"But this money couldn't last long. What then should I do? I'll tell you what I did do. I fell sound asleep, and the sun was setting when I awoke, and flooding all the wood with mellow light. "There was a blackbird came and perched half-way up a neighbouring spruce tree and began fluting. "`Oh!' I said half aloud, `two of us can flute.' "So the blackbird and I piped away there till it got nearly dark. But I felt hungry now, and music is not very filling, Archie. So I put up my flute and started to my feet; I felt stiff now, but it soon wore off. "I went on and on and on, getting hungrier every minute, but there was no sign of village or house. I drank some water from a rill that came tumbling down through a bank of ferns, and felt better. "I was beginning to wonder where I should sleep, when the sound of merry laughing voices fell upon my ear. The party, whoever it was, came rapidly on towards me from among the trees. "`Hullo, lad!' said one; `are ye comin' to the dance?' "`Dance!' I cried; `why, my feet are all one bag of blisters, and I'm faint with hunger. Dance, indeed!' "`It's a puir beggar laddie,' said a girl, whose face I could hardly see in the uncertain light. "`Beggar!' I exclaimed. `Who d'ye call a beggar? I've a whole pocketful of money, only I've lost the road.' "`Come along, then,' they all cried. `Come along with us.' "And off we all went singing. We struck off the road down across the fields, and soon I heard the music of a fiddle and saw bright lights. A young man came out of a farmhouse to welcome us. He told us dolefully that only one fiddler had come, and plaintively asked what could be done. "`I've a flute,' I cried. "`Hurrah!' they answered. `Come in, my boy.' "`The laddie maun eat first,' said the girl who had called me a beggar. "I blessed her with all my heart, though not in words. "What a supper they gave me! And didn't I eat just! I could play now, and we spent such a joyful night, and dawn was breaking and the blackbirds up and fluting again long before the merry party broke up. "I got a bed and slept far into the day; then, after a good dinner from these kind-hearted farm folks, I began my journey in search of fortune once more. "By evening I saw great grey clouds lying in the hollows before me. It was smoke. I was nearing Glasgow, and in two hours more I was walking along the Broomielaw. "I had never seen so many people before in my life, but hardly anybody looked at the shepherd lad in Highland garb. I determined they should, though. I put my flute together, and standing near the bridge, commenced to play `The Flowers of the Forest.'