A Century's Changes. 51 



to her cat ; these were the only sounds that had ever reached 

 his ear in his dungeon. So saith the legend. The event has 

 also been made the subject of one of Wilson's " Tales of the 

 Border," where it is treated pretty much on the lines laid down 

 by the ballad. 



The belief that there is treasure hidden near this tower 

 — a belief that has attached itself to so many old castles, 

 and which so readily affects the popular imagination — has 

 not altogether died out, Perhaps it ought not to die, 

 perhaps it is founded on fact. Treasure hiding was frequently 

 resorted to in the " good old days," when those who possessed 

 the treasure found themselves in trouble. However it be, a 

 labourer in this parish told me that, in his younger days, he and 

 other two had set about digging for Graham's treasure, when 

 stern fate appeared in the form of the "Laird," and warned them 

 off. Higher up among the hills, a mile to the north, more of 

 Graham's treasure — " a sheepskinful of gold," it seems — lies 

 under tlie earth. Tradition has handed down the whereabouts 

 of this gold with a precision it has not observed in the case of 

 that nearer home. It lies in the hillside exactly on a level with 

 Mrtcmaa chimney top, and a line run straight from the old tower 

 to the said Macmaa would pass over the spot. No information 

 could be more satisfactorily full. A native of this parish, who 

 is not dead more than a generation ago, saw this precious spot 

 one night three times in his dreams ; on three consecutive 

 occasions the sweet vision broke in upon him. And what 

 could be a more distinct leading of Providence than that 1 

 Accordingly he rose early in the morning, equipped himself 

 with a pick and spade, and went away quietly among the hills. 

 We can imagine him digging with the breathless intensity 

 of a nun who loves gold in his heart, and who believes that he 

 has come to its hiding-place at last. But the precious sheep- 

 skinful still sleeps under the grass. Failing the acquisition of 

 gold by this means he took to getting it by another means that 

 is also romantic — smuggling. He set up his still, and conducted 

 his operations, in a cleugh or gill not far from the place where he 

 toiled for the gold. So that this part of the parish may be said 

 to be historic, or, if you like the word better, classic ground ; the 

 glamour of a kind of romance liangs over it. Here at least, if at 

 no other point, human nature is known to have exhibited some 

 of its most marked, most persistent characteristics. For what 



