"Indistinct!" he cried, "why, the indistinctness must be in your own eyes. It was clear even to that light-headed lassie, my niece, at the first glance. Here on this very Kaim of Kinprunes was fought out the final conflict between Agricola and the Caledonians! The record says--let me remind you--'in sight of the Grampian Hills.' Yonder they are! _In conspectu classis_,--'in sight of the fleet,'--and where will you find a finer bay than that on your right hand? From this very fortification, doubtless, Agrippa looked down on the immense army of Caledonians occupying the slopes of the opposite hill, the infantry rising rank over rank, the cavalry and charioteers scouring the more level space below. From this very _praetorium_--" But a voice from behind interrupted the Antiquary's poetic description, for his voice had mounted almost into a kind of ecstasy. "_Praetorian here--Praetorian there--I mind the bigging o't!_" Both at once turned round, Lovel surprised, and the Antiquary both surprised and angry. An old man in a huge slouched hat, a long white grizzled beard, weather-beaten features of the colour of brick-dust, a long blue gown with a pewter badge on the right arm, stood gazing at them. In short, it was Edie Ochiltree, the King's Blue-Gownsman, which is to say, privileged beggar. "What is that ye say, Edie?" demanded Oldbuck, thinking that his ears must have deceived him. "About this bit bower, Monkbarns," said the undaunted Edie, "I mind the biggin' (building) o' it!" "The deil ye do!" said the Antiquary with scorn in his voice; "why, you old fool, it was here before ye were born, and will be here after ye are hanged." "Hanged or drowned, alive or dead," said Edie, sticking to his guns, "I mind the biggin' o't!" "You--you--you," stammered the Antiquary, between confusion and anger, "you strolling old vagabond, what ken ye about it?" "Oh, I ken just this about it, Monkbarns," he answered, "and what profit have I in telling ye a lie? It was just some mason-lads and me, with maybe two or three herds, that set to work and built this bit thing here that ye call the praetorian, to be a shelter for us in a sore time of rain, at auld Aiken Drum's bridal. And look ye, Monkbarns, dig down, and ye will find a stone (if ye have not found it already) with the shape of a spoon and the letters A.D.L.L. on it--that is to say Aiken Drum's Lang Ladle." The Antiquary blushed crimson with anger and mortification. For indoors he had just been showing that identical stone to Lovel as his chiefest treasure, and had interpreted the ladle as a Roman sacrificing vessel, and the letters upon it as a grave Latin inscription, carved by Agrippa himself to celebrate his victory. Lovel was inclined to be amused by the old beggar's demolishing of all the Antiquary's learned theories, but he was speedily brought to himself by Edie Ochiltree's next words.