s an' a' my tatties delivered in half the time. I'll ha'e rid o'
a' my tatties an' be hame gin ane o'clock, instead o' dotterin' awa'
wi' a lazy brute like Donal'. I'll beat ye onything ye like, Gowans
'ill be ruin' his bargain gin this time; but he'll no' get him back
noo. I'll go an' see an' get Princie stabled."

Sandy gaed inby to the shafts, but he sprang back when Princie ga'e a
squeek an' garred his heels play tnack on the boddom o' the cairt.

"That's the breedin'," says Sandy, gaen awa' roond to the ither side o'
the cairt.

"It soonded to me like the boddom o' the cairt, as far as I cud hear,"
says I, I says; but Sandy never lut on.

The brute had a nesty e'e in its heid. It turned roond wi' a
vegabon'-like look aye when Sandy gaed near't. He got up on the front
efter a while, an' ga'e the reinds a tit, an' Princie began to do a bit
jeeg, garrin' Sandy bowse aboot on the front o' the cairt like's he was
foo. Sandy ga'e him a clap on the hurdles to quieten him, but aye the
hent feet o' him played skelp on the boddom o' the cairt, till I thocht
he wudda haen't ca'd a' to bits. Syne awa' he gaed full bung a' o' a
sudden, wi' Sandy rowin' aboot amon' the tatties, an' hingin' in by the
reinds, roarin', "Wo! haud still," an' so on. Gin he got to the fit o'
the street there was a dozen laddies efter him; screamin', "Come on you
lads, an' see Sandy Bowden's drumadairy. By crivens, he's gotten a
richt horse for Donal', noo."

Sandy didna come up frae the stable till near-hand eleven o'clock, an'
I didna say ony mair aboot his braw horse. I've heard the minister
say, it's the unexpectit that happens. That's aye the way wi' Sandy, I
can tell you. I aye expect that something will happen wi' him that I'm
no' expectin'; so I find it best juist to lat him aleen.

Next mornin' he gaed awa' gey early to get yokit, an' he took Bandy
Wobster wi' him to gi'e him a hand. It was twa strucken 'oors afore he
got to the shop door wi' the cairt, an' baith him an' the horse were
sweitin' afore they startit on his roonds. Sandy was lookin' gey
raised like, so I lut him get on a' his tatties an' said naething.

Stumpie Mertin cam' by, an', lookin' at Princie, gae his heid a claw.

"What are ye stanin' glowerin' at?" says Sandy till him, gey snappit
like.

"Whaur did ye get that hunger'd-lookin' radger, Sandy?" says he. "That
beast's no' fit for gaen aboot. The Cruelty to Animals 'ill nip you,
as shure's you're a