"Hear till her! Rin frae me? Certes, ye're no blate. They cam'
frae far an' near to get a word wi' me. Na, there was nae rinnin'
frae a bonny lass in thae days. Weel, there was three o' them; an'
they cam' ower the hill to see the lasses, graund in their reed
breeks slashed wi' yellow. An' what for no, they war his Majesty's
troopers; an' though nae doot they had been on the wrang side o'
the dyke, they were braw chiels for a' that!"

"An' they cam' to see you, granny?" asked Winsome, who approved of
the subject.

"What else--but they got an unco begunk [cheat]. Ye see, my
faither had bocht an awfu' thrawn young bull at the Dumfries fair,
an' he had been gaun gilravagin' aboot; an' whaur should the
contrary beast betak' himsel' to but into the Roman camp on Craig
Ronald bank, where the big ditch used to be? There we heard him
routin' for three days till the cotmen fand him i' the hinderend,
an' poo'ed him oot wi' cart-rapes. But when he got oot--certes,
but he was a wild beast! He got at Jock Hinderlands afore he could
climb up a tree; an', fegs, he gaed up a tree withoot clim'in',
I'se warrant, an' there he hung, hanket by the waistband o' his
breeks, baa-haain' for his minnie to come and lift him doon, an'
him as muckle a clampersome [awkward] hobbledehoy as ever ye saw!

"Then what did Carlaverock Jock do but set his heid to a yett
[gate] and ding it in flinders; fair fire-wood he made o't; an'
sae, rampagin' into the meadow across whilk," continued the old
lady, with a rising delight in her eye, "the three cavalry men
were comin' to see me, wi' the spurs on them jangling clear. Reed