There is richer
booty, by far, to be gathered in Cumberland and Durham; for here we
have nought but our cattle and horses, and of these they have as many
on their side of the border. It is the plunder of the towns that
chiefly attracts them, and while they go past here empty handed, they
always carry great trains of booty on their backward way."
"Still, it would be dull work if there were no fighting, Mother."
"There is no fighting in Southern England, Oswald, save for those who
go across the sea to fight the French; and yet, I suppose they find
life less dull than we do. They have more to do. Here there is little
tillage, the country is poor; and who would care to break up the land
and to raise crops, when any night your ricks might be in flames, and
your granaries plundered? Thus there is nought for us to do but to keep
cattle, which need but little care and attention, and which can be
driven off to the fells when the Scots make a great raid. But in the
south, as I have heard, there is always much for farmers to attend to;
and those who find life dull can always enter the service of some
warlike lord, and follow him across the sea."
Oswald shook his head. The quiet pursuits of a farmer seemed to him to
be but a poor substitute for the excitement of border war.
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