“Ay, but wait till you hear him.  We can a’ come up here as angry as hell, ready to string him up to the nearest lamp-post; but after he has spoken an’ slaivered ower us for a while, we begin to feel differently, an’ finally gang awa hame wi’ our minds made up that we are the salt o’ the earth.  Man, it tak’s a’ the sting oot o’ bein’ dune, to be dune sae well an’ sae completely.”

“Yes, but when you know that why do you allow yourselves to be wheedled?”

“Ach, man; it’s a’ right askin’ that question; but efter thae chaps get round aboot you, wi’ their greasy tongues, an’ their flatterin’ ways, you jist begin to think that it’s nae use to bother ony mair aboot resistin’.  Look at that auld fermer-collier lookin’ chiel, wi’ his white heid an’ his snipe-nose an’ a smile on his face that wad mak’ you believe he was gaun to dae you some big service.  That’s the smile that has made him Prime Minister.  You’d think frae his face that he was just a solid easy-gaun kindly auld fermer, who took a constant joy in givin’ jeelie-pieces to hungry weans.  But when he speaks, and gets a grip o’ you, he’s yin o’ the sooplest lawyers that ever danced roun’ the rim o’ hell withoot fallin’ in.  He’d do his faither, that yin.  He wad that.”

Robert looked at the various individuals as they were described, keenly interested and feeling that this comrade of his was describing much of what he himself had felt about these men, and wondered more and more as to what it was that had given them their power.

“They’re a fine rogues’ gallery when you see them a’ sittin’ there,” went on the other.  “They ken we are up here the day determined to demand our terms, an’ that’s the way they are a’ turned out.  Just you wait till they begin, an’ you’ll see a fine bit o’ play actin’.  They’ll play us aboot as auld Tom Tervit wad play a trout in the Clyde.  They hae ony amount o’ patience, an’ they’ll gae you onything but the thing you want.  They’d promise us the kingdom o’ Heaven; an’ they’ll give us plenty o’ line to run wi’; but a’ the time they’ll be lookin’ for a chance to land us.  An’ they’ll do it.  Jist you wait.”

“Well, it will be our own fault if we let them,” said Robert, shortly, as he listened.  “I would not let any of them do that.  If we have our minds made up on what we want, I can’t see why we should be wheedled like that.”

“Neither do I,” was the reply.  “But it is aye done for all that.  Then there’s that ither chiel—­I think he’s on the Local Government Board or something.  He’s a corker, wi’ a face like yin o’ they pented cupids that the lasses send to the young men on picture postcards.  Look at his nice wee baby’s mooth, an’ the smile on it too.  It wad dazzle a hungry crocodile lookin’ for its denner.  His e’en are aye brighter than ony I ever saw—­an’ speak!  Guid God!  He could speak for a hale June day.  He’s gran’ at makin’ your flesh creep.  He blinds you wi’ sparks, an’ fire-works, his words are that hot an’