The guard stopped, presented arms to this small, peremptory terrier,
and inquired facetiously if he had a pass. Bobby bristled and yelped
indignantly. The soldier grinned with amusement. Sentinel duty was
lonesome business, and any diversion a relief. In a guardhouse asleep
when Bobby came into the Castle, he had not seen the little dog before
and knew nothing about him. He might be the property of one of the
regiment ladies. Without orders he dared not let Bobby out. A furious
and futile onslaught on the gate he met with a jocose feint of his
bayonet. Tiring of the play, presently, the soldier turned his back and
paced to the end of his beat.
Bobby stopped barking in sheer astonishment. He gazed after the stiff,
retreating back, in frightened disbelief that he was not to be let out.
He attacked the stone under the barrier, but quickly discovered its
unyielding nature. Then he howled until the sentinel came back, but when
the man went by without looking at him he uttered a whimpering cry and
fled upward. The roadway was dark and the dusk was gathering on the
citadel when Bobby dashed across the summit and down into the brightly
lighted square of the Palace Yard.
The gas-lamps were being lighted on the bridge, and Mr. Traill was
getting into his streetcoat for his call on Mr. Brown when Tammy put his
head in at the door of the restaurant. The crippled laddie had a warm,
uplifted look, for Love had touched the sordid things of life, and a
miracle had bloomed for the tenement dwellers around Greyfriars.
“Maister Traill, Mrs. Brown says wull ye please send Bobby hame. Her
gude-mon's frettin' for 'im; an' syne, a' the folk aroond the kirkyaird
hae come to the gate to see the bittie dog's braw collar. They wullna
believe the Laird Provost gied it to 'im for a chairm gin they dinna see
it wi' their gin een.”
“Why, mannie, Bobby's no' here. He must be in the kirkyard.”
“Nae, he isna. I ca'ed, an' Ailie keeked in ilka place amang the
stanes.”
They stared at each other, the landlord serious, the laddie's lip
trembling. Mr. Traill had not returned from his numerous errands about
the city until the middle of the afternoon. He thought, of course, that
Bobby had been in for his dinner, as usual, and had returned to the
kirkyard. It appeared, now, that no one about the diningrooms had seen
the little dog. Everybody had thought that Mr. Traill had taken Bobby
with him. He hurried down to the gate to find Mistress Jeanie at the
wicket, and a crowd of tenement women and children in the alcove and
massed down Candlemakers Row. Alarm spread like a contagion. In eight
years and more Bobby had not been outside the kirkyard gate after the
sunset bugle. Mrs. Brown turned pale.
“Dinna say the bittie dog's lost, Maister Traill. It wad gang to the
heart o' ma gudemon.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account