horse-stealing pure and simple. No longer were fierce raids over the
English Border permissible; not now could they, practically with
impunity, "drive" the cattle of those with whom they were at feud, and
live on the stolen beeves of England till such time as the larder again
grew bare. The times were sadly degenerate; Border men all too quickly
were becoming soft and effeminate.

Yet in Eskdale there was one patriot, at least, who boasted himself that
as his fathers had been, so was he. Willie Armstrong of Gilnockie was
that man--"Christie's Will," he was commonly called, a great-grandson of
the famous Johnnie, and not unworthy of his descent. Had he lived when
Johnnie flourished, there might indeed have been two Armstrongs equally
famous. As it was, Willie spent his days at constant feud with the law,
and even the strong walls of Gilnockie were not for him always a secure
shelter. Once it befell that the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, the
Earl of Traquair, visiting Jedburgh, there found Willie lying in the
"tolbooth."

"Now, what's broucht ye to this, Gilnockie?" the Earl inquired.

"Oh, nocht but having twa bit tethers in my hand, my lord," said Willie.
But: "Weel, I wadna say but there micht mebbes hae been twa cowt at the
tae end o' the tethers," he admitted, on being pressed by the Earl.

Now, it happened that Willie was well known to Lord Traquair--had, in
fact, more than once been of considerable service to his lordship; and
it was no failing of the Earl to desert a friend in trouble, if help
might be given quietly and judiciously. So it came about that the prison
gates swung back for Christie's Will, the halter no longer threatened
his neck, and Lord Traquair acquired a follower who to repay his debt of
gratitude would stick at nothing.

Some little time later it chanced that a great lawsuit fell to be
decided in the Court of Session. In this lawsuit Lord Traquair was
deeply concerned. A verdict in his favour was of vital importance to
him, but he very well knew that the opinion of the presiding judge was
likely to be unfavourable to his claim, and that should Lord Durie
preside, the case in that event would almost certainly go against him.
Could that judge, however, by any means be quietly spirited away from
Edinburgh before the date fixed for the trial, with almost equal
certainty he might count on a favourable verdict. In this predicament
Lord Traquair turned his thoughts to Christie's Will; if anyon