CHAP. iv. THE SAILORS' WIVES. 67 



went up to her and asked, " which was the road to 

 Dundee." When she began to speak, he saw that she 

 was either drunk, or daft, or something worse. He 

 went away, walked through several other streets, but 

 found no one astir. The town was asleep. Then he 

 sat down on a doorstep and ate some of his cake. 

 He was just beginning to fall asleep, when some men 

 who passed woke him up. They told him the road 

 to Dundee, and he instantly set off in that direction. 



As he went on his way, he came up to a man 

 who was tramping along like himself. He belonged 

 to Dundee, was a weaver by trade, and had been 

 travelling through the country in search of work. 

 The man asked Edward where he had come from, 

 whither he was going, where he had slept, and what 

 money he had to carry him to the end of his journey. 

 On hearing that he had only enough to carry him 

 across the ferry at Dundee, the weaver gave him a 

 penny, saying that he would have given him more, 

 but that the penny was all the change he had. 



Shortly after, they overtook two women, who 

 turned out to be two sailors' wives. They had come 

 from Aberdeen. The ship in which their husbands 

 sailed, had been chartered to Dundee, and would not 

 enter the port of Aberdeen for some time ; hence the 

 journey of the wives to Dundee. The weaver, on 

 hearing where they came from, pointed to his little 

 companion, and said, " Here's a laddie that comes 

 frae the same place, and as his wallet's no very weel 



