Iron County register., 1900-05-03
Observation-Disclosures
Comedy of the MOOrS
SA.a SA.aASAaM.eAem3mSAea
BY William Ruchan.

THE afternoon sun had dipped be-
hind the broad shoulder of the
Ruchill, and the strath below was
plunged in shadow. 1t had been one
of the halcyon days which sometimes
fall on the borderland of autumn and
winter, when the sun shines with
summer brilliance from a cloudleSs
sky, when the now somber landscape
takes younger and a brighter aspect
and to the worn-out herbage there
comes touch of fresh life. But now,
as the cold line of shadow mounted
the hillside and the suns heat died
from the earth, the harsher feeling
of the late season asserted itself, and
there was shiver in the air betoken-
ing a night of frost. The stream in
the valley had lost it's sparkle; cold
and colorless its waters looked as they
flowed full Tipped between their banks
Of dry gray bent; and even the hills
were scarce relieved from monotonous
grayness by the bright patches of
withered bracken, the soft green turf
of the burnside, and the clumps of
dark pine which dotted their slopes.
The shepherd of Kingsmuir arose
IaZily from the messy bank where he
had been reclining. He was returning
from one of his rare visits to the near
est market town, and, as the way was
long and the heat had been oppres-
sive, he had sat him down by the
stream side to rest. But now sun
down and the chill of the evening re-
minded him that he must be getting
= h IoS1
more tightly around his broad shoul-
ders, he prepared to resume his jour
ney- Before him in a struggling line
the flock of sheep he had that day
bought at the market solemnly
cropped the roadside turf, f1anked> by
two shaggy collies, who watched in
Jealous rivalry to prevent their stray
ing; and the shepherd. as he surveyed
their broad, well f1eeced backs, was
filed with much content.
''Meg-Don-away by wide,' he
cried, in the mysterious language of
herding. But as, at the order, the
obedient dogs scampered off in
hairy whirlwind to recall stragglers
and trim the flock for the march
something in the stream at his feet
caught the shepherds eye and made
him bend cautiously lower. For the
shepherd, though in many ways an
exemplary subject and strict observer
of the laws of the realm, made one
exception. The salmon laws, he held,
were iniquitous; and there being few
things in the world he loved better
than salmon, he saw no reason why
he should not capture them when and
by what means he chose. The close
season had begun; and on the lower
streams the bailiffs would be keeping
strict watch for the unwary poacher-
But here it was different. One such
gentleman. / have heard, did, in a fit
of overzealousness for duty, penetrate
these Businesses; but from his fate
his successors took warning, and of
late years these moorland streams
had been a little overlooked.
So it was with small fear of inter-
ruption from that quarter that the
shepherd took out his hooks for the
capture of a goodly salmon which lay
invitingly in a convenient part of the
stream. He was an old, experienced
hand. and advanced confidently eN-
pecting an easy capture. Warlly he
approached the stream and arranged
his tackle; and very slillfully he
worked his hooks upward. But the
salmon was a cunning fish, and re-
sisted the efforts to land him. With
each failure the shepherd grew the
more determined, till at last, in the
heat of the chase, he became oblivious
to all else. So engrossed was he that
he did not notice u short, thickset
man approach and stand watching
him with a grim smile.
The newcomer seemed strangely
out of place in his surroundings. In
his appearance there were none of
those marks which cling to the dwell
er in the hills and distinguish him
from other men. He had the air of
one who had strayed from the smoke
of a mining country into the midst
of this great hill land; at any rate he
was certainly not shepherd. He was
short and squat, with bull neck
and an unIovely countenance unim-
proved by a most vicious cast in his
eyesight; and the leer which disfig-
ured his face when the shepherd, his
perseverance at last rewarded, drew
his prize to land and at length turned
round gave him most sinister aspect.
The shepherd eyed the stranger