Waverley once more thanked and bade him farewell, and then rode briskly onward, not sorry to be out of hearing of the shouts of the children, as they beheld old Ebenezer rise and sink in his stirrups to avoid the concussions occasioned by a hard trot upon a half-paved street.  The village of—­was soon several miles behind him.

CHAPTER XXX

Shows that the loss of A horse’s shoe may be A serious inconvenience

The manner and air of Waverley, but, above all, the glittering contents of his purse, and the indifference with which he seemed to regard them, somewhat overawed his companion, and deterred him from making any attempts to enter upon conversation.  His own reflections were moreover agitated by various surmises, and by plans of self-interest with which these were intimately connected.  The travellers journeyed, therefore, in silence, until it was interrupted by the annunciation, on the part of the guide, that his ’naig had lost a fore-foot shoe, which, doubtless, his honour would consider it was his part to replace.’

This was what lawyers call a fishing question, calculated to ascertain how far Waverley was disposed to submit to petty imposition.  ‘My part to replace your horse’s shoe, you rascal!’ said Waverley, mistaking the purport of the intimation.

‘Indubitably,’ answered Mr. Cruickshanks; ’though there was no preceese clause to that effect, it canna be expected that I am to pay for the casualties whilk may befall the puir naig while in your honour’s service.  Nathless, if your honour—­’

’O, you mean I am to pay the farrier; but where shall we find one?’

Rejoiced at discerning there would be no objection made on the part of his temporary master, Mr. Cruickshanks assured him that Cairnvreckan, a village which they were about to enter, was happy in an excellent blacksmith; ’but as he was a professor, he would drive a nail for no man on the Sabbath or kirk-fast, unless it were in a case of absolute necessity, for which he always charged sixpence each shoe.’  The most important part of this communication, in the opinion of the speaker, made a very slight impression on the hearer, who only internally wondered what college this veterinary professor belonged to, not aware that the word was used to denote any person who pretended to uncommon sanctity of faith and manner.

As they entered the village of Cairnvreckan, they speedily distinguished the smith’s house.  Being also a public, it was two stories high, and proudly reared its crest, covered with grey slate, above the thatched hovels by which it was surrounded.  The adjoining smithy betokened none of the Sabbatical silence and repose which Ebenezer had augured from the sanctity of his friend.  On the contrary, hammer clashed and anvil rang, the bellows groaned, and the whole apparatus of Vulcan appeared to be in