y marriage, were also forward
with promises of assistance. They were all well mounted--

With spur on heel, and splent on spauld,
And gleuves of green, and feathers blue--

and carried with them scaling ladders and crowbars, hand-picks and axes,
prepared to take the castle by storm. The rain had been falling heavily,
and the Esk and the Eden were in roaring flood, but boldly plunging
through their turbid waters they soon came within sight of the "Corbie's
Nest" which they had come to "herry," and--

The first o' men that we met wi',
Whae sould it be but fause Sakelde?

"Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?"
Quo' fause Sakelde; "Come tell to me?"
"We go to hunt an English stag,
Has trespass'd on the Scots countrie."

"Where be ye gaun, ye marshall men?"
Quo' fause Sakelde; "Come tell me true!"
"We go to catch a rank reiver,
Has broken faith wi' the bauld Buccleuch."

But the troublesome questions of the "fause Sakelde" were speedily cut
short by the lance of Dickie of Dryhope, who led the band--

Then nevir a word had Dickie to say,
Sae he thrust the lance through his fause bodie.

The way was now clear for the advance upon the castle. Everything seemed
favourable to the success of their hazardous undertaking. The heavens were
black as pitch, the thunder rolled loud and long, and the rain descended
in torrents--

"But 'twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet,
When we came beneath the castle wa'."

When Buccleuch and his men reached the castle they were dismayed to find
that the ladders they had brought with them were too short; but finding a
postern they undermined it, and soon made a breach big enough for a
soldier to pass through. "In this way a dozen stout fellows passed into
the outer court (Buccleuch himself being fifth man who entered,) disarmed
and bound the watch, wrenched open the postern from the inside, and thus
admitting their companions, were masters of the place. Twenty-four
troopers now rushed to the castle jail, Buccleuch meantime keeping the
postern, forced the door of the chamber where Kinmont was confined,
carried him off in his irons, and sounding their trumpet, the signal
agreed on, were answered by loud shouts and the trumpet of Buccleuch,
whose troopers filled the base court. All was now terror and confusion,
both in town and castle. The alarum-bell rang and was answered by his
brazen brethren of the cathedral and the town house; the beacon bl