HEATHER LIGHTS 209 



hempies out o' twae or three o' the touns o' the 

 north side o' the water wad be bleezin' up afore us ; 

 and some devilrie came o'er the cock that sat on the 

 Byre balks aside us, for he never mist to skirl every 

 ten minutes thrae the time I lay doon ; sae I was 

 as often 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 gude guess it was drawing 

 near to twal o'clock, and nae fear o' breaking the 

 Sabath, I gat up and shook Sandy by the shouther, 

 who was out o' bed in a giffy. We went to the barn, 

 and tyed up twae prime heather lights, thrae a 

 bunch or twae, which I had gae'd the miller lad dry 

 on the killn ten days afore. They may talk o* 

 ruffies and birk bark baith ; but gie me a good 

 heather light, weel dried on the killn, for a throat o' 

 the Queed. However, I got the lights on my back, 

 Sandie carried a weel dried bairdie, and I took in 

 my hand my clodding waster. I had gi'en the 

 Runchies 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 had an art o' their ain in tempering the 

 taes o' a waster that they took to the grave wi' 



* The Runches (Runcimans) of Yarrowford were two celebrated 

 smiths, probably brought to Selkirkshire by Murray of Phillip- 

 haugh. 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 un- 

 harmed. 



