something, an' I ha'e come to the conclusion that there's mair design
than accident in it."

"I dinna think so," was the reply. "But maybe it's because you're ay
agitatin' to have a union started."

"An' what about it," enquired Geordie, getting a bit heated. "If I ha'e
been advocatin' the startin' o' a union? It seems to me to be muckle
needed."

"Oh, I've nothing to say aboot it," replied Walker. "It's the boss, an'
I was merely givin' ye a hint for yer ain guid."

"It's a' richt," exclaimed Geordie, getting still more heated. "I can
see as far through a brick wall as you can see through a whin dyke. The
boss has naething to do wi' it. It's you, an' I'm quite pleased to get
the chance to tell ye to yer face. Ye could, many a time, ha'e given me
a better place, if you had cared. But let me tell you, if there was a
union here, it would soon put an end to you an' yer damn'd cantraips."

"Very weel. Gang on an' start yin. Man, though ye were a' in a union the
morn, I could buy an' sell the majority of them for the promise of a
guid place, or a bottle of whisky--Ay, if they jist thocht they were in
wi' the gaffer, I'd get all I wanted frae the maist o' them. A clap on
the shoulder, a smile, or even a word would do it. The one hauf o' the
men can ay be got to sell the ither. Ye daurna' cheep, man, but I hear
of it."

"Damn'd fine I ken that," replied Geordie, "an' it's mair the peety. But
that's no' to say that men'll ay be like that. If they'd be true an'