like the claws of a bird; and his trousers were short and torn so that
you could see his legs were like two pipe-stems. At last the cabman saw
him. 'Get out o' the way,' says he. The little chap slunk off,
frightened, I suppose. Then the man changed his mind. 'Come here,' says
he. But the little chap was frightened, and wouldn't come back; so he
went after him, and thrust the loaf into his hand, and bade him be off.
I can tell you, the way he went into that loaf was very fine to see. It
was like a weasel at the neck of a rabbit. It was like an otter at the
back of a salmon. And that was how I made his acquaintance," Macleod
added, carelessly.

"But you have not told us why you brought him up here," his mother said.

"Oh," said he, with a sort of laugh, "I was looking at him, and I
wondered whether Highland mutton and Highland air would make any
difference in the wretched little skeleton; and so I made his
acquaintance. I went home with him to a fearful place--I have got the
address, but I did not know there were such quarters in London--and I
saw his mother. The poor woman was very ill, and she had a lot of
children; and she seemed quite glad when I offered to take this one and
make a herd or a gamekeeper of him. I promised he should go to visit her
once a year, that she might see whether there was any difference. And I
gave her a sovereign."

"You were quite right, Keith," his cousin said, gravely; "You run a
great risk. Do they hang slavers?"

"Mother," said he, for by this time the ladies were standing still, so
that Hamish and the new gillie should overtake them, "you mustn't laugh
at the little chap when you see him with the plaid taken off. The fact