Both Sides the Border | Page 6

by far, to be gathered in Cumberland and Durham; for here we have
nought but our cattle and horses, and of these they have as many on
their side of the border. It is the plunder of the towns that chiefly
attracts them, and while they go past here empty handed, they always
carry great trains of booty on their backward way."
"Still, it would be dull work if there were no fighting, Mother."
"There is no fighting in Southern England, Oswald, save for those who
go across the sea to fight the French; and yet, I suppose they find life
less dull than we do. They have more to do. Here there is little tillage,
the country is poor; and who would care to break up the land and to
raise crops, when any night your ricks might be in flames, and your

granaries plundered? Thus there is nought for us to do but to keep cattle,
which need but little care and attention, and which can be driven off to
the fells when the Scots make a great raid. But in the south, as I have
heard, there is always much for farmers to attend to; and those who find
life dull can always enter the service of some warlike lord, and follow
him across the sea."
Oswald shook his head. The quiet pursuits of a farmer seemed to him to
be but a poor substitute for the excitement of border war.
"It may be as you say, Mother; but for my part, I would rather enter the
service of the Percys, and gain honour under their banner, than remain
here day after day, merely giving aid in driving the cattle in and out,
and wondering when the Bairds are coming this way, again."
His mother shook her head. Her father and two brothers had both been
slain, the last time a Scottish army had crossed the border; and although
she naturally did not regard constant troubles in the same light in which
a southern woman would have viewed them, she still longed for peace
and quiet; and was in constant fear that sooner or later the feud with the
Bairds, who were a powerful family, would cost her husband his life.
Against open force she had little fear. The hold could resist an attack
for days, and long ere it yielded, help would arrive; but although the
watch was vigilant, and every precaution taken, it might be captured by
a sudden night attack. William Baird had, she knew, sworn a great oath
that Yardhope Hold should one day be destroyed; and the Forsters
wiped out, root and branch. And the death of his cousin Allan, in the
last raid, would surely fan the fire of his hatred against them.
"One never can say what may happen," she said, after a pause; "but if at
any time evil should befall us, and you escape, remember that your
uncle Alwyn is in Percy's service; and you cannot do better than go to
him, and place yourself under his protection, and act as he may advise
you. I like not the thought that you should become a man-at-arms; and
yet methinks that it is no more dangerous than that of a householder on
the fells. At least, in a strong castle a man can sleep without fear;
whereas none can say as much, here."

"If aught should happen to my father and you, Mother, you may be sure
that I should share in it. The Bairds would spare no one, if they
captured the hold. And although Father will not, as yet, take me with
him on his forays, I should do my share of fighting, if the hold were
attacked."
"I am sure that you would, Oswald; and were it captured I have no
doubt that, as you say, you would share our fate. I speak not with any
thought that it is likely things will turn out as I say; but they may do so,
and therefore I give you my advice, to seek out your uncle. As to a
capture of our hold, of that I have generally but little fear; but the fact
that your father has been wounded, and three of his men killed, and that
another Baird has fallen, has brought the possibility that it may happen
more closely to my mind, this morning, than usual.
"Now, my boy, you had best spend an hour in cleaning up your father's
armour and arms. The steel cap must go to the armourer at Alwinton,
for repair; but you can get some of the dints out of his breast and back
pieces, and can give them a fresh coat of black paint;" for the borderers
usually darkened their armour so that, in their raids, their presence
should not