CHAPTER IX.
The tower, before which the party now stood, was a small square building, of the most gloomy aspect. The walls were of great thickness, and the windows, or slits which served the purpose of windows, seemed rather calculated to afford the defenders the means of employing missile weapons, than for admitting air or light to the apartments within. A small battlement projected over the walls on every side, and afforded farther advantage of defence by its niched parapet, within which arose a steep roof, flagged with grey stones. A single turret at one angle, defended by a door studded with huge iron nails, rose above the battlement, and gave access to the roof from within, by the spiral staircase which it enclosed. It seemed to the party that their motions were watched by some one concealed within this turret; and they were confirmed in their belief when, through a narrow loophole, a female hand was seen to wave a handkerchief, as if by way of signal to them. Hobbie was almost out of his senses with joy and eagerness.
'It was Grace's hand and arm,' he said; 'I can swear to it amang a thousand. There is not the like of it on this side of the Lowdens—We'll have her out, lads, if we should carry off the Tower of Westburnflat stane by stane.'
Earnscliff, though he doubted the possibility of recognising a fair maiden's hand at such a distance from the eye of the lover, would say nothing to damp his friend's animated hopes, and it was resolved to summon the garrison.
The shouts of the party, and the winding of one or two horns, at length brought to a loophole, which flanked the entrance, the haggard face of an old woman.
'That's the Reiver's mother,' said one of the Elliots; 'she's ten times waur than himsell, and is wyted for muckle of the ill he does about the country.'
'Wha are ye? what d'ye want here?' were the queries of the respectable progenitor.
'We are seeking William Graeme of Westburnflat,' said Earnscliff.
'He's no at hame,' returned the old dame.
'When did he leave home?' pursued Earnscliff.
'I canna tell,' said the portress.
'When will he return?' said Hobbie Elliot.
'I dinna ken naething about it,' replied the inexorable guardian of the keep.
'Is there anybody within the tower with you?' again demanded Earnscliff.
'Naebody but mysell and baudrons,' said the old woman.
'Then open the gate and admit us,' said Earnscliff; 'I am a justice of peace, and in search of the evidence of a felony.'
'Deil be in their fingers that draws a bolt for ye,' retorted the portress; 'for mine shall never do it. Thinkna ye shame o' yoursells, to come here siccan a band o' ye, wi' your swords, and spears, and steel-caps, to frighten a lone widow woman?'
'Our information,' said Earnscliff; 'is positive; we are seeking goods which have been forcibly carried off, to a great amount.'
'And a young woman, that's been cruelly made prisoner, that's worth mair than a' the gear, twice told,' said Hobbie.
'And I warn you.' continued Earnscliff, 'that your only way to prove your son's innocence is to give us quiet admittance to search the house.'
'And what will ye do, if I carena to thraw the keys, or draw the bolts, or open the grate to sic a clamjamfrie?' said the old dame, scoffingly.
'Force our way with the king's keys, and break the neck of every living soul we find in the house, if ye dinna gie it ower forthwith!' menaced the incensed Hobbie.
'Threatened folks live lang,' said the hag, in the same tone of irony; 'there's the iron grate—try your skeel on't, lads—it has kept out as gude men as you or now.'
So saying, she laughed, and withdrew from the aperture through which she had held the parley.
The besiegers now opened a serious consultation. The immense thickness of the walls, and the small size of the windows, might, for a time, have even resisted cannon-shot. The entrance was secured, first, by a strong grated door, composed entirely of hammered iron, of such ponderous strength as seemed calculated to resist any force that could be brought against it. 'Pinches or forehammers will never pick upon't,' said Hugh, the blacksmith of Ringleburn; 'ye might as weel batter at it wi' pipe-staples.'
Within the doorway, and at the distance of nine feet, which was the solid thickness of the wall, there was a second door of oak, crossed, both breadth and lengthways, with clenched bars of iron, and studded full of broad- headed nails. Besides all these defences, they were by no means confident in the truth of the old dame's assertion, that she alone composed the garrison. The more knowing of the party had observed hoof-marks in the track by which they approached the tower, which seemed to indicate that several persons had very lately passed in that direction.
To all these difficulties was added their want of means for attacking the place. There was no hope of procuring ladders long enough to reach the battlements, and the windows, besides being very narrow, were secured with iron bars. Scaling was therefore out of the question; mining was still more so, for want of tools and gunpowder; neither were the besiegers provided with food, means of shelter, or other conveniences, which might have enabled them to convert the siege into a blockade; and there would, at any rate, have been a risk of relief from some of the marauder's comrades. Hobbie grinded and gnashed his teeth, as, walking round the fastness, he could devise no means of making a forcible entry. At length he suddenly exclaimed, 'And what for no do as our fathers did lang syne?—Put hand to the wark, lads. Let us cut up bushes and briers, pile them before the door and set fire to them, and smoke that auld devil's dam as if she were to be reested for bacon.'
All immediately closed with this proposal, and some went to work with swords and knives to cut down the alder and hawthorn bushes which grew by the side of the sluggish stream, many of which were sufficiently decayed and dried for their purpose, while others began to collect them in a large stack, properly disposed for burning, as close to the iron-grate as they could be piled. Fire was speedily obtained from one of their guns, and Hobbie was already advancing to the pile with a kindled brand, when the surly face of the robber, and the muzzle of a musquetoon, were partially shown at a shot-hole which flanked the entrance. 'Mony thanks to ye,' he said, scoffingly, 'for collecting sae muckle winter eilding for us; but if ye step a foot nearer it wi' that lunt, it's be the dearest step ye ever made in your days.'
'We'll sune see that,' said Hobbie, advancing fearlessly with the torch.
The marauder snapped his piece at him, which, fortunately for our honest friend, did not go off; while Earnscliff, firing at the same moment at the narrow aperture and slight mark afforded by the robber's face, grazed the side of his head with a bullet. He had apparently calculated upon his post affording him more security, for he no sooner felt the wound, though a very slight one, than he requested a parley, and demanded to know what they
