ed his pistols, and tried by the ramrod whether the charge remained
in them.

He proceeded a mile or two at a round trot, when, as the Waste stretched
black before him, apprehensions began to awaken in his mind, partly
arising out of Meg's unusual kindness, which he could not help thinking
had rather a suspicious appearance. He therefore resolved to reload his
pistols, lest the powder had become damp; but what was his surprise, when
he drew the charge, to find neither powder nor ball, while each barrel
had been carefully filled with TOW, up to the space which the loading had
occupied! and, the priming of the weapons being left untouched, nothing
but actually drawing and examining the charge could have discovered the
inefficiency of his arms till the fatal minute arrived when their
services were required. Charlie bestowed a hearty Liddesdale curse on his
landlady, and reloaded his pistols with care and accuracy, having now no
doubt that he was to be waylaid and assaulted. He was not far engaged in
the Waste, which was then, and is now, traversed only by such routes as
are described in the text, when two or three fellows, disguised and
variously armed, started from a moss-hag, while by a glance behind him
(for, marching, as the Spaniard says, with his beard on his shoulder, he
reconnoitred in every direction) Charlie instantly saw retreat was
impossible, as other two stout men appeared behind him at some distance.
The Borderer lost not a moment in taking his resolution, and boldly
trotted against his enemies in front, who called loudly on him to stand
and deliver; Charlie spurred on, and presented his pistol. 'D--n your
pistol,' said the foremost robber, whom Charlie to his dying day
protested he believed to have been the landlord of Mumps's Ha','d--n your
pistol! I care not a curse for it.' 'Ay, lad,' said the deep voice of
Fighting Charlie, 'but the TOW'S out now.' He had no occasion to utter
another word; the rogues, surprised at finding a man of redoubted courage
well armed, instead of being defenceless, took to the moss in every
direction, and he passed on his way without farther molestation.

The author has heard this story told by persons who received it from
Fighting Charlie himself; he has also heard that Mumps's Ha' was
afterwards the scene of some other atrocious villainy, for which the
people of the house suffered. But these are all tales of at least half a
century old, and the Waste has been for many years as