“It will tell more on the Scotch,” said another, “since they are hampered with plunder.”
And the cavalcade still galloped along.
The road wound up the hills, and at the top there was a level stretch of several miles. As the band of pursuers reached the top of the rise, they beheld a cloud of dust at some distance ahead, and a shout of triumph burst from their lips.
“They are yonder!” said one. “Ride faster, my men. We shall catch them at the gorge.”
“They will never get beyond the gorge,” said Farmer Andrew quietly. “Jock will ambush them there. The thieves are fairly caught.”
Then silence reigned again, save for the sound of the galloping horses and the rush of the wind about the horsemen.
The pursuers clearly gained upon the foe, but the latter reached the next dip of the road well ahead, and disappeared from sight. A few minutes later, when the Longdendale band reached the top of the descent, a glad sight met their eyes. Across the narrow path, just where the road bent, Jock had drawn up his men, and already the archers were at work. Already several of the Scotch lay dead upon the road, and the rest were in confusion. Ere they could rally, with a wild shout the pursuing yeomen burst on them at the charge, and then there was a fray well worth the telling. It only lasted a few minutes, and Jock backed out of it the moment he found the sweet maid Bess safely in his arms. But the rest of the Longdendale lads laid lustily about them until the work was done. A palatable work it was to them—a clashing of blades, a crashing of axes, and then the great Scottish raid was over. Yeoman Andrew was avenged, and he had more in plunder from the Scots than made up the total of the damages he had sustained.
It is said that many a “guid wife” in bonnie Scotland looked southwards with eager eyes for the homecoming of her “man” from the foray in Longdendale, but always looked in vain. For the ravens had a rich feast spread on the hills above the Derbyshire and Cheshire border, and those Longdendale moors were dotted white with the bleaching bones of Scottish men.