aving his house broken into, and himself most cruelly used.
"They set him on his bare buttocks upon an hote iron, and then they burned
him with an hote girdle about his bellie, and sundry other parts of his
body, to make him give up his money, which they took, under L4."[29]

Some of the most interesting episodes in Border history were not the
outcome of any deep laid scheme, but the result of some sudden and
unexpected emergency. It was difficult for the inhabitants of the opposite
Marches to come into close contact without the greatest danger of an
outbreak of hostilities. Individual families were often on friendly terms,
and were ready even to assist each other on occasion. The Scots sometimes
brought the English to help them to rob those who lived in their own
neighbourhood; and the English, on the other hand, were equally ready to
avail themselves of the assistance of those on the opposite Border when
they had a similar object in view. But when they came together in their
hundreds or thousands, as they sometimes did on a "Day of Truce," then it
was a matter of supreme difficulty to keep them from flying at each
other's throats. Feeling ran high, and a word, a look, was sometimes
sufficient to change an otherwise peaceful meeting into one of turmoil and
bloodshed.

One notable instance of this kind is known as the "Raid of the Reidswire."
Sir John Foster, the English warden, and Sir John Carmichael, the warden
on the opposite March, had a meeting for the regulation of Border affairs,
on the 7th July, 1575. Each warden was attended by his retinue, and by the
armed clans inhabiting the district. As the balladist describes it:

"Carmichael was our warden then,
He caused the country to convene;
And the Laird's Wat, that worthy man,
Brought in that sirname weil beseen:
The Armestranges, that aye ha'e been
A hardy house, but not a hail,
The Elliots' honours to maintaine,
Brought down the lave o' Liddisdale.

"Then Tividale came to wi' spied;
The Sheriffe brought the Douglas down,
Wi' Cranstane, Gladstain, good at need,
Baith Rewle water and Hawick town,
Beanjeddart bauldly made him boun,
Wi' a' the Trumbills, strong and stout;
The Rutherfoords with grit renown,
Convoy'd the town of Jedbrugh out."

The two parties had apparently met on the best of terms. Mirth and good
fellowship prevailed. The pedlars erected their temporary booths, and sold
their w