enough to reach the battlements, and the windows, besides being

very narrow, were secured with iron bars. Scaling was therefore
out of the question; mining was still more so, for want of tools

and gunpowder; neither were the besiegers provided with food,
means of shelter, or other conveniences, which might have enabled

them to convert the siege into a blockade; and there would, at
any rate, have been a risk of relief from some of the marauder's

comrades. Hobbie grinded and gnashed his teeth, as, walking
round the fastness, he could devise no means of making a forcible

entry. At length he suddenly exclaimed, "And what for no do as
our fathers did lang syne?--Put hand to the wark, lads. Let us

cut up bushes and briers, pile them before the door and set fire
to them, and smoke that auld devil's dam as if she were to be

reested for bacon."
All immediately closed with this proposal, and some went to work

with swords and knives to cut down the alder and hawthorn bushes
which grew by the side of the sluggishstream, many of which were

sufficiently decayed and dried for their purpose, while others
began to collect them in a large stack, properly disposed for

burning, as close to the iron-grate as they could be piled. Fire
was speedilyobtained from one of their guns, and Hobbie was

already advancing to the pile with a kindled brand, when the
surly face of the robber, and the muzzle of a musquetoon, were

partially shown at a shot-hole which flanked the entrance. "Mony
thanks to ye," he said, scoffingly, "for collecting sae muckle

winter eilding for us; but if ye step a foot nearer it wi' that
lunt, it's be the dearest step ye ever made in your days."

"We'll sune see that," said Hobbie, advancing fearlessly with the
torch.

The marauder snapped his piece at him, which, fortunately for our
honest friend, did not go off; while Earnscliff, firing at the

same moment at the narrow aperture and slight mark afforded by
the robber's face, grazed the side of his head with a bullet. He

had apparently calculated upon his post affording him more
security, for he no sooner felt the wound, though a very slight

one, than he requested a parley, and demanded to know what they
meant by attacking in this fashion a peaceable and honest man,

and shedding his blood in that lawless manner?
"We want your prisoner," said Earnscliff, "to be delivered up to

us in safety,"
"And what concern have you with her?" replied the marauder.

"That," retorted Earnscliff, "you, who are detaining her by
force, have no right to enquire."

"Aweel, I think I can gie a guess," said the robber. "Weel,
sirs, I am laith to enter into deadly feud with you by spilling

ony of your bluid, though Earnscliff hasna stopped to shed mine
--and he can hit a mark to a groat's breadth--so, to prevent mair

skaith, I am willing to deliver up the prisoner, since nae less
will please you."

"And Hobbie's gear?" cried Simon of Hackburn. "D'ye think
you're to be free to plunder the faulds and byres of a gentle

Elliot, as if they were an auld wife's hens'-cavey?"
"As I live by bread," replied Willie of Westburnflat "As I live

by bread, I have not a single cloot o' them! They're a' ower the
march lang syne; there's no a horn o' them about the tower. But

I'll see what o' them can be gotten back, and I'll take this day
twa days to meet Hobbie at the Castleton wi' twa friends on ilka

side, and see to make an agreement about a' the wrang he can wyte
me wi'."

"Ay, ay," said Elliot, "that will do weel eneugh."--And then
aside to his kinsman, "Murrain on the gear! Lordsake, man! say

nought about them. Let us but get puir Grace out o' that auld
hellicat's clutches."

"Will ye gie me your word, Earnscliff," said the marauder, who
still lingered at the shot-hole, "your faith and troth, with hand

and glove, that I am free to come and free to gae, with five
minutes to open the grate, and five minutes to steek it and to

draw the bolts? less winna do, for they want creishing sairly.
Will ye do this?"

"You shall have full time," said Earnscliff; "I plight my faith
and troth, my hand and my glove."

"Wait there a moment, then," said Westburnflat; "or hear ye, I
wad rather ye wad fa' back a pistol-shot from the door. It's no

that I mistrust your word, Earnscliff; but it's best to be sure."
O, friend, thought Hobbie to himself, as he drew back, an I had

you but on Turner's-holm, [There is a level meadow, on the very
margin of the two kingdoms, called Turner's-holm, just where the

brook called Crissop joins the Liddel. It is said to have
derived its name as being a place frequently assigned for

tourneys, during the ancient Border times.] and naebody by but
twa honest lads to see fair play, I wad make ye wish ye had

broken your leg ere ye had touched beast or body that belanged to
me!

"He has a white feather in his wing this same Westburnflat, after
a'," said Simon of Hackburn, somewhat scandalized by his ready

surrender.--"He'll ne'er fill his father's boots."
In the meanwhile, the inner door of the tower was opened, and the

mother of the freebooter appeared in the space betwixt that and
the outer grate. Willie himself was next seen, leading forth a

female, and the old woman, carefully bolting the grate behind
them, remained on the post as a sort of sentinel.

"Ony ane or twa o' ye come forward," said the outlaw, "and take
her frae my hand haill and sound."

Hobbie advancedeagerly, to meet his betrothed bride. Earnscliff
followed more slowly, to guard against treachery. Suddenly

Hobbie slackened his pace in the deepest mortification, while
that of Earnscliff was hastened by impatient surprise. It was

not Grace Armstrong, but Miss Isabella Vere, whose liberation had
been effected by their appearance before the tower.

"Where is Grace? where is Grace Armstrong?" exclaimed Hobbie,
in the extremity of wrath and indignation.

"Not in my hands," answered Westburnflat; "ye may search the
tower, if ye misdoubt me."

"You false villain, you shall account for her, or die on the
spot," said Elliot, presenting his gun.

But his companions, who now came up, instantly disarmed him of
his weapon, exclaiming, all at once, "Hand and glove! faith and

troth! Haud a care, Hobbie we maun keep our faith wi'
Westburnflat, were he the greatest rogue ever rode."

Thus protected, the outlaw recovered his audacity, which had been
somewhat daunted by the menacing gesture of Elliot.

"I have kept my word, sirs," he said, "and I look to have nae
wrang amang ye. If this is no the prisoner ye sought," he said,

addressing Earnscliff, "ye'll render her back to me again. I am
answerable for her to those that aught her."

"For God's sake, Mr. Earnscliff, protect me!" said Miss Vere,
clinging to her deliverer; "do not you abandon one whom the whole

world seems to have abandoned."
"Fear nothing," whispered Earnscliff, "I will protect you with my

life." Then turning to Westburnflat, "Villain!" he said, "how
dared you to insult this lady?"

"For that matter, Earnscliff," answered the freebooter, "I can
answer to them that has better right to ask me than you have; but

if you come with an armed force, and take her awa' from them that
her friends lodged her wi', how will you answer THAT--But it's

your ain affair--Nae single man can keep a tower against twenty
--A' the men o' the Mearns downa do mair than they dow."