tae stop ye frae hidin' behind that
this vera nicht and seein' the auld mun when he doesna ken human e'e is
on him?"

The mair I thocht o't the mair seemple it appeared, and I made up my
mind tae put the idea intae instant execution.

When the nicht cam roond I tauld the women-folk that I was bad wi' the
jawache, and would gang airly tae my room. I kenned fine when ance I got
there that there was na chance o' ony ane disturbin' me, so I waited a
wee while, and then when a' was quiet, I slippit aff my boots and ran
doon the ither stair until I cam tae the heap o' auld clothes, and there
I lay doon wi' ane e'e peepin' through a kink and a' the rest covered up
wi' a great, ragged cairpet.

There I bided as quiet as a mouse until the general passed me on his
road tae bed, and a' was still in the hoose.

My certie! I wouldna gang through wi' it again for a' the siller at the
Union Bank of Dumfries, I canna think o't noo withoot feelin' cauld a'
the way doon my back.

It was just awfu' lyin' there in the deid silence, waitin' and waitin'
wi' never a soond tae break the monotony, except the heavy tickin' o' an
auld clock somewhere doon the passage.

First I would look doon the corridor in the one way, and syne I'd look
doon in t'ither, but it aye seemed to me as though there was something
coming up frae the side that I wasna lookin' at. I had a cauld sweat on
my broo, and my hairt was beatin' twice tae ilka tick o' the clock, and
what feared me most of a' was that the dust frae the curtains and things
was aye gettin' doon intae my lungs, and it was a' I could dae tae keep
mysel' frae coughin'.

Godsakes! I wonder my hair wasna grey wi' a' that I went through. I
wouldna dae it again to be made Lord Provost o' Glasgie.

Weel, it may have been twa o'clock in the mornin' or maybe a little
mair, and I was just thinkin' that I wasna tae see onything after
a'--and I wasna very sorry neither--when all o' a sudden a soond cam tae
my ears clear and distinct through the stillness o' the nicht.

I've been asked afore noo tae describe that soond, but I've aye foond
that it's no' vera easy tae gie a clear idea o't, though it was unlike
any other soond that ever I hearkened tae. It was a shairp, ringin'
clang, like what could be caused by flippin' the rim o' a wineglass, but
it was far higher and thinner than that, and had in it, tae, a kind o'
splash, like the tinkle o' a rain-drop intae a water-butt.

In my fear I sat up amang