'
'Vera true, vera true, sir,' replied the officer, 'but every why has its
wherefore. Ye maun ken, the laird there bought a' thir beasts frae'
me to munt his troop, and agreed to pay for them according to the
necessities and prices of the time. But then he hadna the ready penny,
and I hae been advised his bond will not be worth a boddle against the
estate, and then I had a' my dealers to settle wi' at Martinmas; and so
as he very kindly offered me this commission, and as the auld Fifteen
[The Judges of the Supreme Court of Session in Scotland are proverbially
termed, among the country people, The Fifteen.] wad never help me to my
siller for sending out naigs against the Government, why, conscience!
sir, I thought my best chance for payment was e'en to GAE OUT mysell;
and ye may judge, sir, as I hae dealt a' my life in halters, I think na
mickle o' putting my craig in peril of a St. Johnstone's tippet.' [TO GO
OUT, or TO HAVE BEEN OUT, in Scotland, was a conventional phrase similar
to that of the Irish respecting a man having been UP, both having
reference to an individual who had been engaged in insurrection. It was
accounted ill-breeding in Scotland, about forty years since, to use the
phrase rebellion or rebel, which might be interpreted by some of the
parties present as a personal insult.
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