Scotland/Scots > Wilson's tales of the Borders and of Scotland > Volume 3

MAJOR WEIR’S COACH.
2G9
Thai, you were a revenue officer, on the look-out for him,
was his first idea. He was as much alarmed as you, until
he found you were insensible. Not a moment was to be
lost. The goods were hurried out, and you placed in the
carriage, which was on its way from town before you
showed any symptoms of returning consciousness. His first
intention was to carry you on board his lugger, and convey'
you to Holland, then sell you to the Dutch East India
Company, that you might never return to tell what you
had been a witness of that night. The terror you were in,
the sincerity of your confession, and belief that you were
in the power of the major, saved you from the miserable
fate he had fixed for you. Pity struggled against the
caution and avarice which urged him to take you away.
Pity triumphed—you had been both play and school-fel¬
lows in former years. You were released—you know the
rest.”
The wife and mother scarce breathed, while Wattie re¬
lated the danger the treasurer had been in; he himself
gave a shudder—all thanked God for his escape. Wattie
Brown continued in his employ, as foreman over his work,
and died about the year 1789. Widow Horner did not
long survive that night of intense anguish—she died of a
broken heart in her son’s house. It was remarked by all,
that, while Thomas Kerr prospered, Walter Horner, who
was at One time much the richer man, gradually sank into
the most abject circumstances, and died a pensioner on
his incorporation, more despised than pitied. And thus
ends our tale of Major Weir’s famous night airings in
Edinburgh.