Lord Maxwell.  This secret alliance was discovered to Sir James Johnstone by the laird of Cummertrees, one of his own clan, though a retainer to Maxwell.  Cummertrees even contrived to possess himself of the bonds of manrent, which he delivered to his chief.  The petty warfare betwixt the rival barons was instantly renewed.  Buccleuch, a near relation of Johnstone, came to his assistance with his clan, “the most renowned freebooters (says a historian), the fiercest and bravest warriors, among the border tribes"[196] With Buccleuch also came the Elliots, Armstrongs, and Graemes.  Thus reinforced, Johnstone surprised and cut to pieces a party of the Maxwells, stationed at Lochmaben.  On the other hand, Lord Maxwell, armed with the royal authority, and numbering among his followers all the barons of Nithesdale, displayed his banner as the king’s lieutenant, and invaded Annandale, at the head of 2000 men.  In those days, however, the royal auspices to have carried as little good fortune as effective strength with them.  A desperate conflict, still renowned in tradition, took place at the Dryffe sands, not far from Lockerby, in which Johnstone, although inferior in numbers, partly by his own conduct, partly by the valour of his allies, gained a decisive victory.  Lord Maxwell, a tall man, and heavily armed, was struck from his horse in the flight, and cruelly slain, after the hand, which he stretched out for quarter, had been severed from his body.  Many of his followers were slain in the battle, and many cruelly wounded; especially by slashes in the face, which wound was thence termed a “Lockerby lick.”  The barons of Lag, Closeburn, and Drumlanrig, escaped by the fleetness of their horses; a circumstance alluded to in the following ballad.

[Footnote 195:  It is devoutly to be wished, that this Lammie (who was killed in the skirmish) may have been the same miscreant, who, in the day of Queen Mary’s distress, “hes ensigne being of quhyt taffitae, had painted one it ye creuell murther of King Henry, and layed down before her majestie, at quhat time she presented herself as prisoner to ye lordis.”—­Birrel’s Diary, June 15, 1567.  It would be some satisfaction to know, that the grey hairs of this worthy personage did not go down to the grave in peace.]

[Footnote 196:  Inter accolas latrociniis famosos Scotos Buccleuchi clientes—­fortissimos tributium et ferocissimos,—­JOHNSTONI Historia, ed.  Amstael, p. 182.]

This fatal battle was followed by a long feud, attended with all the circumstances of horror, proper to a barbarous age.  Johnstone, in his diffuse manner, describes it thus:  “Ab eo die ultro citroque in Annandia et Nithia magnis utriusque regionis jacturis certatum.  Caedes, incendia, rapinae, et nefanda facinora; liberi in maternis gremiis trucidati; mariti in conspectu conjugum suarum, incensae villae lamentabiles ubique querimoniae et horribiles armorum fremitus.”  JOHNSTONI Historia, Ed. Amstael. p. 182.