"
Then up and spake the Laird's saft Wat,
The greatest coward in the company;
"Now halt, now halt, we needna try't;
The day is comd we a' maun die!"
"Poor faint-hearted thief!" quo the Laird's Jock,
"There'll nae man die but he that's fie;
I'll lead ye a' right safely through;
Lift ye the prisner on ahint me.
Sae now the water they a' hae tane,
By anes and 'twas they a' swam through
"Here are we a' safe," says the Laird's Jock,
"And, poor faint Wat, what think ye now?"
They scarce the ither side had won,
When twenty men they saw pursue;
Frae Newcastle town they had been sent,
A' English lads right good and true.
But when the land-sergeant the water saw,
"It winna ride, my lads," quo he;
Then out he cries, "Ye the prisner may take,
But leave the irons, I pray, to me."
"I wat weel no," cryd the Laird's Jock,
"I'll keep them a'; shoon to my mare they'll be;
My good grey mare; for I am sure,
She's bought them a' fu dear frae thee."
Sae now they're away for Liddisdale,
Een as fast as they coud them hie;
The prisner's brought to his ain fireside,
And there o's airns they make him free.
"Now, Jock, my billie," quo a' the three,
"The day was comd thou was to die;
But thou's as weel at thy ain fireside,
Now sitting, I think, 'tween thee and me."
They hae gard fill up ae punch-bowl,
And after it they maun hae anither,
And thus the night they a' hae spent,
Just as they had been brither and brither.
Ballad: Lord Thomas And Fair Annet
(Child, Part III.
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