COLDSTREAM TO HAWICK. 185 



sure find;, and " varra smittle for lying/^ and a wake- 

 ful passenger by the north mail may catch a glimpse 

 of them at work between Southwaite and Carlton^ in 

 the bosky glades of the Petterill. As it fell out, after 

 the Doctor^s first interview with Sand}^, the Teviot- 

 dale pack " rather lost heart, and wanted a dog for 

 creeping.^^ In short, the post of " a good grounding 

 tutor" to the Grant terriers was vacant, and San- 

 derson^s bull terrier Billy, and the very apple of his 

 eye, seemed (as his owner put it) " just the dog to Hice 

 them inJ' He was 221bs. weight when in condition, 

 and about two years and four months old when he 

 was booked by the North British and entered on the 

 duties of his office. 



Sandy thus sums up his varmint history with all 

 the terseness of a Cresswell : " Billy played with his 

 first foulmart ; his second bit him at seven months, 

 so he killed it ; he won^t fight with a hound, or kill 

 a hare or rabbit, and he won^t notice a rat without 

 orders.'^ His early promotion was thus strictly the 

 result of high training and continual self-denial. He 

 was not long in being entered to the otter, and he 

 had accounted for one on the Lyne (near which 

 Mr. Scott, a joiner, bred him) when he was only 

 twelve months old. His second had decidedly four 

 or five pounds the pull of him in weight. It had 

 been driven out of the Lyne into the woods the day 

 before, and but for a bloodhound belonging to Mr. 

 Standish^s keeper it would have beaten them all 

 again. However, they worked up to it when it was 



