There was a midget of a child, desperately sooty in the face either from battle or from fire-tending, who was presented as Wee Jaikie.

Last came the picket who had held his pole at Dickson's chest, a sandy-haired warrior with a snub nose and the mouth and jaw of a pug-dog.

He was Old Bill, or, in Dougal's parlance, "Auld Bull." The Chieftain viewed his scarred following with a grim content.

"That's a tough lot for ye, Mr.McCunn.

Used a' their days wi' sleepin' in coal-rees and dunnies and dodgin' the polis.