The inscription is, by flux of time and sea-water, almost, if not quite, illegible.
* * *
Or it may mark the spot, banned and anathematised, where was buried, according to the awfully solemn Masonic ritual, the mangled remains of The Man who couldn't keep a secret!!
ANGLING EXTRAORDINARY.
From The Scotsman, Saturday, September 21, under the heading "Angling," appears this item of news from "Annan," placed between fishing notes from "Loch Earn" and "Dhu Loch":—
Loch Earn.—Mr. Watson, fishing on Lochearnhead Hotel water yesterday, killed thirty-two nice trout.
Annan.—There were large supplies of all classes of stock. Best beef made 7s. 6d. to 7s. 9d. per stone, and mutton 7d. to 7-1/2d. per lb. There was a crowded attendance of buyers from England and the South of Scotland, and the demand was good all through. Store cattle had a slow trade, and were bad to sell. Quotations:—Fat bullocks up to £15 17s. 6d.; do. heifers up to £15 7s. 6d.; do. cows up to £13 17s. 6d.; calving heifers £12 12s. 6d. Lambs, 16s. to 29s. 3d.; odd sheep, 33s. to 49s.; rams, 43s. 6d.; half-bred hoggs, 41s. 6d. to 44s.; cross do., 37s. to 41s. 9d.; Cheviots, 38s. 9d. to 41s. 9d.
Dhu Loch.—On September 18, Mr. Kynaston had fourteen fish, 4-1/2 lb., heaviest 3/8 lb.; and on 19th, nine, 4 lb., heaviest 1 lb.
"Fat bullocks up to £15 17s. 6d." would try the strongest tackle. Splendid specimen of "Net Profits."
The Putney Spook.—Within the last week, so reported one of the Day-by-Days in the Daily Telegraph, a ghost has been heard of at Putney. Hundreds of Hamlets, Marcelluses, and Barnardos (with Ophelias, and other ladies) have gone out of their way nightly to see the ghost. What should a riverside ghost be like? Obviously the "main-sheet" from a sailing-boat is ready to hand, and for its head, at any neighbouring boat-house, there is quite a choice of "sculls." If any hair, there are the "row-locks." The ghost must not, in our opinion, be expected anywhere with or against the stream, but in some "dead-water." "Will the ghost walk to-night?" is now the Shakspearian inquiry; to which the reply is, "Go to Putney!"