72 BALLADS
- 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 fleyed 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,
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 aims played 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.
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 never wore sic cumbrous spurs ! '
We scarce had won the Staneshaw-Bank When a' the Carlisle bells were rung,
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