STORIES OF THE BORDER MARCHES [Illustration] BY JOHN LANG AND JEAN LANG LONDON: T.C. & E.C. JACK LTD. 67 LONG ACRE, W.C., AND EDINBURGH 1916 PREFACE The quotation that speaks of "Old, unhappy, far-off things, and battles long ago," has grown now to be hackneyed. Yet, are not they those "old, unhappy, far-off things" that lure us back from a very commonplace and utilitarian present, and cause us to cling to the romance of stories that are well-nigh forgotten? In these days of rushing railway journeys, of motor cars, telegrams, telephones, and aeroplanes, we are apt to lose sight of the tales of more leisurely times, when lumbering stage-coaches and relays of willing horses were our only means of transit from one kingdom to the other. Because the "long ago" means to us so infinitely valuable a possession, we have striven to preserve in print a few of the stories that still remain--flotsam and jetsam saved from the cruel rush of an overwhelming tide. One or two of the tales in this volume are perhaps not quite so familiar as is the average Border story, and some may contain less of violence and of bloodshed than is common. Yet it must be owned that it is no easy task to divorce the Border from its wedded mate, violence. JOHN LANG. JEAN LANG. CONTENTS THE WHITE LADY OF BLENKINSOPP 1 DICKY OF KINGSWOOD 17 STORM AND TEMPEST 28 GRISELL HOME, A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY HEROINE 45 KINMONT WILLIE 66 IN THE DAYS OF THE '15 82 SEWINGSHIELDS CASTLE, AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE OF BROOMLEE LOUGH 108 THE KIDNAPPING OF LORD DURIE 115 THE WRAITH OF PATRICK KERR 132 THE LAIDLEY WORM OF SPINDLESTON-HEUGH 136 A BORDERER IN AMERICA 147 BORDER SNOWSTORMS 164 THE MURDER OF COLONEL STEWART OF HARTRIGGE 187 AULD RINGAN OLIVER 195 A LEGEND OF NORHAM 208 THE GHOST OF PERCIVAL REED 223 DANDY JIM THE PACKMAN 231 THE VAMPIRES OF BERWICK AND MELROSE 237 A BORDER MIDDY 244 SHEEP-STEALING IN TWEEDDALE 256 A PRIVATE OF THE KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS 271 HIGHWAYMEN IN THE BORDER 282 CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE 295 ILLICIT DISTILLING AND SMUGGLING 304 SALMON AND SALMON-POACHERS IN THE BORDER 322 THE GHOST THAT DANCED AT JETHART 342 A MAN HUNT IN 1813 346 LADY STAIR'S DAUGHTER 351 STORIES OF THE BORDER MARCHES THE WHITE LADY OF BLENKINSOPP