184 FIELD AND FERN. 



when every hound has been rubbed dr}^^, he changes 

 his clothes, jumps into his gig, and away on his 

 rounds, and '' sleeps at night without rocking/^ His 

 season extends from April to September, and per- 

 liaps on the average he may be out thirty times, kill 

 five brace, and let nearly as many off on the thirteen 

 rivers of which he has the liberty. The Jed, with its 

 " rugged rocks'^ and eternal tree-roots, and the Ale, 

 which Sir George Douglas fitted up with such a fine 

 eye to otters, may be said to be his woodland coun- 

 try ; and it was on tlie latter that he had his '' Billes- 

 don Coplow run^^ of fully ten miles. It joins the 

 Teviot, or rather reaches the open at Ancrum Bridge, 

 where they are generally pretty safe of a long burst 

 with a "traveller." The meet is at Kelso Bridge 

 when they hunt up the Teviot ; but the pack is not 

 large enough to attempt the Tweed, and if they did, 

 the velveteen order of the Trappists have been there 

 pretty often before them. 



" Sandy,^"* or Willie Sanderson, a young butcher 

 from Carlisle, has been a tower of strength to the 

 Doctor since they met on the Annan in the May of 

 ^63. He was entered under Willie Bobinson, who was 

 then the huntsman of the Carlisle pack, and learnt all 

 his dodges. " The merrie city" has loved the sport 

 since Dr. Hildebrand^s day. From Cliff Bridge up to 

 Wrack Bridge is their favourite hunting ground on the 

 Lyne. The Caldew is always drawn blank, but the 

 Eden hears the music of their twelve couple " from 

 Cargo right up till Armthwaite." Irthing Foot is a 



