w-servants, and ushered the Faas into his master's hall for the
night. But scarce had they taken their seats upon the oaken forms around
the fire, when--

"Come," said the Faa king, "the night is cold, pinching cold, Mr. Smith:
and, while the fire warms without, is there naething in the cellar that
will warm within? See to it, Andrew, man--thou art no churl, or they
face is fause."

"Really, sir," replied Andrew--and, in spite of all his efforts to
appear at ease, his tongue faultered as he spoke--"I'm not altogether
certain what to say upon that subject; for ye observe that our laird is
really a very singular man; ye might as weel put your head in the fire
there as displease him in the smallest; and though Heaven kens that I
would gie to you just as freely as I would tak to mysel, yet ye'll
observe that the liquor in the cellars is not mine, but his--and they
are never sae weel plenished but I believe he would miss a thimblefu'.
But there is some excellent cold beef in the pantry, if ye could put up
wi' the like o' it, and the home-brewed which we servants use."

"Andrew," returned the Faa king, proudly--"castle have I none, flocks
and herds have I none, neither have I haughs where the wheat, and the
oats, and the barley grow--but, like Ishmael, my great forefather, every
man's hand is against me, and mine against them--yet, when I am hungry,
I never lack the flesh-pots o' my native land, where the moorfowl and
the venison make brown broo together. Cauld meat agrees nae wi' my
stomach, and servants' drink was never brewed for the lord o' Little
Egypt. Ye comprehend me, Andrew?"

"Oh, I daresay I do, sir," said the chief domestic of the house of
Clennel; "but only, as I have said, ye will recollect that the drink is
not mine to give; and if I venture upon a jug, I hope ye winna think o'
asking for another."

"We shall try it," said the royal vagrant.

Andrew, with trembling and reluctance, proceeded to the cellar, and
returned with a large earthen vessel filled with the choicest
home-brewed, which he placed upon a table in the midst of them.

"Then each took a smack
Of the old black jack,
While the fire burned in the hall."

The Faa king pronounced the liquor to be palatable, and drank to his
better acquaintance with the cellars of the laird of Clennel; and his
gang followed his example.

Now, I should remark that Willie Faa, the chief of his tribe, was a man
of gigantic stature; the colour