 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 storeys 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 full activity. Nor was the labour of a
rural and pacific nature. The master smith, benempt, as his sign intimated, John
Mucklewrath, with two assistants, toiled busily in arranging, repairing, and
furbishing old muskets, pistols, and swords, which lay scattered around his
workshop in military confusion. The open shed, containing the forge, was crowded
with persons who came and went as if receiving and communicating important news;
and a single glance at the aspect of the people who traversed the street in
haste, or stood assembled in groups, with eyes elevated, and hands uplifted,
announced that some extraordinary intelligence was agitating the public mind of
the municipality of Cairnvreckan. »There is some
