‘It was Jeems Duncan an’ Mysie an’ Jamie,’ he told his wife, ‘runnin’ to the quarry like the devil was chasin’ them. Surely Sandy wouldna ha’e fell doon the hole?’ ‘You’d best go an’ see,’ Pattie advised, ‘an tak’ a rope wi’ you, in case the bairn’s got stuck.’ Her face grew grave. ‘If he’s went right doon, there’s naething naebody can dae.’ When her husband came round from the outhouses carrying a coil of strong rope, she said, ‘I’ll come wi’ you, Andra, for Mysie’ll need a wumman body if …’ She didn’t finish. Pattie, very stout and more breathless by the minute, lagged farther and farther behind Andra as he hurried across the bog, but when he caught sight of the group of three standing near the edge like statues, he turned his head and shouted to her, ‘The laddie must be lost.’ Drawing nearer, his growing concern turned to astonishment when he saw that it was Sandy who was with his parents, not Jamie, as he’d expected. Both Jeems and Mysie appeared to be paralysed with shock, but Sandy looked up desolately.
