The yard was full of people, and, as the auctioneer had paused between two lots, and was being refreshed at the expense of the farm’s owner, tongues were loose, and the air was filled with discussion, jests, and the searching smell of tobacco and kicked-up straw. Among the few women present Gilbert perceived Granny Stirk, seated precariously on the corner of the wood-pile from which the auctioneer had just descended. Beside her was a tall, shock-headed lad of nineteen or so, whom only the most unobservant could suspect of belonging to the same category as the farm-boys, though his clothes were of the same fashion as their own, and his face wore the same healthy tanned red. He was spare and angular, and had that particular focus of eye which one sees in men who steer boats, drive horses, pay out ropes, and whose hands can act independently while they are looking distant possibilities in the face. A halter dangled from his arm. He was very grave and his thoughts were evidently fixed on the door of the farm stable. In spite of his sharp-cut personality, he stood by Granny Stirk in a way that suggested servitude. Gilbert left his companions and went towards the couple. Granny’s face was lengthened to suit the demands of a public occasion, and her little three-cornered woollen shawl was pinned with a pebble brooch. ‘What ails ye that ye canna see the laird of Whanland?’ she said, turning to the boy as Speid stopped beside them. He shuffled awkwardly with his cap. ‘He’s ma grandson, an’ it’s a shelt[1] he’s after.’ [1] Pony. Gilbert was getting a little more familiar with local speech. ‘Do you intend to buy?’ he said to the lad. Jimmy Stirk brought his eyes back to his immediate surroundings, and looked at the speaker. They were so much lighter than the brown face in which they were set, and their gaze was so direct, that Gilbert was almost startled. It was as though someone had gripped him. ‘Ay, that’s it. He’s to buy,’ broke in Granny. ‘He’s aye wanted this, an’ we’d be the better of twa, for the auld ane’s getting fairly done.’ ‘I doubt I’ll no get it yet,’ said the boy. ‘He’s sold near a’ the things he’s got,’ continued Granny, looking at her grandson’s feet, which Gilbert suddenly noticed were bare. ‘A’m fair ashamed to be seen wi’ him.’ ‘How much have you got together?’ inquired the young man. Jimmy opened his hand. There were ten pounds in the palm. ‘He got half that, July month last, from a gentleman that was like to be drowned down by the river’s mouth; he just gaed awa an’ ca’ed him in by the lugs,’[2] explained his grandmother. [2] Ears. ‘Did you swim out?’ asked Speid, interested. ‘Ay,’ replied Jimmy, whose eyes had returned to the door. ‘That was well done.’ ‘I kenned I’d get somethin’,’ observed the boy. The auctioneer now emerged from the farm-house and the crowd began to draw together like a piece of elastic. He came straight to the wood-pile.