So in the morning, before they came out,
So weel I wot they broke their fast;30
[In the [forenoon they came] unto a bye fell,]
Where some of them did eat their last.
When they had eaten aye and done,
They say'd some captains here needs must be:
Then they choosed forth Harry Corbyl,35
And 'Symon Fell,' and Martin Ridley.
Then o'er the moss, where as they came,
With many a brank and whew,
One of them could to another say,
"I think this day we are men enew.40
"For Weardale-men is a journey ta'en;
They are so far out o'er yon fell,
That some of them's with the [two earls],
And others fast in Bernard castell.
"There we shall get gear enough,45
For there is nane but women at hame;
The sorrowful fend that they can make,
Is [loudly] cries as they were slain."
Then in at Rookhope-head they came,
And there they thought tul a had their prey,50
But they were spy'd coming over the Dry-rig,
Soon upon [Saint Nicolas' day].
Then in at Rookhope-head they came,
They ran the forest but a mile;
They gather'd together in four hours55
Six hundred sheep within a while.
And horses I trow they gat,
But either ane or twa,
And they gat them all but ane
That belang'd to great Rowley.60