COLDSTREAM TO HAWICK. 197 



had completed his observations^ decided the Doctor 

 not to persevere^ even after his second whip had gone 

 for a spade. And so there was a conclave in a mea- 

 dow, and the word was given for home ; and be- 

 guiling the way with a most welcome breakfast at 

 Teviot Bank, we left the Doctor to thirty miles of 

 practice, and like Sandy, who was fairly wearied out 

 with three otter hunts in four days, we turned into 

 bed. Sleep would have been all the sweeter if we 

 had killed an otter. They will not come, like spirits 

 from the vasty deep when you call them, and like 

 many other things they are often there when they 

 are not wanted. AVe remember Mr. Gallon having 

 a blank week, and on the Sunday, when he was 

 walking in a friend^s grounds, one of them "like an 

 eagre rode in triumph o^er the tide,^-' and surveyed 

 him patronisingly as it passed. Those who know 

 him may "phanzy his feelinks.^^ Another of our 

 friends, who hadn^t found one for some time, stum- 

 bled across what he thought was his leviathan black 

 cat, at the edge of a corn field near his house, in the 

 moonlight, and for some moments kept objurgating 

 " Simon^^ for his lack of friendliness, till he glided 

 into the stream. 



The hounds were well looked to, and had six hours^ 

 rest before they were sent on, and next morning we 

 followed them to hunt the Ale. They were waiting 

 for us on the bridge at Ashkirk, an hour after sun- 

 rise, and a right pleasant morning we had, watching 

 them quest at their own sweet will among its co- 



