Bobby watched all this without a movement. He shivered when the lodge
door was heard to open and shut and heavy footsteps crunched on the
gravel and snow around the church. “Juist fair silly” on his quaking
legs he stood up, head and tail drooped. But he held his ground bravely,
and when the caretaker sighted him he trotted to meet the man, lifted
himself on his hind legs, his short, shagged fore paws on his breast,
begging attention and indulgence. Then he sprawled across the great
boots, asking pardon for the liberty he was taking. At last, all in a
flash, he darted back to the grave, sniffed at it, and stood again, head
up, plumy tail crested, all excitement, as much as to say:
“Come awa' ower, man, an' leuk at the brave sicht.”
If he could have barked, his meaning would have carried more
convincingly, but he “hauded 'is gab” loyally. And, alas, the caretaker
was not to be beguiled. Mr. Traill had told him Bobby had been sent
back to the hill farm, but here he was, “perseestent” little rascal, and
making some sort of bid for the man's favor. Mr. Brown took his pipe out
of his mouth in surprised exasperation, and glowered at the dog.
“Gang awa' oot wi' ye!”
But Bobby was back again coaxing undauntedly, abasing himself before
the angry man, insisting that he had something of interest to show. The
caretaker was literally badgered and cajoled into following him. One
glance at the formidable heap of the slain, and Mr. Brown dropped to a
seat on the slab.
“Preserve us a'!”
He stared from the little dog to his victims, turned them over with his
stout stick and counted them, and stared again. Bobby fixed his pleading
eyes on the man and stood at strained attention while fate hung in the
balance.
“Guile wark! Guile wark! A braw doggie, an' an unco' fechter. Losh! but
ye're a deil o' a bit dog!”
All this was said in a tone of astonished comment, so non-committal of
feeling that Bobby's tail began to twitch in the stress of his anxiety.
When the caretaker spoke again, after a long, puzzled frowning, it was
to express a very human bewilderment and irritation.
“Noo, what am I gangin' to do wi' ye?”
Ah, that was encouraging! A moment before, he had ordered Bobby out in
no uncertain tone. After another moment he referred the question to a
higher court.
“Jeanie, woman, come awa' oot a meenit, wull ye?”
A hasty pattering of carpet-slippered feet on the creaking snow, around
the kirk, and there was the neatest little apple-cheeked peasant woman
in Scotland, “snod” from her smooth, frosted hair, spotless linen mutch
and lawn kerchief, to her white, lamb's wool stockings.
“Here's the bit dog I was tellin' ye aboot; an' see for yersel' what
he's done noo.”
“The wee beastie couldna do a' that! It's as muckle as his ain wecht in
fou' vermin!” she cried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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