upon your head, that death and lamentation are
gathering round my father's hearth, and are hovering and screaming owre
it, like vultures round a desolate place.'

"Her words made my flesh to creep upon my bones; for, both before that,
and a hundred times since, I have heard her say dark and strange things,
which sooner or later have owre truly come to pass. However, the foray
across to Simprin was delayed till after our marriage; and your mother
almost persuaded me to give up all thoughts of it, and instead of my
former habits of life, to cultivate the bit ground which my forefaithers
had held for two hundred years, for the consideration of an armed man's
service. But her brother taunted me, and said I was no better than
Samson lying wi' his head on the lap of Dalilah, and that I had not only
given his sister my heart to keep, but my courage also. A taunt was a
thing that I never could endure, and that I never would put up wi' from
any man that ever was born--and I hope none of ye ever will, or, as I am
your faither! ye should be no longer my sons!

"'Weel, this night be it,' said I to your uncle, 'The Tweed will be
fordable at Norham--I will have my shelty and weapons ready precisely at
eleven, and get two friends to accompany us that I can trust. Do ye the
like, and we shall see whose courage will stand firmest before morning.'

"We gave each other our hands upon it, and said it was a bargain, and
immediately set about making preparations for the excursion. Before the
appointed hour, he rode up to my door, accompanied by two of his
faither's servants; and I with my two friends were in readiness waiting
for him. Your mother was very bitter against our purpose, and her words
and her warnings made my very heart to shake within my breast. Her eyes
flashed, as if they had been balls of fire, and her very bosom heaved up
and down wi' agitation.

"'Husband!--brother!' she cried, 'listen to me, and give up the mad
errand on which ye are bent; for the bloodhound is snuffing the air and
gnashing its teeth, and the hooded crow clapping its wings for a feast,
and the owl has looked east, west, north, and south, from the auld
turret--it has screamed wi' joy, and its eyes are fixed on Simprin! Be
wise--be warned--or the moon will set and the sun rise upon unburied
bones. Cunningham of Simprin is strong and powerful; he is strong wi'
men, he is strong wi' money; and his herds and his hirsels are strongly
guarded. Again I say to y