‘He got half that, July month last, from a gentleman that was like to be drowned down by the river’s mouth; he just gaed awa an’ ca’ed him in by the lugs,’[[2]] explained his grandmother.
‘Did you swim out?’ asked Speid, interested.
‘Ay,’ replied Jimmy, whose eyes had returned to the door.
‘That was well done.’
‘I kenned I’d get somethin’,’ observed the boy.
The auctioneer now emerged from the farm-house and the crowd began to draw together like a piece of elastic. He came straight to the wood-pile.
‘Are you needing all that to yoursel’?’ he enquired, looking jocosely at the bystanders as he paused before Granny Stirk.
‘Na, na; up ye go, my lad. The biggest leear in the armchair,’ said the old woman as she rose.
‘It’s ill work meddling wi’ the Queen o’ the Cadgers,’ remarked a man who stood near.
Gilbert determined to stay in his place by the Stirks, for the commotion and trampling going on proclaimed that the live stock were on the eve of being brought to the hammer. The cart-horses were the first to be disposed of, so, having found someone who offered to put the roan into a spare stall, he abandoned himself to the interest with which the scene inspired him.