one, for these men had gone to "warn the waters," or,
in other words, to carry the tidings far and wide, and bid all the men
of the Western Border be ready to meet their chief at some given
trysting-place, and ride with him to the rescue.

Meanwhile the Warden lifted me on his knee, and began asking me
questions, while the pages gathered round, no longer jeering, but with
wide-open eyes.

"Thou art a brave lad," he said at last, after I had told him the whole
story, "and, with thy father's permission, I would fain have thee for
one of my pages. We must tell him how well thou hast carried the
message, and ask him if he can spare thee for a year or two."

At any other time my heart would have leapt at this unheard-of good
fortune, for to be a page in the Warden's household was the ambition of
every well-born lad on the Border; but at that moment I felt as if
Buccleuch hardly realised my father's danger.

"But he is lodged in Carlisle Castle, and men say the walls are thick,"
I said anxiously, "and it is garrisoned by my Lord Scroope's soldiers."

The Warden laughed.

"We will teach my Lord Scroope that there is no bird's nest that the
Bold Buccleuch dare not harry," he said, and, seeing the look on his
face, I was content.

Then, noticing how weary I was, he called one of the older pages, and
bade him see that I had food and rest, and the boy, who had been one of
the first to laugh before, but who now treated me with great respect,
took me away to a little turret room which he shared with some of his
fellows, and brought me a piece of venison pie, and then left me to go
to sleep on his low pallet, promising to wake me when there were signs
of the Warden and his men setting out.

I must have slept the whole day, for the little room was almost dark
again, and the rain was beating wildly on the casement, when the boy
came back. "My lord hath given orders for the horses to be saddled," he
said, "and the trysting-place is Woodhouselee. I heard one squire tell
another in the hall, for as a rule we pages know nothing, and are only
expected to do as we are bid. I know not if my lord means thee to ride
with him, but I was sent up to fetch thee."

It did not take me long to spring up and fasten my doublet, and follow
my guide down to the great hall. Here all was bustle and confusion; men
were standing about ready armed, making a hasty meal at the long table,
which never seemed to be empty of its load of food, while outsid