AMONG THE SOUTHERN UPLANDS 221 



a " Spital." The bouse is full ; there is not much 

 to fill. I might not have been lodged at all, but 

 that it was a night 



Wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch, 

 The lion and the belly-pinched wolf 

 Keep their fur dry. 



Even the four dogs are inside. 



The shepherd's wife not only takes me in, but 

 clothes me. The suit is her husband's. I never 

 saw the wearer, who was away at Peebles Fair 

 with the season's lambs ; but I have good reason to 

 suppose that he is twice my weight. 



For two whole days I live and move and have 

 my being in these clothes. I revel in them, tent 

 in them, roll about in them, insist that my own are 

 not dry, until the kindly lender laughingly asks if 

 I would like to take them away with me. 



Anglers gather in from the streams, or are blown 

 in by the gusts which set every door a-rattling and 

 every inmate a-shivering. No one has been success- 

 ful. Rising water seldom yields a basket. Trout 

 are too much concerned in looking after themselves, 

 and in seeking the eddies which are last to be 

 blotted out. 



These men have been tempted up from Moffat by 

 the rain-bearing clouds, which blew from that direc* 



