第35章 THE DROVERS(4)

they declared; but the thought of a judge and a scaffold hunted them ever forward.I myself was not so much to be pitied.All that night, and during the whole of the little that remained before us of our conjunct journey, I enjoyed a new pleasure, the reward of my prowess, in the now loosened tongue of Mr.Sim.Candlish was still obdurately taciturn: it was the man's nature; but Sim, having finally appraised and approved me, displayed without reticence a rather garrulous habit of mind and a pretty talent for narration.

The pair were old and close companions, co-existing in these endless moors in a brotherhood of silence such as I have heard attributed to the trappers of the west.It seems absurd to mention love in connection with so ugly and snuffy a couple; at least, their trust was absolute; and they entertained a surprising admiration for each other's qualities; Candlish exclaiming that Sim was 'grand company!' and Sim frequently assuring me in an aside that for 'a rale, auld, stench bitch, there was nae the bate of Candlish in braid Scotland.' The two dogs appeared to be entirely included in this family compact, and I remarked that their exploits and traits of character were constantly and minutely observed by the two masters.Dog stories particularly abounded with them; and not only the dogs of the present but those of the past contributed their quota.'But that was naething,' Sim would begin: 'there was a herd in Manar, they ca'd him Tweedie - ye'll mind Tweedie, Can'lish?' 'Fine, that!' said Candlish.'Aweel, Tweedie had a dog - ' The story I have forgotten; I dare say it was dull, and I suspect it was not true; but indeed, my travels with the drove rendered me indulgent, and perhaps even credulous, in the matter of dog stories.Beautiful, indefatigable beings! as I saw them at the end of a long day's journey frisking, barking, bounding, striking attitudes, slanting a bushy tail, manifestly playing to the spectator's eye, manifestly rejoicing in their grace and beauty -

and turned to observe Sim and Candlish unornamentally plodding in the rear with the plaids about their bowed shoulders and the drop at their snuffy nose - I thought I would rather claim kinship with the dogs than with the men! My sympathy was unreturned; in their eyes I was a creature light as air; and they would scarce spare me the time for a perfunctory caress or perhaps a hasty lap of the wet tongue, ere they were back again in sedulous attendance on those dingy deities, their masters - and their masters, as like as not, damning their stupidity.

Altogether the last hours of our tramp were infinitely the most agreeable to me, and I believe to all of us; and by the time we came to separate, there had grown up a certain familiarity and mutual esteem that made the parting harder.It took place about four of the afternoon on a bare hillside from which I could see the ribbon of the great north road, henceforth to be my conductor.I asked what was to pay.

'Naething,' replied Sim.

'What in the name of folly is this?' I exclaimed.'You have led me, you have fed me, you have filled me full of whisky, and now you will take nothing!'

'Ye see we indentit for that,' replied Sim.

'Indented?' I repeated; 'what does the man mean?'

'Mr.St.Ivy,' said Sim, 'this is a maitter entirely between Candlish and me and the auld wife, Gilchrist.You had naething to say to it; weel, ye can have naething to do with it, then.'

'My good man,' said I, 'I can allow myself to be placed in no such ridiculous position.Mrs.Gilchrist is nothing to me, and I refuse to be her debtor.'

'I dinna exac'ly see what way ye're gaun to help it,' observed my drover.

'By paying you here and now,' said I.

'There's aye twa to a bargain, Mr.St.Ives,' said he.

'You mean that you will not take it?' said I.

'There or thereabout,' said he.'Forbye, that it would set ye a heap better to keep your siller for them you awe it to.Ye're young, Mr.St.Ivy, and thoughtless; but it's my belief that, wi'

care and circumspection, ye may yet do credit to yoursel'.But just you bear this in mind: that him that AWES siller should never GIE siller.'

Well, what was there to say? I accepted his rebuke, and bidding the pair farewell, set off alone upon my southward way.

'Mr.St.Ivy,' was the last word of Sim, 'I was never muckle ta'en up in Englishry; but I think that I really ought to say that ye seem to me to have the makings of quite a decent lad.'