The record-union., 1893-09-16


hre-worship. There, crouching by cart
or tent or fire, or on launches at the camp
entrance, as if sentineling the glad even
tide return Of absent masters, were the
brave, loyal, gaunt and voiceless gypsy
dogs. Here and there were the Kettle
sticks-not the stage tripods which bur-
lesque gypsy reality, but the strong, sa-
credly-priZed, crooked iron kettle-sticks
with their sizzling pots beneath. While
here and there, but always facing each
other, and the fires between, were the
real tents of the Romany, hoods rather
than tents, woolen blankets, like our
grandmothers' stout old sheets, stretched
! over bows of ash and fastened with pol
lshed oaken skewers, all so snug and
strong that no ordinary storm can wreck
these tiny gypsy homes.
By and by, as the shadows heightened,
the camp gradually began to awaken with
returning life. The fires which had
smouldered the day through were re-
newed by the now bustling old gypsy
women, and the pots and kettles sung
merrily OF good things to come. Gypsy
men and women began coming into
camp from all directions, and nearly all
came single, or in groups, to the tent L
had been allotted to emphasize the well
come l had been given as the Gorgio Chal
the non-gypsy friend to the gypsy who
was already known for his wanderings
with their brothers and sisters" in the
tar-of wonderland America. Nearly all
brought trophies of the days outing.
Women who had been among the outly-
ing farms were laden with poultry. but
ter, eggs and cheese, knots of homespun
yarn. and many an article representing
hours of toll which had been exchanged
Tor bit of gibberish and fortune"
On the morning Of the second day l left
my gypsy friends by Annanside with
/ Drtr, T0lNA fO,.o ~
! ion. Some discourse among the Romany
crew touching upon Scottish gypsy fam
lily lines and their antiquity prompted the
remark from an old spae wife that out
cast Prince Roberts blood had the strain
of the Bruce iD it, through his mother,
Esther Blythe Rutherford, late Queen OF
all the Scottish gypsies.
Then ye micht weel gae t. your for
| bears, King Roberts, auld castle hame,
at Lochmaben, an tax aries (pledge) t.
mend your ways, or yell ma ha' strae-
| death ia natural death) at t. eendi" taut-
ingly replied another.
The whim seized Prince Robert to do
it. l had never seen the old castle ruins,
and it easily came about that we should
! 60 together, and we departed after many
! solemn adjuratiOnS from the gypsies that
| should refuse all pleadings of Prince
Robert for liquor, or. in the event of
| yielding to his certain demands for drink
l should see him ''weel lickit, or weel
lockit in Lochmaben gaol," rather than
to permit him to return to the Annanside
camp.
Less than an hours walk brought us
| to the ancient royal burgh town of Loch-
maben, beautifully situated on the shores
Of one Of the nine tiny connecting lakes
of the same name. Prince Robert told
me the name was Gaelic and meant lake
Of the fair women, and when l asked him
how he came to know Gaelic significa-
tion, he said, with a shrug of his fine,
rutfianly shoulders, "Oh, l ken'd frae t.
/ ceitidh," which means auld wives gossip
| ing. But 1.-THE white, clear lake" is nearer
the true Gaelic. The silence of decay Is
upon ancient Lochmaben burgh. Two
long, struggling, silent streets intersect
each other at huge, plain, crumb bling
market cross. 1t is burg of quaint old
granite homes, with thatched roofs, in
habited by quaint old granite-faced Scot
tish folk. Great square houses, great
square doors and great square windows,
with great square blanched faces in them,
tell the story of olden opulence, older
| border pfowess and present Incidence
and decay. The place was once full of
handlooms and thrift. To-day so de-
serted and ifeless seems the burgh that
your own football on its ragged and un-
even stones impels you onward with an
!
! About mile from the ancient town, on
a tongue-shaped peninsula which ex-
tends into the lake called the Castle-loch,
we found the ruins OF the graudest for
tress the border ever knew. The lake
upon the shores of which the ruins stand,
as well as all others of the pretty group,
have low, sedgy shores. In these are
| found the vendace fishes, from five to six
! inches in length, nowhere else discovera-
n nf 10 Mt VyoVv
appearance, and in anatomy and flavor
much resem bling those famous American
ciscoes, which in June attract such hosts
! of anglers to the shores Of Lake Geneva
in Wisconsin. They are the most deli
cate fish known to the British gourmand.
Their heads are extraordinarily marked,
| in puce-colored transparent su Instance
with the perfectly defined figure of a
heart, through which, when freshly
caught, the brain may easily be seen.
Prince Robert disclosed a curious bit of
superstitious folklore concerning this
heart-shaped figure in the head of the
yendace. Every one remembers she pious
pilgrimage of James Douglas with the
heart of the dead King, in an effort to
might be buried in the Holy City, and
that after the tragic death of Douglas and
his friends, Sinclair and Logan, the sill
yer casket containing the Kings heart,
was recovered and given sepulture in
! Melrose Abbey. There is lingering be-
lief with the superstitious among the An
nandale peasantry that the figure OF the
heart in the head of the vendace fish of
Lochmaben is of miraculous origin, to
perpetuate the pious act of King Robert
the Bruce and the heroism of his loyal
| friends.
Along the haughs and moss banks of
the lochs the deadly adder turks, and the
! peasantry will tell you that these dread
ful reptiles are kept down by their inn
tainly continually seen lodging in and
out among, and lowering over, the sur
rounding reeds and MOSES. Whether or
not II was the original residence of the
! Bruces, granted by David /. in 1124, or an
enlarged successor built in the thirteenth
century, 1t covered sixteen acres of
ground, and is known to have. been abso-
lutely impregnable before the invention
OF gunpowder. 1t was stupendouS and
magnificent pile, and the care and perfec-
! ton with which it was built attested in
the immense walls still traceable, and in
the fact that though its masonry has been
exposed to the elements for 600 years, one
will to-day as often break the stone itself
as separate by strokes of sledgehammer
the stone and mortar with which the
walls were constructed.
A mighty host of reflections and histo-
ric memories crowd upon the onlooker
here. For not only has the tiercest of
| border battles ragged round about the cas-
ties once mighty walls, but it was on
this very spot the compact between the
two claimants for the Scottish crown,
which led to Scotland's eventual great
ness. was made. 1t was to 'this spot
Bruce came in his flight for his life from
Edwards court. And it was from here,
after Red Comyn's perfdy was discov-
cred that be sped to Dumfries to avenge
that treaehery with Comyn's life, before
the very altar of ancient Gray Friars
Church. Then came his coronation at