He was the bearer of letters from
Glendower and Mortimer, and was able to report the complete success of
his mission. As a mark of his satisfaction, the earl ordered a deed of
gift to be made to him, of a large strip of land extending over the
hills between Stoubes and Yardhope.
"Some day," he said, as he handed the document to him, "you will be
master of Yardhope, and by thus joining that feu to that of Stoubes,
you will have an estate that will make you a power in the upper glades
of Reddesdale and Coquetdale; and will support the dignity of a knight
banneret, which I now bestow upon you, and also appoint you a deputy
warden of the marches, with power of life and death over all marauders,
reivers, and outlaws. I have long felt that it would be well that there
should be one who, in case of necessity, could raise a hundred spears;
and so prevent bodies of marauders, from the other side of the border,
making sudden irruptions into the dales; and from what I have heard of
you, from Sir Henry, I am sure that you will carry out the charge most
worthily."
The new acquisition would not very largely increase Oswald's revenues,
for the greater portion of the grant was hill and moor.
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