Marquis of Douglas,
from which this stratagem seems to have decided the engagement.
"In meyn time, while the wer thus lastyd, the kynge went agane into
Skotlonde, that hitte was wonder for to wette, and bysechyd the towne
of Barwick; but the Skottes went over the water of Sold, that was iii
myle from the hoste, and prively they stole awaye be nyghte, and come
into England, and robbed and destroyed all that they myght, and
spared no manner thing til that they come to Yorke. And, whan the
Englischemen, that wer left att home, herd this tiding, all tho that
myght well travell, so well monkys and priestis, and freres, and
chanouns, and seculars, come and met with the Skottes at Mytone of
Swale, the xii day of October. Allas, for sorow for the Englischemen!
housbondmen, that could nothing in wer, ther were quelled and
drenchyd in an arm of the see. And hyr chyftaines, Sir William Milton,
ersch-biishop of Yorke, and the abbot of Selby, with her stedes, fled
and com into Yorke; and that was her owne folye that they had that
mischaunce; for the passyd the water of Swale, and the Skottes set on
fiir three stalkes of hey, and the smoke thereof was so huge, that the
Englischemen might nott se the Scottes; and whan the Englischemen were
gon over the water, tho cam the Skottes, with hir wyng, in maner of
a sheld, and come toward the Englischemen in ordour. And the
Englischemen fled for unnethe they had any use of armes, for the
kyng had hem al almost lost att the sege of Barwick. And the Scotsmen
_hobylers_ went betwene the brigge and the Englischemen; and when the
gret hoste them met, the Englischemen fled between the _hobylers_ and
the gret hoste; and the Englischemen were ther quelled, and he that
myght wend over the water were saved, but many were drowned. Alas! for
there were slayn many men of religion, and seculars, and pristis, and
clerks, and with much sorwe the erschbischope scaped from the Skottes;
and, therefore, the Skottes called that battell the _White Battell_"

For smaller predatory expeditions, the borderers had signals, and
places of rendezvous, peculiar to each tribe. If the party set forward
before all the members had joined, a mark, cut in the turf, or on the
bark of a tree, pointed out to the stragglers the direction which the
main body had pursued[43].

[Footnote 43: In the parish of Linton, in Roxburghshire, there is
a circle of stones, surrounding a smooth plot of turf, called the
_Tryst_, or place of appo