years, an' I wasna' gaun to miss Tam Donaldson's. I heard him goin' oot
two or three minutes afore me. We're in for a guid day, for he telt me
he had in two bottles for the spree."

"That's a' right, then; I was afraid he wad maybe sleep in," and the two
trudged on together towards the pit.

A group of dark figures stood on the pithead, waiting their turn to go
below. The cage rattled up from the depths of the shaft, the men stepped
in, and almost immediately disappeared down into the blackness. Arrived
at the bottom, they walked along towards the different passages,
chaffing and jesting with Tam Donaldson, the newly-married one.

"Ye'll be gaun to do something decent the day, Tam, when we take ye
hame?" said Jamie Allan. "I hear ye ha'e two bottles ready for the
occasion."

"Ay, but I'm damned shair there's no a lick gaun unless ye take me
hame," answered Donaldson. "If I ha'e to be creeled, I'll be creeled
right, an' every one o' ye'll gang hame wi' me afore ye get a taste."

"Oh, but we'll see to that, chaps," said old Lauder. "Here's a hutch,
get him in an' aff wi' him."

The victim pretended to resist, and stoutly maintained that they should
not creel him. He was seized by half a dozen pairs of arms, and with
much expenditure of energy and breath, deposited in the hutch. Some
considerate person had put some straw and old bags in the "carriage" to
make it more comfortable, and a few of the wags had chalked
inscriptions, the reverse of complimentary, all over it.