but in order to determine the point, he would be
visited, it was added, in the course of the day, by the shepherd and a
law-officer. The dog meanwhile, however, conscious of guilt--for dogs
do seem to have consciences in such matters--was nowhere to be found,
though, after the lapse of nearly a week, he again appeared at the work;
and his master, slipping a rope round his neck, brought him to a
deserted coal-pit half-filled with water, that opened in an adjacent
field, and, flinging him in, left the authorities no clue by which to
establish his identity with the robber and assassin of the fold.

I had now quite enough of the strike; and, instead of attending the
evening meeting, passed the night with my friend William Ross. Curious
to know, however, whether my absence had been observed by my brother
workmen, I asked Cha, when we next met, "what he thought of _our_
meeting?" "Gude-sake!" he replied, "let that flee stick to the wa'! We
got upon the _skuff_ after you left us, and grew deaf to time, and so
not one of us has seen the meeting yet." I learned, however, that,
though somewhat reduced in numbers, it had been very spirited and
energetic, and had resolved on nailing the colours to the mast; but in a
few mornings subsequent, several of the squads returned to work on their
master's terms, and all broke down in about a week after. Contrary to
what I should have expected from my previous knowledge of him, I found
that my friend William Ross took a warm interest in strikes and
combinations, and was much surprised at the apathy which I manifested on
this occasion; nay, that he himself, as he told me, actually officiated
as clerk for a combined society of house-painters, and entertained
sanguine hopes regarding the happy influence which the principle of
union was yet to exercise on the status and comfort of the working man.
There are no problems more difficult than those which speculative men
sometimes attempt solving, when they set themselves to predict how
certain given characters would act in certain given circumstances. In
what spirit, it has been asked, would Socrates have listened to the
address of Paul on Mars Hill, had he lived a few ages later? and what
sort of a statesman would Robert Burns have made? I cannot answer
either question; but this I know, that from my intimate acquaintance
with the retiring, unobtrusive character of my friend in early life, I
should have predicted that he would have taken no interest