IN former times, when the Highland
chieftains were pretty much a law unto themselves, one of these magnates
condescended to get into the debt of a low-country tradesman, presumably
Glasgow, and as he seemed in no hurry to pay, the creditor made a
journey in person to the lairds abode to seek and obtain payment He
arrived at night, during the alleged absence of the laird, had his
supper and was put to bed. On getting up in the morning and looking out
at his bedroom window, he observed, to his horror, a man dangling from a
tree right opposite to the window.
On a servant appearing he asked
the moaning of what he had seen, and was coolly told in reply:
"Oh! just a Glasgow merchant who
had the impudence to come here to dun and bother the laird about some
baw bees he said were owing to him." The creditor took the hint and
decamped without waiting to see the laird, or making mention of his
account. The suspended figure which scared the creditor was, however, in
reality only a made up semblance of humanity, got up for the purpose
which it so effectually served.
