mountainous moorlands which border on Cumberland. They stopped
for refreshment in a little secluded dell by the side of a

rivulet. There, after they had partaken of such food as they
brought with them, one of the party fell asleep; the other,

unwilling to disturb his friend's repose, stole silently out of
the dell with the purpose of looking around him, when he was

astonished to find himself close to a being who seemed not to
belong to this world, as he was the most hideous dwarf that the

sun had ever shone on. His head was of full human size, forming
a frightfulcontrast with his height, which was considerably

under four feet. It was thatched with no other covering than
long matted red hair, like that of the felt of a badger in

consistence, and in colour a reddish brown, like the hue of the
heather-blossom. His limbs seemed of great strength; nor was he

otherwise deformed than from their undue proportion in thickness
to his diminutiveheight. The terrified sportsman stood gazing

on this horribleapparition, until, with an angry countenance,
the being demanded by what right he intruded himself on those

hills, and destroyed their harmless inhabitants. The perplexed
stranger endeavoured to propitiate the incensed dwarf, by

offering to surrender his game, as he would to an earthly Lord of
the Manor. The proposal only redoubled the offence already taken

by the dwarf, who alleged that he was the lord of those
mountains, and the protector of the wild creatures who found a

retreat in their solitary recesses; and that all spoils derived
from their death, or misery, were abhorrent to him. The hunter

humbled himself before the angry goblin, and by protestations of
his ignorance, and of his resolution to abstain from such

intrusion in future, at last succeeded in pacifying him. The
gnome now became more communicative, and spoke of himself as

belonging to a species of beings something between the angelic
race and humanity. He added, moreover, which could hardly have

been anticipated, that he had hopes of sharing in the redemption
of the race of Adam. He pressed the sportsman to visit his

dwelling, which he said was hard by, and plighted his faith for
his safe return. But at this moment, the shout of the

sportsman's companion was heard calling for his friend, and the
dwarf, as if unwilling that more than one person should be

cognisant of his presence, disappeared as the young man emerged
from the dell to join his comrade.

It was the universal opinion of those most experienced in such
matters, that if the shooter had accompanied the spirit, he

would, notwithstanding the dwarf's fair pretences, have been
either torn to pieces, or immured for years in the recesses of

some fairy hill.
Such is the last and most authenticaccount of the apparition of

the Black Dwarf.]
CHAPTER II.

Will none but Hearne the Hunter serve your turn?
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

In one of the most remote districts of the south of Scotland,
where an ideal line, drawn along the tops of lofty and bleak

mountains, separates that land from her sister kingdom, a young
man, called Halbert, or Hobbie Elliot, a substantial farmer, who

boasted his descent from old Martin Elliot of the Preakin-tower,
noted in Border story and song, was on his return from deer-

stalking. The deer, once so numerous among these solitary
wastes, were now reduced to a very few herds, which, sheltering

themselves in the most remote and inaccessible recesses, rendered
the task of pursuing them equally toilsome and precarious. There

were, however, found many youth of the country ardently attached
to this sport, with all its dangers and fatigues. The sword had

been sheathed upon the Borders for more than a hundred years, by
the peaceful union of the crowns in the reign of James the First

of Great Britain. Still the country retained traces of what it
had been in former days; the inhabitants, their more peaceful

avocations having been repeatedly interrupted by the civil wars
of the preceding century, were scarce yet broken in to the habits

of regular industry, sheep-farming had not been introduced upon
any considerable scale, and the feeding of black cattle was the

chief purpose to which the hills and valleys were applied. Near
to the farmer's house, the tenant usually contrived to raise such

a crop of oats or barley, as afforded meal for his family; and
the whole of this slovenly and imperfect mode of cultivation left

much time upon his own hands, and those of his domestics. This
was usually employed by the young men in hunting and fishing; and

the spirit of adventure, which formerly led to raids and forays
in the same districts, was still to be discovered in the

eagerness with which they pursued those rural sports.
The more high-spirited among the youth were, about the time that

our narrative begins, expecting, rather with hope than
apprehension, an opportunity of emulating their fathers in their

military achievements, the recital of which formed the chief part
of their amusement within doors. The passing of the Scottish act

of security had given the alarm of England, as it seemed to point
at a separation of the two British kingdoms, after the decease of

Queen Anne, the reigning sovereign. Godolphin, then at the head
of the English administration, foresaw that there was no other

mode of avoiding the probableextremity of a civil war, but by
carrying through an incorporating union. How that treaty was

managed, and how little it seemed for some time to promise the
beneficial results which have since taken place to such extent,

may be learned from the history of the period. It is enough for
our purpose to say, that all Scotland was indignant at the terms

on which their legislature had surrendered their national
independence. The general resentment led to the strangest

leagues and to the wildest plans. The Cameronians were about to
take arms for the restoration of the house of Stewart, whom they

regarded, with justice, as their oppressors; and the intrigues of
the period presented the strange picture of papists, prelatists,

and presbyterians, caballing among themselves against the English
government, out of a common feeling that their country had been

treated with injustice. The fermentation was universal; and, as
the population of Scotland had been generally trained to arms,

under the act of security, they were not indifferently prepared
for war, and waited but the declaration of some of the nobility

to break out into open hostility. It was at this period of
public confusion that our story opens.

The cleugh, or wild ravine, into which Hobbie Elliot had followed
the game, was already far behind him, and he was considerably

advanced on his return homeward, when the night began to close
upon him. This would have been a circumstance of great

indifference to the experiencedsportsman, who could have walked
blindfold over every inch of his native heaths, had it not

happened near a spot, which, according to the traditions of the
country, was in extremely bad fame, as haunted by supernatural

appearances. To tales of this kind Hobbie had, from his
childhood, lent an attentive ear; and as no part of the country

afforded such a variety of legends, so no man was more deeply
read in their fearful lore than Hobbie of the Heugh-foot; for so

our gallant was called, to distinguish him from a round dozen of
Elliots who bore the same Christian name. It cost him no

efforts, therefore, to call to memory the terrific incidents
connected with the extensive waste upon which he was now

entering. In fact, they presented themselves with a readiness
which he felt to be somewhat dismaying.

This dreary common was called Mucklestane-Moor, from a huge
column of unhewn granite, which raised its massy head on a knell

near the centre of the heath, perhaps to tell of the mighty dead
who slept beneath, or to preserve the memory of some bloody

skirmish. The real cause of its existence had, however, passed
away; and tradition, which is as frequently an inventor of

fiction as a preserver of truth, had supplied its place with a
supplementary legend of her own, which now came full upon

Hobbie's memory. The ground about the pillar was strewed, or
rather encumbered, with many large fragments of stone of the same

consistence with the column, which, from their appearance as they
lay scattered on the waste, were popularly called the Grey Geese

of Mucklestane-Moor. The legend accounted for this name and
appearance by the catastrophe of a noted and most formidable

witch who frequented these hills in former days, causing the ewes
to KEB, and the kine to cast their calves, and performing all the

feats of mischief ascribed to these evil beings. On this moor
she used to hold her revels with her sister hags; and rings were

still pointed out on which no grass nor heath ever grew, the turf
being, as it were, calcined by the scorching hoofs of their