‘Na, no gien ye didna like. But ye wud hae likit weel to gang. It wasna an ill w’y to beery fowk, nor an ill place to gang til, for they aye biggit up the skelf, ye ken. It was howkit oot—whether oot o’ hard yird or saft stane, I dinna ken; I reckon it wud be some no sae hard kin’ o’ a rock—and whan the deid was laid intil ’t, they biggit up the mou o’ the place, that is, frae that same skelf to the ane ’at was abune ’t, and sae a’ was weel closed in.’
‘But what for didna they beery their deid mensefulike i’ their kirkyairds?’
‘’Cause theirs was a great muckle toon, wi’ sic a heap o’ hooses that there wasna room for kirkyards; sae they tuik them ootside the toon, and gaed aneth wi’ them a’thegither. For there they howkit a lot o’ passages like trances, and here and there a wee roomy like, wi’ ither trances gaein frae them this gait and that. Sae, whan they tuik themsels there, the freen’s o’ the bonny man wud fill ane o’ the roomies, and stan’ awa in ilk ane o’ the passages ’at gaed frae ’t; and that w’y, though there cudna mony o’ them see ane anither at ance, a gey lottie wud hear, some a’, and some a hantle o’ what was said. For there they cud speyk lood oot, and a body abune hear naething and suspec naething. And jist think, Steenie, there’s a pictur o’ the bonny man himsel paintit upo’ the wa’ o’ ane o’ thae places doon aneth the grun’!’
‘I reckon it’ll be unco like him!’
‘Maybe: I canna tell aboot that.’
‘Gien I cud see ’t, I cud tell; but I’m thinkin it’ll be some gait gey and far awa?’
‘Ay, it’s far, far.—It wud tak a body—lat me see—maybe half a year to trevel there upo’ ’s ain fit,’ answered Kirsty, after some meditation.
‘And me a hantle langer, my feet’s sae odious heavy!’ remarked Steenie with a sigh.
As they drew near the house, their mother saw them coming, and went to the door to meet them.
‘We’re wantin a bit o’ a can’le, and a spunk or twa, mother,’ said Kirsty.