SANDY'S FIRST VISIT
Aberfoyle is the center of the "Rob Roy country." Rob Roy MacGregor
was, as every child knows, a great Scotch warrior and represented one
of the oldest Highland clans.
In Aberfoyle, where Ian Craig lived, stands the old house in which Sir
Walter Scott wrote his famous story "Rob Roy." To-day it houses the
village minister.
Near by is a tumble-down thatched cottage known as "Jean McAlpin's
Inn," where Rob Roy was wont to rest.
[Illustration: THE "ROB ROY BRIG" AND THE HOUSE WHERE WALTER SCOTT
WROTE "ROB ROY"]
A landmark in the village is the old "Rob Roy Brig." Here on the old
brig (which means "bridge" in Scotch) Ian would sit when school was out
and his chores at home were finished.
Something usually happened when he sat here, and many of his
experiences had started from this bridge. Often, while he waited for
adventure, Ian fished from the bridge. He brought home fine, fat
morsels, for the river Forth, which flows beneath the bridge, is rich
in fish.
But Ian's dearest memory was of Sandy. The Sandy adventure had taken
place almost a year before, but it was as vivid in Ian's mind as though
it had all occurred the day before.
It happened while Ian was fishing from the brig. He heard the sound of
bagpipes--a sound that is nothing unusual to hear in Scotland. Still it
always made Ian joyous and sad at once. And now he turned to listen.
[Illustration: SANDY MACGREGOR]
This playing was the loveliest he had ever heard. Jamie Robinson played
almost every night in front of the old hotel, and Ian loved the music.
But this playing was different. He had always thought Jamie's playing
good, but he now wondered how he could ever have thought so.
This tune was from far away, but it carried across the meadow and along
the road. And then he saw Sandy! Sandy was standing still in the middle
of the road while he played.
By his side was a handcart, and Ian knew at once what it meant. Sandy
was a wandering piper, a man who has no home, a gypsy. He piped for his
living and camped on the road.
Many pipers passed through Aberfoyle, some with large families. In
fact, Jamie was one of them, only Jamie did not travel. He lived in the
woods near Aberfoyle in a tent with his wife and babies.
[Illustration: GYPSIES OF THE HIGHWAY]
But no one had ever played like this before. Ian ran up the road. As he
approached the newcomer, he could see that the piper was a little old
man. He had a kindly, wrinkled face, and twinkling eyes which winked at
Ian as the boy came closer. Then suddenly he changed his tune.
"Bonny laddie, Highland laddie," shrieked the pipes.
Ian stopped in front of the piper and thought he should cry. The music
ceased.
A hand was laid on Ian's shoulder, and a voice asked, "And why, laddie,
do you stand and look with eyes so big and sad?"
Ian then realized that he had been staring as if in a trance. He
brought himself back to earth, smiled, and put out his hand.
"I'm sorry, sir. I was only admiring your bonny piping!"
"Ach!" laughed the piper. "And I was only admiring the bonny laddie!
What's your name?"
"Ian Craig."
[Illustration: "MA NAME'S SANDY!"]
"And mine's Sandy. You may call me Sandy, though my name's really Evert
Robert MacKeith MacGregor, and my great-grandfather was a cousin to
the great Rob Roy."
With these words, Sandy MacGregor put his pipes into his cart. Then,
slinging the rope over his shoulders, he started to pull his load
along, while Ian kept step with him.
"And a fine village this is--the scene of my ancestor's home! Do you
live here, my lad?"
"Ay, Sandy, and not far from old Rob Roy Brig."
"Well, well," sighed Sandy. "And could we bide a wee on the old brig of
my ancestor while Sandy rests?"
"Ay, could we," said Ian with great delight, "and I can pull your cart
for you, Sandy, until we get there."
Gratefully the old man allowed the boy to pull his load, while he
stretched his tired arms. He breathed in the sweet-smelling air of the
village of his ancestor.
When they came to the bridge, Ian put down the cart. He invited Sandy
to sit beside him on the wall, his usual perch. The old man jumped up
to the boy's side, as spry as the boy himself, and looked around.
"Well, well," he said, "and to think 'tis Sandy's first visit to the
home of his ancestor--Sandy who has been nigh all over the land!"
At these words Ian's heart gave a bound, and he said, "Have you seen
nigh all of bonny Scotland, Sandy?"
[Illustration: SANDY TELLS THE LAD ABOUT BONNY SCOTLAND]
"Ay, that have I, lad, and traveled on my own two feet through it all."
"Sandy," said Ian wistfully, "would you be telling me about it?"
"Ach, ay, laddie," smiled the old wanderer. "That would I, for 'tis
many a fine sight these old eyes have seen."
Sandy talked, and the boy listened. The sun grew lower and lower in the
heavens. Ian Craig thought that never before had he known an afternoon
to slip by so quickly.
Sandy told Ian about the time he had visited Edinburgh, Scotland's
capital, and one of the most attractive cities in the world.
He told of Princes Street, with its sunken gardens on one side, and
its wonderful view of historic Edinburgh Castle, its pretty shops and
stately monuments. It is considered by many to be the most beautiful
street in all the world.
[Illustration: PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH]
On the top of a winding hill is Edinburgh Castle. Here, in the
courtyard of the old castle is Half-Moon Battery, where is kept the
one-o'clock gun.
This gun fires every day at the hour of one. It is attached by electric
wire to the time ball on the top of Nelson's Monument on Carlton Hill
opposite. This ball falls, in turn, at a signal from Greenwich
Observatory, near London, where is set the time for the whole world.
In another part of the castle grounds can be found a pathetic little
plot of ground known as "The Dogs' Cemetery." Here are buried the pets
of the soldiers who fought in the World War.
[Illustration: THE DOGS' CEMETERY]
Many of these little beasts were gallant heroes and were buried with
great reverence. Lovely flowers decorate their graves, and inscriptions
tell of each one's valor.
But to one little dog in particular was a fountain erected. It stands
in one of the streets of Edinburgh. This fountain represents
"Greyfriars' Bobby," as the little dog was called.
He was given this name because it was to the old Greyfriars Churchyard
that he went, day after day, to seek his master, who was buried there.
The caretakers of the cemetery tried to keep him out.
Still day after day he came. He always lay upon the grave of his master
and grieved, until one day they found him dead. And now the fountain is
there to remind the people of this faithful little creature.