Next morning David again buttoned his coat;
but he got on much better this day than the
former. He was less awkward and less idle,
though not less observant than before; and he
succeeded ere evening in tracing, in workmanlike
fashion, a few draughts along the future column.
He was evidently greatly improving!
On the morning of Wednesday he threw off his
coat; and it was seen that, though by no means in
a hurry, he was seriously at work. There were no
more jokes or laughter; and it was whispered in
the evening that the strange Highlander had made
astonishing progress during the day.
By the middle of Thursday he had made up for
his two days' trifling, and was abreast of the
other workmen. Before night he was far ahead of
them; and ere the evening of Friday, when they
had still a full day's work on each of their
columns, David's was completed in a style that defied
criticism; and, his tartan coat again buttoned
around him, he sat resting himself beside it.
The foreman went out and greeted him.
``Well,'' he said, ``you have beaten us all. You
certainly CAN hew!''
``Yes,'' said David, ``I THOUGHT I could hew
columns. Did the other men take much more than
a week to learn?''
``Come, come, DAVID FRASER,'' replied the
foreman, ``we all guess who you are. You have had
your week's joke out; and now, I suppose, we
must give you your week's wages, and let you go
away!''
``Yes,'' said David, ``work waits for me in
Glasgow; but I just thought it might be well to
know how you hewed on this east side of the
country.
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