w-ers, doan't you see? Oh yass, yass; we
must get at the Pow-ers!" and he looked as if none but he were equal to
the job. He even went to London (to interrogate the "Pow-ers"), and
simple bodies, gathered at the Cross for their Saturday at e'en, told
each other with bated breath that the Provost was away to the "seat of
Goaver'ment to see about the railway." When he came back and shook his
head, hope drained from his fellows and left them hollow in an empty
world. But when he smacked his lips on receiving an important letter,
the heavens were brightened and the landscapes smiled.

The Provost walked about the town nowadays with the air of a man on
whose shoulders the weight of empires did depend. But for all his airs
it was not the Head o' the Town who was the ablest advocate of the route
up the Water of Barbie. It was that public-spirited citizen, Mr. James
Wilson of the Cross! Wilson championed the cause of Barbie with an
ardour that did infinite credit to his civic heart. For one thing, it
was a grand way of recommending himself to his new townsfolk, as he told
his wife, "and so increasing the circle of our present trade, don't ye
understand?"--for another, he was as keen as the keenest that the
railway should come and enhance the value of his property. "We must
agitate," he cried, when Sandy Toddle murmured a doubt whether anything
they could do would be of much avail. "It's not settled yet what road
the line's to follow, and who knows but a trifle may turn the scale in
our behalf? Local opinion ought to be expressed! They're sending a
monster petition from the Fechars side; we'll send the Company a bigger
one from ours! Look at Skeighan and Fleckie and Barbie--three towns at
our back, and the new Coal Company forbye! A public opinion of that size
ought to have a great weight--if put forward properly! We must agitate,
sirs, we must agitate; we maun scour the country for names in our
support. Look what a number of things there are to recommend _our_
route. It's the shortest, and there's no need for heavy cuttings such as
are needed on the other side; the road's there a'ready--Barbie Water has
cut it through the hills. It's the manifest design of Providence that
there should be a line up Barbie Valley! What a position for't!--And,
oh," thought Wilson, "what a site for building houses in my holm!--Let a
meeting be convened at wunst!"

The meeting was convened, with Provost Connal in the chair and Wilson as
general fac