The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

I NTo v. LABT INSTREL. 57
And frequent, on the darkening plain,
Loud hollo, whoop, or whistle ran,
As bands, their stragglers to regain,
Give the shrill watch-word of their clan;
And revellers, o'er their bowls, proclaim
Douglas or Dacre's conquering name.
IX.
L ess frequent heard, and fainter still,
At length the various clamours died;
And you might hear, from Branksome hill,
No sound but Teviot's rushing tide;
Save, when the changing sentinel
The challenge of his watch could tell;
And save, where, through the dark profound,
The clanging axe and hammer's sound
Rung from the nether lawn;
For many a busy hand toiled there,
Strong pales to shape, and beams to square,
The lists' dread barriers to prepare,
Against the morrow's dawn.
X.
Margaret from hall did soon retreat,
Despite the dame's reproving eye,
Nor marked she, as she left her seat,
Full many a stifled sigh:
For many a noble warrior strove
To win the flower of Teviot's love,
And many a bold ally.With throbbing head and anxious heart
All in her lonely bower apart,
In broken sleep she lay:
By times, from silken couch she rose;
While yet the bannered hosts repose,
She viewed the dawning day:
Of all the hundreds sunk to rest,
First woke the loveliest and the bet.
XL
She gazed upon the inner court,
Which in the tower's tall shadow layl
Where coursers' clang. and stamp, and snort,
Had rung the live-long yesterday;