themselves to their kites, and more than
-once they found themselves casting longing glances to the distant woods,
-where Speug was now pursuing the study of botany.
-
-"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung motionless in the sky,
-"this is weel enough, but tak' my word for't it's nothing to the game
-they're playin' in yon woods."
-
-"Div ye mean howkin' geranniums? for I canna see muckle game in that: I
-would as soon dig potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had a
-prosaic mind and had little imagination.
-
-"Geranniums! ger---- havers, that's no' what Speug is after, you bet.
-He's got a big splore (exploit) on hand or he never crossed Muirtown
-Brig in such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. Peter'ill lose
-the lot o' them in the woods or he'ill stick them in a bog, or"--and
-Jock could hardly hold his kite--"what div ye say to this, man? he'ill
-row them over to Woody Island and leave them there till Monday, with
-naething but bread and milk and the net to sleep in." And the joy of
-Jock and Bauldie at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to
-their faith in Peter's varied ability than a proof of sympathy with
-their fellow-creatures.
-
-If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign on the way to the woods,
-for he was a model of propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. He
-showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of the Dowbiggins, so that
-these two young gentlemen relaxed the vigilant attention with which they
-usually regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with Cosh. As for the
-master, Peter simply placed himself at Mr. Byles's service, expatiating
-on the extent of the woods and their richness in flowers--"just fair
-scatted up wi' geranniums and the rest o' them:" offering to take the
-expedition by the nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting
-on the number and beauty and tameness of the pheasants, till Mr. Byles
-was charmed and was himself surprised at the humanising influence of
-scientific pursuits.
-
-Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore, for he led them by so
-direct a way that, before they came to the place of flowers, the
-expedition--except the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in
-Nestie's charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next door to
-babies--had climbed five dykes, all with loose stones, fought through
-three thickets very prickly indeed, crawled underneath two hedges,
-crossed three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired themselves
-times without number. Cosh had jostled against Speug in leaping from one
-dry spot to another and come down rolling in the mud, which made his
-appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in helping Thomas John out of a
-very entangling place, had been so zealous that the seat had been almost
-entirely detached from Thomas John's trousers, and although Mr. Byles
-had done his best with pins, the result was not edifying; his brother's
-straw hat had fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he jumped
-from a wall, and was of no further service, and so the younger
-Dowbiggin--"who is so refined in his ways," as his mother used to
-say--wore as his headgear a handkerchief which had been used for
-cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, whom fate might have
-spared, misfortunes had accumulated. His trousers had been sadly mangled
-from the knee downwards as he crawled through a hole, and had to be
-wound round his legs with string, and although Speug had pulled his cap
-out of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as to leave the peak
-behind, and he was so clumsy, with the best intentions, that he allowed
-another branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side of the head
-and left a mark above his eye, which distinctly suggested a prizefight
-to anyone not acquainted with that gentleman's blameless character.
-Peter himself had come unscathed from the perils of land and water, save
-a dash of mud here and there and a suspicion of wet about his feet,
-which shows how bad people fare better than good. The company was so
-bedraggled and discouraged that their minds did not seem set on wild
-flowers, and in these circumstances Peter, ever obliging and thoughtful,
-led the botanists to a pleasant glade, away from thickets and bogs,
-where the pheasants made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. Byles
-was much cheered by this change of environment, and grew eloquent on the
-graceful shape and varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly
-that they gathered round the party, which was not wonderful, as a keeper
-fed them every day, but which Mr. Byles explained was due to the
-instinct of the beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that we
-love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, and made the Dowbiggins
-promise that they would never shoot pheasants or any other game, and
-there is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as they did not
-know one end of a gun from another, and would no sooner have dared to
-fire one than they would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought
-occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they should now have their
-lunch and feed the birds with the fragments. He was wondering also
-whether it would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, just to
-hold it in the hand and let it go again.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE SO FRIENDLY THAT THEY GATHERED ROUND THE
-PARTY."]
-
-When things had come to this pass--and he never had expected anything so
-good--Speug withdrew unobtrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran
-swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with the juniors.
-
-"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, "div ye see that path?
-Cut along it as hard as ye can leg, and it 'ill bring you to the
-Muirtown Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. For Byles
-and these Dowbiggins are carryin' on sic a game wi' Lord Kilspindie's
-pheasants that I'm expectin' to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
-Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, "that I savit ye from sic
-company."
-
-"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had disappeared, "I've never
-clypit (told tales) once since I cam to the Seminary, and it's no' a
-nice job, but div ye no' think that the head keeper should know that
-poachers are in the preserves?"
-
-"It's a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper's house, "especially
-when there's a g-gang of them and such b-bad-looking fellows--v-vice
-just written on their faces. It's horried to see boys so young and so
-w-wicked."
-
-"What young prodigals are yon comin' skelpin' along, as if the dogs were
-aifter them?" and the head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it's
-you, Speug--and what are you doin' in the woods the day? there's no eggs
-now." For sporting people are a confederacy, and there was not a
-coachman or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve miles of
-Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie senior, and not many who did not
-also have the acquaintance of his hopeful son.
-
-"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep our wind richt, an' we
-cam on a man and three boys among the pheasants in the low park."
-
-"Among the what? Meddlin' with Lord Kilspindie's birds?"
-
-"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin', but they were feedin'
-them, and we saw a net."
-
-"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, Tom, get up out of yir beds
-this meenut; the poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin' them
-alive, as I'm a livin' man, to sell them for stock: and broad daylight;
-it beats everything. He 'ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely.
-And the impidence o't, eleven o'clock in the forenoon an' the end o'
-September. Dod: it's a depairture in poachin'." And as the sight of Mr.
-Byles burst on his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two
-Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a specially venturesome
-one, the head keeper almost lost the power of speech.
-
-"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles looked up to see three armed
-keepers commanding their helpless party, and one of them purple with
-rage. "I hope we don't intrude; maybe we could give you a hand in
-catchin' the birds, and if a spring-cart would be of ony use ...
-confound your cheek!
-
-"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, did ye,
-and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they? How is
-that, lads? I've seen two or three poachers in my time, but for
-brazen-faced lyin' I've never seen your match. Maybe you're a
-Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an orphan asylum?
-
-"Assistant mathematical master at the Seminary, that's what you are, is
-it, ye awfu' like blackguard, an' the laddies are the sons o' a
-respectable Free Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye're no'
-the principal o' Edinburgh University? Tak' yir time and try again. I'm
-enjoying it. Is't by the hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty
-to ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue o' ye.
-
-"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I'll lodge a charge o' shot in
-ye: we'ill hae nae pistol-work in Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi' ye,
-professor an' students, an' I'll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an'
-we'ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He hasna tried a learned
-institution like this since he mounted the bench. March in front, but
-dinna try to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic a band
-o' waufies!"
-
-Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, having seen all
-without being seen, now started for Muirtown to gather the kite-players
-and as many of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival of the
-botanists. They were brought in a large spring-cart--Mr. Byles seated
-between the head keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three
-huddled like calves in the space behind--a mass of mud, tatters, and
-misery, from which the solemn, owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap
-was now gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As they were handed
-over to the police the Seminary, which had been at first struck dumb,
-recovered speech and expressed itself with much vivacity.
-
-"Who would have thought Byles had as much spirit? Sall, he 'ill be
-rinnin' horses at Muirtown Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards,
-Thomas--yir breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have been hard on
-yir legs, Cosh;" "Where's the geranniums?" "Has his Lordship kept yir
-bonnet, Dowbiggin?" "It 'ill be a year's hard labour." For boys are only
-in the savage state, and the discomfiture of such immaculate
-propriety was very sweet to the Seminary.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY WERE BROUGHT IN A LARGE SPRING CART."]
-
-So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper, who saw in Mr. Byles's
-effort a new and cunning form of poaching he was not prepared for, and
-so weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the Bailie on duty
-was for sentencing them at once, and would hardly wait for the testimony
-of friends. It took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary
-and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from their studies in hot haste and
-confusion of face, to clear the accused, and even then the worthy
-magistrate thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to administer a
-rebuke and warning so solemn that it became one of the treasures of
-memory for all Seminary lads.
-
-"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, and you may go this time;
-but let me never see you here again in such circumstances. It's fearsome
-to think that an educated man"--this to Byles--"instead of setting an
-example to the laddies under your charge, should be accused of a mean
-and cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I cannot look at
-your face without having grave doubts. And to think that the sons of a
-respected minister of the kirk should be found in such company, and with
-all the appearance of vagrants, must be a great trial to their father,
-and I am sure he has the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I
-never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in such a position.
-All I can hope is that this will be a lesson to you to keep clear of
-evil companions and evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable
-citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day--that is all I have to
-say."
-
-Outside the court-room the head keeper caught Speug and gave him his
-mind.
-
-"Ye're a limb o' Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that English-speakin' imp is
-little better. My belief is that this has been a pliskie (trick) o'
-yours frae beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o'
-advice--don't let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, or it will be the
-worse for you."
-
-
-
-
-THE COUNT
-
-VII
-
-
-If you excluded two or three Englishmen who spoke with an accent
-suggestive of an effeminate character, and had a fearsome habit of
-walking on the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master at the
-Seminary, who was a quantity not worth considering, the foreign element
-in Muirtown during the classical days consisted of the Count. He never
-claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate the title, but he
-declined the honour of our title with so much dignity that it seemed
-only to prove his right, and by and by he answered to the name with
-simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for deprecation, but
-which came to be considered a polite acknowledgement. His real name was
-not known in Muirtown--not because he had not given it, but because it
-could not be pronounced, being largely composed of x's and k's, with an
-irritating parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of learning to
-spell it, if we could not pronounce it, for it was one of the Count's
-foreign ways to carry a card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being
-introduced to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card with the right
-hand while he took off his hat with the left, and bowed almost to a
-right angle. Upon those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane
-would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing whether so unholy a
-name might not go off and shatter his hand; and during the Count's
-obeisance, which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded him
-with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, during this performance of
-the Count's, used to be divided between regret that any human being
-should condescend to such tricks, and profound thankfulness that
-Muirtown was not part of a foreign country where people were brought up
-with the manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was nourished by
-the manner of the Count's dress, which would have been a commonplace on
-a _boulevard_, but astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and
-always lent an element of piquant interest to our streets. His perfectly
-brushed hat, broadish in the brim and curled at the sides, which he wore
-at the faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather boots, which
-it was supposed he obtained in Paris, and wore out at the rate of a pair
-a month--all was unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat which
-stimulated conversation. It was so tight and fitted so perfectly,
-revealing the outlines of his slender form, and there was such an
-indecent absence of waist--waist was a strong point with Muirtown men,
-and in the case of persons who had risen to office, like the Provost,
-used to run to fifty inches--that a report went round the town that the
-Count was a woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than refuted by
-the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, which he made with Satanic
-ingenuity while you were looking at him, and that he gave a display of
-fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment in the barracks,
-for it was shrewdly pointed out that those were just the very
-accomplishments of French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have
-crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost been obliged to
-command the Count's departure, had it not been for the shrewdness and
-good nature of the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a fair maid
-in Muirtown--and in those days she was fairest of her succession: let
-this flower lie on her grave. She declared to her friends that she had
-watched the Count closely and had never once seen him examine a woman's
-dress when the woman wasn't looking; and after that no person of
-discernment in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count's sex. It was,
-however, freely said--and that story was never contradicted--that he
-wore stays, and every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his
-landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with every wile of
-conversation, and even lawyers' wives, pretending to inquire for rooms
-for a friend, used to lead the talk round to the Count's habits; but
-that worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not quite insensible
-to the dignity of a mystery.
-
-"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you're after; but beggin' your
-pardon, a landlady's a landlady, and my mouth's closed. The Count disna
-ken the difference atween Saturday and Sabbath, and the money he wastes
-on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; but he never had the blessin' of a
-Gospel ministry nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. As
-regards stays, whether he wears them or disna wear them I'm no' prepared
-to say, for I thank goodness that I've never yet opened a lodger's boxes
-nor entered a lodger's room when he was dressin'. The Count pays his
-rent in advance every Monday morning; he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I
-told him it was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the house, and
-if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to support his spine, which I'm
-no' sayin' he did, Mistress Lunan, it's no concern o' mine, and the
-weather is inclining to snow."
-
-His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it may have been
-constructed; and it was a pleasant sight to see the Count go down our
-main street on a summer afternoon, approving himself with a side glance
-in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an attitude at our
-bookseller's when a new print was exposed in the window, waving his
-cigarette and blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was
-considered a "tempting of Providence," making his respectful salutations
-to every lady whom he knew, and responding with "Celestial, my friend!"
-to Bailie MacFarlane's greeting of "Fine growing weather." When he
-sailed past McGuffie's stable-yard, like Solomon in all his glory, that
-great man, who always persisted in regarding the Count as a sporting
-character, would touch the rim of his hat with his forefinger--an honour
-he paid to few--and, after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
-with much relish. This astounding spectacle very early attracted the
-attention of the Seminary boys, and during his first summer in Muirtown
-it was agreed that he would make an excellent target for snowball
-practice during next winter. The temptation was not one which could have
-been resisted, and it is to be feared that the Count would have been
-confined to the house when the snow was on the ground had it not been
-for an incident which showed him in a new light, and established him,
-stays or no stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There had
-been a glorious fight on the first day of the war with the "Pennies,"
-and when they were beaten, a dozen of them, making a brave rearguard
-fight, took up their position with the Count's windows as their
-background. There were limits to license even in those brave old days,
-and it was understood that the windows of houses, especially private
-houses, and still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary,
-should not be broken, and if they were broken the culprits were hunted
-down and interviewed by "Bulldog" at length. When the "Pennies" placed
-themselves under the protection of the Count's glass, which was really
-an unconscious act of meanness on their part, the Seminary distinctly
-hesitated; but Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples as he knew
-no fear.
-
-"Dash the windows!" cried the Seminary captain; and when the "Pennies"
-were driven along the street, the windows had been so effectually dashed
-that there was not a sound pane of glass in the Count's sitting-room. As
-the victorious army returned to their capital, and the heat of battle
-died down, some anxiety about to-morrow arose even in minds not given to
-care, for Mistress Jamieson was not the woman to have her glass broken
-for nothing, and it was shrewdly suspected that the Count, with all his
-dandyism, would not take this affront lightly. As a matter of fact,
-Mistress Jamieson made a personal call upon the Rector that evening, and
-explained with much eloquence to that timid, harassed scholar that,
-unless his boys were kept in better order, Muirtown would not be a place
-for human habitation; and before she left she demanded the blood of the
-offenders; she also compared Muirtown in its present condition to Sodom
-and Gomorrah. As the Rector was always willing to leave discipline in
-the capable hands of Bulldog, and as the chief sinners would almost
-certainly be in his class in the forenoon, the Count, who had witnessed
-the whole battle from a secure corner in his sitting-room, and had
-afterwards helped Mistress Jamieson to clear away the _debris_, went to
-give his evidence and identify the culprit. He felt it to be a dramatic
-occasion, and he rose to its height; and the school retained a grateful
-recollection of Bulldog and the Count side by side--the Count carrying
-himself with all the grace and dignity of a foreign ambassador come to
-settle an international dispute, and Bulldog more austere than ever,
-because he hated a "tellpyet," and yet knew that discipline must be
-maintained.
-
-The Count explained with many flourishes that he was desolated to come
-for the first time to this so distinguished a Gymnasium upon an errand
-so distasteful, but that a lady had laid her commands on him ("Dis the
-body mean Lucky Jamieson?" whispered Speug to a neighbour), and he had
-ever been a slave of the sex (Bulldog at this point regarded him with a
-disdain beyond words.) The Rector of this place of learning had also
-done him, an obscure person, the honour of an invitation to come and
-assist at this function of justice; and although, as the Count
-explained, he was no longer a soldier, obedience was still the breath of
-his nostrils. Behold him, therefore, the servant of justice, ready to be
-questioned or to lay down his life for law; and the Count bowed again to
-Bulldog, placing his hand upon his heart, and then leant in a becoming
-attitude against the desk, tapping his shining boots with his cane, and
-feeling that he had acquitted himself with credit.
-
-"We're sorry to bring ye out on such a day, sir," and Bulldog's glance
-conveyed that such a figure as the Count's ought not to be exposed in
-snowtime; "but we'll not keep ye long, and Ill juist state the
-circumstances with convenient brevity. The boys of the Seminary are
-allowed to exercise themselves in the snowtime within limits. If they
-fight wi' neighbouring schools, it's a maitter of regret; but if they
-break windows, they're liable to the maist extreme penalty. Now, I'm
-informed that some of the young scoundrels--and I believe the very
-laddies are in this class-room at this meenut" (Speug made no effort to
-catch Bulldog's eye, and Howieson's attention was entirely occupied with
-mathematical figures)--"have committed a breach of the peace at Mistress
-Jamieson's house. What I ask you, sir, to do"--and Bulldog regarded the
-Count with increasing disfavour, as he thought of such a popinjay giving
-evidence against his laddies--"is, to look round this class-room and
-point out, so far as ye may be able, any boy or boys who drove a
-snowball or snowballs through the windows of your residence."
-
-During this judicial utterance the eyes of the Count wandered over the
-school with the most provoking intelligence, and conveyed even to the
-dullest, with a vivacity of countenance of which Muirtown was not
-capable, that Bulldog was a tiresome old gentleman, that the boys were a
-set of sad dogs, capable of any mischief, that some of them were bound
-to get a first-class thrashing, and worst of all that he, the Count,
-knew who would get it, and that he was about to give evidence in an
-instant with the utmost candour and elegance of manner. When his glance
-lighted on Speug it was with such a cheerful and unhesitating
-recognition that Speug was almost abashed, and knew for certain that for
-him at least, there could be no escape; while Howieson, plunging into
-arithmetic of his own accord for once, calculated rapidly what would be
-his share of the broken glass. Neither of them would have denied what he
-did to save himself twenty thrashings; but they shared Bulldog's disgust
-that a free-born Scot should be convicted on the evidence of a
-foreigner, whom they always associated in his intellectual gifts and
-tricks of speech with the monkey, which used to go round seated on the
-top of our solitary barrel-organ.
-
-"When it is your pleasure, sir," said Bulldog sternly; and there was a
-silence that could be felt, whilst Speug already saw himself pointed out
-with the Count's cane.
-
-The shutters went suddenly down on the Count's face; he became grave and
-anxious, and changed from a man of the world, who had been exchanging a
-jest with a few gay Bohemians, into a witness in the Court of Justice.
-
-"Assuredly, monsieur, I will testify upon what you call my soul and
-conscience," and the Count indicated with his hand where both those
-faculties were contained. "I will select the boy who had audacity, I
-will say profanity, to break the windows of my good friend and hostess,
-Madame Jamieson."
-
-The Count gave himself to the work of selection, but there was no longer
-a ray of intelligence in his face. He was confused and perplexed, he
-looked here and he looked there, he made little impatient gestures, he
-said a bad French word, he flung up a hand in despair, he turned to
-Bulldog with a frantic gesture, as of a man who thought he could have
-done something at once, and found he could not do it at all. Once more
-he faced the school, and then Speug, with that instinct of acute
-observation which belongs to a savage, began to understand, and gave
-Howieson a suggestive kick.
-
-"As a man of honour," said the Count with much solemnity, "I give my
-testimony, and I declare that I do not see one of the boys who did
-forget themselves yesterday and did offer the insult of an assault to
-Madame's domicile."
-
-And it would have been curious if he had seen the boys, for the Count
-was looking over their heads, and studying the distant view of the
-meadow and the River Tay with evident interest and appreciation.
-
-The mind of Speug was now clear upon the Count, and Bulldog also
-understood, and in two seconds, so quick is the flash of sympathy
-through a mass of boy life, the youngest laddie in the mathematical
-class-room knew that, although the Count might have had the misfortune
-to be born in foreign parts, and did allow himself to dress like a
-dancing-master, inside that coat, and the stays too, if he had them on,
-there was the heart of a man who would not tell tales on any fellow, and
-who also liked his bit of fun.
-
-"It's a peety, Count," said Bulldog, with poorly concealed satisfaction,
-"that ye're no' in a poseetion to recognise the culprits, for if they're
-no' here my conviction is they're no' to be found in Muirtown. We can
-ask no more of ye, sir, and we're much obleeged for yir attendance."
-
-"It is a felicitous affair," said the Count, "which has the fortune to
-introduce me to this charming company," and the Count bowed first to
-Bulldog and then to the school with such a marked indication in one
-direction that Speug almost blushed. "My sorrow is to be so stupid a
-witness; but, monsieur, you will allow me to pay the penalty of my poor
-eyesight. It will be my pleasure," and again the Count bowed in all
-directions, "to replace the glass in Madame's house, and the incident,
-pouf! it is forgotten."
-
-There was a swift glance from all parts of the class-room, and
-permission was read in Bulldog's face. Next instant the mathematical
-class-room was rent with applause, such as could only be given when
-fifty such lads wanted to express their feelings, and Speug led the
-circus.
-
-"Ye will allow me to say, sir," and now Bulldog came as near as possible
-to a bow, "that ye have acted this day as a gentleman, and so far as the
-boys of Muirtown Seminary are concerned ye're free to come and go among
-us as ye please."
-
-The departure of the Count, still bowing, with Bulldog attending him to
-the door and offering him overshoes to cover the polished leather boots,
-was a sight to behold, and the work done for the rest of the morning was
-not worth mentioning.
-
-During the lunch hour the school was harangued in short, pithy terms by
-Speug, and in obedience to his invitation Muirtown Seminary proceeded in
-a solid mass to the Count's residence, where they gave a volley of
-cheers. The Count was more gratified than by anything that had happened
-to him since he came to Muirtown; and throwing up one of the newly
-repaired windows he made an eloquent speech, in which he referred to Sir
-Walter Scott and Queen Mary and the Fair Maid of Perth, among other
-romantic trifles; declared that the fight between the "Pennies" and the
-Seminary was worthy of the great Napoleon; pronounced Speug to be _un
-brave garcon_; expressed his regret that he could not receive the
-school in his limited apartments, but invited them to cross with him to
-the Seminary tuck-shop, where he entertained the whole set to Mistress
-MacWhae's best home-made ginger-beer. He also desired that Mistress
-Jamieson should come forward to the window with him and bow to the
-school, while he held her hand--which the Count felt would have been a
-really interesting tableau. It certainly would have been, but Mistress
-Jamieson refused to assist in the most decided terms.
-
-"Me stand wi' the Count at an open window, hand in hand wi' him, and
-bowin', if ye please, to thae blackguard laddies? Na, na; I'm a widow o'
-good character, and a member o' the Free Kirk, and it would ill set me
-to play such tricks. But I'll say this for the Count--he behaved
-handsome; and I'm judgin' the'll no' be another pane o' glass broken in
-my house so long as the Count is in it." And there never was.
-
-It were not possible to imagine anything more different than a Muirtown
-boy and the Count; but boys judge by an instinct which never fails
-within its own range, and Muirtown Seminary knew that, with all his
-foreign ways, the Count was a man. Legends gathered around him and
-flourished exceedingly, being largely invented by Nestie, and offered
-for consumption at the mouth of the pistol by Speug, who let it be
-understood that to deny or even to smile at Nestie's most incredible
-invention would be a ground of personal offence. The Count was in turn
-a foreign nobleman, who had fallen in love with the Emperor of Austria's
-daughter and had been exiled by the imperial parent, but that the
-Princess was true to the Count, and that any day he might be called from
-Mistress Jamieson's lodgings to the palace of Vienna; that he was
-himself a king of some mysterious European State, who had been driven
-out by conspirators, but whose people were going to restore him, and
-that some day Speug would be staying with the Count in his royal abode
-and possibly sitting beside him on the throne. During this romance Speug
-felt it right to assume an air of demure modesty, which was quite
-consistent with keeping a watchful eye on any impertinent young rascal
-who might venture to jeer, when Speug would politely ask him what he was
-laughing at, and offer to give him something to laugh for. That the
-Count was himself a conspirator, and the head of a secret society which
-extended all over Europe, with signs and passwords, and that whenever
-any tyrant became intolerable, the warrant for his death was sent from
-Mistress Jamieson's. Whenever one fable grew hackneyed Nestie produced
-another, and it was no longer necessary in Muirtown Seminary to buy
-Indian tales or detective stories, for the whole library of fiction was
-now bound up and walking about in the Count.
-
-[Illustration: "WATCHING A BATTLE ROYAL BETWEEN THE TOPS."]
-
-Between him and the boys there grew up a fast friendship, and he was
-never thoroughly happy now unless he was with his "jolly dogs." He
-attended every cricket match, and at last, after he had learned how,
-kept the score, giving a cheer at every new run and tearing his hair
-when any of his boys were bowled out. He rushed round the football field
-without his cane, and generally without his hat; and high above all
-cheers could be heard his "Bravo--bravo, forwards! Speug!" as that
-enterprising player cleft his way through the opponent's ranks. It
-mattered nothing to the Count that his boots were ruined, and his
-speckless clothes soiled, he would not have cared though he had burst
-his stays, so long as the "dogs" won, and he could go up in glory with
-them to Janet MacWhae's and drink to their health in flowing
-ginger-beer. During the play hour his walk seemed ever to bring him to
-the North Meadow, and if a ball by accident, for none would have done it
-by intention, knocked off the Count's hat, he cried "Hoor-r-rah!" in his
-own pronunciation and bowed in response to this mark of attention. It
-was a pretty sight to see him bending forward, his hands resting on his
-knees, watching a battle royal between the tops of Speug and Howieson;
-and if anything could be better it was to see the Count trying to spin a
-top himself, and expostulating with it in unknown tongues.
-
-As the boys came to the school in the morning and went home in the
-evening up Breadalbane Street, the Count was always sitting at one of
-the windows which had been broken, ready to wave his hand to any one who
-saluted him, and in the afternoon he would often open the window to get
-the school news and to learn whether there would be a match on Saturday.
-As time went on this alliance told upon the Count's outer man; he never
-lost his gay manner, nor his pretty little waist, nor could he ever have
-been taken for a Scot, nor ever, if he had lived to the age of
-Methuselah, have been made an elder of the Kirk; but his boots grew
-thicker, though they were always neat, and his clothes grew rougher,
-though they were always well made, and his ties became quieter, and his
-week-day hat was like that of other men, and, except on Sundays,
-Muirtown never saw the glory of the former days. With his new interest
-in life, everyone noticed that the Count had grown simpler and kindlier,
-and Muirtown folk, who used to laugh at him with a flavour of contempt,
-began to love him through their boys. He would walk home with Bulldog on
-a summer evening, the strangest pair that ever went together; and it was
-said that many little improvements for the comfort of the lads, and many
-little schemes for their happiness at Muirtown Seminary, were due to the
-Count. It was believed that the time did come when he could have
-returned to his own land, but that he did not go because he was a lonely
-man and had found his friends in Muirtown; and when he died, now many
-years ago, he left his little all for the benefit of his "jolly dogs,"
-and the Count, who had no mourners of his blood, was followed to his
-grave by every boy at Muirtown Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A TOURNAMENT
-
-VIII
-
-
-Since the day when Speug and a few young friends had broken every pane
-of glass in the Count's windows, and the Count had paid for the damage
-like a gentleman, that excellent foreigner had spent all his spare
-cash--which we thought afterwards was not very much--in encouraging
-athletic exercises among the Seminary lads. His zeal, like that of every
-other convert, was much greater than his knowledge, and left to his own
-devices he would certainly have gone far astray; but with the able
-assistance of Speug, with whom he took intimate counsel, it was
-astonishing what a variety could be infused into the sports. When every
-ordinary competition had been held, and champions had been declared (and
-this had never been done before in the history of the school) for the
-hundred yards, the quarter, and the mile (the ten miles down the Carse
-and over the top of Kinnoul Hill had been stopped by an impromptu
-meeting of parents), for broad jumping and high jumping, for throwing
-the cricket ball and kicking the football, Speug came out with a quite
-new programme which was rapturously received, and had it not met with a
-cross-providence would have lasted over four happy Saturdays and
-considerably reduced the attendance at the Seminary. The first item was
-a swimming match across the Tay, a river not to be trifled with, and
-four boys were saved from death by a salmon cobble, whose owner
-fortunately turned up to watch the sport. The Count was so excited by
-this event that he not only lost his hat in the river, but being
-prevented from going in to help, for the very good reason that he could
-not swim a stroke, he took off and flung the coat, which was the marvel
-of Muirtown, into the river, in the hope that it might serve as a
-lifebelt. The second item, upon which Speug prided himself very much,
-was a climbing match, and for this he had selected a tree which seemed
-to be designed for the purpose, since it had a rook's nest on its
-highest branch, and no branches at all for the first twenty feet. The
-conditions were, that every boy above twelve should have his chance, and
-the boy who climbed to the top, put his hand into the rook's nest, and
-came down in the shortest time, should get the prize. The Seminary above
-twelve were going up and down that tree a whole Saturday morning, and in
-one kirk next day thanks were offered in the first prayer in peculiarly
-dignified and guarded terms that half the families of Muirtown had not
-been bereaved. As a matter of fact, nobody was killed, and no limbs
-were broken, but Speug, who was not allowed to enter for this
-competition, but acted as judge, with his tongue out all the time at the
-sight of the sport, had to go up twice on errands of mercy, once to
-release his friend Howieson, who had missed a branch and was hanging by
-his feet, and the second time to succour Pat Ritchie, who was suspended
-by the seat of his trousers, swaying to and fro like a gigantic apple on
-the branch. It was understood that the Seminary had never enjoyed
-themselves so entirely to their heart's content, but the Count's moral
-courage failed during the performance, and at the most critical moment
-he was afraid to look. When Muirtown got wind of this last achievement
-of Speug's, indignation meetings were held at church-doors and street
-corners, and it was conveyed to the Rector--who knew nothing about the
-matter, and was so absent-minded that if he had passed would never have
-seen what was going on--that if Providence was going to be tempted in
-this fashion again, the matter would be brought before the Town Council.
-The Count himself would have been faithfully dealt with had he not been
-considered a helpless tool in the hands of Speug, who was now understood
-to have filled the cup of his sins up to the brim. He might indeed have
-been at last expelled from the Seminary, of which he was the chief
-ornament, had it not been that the Count went to the Rector and
-explained that the idea had been his from beginning to end, and that it
-was with the utmost difficulty he could induce Speug even to be present.
-For, as I said, the Count was a perfect gentleman, and always stood by
-his friends through thick and thin; but the thrashing which Speug got
-from Bulldog was monumental, and in preparation for it that ingenious
-youth put on three folds of underclothing.
-
-What Speug bitterly regretted, however, was not the punishment, which
-was cheap at the money, but the loss of the next two items in his
-programme. He had planned a boxing competition, in which the main
-feature was to be a regular set-to between Dunc Robertson and himself,
-to decide finally which was the better man, for they had fought six
-times and the issue was still doubtful; and Speug, who had a profligate
-genius outside the class-rooms, had also imagined a pony race with
-hurdles; and as about twenty fellows, farmers' sons and others, had
-ponies, of which they were always bragging, and Speug had the pick of
-his father's stables, he modestly believed that the affair would be
-worth seeing. When the hurdle race was forbidden, for which Speug had
-already begun to make entries and to arrange weights with his father's
-valuable assistance, he took the matter so much to heart that his health
-gave way, and Mr. McGuffie senior had to take him to recruit at the
-Kilmarnock Races, from which he returned in the highest spirits and full
-of stories.
-
-For some time after this painful incident the Count lay low and adopted
-a deprecating manner when he met the fathers and mothers of Muirtown;
-but he gave his friends to understand that his resources were not at an
-end, and that he had a surprise in store for the Seminary. Speug ran
-over every form of sport in casual conversation to discover what was in
-the Count's mind, but he would not be drawn and grew more mysterious
-every day. One Saturday evening in midsummer he took Speug and Nestie
-into his confidence, explaining that his idea would be announced to the
-assembled school by himself next Wednesday, and that it had nothing to
-do, as Speug had hinted in turn, with rats, or rabbits, or fencing, or
-the sword dance. With their permission he would say one word which would
-be enough for persons of so distinguished an imagination, and that word
-was "Tournament;" and then he would speak of nothing else except the
-beauty of the evening light upon the river, which he declared to be
-"ravishing," and the excellence of a certain kind of chocolate which he
-carried in his pocket, and shared generously with his "dogs." As he
-parted with his friends the Count tapped his nose and winked at
-them--"Tournament--great, magnificent, you will see, ha, ha! you will
-see;" and Speug went home in a state of utter confusion, coming finally
-to the conclusion that the Count intended to introduce some French game,
-and in that case it would be his painful duty to oppose the Count tooth
-and nail, for everybody knew that French games were only for girls, and
-would bring endless disgrace upon Muirtown Seminary. During Sunday
-Nestie had turned the matter over in his mind, and being full of Scott's
-novels he was able on Monday to give the astonished school a full
-programme with the most minute particulars. The tournament was to be
-held in the North Meadow; the judge was to be the Commander of the
-cavalry at the barracks; John Chalmers, the town's bellman, was to be
-herald; the Fair Maid of Perth was to be the Queen of Beauty; and the
-combatants were to be such knights as Robertson, Howieson, and of course
-Speug. Each knight was to be in armour, and Nestie freely suggested
-dish-covers would be useful as breastplates, broom-handles would come in
-conveniently for lances, and as ponies were now forbidden, sturdy boys
-of the lower forms would be used instead. The two knights who challenged
-one another would rush from opposite ends of the lists, meet in the
-centre, lance upon breastplate, horse to horse, and man to man, and the
-one that overthrew the other would receive the prize; and at the thought
-of such a meeting between Speug and Dunc Robertson, each in full armour,
-the delighted school smacked their lips.
-
-"Muirtown Races 'ill be nothing to it," said Ritchie. "I'll lay anybody
-a shilling that Speug coups (capsizes) Dunc the first meeting;
-but"--feeling as if it were almost too good to be true--"I dinna
-believe a word o't. Nestie is a fearsome liar." And after the school had
-spoken of nothing else for a day, Dunc Robertson asked the Count boldly
-whether such things were true.
-
-"_Mon ami_," said the Count, who had tasted Nestie's romance with much
-relish, "you will pardon me, but it is a _banalite_, that is what you
-call a stupidity, to ask whether so good a _jeu d'esprit_ is true. True?
-Truth is a dull quality, it belongs to facts; but Nestie, he does not
-live among facts, he flies in the air, in the atmosphere of poetry. He
-is a _raconteur_. A tournament with knights on the North Meadow--good!
-Our little Nestie, he has been reading _Ivanhoe_ and he is a
-troubadour." And the Count took off his hat in homage to Nestie's
-remarkable powers as an author of fiction.
-
-"But yes, it will be a tournament; but not for the body, for the mind.
-My dogs are jolly dogs; they can run, they can leap, they can swim, they
-can kick the ball; now they must think, ah! so deep. They must write
-their very best words, they must show that they have beautiful minds;
-and they will do so, I swear they will, in the tournament, which will
-not be on the meadow--no; too many cows there, and too many washers of
-clothes--but in seclusion, in the class-room of that brave man called
-the Bulldog. It will be a battle," concluded the Count with enthusiasm,
-"of heads: and the best head, that head will have the prize, _voila_."
-
-"Silence!" and Bulldog brought his cane down upon his desk that
-Wednesday afternoon when the whole upper school was gathered in his
-class-room, bursting with curiosity. "The Count has a proposeetion to
-lay before you which he will explain in his own words and which has the
-sanction of the Rector. Ye will be pleased to give the Count a
-respectful hearing, as he deserves at yir hands." And Bulldog was there
-to see that the Count's deserts and his treatment strictly corresponded.
-
-"Monsieur," and the Count bowed to Bulldog, "and you," and now he bowed
-to the boys, "all my friends of the Seminary, I have the honour to ask a
-favour which your politeness will not allow you to refuse. Next Saturday
-I will dare to hold a reception in this place, with the permission of
-the good Bull---- I do forget myself--I mean the distinguished master.
-And when you come, I promise you that I will not offer you coffee--pouf!
-it is not for the brave boys I see before me, _non_," and the Count
-became very roguish. "I will put a leetle, very leetle sentence on
-the----" ("Blackboard," suggested Bulldog). "_Merci_, yes, the
-blackboard; no, the honourable master he will have the goodness to write
-it in his so beautiful characters. One sentence, that is all, and you
-will sit for one hour in this room where you make your studies, and you
-will write all the beautiful things which come into your heads about
-that sentence. You will then do me the pleasure of letting me carry
-home all those beautiful things, and I will read them; and the writer
-who affects me most, I will ask him to accept a book of many volumes,
-and the Lor' Mayor" ("Provost," interpolated Bulldog) "will present it
-on the great day in the Town Hall.
-
-"No one, not even the honourable master himself, will know that leetle
-sentence till it be written on the--the----" ("Blackboard," said
-Bulldog, with asperity), "and every boy will be able to write many
-things about that sentence. The scholars upon whom I do felicitate the
-honourable master will write much learning," and the Count made a
-graceful inclination in the direction of the two Dowbiggins; "and the
-brave boys who love the sport, they will also write, ah! ah!"--and the
-Count nodded cheerfully in the direction of Speug--"such wonderful
-things. There will be no books; no, you will have your heads, and so it
-will be the fair play, as you say," repeated the Count with much
-satisfaction, "the fair play."
-
-Bulldog dismissed the school after he had explained that no one need
-come unless he wished, but that anyone who didn't come was missing the
-opportunity of securing an honourable distinction, and would also show
-himself to be an ungrateful little scoundrel for all that the Count had
-done for the Seminary.
-
-"Dod," said Jock Howieson, with much native shrewdness, "aifter all his
-palaver it's naething but anither confounded exercise," for that worthy
-had suffered much through impositions, and had never been able to
-connect one sentence with another in an intelligent manner. "The
-Dowbiggins can go if they want, and they're welcome to the books. I'm
-going next Saturday to Woody Island--will you come, Speug?" And it hung
-in the balance whether or not the Count would be openly affronted next
-Saturday when he found himself in the company of half a dozen "swats,"
-while his "jolly dogs" were off in a pack to their island of romance.
-
-Speug could not imagine himself sitting in a class-room on Saturday
-afternoon, except under brute force, and yet he felt it would be
-ungrateful after all his kindness to leave the Count in the company of
-such cheerless objects as the Dowbiggins. The remembrance of all the
-sporting prizes he had won at the Count's hands, and the sight of the
-Count cheering at the sports, came over his ingenuous heart and moved
-him to the most unselfish act of his life. "Jock Howieson," said Speug,
-with considerable dignity, "ye may go to Woody Island if ye like, but it
-'ill be the dirtiest trick ye ever played, and I'll black both yir een
-for ye on Monday. Have we ever had a match, cricket or football, the
-last four years, and the Count hesna been there? Who got up the sports
-and gave the prizes? Tell me that, Jock? Who stands ginger-beer at Lucky
-MacWhae's, answer me that, Jock, ye meeserable wretch?" and then
-clinching every argument on "Who paid for the broken glass? I'm doon
-richt ashamed o' ye, Jock Howieson."
-
-"Will ye go yourself, Speug?" demanded Jock, writhing under this torrent
-of reproach. "I think I see ye writin' an essay on the history o' the
-Romans, or sic like trash. Ye 'ill hunt us into Bulldog's class-room,
-and then go off yirsel to shoot rabbits; but ye 'ill no' play ony tricks
-on me, Peter McGuffie."
-
-"I will go," said Speug, manfully, "though I'll no' promise to write."
-
-"Say as sure's death," said Jock, knowing Speug's wiles.
-
-"Sure as death," said Speug, and then the school knew, not only that he
-would go, though he had to sit six hours instead of one, but also that
-every self-respecting boy in the Seminary must also put in an appearance
-at the Count's reception.
-
-"Best thing you ever did, Speug," said Nestie on the way home, "since
-you p--pulled me out of the Tay, and I should say that you have a good
-chance of the prize. What the Count wants is ori--gin--ginality, and I
-never heard a chap with so much original talk as you've got, Speug. Just
-you put some of it down, like what you give to the P--pennies, and
-you'll come out first, and it'll be the first prize you ever won."
-
-"If there was a prize for impidence, and the entries were open to all
-Scotland," said Speug, "ye would pass the post first and trottin'."
-
- "HOW I SPENT MY SATURDAY,"
-
-was what the school saw on the board when the Count removed the white
-cloth, and then he gave a brief exposition of his desires.
-
-"Have the goodness, if you please, to write, not what you ought, but
-what you want. Were you at the cricket match, you will tell me of the
-capture of the wickets; or you were in the country, I will hear of the
-woods and the beautiful pheasants" (this delicate allusion to Mr.
-Byles's poaching experiences was much appreciated); "or you were among
-the books, then you will describe what you love in them; or you were
-looking at a horse, I expect to hear about that horse"; and the whole
-school understood that this was a direct invitation to Speug, to give an
-exact picture of an Irish mare that his father had just bought. "The
-subject, ah!" said the Count, "that does not matter; it is the manner,
-the style, the _esprit_, that is what I shall value. I wish you all the
-good success, and I will go a walk in the meadow till you have
-finished."
-
-"Do yir best, laddies," said Bulldog, "for the credit of the school and
-to please the Count. If I see ony laddie playing tricks I'll do my part
-to teach him sobriety, and if I see one copying from another, out he
-goes. Ye have one hour from this meenut, make the most o't," and the
-tournament was open.
-
-Bulldog, apparently reading his morning paper, and only giving a casual
-glance to see that no one took advantage of the strange circumstances,
-was really watching his flock very closely, and checking his judgment of
-each one by this new test. Dull, conscientious lads like the Dowbiggins
-began at once, in order that they might not lose a moment of time, but
-might put as much written stuff upon the paper as possible; yet now and
-again they stopped and looked round helplessly because they had no books
-and no tutor to assist them, and they realised for the first time how
-little they had in their own heads.
-
-"Ha! ha!" said Bulldog to himself, "I kent ye were naithing but a
-painted show, and it 'ill do ye good to find that out for yirselves."
-
-Jock Howieson and his kind regarded the whole matter as a new form of
-entertainment, and as he could not have put into anything approaching
-connected words the experiences of his last Saturday, he employed the
-time in cutting up his unwritten paper into squares of an inch, and
-making them into pellets with which he prevented the Dowbiggin mind from
-being too much absorbed in study. He did this once too often, and
-Bulldog went down to call upon him with a cane and with plain, simple
-words.
-
-"His head is an inch thick," said Bulldog, as he went back to his desk,
-"but there's the making of a man in Jock, though he 'ill never be able
-to write a decent letter to save his life. He would suit the Scots Greys
-down to the ground."
-
-Speug had given a solemn promise to Nestie, under the customary form of
-oath, that he would write something, and whatever he wrote he would hand
-in, though it was only twenty words, and Speug never went back from his
-oath. When Howieson caught the Dowbiggin ear with a pellet there is no
-doubt that a joyful light came into Speug's eyes, and he struggled with
-strong temptation, and when old friends made facetious signs to him he
-hesitated more than once, but in the end assumed an air of dignified
-amazement, explaining, as it were, that his whole mind was devoted to
-literary composition, and that he did not know what they meant by this
-impertinent intrusion upon a student's privacy. Cosh certainly jumped
-once in his seat as if he had been stung by a wasp, and it is certainly
-true that at that moment there was a piece of elastic on the thumb and
-first finger of Speug's left hand, but his right hand was devoted to
-literature. The language which Cosh allowed himself to use in the heat
-of the moment was so unvarnished that it came under Bulldog's attention,
-who told him that if he wanted to say anything like that again he must
-say it in Latin, and that he ought to take notice of the excellent
-conduct of Peter McGuffie, who, Bulldog declared, was not at all
-unlikely to win the prize. And as the master returned to his seat his
-back was seen to shake, and the wink with which Speug favoured the
-class, in a brief rest from labour, was a reward for an hour's drudgery.
-Bulldog knew everybody up and down, out and in--what a poor creature
-Cosh was, and what good stuff could be found in Speug; and he also knew
-everything that was done--why Cosh had said what he said, and why Speug
-at that moment was lost in study. Bulldog was not disappointed when
-Nestie's face lighted up at the title of the essay, and he knew why his
-favourite little lad did not write anything for fifteen minutes, but
-looked steadily out at the window and across the North Meadow, and he
-returned to his paper with a sense of keen satisfaction when Nestie at
-last settled down to work and wrote without ceasing, except when now and
-again he hesitated as for a word, or tried a sentence upon his ear to
-know how it sounded. For the desire of Bulldog's heart was that Nestie
-should win, and if--though that, of course, was too absurd--Speug by the
-help of the favouring gods should come in second, Bulldog would feel
-that he had not lived in vain.
-
-"Ye have three meenuts to dot your i's and stroke your t's," said
-Bulldog, "and the Count will tell ye how ye're to sign yir names," and
-then the Count, who had come in from his walk, much refreshed, advanced
-again to the desk.
-
-"It would be one great joy to have your autographs," said the Count,
-"and I would place them in a book and say, 'My friends'; but honour
-forbids. As I shall have the too great responsibility of judging, it is
-necessary that I be--ah! I have forgotten the word--yes! show the fair
-play. No, I must not know the names; for if I read the name of my friend
-the ever active, the ever brave, the ever interesting Speug" (at this
-indecent allusion Speug grew purple and gave the bench in front of him
-to understand by well-known signs that if they looked at him again he
-might give them something to look for outside), "I would say that Speug
-is a sportsman but he is not a _litterateur_, and I might not do my
-comrade the full justice. And if I read the name of the composed, the
-studious, the profound young gentlemen who are before me" (and it was
-fortunate the Dowbiggins had their backs to the school), "I would know
-that it must be the best before I read it, and that would not be the
-fair play.
-
-"No! you will write on your admirable essay a motto--what you
-please--and your name you will put in an envelope, so," and the Count
-wrote his own name in the most dashing manner, and in an awful silence,
-on a piece of paper, and closed the envelope with a graceful flourish:
-"and outside you will put your motto, so it will be all the fair play,
-and in the Town Hall next Saturday I shall have the felicity to declare
-the result. _Voila!_ Has my plan your distinguished approbation?" and
-the Count made a respectful appeal to Bulldog. "Nothing could be fairer,
-you say? Then it is agreed, and I allow myself to wish you adieu for
-this day."
-
-When the school assembled for conference among the Russian guns, their
-minds were divided between two subjects. The first was what Speug had
-written, on which that strenuous student would give no information,
-resenting the inquiry both as an insult to his abilities and an
-illustration of vain curiosity on the part of the school. Nestie,
-however, volunteered the trustworthy information that Speug had spent
-his whole time explaining the good which he had got from being kept in
-one Saturday forenoon and doing mathematical problems under the eye of
-Bulldog. And Nestie added that he thought it mean of Peter to "suck up"
-to the master in this disgraceful fashion just for the sake of getting a
-prize. Peter confided to Nestie afterwards that he had really done his
-best to describe a close race for the Kilmarnock Cup, but that he didn't
-think there were six words properly spelt from beginning to end, and
-that if he escaped without a thrashing he would treat Nestie to half a
-dozen bottles of ginger-beer.
-
-Regarding the winner--for that was the other subject--there was a
-unanimous and sad judgment; that Dunc Robertson might have a chance, but
-that Thomas John, the head of the Dowbiggins, would carry off the prize,
-as he had carried off all the other prizes; and that, if so, they would
-let him know how they all loved him at the Town Hall, and that it would
-be wise for him to go home with the Count's prize and all the other
-prizes in a cab, with the windows up.
-
-The prize-giving in the Town Hall was one of the great events in the
-Muirtown year, and to it the memory of a Seminary lad goes back with
-keen interest. All the forenoon the Provost and the bailies had been
-sitting in the class-room of the Seminary, holding Latin books in their
-hands, which they opened anywhere, and wagging their heads in solemn
-approval over the translation by Thomas John and other chosen worthies,
-while the parents wandered from place to place and identified their
-sons, who refused to take any notice of them unless nobody was looking.
-What mothers endured cannot be put into words, when they saw their
-darling boys (whom they had seen dressed that morning in their Sunday
-clothes, and sent away in perfect array, with directions that they were
-not to break their collars nor soil their jackets, nor disarrange their
-hair the whole day, or they need not come home in the evening) turn up
-in a class-room before the respectables of Muirtown as if their heads
-had not known a brush for six months, with Speug's autograph upon their
-white collar, a button gone from their waistcoat, and an ounce of flour
-in a prominent place on their once speckless jacket.
-
-"Yes," said one matron to another, with the calmness of despair, "that
-is my Jimmy, I canna deny it; but ye may well ask, for he's more like a
-street waufie than onything else. On a day like this, and when I see
-what a sight he's made of himself in two hours I could almost wish he
-had been born a girl."
-
-"Losh keep us, Mistress Chalmers, ye maunna speak like that, for it's no
-chancy, he micht be taken away sudden, and ye would have regrets; forbye
-your laddie's naithing to my Archie, for the last time I saw him, as I'm
-a livin' woman, there wasna more than two inches of his necktie left,
-and he was fishing his new Balmoral bonnet out of the water-barrel in
-the playground. Ye needna expect peace if the Almichty give ye laddies,
-but I wouldna change them for lassies--na, na, I'll no' go that length."
-
-And the two matrons sustained themselves with the thought that if their
-boys were only a mere wreck of what they had been in the morning, other
-people's boys were no better, and some of them were worse, for one of
-them had inflicted such damages on his trousers that, although he was
-able to face the public, he had to retire as from the royal presence;
-nor was it at all unlike the motherly mind to conceive a malignant
-dislike to the few boys who were spick and span, and to have a certain
-secret pride even in their boys' disorder, which at any rate showed that
-they were far removed from the low estate of lassies.
-
-The great function of the day came off at two o'clock, and before the
-hour the hall was packed with fathers, mothers, sisters, elder brothers,
-uncles, aunts, cousins and distant relatives of the boys, while the boys
-themselves, beyond all control and more dishevelled than ever, were
-scattered throughout the crowd. Some were sitting with their parents and
-enduring a rapid toilet at the hands of their mothers; others were
-gathered in clumps and arranging a reception for the more unpopular
-prize-winners; others were prowling up and down the passages, exchanging
-sweetmeats and responding (very coldly) to the greeting of relatives in
-the seats, for the black terror that hung over every Seminary lad was
-that he would be kissed publicly by a maiden aunt. Mr. Peter McGuffie
-senior came in with the general attention of the audience, and seated
-himself in a prominent place with Speug beside him. Not that Mr.
-McGuffie took any special interest in prize-givings, and certainly not
-because Speug had ever appeared in the character of a prize-winner. Mr.
-McGuffie's patronage was due to his respect for the Count and his high
-appreciation of what he considered the Count's sporting offer, and Mr.
-McGuffie was so anxious to sustain the interest of the proceedings that
-he was willing, although he admitted that he had no tip, to have a bet
-with anyone in his vicinity on the winning horse. He also astonished his
-son by offering to lay a sovereign on Nestie coming in first and half
-a length ahead, which was not so much based upon any knowledge of
-Nestie's literary qualifications as on the strange friendship between
-Nestie and his promising son. As the respectable Free Kirk elder who sat
-next Mr. McGuffie did not respond to this friendly offer, Mr. McGuffie
-put a straw in his mouth and timed the arrival of the Provost.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE THE HOUR THE HALL WAS PACKED."]
-
-When that great dignitary, attended by the bailies and masters, together
-with the notables of Muirtown, appeared on the platform, the boys
-availed themselves of the license of the day, shouting, cheering,
-yelling, whistling and bombarding all and sundry with pellets of paper
-shot with extraordinary dexterity from little elastic catapults, till at
-last Bulldog, who in the helplessness of the Rector always conducted the
-proceedings, rose and demanded silence for the Provost, who explained at
-wide intervals that he was glad to see his young friends (howls from the
-boys) and also their respected parents (fresh howls, but not from the
-parents); that he was sure the fathers and mothers were proud of their
-boys to-day (climax of howls); that he had once been a boy himself
-(unanimous shout of "No" from the boys); that he had even fought in a
-snowball fight (loud expressions of horror); that he was glad the
-Seminary was flourishing (terrific outburst, during which the Provost's
-speech came to an end, and Bulldog rose to keep order).
-
-One by one the prize-winners were called up from the side of their fond
-parents, and if they were liked and had won their prizes with the
-goodwill of their fellows, each one received an honest cheer which was
-heartier and braver than any other cheer of the day, and loud above it
-sounded the voice of Speug, who, though he had never received a prize in
-his life, and never would, rejoiced when a decent fellow like Dunc
-Robertson, the wicket-keeper of the eleven and the half-back of the
-fifteen, showed that he had a head as well as hands. When a prig got too
-many prizes there was an eloquent silence in the hall, till at last a
-loud, accurate and suggestive "Ma-a-a-a!" from Speug relieved the
-feelings of the delighted school, and the unpopular prize-winner left
-the platform amid the chorus of the farmyard--cows, sheep, horses, dogs,
-cats and a triumphant ass all uniting to do him honour. It was their
-day, and Bulldog gave them their rights, provided they did not continue
-too long, and every boy believed that Bulldog had the same judgment as
-themselves.
-
-To-day, however, the whole gathering was hungering and thirsting for the
-declaration of the Count's prize, because there never had been such a
-competition in Muirtown before, and the Count was one of our characters.
-When he came forward, wonderfully dressed, with a rose in his buttonhole
-and waving a scented handkerchief, and bowed to everybody in turn, from
-the Provost to Mr. McGuffie, his reception was monumental and was
-crowned by the stentorian approbation of Speug's father. Having thanked
-the company for their reception, with his hand upon his heart, and
-having assured the charming mothers of his young friends of his (the
-Count's) most respectful devotion, and declared himself the slave of
-their sisters, and having expressed his profound reverence for the
-magistrates (at which several bailies tried to look as if they were only
-men, but failed), the Count approached the great moment of the day.
-
-The papers, he explained upon his honour, were all remarkable, and it
-had been impossible for him to sleep, because he could not tear himself
-away from the charming reflections of his young friends. (As the boys
-recognised this to be only a just compliment to their thoughtful
-disposition and literary genius, Bulldog had at last to arise and quell
-the storm.) There was one paper, however, which the Count compared to
-Mont Blanc, because it rose above all the others. It was "ravishing,"
-the Count asserted, "superb"; it was, he added, the work of "genius."
-The river, the woods, the flowers, the hills, the beautiful young women,
-it was all one poem. And as the whole hall waited, refusing to breathe,
-the Count enjoyed a great moment. "The writer of this distinguished
-poem--for it is not prose, it is poetry--I will read his motto." Then
-the Count read, "Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady," and turning to the
-Provost, "I do myself the honour of asking your Excellency to open this
-envelope and to read the name to this distinguished audience." Before
-the Provost could get the piece of paper out of the envelope, Speug, who
-was in the secret of the motto, jumped up on his seat and, turning with
-his face to the audience, shouted at the pitch of his voice through the
-stillness of the hall, "Nestie Molyneux." And above the great shout that
-went up from the throat of the Seminary could be heard, full and clear,
-the view-hallo of Mr. McGuffie senior, who had guessed the winner
-without ever seeing the paper.
-
-
-
-
-MOOSSY
-
-IX
-
-
-If the eyes of an old boy do not light up at the mention of "Moossy,"
-then it is no use his pleading the years which have passed and the great
-affairs which have filled his life; you know at once that he is an
-impostor and has never had the privilege of passing through Muirtown
-Seminary. Upon the genuine boy--fifty years old now, but green at
-heart--the word is a very talisman, for at the sound of it the worries
-of life and the years that have gone are forgotten, and the eyes light
-up and the face relaxes, and the middle-aged man lies back in his chair
-for the full enjoyment of the past. It was a rough life in the Seminary,
-with plain food and strenuous games; with well-worn and well-torn
-clothes; where little trouble was taken to give interest to your work,
-and little praise awarded when you did it well; where you were bullied
-by the stronger fellows without redress, and thrashed for very little
-reason; where there were also many coarsenesses which were sickening at
-the time to any lad with a sense of decency, and which he is glad, if he
-can, to forget; but, at least, there was one oasis in the wilderness
-where there was nothing but enjoyment for the boys, and that was the
-"Department of Modern Languages," over which Moossy was supposed to
-preside.
-
-Things have changed since Moossy's day, and now there is a graduate of
-the University of Paris and a fearful martinet to teach young Muirtown
-French, and a Heidelberg man with several degrees and four swordcuts on
-his face to explain to Muirtown the mysteries of the German sentence.
-Indignant boys, who have heard appetising tales of the days which are
-gone, are compelled to "swat" at Continental tongues as if they were
-serious languages like Latin and Greek, and are actually kept in if they
-have not done a French verb. They are required to write an account of
-their holidays in German, and are directed to enlarge their vocabulary
-by speaking in foreign tongues among themselves. Things have come to
-such a pass it is said--but I do not believe one word of this--that the
-modern Speug, before he pulls off the modern Dowbiggin's bonnet and
-flings it into the lade, which still runs as it used to do, will be
-careful to say "_Erlauben Sie mir_," and that the modern Dowbiggin,
-before rescuing his bonnet, will turn and inquire with mild surprise,
-"_Was wollen Sie, mein Freund?_" and precocious lads will delight their
-parents at the breakfast-table by asking for their daily bread in the
-language and accent of Paris, because for the moment they have forgotten
-English. It is my own firm conviction, and nothing can shake it, that
-Muirtown lads are just as incapable of explaining their necessary wants
-in any speech except their own as they were in the days of our fathers,
-and that if a Seminary boy were landed in Calais to-day, he would get
-his food at the buffet by making signs with his fingers, as his father
-had done before him and as becomes a young barbarian. He would also take
-care, as his fathers did, that he would not be cheated in his change nor
-be put upon by any "Frenchy." Foreign graduates may do their best with
-Seminary lads--and their kind elsewhere--but they will not find it easy
-to shape their unruly tongues; for the Briton is fully persuaded in the
-background of his mind that he belongs to an imperial race and is born
-to be a ruler, that every man will sooner or later have to speak his
-language, and that it is undignified to condescend to French. The Briton
-is pleased to know that foreign nations have some means of communication
-between themselves--as, indeed, the lower animals have, if you go into
-the matter; but since the Almighty has put an English (or Scots) tongue
-in his mouth, it would be flying in the face of Providence not to use
-it. It is, however, an excellent thing to have the graduates, and the
-trim class-room, and the tables of the foreign verbs upon the wall, and
-the conversation classes--Speug at a conversation class!--and all the
-rest of it; but, oh! the days of long ago--and Moossy!
-
-Like our only other foreigner, the Count, Moossy was a nameless man, for
-although it must have been printed on the board in the vestibule of the
-school, which had a list of masters and of classes, no one can now hint
-at Moossy's baptismal name, nor even suggest his surname. The name of
-the Count had been sunk in the nobility which we conferred upon him, and
-which was the tribute of our respectful admiration, but "Moossy" was a
-term of good-humoured contempt. We were only Scots lads of a provincial
-town, and knew nothing of the outside world; but yet, with the instincts
-of a race of Chieftains and Clansmen, we distinguished in our minds
-between our two foreigners and placed them far apart. No doubt the Count
-was womanish in his dress, and had fantastic manners, but we knew he was
-a gallant gentleman, who was afraid of nobody and was always ready to
-serve his friends; he was _debonnaire_, and counted himself the equal of
-anyone in Muirtown, but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
-a little man, to begin with, and had made himself small by stooping till
-his head had sunk upon his chest and his shoulders had risen to his
-ears; his hair fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his
-ill-dressed beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and face showed only
-the slightest acquaintance with soap and water, and although Speug was
-not always careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than once had
-been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to wash himself, yet Speug had a
-healthy contempt for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
-had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, and the cloak which
-he wore on a winter day was a scandal to the town. His feet were large
-and flat, and his knees touched as the one passed the other, and the
-Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight of him shambling across the
-North Meadow. He looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
-dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and flung him in our faces.
-The Rector was also careless of his dress, and mooned along the road,
-but then everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and that if you
-woke him from his meditation he would answer you in Greek; but even
-Speug understood that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted about
-through Muirtown, and filtered down to the boys, that he was a bankrupt
-tradesman who had fled from some little German town and landed in
-Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little English, and a little
-French, as German tradesmen can, he had been appointed by an
-undiscriminating Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the Seminary.
-It is certain he had very little education and no confidence in himself,
-and so he was ever cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,
-for these great men regarded themselves as beings bordering on the
-supernatural; and he was ever deferring and giving in to the boys, which
-was the maddest thing that any master could do, and only confirmed every
-boy in his judgment that Moossy was one of the most miserable of God's
-creatures.
-
-His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded as a pleasant
-relaxation after the labours of the day, and to escape from the
-government of Bulldog to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, as
-we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a tender heart towards the
-wants and enjoyments of boys. It goes without saying that no work was
-done, for there were only half a dozen who had any desire to work, and
-they were not allowed, in justice to themselves and to their fellows, to
-waste the mercies which had been provided. Upon Bulldog's suggestion,
-Moossy once provided himself with a cane, but it failed in his hands the
-first time he tried to use it, which was not at all wonderful, as Jock
-Howieson, who did not approve of canes, and regarded them as an
-invention of the Evil One, had doctored Moossy's cane with a horse-hair,
-so that it split into two at a stroke, and one piece flying back struck
-Moossy on the face.
-
-"That'll learn him to be meddling with canes. It's plenty that Bulldog
-has a cane, without yon meeserable wretch"; and that was the last effort
-which Moossy made to exercise discipline.
-
-Every afternoon he made a pitiable appeal that the boys would behave and
-learn their verbs. For about ten minutes there was quietness, and then,
-at the sight of Thomas John, sitting at the head of his form and working
-diligently upon a French translation, which he could do better than
-Moossy himself, Speug would make a signal to the form, and, leading off
-from the foot himself, the form would give one quick, unanimous, and
-masterful push, and Thomas John next instant was sitting on the floor;
-while if, by any possibility, they could land all his books on him as he
-lay, and baptise him out of his own ink-bottle, the form was happy and
-called in their friends of other forms to rejoice with them. Moossy, at
-the noise of Thomas John's falling, would hurry over and inquire the
-cause, that a boy so exemplary and diligent should be sitting on the
-floor with the remains of his work around him; and as Thomas John knew
-that it would be worth his life to tell the reason, Moossy and he
-pretended to regard it as one of the unavoidable accidents of life, and
-after Thomas John had been restored to his place, and the ink wiped off
-his clothes, Moossy exhorted the form to quietness and diligence. He
-knew what had happened, and would have been fit for a lunatic asylum if
-he had not; and we knew that he knew, and we all despised him for his
-cowardice. Had there been enough spirit in Moossy to go for Speug (just
-as Bulldog would have done), and thrash him there and then as he sat in
-his seat, brazen and unashamed, we would all have respected Moossy, and
-no one more than Speug, to whom all fresh exploits would have had a new
-relish. But Moossy was a broken-spirited man, in whom there was no
-fight, who held a post he was not fit for, and held it to get a poor
-living for himself and one who was dearer to him than his own life. So
-helpless was he, and so timid, that there were times when the boys grew
-weary of their teasing and disorder, and condescended to repeat a verb
-in order to pass the time.
-
-When the spring was in their blood--for, like all young animals, they
-felt its stirring--then there were wonderful scenes in Moossy's
-class-room. He dared not stand in those days between two forms, with his
-face to the one and his back to the other, because of the elastic
-catapults and the sharp little paper bullets, which, in spite of his
-long hair, would always find out his ears; and if he turned round to
-face the battery, the other form promptly unmasked theirs, and between
-the two he was driven to the end of the room; and then, in his very
-presence, without a pretence of concealment, the two forms would settle
-their differences, while, in guttural and uncultured German, Moossy
-prayed for peace. Times there were, I am sorry to say, when at the sting
-of the bullet Moossy said bad words, and although they were in German,
-the boys knew that it was swearing, and Speug's voice would be loudest
-in horror.
-
-[Illustration: "THOMAS JOHN NEXT INSTANT WAS SITTING ON THE FLOOR."]
-
-"Mercy on us, lads! this is awful language to hear in the Seminary! If
-the Town Council gets word of this, there'll be a fine stramish. For
-masel'," Speug would conclude piously, "I'm perfectly ashamed." And as
-that accomplished young gentleman had acquired in the stables a wealth
-of profanity which was the amazement of the school, his protest had all
-the more weight. Poor Moossy would apologise for what he had said, and
-beseech the school neither to say it themselves nor to tell what they
-had heard; and for days afterwards Speug would be warning Thomas John
-that if he, Speug--censor of morals--caught him cursing and swearing
-like Moossy, he would duck him in the lake, and afterwards bring him
-before the Lord Provost and magistrates.
-
-There was no end to the devices of the Seminary for enjoying themselves
-and tormenting Moossy; and had it not been for Nestie, who had some
-reserves of taste, the fun would have been much more curious. As it was,
-Moossy never knew when he might not light upon a frog, till it seemed as
-if the class-room for modern languages were the chosen home for the
-reptiles of the district. One morning, when he opened his desk, a lively
-young Scots terrier puppy sprang up to welcome him, and nearly
-frightened Moossy out of such wits as he possessed. He had learned to
-open the door of his class-room cautiously, not knowing whether a German
-Dictionary might not be ingeniously poised to fall upon his head. His
-ink-bottle would be curiously attached to his French Grammar, so that
-when he lifted the book the bottle followed it and sent the spray of ink
-over his person, adding a new distinction of dirtiness to his coat. Boys
-going up to write on the blackboard, where they never wrote anything but
-nonsense, would work symbols with light and rapid touch upon the back of
-Moossy's coat as they returned; and if one after the other, adding to
-the work of art, could draw what was supposed to be a human face upon
-Moossy, the class was satisfied it had not lost the hour. There were
-times when Moossy felt the hand even on the looseness of that foolish
-coat, and turned suddenly; but there was no shaking the brazen impudence
-of Muirtown, and Moossy, looking into the stolid and unintelligent
-expression of Howieson's face, thought that he had been mistaken. If one
-boy was set up to do a verb, the form, reading from their books and
-pronouncing on a principal of their own, would do the verb with him and
-continue in a loud and sonorous song, till Moossy had to stop them one
-by one, and then they were full of indignation at being hindered in
-their studies of the German language.
-
-Moossy was afraid to complain to the Rector, lest his own incompetence
-should be exposed and his bread be taken from him; and of this the
-boys, with the unerring cunning of savages, were perfectly aware, and
-the torture might have gone on for years had it not been for the
-intervention of Bulldog and a certain incident. As the French class-room
-was above the mathematical, any special disturbance could be heard in
-the quietness below; and whatever else they did, the students of foreign
-languages were careful not to invite the attention of Bulldog. Indeed,
-the one check upon the freedom of Moossy's room was the danger of
-Bulldog's arrival, who was engaged that hour with the little boys and
-had ample leisure of mind to take note of any outrageous noise above,
-and for want of occupation was itching to get at old friends like
-Howieson. There are times, however, when even a savage forgets himself,
-and one spring day the saturnalia in Moossy's room reached an historical
-height. It had been discovered that any dislike which Moossy may have
-had to a puppy in his desk, and a frog in his top-cloak pocket, was
-nothing to the horror with which he regarded mice. As soon as it was
-known that Moossy would as soon have had a tiger in the French
-class-room as a mouse upon the loose, it was felt that the study of
-foreign languages should take a new departure. One morning the boys came
-in with such punctuality, and settled to their work with such demure
-diligence, that even Moossy was suspicious and watched them anxiously.
-For ten minutes there was nothing heard but the drone of the class
-mangling German sentences, and then Howieson cried aloud in
-consternation, "A mouse!"
-
-"Vat ees that you say? Ah! mices! vere?" and Moossy was much shaken.
-
-"Yonder," said Speug, pointing to where a mouse was just disappearing
-under the desk; "and there's another at the fireplace. Dod, the place is
-fair swarming, and, Moossy, there's one trying to run up your leg. Take
-care, man, for ony sake."
-
-"A mices," cried Moossy, "vill up my legs go; I vill the desk ascend,"
-and with the aid of a chair Moossy scrambled on to his desk, where he
-entrenched himself against attack, believing that at that height he
-would be safe from "mices."
-
-[Illustration: "THE SCHOOL FELL OVER BENCHES AND OVER ONE ANOTHER."]
-
-Speug suggested that as this plague of mice had burst upon the French
-class-room the scholars should meet the calamity like men, and asked
-Moossy's permission to go out upon the chase. For once Moossy and his
-pupils had one mind, and the school gave itself to its heart's content,
-and without a thought of consequences, to a mouse hunt. Nothing is more
-difficult than to catch a mouse, and the difficulty is doubled when no
-one wishes to catch it; and so the school fell over benches, and over
-one another, and jumped over the desks and scrambled under them, ever
-pretending to have caught a mouse, and really succeeding once in
-smothering an unfortunate animal beneath the weight of half a dozen
-boys. Thomas John was early smeared with ink from top to bottom by an
-accident in which Howieson took a leading part, and the German
-Dictionary intended for a mouse happened to take Cosh on the way, which
-led to an encounter between that indignant youth and Bauldie, in which
-mice were forgotten. The blackboard was brought down with a crash, and a
-form was securely planted on its ruins. High above the babel Moossy
-could be heard crying encouragement, and demanding whether the "mices"
-had been caught, but nothing would induce him to come down from his
-fastness. When things were at their highest, and gay spirits like Speug
-were beginning to conclude that even a big snow fight was nothing to a
-mouse hunt, and Howieson had been so lifted that he had mounted a desk,
-not to catch a mouse, but to give a cheer, and was standing there
-without collar or tie, dishevelled, triumphant, and raised above all the
-trials of life, the door opened and Bulldog entered. And it was a
-beautiful tribute to the personality of that excellent man, that the
-whole room crystallised in an instant, and everyone remained motionless,
-frozen, as it were, in the act.
-
-Bulldog looked round with that calm composure which sat so well upon
-him, taking in Moossy perched upon his desk, Howieson on his form, Speug
-sitting with easy dignity on the top of Thomas John, and half a dozen
-worthies still tied together in a scrimmage, as if this were a sight to
-which he was accustomed every day in Muirtown Seminary.
-
-"Foreign languages," he began, after a pause of ten seconds, "is
-evidently a verra divertin' subject of study, and I wonder that any
-pupil is left in the department of mathematics. I was not aware, Jock,
-that ye needed to stand on a form before you could do your German, and I
-suppose that is the French class in the corner. I'm sorry to intrude,
-but I'm pleased to see a class in earnest about its work, I really am."
-
-"Mices!" remarked Bulldog in icy tones, as poor Moossy came down from
-his desk and began to explain. "My impression is that you are right, as
-far as I can judge--and I have some acquaintance with the circumstances.
-There are a considerable number of mices in this room, a good many more
-mices than were brought in somebody's pocket this morning. The mices I
-see were in my class-room this morning, and they were very quiet and
-peaceable mices, and they'll be the same in this class-room after this,
-or I'll know the reason why. If you'll excuse me," and Bulldog embraced
-the whole scene in a comprehensive farewell, "I'll leave the foreign
-class-room and go down and see what my laddies are doing with their
-writing"; and when Bulldog closed the door Howieson realised that he
-owed his escape to Bulldog's respect for another man's class-room, but
-that the joyful day in modern languages had come to an end. There would
-be no more "mices."
-
-Next Saturday afternoon Speug and Nestie were out for a ramble in the
-country, and turning into a lane where the hedgerows were breaking into
-green, and the primroses nestling at the roots of the bushes, they came
-upon a sight which made them pause so that they could only stand and
-look. Down the lane a man was dragging an invalid-chair, a poor and
-broken thing which had seen its best days thirty years ago. In the chair
-a woman was sitting, or rather lying, very plainly but comfortably
-dressed, and carefully wrapped up, whose face showed that she had
-suffered much, but whose cheeks were responding to the breath of spring.
-As they stood, the man stopped and went to the bank and plucked a
-handful of primroses and gave them to the woman; and as he bent over
-her, holding up the primroses before her eyes, and as they talked
-together, even the boys saw the grateful pleasure in her eyes. He
-adjusted the well-worn cloak and changed her position in the chair, and
-then went back to drag it, a heavy weight down the soft and yielding
-track; and the boys stood and stared and looked at one another, for the
-man who was caring so gently for this invalid, and toiling so manfully
-with the lumbering chair, was Moossy.
-
-"C-cut away, Speug," said Nestie; "he wouldn't like us to see him. I
-say, he ain't a bad sort--Moossy--after all. Bet you a bottle of
-g-ginger-beer that's Moossy's wife, and that's why he's so poor."
-
-They were leaving the lane when they heard an exclamation, and going
-back they found that the miserable machine had slipped into the ditch
-and there stuck fast beyond poor Moossy's power of recovery. With many
-an "Ach!" and other words, too, he was bewailing the situation and
-hanging over his invalid, while she seemed to be cheering him and trying
-if she could so lie in the chair as to lessen the weight upon the lower
-side, while every minute the wheel sank deeper in the soft earth.
-
-"What are you st-staring at, you idle, worthless v-vagabond?" said
-Nestie to Speug. "Come along and give a hand to Moossy," who was so
-pleased to get some help in the lonely place that he forgot the
-revealing of his little secret. With Speug in the shafts, who had the
-strength of a man in his compact little body, and Moossy pulling on the
-other side, the coach was soon upon the road again, amid a torrent of
-gratitude from Moossy and his wife, partly in English, but mostly in
-German, but all quite plain to the boys, for gratitude is always
-understood in any language. They came bravely along the lane, Speug
-pulling, Moossy hanging over his wife to make sure she had not been
-hurt, and Nestie plucking flowers to make up a nosegay in memory of the
-lane, while Moossy declared them to be "_Zwei herzliche Knaben_."
-
-When they came to the main road, Speug would not give up his work, but
-brought the carriage manfully to the little cottage, hidden in a garden,
-where Moossy lodged. When she had been carried in--she was so light that
-Moossy could lift her himself--she compelled the boys to come in, too,
-and Moossy made fragrant coffee, and this they had with strange German
-cakes, which were not half bad, and to which they both did ample
-justice. Going home, Nestie looked at Speug, and Speug looked at Nestie,
-and though no words passed it was understood that the days of the
-troubles of Moossy in the Seminary of Muirtown were ended.
-
-During the remaining year of Moossy's labours at the Seminary it would
-not be true to say that he became a good or useful master, for he had
-neither the knowledge nor the tact, or that the boys were always
-respectful and did their work, for they were very far removed from being
-angels; but Moossy did pluck up some spirit, and Speug saw that he
-suffered no grievous wrong. He also took care that Moossy was not left
-to be his own horse from day to day, but that the stronger varlets of
-the Seminary should take some exercise in the shafts of Moossy's coach.
-Howieson was a young gentleman far removed from sentiment, and he gave
-it carefully to be understood that he only did the thing for a joke; but
-there is no question that more than once Jock brought Moossy's
-carriage, with Moossy's wife in it, successfully along that lane and
-other lanes, and it is a fact that, on a certain Saturday, Speug came
-out with one of his father's traps, and Mistress Moossy, as she was
-called, was driven far and wide about the country around Muirtown.
-
-"You are what the papers call a ph-philanthropist, Speug," said Nestie,
-"and I expect to hear that you are opening an orphan asylum." And Speug
-promptly replied that, if he did, the first person to be admitted would
-be Nestie, and that he would teach him manners.
-
-It was a fortunate thing for Moossy that some one died in Germany and
-left him a little money, so that he could give up the hopeless drudgery
-of the Seminary and go home to live in a little house upon the banks of
-the Rhine. His wife, who had been improving under Dr. Manley's care,
-began to brisk up at once, and was quite certain of recovery when one
-afternoon they left Muirtown Station. Some dozen boys were there to see
-them off, and it was Jock and Speug who helped Moossy to place
-her comfortably in the carriage. The gang had pooled their
-pocket-money--selling one or two treasures to swell the sum--that Moossy
-and his wife might go away laden with such dainties as schoolboys love,
-and Nestie had a bunch of flowers to place in her hands. They still
-called him Moossy, as they had done before, and he looked, to tell the
-truth, almost as shabby and his hair was as long as ever; but he was in
-great spirits and much touched by the kindness of his tormentors. As the
-English mail pulled out of Muirtown Station with quickening speed, the
-boys ran along the platform beside the carriage shaking hands with
-Moossy through the open window and passing in their gifts.
-
-"Take care o' mices!" shouted Jock, with agreeable humour, but the last
-sight Moossy had of Muirtown was Speug standing on a luggage-barrow and
-waving farewell.
-
-
-
-
-A LAST RESOURCE
-
-X
-
-
-That the Rector should be ill and absent from his classes from time to
-time was quite in the order of things, because he was a scholar and
-absent-minded to a degree--going to bed in the morning, and being got
-out of bed in rather less than time for his work; eating when it
-occurred to him, but preferring, on the whole, not to eat at all;
-wearing very much the same clothes summer and winter, and if he added a
-heavy top-coat, more likely putting it on in the height of summer and
-going without it when there were ten degrees of frost. It was not for
-his scholarship, but for his peculiarities, that the school loved him;
-not because he edited a "Caesar" and compiled a set of Latin exercises,
-for which perfectly unnecessary and disgusting labours the school hated
-him, but because he used to arrive at ten minutes past nine, and his
-form was able to jeer at Bulldog's boys as they hastened into their
-class-room with much discretion at one minute before the hour. Because
-he used to be so much taken up with a happy phrase in Horace that he
-would forget the presence of his class, and walk up and down before the
-fireplace, chortling aloud; and because sometimes he was so hoarse that
-he could only communicate with the class by signs, which they
-unanimously misunderstood. Because he would sometimes be absent for a
-whole week, and his form was thrown in with another, with the result of
-much enjoyable friction, and an almost perfect neglect of work. He was
-respected and never was annoyed, not even by ruffians like Howieson,
-because everyone knew that the Rector was an honourable gentleman, with
-all his eccentric ways, and the _Muirtown Advertiser_ had a leader every
-spring on the achievements of his scholars. Edinburgh professors who
-came to examine the school used to fill up their speeches on the
-prize-day with graceful compliments to the Rector, supported by
-classical quotations, during which the boys cheered rapturously and the
-Rector looked as if he were going to be hung. He was one of the
-recognised glories of Muirtown, and was freely referred to at municipal
-banquets by bailies whose hearts had grown merry within them drinking
-the Queen's health, and was associated in the peroration to the toast of
-"the Fair City" with the North Meadow and the Fair Maid, and the River
-Tay and the County Gaol.
-
-Bulldog was of another breed. Whatever may have been his negligences of
-dress and occupation in private life--and on this subject Nestie and
-Speug told fearful lies--he exhibited the most exasperating regularity
-in public, from his copper-plate handwriting to his speckless dress, but
-especially by an inhuman and absolutely sinful punctuality. No one with
-a heart within him and some regard to the comfort of his fellow
-creatures, especially boys, had any right to observe times and seasons
-with such exactness. During all our time, except on the one great
-occasion I wish to record, he was never known to be ill, not even with a
-cold; and it was said that he never had been for a day off duty, even in
-the generation before us. His erect, spare frame, without an ounce of
-superfluous flesh, seemed impervious to disease, and there was a feeling
-in the background of our minds that for any illness to have attacked
-Bulldog would have been an act of impertinence which he would have known
-how to deal with. It was firmly believed that for the last fifty
-years--and some said eighty, but that was poetry--Bulldog had entered
-his class-room every morning, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and
-holidays, at 8.50, and was ready to begin work at the stroke of nine.
-There was a pleasant story that in the days of our fathers there had
-been such a fall of snow and so fierce a wind that the bridge had been
-drifted up, and no one could cross that morning from the other side. The
-boys from the south side of the town had brought news of the drift to
-the school, and the earlier arrivals, who had come in hope of a
-snow-fight, were so mightily taken with the news that they hurried to
-the Muirtown end of the bridge to look at the drift, and danced with joy
-at the thought that on the other side Bulldog was standing, for once
-helpless and dismayed. Speug's father, true ancestor of such a son, had
-shouted across the drift invitations for Bulldog to come over, secure in
-the fact that he could not be seen across its height, and in the hope
-that Bulldog would not know his voice. When they were weary celebrating
-the event, and after a pleasant encounter with a hastily organised
-regiment of message boys, the eager scholars sauntered along to the
-school, skirmishing as they went, just to be ready for the midday fight
-with the "Pennies." For the pure joy of it they opened the door of the
-mathematical class-room, merely to see how it looked when Bulldog was
-not there, and found that estimable teacher at his desk, waiting to
-receive them with bland courtesy. Some said that he had stayed in
-Muirtown all night, anticipating that drift, others that he had climbed
-over it in the early morning, before Muirtown was awake; but it was
-found out afterwards that he had induced old Duncan Rorison, the
-salmon-fisher, to ferry him across the flooded river, that it took them
-an hour to reach the Muirtown side, and that they had both been nearly
-drowned in the adventure.
-
-"Come in, my boys," was all that he said. "Ye're a little late, but the
-roads are heavy this morning. Come to the fire and warm yir hands before
-ye begin yir work. It's a fine day for mathematics," and Mr. McGuffie
-senior used to tell his son with much relish that their hands were
-warmed. The school was profoundly convinced that if necessary Bulldog
-would be prepared to swim the river rather than miss a day in the
-mathematical class-room.
-
-It was a pleasant spring morning, and the "marble" season had just
-begun, when Howieson, after a vicious and well-directed stroke which won
-him three "brownies," inquired casually whether anybody had seen Bulldog
-go in; for, notwithstanding the years which came and went, his passing
-in was always an occasion. Everyone then recollected that he had not
-been seen, but no one for a moment suggested that he had not arrived;
-and even when the school trooped into the class-room and found Bulldog's
-desk empty, there was no exhilaration and no tendency to take advantage
-of the circumstances. No one knew where he might be lying in wait, and
-from what quarter he might suddenly appear; and it was wonderful with
-what docility the boys began to work under the mild and beneficent reign
-of Mr. Byles, who had not at that time joined with the Dowbiggins in the
-unlawful pursuit of game. As the forenoon wore on there was certainly
-some curiosity, and Nestie was questioned as to Bulldog's whereabouts;
-but it was understood to be a point of honour with Nestie, as a member
-of his household, to give no information about Bulldog's movements, and
-so the school were none the wiser. There was some wild talk during the
-hour, and a dozen stories were afloat by afternoon. Next morning it was
-boldly said that Bulldog was ill, and some, who did not know what truth
-was, asserted that he was in bed, and challenged Nestie to deny the
-slander. That ingenious young gentleman replied vaguely but politely,
-and veiled the whole situation in such a mist of irrelevant detail that
-the school went in for the second day to the class-room rejoicing with
-trembling, and not at all sure whether Bulldog might not arrive in a
-carriage and pair, possibly with a large comforter round his throat, but
-otherwise full of spirits and perfectly fit for duty. It was only after
-the twelve o'clock break and a searching cross-examination of Nestie
-that the school could believe in the goodness of Providence, and felt
-like the Children of Israel on the other bank of the Red Sea. Some were
-for celebrating their independence in the North Meadow and treating Mr.
-Byles with absolute contempt; but there were others who judged with some
-acuteness that they could have the North Meadow any day, but they might
-never again have a full hour in the mathematical class-room without
-Bulldog. There seemed a certain fitness in holding the celebration amid
-the scenes of labour and discipline, and the mathematical class went in
-to wait on Mr. Byles's instruction in high spirits and without one
-missing. It is true that the Dowbiggins showed for the first time some
-reluctance in attending to their studies, but it was pointed out to them
-in a very firm and persuasive way by Speug that it would be disgraceful
-for them to be absent when Bulldog was ill, and that the class could not
-allow such an act of treachery. Speug was so full of honest feeling that
-he saw Thomas John safely within the door, and, since he threatened an
-unreasonable delay, assisted him across the threshold from behind. There
-is no perfectly full and accurate account extant of what took place
-between twelve and one that day in the mathematical class-room, but what
-may be called contributions to history oozed out and were gratefully
-welcomed by the school. It was told how Bauldie, being summoned by Mr.
-Byles to work a problem on the board, instead of a triangle drew a
-fetching likeness of Mr. Byles himself, and being much encouraged by the
-applause of the class, and having an artist's love of his work, thrust a
-pipe into Mr. Byles's mouth (pictorially), and blacked one of Mr.
-Byles's eyes (also pictorially), and then went to his seat with a sense
-of modest worth. That Mr. Byles, through a want of artistic
-appreciation, resented this Bohemian likeness of himself, and, moved by
-a Philistine spirit, would have wiped it from the board; but the senior
-members of the class would on no account allow any work by a young but
-promising master to be lost, and succeeded in the struggle in wiping
-Mr. Byles's own face with the chalky cloth. That Mr. Byles, instead of
-entering into the spirit of the day, lost his temper and went to
-Bulldog's closet for a cane; whereupon Speug, seizing the opportunity so
-pleasantly afforded, locked Mr. Byles in that place of retirement, and
-so kept him out of any further mischief for the rest of the hour. That
-as Mr. Byles had been deposed from office on account of his incapacity,
-and the place of mathematical master was left vacant, Speug was
-unanimously elected to the position, and gave an address, from Bulldog's
-desk, replete with popular humour. That as Thomas John did not seem to
-be giving such attention to his studies as might have been expected,
-Speug ordered that he be brought up for punishment, which was promptly
-done by Bauldie and Howieson. That after a long review of Thomas John's
-iniquitous career, Speug gave him the tawse with much faithfulness,
-Bauldie seeing that Thomas John held out his hand in a becoming fashion;
-then that unhappy young gentleman was sent to his seat with a warning
-from Speug that this must never occur again. That Nestie, having
-stealthily left the room, gave such an accurate imitation of Bulldog's
-voice in the passage--"Pack of little fiddlers taking advantage of my
-absence; but I'll warm them"--that there was an instantaneous rush for
-the seats; and when the door opened and Nestie appeared, the
-mathematical class-room was as quiet as pussy, and Speug was
-ostentatiously working at a mathematical problem. There are men living
-who look back on that day with modest, thankful hearts, finding in its
-remembrance a solace in old age for the cares of life; and the scene on
-which they dwell most fondly is Nestie, whose face had been whitened for
-his abominable trick, standing on the top of Bulldog's desk, and singing
-a school song with the manner of the Count and the accent of Moossy,
-while Speug with a cane in his hand compelled Dowbiggin to join in the
-chorus, and Byles could be heard bleating from the closet. Ah, me! how
-soon we are spoiled by this sinful world, and lose the sweet innocence
-of our first years! how poor are the rewards of ambition compared with
-the simple pleasures of childhood!
-
-It could not be expected that we should ever have another day as good
-again, but everyone had a firm confidence in the originality of Speug
-when it was a question of mischief. We gathered hopefully round the
-Russian guns next morning--for, as I have said, the guns were our forum
-and place of public address--and, while affecting an attitude of studied
-indifference, we waited with desire to hear the plan of campaign from
-our leader's lips. But Speug, like all great generals, was full of
-surprises, and that morning he was silent and unapproachable. Various
-suggestions were made for brightening the mathematical labours and
-cheering up Mr. Byles, till at last Howieson, weary of their futility,
-proposed that the whole class should go up to the top of the North
-Meadow and bathe in the river, and then Speug broke silence.
-
-"Ye may go to bathe if ye like, Jock, and Cosh may go with ye, and if
-he's drowned it'll be no loss, nor, for that matter, if the half of ye
-are carried down the river. For myself, I'm going to the mathematical
-class, and if onybody meddles wi' Byles I'll fight him in the back yard
-in the dinner-hour for half a dozen stone-gingers."
-
-"Is there onything wrang with your head, Speug?" For the thought of
-Peter busy with a triangle under the care and pastoral oversight of Mr.
-Byles could only be explained in one way.
-
-"No," replied Speug savagely, "nor with my fists, either. The fact
-is----" And then Speug hesitated, realising amid his many excellences a
-certain deficiency of speech for a delicate situation. "Nestie, what are
-ye glowering at? Get up on the gun and tell them aboot--what ye told me
-this meenut." And the school gathered in amazement round our pulpit, on
-which Nestie stood quite unconcerned.
-
-"It was very good fun-n yesterday, boys, but it won't do to-t-to-day.
-Bully's very ill, and Doctor Manley is afraid that he may--d-die, and it
-would be beastly bad form-m to be having larks when Bulldog
-is--maybe----" And Nestie came down hurriedly from the gun and went
-behind the crowd, while Speug covered his retreat in an aggressive
-manner, all the more aggressive that he did not seem himself to be quite
-indifferent.
-
-Manley said it. Then every boy knew it must be going hard with Bulldog;
-for there was not in broad Scotland a cleverer, pluckier, cheerier soul
-in his great profession than John Manley, M.D., of Edinburgh, with half
-a dozen honours of Scotland, England, and France. He had an insight into
-cases that was almost supernatural, he gave prescriptions which nobody
-but his own chemist could make up, he had expedients of treatment that
-never occurred to any other man, and then he had a way with him that
-used to bring people up from the gates of death and fill despairing
-relatives with hope. His arrival in the sick room, a little man, with
-brusque, sharp, straightforward manner, seemed in itself to change the
-whole face of things and beat back the tides of disease. He would not
-hear that any disease was serious, but he treated it as if it were; he
-would not allow a gloomy face in a sick room, and his language to women
-who began to whimper, when he got them outside the room, was such as tom
-cats would be ashamed of; and he regarded the idea of any person below
-eighty dying on his hands as a piece of incredible impertinence. All
-over Perthshire country doctors in their hours of anxiety and perplexity
-sent for Manley; and when two men like William McClure and John Manley
-took a job in hand together, Death might as well leave and go to
-another case, for he would not have a look in with those champions in
-the doorway. English sportsmen in lonely shooting-boxes sent for the
-Muirtown crack in hours of sudden distress, and then would go up to
-London and swear in the clubs that there was a man down there in a
-country town of Scotland who was cleverer than all the West End swell
-doctors put together. He would not allow big names of diseases to be
-used in his hearing, believing that the shadow killed more people than
-the reality, and fighting with all his might against the melancholy
-delight that Scots people have in serious sickness and other dreary
-dispensations. When Manley returned one autumn from a week's holiday and
-found the people of the North Free Kirk mourning in the streets over
-their minister, because he was dying of diphtheria, and his young wife
-asking grace to give her husband up if it were the will of God, Manley
-went to the house in a whirlwind of indignation, declaring that to call
-a sore throat diphtheria was a tempting of Providence, and that it was a
-mere mercy that they hadn't got the real disease "just for a judgment."
-It happened, however, that his treatment was exactly the same as that
-for diphtheria, and although he remarked that he didn't know whether it
-was necessary for him to come back again for such an ordinary case, he
-did drop in by a series of accidents twice a day for more than a week;
-and although no one dared to whisper it in his presence, there are
-people who think to this day that the minister had diphtheria. As
-Manley, however, insisted that it was nothing but a sore throat, the
-minister felt bound to get better, and the whole congregation would have
-thanked Manley in a body had it not been that he would have laughed
-aloud. Many a boy remembered the day when he had been ill and sweating
-with terror lest he should die--although he wouldn't have said that to
-any living creature--and Manley had come in like a breeze of fresh air,
-and declared that he was nothing but a "skulking young dog," with
-nothing wrong about him, except the desire to escape for three days from
-Bulldog.
-
-"Well, Jimmie, ye don't deserve it, for you're the most mischievous
-little rascal, except Peter McGuffie, in the whole of Muirtown; but I'll
-give you three days in bed, and your mother will let you have something
-nice to eat, and then out you go and back to the Seminary," and going
-out of the door Manley would turn round and shake his fist at the bed,
-"just a trick, nothing else." It might be three weeks before the boy was
-out of bed, but he was never afraid again, and had some heart to fight
-his disease.
-
-Boys are not fools, and the Seminary knew that, if Manley had allowed
-death to be even mentioned in connexion with Bulldog, it was more than
-likely that they would never see the master of the mathematical
-department again. And boys are a perfect absurdity, for--as sure as
-death--they were not glad. Bulldog had thrashed them all, or almost
-all, with faithfulness and perseverance, and some of them he had
-thrashed many times; he had never petted any of them, and never more
-than six times, perhaps, said a kind word to them in public. But that
-morning, as they stood silent, awkward and angry, round the guns, there
-is no doubt about it, the Seminary knew that it loved Bulldog. Never to
-see his erect figure and stern face come across the North Meadow, never
-to hear him say again from the desk, "Attention to your work, you little
-fiddlers"; never to watch him promenading down between the benches,
-overseeing each boy's task and stimulating the negligent on some tender
-part of their bodies; never to be thrashed by him again! At the thought
-of this calamity each boy felt bad in his clothes, and Speug, resenting
-what he judged the impertinent spying of Cosh, threatened to punch his
-head, and "learn Cosh to be watching him." As everybody knows, boys have
-no sentiment and no feeling, so the collapse of that morning must be set
-down to pure cussedness; but the school was so low that Byles ruled over
-them without resistance, and might have thrashed them if he had so
-pleased and had not ventured to use Bulldog's cane.
-
-Had they not been boys, they would have called at Bulldog's to learn how
-he was. Being boys, they avoided his name and pretended they were
-indifferent; but when they met Manley on the bridge that afternoon, and
-judged he had come from Bulldog's, they studied his face with the skill
-of wild animals, and concluded each one for himself that things were
-going badly with the master. They picked up every scrap of information
-from their fathers in the evening, although they fiercely resented the
-suggestion of their mothers that they would be concerned about "Mr.
-MacKinnon's illness"--as if they cared whether a master were ill or
-well, as if it were not better for them that he should be ill,
-especially such an old brute as Bulldog. And the average mother was very
-much disappointed by this lack of feeling, and said to her husband at
-night that she had expected better things from Archibald; but if she had
-gone suddenly into Bauldie's room--for that was his real name, Archibald
-being only the thing given in baptism--she would have found that
-truculent worthy sobbing aloud and covering his head with the blankets,
-lest his elder brother, who slept in the same room, should hear him. You
-have no reason to believe me, and his mother would not have believed me,
-but--as sure as death--Bauldie was crying because Bulldog was sick unto
-death.
-
-Next morning Speug and a couple of friends happened by the merest
-accident to be loitering at Bailie MacFarlane's shop window, and
-examining with interest the ancient furniture exposed, at the very time
-when that worthy magistrate came out and questioned Dr. Manley "How
-things were going up-bye wi' the maister?"
-
-"Not well, bailie, not well at all. I don't like the case; it looks bad,
-very bad indeed, and I'm not a croaker. Disease is gone, and he's a
-strong man, not a stronger in Muirtown than MacKinnon; but he has lost
-interest in things, and isn't making an effort to get better; just lying
-quiet and looking at you--says he's taking a rest, and if we don't get
-him waked up, I tell you, Bailie, it will be a long one."
-
-"Michty," said the Bailie, overcome with astonishment at the thought of
-Bulldog dying, as it were, of gentleness.
-
-"Yes, yes," said Manley; "but that's just the way with those strong,
-healthy men, who have never known a day's sickness till they are old;
-they break up suddenly. And he'll be missed. Bailie, Bulldog didn't
-thrash you and me, else we would have been better men; but he has
-attended to our boys."
-
-"He has been verra conscientious," and the Bailie shook his head, sadly
-mourning over a man who had laid down his life in discharge of
-discipline. But the boys departed without remark, and Speug loosened the
-strap of Bauldie's books, so that they fell in a heap upon the street,
-whereat there was a brisk interchange of ideas, and then the company
-went on its way rejoicing. So callous is a boy.
-
-Nestie was not at school that day, and perhaps that was the reason that
-Speug grew sulky and ill-tempered, taking offence if anyone looked at
-him, and picking quarrels in the corridors, and finally disappearing
-during the dinner-hour. It was supposed that he had broken bounds and
-gone to Woody Island, that forbidden Paradise of the Seminary, and that
-while the class was wasting its time with Byles, Peter was playing the
-Red Indian. He did not deny the charge next day, and took an hour's
-detention in the afternoon with great equanimity, but at the time he was
-supposed to be stalking Indians behind the trees, and shooting them as
-they floated down the river on a log, he was lying among the hay in his
-father's stable, hidden from sight, and--as sure as death--Speug was
-trying to pray for Bulldog.
-
-The virtues of Mr. McGuffie senior were those of the natural man, and
-Mr. McGuffie junior had never been present at any form of family
-prayers, nor had he attended a Sunday-school, nor had he sat under any
-minister in particular. He had no training in devotional exercises,
-although he had enjoyed an elaborate education in profanity under his
-father and the grooms, and so his form of prayer was entirely his own.
-
-"God, I dinna ken how to call You, but they say Ye hear onybody. I'm
-Peter McGuffie, but mebbe Ye will ken me better by Speug. I'm no' a good
-laddie like Nestie, and I'm aye gettin' the tawse, but I'm awful fond of
-Bulldog. Dinna kill Bulldog, God; dinna kill Bulldog! If Ye let him aff
-this time I'll never say any bad words again--as sure as death--and I'll
-never play truant, and I'll never slap Dowbiggin's face, and I'll never
-steal birds' eggs, and I'll never set the terrier on the cats. I'll wash
-my face and--my hands, too, and I'll go to the Sabbath-schule, and I'll
-do onything Ye ask me if Ye'll let off Bulldog. For ony sake, dinna kill
-Bulldog."
-
-When Dr. Manley came out from the master's garden door that evening he
-stumbled upon Speug, who was looking very miserable, but began to
-whistle violently the moment he was detected, and denied that he had
-come to ask for news.
-
-"You did, you young limmer, and you needn't tell me lies, for I know
-you, Speug, and your father before you. I wish I'd good news to give
-you, but I haven't. I fear you've had your last thrashing from Bulldog."
-
-For a moment Speug kicked at a stone on the road and thrust his hands
-deep into his pockets; then the corners of his mouth began to twitch,
-and turning round he hid his face upon the wall, while his tough little
-body that had stood many a fight shook all over. Doctor Manley was the
-first person that had seen Speug cry, and he stood over him to protect
-him from the gaze of any wandering message boys who might come along the
-lane. By and by Speug began to speak between his sobs.
-
-"It was a lee, Doctor, for I did come up to ask, but I dinna like to
-let on.... I heard ye say that ye couldna rouse Bulldog to take an
-interest in onything, and I thought o' something."
-
-"What was it, Speug?" and the doctor laid his hands on the boy's
-shoulder and encouraged him to proceed. "I'll never tell, you may trust
-me."
-
-"Naething pleased Bulldog sae weel as givin' us a lickin'; if he juist
-had a cane in his hands and a laddie afore him, Bulldog would sune be
-himsel' again, and--there's no a laddie in schule he's licked as often
-as me. And I cam up----" and Speug stuck.
-
-"To offer yourself for a thrashing, you mean. You've mentioned the
-medicine; 'pon my word, I believe it's just the very thing that will do
-the trick. Confound you, Speug! if you haven't found out what I was
-seeking after, and I've been doctoring those Muirtown sinners for more
-than thirty years. Come along, laddie; we've had our consultation, and
-we'll go to the patient." And Manley hurried Speug through the garden
-and into the house. "Wait a minute here," said the doctor, "and I'll
-come back to you." And in a little while Nestie came down-stairs and
-found his friend in the lobby, confused and frightened for the first
-time in his life, and Nestie saw the marks of distress upon his face.
-"Doctor M-Manley told me, Speug, and" (putting an arm round his neck)
-"you're the g-goodest chap in Muirtown. It's awfully d-decent of you,
-and it'll p-please Bully tremendous." And then Speug went up as
-consulting physician to visit Bulldog. Nestie brought him forward to the
-bedside, and at last he had courage to look, and it took him all his
-time to play the man when he saw Bulldog so thin, so quiet, so gentle,
-with his face almost as white as the pillow, and his hands upon the
-bedclothes wasted like to the hands of a skeleton. The master smiled
-faintly, and seemed to be glad to see the worst of all his scholars, but
-he did not say anything. Dr. Manley kept in the background and allowed
-the boys to manage their own business, being the wisest of men as well
-as the kindliest. Although Nestie made signs to Speug and gave him every
-encouragement, Peter could not find a word, but stood helpless, biting
-his lip and looking the very picture of abject misery.
-
-"Peter has come, sir," said Nestie, "to ask for you. He is very sorry
-that you are ill, and so are all the boys. Peter thought you might be
-wearying to--to use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
-little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid an old cane he had
-hunted up, a cane retired from service, upon the bed within reach of
-Bulldog's hand. A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, the
-first expression of interest he had shown during his illness. He turned
-his head and looked at Peter, the figure of chastened mischief. The
-remembrance of the past--the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
-with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the scratching of the pens,
-came up to him, and his soul was stirred within him. His hand closed
-again upon the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw open
-upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the
-strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers
-can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and
-overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out
-of the room, who went into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
-dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while
-upstairs in the sick-room Manley declared that Bulldog had turned the
-corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."
-
-[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED AGAIN UPON THE SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY."]
-
-The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable-yard,
-for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called
-him "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat
-Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's
-phaeton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale
-that the doctor was bringing him home with two broken legs as the result
-of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-bye in the presence
-of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news
-of Bulldog's convalescence, and next day stone-ginger was flowing like
-water down the throats of the Seminary.
-
-
-
-
-A PLEASANT SIN
-
-XI
-
-
-Captious people, such as ministers of religion and old maids of the
-precise kind, considered that the Seminary were guilty of many sins and
-mentioned them freely; but those excellent people erred through lack of
-vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, putting the Dowbiggins'
-clothes into a state of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the
-"Pennies," having a stand-up fight between two well-matched champions,
-say, once a month, and "ragging" Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of
-evil, but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the high spirit of
-those who were active, and teaching the Christian grace of meekness to
-those who were passive. There was only one act which the Seminary knew
-it ought not to do, and which all the boys wanted to do, which they
-enjoyed very much in doing, and were quite willing to be punished for
-doing. The besetting sin of a school--a country school--which will
-remain its sin until the days of the millennium have fairly set in, was
-playing truant.
-
-This crime was equivalent to high treason in the State, and consisted in
-a boy absenting himself from school without the knowledge of his
-parents, and without the consent of his master, for a day or half of a
-day. The boy did not disappear because he was ill, for he was on such
-occasions outrageously well: nor because he was overburdened by work,
-for the truants always guarded themselves against brain fag; nor because
-he wanted to hang about the streets, or smoke in secret places. He was
-simply seized with the passion of the open air and of the country. To
-tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' eggs and watching the
-ways of wild animals; to guddle for trout under the stones of some clear
-running mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on a summer day, or
-to join the haymakers on a farm, and do a full day's work, as long as
-lesson time and harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, as if
-an animal had broken out from a menagerie; there was joy in thinking, as
-you lay beside your burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
-mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their sums, under
-Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home in the evening, tired, but
-satisfied, and passing the empty Seminary with defiance. There is no
-joy--I mean sin--but has its drawbacks, and there were clouds in the
-truant's sky. Country folk had their own suspicions when they came on a
-couple of boys going at large on a working day, when the school was in
-session, as one might have a shrewd guess if he came upon two convicts
-in their professional dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
-there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who have escaped from a
-cage, unless it be a tigress looking for her dinner, and no one would
-have thought of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
-Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished him for his evil
-doings--as I shall tell.
-
-"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, as he came upon them
-sitting by the burnside eating bread and cheese and counting up their
-trout, "I'm judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, or
-mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir health. Or is this
-the reward for doing yir work so well? Ye have all the appearance of
-scholars." And then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery and
-the confusion of the boys.
-
-"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest mended, and ye mind where
-leears go to. But I'm thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk
-to wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries in the garden up
-by, just about ripe."
-
-So they all went up to the farm kitchen and had a glorious tuck in, and
-were afterwards turned loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
-watched them with keen delight and a remembrance of past days. Whose
-place in heaven for such deeds of charity is already secure.
-
-The authorities at home were not so lenient, and the experienced truant
-was careful, when he could, to time his arrival home about five o'clock
-in the afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and one hour more
-of special confinement. According to the truant's code he was not
-allowed to tell a lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
-but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed statement of the
-truth. If his father charged him with being kept in at school for not
-having done his work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed it to
-go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. When, however,
-a boy was by habit and repute a truant, his father learned by experience
-and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had an extra touch of the
-sun on his face, and his clothing was disorderly beyond usual, and his
-manner was especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please every
-person quite remarkable, and if in moments of unconsciousness he seemed
-to be chewing the cud of some recent pleasure, the father was apt to
-subject him to a searching cross-examination. And his mother had to beg
-the boy off with many a plea, such as mothers know how to use; and if
-the others did not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, she
-could always send the good man back upon his memory, and put it to his
-conscience whether he ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin
-the boy had inherited from himself.
-
-It was next morning that the truant really paid for his pleasure; and
-the price was sharp, for there was no caning to be compared with that
-which followed a day in the country. It was a point of honour that no
-boy should show distress; but even veterans bit their lips as the cane
-fell first on the right hand and then on the left, and right across the
-palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the hand, if the cane was
-young and flexible. Speug, though a man of war and able to endure
-anything, used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather was cold,
-before going in to the inquisition, and after he had received a
-switching of the first order he would go down to the lade and cool his
-hands in the running water. It was an interesting spectacle to see four
-able-bodied sinners, who yesterday had given themselves to the study of
-Nature, now kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our waters of
-Lethe; but you must remember that they made no moan before the boys, and
-no complaint against the master. The school received them with respect
-when they came out, and Speug would indicate with a wink and a jerk of
-his head that Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to be trifled
-with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered cub ventured to come
-too near when Peter was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are
-that Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to be looking
-where he had no business."
-
-Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some weak-hearted boys, but
-it never prevented any of the hardy ruffians from having their day out
-when the fever seized them. Playing truant was the same thing for a boy
-as bolting for a high-spirited horse; done once, the animal is bound to
-try it again, and to both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
-much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead and then go astray in cold
-blood, because this sin was not an act of malice aforethought--it was a
-sudden impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the blood. Had
-one determined on Tuesday night to take Wednesday, it might have turned
-out in our fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as soon be
-playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in the dinner-hour, or, for
-that matter, amusing himself in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the
-morning ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
-water--arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, and planning how to
-escape a lesson he had not prepared; but he was helpless against Nature
-if she set herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose outside
-the door than the summer air, sweet and fresh, began to play upon his
-face and reminded him of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
-of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that morning in the
-sunshine, brought up a pool where a fat trout was sure to be lying. As
-he crossed the North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
-Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and flowers, and sent his
-blood a-tingling. The books upon his back grew woefully heavy, and the
-Seminary reminded him of the city gaol frowning out on the fields with
-its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered by the lade and saw the
-clear water running briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
-glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie Woods with
-their mysterious depths, and rising high above the houses on the other
-side of the river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The bell
-rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river is running through his
-heart, and the greenery is before his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs
-through the open window awakens the instinct of the wild animal in his
-breast and invites him to be free. Speug has a slate before him, but he
-is not pretending to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, and
-sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make its bolt. He catches
-Howieson's eye and reads that Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal
-of Bauldie whether he prefers compound fractions to a swim, and Bauldie
-explains, also by signal, that, much as he loves fractions, he will be
-obliging that afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth would
-complete the party; and when Speug lifts his eyebrows with great
-dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitchell, three desks off, "Piggie," like the
-gallant spirit that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be found
-wanting. Not a word has been said, and no one will say "Truant" at any
-time, but at the next break the four separate themselves quietly and
-unobtrusively from their fellows, and by the time the last boy has gone
-through the door, they are scudding across the meadow to Speug's
-stable-yard, where they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
-more is needed than a hunch of bread and some fish-hooks; but as they
-ran Speug had dropped the word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
-was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the town, long and
-narrow, formed with a division of the river into its main current and a
-sluggish backwater. It was covered with dense brushwood, except where
-here and there a patch of green turf was left bare, and the island was
-indented with little bays where the river rippled on clean sand and
-gravel. It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself in
-it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and then you had to find your
-comrades by signal; and it had little tracks through it, and there was
-one place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to be a cave, and
-where certainly two boys could get out of sight if they lay very close
-together and did not mind being half smothered. When you went to Woody
-Island, and left the mainland, you were understood to blot out the
-Seminary and Muirtown and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
-somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the possession of the
-children of the forest; the ashes of their fires could be seen any day
-there, and you could come upon their wigwams in one of the open spots.
-There was a place where they had massacred three trappers and taken
-their scalps, and in that cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian
-scout, lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth of his rifle
-peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned braves at bay for a
-whole day. It was a fairy world in which our Indian tales could be
-reproduced upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the heroes we had
-so often admired. The equipment for the day consisted of four tomahawks
-(three axes out of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
-which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols (one belonging to
-Speug and the other to Bauldie); a couple of toy rifles--not things for
-kids, mark you, but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
-caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage cloth from Peter's
-yard; and a kettle for boiling water--I mean cooking the game--which
-Jock Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy had to visit his
-home on pretence of returning for a book, and bring away the necessary
-articles of war and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; and
-then everything, axes included, and, if possible, the rifles had to be
-hidden away about their persons until the four, skulking by back lanes,
-and separating from one another, reached the top of the North Meadow,
-after which they went up the bank of the river, none daring to make them
-afraid. They were out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
-weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into an Indian trapper, and
-giving directions about how they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
-Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate whether they would have a
-chance of meeting with the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
-try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, because, although
-they had not yet entered the Indian territory, the crafty foe might have
-scouts out on this side of the river, and in that case there was no hope
-of Woody Island. The Indians would be in ambush among the trees on the
-bank, and the four would be shot down as they crossed.
-
-Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's Indians, but a white man--a
-renegade--who, to his shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
-always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. This miscreant was
-a farmer on the mainland, who was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a
-determined objection to any boys, or other savages, except, as I have
-said, the Seminole tribe living on the island, and who used to threaten
-pains and penalties against anyone whom he caught on his land. One never
-knew when he might be about, and it was absolutely necessary to reach
-the island without his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
-used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday dinner, and then
-creep along the bank of the river and ferry himself across with the
-other trappers in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to the
-other side of the island and kept there for the return voyage in the
-evening, so that the farmer was helpless to reach the island, and could
-only address the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from the
-bank, which was sent back to him in faithful echo. This forenoon the
-farmer happened to be hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite
-the island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, for now the four had
-to drop down and crawl along through the thick grass by the river's
-edge, availing themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
-with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed so near the
-farmer that they could hear him speak and hear the click of the hoes as
-the people worked in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
-and looked through between the branches of a shrub, you could see him,
-and Bauldie actually covered him with his rifle. The unconscious farmer
-knew not that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon Bauldie's
-trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his chief, for he would dearly
-have loved to fire a cap, but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the
-trapper dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards explained that
-the renegade had certainly deserved death, but that it was dangerous to
-fire with so many of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
-side of the river. By and by the farmer and his people had worked
-themselves to the other end of the field, and the trappers, having
-ascertained that there were no Indians watching them, prepared to cross.
-Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out suddenly and unadvisedly, for
-the farmer had chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
-mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, for they would have
-stripped and swum across, and back again when they were tired of the
-other side, for every one of them could swim like an otter; but that day
-they were trappers, with arms, and food, and a tent, and powder which
-must be kept dry, to say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief
-consultation, and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot the farmer
-dead on the spot, and as many of his people as they could. Speug, who
-had been prowling around--though cautiously, mind you, and ever watching
-for a sign of the Seminoles--gave a low, mysterious whistle, which was
-one of the signs among the trappers; and when the others joined him he
-pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." It was an ancient boat which
-the farmer's father had used, and which had lain for years upon the
-bank, unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, it had two
-holes at least in it, and there were no oars. It was a thing which, in
-the farmer's hand, would have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had
-the semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy trappers. Very
-carefully did they work it to the bank, lest it should slip a whole
-plank on the road, and very gently did they drop it in, lest the
-Seminoles should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with his bonnet, and
-Bauldie the second with his; Jock spread his jacket over an oozy part.
-They shipped all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and the
-others, stripping off their clothes and adding them to the cargo of the
-boat, pushed out the boat before them, swimming by its side. It was a
-mere question of time whether the boat would go down in mid-channel; but
-so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, ready at any moment to swim for his
-life, and so powerfully did the others push, swimming with their feet
-and one hand, and with the other hand guiding the boat, that they
-brought it over safely to the other side; and the fact that half their
-clothes were wet through mattered little to men who had often hidden
-from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their eyes and nose out;
-and, at any rate, the food was safe. The matches and the percussion caps
-also were dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the worst
-emergency, they would have been carried on the top of his head if he
-also had been obliged to swim. They brought the boat into a little
-creek, and, communicating by signs to one another--for they were too
-old hunters to be speaking now, when there might be a party of Seminoles
-in that very wood--Speug and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
-with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" and Bauldie drew
-the boat up under cover of the bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that
-even a Seminole's keen eyes would not have been able to detect it. The
-trappers made another hiding-place, and left there the superfluous
-garments of civilisation, confining themselves to a shirt and trousers,
-and a belt which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and Jock, as the
-two veterans who could discover the trail of the Seminoles by a twisted
-leaf on a branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their friends
-to lie low, and they themselves disappeared into the brushwood. They had
-gone to scout, and to make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
-in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed three times, "Piggie"
-nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie hooted like an owl, then they knew that
-it was safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom they found on
-the edge of a clearing, leaning on their rifles in a picturesque
-attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" led, and the others followed, pausing now
-and again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal from
-"Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each took up his position
-behind a tree. But it was a false alarm. Then they went on as before,
-till they came to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
-they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, lighting a fire,
-which they did with immense success, and proceeding to cook dinner. As
-they had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any wandering
-Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild turkey, which, in other
-circumstances, would have been their food; but they made tea (very
-badly, and largely because they wished to use the kettle), and they had
-bread and butter, which had turned into oil through the warmth of
-Bauldie's person, a half ham which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for
-which "Piggie" will have to account some day, and six jam tarts which
-Howieson bought with his last farthing, and which had been reduced
-practically to one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles of
-stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, and afforded them a big
-mouthful each, as they drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
-calculation of time.
-
-[Illustration: "THEY DRANK WITHOUT ANY CUP."]
-
-What a day they had! They fought Indians from one end of the island to
-the other, killing and scalping twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter
-current on the other side, and they dried themselves in the sun, and in
-the sun they slept till they were burned red; and then just as they were
-thinking that it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
-their belongings and set off for home, Speug gave a whistle that had in
-it this time no pretence of danger, and bolted into the wood, followed
-by the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, or the Seminoles
-had sent a message, they never knew, but the farmer was on the island
-and proceeding in their direction through the brushwood. Speug did not
-think that he had seen them, and he would not quite know where they
-were, and in an instant that leader of men had formed what he thought
-the best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the other three,
-who executed a war-dance at the mere thought of the strategy, and then
-departed hurriedly for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
-ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, and just gave the
-farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried up the island.
-
-"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait till I catch ye;
-trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be
-in the nicht, or I'm no farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please,
-but I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back in, for I've
-found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, and knocked the bottom oot
-o' it."
-
-It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, and then Speug was
-standing on the edge of the water at the top of the island, where the
-current runs swift and strong towards the other side.
-
-"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red all over, but not with
-modesty. "I thought I heard somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
-island. Have ye come to bathe?"
-
-"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little deevil, and, my word,
-I'll bathe ye," and the farmer made for Speug.
-
-"I'll bathe mysel'," said Speug, when the enemy almost had his hands on
-him, and dived into the river, coming up nearly opposite the horrified
-man; and then, as he went down with the current which took him over to
-the opposite side, he invited the farmer to come in. When he landed
-Speug bade the farmer good-bye with much courtesy, and hoped he would
-enjoy himself among his Indian friends.
-
-"Wait till I cross," shouted the farmer, "and I'll be after ye, and
-though I ransack Muirtown I'll find ye out. Ye're a gey like spectacle
-to go back to the town. Ye'll no escape me this time, whoever ye be,"
-and the farmer hurried down the island to his boat, which he had loosely
-fastened to one of the trees. When he reached the spot it was not to be
-found, but he could see his boat lying in its accustomed place on the
-other side, chained and padlocked. For the other three trappers had
-gathered all their possessions and clothed themselves like gentlemen,
-and taking Speug's clothes with them, ferried themselves across with
-rapidity and dignity. Once more Speug bade the farmer good-night,
-extending both hands to him in farewell, but now the one hand was in
-front of the other, and the thumb of the inner hand attached to Speug's
-nose. He thoughtfully offered to take any message to Muirtown gaol or
-to the Provost that the farmer desired, and departed, wishing him a
-pleasant night and telling him where he would find the shank of a ham.
-As Peter dressed himself, his friends could only look at him in silent
-admiration, till at the thought of the renegade trapped so neatly and
-confined for at least a night on his own island, Howieson slapped his
-legs and triumphed aloud. And the four returned to Muirtown and to
-civilisation full of joy.
-
-
-
-
-GUERILLA WARFARE
-
-XII
-
-
-There is no person in a Scots country town to be compared with a Bailie
-for authority and dignity, and Bailie MacConachie, of Muirtown, was a
-glory to his order. Provosts might come and go--creatures of three
-years--but this man remained in office for ever, and so towered above
-his brethren of the same kind, that the definite article was attached to
-his title, and to quote "the Bailie" without his name was the recognised
-form and an end to all controversy. Nature had been kind to him, and,
-entering into the designs of Providence, had given him a bodily
-appearance corresponding to his judicial position. He stood six feet in
-his boots, and his erect carriage conveyed the impression of six inches
-more. His waistband passed forty-eight inches; but, to do the great man
-justice, his chest measure was forty-two. His chin rested in folds upon
-his stock, and his broad, clean-shaven, solemn, immovable countenance
-suggested unfathomable depths of wisdom. His voice was deep and husky,
-and the clearance of his throat with which he emphasised his
-deliverances could be heard half a street away and was like the sealing
-of a legal deed. Never since he became a Bailie had he seen his
-boots--at least upon his feet--and his gait, as became his elevation,
-was a stately amble, as when a huge merchant-man puts out to sea,
-driving the water before her bow and yet swaying gently from side to
-side in her progress. Sunday and Saturday--except when officiating at
-the Sacrament, and of course he was then in full blacks--the Bailie wore
-exactly the same kind of dress--a black frock-coat, close buttoned, and
-grey trousers, with a dark blue stock, his one concession to colour. As
-his position was quite assured, being, in the opinion of many, second
-only to that of the Sheriff and the Fiscal, he could afford to wear his
-clothes to the bone, and even to carry one or two stains upon his paunch
-as a means of identification. Walking through the town, he stood at his
-full height, with his hands folded upon the third button of his coat;
-but when he reached the North Meadow, on his way home, and passed the
-Seminary, he allowed his head to droop, and clasped his hands behind
-after the manner of the great Napoleon, and then it was understood that
-the Bailie's mind was wrestling with the affairs of State. People made
-way for him upon the streets as he sailed along, and were pleased with a
-recognition, which always took the form of a judgment from the Bench,
-even though it dealt only with the weather or the crops.
-
-There was no occasion, either in the Council or in the Presbytery, when
-the Bailie did not impress; but every one agreed that he rose to his
-height on the Bench. No surprise, either of evidence or of law, could be
-sprung on him, no sensational incident ever stirred him, no excitement
-of the people ever carried him away. He was the terror of the publicans,
-and would refuse a license if he saw fit without any fear; but if the
-teetotalers tried to dictate to him, he would turn upon them and rend
-his own friends without mercy. When any Muirtown sinner was convicted in
-his court he would preface his sentence with a ponderous exhortation,
-and if the evidence were not sufficient he would allow the accused to go
-as an act of grace, but warn him never to appear again, lest a worse
-thing should befall him. There are profane people in every community,
-and there were those in Muirtown who used to say in private places that
-the Bailie was only a big drum, full of emptiness and sound; but the
-local lawyers found it best to treat him with respect; and until the
-Seminary boys took his Majesty in hand he had never been worsted. No
-doubt an Edinburgh advocate, who had been imported into a petty case to
-browbeat the local Bench, thought he had the Bailie on the hip when that
-eminent man, growing weary of continual allusions to "the defunct," said
-that if he heard anything more about "the defunct" he would adjourn the
-case for a week, and allow him to appear in his own interests. Then the
-advocate explained with elaborate politeness that he was afraid that
-even the summons of the Muirtown Bench could not produce this party, and
-that his appearance, if he came, might secure the court to himself.
-
-"You mean," said the Bailie, eyeing the advocate with unmoved dignity,
-"that the man is dead. Quite so! Quite so! But let me tell you that if
-you had been a Muirtown solicitor you would have had your case better
-prepared, and not wasted our time with the talk of dead people. You are
-still young, and when you have had more experience you will know that it
-is only the evidence of living witnesses that can be received in a court
-of justice. Proceed with your case and confine yourself to relevant
-evidence--yes, sir, relevant evidence."
-
-It only shows the inherent greatness of the man, that in private life
-the Bailie followed the calling of an Italian warehouseman, which
-really, in plain words, was the same thing as a superior grocer, nor was
-he above his trade for eight hours of the day. When not engaged in
-official work, he could be found behind his counter, and yet even there
-he seemed to be upon the Bench. His white apron he wore as a robe of
-office, he heard what the ladies had to say with a judicial air,
-correcting them if they hinted at any tea costing less than four and
-sixpence per pound, commanding a cheese to be brought forward for
-inspection, as if it had been a prisoner in the dock, probing it with
-searching severity and giving a judgment upon it from which there was no
-appeal. He distinguished between customers, assigning to each such
-provisions as were suitable for their several homes, inquiring in a
-paternal manner after the welfare of their children, and when the case
-was concluded--that is to say, the tea and the sugar bought--even
-condescending to a certain high level of local gossip. When the customer
-left the shop it was with a sense of privilege, as if one had been
-called up for a little to sit with the judge. It was understood that
-only people of a certain standing were included among the Bailie's
-customers, and the sight of the Countess of Kilspindie's carriage at his
-door marked out his province of business. Yet if a little lassie
-stumbled into the shop and asked for a pennyworth of peppermints, he
-would order her to be served, adding a peppermint or two more, and some
-good advice which sent away the little woman much impressed; for though
-the Bailie committed one big, blazing indiscretion, and suffered
-terribly in consequence thereof, he was a good and honest man.
-
-The Bailie made only one public mistake in his life, but it was on the
-largest scale, and every one wondered that a man so sagacious should
-have deliberately entered into a feud with the boys of the Seminary. The
-Bailie had battled in turn with the Licensed Victuallers, who as a
-fighting body are not to be despised, and with the Teetotalers, whom
-every wise man who loves peace of mind leaves alone; with the Tories,
-who were his opponents, and with the Liberals, his own party, when he
-happened to disagree with them; with the Town Council, whom he
-vanquished, and with the Salmon Fishery Board, whom he brought to terms;
-but all those battles were as nothing to a campaign with the boys. There
-is all the difference in the world between a war with regulars,
-conducted according to the rules of military science, and a series of
-guerilla skirmishes, wherein all the chances are with the alert and
-light-armed enemy. Any personage who goes to war with boys is bound to
-be beaten, for he may threaten and attack, but he can hardly ever hurt
-them, and never possibly can conquer them; and they will buzz round him
-like wasps, will sting him and then be off, will put him to shame before
-the public, will tease him on his most sensitive side, will lie in wait
-for him in unexpected places with an ingenuity and a perseverance and a
-mercilessness which are born of the Devil, who in such matters is the
-unfailing ally of all genuine boys.
-
-It was no doubt annoying to a person of the Bailie's dignity and
-orderliness to see the terrace in which the Seminary stood, and which
-had the honour of containing his residence, turned into a playground,
-and outrageous that Jock Howieson, playing rounders in front of a
-magistrate's residence, should send the ball crack through the
-plate-glass window of a magistrate's dining-room. It was fearsome
-conduct on the part of Jock, and even the ball itself should have known
-better; but the Bailie might have been certain that Jock did not intend
-to lose his ball and his game also, and the maddest thing the magistrate
-could do was to make that ball a cause of war. It was easy enough to go
-to Bulldog's class-room and lodge a complaint, but as he could not
-identify the culprit, and no one would tell on Jock, the Bailie departed
-worsted, and the address which he gave the boys was received with
-derision. When he turned from the boys to the master, he fared no
-better, for Bulldog who hated tell-tales and had no particular respect
-for Bailies, told the great man plainly that his (Bulldog's)
-jurisdiction ceased at the outer door of the Seminary, and that it was
-not his business to keep order in the Terrace. Even the sergeant, when
-the Bailie commanded him to herd the boys in the courtyard, forgot the
-respect due to a magistrate, and refused point-blank, besides adding a
-gratuitous warning, which the Bailie deeply resented, to let the matter
-drop, or else he'd repent the day when he interfered with the laddies.
-
-"I was a sergeant in the Black Watch, Bailie, and I was through the
-Crimean War--ye can see my medals; but it takes me all my time to keep
-the pack in hand within my ain jurisdiction; and if ye meddle wi' them
-outside yir jurisdiction, I tell ye, Bailie, they'll mak' a fool o' ye
-afore they're done w' ye in face o' all Muirtown. There's a way o'
-managin' them, but peety ye if ye counter them. Noo, when they broke the
-glass in the Count's windows, if he didna pretend that he couldna
-identify them and paid the cost himself! He may be French, but he's
-long-headed, for him and the laddies are that friendly there's naething
-they woudna do for him. As ye value yir peace o' mind, Bailie, and yir
-poseetion in Muirtown, dinna quarrel wi' the Seminary. They're fine
-laddies as laddies go; but for mischief, they're juist born deevils."
-
-There is a foolish streak in every man, and the Bailie went on to his
-doom. As the authorities of the Seminary refused to do their duty--for
-which he would remember them in the Council when questions of salary and
-holidays came up--the Bailie fell back on the police, who had their own
-thoughts of his policy, but dared not argue with a magistrate; and one
-morning an able-bodied constable appeared on the scene and informed the
-amazed school that he was there to prevent them playing on the Terrace.
-No doubt he did his duty according to his light, but neither he nor six
-constables could have quelled the Seminary any more than you can hold
-quicksilver in your hand. When he walked with stately step up and down
-the broad pavement before Bulldog's windows, the Seminary went up and
-played opposite the Bailie's house, introducing his name into
-conversation, with opprobrious remarks regarding the stoutness of his
-person, and the emptiness of his head, and finally weaving the story of
-his life into a verse of poetry which was composed by Speug, but is not
-suitable for a book of family reading. If the constable, with the fear
-of the magistrate before his eyes, went up to stand as a guard of honour
-before the Bailie's house, the school went down then to the Russian guns
-and held a meeting of triumph, challenging the constable to come back to
-the Seminary, and telling him what they would do to him. They formed a
-bodyguard round him some days, keeping just out of reach, and marched
-along with him, backward and forward; other days they chaffed and teased
-him till his life was a burden to him, for he had no power to arrest
-them, and in his heart he sympathised with them. And then, at last,
-being weary of the constable, the school turned its attention to the
-Bailie.
-
-One afternoon a meeting of choice spirits was held in the North Meadow,
-beyond the supervision of the constable, and after the Bailie had been
-called every name of abuse known to the Seminary, and Speug had
-ransacked the resources of the stable yard in profanity, he declared
-that the time had now come for active operation, and that the war must
-be carried into the enemy's country. Speug declared his conviction in
-the vernacular of the school, which is here translated into respectable
-language, that the Bailie was a gentleman of doubtful birth and
-discreditable pedigree, that his conduct as a boy was beyond
-description, and that his private life was stained with every vice; that
-his intellect would give him a right to be confined in the county
-asylum, and that he had also qualified by his way of living for the
-county gaol; that he didn't wash more than once a year, and that the
-smell of him was like to that from a badger's hole; that it was a pity
-he didn't attend to his own business, and that he had very little
-business to do; that he would soon be bankrupt, and that if he wasn't
-bankrupt already it was only because he cheated with his change; that he
-sanded his sugar, and that his weights and measures were a scandal; but
-that the Seminary must do what they could to lead him to honest ways and
-teach him industry, and that he (Speug) with the aid of one or two
-friends would do his best for the reformation of Bailie MacConachie, and
-in this way return good for evil, as Mr. Byles, assistant in the
-department of mathematics, used to teach. And the school waited with
-expectation for the missionary effort upon which Speug with the
-assistance of Howieson and Bauldie, was understood to be engaged.
-
-Next Friday evening an art committee met in a stable-loft on the
-premises of Mr. McGuffie senior, and devoted their skill--which was
-greater than they ever showed in their work--to the elaboration of a
-high-class advertisement which was to be shown round a certain district
-in Muirtown, and which they hoped would stimulate the custom at Bailie
-MacConachie's shop. Howieson had provided two large boards such as might
-be hung one on the breast and one on the back of a man, and those Speug
-had cut to the proper size and pasted over with thick white paper. Upon
-them Bauldie, who had quite a talent for drawing, wrought diligently for
-a space of two hours, with the assistance and encouragement of his
-friends, and when they set the boards up against the wall the committee
-was greatly pleased. Speug read aloud the advertisement with much
-unction--
-
-
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
- SALE OF BANKRUPT STOCK
- AT
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _THE FAMOUS ITALIAN WAREHOUSEMAN_,
- 49, ST. ANDREW STREET.
-
- ELEVENPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND.
-
- _Sale Begins at One o'clock on Saturday._
- GLASS OF WHISKY FREE TO ALL PURCHASERS.
- _Poor People Specially Invited._
- _Be early._ _Be early._
-
- BAILIE MACCONACHIE'S
- _CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA! CHEAP TEA!_
-
-
-The three artists contained themselves till they came to the last "Cheap
-Tea!" then Jock knocked Bauldie down among the hay, and Speug fell on
-the top of them, and they rolled in one bundle of delight, arising from
-time to time to study the advertisement and taste its humour.
-
-"'Bankrupt stock!'" cried Bauldie, "and him an Elder of the Kirk!
-That'll learn him to be complaining of his windows."
-
-"'Poor people specially invited,' and calls himself an Italian
-warehouseman. I would give half a dozen ginger-beer to see Lady
-Kilspindie there," stammered Jock with delight.
-
-"'Glass of whisky free!'"--and Speug took a fresh turn in the hay--"it's
-against law to drink whisky in a grocer's shop--and him a magistrate!
-He'll no meddle wi' the Seminary again."
-
-"Be early!'" chanted Jock, "'be early!' My word! They'll be there, all
-the waufies of Muirtown; there'll no be room in the street. 'Glass of
-whisky free!'" and Jock wiped his eyes with his knuckles.
-
-Upon Saturday, at noon, just as the Bailie was going along the Terrace
-to his house and congratulating himself that on that day at least he was
-free from all annoyance by the way, another character of Muirtown had
-started out through a very different part of the fair city. London John
-was as well known in Muirtown as the Bailie himself, and in his way was
-quite as imposing. Tall and gaunt, without an ounce of superfluous
-flesh, and with an inscrutable countenance, dressed in a long frock-coat
-which he had worn for at least a quarter of a century, and a tall hat
-which he had rescued from an ashpit, with the remains of a pair of
-trousers, and something in the form of a shirt which was only seen when
-he laid aside the outer garment for active service, London John stalked
-with majesty through the streets of Muirtown. He earned his living as a
-sandwich man, or by carrying in coals, or by going errands, or by
-emptying ashpits. He could neither read nor write, but he remembered a
-number and never forgot what was due to him, and the solitary subject on
-which he spoke was the wonders of London, where it was supposed he had
-lost such reason as he had at once possessed. His coming was always
-welcome in the poorer parts of the town, for the sake of his discourse
-on London, but never had he received such an ovation before in the
-Vennel, which was largely inhabited by tramps and tinkers, unskilled
-labourers and casuals of all kinds. The cheap tea might not have aroused
-their enthusiasm, but at the mention of a free glass of whisky the
-deepest emotions of the Vennel were stirred.
-
-"Tea at elevenpence halfpenny," cried Tinkler Tam, who jogged round the
-country with petty wares, which he sold in exchange for rabbit-skins,
-old clothes, and other debris of a house, "and a glass of whisky free!
-Ma certes? let me get a sight o' that," and London John was brought to a
-standstill while Tam read aloud the advertisement to a crowd who could
-appreciate the cheapness of the tea, and whose tongues began to hang out
-at the very thought of the whisky.
-
-"A lee!" cried the travelling merchant, touched at the suggestion of
-such deceit. "He daurna do sic a thing, else his shop would be gutted.
-Na, na, it reads plain as a pikestaff; ye pay elevenpence halfpenny and
-ye get a pound of tea and a glass of whisky. I count it handsome o' the
-Bailie; and if they didna say he was a teetotaler! It's awfu' how a man
-is abused."
-
-"He gave me six days in the court," said Jess Mitchell, who had had a
-difference of opinion with another lady in the Vennel and received the
-Bailie's best attention from the Bench, "and if I hadna to hear him
-preach a sermon as long as my leg besides--confound him for a
-smooth-tongued, psalm-singin', bletherin' old idiot! But I bear him no
-grudge; I'll hae a taste o' that whisky, though I'm no mindin' so much
-about the tea. The sooner we're at the place the better, for I'll be
-bound there'll be more tea bought this day in Muirtown than a' the last
-year." And there was a general feeling that the Vennel had better make
-no delay, lest some other locality should obtain the first call.
-
-As London John went on his way the news spread through the back streets
-and closes, and the Bailie's generous invitation fell on responsive
-ears. And if any person was inclined to doubt there was the
-advertisement in plain terms, and over the board with its engaging news
-the austere and unmoved countenance of London John. That worthy could
-give no information about the remarkable placard, not even from whom he
-received it; but he was quite sure that he was to take it through the
-Vennel and neighbouring streets for two hours, and that he had received
-a shilling for his labour, which he proposed to spend at Bailie
-MacConachie's when his task was done. He also explained that in London,
-where he used to reside, whisky ran like water, and tea could be had for
-the asking. But his hearers had no interest that day in London.
-
-It struck the Bailie as he returned from midday dinner, and long before
-he reached St. Andrew's Street, that something was happening, and he
-wondered whether they were changing the cavalry at the barracks. People
-looked curiously at him, and having made as though they would have
-spoken, passed on, shaking their heads. When he turned into the familiar
-street, down which he was accustomed to parade with a double weight of
-dignity, an enlivening spectacle met his eyes. Every shopkeeper was out
-at his door, and would indeed have been along the street, had he not
-judged it wiser to protect his property, and the windows above the shop
-were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable place of business
-the street was crammed from side to side with a seething mob, through
-which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a dogcart with slender
-success and complaining loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
-were there, together with their husbands, having finished the day's
-work; country folk who dropped into town on the Saturday had been
-attracted to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come out from
-their dens and lodging-houses, together with that casual population
-which has nothing particular to do and is glad of any excitement. They
-were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, but they
-were all collected in answer to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer;
-they were also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of them
-particularly ready for the whisky. The first to arrive on the scene had
-been Tinkler Tam, who put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
-upon the counter with a crash, and informed the Bailie's senior
-assistant that to save time he would just take the whisky while they
-were making up the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop for an
-impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, in the course of a varied life,
-was not unaccustomed to be called disrespectful names, and it was not
-the first time he had been requested to leave high class premises; but
-for once, at least, he had a perfectly good conscience and a strong
-ground of complaint.
-
-"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye meeserable, white-faced
-effeegy of a counter-jumper? If I werena present on business I would put
-such a face on you that yir mother wouldna know you; but I'm here wi' my
-friends" (great applause from the doorway, where the crowd was listening
-to the interview) "for a commercial transaction. Div ye no ken, ye
-misshapen object, that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
-sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation given under oath
-by Jess Mitchell), "and I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye
-two-faced, leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support from the
-street).
-
-The ambassador of the proletariat--whose constituency filled the outer
-part of the shop, pressed their faces against the window and swayed with
-impatience across the street, and also seized a lamp-post for purposes
-of observation--rehearsed the terms of the advertisement with
-considerable accuracy and expounded them with various figures of speech,
-and then issued his ultimatum.
-
-"Ye have heard the invitation sent oot by a magistrate o' Perth, and a
-man whom I've met on public occasions" (Tarn had been prosecuted before
-the Bailie under the Game Acts): "we're here in response to a public
-advertisement in terms thereof, and my money is on the counter. I call
-these persons present to witness that I've fulfilled my side of the
-covenant, and I here and now before these witnesses demand the tea and
-the whisky as above stated" (howls from the crowd, who were greatly
-impressed by this judicial effort, and were getting every minute more
-thirsty).
-
-"It's maist extraordinary that the Bailie is no here himsel' to receive
-his friends; but what is done by the servant is done by the
-master--that's good law" (vehement support from Jess Mitchell, who at
-the smell of the shop was getting beyond control); "and I give ye two
-meenuts, my dainty young friend, and if the material be not forthcoming
-at the end of that time, the law will allow us to help ourselves, and
-gin ye offer ony resistance I'll pit ye and yir neebour inside the
-sugar-cask." And it was fortunate for every person concerned that the
-police, who had been somewhat perplexed by the circumstances, arrived at
-the scene, and turned Tinkler Tam and his friends into the street and
-themselves stood guard over the shop. It was at this point that the
-Bailie arrived and was received with frantic applause and a Babel of
-appeal.
-
-[Illustration: "BEFORE HIM STOOD LONDON JOHN BEARING THE SEDUCTIVE
-ADVERTISEMENT."]
-
-"Hurrah for the Bailie! Come awa' man, quick, else yir shop will be
-wreckit. Where ha' ye been? The folk are cryin' oot for ye. It's time ye
-started on the tea and the whisky. Make way for the Bailie. He's coming
-to start the auction. Three cheers for Bailie MacConachie!" And the
-Bailie, limp and dishevelled, amazed and furious, was hustled through
-the crowd to see the Italian warehouse guarded by the police, and the
-mob of Muirtown clamouring for tea and whisky at his hand, while face to
-face with him stood London John, who had now been produced for the
-occasion, bearing on his back and breast the seductive advertisement.
-
-"It's a brazen lie!" And the enraged Bailie lost all self-control as he
-read the legend on the board. "A low, mean, dirty trick, a deliberately
-planned fraud. It's perfectly iniquitous, in fact, juist--juist
-damnable! Bankrupt--who is bankrupt? Is't me?" And the veins on the
-Bailie's neck swelled visibly. "Tea at elevenpence-halfpenny! I never
-had such trash in my shop. Three shillings is the lowest, and I never
-recommended it. Whisky!--there is not a drop in the shop. Who dare say I
-would turn this shop into a public-house? I'll be at the bottom of this,
-though it cost me a thousand pounds. Who hired ye to carry round the
-board, ye peetiful creature? If ye don't tell the truth I'll commit ye
-to gaol this very meenute." And the Bailie turned the battery of his
-wrath upon London John, who was greatly flattered by his own prominent
-position, and not at all concerned about the Bailie's threat.
-
-"It was," replied the Mercury of the Vennel, with great composure, "a
-big, stout man like yirsel', Bailie, that gied me the boards and a
-shillin'; or, noo that I think about it, he wasna so big, he was a
-little man, and gey shilpit (thin) about the neck. Dod! I'm no very
-sure, though, but that it was a woman wi' a red face and a shepherd's
-tartan plaid; at ony rate, if it wasna her it micht be a bit lassie wi'
-bare head and feet; and I'm thinkin' noo, Bailie, it was a bit lassikie,
-for she said to me, 'Have ye ever been in London?' Noo, Bailie, I would
-like to tell you about London." And if the police had not silenced
-London John, the Bailie at that moment would have had a fit of apoplexy,
-for it was evident that the trail was blind and there was no getting to
-the real person behind London John.
-
-The crowd had listened with considerable patience and self-restraint to
-this conversation, but as soon as the hope of tea and refreshment died
-away, and they realised that some one had fooled them, they looked out
-for a victim, and settled upon the Bailie.
-
-"Ye should be ashamed of yourself," and Tinkler Tam, standing out from
-the midst of the crowd, and sitting as it were upon the bench sentenced
-the Bailie in the dock. "It's a fine business to be playing tricks on
-the poor folk o' Muirtown, wilin' them from their work to waste their
-time at your shop-door and sendin' them awa' empty-handed. If it had
-been the first o' April, and ye had been a laddie, I wouldna hev said
-much aboot it; but at your age, and you a magistrate, to play sic a
-trick, it's perfectly disgraceful. Ye ought to get a month's hard
-labour, but aye thing's sure, ye'll no long be a Bailie o' Muirtown. It
-was fearsome to hear ye askin' London John who gave him the shillin'
-when he describit ye juist as ye are standing; then the puir body, when
-ye threatened him, brought in the lassie. Man, though ye're a Bailie and
-I'm naething but Tinkler Tam, I would scorn to make use of a poor
-natural that hasna his wits, juist to feed my vanity and gither a crowd
-round my shop." Then the crowd united in three long groans, and possibly
-might have shown their indignation in a still more pronounced form, but
-the police, being still further reinforced, drove them along the
-streets, while the Bailie hid himself in the recesses of his shop.
-
-Three minutes later Speug sauntered into the shop with Howieson and
-Bauldie, and demanded a pennyworth of peppermint drops. He also remarked
-to Jock, as they were being folded up, "If there be as mony o' the
-Bailie's friends callin' at the shop on Monday, I doubt the police will
-no be able to spare a constable to keep order on the Terrace." And as a
-matter of fact the offensive patrol was withdrawn, and the Seminary
-resumed possession of the debatable ground.
-
-
-
-
-THE FALL OF GOLIATH
-
-XIII
-
-
-Bailie MacConachie made a mistake when he risked a war with the boys of
-the Seminary, and it was colossal folly on his part to continue the war
-after his first defeat in the affair of the advertisement. No doubt it
-was humiliating to have his respectable place of business filled with
-the mob of Muirtown demanding whisky as a right, and threatening him
-with penalties as a covenant-breaker when they did not get it; he had
-also very good reasons for believing that the unholy inspiration which
-gathered the vagrants to his shop came from the Seminary. His best
-policy, however, would have been to treat the matter as a joke; and if
-the Bailie had stopped on his way to dinner, and told the boys plainly
-that he knew quite well they were at the bottom of the affair, that they
-were a set of confounded young rascals, that he had intended to hang six
-of them and send the rest to penal servitude, that he was going to
-forgive them for the sake of their unhappy parents, and because it had
-not been half bad fun after all, that there would be no more policemen
-before the Seminary, and there must be no more windows smashed in his
-(the Bailie's) house--the Seminary, which always respected a fellow who
-took his licking with good humour and didn't squeal, would have given
-the Bailie the best cheer he ever got in his public career, and a
-covenant of peace would have been made between him and the boys which
-would never have been forgotten. Had another pane of glass been broken
-by a Seminary ball, the value thereof in a packet of halfpence, with an
-expression of regret, would have been handed in before evening. The
-honorary freedom of the school would have been conferred on the Bailie,
-without any public ceremony, but with immense practical advantage, and
-although the Bailie was surfeited with civic honours, yet even he might
-have tasted a new pleasure as he passed along the terrace to see the
-boys suspend a game for an instant to let him pass in stately walk, and
-to hear Speug cry, "Oot o' the Bailie's road," and to receive a salute
-from tailless Highland bonnets that were touched to none outside the
-school, except to the Count and Dr. Manley. If Providence had given a
-touch of imagination to the Bailie, and his head had not been swollen by
-a position approaching that of the angels, he would have come to terms
-at once with the boys, in which case bygones would have been bygones,
-and he would have been spared much humiliation.
-
-Unfortunately the Bailie allowed his temper to get the better of him,
-raging furiously in public places, and breathing forth threatenings
-about what he would do to the plotter, till all Muirtown, which
-otherwise might have pitied him, held its sides. He kept our single
-detective at work for a fortnight, who finally extracted from London
-John that the "boardies" containing the shameful advertisement had been
-given him by a man uncommonly like the detective himself and that the
-said "boardies" were not to be compared with those he used to carry in
-London. The detective also learned, on a somewhat risky visit to Mr.
-McGuffie's stables, that the Speug had spent the whole day of that
-historical Saturday till the hour of two--when he called for peppermints
-at the Bailie's shop--in cleaning out his rabbit-hutch and other
-domestic duties--this on the testimony of three of Mr. McGuffie's
-grooms, each of whom was willing to swear the same anywhere, or fight
-the detective, with gloves or without gloves, in the stable-yard or any
-other place which might be agreed upon. The Bailie also, going from bad
-to worse, offered a reward of L5 for any information which would lead to
-the conviction of the offender, and received thirty letters--so many
-anonymous, attacking his character, public and private, and so many
-signed, from various cranks in Muirtown, in which the crime was
-assigned to Irish Roman Catholics, to the Publicans, to the
-Morisonians, and to a tribe of gypsies camped outside the city. They
-were all annoying, but there were two which cut the Bailie to the quick.
-One was written from the security of Glasgow, in which the writer
-promised, on receipt of the reward, to send a full account of the
-conspiracy, and, having got the money, replied briefly that he left the
-matter to the Bailie's own conscience; and the second, which asked for
-no reward except the writer's sense of having done his duty, and which
-hinted that if the Bailie put the question straight to his senior
-assistant, he might find he had been nourishing a viper in his bosom,
-and that a young man with such a smug appearance could be little else
-than a rascal. This letter, which was written in a schoolboy hand, and
-had five words misspelt, was signed, "An Elder of the Free Kirk." None
-of the letters seemed to help the matter forward, and life at the
-Bailie's residence was very troubled during those weeks.
-
-When news of the Bailie's vindictive spirit spread through the Seminary,
-the boys were much pained, for it was sad to see an old man forgetting
-himself and harbouring a spirit of revenge. It seemed, indeed, as if all
-they had done for the Bailie was simply love's labour lost, and that
-they must begin again to bring him to a proper state of mind. The
-Seminary loved peace and hated war, being a body of quiet,
-well-behaved, hard-working lads. Still, if war was forced upon them, and
-detectives set upon their track, it was a duty to themselves and their
-families to meet the situation bravely. Nothing could have been more
-successful than the last campaign; and, although Speug had never
-boasted, and none dared say that he had anything to do with it, there
-was a feeling in the Seminary that the conduct of the next campaign was
-safe in his hands. As it turned out, it was certainly safe, and one
-ought not to detract from genius, but there can be no doubt that Fortune
-played into the hands of Speug.
-
-Much may be allowed to a broad sense of humour, and the walk of the
-Bailie was marvellous to behold; but it was rather poor business for
-Speug to walk half the length of the Terrace a yard behind the Bailie in
-an exact imitation of the magistrate's manner, although the school was
-hugely delighted. If the Bailie had taken no notice, the score had been
-on his side; but when he turned round and gave Speug a sound box on the
-side of the head, he lost himself, and out of that single mistake, by a
-chain of consequences, arose the scandal which almost drove the Bailie
-from Muirtown. Speug could not have hoped for anything so good as that
-foolish blow, and the moment that it came he saw his opportunity. Many a
-stroke had he endured in his day, from his father and from the grooms,
-when his mischief was beyond endurance, and from Bulldog when he caught
-him red-handed, and from the boys in a fight, and there was no one of
-his age so indifferent to such afflictions. Had the hand been any other
-than that of Bailie MacConachie, Speug would have made derisive gestures
-and invited the second stroke. As it was, he staggered across the
-pavement and fell with a heavy thud upon the street, where, after one
-sharp, piercing cry of pain, he lay motionless, but his moans could be
-heard along the Terrace. His one hope was that, when he had seized the
-occasion with such dramatic success, the Seminary would not fail to play
-up and support his _role_, and, although they were cleverer at reality
-than acting they entered heartily into their opportunity.
-
-"Are ye conscious, Peter?" inquired Howieson tenderly, as he stooped
-over the prostrate figure. "Div ye hear us speakin' to ye? Dinna moan
-like that, but tell us where ye're hurt. What are ye gatherin' round
-like that for an keepin' away the air? Hold up his head, Bauldie? Some
-o' ye lift his feet out o' the gutter? Run to the lade, for ony's sake,
-and bring some water in yir bonnets."
-
-It was pretty to see Jock and Bauldie lifting the unconscious form of
-their beloved friend, and carrying him carefully across the pavement,
-and placing Speug in a sitting position against the railing, and then
-rendering what would now be called first aid to the wounded, while that
-ingenuous youth kept his eyes tightly closed and moaned occasionally, to
-show that he was still living. Never in his life had Providence given
-him a chance of playing so much mischief, and he was not going to be
-disobedient. They opened his shirt at the breast to give him air, they
-anxiously searched the side of his head for the wound, and washed away
-imaginary blood with very dirty pocket-handkerchiefs. They bathed his
-forehead with such profuseness that the water ran down his chest,
-whereat Speug expressed himself in low but stern tones, so Nestie
-advised them to stick to his head; and some of the smaller boys were
-only prevented from taking off his boots by a seasonable warning from
-Bauldie and a reasonable fear of consequences. The Seminary circle was
-reinforced by all the message-boys within sight, and several ladies who
-were coming home from the shops. Two maiden ladies, against whose
-railings Peter had been propped in the hour of his distress, came
-out--their hearts full of compassion and their hands of remedies. As
-Jock and Bauldie did not consider it safe that Peter should be moved at
-once, one maiden lady placed a cushion between his head and the
-railings, while the other chafed his forehead with scent, and both
-insisted that Dr. Manley should be sent for at once. This was the first
-suggestion which seemed to have any effect on Peter, for it would not at
-all have suited his plans that that matter-of-fact physician should
-have arrived on the spot. And when a bottle of ferocious smelling-salts
-was held to the patient's nose, Speug showed signs of returning
-consciousness.
-
-"Poor dear!" said one lady; "what a mercy he wasn't killed. A blow
-behind the ear is often fatal. He's coming round nicely. The colour is
-returning to his cheeks. Bailie MacConachie, did you say?" as Jock
-Howieson unfolded to the ladies in simple, straightforward, truthful
-words the story of the murderous attack. "I can't believe that any man
-would so abuse a poor helpless child." (At this moment Peter, who had
-been reconnoitring the whole scene through his half-closed eyes, seized
-the opportunity to wink to the mourners with such irresistible effect as
-to prove once again the close connection between tears and laughter.)
-"And him a magistrate," concluded the sympathetic female. "He ought to
-be ashamed of himself; but if I were the laddie's friends, I would make
-the Bailie hear about it on the deaf side of his head."
-
-[Illustration: "A BOTTLE OF FEROCIOUS SMELLING-SALTS WAS HELD TO THE
-PATIENT'S NOSE."]
-
-Upon a sign from Speug, who was getting a little weary of inaction, he
-was helped to his feet, and after one or two staggers seemed to come to
-himself, and submitted with agreeable humour to the attention of his
-friends, who dusted him from head to foot, under the superintendence of
-the ladies and to the huge delight of the message-boys, who were now
-entering into the meaning of the scene. His bonnet, which had been
-thoughtfully used as a water-can, was placed wrong end foremost upon his
-head, but Peter resisted the proposal to tie up his head in Bauldie's
-handkerchief, partly because there was a limit even to his endurance,
-and because Bauldie's handkerchief served many a purpose in the course
-of the day. The maiden ladies were anxious that he should rest in their
-house, but Speug indicated that he preferred to be taken home, where he
-could break the news himself to his anxious father. And so an impressive
-procession was formed, with so many boys in front to clear the way, and
-then Speug, upheld on the one hand by Nestie, and on the other by Jock,
-while Bauldie commanded the rearguard and kept the message-boys at a
-distance, in order to secure due respect for the sufferer. It was with
-difficulty that Speug could sustain his _role_ until he and his friends
-got safely within the shelter of the stable-yard, when they plunged into
-a straw-shed and rolled together in one heap of triumphant mischief.
-
-"You're a g-genius, Peter," said Nestie, "and it would be pure waste for
-you to be a h-horsedealer. You must go on the st-stage. The way you came
-whack on the pavement was j-just immense; and do you know, Peter, you
-looked quite nice when you lay f-fainting. One lady called you a pretty
-boy, and I was quite sorry you were unconscious."
-
-"Ye're a disgustin' liar, Nestie, besides being an impident young brat.
-I heard every word, and she never said 'pretty'; but," and Speug looked
-round thoughtfully, "if I knew which o' ye emptied the water down my
-breast, I'd give him something to remember. I'm wet to the skin," and
-Speug made a drive at Bauldie, who caught Howieson by the leg, who
-pulled down Nestie by the hair of the head, and they all fought together
-in high glee. Speug extricated himself and demanded news of the Bailie.
-Then the three told Speug the story together in bits, one beginning
-where another left off.
-
-"He was that astonished when ye coupit over that he couldna speak, and
-Jock cried, 'The Bailie has killed Speug.'" "He was wantin' to lift ye
-up, but Bauldie gets in afore him and dares him to strike ye a second
-time." "It would have done you good, Peter, to see the Bailie walking
-along to his house, just like an ordinary man, all the s-starch out of
-him, and taking a look back to see what was h-happening." "Aye, and he
-stoppit opposite the lade to get another look, and if Cosh didna empty a
-cupful of water on his legs by mistake! I didna think Cosh had the
-spirit." "He was ashamed to stand at the w-window, but I saw him
-p-peeping out behind the curtains, just to find out whether you were
-living." "If his servant lass didna follow us across the meadow, and, my
-word, she's back to the Bailie with a fine story." "He's sweatin' the
-now for fear he be taken up for assault, and maybe manslaughter." "What
-w-would you say, Peter, just to die altogether, and we would gi-give you
-an A1 funeral? If you'll just be g-good-natured and do it, I'll write
-your l-life myself. It's perfectly sc-scrummageous." And then Peter fell
-on Nestie, and Howieson on Bauldie, and they rejoiced together once more
-in the straw.
-
-"You're 'avin' an 'igh 'ole time in 'ere, young gentlemen," and Mr.
-McGuffie's English groom looked down on the boys; "but you're missin'
-the Derby, that's what you are. Hold Pompous has come 'isself, and if he
-ain't been hexplainin' to the master 'ow he 'appened to knock Speug
-down. He's out o' breath now, and the master he's took up the runnin',
-and--my eye and Betty Martin--ain't he talkin'! Not cussin'--no, not one
-swear word has he let go. Young gentlemen, upon my Alfred David, if the
-master ain't preachin' for all the world as if he was a blessed beak on
-the Bench and old Pompous was a 'habit and repute.' It's as good as a
-circus; you just go and 'ear 'im," and in exactly one and a quarter
-seconds the boys were an unseen audience when Mr. Peter McGuffie senior
-gave his opinion of the conduct of Bailie MacConachie, which he had been
-doing already for some time with much effect.
-
-"Imitatin' ye, was he, and followin' ye along the street, walkin' as ye
-walk, and so ye knocked him down in open day? Why should he not be doing
-as ye did? Is yir walk protected by law, that nobody dare step the same
-way on the streets of Muirtown? Answer me that, if ye please. Bailies
-are pretty high and mighty in this town, they are; but I never heard yet
-that the street belonged to them, and that a laddie was in danger of
-death if he followed in their steps. That would be a fine pass. Aren't
-boys always imitatin' somebody? Why, you stupid old fool, half the
-laddies in this district try to imitate me; and, as sure as ye're
-standing there, I've seen half a dozen of them, each one with a straw in
-his mouth, and the bit legs of him straddled, and his bonnet on the side
-of his head, and the belly of him stuck out like a pillow, just the
-eemage of myself. What would ye think of me if I knockit one of them
-down, ye double-distilled old fool?
-
-"I'm astonished at ye, for ye might be pleased to think that the
-laddies, instead of copying a horsedealer, are trying to be magistrates.
-Didna the Provost tell the laddies the last time he gave the prizes to
-'take notice of my freend Bailie MacConachie, and try to be like him?'
-And now, when one of them has taken his advice, if ye dinna turn round
-on the street and half kill him, till he had to be brought home half
-faintin' to his father's house! Fine-like conduct for a magistrate! Ye
-bloodthirsty old ruffian!
-
-"Came to make inquiries, did ye? Ye made enough inquiries, by all
-accounts, on the Terrace. Expression of regret, was it? We don't want
-yir regret, ye hypocritical Pharisee! Present of a top? I wonder ye have
-the face! Ye break a laddie's head and then offer him a top! I can buy
-tops myself for my family. Confound ye! to think ye're standing there
-after manglin' a poor, defenceless, harmless, motherless laddie! Ye
-should be ashamed to show yir face in Muirtown; and if there was any
-public spirit in this town, ye would be drummed out o' the place!
-
-"Look ye here, Bailie MacConachie"--and Mr. McGuffie adopted a
-conciliatory tone--"the best of us will make mistakes, and ye've made a
-particularly big one when ye knockit down Peter McGuffie in the face of
-the public of Muirtown. Ye may bet on that and take my tip for it. Let's
-settle this matter fair and sure as between man and man. Ye say ye're
-sorry, and ye don't want any noise made about it. Well, now, I've lived
-here man and boy for fifty years, and any man in Muirtown will tell you
-I'm straight. If I give a warranty with any horse, ye needn't be afraid
-to buy that horse, and I'll deal with ye on the square.
-
-"Ye and me are about an age of and on, and we ought to be pretty even
-as fighting men. Ye have the pull of me in height, but I would say that
-I am nimbler on my legs. Ye might be called a heavy weight, and I am a
-middle weight, but there isn't much in that. We could meet pretty level
-with the gloves.
-
-"Suppose, now, we just went into the straw-shed here, and stripped and
-fought the matter of six rounds, easy and quiet? There would be no
-mischief done, and no bad blood left, and that would be the end of the
-matter.
-
-"Magistrate, did ye say, and elder in the Kirk. What do ye take me for?
-Do ye mean to say I'd split on ye, and go round Muirtown saying that
-Bailie MacConachie and me had a friendly turn with the gloves! Ye don't
-do me justice. Why, there's nobody outside this stable-yard would ever
-hear tell of it; and if they did, they would respect ye, and count ye an
-able-bodied man, which is more than a Bailie any day. Is it a deal,
-Bailie? Ye won't, won't ye, and I ought to be ashamed of myself, ought
-I? And a prizefight would be a disgrace to Muirtown, would it? Muirtown
-is pretty easy disgraced, then. Who's speaking about a prizefight, ye
-haverin' old body? But I see how the wind blows. If the other man stands
-a bare five feet, and ye can get at him before he's ready, ye're mighty
-handy with yir fists. Ye cowardly old sneak? But when ye're offered the
-chance of facing a man about yir own size, ye count it a disgrace. My
-opinion is, ye havna the spirit of a mouse in yir body! I'm ashamed to
-think ye're a magistrate of Muirtown! Dinna speak to me, MacConachie,
-for I might lose control and send ye out of the stable-yard, with my
-foot followin'! My advice is to be off as quick as ye can, for if some
-of the grooms got hold of ye they would make an awful mess of
-ye--they're not just particularly fond of magistrates, and they've a
-great notion of Peter.
-
-"One word before we part, Bailie," and the Bailie took that word
-walking, "So far as I understand, ye might be arrested for assault, and
-I might prosecute ye for damages; but I will let ye off just this once
-with a word of solemn advice. Ye're a Bailie of Muirtown, and ye're an
-elder in the Kirk, and ye're an Italian warehouse-man; but for all that,
-MacConachie, remember ye're just a man. Ye're swollen up and fozzy with
-pride and vanity, and ye pace down the streets like an elephant let
-loose from a menagerie; but, MacConachie, consider ye're just a man.
-Ye're wily and cunning and pawky and long-headed, and ye're got yir own
-way in this town for many a year; but lay it to heart, ye're just a man.
-Ye've sat on the Bench and laid down the law, and when ye wagged yir
-head everybody kept quiet, and when ye've scrapit yir throat they
-thought it was Gospel; but, MacConachie, dinna forget it, ye're just a
-man. Ye needna hurry," and Mr. McGuffie, standing in the gateway of the
-stable-yard, pursued the Bailie along the street with exhortations.
-"I've said all I wanted to say, and I've just one word more. Ye've
-fought with the Tories and ye've fought with the Publicans, ye've fought
-with this body and with that body, and ye've beaten them, and ye thought
-ye were cock of the roost in Muirtown; but ye meddled with the laddies,
-and they've licket ye once, Bailie, and they've licket ye twice, Bailie,
-and if ye dinna cry 'Peace,' they'll lick ye again, and that'll be the
-end of ye, Bailie MacConachie."
-
-When Mr. McGuffie returned to the stable-yard he called for his son, and
-passed a careful hand over Peter's head, and then he declared that Speug
-was a chip of the old block and prophesied aloud that there lay before
-him a long and useful life.
-
-
-
-
-THE BAILIE'S DOUBLE
-
-XIV
-
-
-Muirtown is not a large city, and schoolboys of high principle and
-domestic habits used to go home in the dinner-hour and take the meal
-with their anxious mothers, who seized the opportunity of repairing the
-rents made in their clothes since morning, and giving them good advice
-on their behaviour. Thoroughly good boys, who had been tossed to and
-fro, much against their will, in the tempest of morning play, were glad
-to go into harbour and come back at two o'clock, not only revictualled,
-but also re-fitted and re-painted for the troubled voyage of the
-afternoon; and boys not so entirely good as the Dowbiggins, and other
-models of propriety, still appreciated the home trip, because, although
-there might be an embarrassing review of garments, and awkward questions
-might be asked about a mark on the face, there was always a toothsome
-dainty for a growing laddie, weary with intellectual work and the toils
-of a snow-fight. As the business of a horsedealer took Mr. McGuffie
-senior in various directions, and as in no case were the arrangements of
-his house since Mrs. McGuffie's death of an extremely regular character,
-there was no meal to which his promising son--Speug--could return with
-any confidence; and therefore Peter did not make a practice of going
-home at one o'clock, unless there was a special event at the stables,
-such as the arrival of a new horse, in which case he invited a few
-friends to an inspection, with light refreshments; or unless, having
-racked his brain to the utmost for four hours, he was still in sheer
-despair of mischief. With one or two other young friends of a like mind,
-he was accustomed to spend the dinner-hour in what might be called
-extramural studies--rowing over to the island below the bridge against
-the tide and coming back gloriously with the current; assisting the
-salmon-fishers to draw their nets and gather the silver spoil; in the
-happy snow-time raiding the playground of a rival school when the boys
-were away, and leaving insulting remarks wrought in snow; or attending
-the drill of the cavalry on the South Meadow. Like other guerillas, he
-carried his biltong and mealies with him, and took his meal anywhere and
-by preference when on the run. Perhaps that was one reason why Speug in
-after years made one of the best of South African fighters.
-
-When Speug was disinclined for active occupation, and desired to
-improve his mind by contact with the greater world, he took a cab, or
-hotel 'bus (the box-seat of every one in Muirtown was at Speug's
-disposal, and his edifying conversation was much enjoyed by the driver),
-and went to spend his hour at Muirtown Station, which, as everybody
-knows, is at the shooting season a spectacle to be classed with Niagara
-or the Jungfrau for interest, and at any time is worth seeing. It
-pleased Speug, whose interests were varied and human rather than
-classical and literary, to receive the English express, or even one from
-Edinburgh, as it swept into the station; or to see the Aberdeen fast
-train fairly off; to watch a horse safely entrained, and if necessary to
-give understanding assistance; and to pass the time of day with the
-guards, ticket-collectors, and carriage-cleaners, the last of whom would
-allow him as a favour to see the inside of the huge mail-carriage, with
-its pigeon-holes and its ingenious apparatus for delivering letters at
-roadside stations while the train passed at full speed. It was an hour
-of what might be called irregular study, but one never knows what he may
-pick up if he only keeps his eyes open (and the eyes of Speug were as
-open as a savage's), and it was on a visit to Muirtown railway station
-that Peter found the opportunity for what he ever considered his most
-successful achievement at the Seminary, and one on which the
-recollection of his companions still fondly dwells.
-
-When a cab passed the _Muirtown Arms_ 'bus at the entrance to the
-station, and the cabman signalled to Peter on the box-seat, and referred
-to the contents with an excited thumb and great joy on his face, Peter
-knew that there would be something worth seeing when the cab emptied at
-the ticket-office; but he could not have imagined anything so entirely
-satisfying. First, Bailie MacConachie emerged, dressed in the famous
-frock-coat and grey trousers, in the high collar and magisterial stock,
-but without his usual calm and dignity. His coat was only half buttoned,
-his tie was slightly awry, and although his hat had been distinctly
-tilted to the side on getting out of the cab, he was too much occupied
-to set it right. Instead of clearing his throat as he alighted among the
-waiting porters, and giving them, as it were, the chance of honouring a
-live Bailie going forth upon his journey, he did not seem to wish for
-any public reception, or, indeed, for any spectators, and in fact had
-every sign of a man who desired to be _incognito_.
-
-"No, no, I've no luggage to-day," the Bailie hastily explained to an
-obliging porter, and he stood between the man and the cab so as to block
-all vision. "Just running down to Dundee on business and ... seeing a
-friend off."
-
-As the embarrassed magistrate endeavoured to disperse the porters, the
-driver, leaning over the roof of the cab, winked with much unction to
-Peter, and indicated to that ingenuous youth that it would be worth
-while for him to wait and see the mysterious friend. Speug, in fact,
-understood from all this telegraphic communication that there were going
-to be circumstances of a quite remarkable character, and in which
-he--Peter McGuffie--was expected to be personally interested. He dragged
-Jock Howieson, who was spending the hour with him, behind a pile of
-luggage, and from their hiding-place they saw, to their utter amazement,
-a second Bailie come slowly and gingerly, but yet withal triumphantly,
-out of the cab. The same height as the great man himself, and built
-after the same pattern; a perfect reproduction also in dress, except
-that the trousers were baggier, and the coat shabbier, and the collar
-frayed at the edges, and the hat had the appearance of having been used
-either as a seat or as a pillow, or perhaps for both purposes, at
-different times; and the air of this second, but by no means ghostly,
-Bailie was like that of the first, as confident, as mighty, as knowing,
-with the addition of a certain joviality of expression and benignant
-humanity, and a certain indifference to all the trials and difficulties
-of life which is characteristic of a man who has been "tasting," not
-wisely, but too well.
-
-"Lean on me, James," said the Bailie, nervously, as the figure came with
-a heavy lurch on the pavement. "The faintness may pass off. Take care
-of your feet," and the Bailie shouldered his double to the ticket-office
-and propped it against the wall while he went to take the tickets.
-
-It might have been ill, and the remarkable walk might have been due to
-weakness of the heart, for you never can tell, and one ought to be
-charitable; but there was no sign of an invalid about this new Bailie,
-nor was he at all too exhausted for genial conversation. He explained
-during the other Bailie's brief absence, to all who were willing to
-listen, in a style that was rather suggestive than exhaustive, that he
-had been paying a visit to Muirtown for the good of his health, and that
-he felt better--in fact, very much better; that where he lived the
-supply of liquid refreshment was limited, and that in consequence he had
-suffered through weakness of the heart; that he had intended to stay
-longer in a place where there was every comfort of life, and that
-nothing would have induced him to leave but the immoral conduct of his
-twin brother; that Bailie MacConachie, he was sorry to say, being his
-brother, was fearfully given to drink, and that he, James MacConachie,
-could no longer stay with him; that he, his brother, was not fit to be a
-Bailie, and that he was a hypocrite whose judgment would not tarry, and
-indeed, according to his language, was already pronounced. He also gave
-a certificate of character to the refreshment to be obtained at the
-_Black Bull_, Muirtown, and cheerfully invited any person who had a
-friendly heart to go with him there and then to drink the Queen's
-health. On seeing his brother returning, the figure concluded his
-address--which had been mightily enjoyed by three porters, a couple of
-Highland drovers, a Perth loafer, who had once passed through the
-police-court when the Bailie was on the Bench, and an elderly lady, who
-was anxious that a doctor should be sent for--by explaining once more
-that his brother was a gentleman beside whom the Pharisees were
-straightforward and honourable members of society.
-
-As the procession was again re-formed, and the two Bailies left the
-ticket-office together, one of them waving a regretful farewell to his
-sympathetic congregation, the boys executed a war-dance of triumph; for
-the contrast between the twin brethren afforded just that kind of comedy
-which appeals to a boy's heart, and because they had an instinct that
-the incident would be of service in the war between the Bailie and the
-Seminary, which had gone on for a year and showed no signs of closing.
-
-"The Bailie keeps him oot o' sight somewhere in the country, I'll
-warrant," said Speug to Jock, in great spirits, "and there's naebody in
-Muirtown kens he's got a twin brother. Dod, Jock, he's juist the very
-eemage of him, and he's got a suit o' his auld clothes on. It would
-take Dr. Manley himself or the Chief Constable to tell the one from the
-ither. Jock Howieson, if you and me could get the use o' that lad, we
-would have a michty time. I would give my four rabbits and ... and my
-skye terrier pup just for an hour of him." And although they had no hope
-that circumstances would deal so kindly with them, yet they went on to
-the platform to see the last of the two Bailies.
-
-Under the influence of the senior Bailie's chastening conversation, who
-at first reminded his brother of a drunkard's end, which had no effect,
-and then threatened to cut off his modest weekly allowance, which had an
-immediate effect, the figure consented to be taken along the platform,
-and might even have been safely deposited in its carriage, had not the
-word "Refreshment-room," printed in absurdly large type, attracted his
-attention.
-
-"Div ye see that, man?" said the figure, pointing jubilantly to the
-board. "I declare it juist a Providence. It's no that I'm thirsty,
-Bailie, and I canna bear drinkin'; that's never been a fault o' mine,
-though I doubt ye're fallin' into the habit yirsel'. No, I'm no thirsty,
-but I've a sinkin' at the heart. Ye'll come in, and we'll taste together
-afore we part. I forgive ye onything ye said. I bear no grudge, and I'll
-let ye pay, Bailie." And the figure had the Bailie almost at the door of
-the refreshment-room before he could make a stand.
-
-"Mair than I can carry already, Bailie, did ye say? Gude forgie ye. I
-wonder ye're not black ashamed to say sic a word, and me draggin' ye
-along the platform and holdin' ye up, juist to cover yir character.
-Well, well, I canna fecht wi' ye, for I'm no the man I was once. The
-fact is, I havna strength to go another step, and if ye'll no let me get
-a cordial, I'll juist have to sit down on the platform." And the
-horrified Bailie had to accept the assistance of a porter to support his
-exhausted brother and to guide him to his carriage.
-
-From an adjacent third class compartment, where Speug and Jock promptly
-secreted themselves, they heard the senior Bailie's exhortation to his
-frail kinsman--that he must on no account come out of the carriage; that
-he must hold his tongue and not talk nonsense to his fellow travellers;
-that he must not mention his--the Bailie's--name, nor claim to be
-connected with him; and that he must not come back to Muirtown again
-until the Bailie sent for him; and all this he must lay to heart as he
-valued his weekly allowance. The Bailie also expressed his deep regret,
-which, indeed, seemed to be very sincere, that he had to leave by the
-Dundee train before the departure of the slow Fife train by which his
-double travelled. And when this fact emerged--that the other Bailie was
-to be left even for five minutes at their disposal--Speug threw
-Howieson's bonnet to the end of the compartment, with his own following
-in a rapture of joy.
-
-"Dinna be afraid," said the figure in the compartment to the Bailie on
-the platform, who was torn between his profitable business engagement at
-Dundee and the fear of leaving his brother to his own devices. "After
-the way ye've treated me and put me to shame afore the platform, I
-wouldna stay another day in Muirtown for a thousand pounds. I am no
-angry, Bailie," the figure continued with mournful dignity, "for that's
-no my speerit, but I'm hurt at yir conduct. Weel, if ye maun go, ye
-maun, and I heard the Dundee engine whistlin'; but for ony sake dinna be
-tastin' in Dundee and disgracin' the family. Drink is an awfu' failin',
-but ye canna say I havna warned ye." And as the Bailie hurried to catch
-the Dundee train the figure shook its head mournfully, with the air of
-one who hopes for the best, but who has had too good reason to expect
-the worst.
-
-"Bailie," said Speug, presenting himself with a fine mixture of haste
-and importance before the figure which was still moralising to itself on
-the evils of drink, "div ye no mind that the Rector o' the Seminary is
-expectin' ye to address the laddies this afternoon, and they'll be
-waitin' this very meenut in the Latin class-room?" and Speug made signs
-that he should come at once, and offered to secure a cab. The figure
-could only shake its head and explain that on account of the
-disgraceful conduct of a relative, who had given way to drink, it had no
-heart for public appearances; but the idea of a return to the enjoyment
-of Muirtown was evidently filtering in.
-
-"Are ye no Bailie MacConachie?" demanded Speug. "A porter threipit
-(insisted) that he had seen the Bailie in the Dundee train, but naebody
-can mistake Bailie MacConachie. The school will be terrible pleased to
-see ye, Bailie."
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie?" and the figure was plainly
-roused. "Him in the Dundee train? Laddies, there's a black sheep in
-every family, and that man is a poor, helpless brother o' mine that's
-taken to bad habits, and I've juist to support him and keep him oot o'
-sicht. It's an awfu' trial," and the figure wept, but immediately
-brisked itself up again. "Of course I'm Bailie MacConachie. Laddies,
-was't at the _Black Bull_ they're expectin' me?"
-
-"The very place, Bailie; but ye maun say juist a word at the Seminary in
-passin'," and Speug signalled to a ticket-collector who had just come
-upon the scene.
-
-"Would ye mind helpin' Bailie MacConachie oot o' the carriage, for he's
-forgotten an engagement at the Seminary, and he's juist a wee thingie
-faint with the heat?"
-
-"It's no the heat, man," as the amazed collector helped the magistrate
-on to the platform, "it's family trouble. Are ye connected with the
-_Black Bull_? Well, at any rate, ye seem a well-behaved young man, and
-these are twa fine laddies." And outside the station, surrounded by a
-sympathising circle of drivers, who were entering into the spirit of
-Speug's campaign, this astonishing Bailie warned every one to beware of
-strong drink, and urged them to take the pledge without delay. He also
-inquired anxiously whether there was a cab there from the _Black Bull_
-and explained that the Rector of the Seminary, with his laddies, was
-waiting for him in that place of hospitality. He added that he had been
-on his way to the General Assembly of the Kirk, where he sat as a ruling
-elder, and he warmly denounced the spread of false doctrine. But at last
-they got him into the cab, where, after a pathetic appeal to Speug and
-his companion to learn the Catechism and sing the Psalms of David, he
-fell fast asleep.
-
-By a happy stroke of strategy, Howieson engaged the attention of the
-sergeant in the back-yard, who considered that Jock was playing truant
-and was anxious to arrest him, while the cabman, fortunately an
-able-bodied fellow, with Speug's assistance induced the Bailie to leave
-the cab and convoyed him upstairs and to the door of the Rector's
-class-room. At this point the great man fell into low spirits, and
-bemoaned the failure of a strenuous life, in which he had vainly fought
-the immorality of Muirtown, and declared, unless he obtained an
-immediate tonic, he would succumb to a broken heart. He also charged
-Speug with treachery in having brought him to the County Gaol instead of
-to the _Black Bull_. It was painfully explained him that he was now in
-the Seminary, and within that door an anxious school was waiting for
-him--Bailie MacConachie--and his address.
-
-"Who said I wasna Bailie MacConachie, and that I was a drunken body?
-I'll teach them to smuggle me oot o' Muirtown as if I was a waufie
-(disreputable character). He thinks I'm at Leuchars, but I'm here" (with
-much triumph), "and I'm Bailie MacConachie" (with much dignity). And the
-Bailie was evidently full awake.
-
-"Losh keeps, laddies, what am I saying? Family troubles shakes the mind.
-Take the pledge when ye're young, laddie, and ye'll no regret it when
-ye're old. I've been an abstainer since the age of ten. Noo, laddie"
-(with much cunning), "If I am to address the school, what think ye would
-be a fine subject, apairt from the Catechism? for it's a responsibility,
-especially me being a Bailie. If ye can mind onything, laddie, I'll give
-ye sixpence next time we meet."
-
-Although Speug was reticent in the class, for reasons that commended
-themselves to his practical judgment, he had a rich wealth of speech
-upon occasion, and he fairly drilled into the head of Bailie
-MacConachie's double that it had been a very foolish thing for him--the
-Bailie--to quarrel with the Seminary about their playground upon the
-Meadow, and an act of an unchristian bitterness to strike him--the
-Speug--upon the head and nearly injure him for life, but that he--the
-Bailie--was sorry for all his bad conduct, and that he would never do
-the like again as long as he was Bailie of Muirtown; and Speug
-concluded, while the cabman stood open-mouthed with admiration, "Ye
-micht juist say that ye have an awfu' respect for me--Speug--ye know."
-
-"I'll be sure to do that," said the delighted Bailie, "for it's a fact.
-Ye're a fine laddie and have a fearsome power o' the gab (mouth); I
-expect to see ye in the pulpit yet; but keeps a' it's time I was at the
-_Black Bull_, so ye micht juist slip in and tell the Rector I'm at the
-door--Bailie MacConachie of Muirtown."
-
-Had it been the class-room of Bulldog, master of mathematics,
-arithmetic, and writing, and, it might also be added, master of
-discipline, Speug would as soon have ventured into his presence on such
-an errand as into the lion's den of the travelling menagerie which had
-recently visited Muirtown, and at which he had spent many an unlicensed
-hour. But the Rector was that dear delight of boys, a short-sighted,
-absent-minded, unsuspicious scholar, who lived in a world of his own
-with Homer and Horace, and could only be fairly roused (to sorrow) by a
-false quantity or (to joy) by a happy translation.
-
-Muirtown Seminary had an inexhaustible confidence in Speug's genius for
-mischief and effrontery of manner, but the Rector's class sat breathless
-when Peter came in with an unshaken countenance, and politely intimated
-to the Rector that a magistrate of Muirtown had come and desired to
-speak to the school. Before the Rector could fairly withdraw himself
-from a cunning phrase of Horace's, or the school had energy to cheer,
-the wonderful Bailie was launched into the room with almost too much
-vigour by the cabman, who remained in the shadow and whispered a last
-direction to "hold up your head and keep to the right." They had
-forgotten--Speug's only oversight--to take off the Bailie's hat, which
-was set jauntily on the side of his head, and the course which he took
-through the room was devious, and mainly regulated by the furniture,
-while his expression was a fine blend of affable dignity and genial good
-humour. "Gosh!" exclaimed Bauldie, and he liberated the feeling of the
-class, who understood that their enemy had been delivered into their
-hands, and that Peter McGuffie--their own Speug--had been the means
-thereof. Yet could it be the case? Yes! It was the very countenance,
-line by line, and the very clothes, piece by piece, though looking a
-trifle shabby, of the premier Bailie of Muirtown, and it was evident
-that he had been "tasting," and that very freely.
-
-"I am--er--proud to bid you welcome, Mr. Bailie," said the Rector,
-bowing with old-fashioned courtesy, and not having the faintest idea
-what like was the figure before him. "We are always delighted to receive
-a visit from any of the magistrates of the city, who are to our humble
-school" (and here the Rector was very gracious) "what Maecenas was to
-Horace, whose _curiosa felicitas_ we are now studying. Is it your
-pleasure, Mr. Bailie, to examine the school?"
-
-During this stately reception the Bailie came to rest upon a desk, and
-regarded the Rector's flowing gown with unconcealed admiration, which he
-indicated to the school by frank gestures.
-
-"It would be a great satisfaction to hear the laddies answer 'The Chief
-End of Man,' and to say juist a word to them aboot good conduct; but you
-and me has an engagement, and ye ken where we're expected. I juist
-looked in to say----" And here the worthy man's thoughts began to
-wander, and he made an indistinct allusion to the _Black Bull_, so that
-Speug had to prompt him severely from behind. "Aye, aye! we're all poor,
-frail creatures, and I'm the last man to hurt the feelings of the
-Seminary. Seminary laddie mysel', prize medal Greek. Bygones be
-bygones!... No man in Muirtown I respect more than ... Speug an
-honourable tradesman" (breaking away on his own account with much
-spirit), "a faithful husband, and an affectionate father. What? All a
-mistake from beginning to end. Family trouble did it--conduct of a
-relative," and the Bailie wept. Bailies and other municipal dignitaries
-were a species of human beings so strange and incalculable to the
-Rector, that he was hardly amazed at anything that they might say; and
-having some vague idea that there had been a quarrel between the
-Seminary and some Bailie or other, about something or other, some time
-or other, he concluded that this was an official intimation that the
-quarrel was over, and that it was in style and allusion according to the
-habits of municipal circles.
-
-"It is," he responded, bowing again, "my grateful duty, as Rector of the
-Seminary, to thank you for your presence here to-day--the Mercury of the
-gods, if I may say so--and for your courteous intimation that
-the--er--controversy to which you--er--have delicately alluded is
-healed. Any dispute between the Council and the Seminary could only have
-a favourable issue. _Amantium irae amoris integratio_ has had another
-illustration, Mr. Bailie; but it would please us that you should hear
-the class translate the Ode we have in hand, which happens to be '_Ad
-Sodales_.'" And a boy began to translate "_Nunc est bibendum_."
-
-"Time to drink, did ye say?" and the Bailie, who had been taking a brief
-nap, was immediately conscious. "Man, ye never said a truer word. Work
-hard at yir lessons, laddies, and for ony sake dinna forget the
-Catechism. Yir maister has an engagement wi' me, and he'll no be back
-for an hour. Come awa,' man" (in a loud whisper to the amazed Rector),
-"it's time we were off." And the Bailie, making a hurried rush for the
-door, found himself in the arms of the school sergeant, who had caught
-the sound of the uproar in the Rector's class-room, and suspected
-trouble.
-
-"Preserve us a', body and soul!" cried the Crimean veteran, as he
-brought the Bailie to an equilibrium. "Could onybody have expected
-this?" And then, with much presence of mind, he closed the door of the
-Latin class-room and conducted the Bailie down-stairs to his cab, while
-the magistrate remonstrated that the Rector was coming with him, and
-that both were going to discuss the higher education of youth at the
-_Black Bull_.
-
-"Na, na, Bailie," said the sergeant. "It's no to the _Black Bull_, or
-ony other bull, ye're to go this afternoon, but back to yir ain hoose.
-If ye maun taste, would it no have been more respectable to keep
-indoors, instead of making an exhibeetion of yourself afore the
-Seminary? It's no becomin' in a magistrate, and it's michty bad for the
-laddies."
-
-It was the sergeant who delivered the astonishing figure at the
-blameless home of Bailie MacConachie, although it is right to say that
-this visit was not at all in the plan, and called forth a vigorous
-protest from the Bailie's substitute. And to the day of his death, the
-real and proper Bailie spent odd moments of his spare time in explaining
-to an incredulous public that he had never "tasted" in his life, and
-that on the day in question he had been transacting private business in
-Dundee.
-
-
-
-
-THE TRIUMPH OF THE SEMINARY
-
-XV
-
-
-As the East is distant from the West, so far was Muirtown Seminary
-removed in its manners and customs from an English public school; but at
-one point they met on common ground, and that was the "tuck-shop." It
-does not matter that an English house master be careful to provide an
-ample supply of wholesome food for his boys, and even add, on occasion,
-toothsome dainties, such as jam at Sunday tea, and sausages for a
-Saturday supper, they will agree unanimously, and declare aloud, that
-they can hardly recall such a thing as breakfast, so ghostly has it
-grown, and that they would be ashamed to offer their dinner to the
-beasts which perish. They will write such descriptions home, and hold
-such conferences with friends spending the holidays with them, and they
-will all vie with one another in applying such weird and fearsome
-adjectives to the butter, milk, coffee, meat, potatoes, and
-pudding--but at the mention of pudding they will simply look at one
-another and be silent, despairing of the English language--that their
-horrified parents will take counsel together by the hour whether their
-poor boy ought not to be taken from school and surrounded by home
-comforts. When the emaciated invalid hears of this drastic measure, he
-protests strongly, and insists that it would ruin him for life; for, to
-do the ruffians justice, a boy may be half-starved and swished every
-second day, and bullied between times, till his life is hardy worth
-living, he will still stand by his school, and prefer it as a place of
-residence to his home. Neither ample meals, nor the pretty bedroom with
-white curtains, nor the long lie in the morning, nor a party in the
-evening, nor all his mother's petting, will make up to this savage for
-the racket of the dormitories, and the fight at the bathroom, and the
-babel at the dinner-table, and the recreations which enliven "prep," and
-the excitement of a house match, and the hazardous delights of football,
-and the tricks on a new boy, and the buttered eggs--a dozen at least
-between two at a study supper. It only remains therefore that his father
-should write a pathetic letter to the _Standard_, and that other parents
-should join in, for a fortnight, explaining to the English public that
-the manhood of the country is being destroyed in its early years, and
-the boys at school will read the letters aloud with much unction, and
-declare that "Pater has warmed up old Skinny properly," while their
-mother sends them generous remittances that they may obtain nourishing
-food to supplement their starvation rations. This money will be spent
-rapidly, but also shrewdly, at the "tuck-shop," where some old servant
-of the school is making a small fortune in providing for the boys such
-meat as their souls love, and for a fortnight Tom and his friends, for
-he is not a fellow to see his chums die before his eyes, will live on
-the fat of the land, which, upon the whole, means cocoa, sardines,
-sausages, and eggs.
-
-Seminary boys had their meals at home, and were very soundly fed with
-porridge and milk in the morning, followed by tea and ham, if their
-conduct had been passably decent. Scots broth and meat for dinner, with
-an occasional pudding, and a tea in the evening which began with
-something solid and ended with jam, made fair rations, and, although
-such things may very likely be done now, when we are all screaming about
-our rights, no boy of the middle Victorian period wrote to the _Muirtown
-Advertiser_ complaining of the home scale of diet. Yet, being boys,
-neither could they be satisfied with the ordinary and civilised means of
-living, but required certain extra delicacies to help them through the
-day. It was not often that a Seminary lad had a shilling in his pocket,
-and once only had gold been seen--when Dr. Manley paid Speug a medical
-fee for his advice in Bulldog's sickness--but there were few in the
-Seminary who were not able to rattle some pennies together, and, in the
-end, every penny found its way to the till of that comprehensive
-merchant and remarkable woman, Mrs. McWhae. Her shop and the other old
-houses beside it have been pulled down long ago, to make room for a
-handsome block of buildings, and I think her exact site is occupied by
-the plate-glass windows and gorgeous display of the "Breadalbane
-Emporium," where you can buy everything from a frying pan to a
-drawing-room suite, but where you cannot get a certain delicacy called
-"gundy," which Mrs. McWhae alone could make as it ought to be made, and
-at the remembrance thereof the very teeth begin to water. Mrs. McWhae
-did not sell books nor clothes, nor any other effeminate luxury of life,
-but she kept in stock everything that was really necessary to the life
-of a well-living and high-minded boy. There he could obtain marbles from
-the common clay, six for a halfpenny, on to the finer "streakies," six
-for a penny, till you came to large marbles with a red and blue pattern
-on a white ground, which were a halfpenny each, and climbed to
-"glassies" at a penny each; and there was one glass leviathian which
-contained all colours within its sphere, and which was kept only to be
-handled and admired. Tops were there, too, from polished little
-beauties with shining steel tips, which were intended only for
-amusement, and were spun with fine white cord, to unadorned, massive,
-vicious-looking warriors with sharpened projecting points, which were
-intended for the battlefield, and were spun with rough, strong twine,
-and which, dexterously used, would split another top from head to foot
-as when you slice butter with a knife. Her stock of kites in the season
-was something to see, and although she did not venture upon
-cricket-bats, which were sold by the hair-dresser, nor cricket-balls,
-she had every other kind of ball--solid gutta-percha balls, for hasty
-games in the "breaks," white skin-covered rounder balls, and hollow
-india-rubber balls, which you could fill with water at the lade, and
-then use with much success as a squirt. Girls, we noticed, employed this
-"softie" in silly games of their own, trying whether they could make it
-rebound a hundred times from the ground, but we had no doubt about its
-proper use in the purposes of Creation. And Mrs. McWhae--peace to her
-ashes!--provided all things in meat and drink which a boy could desire;
-unless, of course, on some great occasion he wished to revel
-imperially--then he went to Fenwick's rock-shop, where generations have
-turned their eager feet, and beyond which nothing is left to desire.
-Fenwick's, however, was rather for our fathers than for ourselves, and
-we were almost content with Mrs. McWhae, where you could get
-ginger-beer of her own making at a penny a bottle, better than that
-which they sold at the _Muirtown Arms_ at sixpence; and treacle-beer
-also at a penny, but in this case the bottle was double the size and was
-enough for two fellows; and halfpenny rolls, if you were fiercely hungry
-and could not get home to dinner, so tough that only a boy's teeth could
-tear them to pieces; and tarts, so full that it required long skill to
-secure every drop of the jam, and your fingers were well worth licking
-afterwards; and peppermint balls of black and white, one of which would
-keep your mouth sweet for an hour of Latin--that is, if you only sucked
-gently and didn't crunch. But the glory of the establishment was the
-"gundy." There was a room behind the shop where Mrs. McWhae, who was a
-widow, elderly and not prepossessing, lived and slept, and dressed
-herself, and cooked her food, and, perhaps, on rare occasions, washed,
-and there she prepared her tempting meats and drinks for the Seminary.
-We lived in a pre-scientific age, and did not go curiously into the
-origin of things, being content to take the Creation as it stood, and to
-use the gifts of the gods in their finished form. But I believe that
-"gundy" was made of the coarsest and cheapest sugar, which our hostess
-boiled to a certain point, and then with her own fair hands, which it
-was said she wetted with her lips, drew out and out, till at last, by
-the constant drawing, it came to a light brown colour; after which she
-cut the finished product into sticks of a foot long, and wrapped it up
-in evil-looking brown paper, twisting the two ends. And, wonders of
-wonders! all within that paper, and the paper itself, you could have for
-one halfpenny! Good! There is no word for it, as the preachers say,
-"humanly speaking." The flavour thereof so rich, so satisfying, so
-stimulating, and the amount thereof so full and so tenacious. Why, that
-"gundy" would so cling to your teeth and hide itself about your mouth,
-and spread itself out, that he was a clever fellow who had drained its
-last resources within an hour. Mrs. McWhae was a widow of a military
-gentleman, who, it was understood, had performed prodigies of valour in
-the Black Watch, and she was a woman of masculine vigour, who only dealt
-upon a cash basis, and in any case of dispute was able to use her hands
-effectively. Like most women she was open to blandishments, and Nestie
-Molyneux, with his English tongue and pretty ways, could get round the
-old lady, and she had profound though inexpressed respect for Speug,
-whom she regarded as a straightforward fighter, and the two friends
-would sometimes be allowed the highest privilege in her power, to see
-her make a brew of "gundy." And it is from hints dropped by those two
-favoured customers that the above theory of the making of this
-delectable sweet has been formed.
-
-It was possible, with a proper celerity, to visit Mrs. McWhae's during
-the "breaks," and to spend three minutes in those happy precincts and
-not be absolutely late for the next class; and during the dinner-hour
-her shop was crowded, and the steps outside and the very pavement were
-blocked by the Seminary, waiting for their "gundy" and ginger-beer.
-Little boys who had been fortunate enough to get their provisions early,
-and were coming out to enjoy the "gundy" in some secret place, hid their
-treasure within their waistcoats, lest a bigger fellow should supply
-himself without the trouble of waiting his turn, and defer payment to
-the end of the year. And one of the lords of the school would on
-occasion clear out a dozen of the small fry, in order that he might
-select his refreshments comfortably. It was indeed the Seminary Club,
-with its bow-window like other clubs, and the steps on which the members
-could stand, and from the steps you commanded three streets, so that
-there were many things to see, and in snowball time many things to do.
-McWhae's had only one inconvenience, and that was that the line of
-communication could be cut off by raiding parties from the "Pennies" and
-other rival schools. When the snow was deep on the ground, and the enemy
-was strong on the field, it was necessary to bring down supplies under
-charge of a convoy, and if anything could have added to the flavour of
-the "gundy," it was that you had fought your way up Breadalbane Street
-to get it, and your way back to enjoy it, that you had lost your bonnet
-in a scrimmage, and that the remains of a snow ball were trickling down
-your back. Precious then was the dainty sweet as the water which the
-mighty men brought to David from the well of Bethlehem.
-
-"My word!" cried Speug, who was winding up the dinner-hour with Nestie
-Molyneux, on the upper step of the club-house, "if there isn't the
-'Bumbees' driving in a four-in-hand!" and the brake of the _Muirtown
-Arms_ passed, with a dozen smart and well-set-up lads rejoicing openly,
-and, wheeling round by the corner of the Cathedral, disappeared up the
-road which ran to Drumtochty. "And where think ye have their royal
-highnesses been?"
-
-If the name of a school be St. Columba's, and the boys call themselves
-Columbians, it is very profane to an absolutely respectable Scots saint,
-and very rude to a number of well-behaved lads, to call them "Bumbees";
-but Speug was neither reverent nor polite, and the Seminary, although
-mainly occupied with local quarrels, yet harboured a distant grudge
-against the new public school at St. Columba's, which had been recently
-started in a romantic part of Perthshire. Its founders were a number of
-excellent and perhaps slightly superior persons, who were justly aghast
-at the somewhat rough life and unfinished scholarship of the Scots
-grammar schools, and who did not desire that Scots lads of the better
-class should be sent of necessity to the English public schools. Their
-idea was to establish a public school after the English method in
-Scotland, and so St. Columba's kept terms, and had dormitories, and a
-chapel, and playing-fields, and did everything on a smaller scale which
-was done at Rugby and Harrow. The masters of St. Columba's would have
-nothing to do with such modest men as the staff of the Seminary. The
-Columbians occasionally came down to Muirtown and sniffed through the
-town. Two or three boys had been taken from the Seminary, because it was
-vulgar, and sent to St. Columba's, in order to get into genteel society.
-And those things had gradually filtered into the mind of the Seminary,
-which was certainly a rough school, but at the same time very proud and
-patriotic, and there was a latent desire in the mind of the Seminary
-that the Columbians should come down in snow-time and show their
-contempt for the Muirtown grammar school, when that school would explain
-to the Columbians what it thought of them and all their works. As this
-pleasure was denied the Seminary, and the sight of the brake was too
-much for Speug's uncultured nature, he forgot himself, and yelled
-opprobrious names, in which the word "Bumbee" was distinct and
-prominent.
-
-"Your m-manners are very b-bad, Speug, and I am a-ashamed of you.
-D-don't you know that the 'B-bumbees' have been p-playing in England and
-w-won their match? Twenty-two runs and s-seven wickets to fall. G-good
-s-sport, my Speug; read it in the newspaper."
-
-"It wasna bad. I didna think the 'Bumbees' had as muckle spunk in them;
-seven wickets, did ye say, against the English? If I had kenned that,
-Nestie, ye little scoundrel, I would have given them a cheer. Seven
-wickets--they did the job properly." And Speug took his "gundy" with
-relish.
-
-"Speug!"--and Nestie spoke with much impressiveness--"I have an idea.
-Why shouldn't the Seminary challenge the 'Bumbees' to a match next
-s-summer? We could p-practice hard all this summer, and begin s-soon
-next year and t-try them in July."
-
-"It would be juist michty," said Speug, who was cheered at the thought
-of any battle, and he regarded Nestie with admiration, and then his face
-fell and he declared it of no use.
-
-"They wouldna come, dash them for their cheek! and if they came they'd
-lick us clean. They have a professional and they play from morning till
-night. We're light-weights, Nestie. If they went in first, we'd never
-get them oot; and if we went in, they'd have us oot in half an 'oor."
-
-"For shame, Speug, to run down the Seminary as if you were a 'Penny'!
-Didn't the county professional say that Robertson was the b-best young
-player he'd seen for t-ten years? And Bauldie hits a good b-ball, and no
-b-bowler can get you out, Speug, and there are other chaps just want
-p-practice. We might be b-beaten, but we'd make a stiff fight for the
-old Seminary."
-
-"Ye can bowl, Nestie," said Speug generously, as they went back to
-school at the trot; "ye're the trickiest overhand I ever saw; and Jock
-Howieson is a fearsome quick and straicht bowler; and for a
-wicket-keeper Dunc Robertson is no easy to beat. Gosh!" exclaimed Speug,
-as they wheeled into the back-yard, "we'll try it."
-
-The Seminary were slow to move, but once they took fire they burned
-gloriously; and when Dunc Robertson and Nestie Molyneux, who had been
-sent up to St. Columba's as the most presentable deputation, returned
-and informed the school assembled round the Russian guns that the
-"Bumbees" would send down their second eleven, since the first was too
-old for the Seminary, and play a single innings match on a Saturday
-afternoon in the end of July, next year, the Seminary lifted up their
-voice in joyful anticipation.
-
-It did not matter that the "Bumbees" had only consented in terms of
-condescension by way of encouraging local sport, as they had tried to
-organise a Drumtochty eleven, or that it was quite understood that the
-result would be a hopeless defeat for the Seminary. They were coming,
-and the Seminary had a year to make ready; and if they were beaten in
-cricket, well, it couldn't be helped, but it was the first time
-Bulldog's boys had been beaten in anything, and they would know the
-reason why.
-
-Special practice began that evening and continued that evening, and
-every other evening except Sundays as long as light lasted and on till
-the middle of October, when football could no longer be delayed.
-Practice began again a month before the proper season and continued on
-the same lines till the great day in July. The spirit of the Seminary
-was fairly up, and from the Rector who began freely to refer to the
-Olympian games, to the little chaps who had just come from a dame's
-school and were proud to field balls at bowling practice, the whole
-school was swept into the excitement of the coming event, and it is said
-that Bulldog stumped over every evening after dinner to watch the play
-and was the last to leave.
-
-"B-Bully's fairly on the job, Speug, and he's j-just itching to have a
-bat himself. Say, Speug, if we get badly licked, he'll be ill again; but
-if we p-pull it off, I bet he'll give a rippin' old supper."
-
-News spread through the town that the Seminary was to fight the
-"Bumbees" for the glory of the Fair City, and enthusiasm began to kindle
-in all directions. Our cricket club had played upon the Meadow as best
-it could; but now the Council of the city set apart a piece of ground,
-and six of the leading dignitaries paid to have it cut and rolled, so
-that there might be a good pitch for playing and something worth seeing
-on the day of battle. There were half a dozen good players in Muirtown
-in those days, two of whom were in the All Scotland eleven, and they
-used to come along in spare evenings and coach the boys, while the
-county professional now and again dropped in, just to see whether he
-could bowl Speug out, and after half an hour's hopeless attack upon that
-imperturbable youth, the professional declared the Seminary had a
-chance. But the word was passed round that there should be no boasting,
-and that Muirtown must be prepared for a hopeless and honourable defeat.
-Mr. McGuffie senior was the only man on the morning of the match who was
-prepared to bet on even terms, and his offers were refused by the
-citizens, first because betting was sinful, and, second, it was
-possible, though not likely, they might lose.
-
-The Columbians came down as usual in a brake, with only two horses this
-time, and made a pretty show when they were dressed in their white
-flannels and school colours, and every one admitted that they were a
-good-looking and well-set-up eleven; they brought half a dozen other
-fellows with them, to help to cheer their victory and to keep their
-score, and a master to be umpire. The Seminary eleven were in all
-colours and such dress as commended itself to their taste. Robertson and
-Molyneux and one or two others in full flannels, but Speug in a grey
-shirt and a pair of tight tweed trousers of preposterous pattern, which
-were greatly admired by his father's grooms--and, for that matter, by
-the whole school; and although Jock Howieson had been persuaded into
-flannel bags, as we called them then, he stuck to a red shirt of
-outrageous appearance, which was enough to frighten any bowler. Jack
-Moncrieffe, the Muirtown cricket crack and bowler of the All Scotland,
-was umpire for the Seminary, and the very sight of him taught the first
-lesson of respect to the "Bumbees"; and when they learned that Jim
-Fleming, the other Muirtown crack, had been coaching the Seminary all
-the summer, they began to feel that it might be a real match, not merely
-a few lessons in the manly game of cricket given to encourage a common
-school, don't you know.
-
-There was a representative turn-out of Muirtown men, together with a
-goodly sprinkling of Muirtown mothers and sisters. Bulldog took up his
-position early, just in front of the tent, and never moved till the
-match was over; nor did he speak, save once; but the Seminary knew that
-he was thinking plenty, and that the master of mathematics had his eye
-upon them. Some distance off, the Count--that faithful friend of his
-Seminary "dogs"--promenaded up and down a beat of some dozen yards, and
-spent the time in one long excitement, cheering with weird foreign
-accent when a good hit was made, swearing in French when anything went
-wrong, bewailing almost unto tears the loss of a Seminary wicket, and
-hurrying to shake hands with every one of his eleven, whether he had
-done well or ill, when he came in from the wicket. Mr. McGuffie moved
-through the crowd from time to time, and finally succeeded in making a
-bet on the most advantageous terms with that eminent dignitary, the Earl
-of Kilspindie's coachman, who was so contemptuous of the Seminary from
-the Castle point of view that he took the odds of five to one in
-sovereigns that they would be beaten. And on the outskirts of the crowd,
-half ashamed to be there and doubtful of his reception, hovered Bailie
-MacConachie.
-
-The Seminary won the toss, and by the advice of Jim Fleming sent the
-Columbians in, and there was no Seminary lad nor any Muirtown man, for
-the Frenchman did not count--who denied that the strangers played a
-good, clean game--pretty form, and brave scoring; and on their part the
-Columbians were not slow to acknowledge that the Seminary knew how to
-field, wherever they had learned it. No ball sliding off the bat, could
-pass Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible with Speug as
-long-stop, for those were the days when there were long-stops. Cosh had
-his faults, and they were not few, but the Seminary thought more of him
-after a miraculous catch which he made at long-off; and Bauldie, at
-square-leg, might not be able to prevent a two occasionally, but he
-refused to allow fours. Jock Howieson was a graceless bowler and an
-offence to the eye, but his balls were always in the line of the middle
-stump, and their rate that of an express train; and Nestie not only had
-a pretty style, but a way of insinuating himself among the wickets which
-four Columbians had not the power to refuse. There was a bit of work at
-long-field, which even the Columbians could not help cheering, though it
-lost them a wicket, and the way in which a ball was sent up from
-cover-point to Dunc Robertson, and so took another wicket, wrung a word
-of private praise from the Columbian umpire. Still, the Seminary was
-fighting against heavy odds, an uphill, hopeless battle, and when the
-visitors went out with a hundred and one to their score, Mr. McGuffie
-senior was doubtful of his sovereign; and only the Count prophesied
-triumph, going round and shaking hands individually with every one of
-his "dogs," and magnifying their doings unto the sky. Bailie
-MacConachie, by this time was lost in the crowd, working his way
-gradually to the front, and looking as if he would have liked to cheer,
-but thinking it better not to call attention to his presence. Then the
-Seminary went in, and there is no question but that they had hard times
-at the hands of the Columbians, who were well trained and played all
-together. Robertson, who was the hope of the Seminary, went out for
-twenty, and Bauldie for ten; Nestie played carefully, but only managed
-twelve, and the other fellows were too easily bowled or caught out, each
-adding something, but none doing much, till at last the score stood at
-sixty-nine; with the last two of the Seminary in. Things were looking
-very black, and even the Count was dashed, while Bulldog's face
-suggested that next Monday the whole school would be thrashed, and that
-a special treat would be reserved for the eleven. Mr. McGuffie, however,
-with a sportsman's instinct, seized the opportunity to make another bet
-with his lordship's coachman, and increased the odds from five to ten,
-and the dignitary declared it was simply robbing McGuffie of his money.
-
-"We'll see aboot that, my man, when the horses pass the line. I've seen
-many a race changed before the finish," and Mr. McGuffie took his
-position in the front row to see the end.
-
-Thirty-three runs to make to win the match, and only one wicket to fall,
-and the Columbians discounted their victory in a gentlemanly fashion,
-while Jim Fleming looked very grave. "Give them no chances," he said to
-Howieson, as that stolid youth went in to join Speug, who had been at
-the wicket for some time, but had only scored ten. Any over might close
-the match, and perhaps the Columbians' bowlers grew careless, for three
-overs passed and the two friends of many a scrimmage were still in, and
-neither of them had shown any intention of going out. Quite the
-contrary, for Speug had broken into fours, and Howieson, who played with
-the gracefulness of a cow, would allow no ball to interfere with his
-wickets, and had run up a couple of twos on his own account.
-
-"Juist beginnin'," said Speug's father. "Him oot sune? I tell you he's
-settlin' down for the afternoon and that laddie Howieson is a dour
-deevil. The fact is"--Mr. McGuffie took a circle of spectators into his
-confidence--"they're juist gettin' into the stride." The Count preened
-his plumage and plucked up heart again, while the Seminary lads,
-gathered in a solid mass to the left of the tent, were afraid to cheer
-lest they should invite defeat, and, while they pretended unconcern,
-could feel their hearts beating. "They couldn't be better matched," said
-Nestie. "Speug and Jock--they've had l-lots of things in hand together,
-and they'll d-do it yet. See!" and at that moment Speug sent a ball to
-the boundary. Now there were only seventeen, instead of thirty-three
-runs to make.
-
-They were playing a game of the utmost carefulness, blocking the balls
-which were dangerous and could not be played; declining to give the
-faintest chance of a catch, and taking a run short rather than be run
-out, and so the score crept up with a two from Howieson, who had got
-into a habit of twos, and being a phlegmatic youth, kept to it, and a
-three and a four from Speug, and another two from Howieson, and a three
-from Speug.
-
-Across the heads of the people McGuffie shouted to the coachman, "Take
-you again, Petrie--ten to one, five to one, three to one against the
-Seminary?" And when there was no answer, Mr. McGuffie offered to take it
-even from anybody, and finally appealed to the man, next him. It was
-Bailie MacConachie, who forgetful of the past and everything except the
-glory of Muirtown, was now standing beside Speug's father and did not
-care. "Speug's no dead yet Bailie"; and then, catching the look in
-MacConachie's face, "bygones are bygones, we're a' Muirtown men the
-day"; and then his voice rose again across the crowd "I'll give ye odds,
-coachman--two to one against the 'Bumbees'" for Howieson had scored
-another two, and two more runs would win the match for the Seminary.
-
-Then a terrible thing happened, for Howieson, instead of stopping the
-ball with his bat, must needs stop it with his leg. "How's that?" cried
-the Columbian wicket-keeper, "how's that, umpire?" Was his leg before
-wicket or not? And for the moment every one, Seminary and Columbian,
-Bulldog, McGuffie, Bailie, men, women and children, held their breath.
-It would have been maddening to have been beaten only by one run, and
-after such a gallant fight.
-
-"Not out!" replied the umpire in two seconds; but it seemed ten minutes,
-and a yell went up from the throats of the Seminary, and Bailie
-MacConachie took off his hat and wiped his forehead, which Mr. McGuffie
-noted with sympathy and laid up to the Bailie's credit. There was
-another crisis at hand which had been forgotten by Muirtown, but it was
-very keenly present to the minds of the Columbians. One over more and
-the time limit would be reached and the game closed. If the Seminary
-could make two runs, they would win; if the Columbians could get Speug's
-wicket, they would win. They put on their most dangerous man, whose ball
-had a trick of coming down just six inches in front of the block, and
-then, having escaped the attention of the batsman, of coming perilously
-near the wicket. His attack compelled the most watchful defence, and
-hardly allowed the chance of a run. Two balls Speug blocked, but could
-do no more with them; the third got past and shaved the wicket; the
-fourth Speug sent to slip but the fielding allowed no run; the fifth,
-full of cunning, he stopped with difficulty, and fear seized the heart
-of Muirtown that the last would capture the wickets and give the victory
-to the visitors. And it was the cleverest of all the balls, for it was
-sent to land inside the block, just so much nearer as might deceive the
-batsman accustomed to the former distance. No sooner had it left the
-bowler's hand then Fleming saw the risk and gnawed his moustache. Every
-eye followed the ball through the air on what seemed, for the anxiety of
-it, a course of miles. The Columbians drew together unconsciously in
-common hope. Robertson, the Seminary captain, dug his right heel into
-the ground, and opposite, between the field and the river, the leader of
-that rapscallion school, the "Pennies," stood erect, intent,
-open-mouthed with his crew around, for once silent and motionless. Speug
-took a swift stride forward and met the ball nearly three feet from the
-ground, and, gathering up all the strength in his tough little body, he
-caught that ball on the middle of the bat and sent it over square-leg's
-head, who had come in too near and made one hopeless clutch at it, and
-through the ranks of the "Pennies," who cleared out on every side to
-let it pass as they had never yielded to Speug himself; and ere Muirtown
-had found voice to cheer, the red-haired varlet who ruled the "Pennies"
-had flung his bonnet, such as it was, into the air, for, the ball was in
-the river, and the Seminary had won by three runs and one wicket.
-
-Things happened then which are beyond the pen of man, but it was freely
-said that the "Hurrah" of Bulldog, master of mathematics, drowned the
-hunting-cry of Mr. McGuffie, and that when the Count, in his joy over
-the victory of his "jolly dogs," knocked off Bailie MacConachie's hat,
-and would have apologised, the Bailie kicked his own hat in triumph.
-This is certain, that the Seminary carried Speug and Howieson both
-protesting, from the North Meadow, in through the big school door; that
-Bulldog walked at the head of the procession, like a general coming home
-in his glory; that he insisted on the Bailie walking with him; that,
-after all the cheering was over, Speug proposed one cheer more for
-Bailie MacConachie, and that when the eleven departed for Bulldog's
-house for supper half the Seminary escorted the Bailie home.
-
-
-
-
-BULLDOG'S RECOMPENSE
-
-XVI
-
-
-When the rumour flew through Muirtown in Spring that Bulldog was to
-resign at the close of the summer term it was laughed to scorn, and
-treated as an agreeable jest. Had it been the rector who was more a
-learned ghost than a human being, or the English master who had grown
-stout and pursey, or some of the other masters who came and went like
-shadows, Muirtown had not given another thought to the matter, but
-Bulldog retiring, it was a very facetious idea, and Muirtown held its
-sides. Perhaps it was delicate health was the cause; and then Dr. Manley
-stormed through half Muirtown, declaring that he had never known Dugald
-MacKinnon have an hour's sickness except once when that little scoundrel
-Speug, or rather he should say Sir Peter McGuffie, consulting physician,
-brought his master through triumphantly with a trifle of assistance from
-himself as a general practitioner. Was it old age that ailed Bulldog?
-Then Bailie MacConachie was constrained to testify in public places, and
-was supported by all the other Bailies except MacFarlane, who got his
-education at Drumtochty that the mathematical master of Muirtown Academy
-had thrashed them all as boys, every man jack of them, being then not
-much older than themselves, and that he was now--barring his white
-hair--rather fresher than in the days of their youth? Had success
-departed at last from the mathematical class-room, after resting there
-as in a temple of wingless victory for three generations? Was it not
-known everywhere that William Pirie, whose grandfather was a senior
-pupil when Bulldog took the reins fifty-eight years ago, had simply
-romped through Edinburgh University gathering medals, prizes, bursaries,
-fellowships, and everything else that a mathematician could lay his
-hands on, and then had won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge,
-with papers that were talked about in the College for fourteen days, and
-were laid past by one examiner as a treasure of achievement. May be, and
-this was no doubt the very heart of the jest, Bulldog had lost control
-of the boys, and his right hand had forgotten its cunning! So the boys
-were insulted in their homes by sympathetic inquiries as to when they
-had their last interview with the tawse and whether the canings were as
-nippy as ever, for Muirtown was proud to think that its favourite master
-was an expert in every branch of his calling and dealt with the
-grandchildren as thoroughly as he had done with the grandfathers. And
-Bailie MacFarlane meeting Bulldog crossing the bridge one morning as
-alert in step and austere in countenance as ever, asked him how he was
-keeping with affected sympathy, and allowed himself the luxury of a
-chuckle as one who has made a jocose remark.
-
-It came therefore with a shock to Muirtown when the following letter was
-read in the Town Council and was known next morning to every citizen
-from the Procurator Fiscal to London John.
-
-
-_To the Lord Provost, the Bailies, and the Council of Muirtown._
-
- "Gentlemen,--I beg to resign, as from the close of the present
- term, the position of Master of Mathematics, Arithmetic and
- Writing, in Muirtown Seminary, and to thank the council for the
- trust which they have placed in me for fifty-eight years.
-
- "I am, my Lord Provost and Gentlemen,
- "Your obedient servant,
- "Dugald MacKinnon."
-
-
-When Muirtown recovered itself a conflict began between Bulldog and the
-citizens which lasted for four intense weeks in which the town was at
-fever heat and Bulldog was outwardly colder and calmer than ever. And he
-won all along the line. The Council passed a resolution of respectful
-admiration, studded with stately adjectives, and, for such a document,
-almost heated in feeling, to which Mr. MacKinnon sent a courteous but
-guarded reply. The Council intimated that they would consider his letter
-to be non-existent, and not even put him to the trouble of withdrawing,
-and Mr. MacKinnon intimated to the Town Clerk that in that case he must
-trouble the Council with an exact copy. The Council then appointed a
-deputation to wait on him, and Mr. MacKinnon declared himself unworthy
-of such an unprecedented honour, and declined to see them. And then the
-Council, in despair, and with a sad sense of the inevitable, strained
-their powers to the utmost with immense unanimity, and voted a handsome
-pension to "Dugald MacKinnon, Esq., Master of Arts, in grateful,
-although unworthy recognition of the unbroken, unwearied, and invaluable
-service he has rendered to the education of this ancient city for a
-period of more than half a century, during which time nearly two
-thousand lads have been sent forth equipped for the practical business
-of life in Muirtown, in the great cities of our land and unto the ends
-of the earth." Mr. MacKinnon explained in a letter of perfect
-handwriting that he was quite undeserving of such a resolution, as he
-had done nothing more than his duty, and that he could not accept any
-retiring allowance--first, because he was not sure that it was strictly
-legal, and, secondly, because he had made provision for his last years,
-but on this occasion he signed himself "Your most obliged servant." It
-was then determined to entertain this obdurate man at a banquet, and to
-make a presentation of plate to him. And Mr. MacKinnon was again most
-grateful for the kindness of his fellow citizens and the honour they
-proposed to do him, but he clearly indicated he would neither accept the
-banquet nor a piece of plate. It dawned gradually upon Muirtown, a city
-slow but sure of understanding, and with a silent sense of the fitness
-of things, that Mr. Dugald MacKinnon, having reigned like Caesar Augustus
-for fifty-eight years without contradiction and without conciliation,
-giving no favours and receiving none, but doing his part by the laddies
-of Muirtown with all his strength of mind and conscience and right arm,
-was not going to weaken at the end of his career. For him to rise at the
-close of a dinner and return thanks for a piece of plate would have been
-out of keeping with his severe and lonely past, and for him to be a
-pensioner, even of the Town Council, would have been an indignity. He
-had reigned longer and more absolutely than any master in the annals of
-the Seminary, and to the last day he had held the sceptre without
-flinching. As a king, strong, uncompromising and invincible, he would
-lay aside the purple, and disappear into private life. And Muirtown was
-proud of Bulldog.
-
-Bulldog had beaten the magistrates of Muirtown in all their glory, and
-his fellow citizens united in one enthusiastic body, but he had not yet
-settled with the boys. They had not expressed in resolutions or any
-other way their appreciation of their master, and they had followed the
-futile attempts of their parents with silent contempt. It was wonderful
-that grown up people should be so far left to themselves as to suppose
-that Bulldog, their own Bulldog, would ever condescend to be dined by
-Bailies and stand at the close of dinner like a dithering idiot with a
-silver jug in his hands, or some such trash, while his hands were
-itching to thrash every one of his hosts as he had thrashed them long
-ago. When the boys heard their fathers raging at Bulldog's proud
-obstinacy they offered no remark, but when they got together they
-chortled with glee, and felt that there was comfort and compensation for
-many an honest thrashing, in the fact that Bulldog was as much ruler of
-Muirtown as he had been of the Seminary. No rebellion against him had
-ever had the faintest gleam of hope, and no rebel had ever escaped
-without his just punishment, but the boys, rascals to the last and full
-of devilry, agreed together by an instinct rather than a conference that
-they would close Bulldog's last term with a royal insurrection. He had
-governed them with an iron hand, and they had been proud to be governed,
-considering the wounds of Bulldog ten thousand times more desirable than
-the kisses of McIntyres', but they would have one big revenge and then
-Bulldog and his "fiddlers" would part for ever. They held long
-confabulations together in the Rector's class-room while that learned
-man was reading aloud some new and specially ingenious translation of an
-ode and in the class-room of modern languages, while Moossy's successor
-was trying to teach Jock Howieson how to pronounce a modified U, in the
-German tongue, in Mrs. McWhae's tuck-shop when the "gundy" allowed them
-to speak at all, and at the Russian guns where they gathered in the
-break instead of playing rounders. The junior boys were not admitted to
-those mysterious meetings, but were told to wait and see what they would
-see, and whatever plan the seniors formed not a word of it oozed out in
-the town. But the Seminary was going to do something mighty, and Bulldog
-would repent the years of his tyranny.
-
-Funds were necessary for the campaign, since it was going to be a big
-affair, and Speug directed that a war chest should at once be
-established. No one outside the secret junta knew what was going to be
-done with the money, but orders were issued that by hook or crook every
-boy in school except the merest kids should pay sixpence a week to Jock
-Howieson, who was not an accomplished classical scholar nor specially
-versed in geometry but who could keep the most intricate accounts in his
-head with unerring accuracy, and knew every boy in the Seminary by head
-mark. And although he was not a fluent speaker, he was richly endowed
-with other powers of persuasion, and he would be a very daring young
-gentleman indeed, and almost indifferent to circumstances, who did not
-pay his sixpence to Jock before set of sun each Monday. Jock made no
-demands, and gave no receipts; he engaged in no conversation whatever,
-but simply waited and took. If any one tried to compound with Jock for
-threepence, one look at the miserable produced the sixpence; and when
-little Cosh following in the devious steps of his elder brother
-insinuated that he had paid already, Jock dropped him into the lade to
-refresh his memory. No one directly inquired what was to be done with
-the money, for every one knew it was safe with Jock, and that it would
-be well spent by the mighty four who now ruled the school: Jock,
-Bauldie, Nestie, and Speug--Dunc Robertson after a brief course at
-Sandhurst having got his commission in his father's regiment. And it was
-also known that every halfpenny was going to give a big surprise to
-Bulldog, so the boys, during those weeks treated their fathers with
-obsequious respect for commercial reasons, and coaxed additional pennies
-out of their mothers on every false pretence, and paid endearing visits
-to maiden aunts, and passed Mrs. McWhae's shop, turning away their eyes
-and noses from vanity, and sold to grinding capitalists their tops,
-marbles, young rabbits, and kites; and "as sure as death" every Monday
-the silent but observant treasurer received for eight weeks 5L 4s., at
-the rate of sixpence a head, from 208 boys. They kept their secret like
-an oyster, and there was not one informer among the 208; but curiosity
-grew hot, and there were many speculations, and it was widely believed
-that the money would be used in sending a cane of the most magnificent
-proportions to Bulldog, as a remembrance of his teaching days, and a
-mark of respect from his pupils. One boy, being left to himself, dared
-to suggest this to Speug; and when he looked round at some distance off,
-Speug's eye was still upon him, and he declared from his experience that
-it was not healthy to question Speug. Two hundred and four boys,
-however, with the observant faculties of Indian scouts, and intent upon
-discovery could not be altogether baffled, and various bits of reliable
-information were passed round the school. That the four had gone one
-evening into Bailie MacConachie's, who was now on terms of high
-popularity with the school; that the Count who was even then sickening
-for his death, and Mr. McGuffie, whom nothing but an accident could
-kill, had also been present; that at different times the Count had been
-seen examining the gold watches in Gillespie's shop, whose watches were
-carried by every man of standing in the Scots Midlands, and pronouncing
-his judgment on their appearance with vivacious gestures; that the
-Bailie had been seen examining the interior of a watch with awful
-solemnity while Councillor Gillespie hung upon his decision; and, to
-crown all, that Mr. McGuffie senior, after a lengthy interview with the
-head of the firm, during which he had given him gratuitous advice on
-three coming races, had left Gillespie's, declaring with pronounced
-language that if certain persons did not obtain certain things for L40
-he, Mr. McGuffie, although not a person giving to betting, would wager
-ten to one that the place of business would close in a year. It was
-whispered therefore in the corridors, with some show of truth, that the
-Seminary was going to take vengeance on Bulldog with a gift, and that
-the gift, whatever it might be, was lying in Gillespie's shop. And the
-school speculated whether there was any one of their number, even Speug
-himself, who would dare to face Bulldog with a gift; and whether, if he
-did, that uncompromising man might not occupy his last week of
-mastership in thrashing the school one by one, from the oldest unto the
-youngest, for their blazing impertinence.
-
-The closing day was a Thursday that year, and it was characteristic of
-Bulldog that he met his classes as usual on Wednesday, and when
-Howieson disgraced himself beyond usual in Euclid, having disgraced
-himself more moderately on four preceding days that he administered
-discipline on Jock with conscientious severity. Jock was the last boy
-Bulldog thrashed, and he was so lifted up as to be absolutely
-unendurable for the rest of the day, and boasted of the distinction for
-many a year. As four o'clock approached, the boys began to grow
-restless, and Bulldog's own voice was not perfectly steady when he
-closed the last problem with Q. E. D.
-
-"Q. E. D.; yes, Q. E. D., laddies, we have carried the argument to its
-conclusion according to the principles of things, and the book is
-finished. There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, we will
-spend it in revising the work of the Senior Algebra Class."
-
-Their work has not been revised unto this day, for at that moment the
-door opened without any one knocking, and without any one offering an
-apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, and scholar of
-Trinity College, Cambridge, and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
-Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied by Bailie
-MacConachie, whose dignity was fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand
-gracefully to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included everybody in an
-affable nod; and behind this imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown
-Seminary who was not already in the mathematical class-room. Bulldog
-turned upon them like a lion caught in a snare, and if he had had only
-thirty seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would have driven
-the whole deputation, old and young, out of the class-room and dealt
-with the conspirators who remained unto the setting of the sun. But it
-was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with minute care, and before
-Bulldog could say a word Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
-much.
-
-"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us for it is our last
-offence, and we have this time a fair excuse. Your laddies could not let
-you leave that desk and go out of this room for the last time without
-telling you that they are grateful, because you have tried to make them
-scholars, and to make them men. If any of us be able in after years to
-do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything else to your
-teaching and your discipline."
-
-Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman the four had chosen, began.
-
-"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, but everything Pirie
-said is true, and we are proud of our chief."
-
-"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the watch and chain which
-we ask the master to do us the honour of wearing through the days to
-come, and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to the desk,
-"crowns our offence, but you will know how to read it!"
-
- "TO BULLDOG,
- WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION
- OF
- HIS LADDIES."
-
-It was Bailie MacConachie--may everything be pardoned to him--who
-started the cheer; but it was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and
-ditch, and it was of such a kind that the mathematical class-room had to
-be repaired before the beginning of next term. During the storm Bulldog
-stood with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white as his hair,
-and when at last there was silence he tried to speak, but the tender
-heart had broken the iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."
-
-The Count, with quick tact, led off the second cheer, and the boys filed
-out of the class-room. Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
-him, and covered his face with his hands. When an hour later he walked
-across the North Meadow there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie
-MacFarlane, who met him on the bridge (and passed without speaking),
-noticed that Bulldog was wearing his laddies' gift.
-
-Sitting in his garden that evening and looking down upon the plain,
-Bulldog called Nestie to his side, and pointed to the river. The evening
-sun was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and on the
-orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft light, a rough
-weather-beaten coaster, which had fought her way through many a gale in
-the North Sea, and could not hold together much longer was dropping down
-with the tide. Newer and swifter vessels would take her place in the
-days to come, but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
-and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots rivers was carrying her gently
-to the eternal ocean.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Barbarians, by Ian Maclaren
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