rovisions, being well paid for anything they brought to
him. "The chief outlaws," he says, "at our coming, fled their houses where
they dwelt, and betook themselves to a large and great forest, (with all
their goods,) which was called the Tarras. It was of that strength, and
so surrounded with bog and marsh grounds, and thick bushes and shrubs, as
they feared not the force nor power of England or Scotland, so long as
they were there. They sent me word, that I was like the first puff of a
haggis, hottest at the first, and bade me stay there as long as the
weather would give me leave. They would stay in the Tarras-wood, till I
was weary of lying in the waste; and when I had had my time, and they no
whit the worse, they would play their parts, which should keep me waking
next winter. Those gentlemen of the country that came not with me, were of
the same mind; for they knew, (or thought at least,) that my force was not
sufficient to withstand the fury of the outlaws. The time I stayed at the
fort I was not idle, but cast, by all means I could, how to take them in
the great strength they were in. I found a means to send a hundred and
fifty horsemen into Scotland, (conveighed by a muffled man, not known to
any of the company,) thirty miles within Scotland; and the business was so
carried, that none in the country took any alarm at this passage. They
were quietly brought to the backside of the Tarras, to Scotland-ward.
There they divided themselves into three parts, and took up three passages
which the outlaws made themselves secure of, if from England side they
should at any time be put at. They had their scouts on the tops of hills,
on the English side, to give them warning if at any time any power of men
should come to surprise them. The three ambushes were safely laid, without
being discovered, and, about four o'clock in the morning, there were three
hundred horse, and a thousand foot, that came directly to the place where
the scouts lay. They gave the alarm; our men broke down as fast as they
could into the wood. The outlaws thought themselves safe, assuring
themselves at any time to escape; but they were so strongly set upon on
the English side, as they were forced to leave their goods, and to betake
themselves to their passages towards Scotland. There was presently five
taken of the principal of them. The rest, seeing themselves, as they
thought, betrayed, retired into the thick woods and bogs, that our men
durst not follo