"It's a daft-like thing for an auld man like you to be traivellin' the roads.

Ye maun be ill-off for a job." Questioned as to himself, he became, as the newspapers say, "reticent," and having reached his bing of stones, turned rudely to his duties.

"Awa' hame wi' ye," were his parting words.

"It's idle scoondrels like you that maks wark for honest folk like me." The morning was not a success, but the strong air had given Dickson such an appetite that he resolved to break his rule, and, on reaching the little town of Kilchrist, he sought luncheon at the chief hotel.
There he found that which revived his spirits.

A solitary bagman shared the meal, who revealed the fact that he was in the grocery line.