NON-LEGISLATIVE REMEDIES. 231 



change in the sport is then oiFered for his amusement. 

 The shooting is no longer done at random, and he sails 

 upwards thinking he has left all the fun behind ; but 

 chancing in his careless happiness to show a fin or make 

 a ripple in passing a "ford" or shallow, a resounding 

 "Pow !" (which is the Berwick or Northumbrian euph- 

 emism for pull), proceeds from the watcher, and a boat's 

 crew, rushing from the sheiling, shoot a net right across 

 his passage, beyond him and around him. Again let us 

 imagine him to be in luck, and to pass in this exhila- 

 rating manner upwards of fifty stations, each of them 

 with two nets, to say nothing now (for they have lately 

 been removed) of some ninety cairn nets, which, at 

 every spot where he was likely to seek rest, were set up 

 for his reception. This brings him as far as Coldstream 

 Bridge, where we shall leave him to cleave onward to 

 new dangers, for he is only " saved to-day, to-morrow 

 to be slain" — to fall by the rod of a Duke at Kelso, or 

 (which is at least quite as likely) by the leister of a 

 weaver at Peebles. But what is the summary of his 

 career thus far ? He has roused to the chase 360 men ; 

 there have been expended on him, in wages and mate- 

 rials alone (such is our careful calculation), at least £10 ; 

 he was worth 2s. id. ; and he's off! 



This, of course, is an extreme case ; take, then, one 

 of an opposite character. Instead of a single fish, a 

 shoal, or, as it is technically called, a head have come 

 up. The same engines are set to work, but with great 

 success. Out of 500, 490 are captured, and ten make 

 their way onward, five (say) to be killed by the Dukes 

 or the weavers (we are stating fairly, from statistics. 



