r Doon. The fisherman and his "guid leddy" were a
very hospitable couple, and before I completed my visits to their
dwelling, I got on very friendly terms with the family. To please the
children I gave them coppers occasionally; of a penny the children
thought about as much as a child in Keighley thinks of a shilling. Then I
made "bargains" with the wife, exchanging money for "pulls" of brandy and
"plugs" of tobacco. Her husband, it would seem, when he met with foreign
vessels out at sea, would exchange with them fresh-water fish for brandy,
tobacco, &c., so that the family had generally a good stock of these
commodities on hand. In my new sphere of duty I had plenty of time
hanging on my hands, quite ample to enable me to cultivate my muse. One
of the pieces which I wrote was my verses commencing:--

In a pleasant little valley,
Near the ancient town of Ayr,
Where the laddies they are honest,
And the lassies they are fair;
Where the Doon in all her splendour
Ripples sweetly thro' the wood,
And on her banks not long ago
A little cottage stood.
'Twas there in all her splendour,
On a January morn,
Appeared old Colia's genius,--
When Robert Burns was born.

BREAKING A FIERY HORSE

With the exception of one rather vivid experience, my career as attendant
at the targets was devoid of any particular incident. One afternoon, when
I had just finished my preparations for the shooting, Captain Clifford
Lloyd came up to me leading an iron-grey horse. "Come here," says he,
"and mount this steed; and take her a mile or two down the beach." The
horse, it appeared, had just come to hand from Bohemia, and was of a very
fiery disposition. The captain said she had not received her baptism of
fire. I did according to orders, and took the fiery steed along the
coast. She proved a very "wicked" animal, and a few yards prancing and
capering made me heartily wish that I was safely on _terra firma_.
Suddenly a volley was fired, and as suddenly the horse gave such a lurch
that I was within an ace of being pitched where I wanted to get--though
not quite so precipitately. Volley after volley was fired, and I lost all
command over the snorting steed, which was flitting along at the rate of
so many miles an hour. Had it not been for a heavy guard-cloak which I
was wearing, and which by wrapping itself about the horse's body assisted
me to keep my seat, I should most certainly have been pi