of brandy.
Setting that upon the table, he was not long in drawing from it in a
"rummer" a quantity of spirit that four fingers would never half
conceal. "Now, drink that," he said, handing the raw spirit to his
involuntary guest. Then when the liquor had all disappeared, said he:
"You are the first that has ever searched my house. See you be the last!
Ye're a stranger i' thae parts, so we'll say nae mair aboot it this
nicht. But mind you this--if ever ye come again, see that ye be measured
for your coffin before ye start."

Tradition has no record of Jack Stokoe having ever again been
disturbed.

SALMON AND SALMON-POACHERS IN THE BORDER

What is it that causes a salmon to be so irresistible a temptation to
the average Borderer? He knows that it is illegal to take "a fish" from
the water at certain seasons, and at other times except under certain
circumstances. Yet at any season and under any circumstances the sight
of a fish in river or burn draws him like a magnet, and take it he must,
if by any means it may be done outside the ken of the Tweed
Commissioners and their minions. Even if he be a rigid observer of the
law, a disciplinarian of Puritan fervour, in his heart he takes that
salmon, and his pulse goes many beats faster as, standing on the bank,
he watches the "bow wave" made by a moving fish in thin water, or sees
it struggle up a cauld.

One can remember the case of a middle-aged gentleman, the most strict of
Presbyterians, a church-goer almost fanatical in his attendance, one who
would have suffered martyrdom rather than be compelled to forego long
family prayers morning and evening; a man ordinarily rigid in his
observance of the law to its last letter, unforgiving of those who even
in the mildest manner stepped an inch beyond the line. Yet that old
man, returning after long years to the scenes of his boyhood from a far
land, where like Jacob of old he had "increased exceedingly, and had
much cattle," when in remote Border waters one day he was tempted by the
Evil One with a salmon, fell almost without a struggle. To secure that
salmon the old gentleman must needs get exceeding wet; moreover, it was
close time. There was no shadow of excuse. But he was a boy again; fifty
years had slipped off his shoulders. And I know not what came of the
salmon, but it left the water; nor do I know what the watcher said who
came over the hill inopportunely. Maybe the trouser-pocket where the old
gentleman kept