SEPTEMBER 215 



in store for him. He begged him to remain in the town, 

 ' for/ said he, ' your friends are not with you, and you have 

 to do with men this day. I take God to witness, that if 

 you ride forward, I have no will for this day's work, for 

 I see not the men who will do your turn.' 



The gallant young laird (he was but five-and-twenty 

 years of age) laughed scornfully, and persisted in setting 

 out, having first, however, collected reinforcements among 

 his adherents in Ayr. Halting the party on the Brig of 

 Doun, he addressed them thus : ' Sirs, I am here to protest 

 before God that I seek not the blood of my lord, nor his 

 dishonour in any sort. I shall ride home to my own 

 house, if he will let me ; but if he molest me, I trust you 

 will all do your duties, as behoves men. He that is 

 unwilling to do this for love and kindness to me, let him 

 declare that he will see me through it, or turn back at 

 once.' They all declared their readiness to die in his 

 defence, and the troop moved on in two companies, one 

 led by Bargany, the other by Cathcart, the young laird of 

 Carleton. It was a severe storm ; the snow was falling so 

 fast that ' nane cud seine the lenthe of ane lanse befoir 

 him.' But as they neared Maybole the sky lightened a 

 little, and they beheld the enemy, a dark mass against the 

 white ground, defiling out of the town gate and drawing 

 up across the road before the Lady Cross. 



The men of Ayr deployed, and began blowing their 

 matches, but Bargany would not allow them to begin the 

 fight. ' I will nocht persew me lord,' said he, ' bot I will 

 eschew all cummer, alse far as I may.' In order to ' eschew 

 cummer ' it behoved him to leave the highway, and this 

 he did, seeking to make his way home through some 

 boggy meadows, without entering the town of Maybole. 



