be caught
sleeping; and had they been, accustomed to surprises as they are, the
whole garrison would have been afoot in a minute, and not a man of ye
would have lived to tell the story. Some such mad thought passed
through my brain, when I first heard the news, but it was not for long.
Even with your spears, and others you might gather, and all my friends
in Tweeddale, we should have had but a small chance of capturing the
Bairds' hold. We should have had all Annandale and Nithsdale down on
us, before we could have done it. At any rate, we should have had to
bide our time, and wait until the Bairds were away to England with all
their dalesmen; and by that time, none could say what would have become
of the girls. In fact, there was but one way of doing it, and that is
the way Oswald hit upon.

"Well, lad, I fear I shall never have an opportunity of repaying the
debt I owe you; but after this, there is not an Armstrong on the
border, on our side or yours--for we are half English and half
Scotch--but will hold you as among our closest of kin, and will give
you welcome and aid, whensoever you may need it. And where is your man
Roger?"

"I will call him," Oswald said and, stepping to the door, he shouted to
his follower; who came out, at once, from one of the outhouses occupied
by the retainers of the hold.

"Come up, Roger!" Oswald said; "Master Armstrong wishes to see you."

Roger came up and, as he entered, Adam grasped him by the hand.

"Whenever your time for fighting is over, my brave fellow, remember
that there is a home for you at Hiniltie, so long as an Armstrong
dwells there. I thought, when I fetched that monk's gown for you, that
you and my nephew Oswald might be able to gather some news; and let me
know, possibly, how the girls were faring; but little did I think that,
alone and unaided, you would rescue them from the hands of the Bairds."

"It was a merry business, Master Armstrong, and pleased me hugely, save
that it went against my heart to have this bald patch on my head again,
just when the hair had so well grown and covered it; but it was well
nigh as good as fighting, to trick the Bairds in their own hold, when
they, as they thought, were so mightily sure that I was but a harmless
brother of a monastery. For the rest, it was an easy business, and
scarce worth talking of."

"It was done easily because it was done well, Roger. It was well
planned, and well carried out."

"I had nought to do with t