THE KOXBURGHSIIIRE BLACKS.IIITH. 227 



grasped as many nail heads and fragments of his 

 trade as his fingers could compass, when these three- 

 cornered and incongruous remnants were dropped in 

 after the powder, and again crammed with brown 

 paper, till the tallness of the charge within was only 

 surpassed by the height of the instrument without. 

 Having loaded his gun, assuring his lordship that 

 these missiles were infinitely more deadly than shot, 

 the blacksmith led the way to the wilds in which a 

 flock of geese were feeding. Lord Wemyss from the 

 high ground watched the sequel. Nothing could 

 be better or more sportsmanlike than the way the 

 smith availed himself of every rise or fall in the land 

 to cover his approach ; but, not content with getting 

 to within the usual wildfowl distance, the illustrator 

 of the noble art still crawled on till there was some 

 doubt in the spectator's mind, if the geese would not 

 be aroused to a sense of their danger by a thrust 

 from the old bell-muzzle. The stalker, however, paused 

 at the distance of about thirty yards, took ten minutes' 

 aim, and then an enormous report was heard amidst 

 a volume of smoke and cries from the wild geese, 

 who rose in much confusion, leaving one or two 

 fluttering on the ground behind them. The smoke 

 clearing away, the blacksmith was at first invisible, 

 until with some difficulty Lord Wemyss made him 

 out stretched and motionless on the ground. Fearful 

 that the gun had burst, his lordship hastened to 

 the spot, and on his arrival found the smith with the 

 gun a few yards from him, but still insensible. In a 

 few moments consciousness began to return, and the 

 first words the smith uttered were " well dune, old 

 gall," which his lordship, deeming to be a sort of 

 delirious conversation, cut across Avith a serious 



Q 2 



