COLDSTREAM TO HAWICK. 179 



con Flatts, and their method of dealing with knotty- 

 points in the rocks near Kitty Straits. Fairplay, a 

 '^ quiet, sensible dog/^ but *'' unfortunately with a 

 smooth skin," and deep in seal or sprint mysteries, 

 scuffled down from " the cage," with Royal, who is 

 quite a water '' philosopher and friend,^^ to the 

 Doctor, and gifted with a remarkable Southern skull, 

 and a bell-like tongue, which has discoursed rich music 

 in many a drag. There is a strange psychological 

 sympathy between them, as neither of them can touch 

 a bite of anything on a hunting morning. Bellman, 

 who came with Billy, and began dragging the very first 

 morning with the old dogs at Ancrum Crags, is not 

 easily overlooked, from his gay style; and little Randy 

 was there, too, ^"^the last bitch of the Bowscale blood," 

 yellow with a white ring round her neck, and quite 

 " a devil to worry." Thunder, her daughter by the 

 Carlisle Thunder (a great hound in his day), is like 

 her, but bigger ; and Pibroches " cage" substitute is 

 Fanny by Lochinvar, which is neither more nor less 

 than a greyhound bitch in sheets. She eventually 

 broke her back at Borthwick Brae, on the very spot 

 where, seven seasons before, she ran her first 

 trial. Pibroch, who occasionally looks lost in 

 thought, and does not care now to get too much in 

 the otter^s way, always sleeps by himself before the 

 horses ; and he and Sarah Sibbald by Canaradzo, and 

 a Gordon setter, seem to have tickets of leave in the 

 yard. The terriers cast in their lot with the pack, 

 and are a "most brave and affectionate family." There 



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