we are going to do,"
said Sir Apple-Cheek. "Rafe, you can be Sir Patrick this time. The
reason why we all like to be Sir Patrick," he explained, turning to me,
"is that the lords o' Noroway say to him--

'Ye Scottishmen spend a' our King's gowd,
And a' our Queenis fee';

and then he answers,--

'"Ye lee! ye lee! ye leers loud,
Fu' loudly do ye lee!"'

and a lot of splendid things like that. Well, I'll be the king," and
accordingly he began:--

'The King sits in Dunfermline tower,
Drinking the bluid-red wine.
"O whaur will I get a skeely skipper
To sail this new ship o' mine?"'

A dead silence ensued, whereupon the king said testily, "Now, Dandie,
you never remember you're the eldern knight; go on!"

Thus reminded, Dandie recited:--

'O up and spake an eldern knight,
Sat at the King's right knee:
"Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor
That ever sailed the sea."'

"Now I'll write my letter," said the king, who was endeavouring to make
himself comfortable in his somewhat contracted tower.

'The King has written a braid letter
And sealed it with his hand;
And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens,
Was walking on the strand.'

"Read the letter out loud, Rafe, and then you'll remember what to do."

'"To Noroway! to Noroway!
To Noroway o'er the faem!
The King's daughter of Noroway,
'Tis thou maun bring her hame,"'

read Rafe.

"Now do the next part!"

"I can't; I'm going to chuck up that next part. I wish you'd do Sir
Patrick until it comes to 'Ye lee! 'ye lee!'"

"No, that won't do, Rafe. We have to mix up everybody else, but it's too
bad to spoil Sir Patrick."

"Well, I'll give him to you, then, and be the king. I don't mind so much
now that we've got such a good tower; and why can't I stop up there even
after the ship sets sail and look out over the sea with a telescope?
That's the way Elizabeth did the time she was king."

"You can stay till you have to come down and be a dead Scots lord. I'm
not going to lie there as I did last time, with nobody but the Wrig for
a Scots lord, and her forgetting to be dead!"

Sir Apple-Cheek then essayed the hard part 'chucked up' by Rafe. It was
rather difficult, I confess, as the first four lines were in pantomime,
and required great versatility:--

'The first word that Sir Patrick read,
Fu' loud, loud laughed he:
The neist word that Sir Patrick read,
The tear blinded his e'e.