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Page 74
Geordie went away gaily, to take disorder and evil smells into
Mistress Jeanie's shining kitchen.
No sooner had the medical student gone up to the lodge, and the
children had been persuaded to go home to watch the proceedings
anxiously from the amphitheater of the tenement windows, than the
kirkyard gate was slammed back noisily by a man in a hurry. It was
the sergeant who, in the splendor of full uniform, dropped in the
wet grass beside Bobby.
"Lush! The sma' dog got hame, an' is still leevin'. Noo, God forgie
me--"
"Eh, man, what had you to do with Bobby's misadventure?"
Mr. Traill fixed an accusing eye on the soldier, remembering
suddenly his laughing threat to kidnap Bobby. The story came out in
a flood of remorseful words, from Bobby's following of the troops
so gaily into the Castle to his desperate escape over the
precipice.
"Noo," he said, humbly, "gin it wad be ony satisfaction to ye, I'll
gang up to the Castle an' put on fatigue dress, no' to disgrace the
unifarm o' her Maijesty, an' let ye tak' me oot on the Burghmuir
an' gie me a gude lickin'."
Mr. Traill shrugged his shoulders. "Naething would satisfy me, man,
but to get behind you and kick you over the Firth into the Kingdom
of Fife."
He turned an angry back on the sergeant and helped Geordie lift
Bobby onto Mrs. Brown's braided hearth-rug and carry the improvised
litter up to the lodge. In the kitchen the little dog was lowered
into a hot bath, dried, and rubbed with liniments under his fleece.
After his lacerated feet had been cleaned and dressed with healing
ointments and tied up, Bobby was wrapped in Mistress Jeanie's best
flannel petticoat and laid on the hearth-rug, a very comfortable
wee dog, who enjoyed his breakfast of broth and porridge.
Mr. Brown, hearing the commotion and perishing of curiosity,
demanded that some one should come and help him out of bed. As no
attention was paid to him he managed to get up himself and to
hobble out to the kitchen just as Mr. Traill's ain medical man came
in. Bobby's spine was examined again, the tail and toes nipped, the
heart tested, and all the soft parts of his body pressed and
punched, in spite of the little dog's vigorous objections to these
indignities.
"Except for sprains and bruises the wee dog is all right. Came down
Castle Crag in the fog, did he? He's a clever and plucky little
chap, indeed, and deserving of a hero medal to hang on the Lord
Provost's collar. You've done very well, Mr. Ross. Just take as
good care of him for a week or so and he could do the gallant deed
again."
Mr. Brown listened to the story of Bobby's adventures with a
mingled look of disgust at the foolishness of men, pride in Bobby's
prowess, and resentment at having been left out of the drama of the
night before. "It's maist michty, noo, Maister Traill, that ye wad
tak' the leeberty o' leein' to me," he complained.
"It was a gude lee or a bad nicht for an ill man. Geordie will tell
you that a mind at ease is worth four shullings, and I'm charging
you naething. Eh, man, you're deeficult to please." As he went out
into the kirkyard Mr. Traill stopped to reflect on a strange thing:
"'You've done very well, Mr. Ross.' Weel, weel, how the laddies do
grow up! But I'm no' going to admit it to Geordie."
Another thought, over which he chuckled, sent him off to find the
sergeant. The soldier was tramping gloomily about in the wet, to
the demoralization of his beautiful boots.
"Man, since a stormy nicht eight years ago last November I've aye
been looking for a bigger weel meaning fule than my ain sel'.
You're the man, so if you'll just shak' hands we'll say nae more
about it."
He did not explain this cryptic remark, but he went on to assure
the sorry soldier that Bobby had got no serious hurt and would soon
be as well as ever. They had turned toward the gate when a stranger
with a newspaper in his hand peered mildly around the kirk and
inquired "Do ye ken whaur's the sma' dog, man?" As Mr. Traill
continued to stare at him he explained, patiently: "It's Greyfriars
Bobby, the bittie terrier the Laird Provost gied the collar to. Hae
ye no' seen 'The Scotsman' the day?"
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