White Fire

ds and closes turned and looked after her with enjoyment untinged even with envy. T

iage paid in that lot, I'm thi

isy, she is. It's me that wud like to be on t

ated blue serge, jaunty tam, natty leather belt, and twinkling brown shoes, an

e left, beyond a glance now and again for landmarks. And above all, and most inflexibly, she n

d and up a cinder path. That's all right! That must be the woollen mil

towards the town, mostly in bunches, laughing and joking, some with linked arms, some few solitary. Th

re were spasms of longing among them; they buried them under bursts of wilder laughter. The men and boys glanced at her out of the

hing chute she had seen from below, then turned to the right, past the paper-mill and the manager's house, past the clump of fir-t

irl rapturously, and her fac

, and she was enjoying her first full glimpse of one of the finest sigh

she sat down

h traffic; energetic little river steamers racing with rival toys; slow coasters toiling along like water-beetles; a great black American liner at the Tail of the Bank; the great grey guardship with its trim official lines and hovering launches; and farther out, near the opposite shore, the white sails of yachts flashing in

ntastically against the unflecked blue sky; bosky glens; dark patches of forest land; and all about them, down below, the silent strength of

fresh beauties of the larger view at every step. She went on and on, heedless of everything but the wide, vast prospect and her own mighty enjoyment of it. She had some lunch in her pocket; s

it, and behind the horns an evil monster all in black and with baleful eyes. At sight of her it gave an angry bellow and pawed the ground. Alongside her was a small stone erection like an unfinished hut, on a

oice rang out

o' that, or I'll do for you. What's

eful twitches of her clasped hands, the small girl saw her discomfited enem

f stones from its keeper. Then it went galloping away on the sides of its feet along the steep hillside. The boy, with an exclamation, sprang down after it, and the girl caught sight of him for the first time-a sturdy li

, hot and muddy, whist

heard him jumping down into the little glen bel

he rock, threw off his jacket and waistcoat, unbutton

lf, but allowed the sun and wind to do their duties. Then he came clambering up the slope again. There was a large flat stone in front of the embryo

ry astonishing that she gave an

lat slab was a diagram drawn with the chunk of chalk he held in his hand, and he was

not aware of it, but he was dimly perceptive of the fact that she was very nice-look

she said. "That nasty

, suddenly bethinking himself,

een a boy's face she liked so much. There was such a glow in it, and his blue eyes were so fearless and looked at her so very straight. She did not know very many boys, and

watch a gentleman

an, and I couldn't he

s a good thing for you I didn't have a bath in the big pool ther

ply. "You rude thin

w wh

what you calle

h that did one good to listen to, and showed a s

ou at home?" he asked, wi

that. Father says 'W

e eyes. "I like your father better than your auntie

ng there,"

s? It's a gey long way fo

it lassie. I

're young fo

this remark, but it felt like

ur name?"

lair. What

t. How old

n next July." T

ing? Is it a windmill?" st

"And you say you're thirteen! That's

ded him with a face full enough of questioning to amply

"Miss Inquisitive" was on the tip o

rd-boys about

s nothing to stop th

tly from most other boys? You

ace for a second, but died

My father was schoolmaster

ou still? Where is h

a moment in silen

know. H

ywhere if he's dead. I'm so sorry. And

d the boy slowly. "

off on ano

going to be wh

tion. "I'm going

urself that. You'r

I'm very strong, and I've neve

s and whooping-cough.

st the kind of thing girls would have"; and w

th snapping e

Anywhere where nobody

bright, and the sparks in his blue eyes kindled answering sparks in her own. For s

e able to? Are

" with a touch of superior pride, as he hauled out a Latin grammar, sixth-hand, but still bo

u like to be

ow. I neve

er is ve

re you going to do

going to

be, I suppose," he nodded, an

do just what I like-except darnin

f pedantic reproof which consorted

awful and past words. How would you like to

doubtfully. "I'm thinking perhaps I wou

touch her pocket, which

all have some of my lunch, and you shall tell me the names

I've been watching t

the wonderful panorama in front. The boy sat down on another rock and hauled out a piece of newsp

atcake and che

the

sandwiches?" she said polit

elicate provision,

you. I like

the fully-restored-to-health-and-got-to-make-up-for-lost-time, and a

lls and lochs," she said, and he proce

"you can see Glasgow some days,"

The one humped up like this is The Cobbler. That other big one is Ben Ihme

ll the hills and lochs, and he had finished the last crumbs of his oatcake and cheese, he convoyed her past the black menace down below, as far as the next stone

l she reached the next distant corner, waved his hand to her, received an answering wave from her, and turned back to his

her, and received

thought much of the winsome little lady, both then and for a long time afterwards. He scanned the winding path by the Cut each day in hopes that she might come again. But she was aw

rought better than

n they had only expected her to go up to the Cut and down again in a couple of hours or so-when she reached home, o

cleanliness, his fearlessness in the matter of wild beasts, his understanding, and his aims in life. Her thoughts

d been a herd-laddie

fec