,
the nicht afore last I gaed to the Hilltap to see Tibby, an' as usual
there was a lad or twa in the kitchen, an' the crack was gaun screevin'
roond. But I can tak' my share in that," continued Tammas modestly, "so
we fell on to the banter.

"Tibby was knitting at a reid pirnie[4] for her faither; but, of course,
I let on that it was for her guidman, and wanted her to tak' the size o'
my held so that she micht mak' it richt.

[Footnote 4: Night-cap.]

"'It'll never be on the pow o' an Ayrshire drover,' says she, snell as
the north wind.

"'An' what for that?' says I.

"'The yairn 's owre dear,' says Tibby. 'It cost twa baskets o' mushrooms
in Dumfries market!'

"'An' what price paid ye for the mushrooms that the airn should be owre
dear?' said I.

"'Ou, nocht ava,' says Tibby. 'I juist gat them whaur the Ayrshire
drover gat the coo. I fand them in a field!'

"Then everybody _haa-haa_ed with laughing. She had me there, I wull
alloo--me that had been a drover," said Tammas Thackanraip.

"But that was naething to discourage ye, Tammock," said I. "That was
juist her bit joke."

"I ken--I ken," said Tammock; "but hand a wee--I'm no' dune yet. So
after they had dune laughin', I telled them o' the last man that was
hangit at the Grassmarket o' Edinburgh. There was three coonts in the
dittay against him: first, that he was fand on the king's highway
withoot due cause; second, he wan'ered in his speech; and, thirdly, he
owned that he cam' frae Gallowa'.

"This kind o' squared the reckoning, but it hadna the success o' the
Ayrshireman and the coo, for they a' belonged to Gallowa' that was in
the kitchen,"

"'Deed, an' I dinna see muckle joke in that last mysel'," said my wife,
who also belonged to Galloway.

"And I'll be bound neither did the poor lad in the Grassmarket!" I put
in, edgeways, taking my legs down off the jambs, for the peats had
burned up, and enough is as good as a feast.

Then Tammas was silent for a good while, smoking slowly, taking out his
pipe whiles and looking at the shank of it in a very curious manner.

I knew that we were coming to the kernel of the story now.

"So the nicht slippit on," continued the narrator, "an' the lads that
had to be early up in the morning gaed awa yin by yin, an' I was left
my lane wi' Tibby. She was gaun aboot here an' there gey an' brisk,
clatterin' dishes an' reddin' corners.

"'Hae a paper an' read us some o' the news, gin ye hae nocht better to
say,'