wer and Logan had a long
conference in the open air. Sprot was lounging and spying about beside
the river; a sea-fisher had taken a basket of blenneys, or 'green-banes.'
Logan called to Sprot to bring him the fish, and they all supped. Before
supper, however, Sprot walked about with Bower, and tried to 'pump' him
as to what was going forward. Bower said that 'the Laird should get
Dirleton without either gold or silver, but he feared it should be as
dear to him. They had another pie in hand than the selling of land.'
Bower then asked Sprot not to meddle, for he feared that 'in a few days
the Laird would be either landless or lifeless.'

Certainly this is a vivid description; Bower and Logan were sitting on a
bench 'at the byre end;' Sprot, come on the chance of a supper, was
peeping and watching; Peter Mason, the angler, at the river side, 'near
the stepping stones,' had his basket of blenneys on his honest back, his
rod or net in his hand; the Laird was calling for the fish, was taking a
drink, and, we hope, offering a drink to Mason. Then followed the lounge
and the talk with Bower before supper, all in the late afternoon of a
July day, the yellow light sleeping on the northern sea below. Vivid
this is, and plausible, but is it true?

We have reached the approximate date of July 25 (though, of course, after
an interval of eight years, Sprot's memory of dates must be vague). Next
day (July 26) Logan, with Bower and others, rode to Nine Wells (where
David Hume the philosopher was born), thence, the same night, back to
Gunnisgreen, next night, July 27, to Fastcastle, and thence to Edinburgh.
This brings us (allowing freely for error of memory) to about July 27,
'the hinder end of July,' says Sprot. If we make allowance for a
vagueness of four or five days, this does not fit in badly. Logan's
letter to Gowrie (No. IV), which Sprot finally said that he used as a
model for his forgeries, is dated 'Gunnisgreen, July 29.' 'At the
beginning of August,' says Sprot (clearly there are four or five days
lost in the reckoning), Logan and Bower, with Matthew Logan and Willie
Crockett, rode to Edinburgh, '_and there stayed three days_, and the
Laird, with Matthew Logan, came home, and Bower came to his own house of
the Brockholes, where he stayed four days,' and then was sent for by
Logan, 'and the Laird was very sad and sorry,' obviously because of the
failure of the plot on August 5.

How do these dates fit into the narr