‘O I sleep saft, and I wake aft; It’s lang since sleeping was fley’d[1179] frae me! Gie my service back to my wife and bairns, And a’ gude fellows that spier[1180] for me.’ XXXVII The Red Rowan has hente him up, The starkest man in Teviotdale-- ‘Abide, abide now, Red Rowan, Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell. XXXVIII ‘Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope! My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!’ he cried; ‘I’ll pay you for my lodging mail[1181], When first we meet on the Border side.’-- XXXIX 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 airns play’d clang! XL ‘O mony a time,’ quo’ Kinmont Willie, ‘I have ridden horse baith wild and wood[1182]; But a rougher beast than Red Rowan I ween my legs have ne’er bestrode. XLI ‘And mony a time,’ quo’ Kinmont Willie, ‘I’ve prick’d a horse out oure the furs[1183]; But since the day I back’d a steed, I never wore sic cumbrous spurs!’ XLII We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank When a’ the Carlisle bells were rung, And a thousand men on horse and foot Cam wi’ the keen Lord Scroope along. XLIII Buccleuch has turn’d to Eden Water, Even where it flow’d frae bank to brim, And he has plunged in wi’ a’ his band, And safely swam them through the stream. XLIV 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, In fair Scotland come visit me!’ XLV All sore astonish’d stood Lord Scroope, He stood as still as rock of stane; He scarcely dared to trew[1184] his eyes, When through the water they had gane. XLVI ‘He is either himsell a devil frae hell, Or else his mother a witch maun be; I wadna have ridden that wan water For a’ the gowd in Christentie.’ FOOTNOTES: [1167] Liddel-rack = a ford on the Liddel. [1168] lawing = reckoning. [1169] curch = kerchief, coif. [1170] lightly = treat disrespectfully. [1171] low = flame. [1172] splent = split, or overlapping armour. [1173] spauld = shoulder, épaule. [1174] Bateable Land = debateable land; a stretch of frontier between the Solway Firth and Scots Dyke, claimed by both nations. [1175] lear = lore. [1176] row-footed = rough-footed. [1177] stear = stir, commotion. [1178] forehammers = sledge-hammers. [1179] fley’d = scared. [1180] spier = inquire. [1181] mail = rent. [1182] wood = mad. [1183] furs = furrows. [1184] trew = trust. _138. Jock o’ the Side_ I Now Liddesdale has ridden a raid, But I wat they had better hae staid at hame; For Michael o’ Winfield he is dead, And Jock o’ the Side is prisoner ta’en. II