HEATHER LIGHTS. 219 



" As for mysel', I need hardly say I never steekit an 

 e'e. I ken'd fu' weel, that if we warna at Queedside 

 by the first o' the Monanday morning, the hempies 

 oot o' twae or three o' the touns o' the north side o' 

 the water wad be bleezin' up afore us ; and some 

 devilvie cam' o'er the cock that sat on the byre balks 

 aside us, for he never miss'd to skirl every ten minutes 

 thrae the time I lay doun; sae I was as af ten grapin' the 

 hands o' my watch, which I had gotten in a coup thrae 

 Geordie Matheson three weeks afore. 



" At last, whan I had a guid guess it was drawin' 

 near to twal o'clock, an' nae fear o' breakin' the Sab- 

 bath, I gat up an' shook Sandy by the shouther, wha 

 was oot o' bed in a giffy. We went to the barn, an' 

 tied up twae prime heather lichts, frae a bunch or 

 twae, which I had gae'd the miller lad to dry on the kiln 

 ten days afore. They may talk o' ruffles and birk bark 

 baith, but gi'e me a good heather iicht, weel dried on 

 the kiln, for a throat o' the Queed. However, I got 

 the lichts on my back, Sandie carried a weel-dried 

 bairdie, an' I took in my hand my cloddin' waster. I 

 had gi'en the Hunches o' Yarrowford seven white 

 shillings for her ; but nane could make a waster wi' 

 the Runches,* nor track an otter either ; they had clean 

 the best terriers in the hale country side ; and they 



* The Runches (Runcimans) of Yarrowford were two celebrated 

 smiths, probably brought to Selkirkshire by Murray of Philiphaugh. 

 They were famous for a peculiar art in tempering edge tools. Their 

 otter hounds and terriers also were capital. Singular stories were 

 told of their sagacity. Rob Runchy as a forlorn hope, once threw 

 his clodding leister at a drowning man floating down the Yarrow in 

 a high flood, and hauled him out with the lyams unharmed. 



