"Yes; but some day I may pull out the stones of the wall, or saw through the bars of the window. Have you never heard of such things?"
"Ay have I, when a man had saws or files, or hammers, but never when he had only his bare hands and nails."
"I will steal a knife from you."
"Will you?" said Trotter, with his knowing wink.
"Thou shalt see; and once through the window, I will drop——"
"Into the draw-well! Ha! ha! my bauld buckie, the draw-well, forty feet deep, is just below it."
"What? Just under my window?"
"Eight doon, as a plummet would sink."
"Ah, the devil! What a judicious villain thy master is!"
"You see, sir, that unless you could change yoursel' into a spider or a bumbee, here you maun just bide," replied Tam, with a loud laugh, which galled the earl to the soul; but seeing the futility of anger or hauteur, he controlled his rising temper, and said, in his usual manner—