506 COQUET SIDE. 



side. Will, however, was on his black mear again ; and, in spite o' the 

 darkness and the (lodgings o' the fause loun, he could na win away frae 

 him. Away they flew down the hollow towards the Coquet, Will calling 

 to his enemy to stand and fight like a man, and Frank slipping first this 

 way and then that, like a hare doubling frae a greyhound. That's the way 

 the old ballad says 



" 4 Come on, come on,' says Riding Will, 



' And fight wit h a man so free ;' 

 1 O no, O no,' says the coward Scot, 



4 For I would rather flee.' 



"At last, as if Providence meant to take the matter into his ain hand, 

 Frank Scott's horse, that never stumbled afore in the roughest ground, fell 

 upon the fair level sward, and he lay helpless wi' his thigh-bone snapped 

 in two. Will tied his hands, set him up and buckled him on his ain mear, 

 and was at Ryehope in the verra room we're now sittin' in, lang before the 

 rest o' the lads had come back frae the fight. There were twa or three mason 

 lads in the tower vvha had been employed in biggin some outhouses, arid it 

 is maist probable their presence had put it into Will's head to fix upon the 

 horrible death which he inflicted upon his enemy. He garr'd them dig 

 holes in that stone jamb, and fix strang iron bars across the whole breadth 

 o' the fire-place. The work was na weel done before the troopers cam 

 frae the fight in search o' Will. They found the gate barred, and the 

 mason lads just thrust out, standing terrified before the entrance. They 

 could hear naething but the low moans o' the wounded man, and 

 whan they listened, deep thick sobs bursting from some one's breast 

 that seemed to be suffering the extremes! anguish. At last Will 

 for it was himsel' spoke to them from the loophole above the gate, and 

 there was something so unyearthly and hollow in his voice, that even 

 the fierce troopers hot from the bloody fight bore back from the entrance. 

 ' Gang down to Heppel, Charlie, wi' the lads,' he said to the leader o' the 

 troop, 'and leave me alane wi' my enemy. Fareweel, Charlie ; fare weel, 

 a' o' ye !' and he retired from the loophole, nor could all their entreaties 

 cause him to utter another word ; so at last they took the gate and gaed 

 awa' wi' the Snowdons. What passed between the desperate man and his 

 crushed enemy nae mortal can tell ; but Will's brother, a young lad that 

 lo'ed him weel, crouched down behind the walls, and after a good deal o' 

 murmuring an' speaking that he could na mak out, he at last heard the 

 Scot cry out for 'Mercy !' in screams that shook the haill tower ; but Will's 

 voice above a' broke in and drowned his wi' 'Sic mercy as ye showed, 

 Frank Scott, sic shall ye hae !' and the poor callant, terrified out o' his 

 reason, ran away clean up the glen, and was found the next day wandering 

 about amang Snowside mosshags, screaming out the terrible words o' his 

 brother. Next morning the men cam up to Ryehope, the gate was flung 

 open, and not a saul left in the tower ; but, horrible to hear tell o', there 

 was stretched out on the iron bars abuve the smouldering embers of the 

 fire, the shrivelled and black body o' Frank Scott roasted till a cinder in 

 his ain armour. What cam o' Will naebody can say ; he was seen about 

 Newcastle by a border lad the next day after the deed was committed. 

 Some think he gaed into France and turned monk : others again haud till 

 the rumour that says he joined wi' the Spaniards that were then ganging 

 ower till America to fight the blacks. Whilk story's true I dinna pretend 

 to say, but maist likely the last, for wherever there was fighting there wad 

 be, if possible, Rough-Riding Will o' Ryehope." 



Such was our host's tale, which seemed to have produced a bad ef- 

 fect upon the convivality of his guests, for, after a few exclamations 

 and characteristic commentaries on the circumstances of the story, 



