conclusion according to the principles of things, and the book is
finished. There is still seven minutes of the hour remaining, we will
spend it in revising the work of the Senior Algebra Class."
Their work has not been revised unto this day, for at that moment the
door opened without any one knocking, and without any one offering an
apology, and William Pirie, Master of Arts of Edinburgh, and scholar of
Trinity College, Cambridge, and Duncan Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant in the
Perthshire Buffs, made their appearance, accompanied by Bailie
MacConachie, whose dignity was fearsome; the Count, who waved his hand
gracefully to the school, and Mr. McGuffie, who included everybody in an
affable nod; and behind this imposing deputation every boy of Muirtown
Seminary who was not already in the mathematical class-room. Bulldog
turned upon them like a lion caught in a snare, and if he had had only
thirty seconds preparation, it is firmly believed he would have driven
the whole deputation, old and young, out of the class-room and dealt
with the conspirators who remained unto the setting of the sun. But it
was a cunning plot, arranged and timed with minute care, and before
Bulldog could say a word Pirie had begun, and he knew better than to say
much.
"If we have offended you, sir, you will pardon us for it is our last
offence, and we have this time a fair excuse. Your laddies could not let
you leave that desk and go out of this room for the last time without
telling you that they are grateful, because you have tried to make them
scholars, and to make them men. If any of us be able in after years to
do our part well, we shall owe it more than anything else to your
teaching and your discipline."
Then Robertson, who was the other spokesman the four had chosen, began.
"Can't make a speech, sir, it is not in my line, but everything Pirie
said is true, and we are proud of our chief."
"This," said Pirie, turning to the boys, "is the watch and chain which
we ask the master to do us the honour of wearing through the days to
come, and the inscription, sir," and now Pirie turned to the desk,
"crowns our offence, but you will know how to read it!"
"TO BULLDOG,
WITH THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION
OF
HIS LADDIES."
It was Bailie MacConachie--may everything be pardoned to him--who
started the cheer; but it was Mr. McGuffie who led it over hedge and
ditch, and it was of such a kind that the mathematical class-room had to
be repaired before the beginning of next term. During the storm Bulldog
stood with the watch in his hand, and his cheeks as white as his hair,
and when at last there was silence he tried to speak, but the tender
heart had broken the iron mask, and all he could say was "laddies."
The Count, with quick tact, led off the second cheer, and the boys filed
out of the class-room. Bulldog sat down at the desk, the watch before
him, and covered his face with his hands. When an hour later he walked
across the North Meadow there was not a boy to be seen but Bailie
MacFarlane, who met him on the bridge (and passed without speaking),
noticed that Bulldog was wearing his laddies' gift.
Sitting in his garden that evening and looking down upon the plain,
Bulldog called Nestie to his side, and pointed to the river. The evening
sun was shining on the fields, ripening for harvest, and on the
orchards, laden with fruit; and in the soft light, a rough
weather-beaten coaster, which had fought her way through many a gale in
the North Sea, and could not hold together much longer was dropping down
with the tide. Newer and swifter vessels would take her place in the
days to come, but the old craft had done her work well and faithfully,
and now the cleanest and kindest of Scots rivers was carrying her gently
to the eternal ocean.