The Gold of Fairnilee | Page 3

in the
twilight, three days before?
He never knew. His mother said he must have dreamed it all.
The old nurse used to gossip about it to the maids. "He's an unco' bairn,
oor Randal; I wush he may na be fey."
She meant that Randal was a strange child, and that strange things
would happen to him.

[Illustration: Chapter Three]
CHAPTER III.
--How Jean was brought to Fairnlee
THE winter went by very sadly. At first the people about Fairnilee
expected the English to cross the Border and march against them. They
drove their cattle out on the wild hills, and into marshes where only
they knew the firm paths, and raised walls of earth and
stones--barmkyns, they called them--round the old house; and made
many arrows to shoot out of the narrow windows at the English. Randal
used to like to see the arrow-making beside the fire at! night. He was
not afraid; and said he would show the English what he could do with
his little bow. But weeks went on and no enemy came. Spring drew
near, the snow melted from the hills. One night Randal was awakened
by a great noise of shouting; he looked out of the window, and saw
bright torches moving about. He heard the cows "routing," or bellowing,
and the women screaming. He thought the English had come. So they
had; not the English army, but some robbers from the other side of the
Border. At that time the people on the south side of Scotland and the
north side of England used to steal each other's cows time about. When
a Scotch squire, or "laird," like Randal's father, had been robbed by the
neighbouring English, he would wait his chance and drive away cattle
from the English side. This time most of Randal's mother's herds were
seized, by a sudden attack in the night, and were driven away through
the Forest to England. Two or three of Lady Ker's men were hurt by the
English, but old Simon Grieve took a prisoner. He did this in a curious
way. He shot an arrow after the robbers as they rode off, and the arrow
pinned an Englishman's leg to the saddle, and even into his horse. The
horse was hurt and frightened, and ran away right back to Fairnilee,
where it was caught, with the rider and all, for of course he could not
dismount.
They treated him kindly at Fairnilee, though they laughed at him a
good deal. They found out from him where the English had come from.
He did not mind telling them, for he was really a gipsy from Yetholm,

where the gipsies live, and Scot or Southron was all one to him.
When old Simon Grieve knew who the people were that had taken the
cows, he was not long in calling the men together, and trying to get
back what he had lost. Early one April morning, a grey morning, with
snow in the air, he and his spearmen set out, riding down through the
Forest, and so into Liddes-dale. When they came back again, there
were great rejoicings at Fairnilee. They drove most of their own cows
before them, and a great many other cows that they had not lost; cows
of the English farmers. The byres and yards were soon full of cattle,
lowing and roaring, very uneasy, and some of them with marks of the
spears that had goaded them across many a ford, and up many a rocky
pass in the hills.
Randal jumped downstairs to the great hall, where his mother sat.
Simon Grieve was telling her all about it.
"Sae we drave oor ain kye hame, my lady," he said, "and aiblins some
orra anes that was na oor ain. For-bye we raikit a' the plenishing oot o'
the ha' o' Hardriding, and a bonny burden o' tapestries, and plaids, and
gear we hae, to show for our ride."*
* "We drove our own cattle home, and perhaps some others that were
not ours. And we took all the goods out of the hall at Hardriding, and a
pretty load of tapestries, and rugs, and other things we have to show for
our ride."
Then he called to some of his men, who came into the hall, and cast
down great piles of all sorts of spoil and booty, silver plate, and silken
hangings, and a heap of rugs, and carpets, and plaids, such as Randal
had never seen before, for the English were much richer than the
Scotch.
Randal threw himself on the pile of rugs and began to roll on it.
"Oh, mother," he cried suddenly, jumping up and looking with
wide-open eyes, "there 's something living in the heap! Perhaps it's a
doggie, or a rabbit, or a