, 1886-10-17

ichkth = iio hVth, WAiCD yOu Couiu nav
tied a knot upon without putting the
bird to much inconvenience. A long
legged stupid, old bird he was, who
used to catch minnows and trout for
himself till he muddled ell the stream,
then 60 to sleep for an hour. with the
water up to his knees. till it got clear
again"
While Willie went away to get Jack
and his best jacket, we stood at the
%blacksmith's door. and watched the
sturdy burn the winds putting a red-hot
tire on a new cart wheel. then pouring
buckets of water over it to cool it and
make it fresh. This WIS always great
fun to us.
By-and-by. back came Willie, dressed
for the occasion, and carrying the great
heron, precisely as a mother carries her
baby, only he could not get it to keep its
long legs doubled up. which made mat
ters look awkward. Willie put Jack
sheep-horn null, and handed the box to
US, and we all took snuff.
Our complement was now complete,
20 off we all went, %whooping for joy.
along the road that led to the wood
through which the Den burn ran. And
after us-hop-hop-hopping, and help
ing himself along with his w~ings-came
daft Willie's heron in the most ridicul-
Gus manner imaginable. No wonder
several people on the road drew rein to
gnze after US; we were a queer pack Of
sportsmen.
That lear old Den burn, as it used to
Re in days of yore; 1 fancy l can see it
now even as l write. Alasi thirty
years have iei since the date Of this
little sketch. and the romance has fed
from the bonnie burn. 1t has been i'm
proved out of all its beauty.
But then-well, it rose in a peat moss
"A marshy. Doggy. dismal swamp
through which it flowed silently and
sluggishly, and here we caught many a
lordly ee.. Escaping at last, it rushed
merrily along by the side Of a road. over
n sandy, pebbly bottom. bordered by
long slips OF watercress; her it wen off
to the left, and became the marsh be-
twixt my fathers land and a n~eighbor-
ing farm. And here even was good gud-
ding ground. and many a lusty
trout l have hauled to bank from
bCutdlu lhC khCCh x lk duh
The the Den urn ven whipping away
through haughs and green meadows.
n under many a rustic bridge, till it
reached at last the dark and rocky
wooded glen OF Maidencraig. Here its
waters feed those mill-dams, and turned
a monster mill wheel that seemed always
to roll round and round, night and day;
its black wet sides CHANGING in the sun
3 Inc. or glittering when the moon
shone. Onward it dashed for another
mile and then flowed sullenly past the
foot of a gloomy pine-wood, where. ira
dition alleged. more h IA one farmer had
been robbed and killed while returning
late at night from the market: where a
mother had hanged herself, and where,
even in our day, little Sammie Stuart,
when looking for birds nests, found a
murdered BARN.
Close by this wood was to be our gud-
ding ground to-day. nevertheless.
Little we cared for tradition. 1t was
= lovely day-a day that would have
made an old man young again. Spring
was on the trees-spring was every
where. In the woodland glades the
scented furze was all in golden bloom; the
feathery larches were green-green, and
draped with little crimson t~assels; while
pink-white fingers protruded from the
~twiglets Of the dark and solemn pines.
Spring was in the bearts Of the birds
the mellow 1uting merle, the saucy.
mocking mavis. the modest sispin, the
bold, bright chafie, the bonnie, wee
rose-linnet that sang on the thorn.
| r-,-- w-., - -. ~ 49,
even in Jocks. though the green heather
was high enough almost to bury him.
But here is the Den burn. 1t is bright
and clear. and not too full-just in tine
condition for guddling.
And now my English reader will be
initiated into the mysteries OF guddling;
that is, il he does not already know
what ~guddling Is.
OF goes every jacket; then our sleeves
our trousers high upover the knees. We
are bare-legged, bare-armed, and ready
for action. We begin by building a
strong wall Of green turf, which we
tear up from the burns bank at each
side of the stream; then we make a heap
OF extra big turfs close to the burn, amt
dashing them and beating them down,
speedily complete our dam.
Hurrah! the burn is almost dry be-
meath the dam; only in the pools the
water still abides, and into these go
nearly all the trout Beautiful yellow
trout, speckled with red!
We wade in the water; the two Will
les wade. and Davie wades, and Jock
wades; Jock uses his bill; we thrust our
bare arms in under the green banks,
needless Of eel bites, needless of the
presence of ugly water rats. We seize
the trout by the round, slobbery heads,
after working them into a corner, and
pitch them out on to the bank, and
laugh to see them leap and dance, their
bodies shimmering white and golden in
the sunshine.
Every fish that Jock catches he tries
to swallow, but Willie pulls them away
and casts them ashore.
Presently Jock gets a frog and chokes
on it. There is nothing sticking out
but u hind leg. However, Willie lays
hold of that and draws it out, and eau
tons Jock, and the guddling goes mer-
rily on.
Never was finer sport on this earth.
! have fshed all over the world since
then. but the memory OF that after
moons guddling always will remain a
sunny one
While we are guiding. all the mills
below us that depend on the Den burn
for driving power have to lie idle; OF
curse they have, but what care we.
The waters rise very high in the dam
at last. and over and over again we have
TO strengthen 10.
At last however. We hear a shout