uld lay hands on, for miles round."

"That is true enough. We all know the thieving loons. But men remember
the injuries they have suffered, better than those they have inflicted;
and they will count Allan Baird's death as more than a set-off for a
score of their own forays."

"If we have only the Bairds to settle with, we can hold our walls
against them," Oswald said; "but if the whole of the Scotch army come
our way, we must do as you are doing, drive the cattle to the hills,
and leave them to do what harm they can to the stone walls, which they
will find it hard work to damage."

"Aye, I have heard that they are stronger than ordinary; and so they
need be, seeing that you have a blood feud with the Bairds. Well, they
are not like to have much time to waste over it, for our sheriff has
already sent word here, as to the places where we are to gather when
the beacon fires are lighted; and you may be sure that the Percys will
lose no time in marching against them, with all their array; and the
Scots are like to find, as they have found before, that it is an easier
thing to cross the border than it is to get back."

Late that evening, Oswald returned home. After the first greetings, his
father said:

"It is high time that you were back, Oswald. Rumour is busy, all along
the border; but for myself, though I doubt not that their moss troopers
will be on the move, as soon as the truce ends, I think there will not
be any invasion in force, for some little time. The great lords of the
Scotch marches are ill friends with each other; and, until the quarrel
between Douglas and Dunbar is patched up, neither will venture to march
his forces into England. It may be months, yet, before we see their
pennons flying on English soil.

"My brother Alwyn has been over here, for a day or two, since you were
away. The Percys are down south, so he was free to ride over here. He
wants us to send you to him, without loss of time. He says that there
is a vacancy in Percy's household, owing to one of his esquires being
made a knight, and a page has been promoted to an esquireship. He said
that he spoke to Hotspur, before he went south, anent the matter; and
asked him to enroll you, not exactly as a page, but as one who, from
his knowledge of the border, would be a safe and trusty messenger to
send, in case of need. As he has served the Percys for thirty years,
and for ten has been the captain of their men-at-arms; and has never
asked for a