But Bauldy Todd, being a hot, contentious man, could not let his son alone. In the stable and out in the hayfield he was ever on his back, though Jamie was never the lad to cross him or to begin an argument. But his father would rage and try to shout him down--a vain thing with Jamie. For the lad, being well learned in the Scriptures, had the more time to bethink himself while the "goldering" of his father was heard as far as the high Crownrigs. And even as Bauldy paused for breath, James would slip a text under his father's guard, which let the wind out of him like a bladder that is transfixed on a thorn-bush. Then there remained nothing for Bauldy but to run at Jamie to lay on him with a staff--an argument which, taking to his heels, Jamie as easily avoided.
It was my own Jamie who brou
