To Haggart, pondering between the strokes of his hammer, came a mole-catcher who climbed the dyke and sat down beside him.
'Ay, ay,' said the new-comer; to which Tammas replied abstractedly—
'Jamie.'
'Hae ye seen Davy Dundas?' the stone-breaker asked, after the pause that followed this conversation.
The mole-catcher stared heavily at his corduroys.
'I dinna ken him,' he said at last, 'but I hae seen naebody this twa 'oors.'
'It's no a him, it's a her. Ye canna hae been a' winter here withoot kennin' Rob Angus.'
'Ay, the saw-miller. He was i' the wud the day. I saw his cart gae hame. Ou, in coorse I ken Rob. He's an amazin' crittur.'
Tammas broke another stone as carefully as if it were a nut.
'I dinna deny,' he said, 'but what Rob's a curiosity. So was his faither afore 'im.'