for glory, nor for liberty, nor for their children, but only because
the one will not give way unto the other.'"

"It was nobly said," declared Hendry; "na, cocks wouldna hae sae muckle
understandin' as to fecht for thae things. I wouldna wonder but what
it was some laddies 'at set them at ane another.'

"Hendry doesna see what Miltydes was after," said T'nowhead.

"Ye've taen't up wrang, Hendry," Tammas explained. "What Miltiades
meant was 'at if cocks could fecht sae weel oot o' mere deviltry,
surely the Greeks would fecht terrible for their gods an' their bairns
an' the other things."

"I see, I see; but what was the monuments of their ancestors?"

"Ou, that was the gravestanes they put up i' their kirkyards."

"I wonder the other billies would want to tak them awa. They would be
a michty wecht."

"Ay, but they wanted them, an' nat'rally the Greeks stuck to the stanes
they paid for."

"So, so, an' did Davit Lunan mak oot 'at there was humour in that?"

"He do so. He said it was a humorous thing to think o' a hale army
lookin' on at twa cocks fechtin'. I assure ye I telt 'im 'at I saw nae
humour in't. It was ane o' the most impressive sichts ever seen by
man, an' the Greeks was sae inspired by what Miltiades said 'at they
sweepit the Persians oot o' their country."

We all agreed that Tammas's was the genuine humour.

"An' an enviable possession it is," said Hendry.

"In a wy," admitted Tammas, "but no in a' wys."

He hesitated, and then added in a low voice--

"As sure as death, Hendry, it sometimes taks grip o' me i' the kirk
itsel, an' I can hardly keep frae lauchin'."

CHAPTER VI

DEAD THIS TWENTY YEARS

In the lustiness of youth there are many who cannot feel that they,
too, will die. The first fear stops the heart. Even then they would
keep death at arm's length by making believe to disown him. Loved ones
are taken away, and the boy, the girl, will not speak of them, as if
that made the conqueror's triumph the less. In time the fire in the
breast burns low, and then in the last glow of the embers, it is
sweeter to hold to what has been than to think of what may be.

Twenty years had passed since Joey ran down the brae to play. Jess,
his mother, shook her staff fondly at him. A cart rumbled by, the
driver nodding on the shaft. It rounded the corner and stopped
suddenly, and then a woman screamed. A handful of men carried Joey's
dead body to his mother, and that was the t