144 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



madly, " The Trows have got the drink, and they've 

 got the lass as weel ! " 



All was confusion at once. Josey would have had 

 the empty bottles cracked upon his head if the loss of 

 the whisky had been the worst ; but Breeta, what had 

 become of her ? was a far more important matter. 

 Vainly did the men strive to elicit information from 

 Josey. He was utterly mad with drink, and could 

 only shout, " The Trows hae ta'en my lass ! " 



" And " (said she who told the story) " Josey spakd 

 the wird o' truth for a' that ; for puir Breeta was lying 

 in the Moola-burn, weet and wan, when her brithers 

 fand her. She had in her hand a bulwand (a reed 

 that grows in the marshes), and that ye ken is what 

 the grey-folk use for horses. She was dead, puir 

 lass, and a' for speaking lichtly o' them that has power 

 at sich times. As for Josey, he never did mair gude 

 frae that nicht, and afore the Yules cam' round again 

 he was dead too." 



Yule week proper is the period between Yule-day 

 and New'r'day (New Year's day), and during that 

 week no person ought to prosecute their ordinary em- 

 ployment ; the penalty for so doing is bad luck for a 

 year. 



Some fishermen went to sea on the fourth day o' 

 Yule, and the first thing they brought up on their 

 lines was a hideous monster — half fish, half horse. 

 This creature told them that — 



" Man wha fished iu Yule week 

 Fortune never mair did seek." 



