CHAPTER XIV.
A BLACK YEAR.
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HE year that followed the eventful incidents in last chapter wis fu' o' singular misfortunes. So much so, that my faither aye efterwards referred to it as the "black year." The price o' leather went up ayont a' bounds. My faither, wha used to keep a journeyman and an apprentice, could barely get work enough for himsel'. Such a year o' solin', heelin', and patchin'-up auld feet-gear wis past a' experience. Wattie Welt, the 'prentice, thinkin' the feet had been ca'd frae the business, broke through the articles o' his indenture, and ran aff to sea, efter he had ser't three years o' his time. This wis a sad blow, as my faither had spared nae pains to mak' him a guid workman, and young as he wis, he could last, inseam, and ca' in tackets as if he had been years at the trade. When skins were dear ye couldna expect butchermeat to be cheap; and this, combined wi' a late harvest, a failure in the petawtas, and an epidemic amongst oor chickens, that carried awa' brood efter brood as sune as they could pick their lane, made us think that some awfu' judgment wis aboot to fa' on the land. Peter Spale, wha wis aye lookin' oot for signs and wonders in the heavens above, and the earth beneath, blamed these misfortunes on the comet that had that year sailed through oor horizon,
