Willie has hied to the tower of Graeme,
He took auld Durie on his back,
He shot him down to the dungeon deep,
Which garr'd his auld banes gae mony a crack.

* * * * *

The king has caused a bill be wrote,
And he has set it on the Tron--
"He that will bring Lord Durie back
Shall have five hundred merks and one."

Traquair has written a braid letter,
And he has seal'd it wi' his seal,
"Ye may let the auld Brock out o' the poke;
The land's my ain, and a's gane weel."

O Will has mounted his bony black,
And to the tower of Graeme did trudge,
And once again, on his sturdy back,
Has he hente up the weary judge.

He brought him to the Council stairs,
And there full loudly shouted he,
"Gie me my guerdon, my sovereign liege,
And take ye back your auld Durie!"

Important as this service was, it was not the only one that Christie's
Willie rendered to the Earl of Traquair. He was sent, on one occasion,
with important papers to Charles I., and received an answer to deliver,
which he was strictly charged to place in the hands of his patron. "But in
the meantime," says Sir Walter Scott, "his embassy had taken air, and
Cromwell had despatched orders to entrap him at Carlisle. Christie's Will,
unconscious of his danger, halted in the town to refresh his horse, and
then pursued his journey. But as soon as he began to pass the long, high,
and narrow bridge that crosses the Eden at Carlisle, either end of the
pass was occupied by parliamentary soldiers, who were lying in wait for
him. The Borderer disdained to resign his enterprise, even in these
desperate circumstances; and at once forming his resolution, spurred his
horse over the parapet. The river was in high flood. Will sunk--the
soldiers shouted--he emerged again, and, guiding his horse to a steep
bank, called the Stanners, or Stanhouse, endeavoured to land, but
ineffectually, owing to his heavy horseman's cloak, now drenched in water.
Will cut the loop, and the horse, feeling himself disembarrassed, made a
desperate exertion, and succeeded in gaining the bank. Our hero set off,
at full speed, pursued by the troopers, who had for a time stood
motionless in astonishment, at his temerity. Will, however, was well
mounted; and, having got the start, he kept it, menacing with his pistols,
any pursuer who seemed likely to gain on him--an artifice which succeeded,
although the arms were