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joiner, he knows the people who might buy.”
    “It hurts me to the heart to part wi’ the things I’ve cared for so long,” Kate said, “but we canna carry them wi’ us everywhere, and John will get us the best price he can.”
    “And after Dornoch? Where will we go then, Father?” Davie leaned forward eagerly.
    James passed his hand across his eyes. “I have heard tell there is work in Glasgow at the cotton mills there. It is different from the work we have done in Culmailie, but we must be prepared for changes. We have to earn our living.”
    Davie’s eyes began to sparkle. “Glasgow! A great city! How soon shall we start, Father?”
    “Eager you are, son!” Kate smiled sadly. “For you it is a new life, and to bairns any change is exciting, but for me I leave a good part of my life behind me here in Culmailie.”
    “No, no, my lass! There’s plenty before us yet. We’ll find joy in a new life, you’ll see!”
    “You are as much of a lad looking for new things as Davie is,” his wife chided him with a smile.
    “How shall we get to Glasgow?” Kirsty asked.
    “I have not thought that out yet. There are ships go down the west coast. Maybe we could get one from Ullapool. I have heard the drovers who come to Dornoch Fair speak of Ullapool, but we should have to make our way through the mountains first.”
    “Would we have to walk all the way?” Kirsty asked.
    “Weel, maybe quite a bit o’ it, but you can be having a wee ride on the horse or cart when you are weary.”
    “Oh, shall we be taking the cart?” Kirsty brightened up at this news.
    “Surely! How else do you think we shall carry our blankets and cooking pots? We will start in the morning.”
    “Then we’d better try to get our sleep now, if we’re to be up wi’ the sun,” Kate counselled.
    The next day, as soon as it was light, the family was stirring. Davie quickly built a fire of twigs and pieces of wood from the demolished house, then Kate cooked oatmeal porridge over it for their breakfast. Afterwards, while Kate and Kirsty packed up such household goods as they were taking with them to Glasgow, Davie and his father loaded the cart with the furniture they were to leave at Dornoch. At last all the goods were lashed securely on to the cart, and Davie had brought the sheepskin bag of money dripping from the burn.
    “Are you ready, Kate?” James asked his wife quietly.
    “Aye, I’m ready, James.” She gave a quick look at the blackened walls of what had been her clean bright home, then said with a sigh, “Farewell, Culmailie! We may never see you again.”
    Kirsty began to weep a little, and Davie put out a hand to comfort her. His eyes looked straight ahead to the road before them. “Do not look back, Kirsty,” he whispered. “It is better to look forward. Great things there will be for us yet, you will see!”

Adventure on the Road
    On the way to Dornoch they called at the cottage of a fisherman who wished to purchase James Murray’s boat for his son. A bargain was struck and another small sum was added to the sheep-skin bag of silver.
    “It is not much,” James said to his wife, “but we cannot take the boat with us, and William Blair has been honest enough to pay for it when he might easily have taken it for his own once we were away.”
    “Shall we have a boat in Glasgow, Father?” Davie asked. He always loved the evenings spent fishing with his father.
    James Murray drew his brows together. “True, there is a river runs through Glasgow, the River Clyde, but I do not think it will be possible for us to have a boat on it. There are far too many people in Glasgow to have boats.”
    “Are there a hundred people, perhaps?” Kirsty asked.
    Her question told James that the children had no idea of what life in the city would be like. “Not hundreds, but thousands,” he replied.
    “Thousands?” Kirsty’s eyes grew wide. “How ever shall we get to know them all?”
    “You never will. There are all kinds of people