J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 1

208 MINSTRELSY OF
Then shoulder high, with shout and cry,
We bore him down the ladder lang ;
At every stride Red Rowan made,
I wot the Kinmont's aims play''d clang !
" O mony a time," quo' Kinmont Willie,
*' I have ridden horse baith wild and wood
** But a rougher beast than Red Rowan,
*' I ween my legs have ne'er bestrode.
'' And mony a time," quo' Kinmont Willie,
" IVe pricked a horse out oure the furs ; *
" But since the day I backed a steed,
*' I never wore sic cumbrous spurs !"
AVe scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank,
When a' the Carlisle bells Avere rung.
And a thousand men, in horse and foot.
Cam wi' the keen Lord Scroope along.
Buccleuch has turn'd to Eden water.
Even where it flow'd frae bank to brim,
And he has plunged in wi' a' his band.
And safely swam them through the stream.
• Furs — Furrows.