piece.

David dashed forward.

"Touch it, if ye daur, ye brute!" he yelled; but his father seized him
and held him back.

"'And the dogs o' the street,'" he quoted. David turned furiously on
him.

"I've half a mind to brak' ivery bone in yer body!" he shouted, "robbin'
me o' what's mine and throwin' it to yon black brute!"

"Whist, David, whist!" soothed the little man. "Twas but for yer ain
good yer auld dad did it. 'Twas that he had at heart as he aye has.
Rin aff wi' ye noo to Kenmuir. She'll mak' it up to ye, I war'nt. She's
leeberal wi' her favors, I hear. Ye've but to whistle and she'll come."

David seized his father by the shoulder.

"An' yo' gie me much more o' your sauce," he roared.

"Sauce, Wullie," the little man echoed in a gentle voice.

"I'll twist yer neck for yo'!"

"He'll twist my neck for me."

"I'll gang reet awa', I warn yo', and leave you and yer Wullie to yer
lone."

The little man began to whimper.

"It'll brak' yer auld dad's heart, lad," he said.

"Nay; yo've got none. But 'twill ruin yo', please God. For yo' and
yer Wullie'll get ne'er a soul to work for yo'--yo' cheeseparin',
dirty-tongued Jew."

The little man burst into an agony of affected tears, rocking to and
fro, his face in his hands.

"Waesucks, Wullue! d'ye hear him? He is gaein' to leave us--the son o'
my bosom! my Benjamin! my little Davie! he's gaein' awa'!"

David turned away down the hill; and M'Adam lifted his stricken face and
waved a hand at him.

"'Adieu, dear amiable youth!'" he cried in broken voice; and straightway
set to sobbing again.

Half-way down to the Stony Bottom David turned.

"I'll gie yo' a word o' warnin'," he shouted back. "I'd advise yo' to
keep a closer eye to yer Wullie's goings on, 'specially o' nights, or
happen yo'll wake to a surprise one mornin'."

In an instant the little man ceased his fooling.

"And why that?" he asked, following down the hill.

"I'll tell yo'. When I wak' this mornin' I walked to the window, and
what d'yo' think I see? Why, your Wullie gollopin' like a good un up
from the Bottom, all foamin', too, and red-splashed, as if he'd coom
from the Screes. What had he bin up to, I'd like to know?"

"What should he be doin'," the little man replied, "but havin' an eye to
the stock? and that when the Killer might be oot."

David laughed harshly.

"Ay, the Killer was oot, I'll go bail, and yo' may hear o't afore the
evenin', ma man," and with that he turne