212 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



Premonitions of something on the way were 

 then to be heard issuing from somewhere inside 

 farmer number two, which at last took form in the 

 following unique sentence. " H'n, h'm ; — h'n, h'm ; 

 —Ay ! " 



Again silence, only broken by the gurgling 

 of liquid. 



Number one now took up the conversation with 

 "H'n, h'm;— h'n, h'm ;— h'n, h'm ;— Ay ! "—(several 

 shakes of the head) — " H'n, h'm ; — Lord Sall-is-bury " 

 — (more head shakes) — "Ay! — H'n, h'm." 



(I trust the patient reader will be able to recog- 

 nise in the above hieroglyphics the representation 

 of that peculiar sound so commonly heard as an 

 entracte in the conversations which take place north 

 of the Border.) 



After this last lucid statement a profound silence 

 followed, only deepened by the ticking of the clock 

 upon the mantelpiece and the heavy sigh of one or 

 other of the talkers. At last, after the ticking of 

 the clock had become quite aggressive, farmer number 

 two shuffled his feet and expectorated, and it was 

 borne in upon me that a retort to the last remark 

 was maturing in his agile brain. Indeed, in an 

 incredibly short space of time it became ripe, the 

 preliminary internal sounds being distinctly audible, 



