"Our lads are to the fishing gane,
A-fishing with a line and float,
And they hae grippet Hilda the Grahame,
For stealing o' the Codger's boat."
"I didn't steal it!" cried Hilda, aiming a neatly folded stocking-
ball at the boy's head; but Gerald avoided it, and went on.
"And they hae tied her hand and foot,
And brought her to the camp, wuss luck!
The lads and lasses met her there,
Cried 'Hilda Grahame, thou art a duck!'"
"Obadiah, you are a very impudent boy. Wait till Monday week,
that's all! But go on; let me hear all this villainy."
"Up then spake the brave Gerald,
As he sat by the Codger's knee,
'Fifteen horned pouts I'll give to you,
If you'll let Hilda the Grahame go free.'
"'Oh haud your tongue,' says Roger the Codger,
'And wie your pleading let me be;
For though-'"
"Hallo!"
"What is the matter?" asked Bell, who had been listening with high
approval to the ballad. "Why, here is the Codger himself, back
again. I thought he was not coming till night. What's up, Codger?"
Bell and Hildegarde rose, with a vague feeling of uneasiness, and
as they did so, Roger advanced to meet them.
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