charges had been drawn and tow substituted,
Charlie, now considerably sobered, carefully reloaded them, a precaution
which certainly saved his money, and possibly his life as well, for he
was presently attacked by a party of armed men, who, however, fled on
finding that "the tow was out."

Mump's Ha' was in Cumberland, near Gilsland. In olden days it was a
place of most evil repute, but one may question if in ill name it could
take precedence of a similar establishment which in the days of our
great-grandfathers stood on Soutra Hill, on the Lauder road. Travellers
had need to give this place a wide berth, for it was a veritable
den--indeed "Lowrie's Den" was the name by which it was known, and
feared, by every respectable person. Many a bloody, drunken fight took
place there, many were the evil deeds done and the robberies committed;
not even was murder unknown in its immediate vicinity.

Well for us that in our day we know of such places only by ancient
repute. When we talk regretfully of "the good old days," we are apt to
leave out of the reckoning those Mump's Ha's and Lowrie's Dens of our
forefathers' times; we forget to add to the burden of a journey such
items as indifferent roads and highway robbers, and the possibility of
reaching one's destination minus purse, watch, or rings. From an
encounter with highwaymen, few passengers emerged with flying colours,
having had the best of the deal. Not to many persons was such fortune
given as fell to the lot of a country lass near Kelso one winter's
evening. She had little enough to lose in the way of money or valuables,
and it was "bogles," more than the fear of footpads that disturbed her
mind as she stumped along that muddy road in the gathering gloom.
Consequently, after one terrified shriek, it was almost a relief to her
to find that the two figures which bounced out on her from the
blackness, demanding her money, were flesh and blood like herself, and
not denizens of another world. Five or six shillings was all that the
poor lass possessed, but they took that paltry sum. Only, when she pled
hard that they should leave her at least a trifle to take to her mother,
who was very poor, one of the footpads relented, and with a gruff, "Hey,
then!" thrust three coins back into her not unwilling hand. With a
mixture of joy and fear the girl fled into the darkness, but as she ran,
she thought she heard a shout, and soon, to her consternation, she made
certain that hurrying f