As to a capture of our hold, of that I have generally but little fear; but the fact that your father has been wounded, and three of his men killed, and that another Baird has fallen, has brought the possibility that it may happen more closely to my mind, this morning, than usual.
"Now, my boy, you had best spend an hour in cleaning up your father's armour and arms.

The steel cap must go to the armourer at Alwinton, for repair; but you can get some of the dints out of his breast and back pieces, and can give them a fresh coat of black paint;" for the borderers usually darkened their armour so that, in their raids, their presence should not be betrayed by the glint of sun or moon upon them.
Oswald at once took up the armour, and went down the steps into the courtyard, so that the sound of his hammer should not disturb the sleepers.

As, with slight but often repeated blows, he got out the dents that had been made in the fray, he thought over what his mother had been saying.

To him also the death of three of the men, who had for years been his companions, came as a shock.

It was seldom, indeed, that the forays for cattle lifting had such serious consequences.