of the
prisoner were fully aware that if he was to be saved from the gallows, not
one moment must be lost. A rescue party was speedily organized. The laird
of Mangerton, accompanied by a few friends--the Laird's Jock, the Laird's
Wat, and the famous Hobbie Noble (an Englishman who had been banished from
Bewcastle)--started off for Newcastle with all speed, determined to bring
the prisoner back with them, quick or dead. To allay suspicion and avoid
detection, they shod their horses "the wrang way"--putting the tip of the
shoe behind the frog--and arrayed themselves like country lads, or "corn
caugers[104] ga'en the road." When they reached Cholerford, near Hexham,
they alighted and cut a tree--"wi' the help o' the light o' the moon"--on
which were fifteen nogs or notches, by which they hoped "to scale the wa'
o' Newcastle toun." But, as so often happened in like circumstances, this
improvised ladder was "three ells too laigh." Such trifles, however,
rarely ever proved disconcerting. The bold reivers at once determined to
force the gate. A stout porter endeavoured to drive them back, but--

"His neck in twa the Armstrongs wrang;
Wi' fute or hand he ne'er played pa!
His life and his keys at once they hae ta'en,
And cast his body ahint the wa'."

The path being now clear they speedily made their way to the prison, where
they found their friend groaning under fifteen stones of Spanish iron
(nothing short of this would have availed to keep a stark Scottish reiver,
fed on oatmeal, within the confines of a prison cell), carried him off,
irons and all, set him on a horse, with both feet on one side, and rode
off with the fleetness of the wind in the direction of Liddesdale:

"The night tho' wat, they didna mind,
But hied them on fu' merrilie,
Until they cam' to Cholerford brae,
Where the water ran like mountains hie."

Dashing into the stream they soon reached the opposite bank. The English,
who were in hot pursuit, when they reached the Tyne, which was rolling
along in glorious flood, durst not venture further. They were filled with
chagrin when they saw the prisoner, loaded as he was with fifteen stones
of good Spanish iron, safe on the other side. They had sustained a double
loss. The prisoner was gone, and he had taken his valuable iron chains
with him. The land-sergeant, or warden's officer, taking in the situation
at a glance, cried aloud--

"The prisoner take