By their side sat another. His kindly face shone with pride, and in his heart was a singing joy.
For Sandy MacGregor had taught this lad to play. It was the same old pipes of Sandy MacGregor that he still used. He would soon show those pipes to a cheering crowd as his fingers flew over the chanter. While he played, his arm would shelter the tartan bellows once sheltered by Sandy's own arm as the old piper had wandered over hill and through dale.
Sandy MacGregor had lived many years for this moment. As he craned his neck for a sight of the coming parade, he spoke to the little girl beside him.
Betty, Ian's baby sister, was now a girl of the age Ian had been when first Sandy had met him.
Together, Betty and Sandy had dreamed and planned the day when together they would view their piper laddie on parade.
For Sandy had dwelt in the village of Aberfoyle these many years. While he had piped for his living, he had taught another piper, who was now to cover his old teacher with glory.
In the large audience there was still another, whose blue eyes danced with joy. Her hands were clasped together with excitement as she awaited the approach of her boyhood friend. It was little Elsie Campbell, now grown to womanhood. Elsie was among those who thrilled to see the "wee Scotch piper," as he marched along that day.
Who knows with what feelings of pride the lad looked up as he passed that grand stand? Who knows his feelings of love, on seeing those dear faces smiling and nodding at him?
And as he marched and played, he seemed to see before him a little schoolboy marching and playing. That boy was himself, trudging the streets of a wee village, followed by a bleating lamb!
End of Project Gutenberg's The Wee Scotch Piper, by Madeline Brandeis