weel nigh thrappled in his ain shop;--then the ither tauld how, in the
first place, Mr. Weft's grandfather, as he ca'd Nosey, had stolen his
note, and how, in the second place, Mr. Weft himsell had insulted the
great, grand Duke of Argyle. In a word, there was a desperate kick-up
between them, the ane threeping that he would tak the law of the ither
immediately. Na, in this respect Donald gaed the greatest lengths, for
he swore that, rather than be defeat, he wad carry his cause to the
house of lords, although it cost him thretty pounds sterling. I now
saw it was time to put in a word.

"Houts-touts, gentlemen," quo' I, "what's the use of a' this
clishmaclaver? Ye've baith gotten the wrang sow by the lug, or my
name's no William M'Gee. I'll wager ye a pennypiece, that my monkey,
Nosey is at the bottom of the business."

Nae sooner had I spoken the word, than the twa, looking round the
shop, spied the beastie sitting upon the shelf girning at them, and
putting out his tongue, and wiggle-waggling his walking-stick ower his
left elbow, as if he had been playing upon the fiddle. Mr. Weft at
this apparition set up a loud lauch; his passion left him in a moment,
when he saw the ridiculous mistake that the Heelandman had fa'en into,
and I thocht he would hae bursted his sides wi' evendown merriment. At
first Donald lookit desperate angry, and judging frae the way he was
twisting about his mouth and rowing his een, I opined that he intended
some deadly skaith to the monkey. But his gude sense, of which
Heelandmen are no a'thegither destitute, got the better of his anger,
and he roared and lauched like the very mischief. Nor was this a', for
nae sooner had he began to lauch, than the monkey did the same thing,
and held its sides in precisely the same manner, imitating his
actions, in the maist amusin' way imaginable. This only set Donald a