248 FIELD AND FERN. 



near those Douglas sheep-walks for whose cup days 

 Sunheam, Sea Gull, Patent, and Rebe were not 

 pupped in vain. It was an exhilarating ride through 

 the windings of the hills, with ice ponds in deep ravines, 

 made vocal by the curlers, and then through the iron 

 country among an infinity of dark sprites wearing 

 lamps upon their foreheads — in fact, " the roaring 

 rink'^ by day, and the roaring furnace by night. 



People who talk about the Scotch as phlegmatic 



would alter their note if they saw them at curling 



time. We have no conception of the mysteries of 



" chap and lie^^ and " outwick," and all that sort of 



thing, but it was grand to see the enthusiasm of the 



players of every degree. Corpulent farmers, whom 



we couldn^t have believed capable of it, crooked their 



lusty knees; and the lads swept the ice frantically 



as the smooth grey stone came gliding on towards its 



fellows. Inn stables near the favourite ponds were 



so full that it was a mercy we could get a stall for our 



mare at all. If we passed a cart about 10 a.m., we 



generally found it full of the paraphernalia of the 



game instead of ordinary farm produce, and stalwart 



men and boys strode gaily along every turnpike and 



bye-lane with whin brooms of a delicious green under 



their arms. At night we heard desperate discussions 



on the events of the day, and orations fully ten 



minutes long on the glories of some particular rink. 



It once seemed strange to see a Yorkshire and a 



Lincolnshire breeder of blood stock draw their chairs 



close one evening, put their hands on one another's 



