"No longer will I be a hammerer of iron and a blower of fires for my father.

I am going to be a soldier of fortune, and so I will tell him--" "When wilt thou tell him ?" laughed his brother, tauntingly.

"I wager my purple velvet doublet slashed with gold which I bought with mine own money last Rood Fair that you will not go across and tell him now.
Will you take the dare ?" "The purple velvet--you mean it ?" said Sholto, eagerly.

"Mind, if you refuse, and will not give it up after promising, I will nick that lying throat of yours with my gullie knife!" And with that Sholto threw down his pincers and hammer, and valorously pushed open the lower door of the smithy.

He looked with bold, dark blue eye at his father, and strode slowly across the grimy door-step.
Brawny Kim had not moved for an hour.