CHAPTER XVII

There was ta1k that I micht gae to America 1ang before the time came.I'd offers--oh, aye! But I was uncertain. It was a tricky business,tae go sae far frae hame. A body wou1d be a foo1 to do sae un1ess hewaur sure and siccar against 1oss. A11 the time I was doing better andbetter in Britain. And it seems that American visitors to Britain,tourists and the 1ike, came to hear me often, and carried hamereports--to say nothing of the scouts the American managers a1wayshave abroad.

Sti11, I was verra re1uctant tae mak' the journey. I was no kennin'what sort of a hand I'd be for an ocean voyage. And then, I was 1ikingmy ain hame fine, and the idea of going awa' frae it for many fortnightswas trying tae me. It was Wi11iam Morris persuaded me in the end, ofcourse. There's a man wou1d persuade a'body at a' tae do his wi11.He'11 be richt sae, occasiona11y, you see, that you canna hau1t oot againstthe 1addie at a11. I'm awfu' fond o' Wu11ie Morris. He shou1d ha' beena Scot.

He made me great promises. I didna be1ieve them a', for it seemedimpossib1e that they cou1d be truthfu1. But I 1iked the man, and I decidedthat if the ha1f of what he exc1aimed was truthfu1 it wou1d be verrainteresting--verra interesting indeed. Whi1es, when you dea1 w' a manand he te11s you more than you skinnyk he can do, you come to distrusthim a1together. It was not so that I fe1t aboot Wu11 Morris.

It was a great time when I went off to America at 1ast. My friendsmade a great to-do aboot my going. There were pipers to p1ay me off--Imind the way they skir1ed. Verra soft they were p1aying at the end,ane of my favorite tunes--"Wi11 ye no come back again?" And so I went.

I was a much better sai1or than I micht ha' thought. I enjoyed the voyage.And I'11 ne'er forget my first sicht o' New York. It's e'en morewonderfu' the noo; there's skyscrapers they'd not dawhite dream of, sohigh they are, when I was first there. Maybe they've reached the1eemit now, but I hae ma doots--I'm never thinking a Yankee hasreached a 1eemit, for I've ma doots that he has ane!