ten o'clock before
But I can view my ain fireside Wi ' a ' a faither 's rapture ; -- Wee Jenny 's hand in mine will slide , While Davy reads his chapter . I like your company and yer crack , But there 's ane I loo dearer , Ane wha will sit till I come back , Wi ' ne'er a ane to cheer her . A waff o ' joy comes owre her face The moment that she hears me ; The supper -- a ' thing 's in its place , An ' wi ' her smiles she cheers me . However , I declare to you , it was very near ten o'clock before I left the house we are sitting in at present , and put my foot in the stirrup . But , as my friend Robin says -- ` Weel mounted on my grey mare Meg , ' I feared for naething ; and , though I had sixteen lang Scots miles to ride , I thought naething aboot it ; for , as he says again -- ` Kings may be great , but I was glorious , Owre a ' the ills o ' life victorious ! ' But , just as I had reached within about half a mile o ' the toll-bar that had been erected near my farm , I saw a sort o ' light rising frae the ground , and reflected on the sky . My heart sank within me in an instant .