Sit  down  and  warm  ye,  since  the  sticks  are  a-low."

"  Ay,  ay,"  said  Triptolemus,  "  it  is  a  pleasure  to
see  siccan  a  bonny  bleeze.  I  havena  seen  the  like
o't  since  I  left  Cauldacres."

"  And  shallna  see  the  like  o't  again  in  a  hurry,"
said  Baby,  "unless  the  house  take  fire,  or  there
suld  be  a  coal-heugh  found  out."

"And  wherefore  should  not  there  be  a  coal-
heugh  found  out  ? "  said  the  factor,  triumphantly  —
"  I  say,  wherefore  should  not  a  coal-heugh  be  found
out  in  Zetland  as  well  as  in  Fife,  now  that  the
Chamberlain  has  a  far-sighted  and  discreet  man
upon  the  spot  to  make  the  necessary  perquisitions  ?
They  are  baith  fishing-stations,  I  trow  ?  "

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  Tolemus  Yellowley,"  an-
swered his  sister,  who  had  practical  reasons  to  fear
her  brother's  opening  upon  any  false  scent,  "  if  you
promise  my  Lord  sae  mony  of  these  bonnie-wallies,
we'll  no  be  weel  hafted  here  before  we  are  found  out
and  set  a-trotting  again.  If  ane  was  to  speak  to  ye
about  a  gold  mine,  I  ken  weel  wha  would  promise


THE  PIEATE.  69

he  suld  have  Portugal  pieces  clinking  in  his  pouch
before  the  year  gaed  by."

"  And  why  suld  I  not  ? "  said  Triptolemus  —
"  maybe  your  head  does  not  know  there  is  a  land  in
Orkney  called  Ophir,  or  something  very  like  it ;
and  wherefore  might  not  Solomon,  the  wise  King  of
the  Jews,  have  sent  thither  his  ships  and  his  ser-
vants for  four  hundred  and  fifty  talents  ?  I  trow  he
knew  best  where  to  go  or  send,  and  I  hope  you
believe  in  your  Bible,  Baby  ? "

Baby  was  silenced  by  an  appeal  to  Scripture,
however  mal  d  propos,  and  only  answered  by  an  in-
articulate humph  of  incredulity  or  scorn,  while  her
brother  went  on  addressing  Mordaunt.  —  "  Yes,  you
shall  all  of  you  see  what  a  change  shall  coin  intro-
duce, even  into  such  an  unpropitious  country  as
yours.  Ye  have  not  heard  of  copper,  I  warrant,
nor  of  iron-stone,  in  these  islands,  neither  ? "  Mor-
daunt said  he  had  heard  there  was  copper  near  the
Cliffs  of  Konigsburgh.  "Ay,  and  a  copper  scum
is  found  on  the  Loch  of  Swana,  too,  young  man.
