Here Hobbie Hall boldly maintained his right,
'Gainst reif, plain force, armed wi' awles might.
Full thirty pleughs, harnes'd in all their gear,
Could not his valiant noble heart make fear:
But wi' his sword, he cut the foremost's soam
In two; and drove baith pleughs and pleughmen home.
1620.
Soam means the iron links, which fasten a yoke of oxen to the plough.
In the parish of Linton, in Roxburghshire, there is a circle of stones, surrounding a smooth plot of turf, called the Tryst, or place of appointment, which tradition avers to have been the rendezvous of the neighbouring warriors. The name of the leader was cut in the turf, and the arrangement of the letters announced to his followers the course which he had taken. See Statistical Account of the Parish of Linton.
See Appendix.