Vagrant Life. 169 



had been a wife in her day too, and had for her 

 husband Moses Young, brother of Jock Young the 

 horner, already mentioned, and himself an old soldier, 



A son of Mars, 

 Who had been in [certain] wars, 



yet withal a quiet undemonstrative caird, who loved 

 to loiter by the water-side, pursuing the contemplative 

 man's recreation. When in the zenith of her bodily 

 prowess, this woman, in virtue of her great muscular 

 strength, and reckless, outrageous temper, was an 

 acknowledged queen among her class. And if Lizzie 

 Fraser happened to be one of the motley throng of 

 cairds that had assembled at some festive gathering, the 

 task of keeping order was not unfrequently entrusted 

 to her. Of course, she expected a sufficient reward 

 as she would not scruple to say for her trouble ; 

 either that, or facilities for stealing, which served the 

 end equally well, though in a different way. And 

 other conditions being settled to her mind, she was by 

 no means slack in exercising her authority after a 

 fashion to be understood, even by the least tutored 

 caird intellect. Her method was to supply herself 

 with a proper cudgel, and, when incipient rebellion 

 against her sovereign rule manifested itself, she did 

 not hesitate in applying it with a practised skill and 

 vigour that made the offender, whether man or woman, 

 think twice before risking a second infliction. 



A female caird who preceded Lizzie in point of time, 

 and who could boast of possessing a different and per- 

 haps higher kind of influence, was Tibbie Campbell. 

 She was acknowledged, amongst her tribe, not only 

 as a ruling power, but also as a sort of high priestess 

 and sorceress or witch. And, her " skeel" found re- 

 cognition outside caird circles too. The " twal owsen" 

 team at Mill of Garden, for example, had got some 

 glamour cast over them. And before the ploughman 

 and gaudman could get them " streekit" in the 



