DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0050
38 THE MURDERED TAILOR'S WATCH.
at this covered part of the drain, and so smooth the bottom,
that miserable cats and dogs, doomed to die, had merely to be
put within the grating, when down they shot, and were seen or
heard no more.
I followed Chisholm as far as this green, which he entered,
and then wondered what his object could be. That it was not
quite a lawful one I could guess from the fact that he so often
paused and looked about him that I had the greatest difficulty
in keeping him in sight without myself being seen. At length
he came to the opening in the wall where the open drain ceased
and dipped into the iron bars with a roar audible even to me,
and then with another furtive look around, and before I had
the slightest idea of what he was intending to do, he put his
hand in his pocket, drew something forth, and threw it sharply
into the roaring, scurrying water. A moment more and my
hand was on his arm. He started round with a scared cry,
and recognised and named me.
"What's that you threw down the drain?" I sternly de-
manded, without giving him time to recover, and tightening
my grip on his arm.
'Oh, naething, naething, sir—only an auld pipe that's nae
niair use," he confusedly stammered.
"A pipe !" I scornfully echoed. "Man, what do you think
my head's made of? You didn't come so far to throw away a
pipe. Were you. afraid that, like some of the cats the laddies
put down there, it would escape and come back again?"
He tried to grin, cringingly, but the effect was ghastly in the
extreme.
" No, no, Maister M'Govan; I was just walking this way
ony way, and thought I wad get rid o' my auld pipe."
" More like, it was a gold albert," I sharply said, getting
out the handcuffs.. " If I had only guessed what you were
after I might have been nearer, and prevented the extravagance.
You're unlike every one else in the world, throwing away good
gold while others are breaking their hearts to get it. Come,
now, try your hand in these ; and then I'll have to see if the
burn will give up your offering."
He was utterly and abjectly silenced, and accepted the
bracelets without demur, which led me to believe that my
surmise was a hit. The tailor's gold albert, supposing Burge's
story to be true, was all that remained unaccounted for, and
its possession now was frightfully dangerous. What more
patural, then, that Chisholm should take alarm at my visit, and
at this covered part of the drain, and so smooth the bottom,
that miserable cats and dogs, doomed to die, had merely to be
put within the grating, when down they shot, and were seen or
heard no more.
I followed Chisholm as far as this green, which he entered,
and then wondered what his object could be. That it was not
quite a lawful one I could guess from the fact that he so often
paused and looked about him that I had the greatest difficulty
in keeping him in sight without myself being seen. At length
he came to the opening in the wall where the open drain ceased
and dipped into the iron bars with a roar audible even to me,
and then with another furtive look around, and before I had
the slightest idea of what he was intending to do, he put his
hand in his pocket, drew something forth, and threw it sharply
into the roaring, scurrying water. A moment more and my
hand was on his arm. He started round with a scared cry,
and recognised and named me.
"What's that you threw down the drain?" I sternly de-
manded, without giving him time to recover, and tightening
my grip on his arm.
'Oh, naething, naething, sir—only an auld pipe that's nae
niair use," he confusedly stammered.
"A pipe !" I scornfully echoed. "Man, what do you think
my head's made of? You didn't come so far to throw away a
pipe. Were you. afraid that, like some of the cats the laddies
put down there, it would escape and come back again?"
He tried to grin, cringingly, but the effect was ghastly in the
extreme.
" No, no, Maister M'Govan; I was just walking this way
ony way, and thought I wad get rid o' my auld pipe."
" More like, it was a gold albert," I sharply said, getting
out the handcuffs.. " If I had only guessed what you were
after I might have been nearer, and prevented the extravagance.
You're unlike every one else in the world, throwing away good
gold while others are breaking their hearts to get it. Come,
now, try your hand in these ; and then I'll have to see if the
burn will give up your offering."
He was utterly and abjectly silenced, and accepted the
bracelets without demur, which led me to believe that my
surmise was a hit. The tailor's gold albert, supposing Burge's
story to be true, was all that remained unaccounted for, and
its possession now was frightfully dangerous. What more
patural, then, that Chisholm should take alarm at my visit, and