Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 02
General
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 02
Scottish Borders (Scotland) -- Fiction
"Well, to be surely," he said, "if a man'll not understand the offer of
a tram, he'll understand nothing, and it's no use saying more. Put maybe
you'll understand the sign, if not the word." And, saying this, he
raised his closed hand to his lips and threw back his head, as if taking
off a _caulker_ of his own mountain dew; pointing, at the same time, to
a house which seemed to him to have the appearance of one of public
entertainment. To Donald's great satisfaction, he found that he had now
made himself perfectly intelligible; a fact which he recognised in the
smiles and nods of his auditory, and, still more unequivocally, in the
general movement which they made after him to the "public-house," to
which he immediately directed his steps.
At the head, then, of this troop of tatterdemallions, and walking with
as stately a step as a drum-major, Donald may be said to have made his
entrance into Madrid; and rather an odd first appearance of that worthy
there, it certainly was. On entering the tavern or inn which he had
destined for the scene of his hospitalities, he strode in much in
the same style that he would have entered a public-house in
Lochaber--namely, slapping the first person he met on the shoulder, and
shouting some merry greeting or other appropriate to the occasion. This
precisely Donald did in the present instance, to the great amazement and
alarm of a very pretty Spanish girl, who was performing the duty of
ushering in customers, inclusive of that of subsequently supplying
their wants. On feeling the enormous paw of Donald on her shoulder,
and looking at the strange attire in which he was arrayed, the girl
uttered a scream of terror, and fled into the interior of the house.
Unaccustomed to have his rude but hearty greetings received in this way,
or to find them producing an effect so contrary to that which, in his
honest warm-heartedness, he intended them to produce, Donald was rather
taken aback by the alarm expressed by the girl; but soon recovering his
presence of mind--
"Oich, oich!" he said, laughing, and turning to his ragged crew behind
him, "ta lassie's frightened for Shon Heelanman. Puir thing! It's weel
seen she's no peen procht up in Lochaber, or maype's no been lang in the
way o' keepin a public. It's--
"'Haut awa, bite awa,
Haut awa frae me, Tonal;
What care I for a' your wealth,
An' a' that ye can gie, Tonal?'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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