FALKIRK TO EDINBURGH. 37 



him with double-milled ones at 27s. a head. Some 

 one overheard them winding up the bargain in a tent, 

 and the colloquy was on this wise : ^^ Come aiva, man, 

 Fse had bad ivark to keep them nice fowre year old 

 yows for ye] there was so mony customers, they wad 

 hae them on mej" Thus encouraged, the buyer con- 

 sented, and paid. The seller then rose to the occa- 

 sion. There'' s a sovereign for you/' he said, '^ because 

 yoiCre a gentleman ; and there's another sovereign for 

 you because Fse a gentleman'' And so they parted, 

 the one to have his laugh out, and the other to hear 

 from his neighbours that lieM ^^ better tak a sheep 

 dentist to t']Muir next year." 



There were some wonderful night scenes at the 

 grieve of Carron's, and for many a long year the 

 dealers sat round the fire, and talked of their myste- 

 rious visitor. He wore top-boots, a long blue coat, 

 and buckskins, and was as clean as a new pin. The 

 Man in the Iron Mask could not have created more 

 speculation. He appeared about nine o^clock, and 

 said that he had been looking at the cattle in the 

 fields, that he was an ex-major in the army, and that 

 he wouldn't stir a peg that night. All further at- 

 tempts to '^ draw'^ him he parried, by simply saying : 

 " My nephev.) has more money than brains. I've corns 

 to buy a few things for him." Eefore lying down for 

 the night, he became a trifle more talkative. "I've 

 never had a sick head or a sore breast ; Pm eighty-two, 

 and when I go, I go at once." He repeated the ^^at 

 once'' so impressively, that they thought he was a 



