284 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



see it to be theft at a'. If I did, I would 

 drop it. I ha'e my ain wants, which are 

 unco expensive, and, like other folk, I 

 ha'e lame dogs to be helpit ower a stile. 

 I need aboot three hundred pounds a- 

 year, and I mak' maist o't by poachin'. 

 It's no' very muckle when levied on a 

 wide district. But I wouldna' levy it if 

 I thocht poachin' essentially wrang. It 

 appears to me no' unfair as between man 

 and man. And it's no' only mysel' that 

 has that view. I'm as weel respectit by a' 

 I have to do wi' as Claverhoose was by the 

 Duke o' Argyll and other Whigamores." 



Peter laughed complacently. 



"You see," he went on, "the lairds 

 and I are on a footin' o' equality. They 

 ha'e something unusual titles of nobility 

 or what-not that gi'es them privilege 

 against the ordinar' run o' people ; and so 

 ha'e I." 



"What is that, Peter?" asked 

 Bismarck, greatly interested. 



"I've often wondered," Peter answered, 

 ingenuously. " A' I ken aboot it is that 



