found it mirth-provoking, the cobbler said:

"An' what office may ye haud yersel', sir, i' the ministry o' the
temple?"

"I think I un'erstan' ye," replied Donal; "my mother says curious
things like you."

"Curious things is whiles no that curious," remarked Andrew.

A pause following, he resumed:

"Gien onything gie ye reason to prefar waitin' till ye ken Doory an' me
a bit better, sir," he said, "coont my ill-mainnert queston no speirt."

"There's naething," answered Donal. "I'll tell ye onything or a'thing
aboot mysel'."

"Tell what ye wull, sir, an' keep what ye wull," said the cobbler.

"I was broucht up a herd-laddie," proceeded Donal, "an' whiles a
shepherd ane. For mony a year I kent mair aboot the hill-side nor the
ingle-neuk. But it's the same God an' Father upo' the hill-side an' i'
the king's pailace."

"An' ye'll ken a' aboot the win', an' the cloods, an' the w'ys o' God
ootside the hoose! I ken something hoo he hauds things gaein' inside
the hoose--in a body's hert, I mean--in mine an' Doory's there, but I
ken little aboot the w'y he gars things work 'at he's no sae far ben
in."

"Ye dinna surely think God fillsna a'thing?" exclaimed Donal.

"Na, na; I ken better nor that," answered the cobbler; "but ye maun
alloo a tod's hole 's no sae deep as the thro't o' a burnin' m'untain!
God himsel' canna win sae far ben in a shallow place as in a deep
place; he canna be sae far ben i' the win's, though he gars them du as
he likes, as he is, or sud be, i' your hert an' mine, sir!"

"I see!" responded Donal. "Could that hae been hoo the Lord had to
rebuke the win's an' the wawves, as gien they had been gaein' at their
ain free wull, i'stead o' the wull o' him 'at made them an' set them
gaein'?"

"Maybe; but I wud hae to think aboot it 'afore I answert," replied the
cobbler.

A silence intervened. Then said Andrew, thoughtfully,

"I thoucht, when I saw ye first, ye was maybe a lad frae a shop i' the
muckle toon--or a clerk, as they ca' them, 'at sits makin' up accoonts."

"Na, I'm no that, I thank God," said Donal.

"What for thank ye God for that?" asked Andrew. "A' place is his. I
wudna hae ye thank God ye're no a cobbler like me! Ye micht, though,
for it's little ye can ken o' the guid o' the callin'!"

"I'll tell ye what for," answered Donal. "I ken weel toon-fowk think it
a heap better to hae to du wi' figures nor wi' sheep, but I'm no o'
their min'; an' for ae thing, the sheep's ali