362 FIELD AND FERN. 



higlier game; and just missing Tom Welsli, and all 

 but scattering Mr. Oliver, he made straight to the 

 judgment-seat, and in an instant '^ Linhope^^ and 

 " Eaitlairs'^ were flying heels upwards ; and ere they 

 "rose to order," he had found a bolt-hole near "Skelf 

 HilF' (who was enjoying the scene most cruelly), and 

 was off with Mr. Graham's ^30 on his head. Going 

 to The Shaw, he jumped the dykes like a wild goat, 

 and took a world of driving, but proved well the 

 next lambing " for a^ that and a' that.'-' The spirit 

 was not knocked out of the seniors by their down- 

 fall, as one bought Jonathan for 32 gs., and the other 

 a horned one for 34 gs,, after a jocular complaint 

 that '' a guinea had been missed,^' which only made 

 the hearers bid harder. It was a great day for the 

 Old Hornie blood, as 52 three-shears averaged £9 

 13s. 



" The DeviFs Beef Tub,'-' that strange mountain 

 hollow, at the head of which the old mail-road used 

 to run, took us slightly north again from Moffat. 

 The name of " Beef Tub'' is a delusion and a 

 snare, and we fell back on Mr. Tom Welsh's snug 

 steading of Ericstane, two miles away. Here the 

 Cheviot and Ayrshire elements blend most harmo- 

 niously. In the entrance there hangs the fine Roman 

 head of Brydon's Wellington ; and a bower in his 

 blue blouse was hard at cheese work, with his wife and 

 family, behind. The Aj-rshire idea has been spread- 

 ing eastward apace during the last ten years, and 

 Dutch barns with metal pillars have spread with it. 



