THE RAID. 193 



the journey northward must be deferred. By the end of 

 the month a milder period set in, and, like boys dismissed 

 from school, away went our raiders with all the speed the 

 north express could supply. 



The outward aspect of these raiders was scarcely 

 uniform — they were sixes and sevens, long and short, 

 thick and thin. Piscator, the commander, was of burly 

 or even ponderous build ; Scholar, the lieutenant, as thin 

 as a scarecrow, and half the weight of his chief; Corydon, 

 the pioneer, was to the "manor born," and carried a 

 farmer's thews and sinews ; Venator, the rubicund, neither 

 tall nor short, thick nor thin, boiled over with continual 

 merriment ; and Peter, the orator, though originally thin, 

 was on the point of commencing that thickening process 

 which sets in when gentlemen approach the certain age 

 which young men call elderly, but older ones designate 

 maturity. 



As is the custom of raiders, our company travelled by 

 night, and in over-due time (for they were delayed on the 

 way by an accident which befel another train) arrived at 

 Parton in Kirkcudbrightshire, to which station Corydon 

 had directed them to book. Here, by the provident care 

 of the same officer, a vehicle was in waiting to take the 

 travellers to New Galloway, where their first attack on 

 the trout was to be made. But when the traps came to 

 be counted up, those of Piscator (except his rod, which he 

 never allows to leave his sight) were found to be missing, 

 and the telegraph had to be called into requisition. 



Now they are off, and after a pleasant drive of six 

 miles, doubly beautiful to their town-accustomed eyes, 



