Agnews of Lochnaw

1697.] THE GHOST OF GALDENOCII. 459
through the wondering group ; and but a few moments elapsed
before there was a cry of fire, and the farm-steading was in flames.
In the thatch of the barn that identical " cube of fire" was in-
serted, and no one doubted that it had been done by the ghost ;
and it was only from its instantaneous discovery that the
range of buildings was preserved by the united exertions of
the party.
The practical jokes of this unquiet spirit became unendurable.
The tenant's mother sat alone one morning at her spinning-
wheel ; an invisible power bore her irresistibly along, and plunged
her in the Mill-Isle burn, a human voice mumbling the while,
" I'll dip thee, I'll draw thee," till the poor old lady became un-
conscious. Great was the surprise of the family at dinner-time
when grandmamma was missed. Every corner of the buildings
was searched, and all in vain ; the goodman and his wife became
seriously alarmed, while the lads and lassies ran madly about
interrogating one another, first wildly, then mournfully, with,
"Have you seen granny ?" At last a voice was heard, but too
well known upon the premises — " I've washed grannie in the him,
and laid her on the dyke to dry /" Away the whole party ran ;
and sure enough, just where the ghost had told them, lay the
poor old woman naked on the dyke, half dead with cold and
fright.
Several of the neighbouring clergymen tried to lay this ghost,
but all in vain. If they sang psalms, the ghost drowned the
united efforts of the company. At last, a minister who had great
experience, and was supposed to be able to lay any ghost that
ever walked the earth, came prepared expressly for the encounter ;
but to his dismay, his singing was overpowered, and all his
adjurations answered by such smart retorts that his congregation,
in spite of their efforts, laughed outright. Nettled at this, the
minister rose angrily, declaring he never would come back. The
yard-gate had closed behind him, when the well-known voice
begged him to return, and promised if he did so to tell him
something which he had never heard before. The minister's
curiosity was excited ; he re-entered the house, but only to