"Now sound out, trumpets!" quo' Buccleuch; "Let's waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!" Then loud the warden's trumpet blew-- _O wha dare meddle wi' me_?[L124] Then speedilie to wark we gaed, 125 And raised the slogan ane and a', And cut a hole through a sheet of lead, And so we wan to the castle ha'. They thought King James and a' his men Had won the house wi' bow and spear; 130 It was but twenty Scots and ten, That put a thousand in sic a stear! Wi' coulters, and wi' forehammers, We garr'd the bars bang merrilie, Until we came to the inner prison, 135 Where Willie o' Kinmont he did lie. And when we cam 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?" 140 "O I sleep saft, and I wake aft, It's lang since sleeping was fley'd frae me; Gie my service back to my wife and bairns, And a' gude fellows that spier for me." Then Red Rowan has hente him up, 145 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-- 150 "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, 155 I wot the Kinmont's airns play'd 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 ne'er bestrode. 160 "And mony a time," quo' Kinmont Willie, "I've prick'd a horse out oure the furs; But since the day I back'd a steed, I never wore sic cumbrous spurs." We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank, 165 When a' the Carlisle bells were rung, And a thousand men on horse and foot Cam wi' the keen Lord Scroope along. Buccleuch has turn'd to Eden Water, Even where it flow'd frae bank to brim, 170 And he has plunged in wi' a' his band, And safely swam them through the stream. He turn'd him on the other side, And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he-- "If ye like na my visit in merry England, 175 In fair Scotland come visit me!" All sore astonish'd stood Lord Scroope, He stood as still as rock of stane; He scarcely dared to trew his eyes, When through the water they had gane. 180