A SCHERZO 163 



and little Johnny. Ah ! dear little Johnny ! friend 

 of my youth ! thou wast the best-natured fellow 

 in the world ; therefore didst thou become the con- 

 stant butt at which the Duke let fly his arrows 

 of wit. 



On the Sunday morning in question, the Duke 

 was anxious to fish a fine-looking burn he had 

 lately discovered, which flowed into the main river 

 from a narrow glen on the opposite side of the 

 valley. But to reach this burn it would be neces- 

 sary to run the gauntlet of the bridge, where were 

 gathered many Sunday loafers ; and to get the rods 

 safely through that concourse, unobserved, would 

 have been an impossible feat. The only alternative 

 was to cross the river by boat. Now the boats were 

 kept about two hundred yards above the bridge, 

 nearer to where the water flowed from the loch, 

 and at a place where a pretty stiff current ran. It 

 was therefore with trepidation that the Duke and 

 the chronicler of these events, who were stationed 

 amongst the respectable crowd on the bridge, noticed 

 two figures, one very tall and the other short, 

 making their way up the river-side with a long 

 and mysterious bundle of mackintoshes, and there 

 proceed to unloose a boat. Cragie was the first to 



