er our reconciliation,
he kept his chamber no longer, but dined and supped with me. I took him
abroad with me, at least thrice a-week, a-hunting, and every day we grew
better friends. Bocleugh, in a few days after, had his pledges delivered,
and was set at liberty. But Sir Robert Car could not get his, so that I
was commanded to carry him to York, and there to deliver him prisoner to
the archbishop, which accordingly I did. At our parting he professed great
love unto me for the kind usage I had shown him, and that I would find the
effects of it upon his delivery, which he hoped would be shortly."[100]

Sir Robert Ker was as good as his word. After he had regained his freedom,
by the delivery of the pledges demanded, he returned to his duties as
warden of the East March, and seems to have conducted himself to the
entire satisfaction of his generous opponent. Cary says that they often
met afterwards at days of truce, and that he had as good justice as he
could have desired--their friendship remaining unbroken to the end.

The fortunes of the "Bold Buccleuch," after his imprisonment in Berwick,
were of a varied, but by no means of an unpleasant character. He returned
to his duties as Keeper of Liddesdale, and applied himself with energy and
ability to the arduous task of keeping his unruly charge, as far as
possible, within due bounds of law. This was an almost impossible
undertaking, as the Armstrongs and Elliots and other "broken men" of the
district had been so long accustomed to a lawless life that they quickly
resented any interference with their liberty. The change which had come
over the spirit of Buccleuch's dream was not at all to their liking, and
consequently they turned against him, and assailed him with much
bitterness. He was "in contempt with them" because of his just dealing
with Cary. They would gladly have shaken off his yoke, and were privately
working for his overthrow, that they might have the "raynes louse" again.
But difficult as the task was, Buccleuch was not easily turned aside from
his purpose. He had evidently become convinced that a change of policy was
desirable in the interests of the country, and he was determined to carry
it out, however formidable might be the opposition with which he had to
contend. The fact is significant, and ought to be carefully borne in mind.
Buccleuch's indiscretions during the earlier part of his official life
were manifold, and severely reprehensible. The only defe