14
permitted to remain any longer under his roof. The Earl had too much generosity to dismiss him without some acknowledgment, and ordered the steward to give him ten pounds, and to charge him never to enter the Castle again. Allan mortified, slunk away without taking leave of the domestics.
Thus disgraced, he determined to go to Boswell Fair, where he learnt some of his friends had gone: arriving the night before the fair, he was well paid for entertaining a number of drovers who had brought their cattle to sell. About 8 o’clock he took a walk through the fair in hopes of meeting some of the faa fraternity; when he was accosted in a rude manner with the appalling words, “You are my prisoner.” On turning round, he saw sergeant Armstrong, of the 25th regiment, with his sword drawn. Allan’s first impulse was to run off; but, on second thoughts, he shook Armstrong very cordially by the hand, and told him, if he would give him his liberty, he would engage to procure him half a dozen as fine looking young men as any in the 25th regiment. The sergeant agreed to the bargain, and, accordingly, Allan joined the party with his pipes; and by a variety of whimsical capers, which so attracted the young men, that before night they had enlisted eight of them. The sergeant, so well pleased with their success, invited Allan to supper, after which they drank and danced until morning. In the meantime Armstrong sent word to a sergeant recruiting at Kelso, to come and take him as a deserter; the scheme succeeded, and just when Allan was taking leave, in marched the other sergeant. Allan suspected the plot, and bestowed the blackest epithets upon Armstrong, who calmly insisted on the meeting being quite accidental. Allan was immediately marched to Kelso, resolving to escape before they reached head quarters. He tried the effects of whisky upon his guards without avail; at night they agreed that he should sleep between them. To this Allan made no objection, but that he would sleep with his clothes on, and they agreed to do the same. Allan having provided himself with two needles and some strong twine, with which he cautiously sewed their clothes to the bed clothes, as soon as he was sure they were asleep. Having accomplished this, he sprung out of bed with so little care that he awoke both his bed-fellows; but being entangled together they rolled on the floor: Allan threw
