For my own part I wished for nothing better,and,rushing forward,I placed myself at the head of my new associates,and commenced flinging stones fast and desperately.The other party now gave way in their turn,closely followed by ourselves;I was in the van,and about to stretch out my hand to seize the hindermost boy of the enemy,when,not being acquainted with the miry and difficult paths of the Nor Loch,and in my eagerness taking no heed of my footing,I plunged into a quagmire,into which I sank as far as my shoulders.Our adversaries no sooner perceived this disaster,than,setting up a shout,they wheeled round and attacked us most vehemently.Had my comrades now deserted me,my life had not been worth a straw's purchase,I should either have been smothered in the quag,or,what is more probable,had my brains beaten out with stones;but they behaved like true Scots,and fought stoutly around their comrade,until I was extricated,whereupon both parties retired,the night being near at hand.
'Ye are na a bad hand at flinging stanes,'said the lad who first addressed me,as we now returned up the brae;'your aim is right dangerous,mon,I saw how ye skelpit them,ye maun help us agin thae New Toon blackguards at our next bicker.'
So to the next bicker I went,and to many more,which speedily followed as the summer advanced;the party to which I had given my help on the first occasion consisted merely of outlyers,posted about half-way up the hill,for the purpose of overlooking the movements of the enemy.
Did the latter draw nigh in any considerable force,messengers were forthwith despatched to the 'Auld Toon,'especially to the filthy alleys and closes of the High Street,which forthwith would disgorge swarms of bare-headed and bare-footed 'callants,'who,with gestures wild and 'eldrich screech and hollo,'might frequently be seen pouring down the sides of the hill.I have seen upwards of a thousand engaged on either side in these frays,which I have no doubt were full as desperate as the fights described in the ILIAD,and which were certainly much more bloody than the combats of modern Greece in the war of independence:the callants not only employed their hands in hurling stones,but not unfrequently slings;at the use of which they were very expert,and which occasionally dislodged teeth,shattered jaws,or knocked out an eye.Our opponents certainly laboured under considerable disadvantage,being compelled not only to wade across a deceitful bog,but likewise to clamber up part of a steep hill,before they could attack us;nevertheless,their determination was such,and such their impetuosity,that we had sometimes difficulty enough to maintain our own.I shall never forget one bicker,the last indeed which occurred at that time,as the authorities of the town,alarmed by the desperation of its character,stationed forthwith a body of police on the hill-side,to prevent,in future,any such breaches of the peace.
It was a beautiful Sunday evening,the rays of the descending sun were reflected redly from the gray walls of the Castle,and from the black rocks on which it was founded.The bicker had long since commenced,stones from sling and hand were flying;but the callants of the New Town were now carrying everything before them.
A full-grown baker's apprentice was at their head;he was foaming with rage,and had taken the field,as I was told,in order to avenge his brother,whose eye had been knocked out in one of the late bickers.He was no slinger or flinger,but brandished in his right hand the spoke of a cart-wheel,like my countryman Tom Hickathrift of old in his encounter with the giant of the Lincolnshire fen.Protected by a piece of wicker-work attached to his left arm,he rushed on to the fray,disregarding the stones which were showered against him,and was ably seconded by his followers.Our own party was chased half-way up the hill,where Iwas struck to the ground by the baker,after having been foiled in an attempt which I had made to fling a handful of earth into his eyes.All now appeared lost,the Auld Toon was in full retreat.I myself lay at the baker's feet,who had just raised his spoke,probably to give me the COUP DE GRACE,-it was an awful moment.
Just then I heard a shout and a rushing sound;a wild-looking figure is descending the hill with terrible bounds;it is a lad of some fifteen years;he is bare-headed,and his red uncombed hair stands on end like hedgehogs'bristles:his frame is lithy,like that of an antelope,but he has prodigious breadth of chest;he wears a military undress,that of the regiment,even of a drummer,for it is wild Davy,whom a month before I had seen enlisted on Leith Links to serve King George with drum and drumstick as long as his services might be required,and who,ere a week had elapsed,had smitten with his fist Drum-Major Elzigood,who,incensed at his inaptitude,had threatened him with his cane;he has been in confinement for weeks,this is the first day of his liberation,and he is now descending the hill with horrid bounds and shoutings;he is now about five yards distant,and the baker,who apprehends that something dangerous is at hand,prepares himself for the encounter;but what avails the strength of a baker,even full grown?-what avails the defence of a wicker shield?-what avails the wheel-spoke,should there be an opportunity of using it,against the impetus of an avalanche or a cannon-ball?-for to either of these might that wild figure be compared,which,at the distance of five yards,sprang at once with head,hands,feet and body,all together,upon the champion of the New Town,tumbling him to the earth amain.And now it was the turn of the Old Town to triumph.
Our late discomfited host,returning on its steps,overwhelmed the fallen champion with blows of every kind,and then,led on by his vanquisher,who had assumed his arms,namely,the wheel-spoke and wicker shield,fairly cleared the brae of their adversaries,whom they drove down headlong into the morass.