accounts with the owner. He might be worsted in the encounter, and
instead of securing his booty, he might find himself a captive, with the
certainty of being strung up on the nearest tree, or drowned in some
convenient pool. Such incidents were of almost every day occurrence.
Reiving was therefore one of the most exciting and hazardous of
occupations, demanding on the part of those engaged in it, a strong arm
and a dauntless spirit. The burglar who sneaks up to a house while the
inmates are asleep, and plies his nefarious calling in silence and under
shade of night, and is ready to start off, leaving everything behind him,
the moment the alarm is raised, is a contemptible miscreant, for whom the
gallows is almost too mild a form of punishment. But the Border reiver was
made of different metal; was, indeed, a man of an essentially higher type.
He was prepared to fight for every hoof or horn he wished to secure. It
was a trial of skill, of strength, of resource, with the enemy. No doubt
he had occasionally to ride during the night, aided only by the mild rays
of the moon. The way was often long, the paths intricate, and the dangers
manifold; but he was also prepared, under the full blaze of the noonday
sun, to challenge those he had come to despoil, to protect and retain
their property if they could. It was open and undisguised warfare on a
miniature scale. This, of course, was not true of _all_ the reivers on the
Borders. Some of them were hardly worthy of their profession. There are
black sheep in every trade--men who represent the baser qualities of their
kind, and who bring discredit on their associates.

In looking back over the long list of famous reivers there are many names
which, somehow or other, we are disposed to regard with a more or less
kindly feeling. This may be difficult to explain, but the fact is
undeniable. Perhaps the feeling is due, to a certain extent at least, to
the fact that, despite the mode of life adopted by these men, they
represented many really admirable qualities, both of intellect and heart.
Johnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, for example, was one of the most notorious
of the clan to which he belonged, and yet he was evidently regarded as a
great hero, who had been most shamefully treated by the King. It is also
interesting to find that he had a high opinion of himself. He prided
himself on his _honesty_. However much injury he had inflicted on the
unfortunate Englishmen, who had to bear the