Part 14

And when we left the Staneshaw-bank, The wind began full loud to blaw; But ’twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet, When we came beneath the castell-wa.

We crept on knees, and held our breath, Till we placed the ladders against the wa; And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell To mount she first, before us a’.

He has taen the watchman by the throat, He flung him down upon the lead: “Had there not been peace between our lands, Upon the other side thou hadst gaed.

“Now sound out, trumpets!” quo Buccleuch; “Let’s waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!” Then loud the warden’s trumpet blew “O whae dare meddle wi me?”

Then speedilie to wark we gaed, And raised the slogan ane and a’, And cut a hole through a sheet of lead, And so we wan to the castel-ha.

They thought King James and a’ his men Had won the house wi bow and speir; It was but twenty Scots and ten That put a thousand in sic a stear!

Wi coulters, and wi fore-hammers, We garrd the bars bang merrilie, Until we came to the inner prison, Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie.

And when we came to the lower prison, Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie, “O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie, Upon the morn that thou’s to die?”

“O I sleep saft, and I wake aft, It’s lang since sleeping was fley’d frae me; Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns And a’ gude fellows that speer for me.”

Then Red Rowan has hente him up, The starkest man in Teviotdale: “Abide, abide now, Red Rowan, Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell.

“Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope! My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!” he cried; “I’ll pay you for my lodging-maill, When first we meet on the border-side.”

Then shoulder high, with shout and cry, We bore him down the ladder lang; At every stride Red Rowan made, I wot the Kinmont’s airms playd clang!

“O mony a time,” quo Kinmont Willie. “I have ridden horse baith wild and wood; But a rougher beast than Red Rowan, I ween my legs have neer bestrode.

“And mony a time,” quo Kinmont Willie, “I’ve pricked a horse out oure the furs; But since the day I backed a steed I nevir wore sic cumbrous spurs!”

We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank, When a’ the Carlisle bells were rung, And a thousand men, in horse and foot, Cam wi the keen Lord Scroope along.

Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water, Even where it flowd frae bank to brim, And he has plunged in wi a’ his band, And safely swam them thro the stream.

He turned him on the other side, And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he: “If ye like na my visit in merry England, In fair Scotland come visit me!”

All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope, He stood as still as rock of stane; He scarcely dared to trew his eyes, When thro the water they had gane.

“He is either himsell a devil frae hell, Or else his mother a witch maun be; I wad na have ridden that wan water For a’ the gowd in Christentie.”

JAMIE TELFER

(Child, vol. vi. Early Edition.)

IT fell about the Martinmas tyde, When our Border steeds get corn and hay The captain of Bewcastle hath bound him to ryde, And he’s ower to Tividale to drive a prey.

The first ae guide that they met wi’, It was high up Hardhaughswire; The second guide that we met wi’, It was laigh down in Borthwick water.

“What tidings, what tidings, my trusty guide?” “Nae tidings, nae tidings, I hae to thee; But, gin ye’ll gae to the fair Dodhead, Mony a cow’s cauf I’ll let thee see.”

And whan they cam to the fair Dodhead, Right hastily they clam the peel; They loosed the kye out, ane and a’, And ranshackled the house right weel.

Now Jamie Telfer’s heart was sair, The tear aye rowing in his e’e; He pled wi’ the captain to hae his gear, Or else revenged he wad be.

The captain turned him round and leugh; Said—“Man, there’s naething in thy house, But ae auld sword without a sheath, That hardly now wad fell a mouse!”

The sun was na up, but the moon was down, It was the gryming o’ a new fa’n snaw, Jamie Telfer has run three myles a-foot, Between the Dodhead and the Stobs’s Ha’