Page:Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry - 1887.djvu/72

68 two places, at once made good his entry into the principal street of Preston. I had the courage to go into the street, and had not proceeded far till I saw the enemy's dragoons charging at the gallop; but their saddles were emptied fast with shot and with sword; for the clansmen, bearing their bucklers over their heads, made great havoc among the horsemen with their claymores, and at length succeeded in repulsing them to the fields. As soon as the enemy's trumpets sounded a retreat, our leaders again assembled—assembled not to conquer or fall like cavaliers, with their swords in their hands, but to yield themselves up, to beg the grace of a few days, till they prepared their necks for the rope and the axe. The Highland soldiers wept with anger and shame, and offered to cut their way or perish; but the leaders of the army, unfit to follow or fight, resolved on nothing but submission, and sent Colonel Oxburgh with a message to General Willis to propose a capitulation.

"Sir Thomas Scott came to Walter Selby and me, and said, with a smile of bitter scorn: 'Let these valiant persons deliver themselves up to strain the cord and prove the axe; we will seek, Lady Eleanor, a gentler dispensation. Retreat now is not without peril; yet let us try what the good greenwood will do for poor outlaws. I have seen ladies, and men too, escape from greater peril than this.'

"We were in the saddle in a moment; and, accompanied by about twenty of the Border cavaliers, made our way through several orchard enclosures, and finally entered upon an extensive common or chase, abounding in clumps of dwarf holly and birch, and presenting green and winding avenues, into one of which we gladly entered, leaving Preston half a mile behind. That pale and trembling light which precedes day began to glimmer; it felt intensely cold, for the air was filled with dew, and the boughs and bushes sprinkled us with moisture. We hastened on at a sharp trot, and the soft sward returning no sound, allowed us to hear the trumpet summons and military din which extended far and wide around Preston.

"As we rode along I observed Sir Thomas motion with his hand to his companions, feel his sword and his pistols, glance to the girths of his horse, and finally drop his mantle from his right arm, apparently baring it for a contest. In all these preparations he was followed by his friends, who at the same time closed their ranks, and