Perhaps some little cottages may be sheltered behind those
hillocks, Grace thought; and she began to examine how the grey rocks lay
among the water, and whether she could possibly find dry footing across
the stream. Presently she came upon a smooth row of stones, that were
evidently used as a thoroughfare. She had already begun to cross them,
keeping her eye cautiously fixed on the stepping-stones as she went
along, when she was startled by a voice which sounded close beside her.
On glancing round she saw on the opposite bank a boy standing with a
huge twisted cudgel in his hand, brandishing it in a warlike attitude.
He seemed to have suddenly appeared round one of the hillocks, and was
now shouting excitedly, in his rough northern dialect, as he waved his
stick:
"Hold back, mem; hold back, I tell ye. Blackie is in one o' his ill
moods the day, and he's no safe. Dinna come a foot farther."
Grace stood bewildered, balancing herself on the stepping-stones; the
apparition was so sudden that it almost took away her breath, and the
commands were so peremptory that she did not dare to disregard them by
going forward; but it seemed very hard to beat an ignominious retreat,
for here seemed to be just what she was in search of--a boy as
neglected-looking as any that were to be seen in the courts and alleys
of Edinburgh; of the very type which old Adam declared there was not one
to be found in all the lands of Kirklands.
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