Scaling was therefore out of the question;
mining was still more so, for want of tools and gunpowder; neither
were the besiegers provided with food, means of shelter, or other
conveniences, which might have enabled them to convert the siege into a
blockade; and there would, at any rate, have been a risk of relief from
some of the marauder's comrades. Hobbie grinded and gnashed his teeth,
as, walking round the fastness, he could devise no means of making a
forcible entry. At length he suddenly exclaimed, "And what for no do as
our fathers did lang syne?--Put hand to the wark, lads. Let us cut up
bushes and briers, pile them before the door and set fire to them, and
smoke that auld devil's dam as if she were to be reested for bacon."
All immediately closed with this proposal, and some went to work with
swords and knives to cut down the alder and hawthorn bushes which grew
by the side of the sluggish stream, many of which were sufficiently
decayed and dried for their purpose, while others began to collect
them in a large stack, properly disposed for burning, as close to the
iron-grate as they could be piled.
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