OCTOBER 291 



The covered-in burn has never less than 

 three feet o' water unless the Earn is 

 very low. Thocht I to mysel' when I 

 took up my abode here, ' This is the very 

 place for my coble. Naebody will ever 

 think that there's a boat up the burn, 

 and I'll no' be troubled wi' questions as 

 to what I need a boat for.' So I stripped 

 off a square o' the turf, cut a hole in the 

 roof o' the culvert, and put this trap-door 

 doon wi' the turf on, as you see." 



" Neat," Bismarck remarked. 



" Aye : so it is, if I may say so. And 

 I've another o' the same roond the bend, 

 behind the hoose. I thocht it might be 

 usefu' in case there should be need for a 

 mysterious disappearance. At the side 

 o' the other trap-door I pulled doon a 

 slap o' the wall o' the culvert, and made 

 a bay big enough to hold the boat, which 

 naebody would be likely to notice in the 

 dark. So if ony folk, seein' the boat 

 enterin' the mouth o' the burn, followed 

 in pursuit, they would no' be likely to find 

 it They would soon come doon again, 



