'On a rock by Lindisfarne

St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
The sea-born beads that bear his name.
Such tales had Whitby's fishers told,
And said they might his shape behold,
And hear his anvil sound:

A deadened clang—a huge dim form
Seen but, and heard, when gathering storm
And night were closing round.'"

"It makes me a kind of eerie, sir, to hear you talk like that."

"I can't help it, John; the poetry of the Great Wizard of the North seems still to hang around these shores. I hear it in the leaves that whisper to the winds, in the wild scream of the sea-birds, and in the surf that comes murmuring across that stretch of sand, or goes hissing round the weed-clad rocks.

66

But, John, you've heard of Grace Darling?" "Ah! there I do feel at home."

"Then you know the story. At the Longstone Lighthouse out yonder she lived. You see the castle of Bamburgh, with its square tower, there. We noticed it all day yesterday while coming to Belford; first we took it for a lighthouse, then for a church, but finally a bright stream of sunshine fell on it from behind a cloud-on it, and on it alone, and suddenly we knew it. Well, in the churchyard there the lassie sleeps."

"Indeed, sir!"

"Shall we drop a tear to her memory, my gentle Jehu?"

"Don't think I could screw one out, sir."

"Then drive on, John."

I remember stopping at a queer old-fashioned Northumbrian inn for the midday halt. We just drew up at the other side of the road. It was a very lonely place. The inn, with its byres and stables, was perched on the top of a rocky hill, and men and horses had to climb like cats to get up to the doors. By the way, my horses do climb in a wonderful way. Whenever any one now says to me, "There is a terrible hill a few miles on," inquire.

Can a cat get up?" I

"Oh, yes, sir; a cat could go up," is the answer. "Then," say I, "my horses will do it."

At this inn was a very, very old man, and a very, very old woman, and their son Brad. Brad was waiter, ostler, everything, tall, slow, and canny-looking.

Brad, like most of the people hereabout, spoke as though he had swallowed a raw potato, and it had stuck in his throat.

Even the North Northumbrian girls talk as if they suffered from chronic tonsillitis, or their tongues were too broad at the base.

When the dinner had been discussed, the dishes washed, and I had had a rest, the horses staggered down the hill and were put in.

I said to Brad, "How much, my friend?"

"Whhateveh yew plhease, sirr; you'gh a ghentleman," replied Brad, trying apparently to swallow his tongue. I gave him two shillings.

No sooner had it been put in his trousers pocket than the coin started off on a voyage of discovery down his leg, and soon popped out on to the road. Brad evidently had sprung a leak somewhere, and for

a time the money kept dropping from him. Whenever he moved he "layed" a coin, so to speak, and the last I saw of Brad he was leaning lazily against a fence counting his money.

I remember that near the borders we climbed a long, long hill, and were so happy when we got to the top of it the horses panting and foaming, and we all tired and thirsty.

The view of the long stretch of blue hills behind us was very beautiful.

Here on the hill-top was an inn, with its gable and a row of stables facing the road, and here on a bit of grass we drew up, and determined to take the horses out for the midday halt. But we reckoned without our host. The place was called the Cat Inn. The landlady was in the kitchen, making a huge pie. No, we could have no stabling. Their own horses would be home in half an hour

She followed me out.

"Half an hour's rest," I said, "out of the sun will

do my poor nags some good."

"I tell ye, ye canna have it," she snapped.

"Then we

suppose?"

can have a bucket or two of water, I

"Never a drop.

selves."

We've barely enough for our

I offered to pay for it. I talked almost angrily. "Never a drop. You're no so ceevil."

Talking of Northumbrian inns, I remember once having a good laugh.

A buxom young lassie, as fresh as a mountain daisy, had served me, during a halt, with some ginger ale.