CHILDHOOD--EARLY TENDENCIES--THE 'HOUSEHOLD TROOP'--EDUCATION--NAVAL TRAINING--THE 'BRITANNIA'--THE 'ST. GEORGE'--PRINCE ALFRED. General Wauchope's boyhood was spent mostly at Niddrie, with occasional short visits in summer to the other property of the family at Yetholm, among the pastoral Cheviot hills. A high-spirited, frolicsome boy, delighting in the open air and every kind of outdoor sport, 'Andy,' as he was familiarly called, found scope for his energies in the beautifully wooded park surrounding the house. Bird-nesting, rabbit-catching, and fishing in the burn which meanders through the estate, found him an ardent enthusiast, but often brought him into trouble with his father and mother. His bird-nesting feats, prosecuted with all the zest of a professional poacher, often resulted in the dislocation of his clothes, and shoes and stockings too often betrayed the fact that friendly visits to the burn were more frequent and prolonged than ought to be. Many a time Andy was thus in a sore plight. Drenched and torn, he would go to the kindly gardener's wife, to get the rents in his jacket sewed, his stockings changed, and his shoes dried, before venturing into the family presence. In his adventures over the property, the burn was never a barrier to his {26} progress. It was the same with hedges, ditches, or stone walls. If he wanted to reach a certain point, he made a straight road to it over every obstacle. [Sidenote: Youthful tendencies] But the limits of the park did not always satisfy his roving desires. He soon made himself acquainted with the surroundings of his home. Craigmillar Castle was a favourite resort on the one side; the beach at Portobello gave him a taste for the sea and aquatic exercise; while the neighbouring little village of Niddrie was not long in making his acquaintance. Here he was known to every one, for Andy made himself at home in every cottage; and if the boys stood in some awe of him, and mothers blamed him for sending their sons home with their clothes torn, or their noses bleeding, still, for all that, he was always welcomed among them, sometimes with a 'jeelie' (jelly) piece or a new-baked scone!