"HOW he did skoot!" the Wag chuckled later on when recounting with glee,
to the Maluka and Mac, the story of Tam's dash for cover.
Pitying Tam, I took his part, and said he seemed a sober, decent little
man and couldn't help being shy; then paused, wondering at the queer
expression on the men's faces.
Mac coughed in embarrassment, and the Maluka and the Wag seemed
pre-occupied, and, fearing I had been misunderstood, I added hastily: "So
is everyone in the Settlement, for that matter," thereby causing further
embarrassment.
After a short intense silence the Wag "thought he'd be getting along,"
and as he moved off the Maluka laughed. "Oh, missus, missus!" and Mac
blurted out the whole tale of the edict - concluding rather ambiguously by
saying: "Don't you go thinking it's made any difference to any of us,
because it hasn't. We're not saints, but we're not pigs, and, besides, it
was a pleasure."
I doubted if it was much pleasure to Tam-o-Shanter; but forgetting he was
sober by compulsion, even he had begun to feel virtuous; and when he
heard he had been called a "sober, decent little man," he positively
swaggered; and on the fourth morning walked jauntily past the Cottage and
ventured a quiet good-morning - a simple enough little incident in itself;
but it proved Tam's kinship with his fellowmen.
