306 FIELD AND FERN. 



packs on their backs and bells on their beads over 

 the rough muirland road ; when Madge Wildfire with 

 her crook and her plaid wandered through Ayrshire ; 

 and when old '^Keely Bags" supplied all Galloway 

 with sheep ruddle ; but still, cheese, wool, and bacon 

 were ghosts that would not be laid, and fairly em- 

 bittered our life. 



Of the route to Maybole we knew little enough, 

 as we rode it by night, striking, as it would seem, 

 inland, as there was no sea roar for company. Next 

 morning the scene opened on the Girvan Valley, with 

 Kilkerran House to the left. The hills are covered 

 with fern and heather^ and go by the name of 

 "The Burning.-" They are so called from a seam 

 of coal, which once took fire on the Kilkerran pro- 

 perty. It has been extinguished for many years, 

 but one at Dalquharran is still burning. On 

 the opposite side of the valley, the open freestone 

 subsoil of Kilkerran is admirable for silver firs, 

 spruces, and beeches. Mr. Fleming rents it at pre- 

 sent, and as for animals it was quite a NoaVs Ark 

 No. 2. His residence in India gave him a taste for 

 Arabs. A bay and a black mare were at exercise in 

 the park, and a grey horse, a much better specimen 

 than either of them, and an H.C. at the Islington 

 Horse Show, was leading gallops for Brewtey^s string 

 at Newmarket. One of the Clydesdale mares was 

 the prize mare Rosie, a purchase from Merry ton, and 

 had a fine partner at rather a lower figure from Dum- 

 friesshire. Of sporting dogs there was also quite an 



