If Colonel
Elliot excises Buccleuch's refusal of aid as a later interpolation, and
if he allows Telfer to reach Branksome and receive the aid which
Buccleuch would rejoice to give, then the Elliot version of the ballad
cannot take a further step. It becomes a Scott ballad, Buccleuch sends
out his Scotts to pursue the English raiders, and the Elliots, if they
come in at all, must only be subordinates. But as the Elliot version
stands, it is Buccleuch's refusal to do his duty that compels poor
Jamie to run to his brother-in-law, "auld Jock Grieve" in
Coultartcleugh, four miles higher on Teviot than Branksome. Jock gives
him a mount, and he rides to "Martin's Hab" at "Catlockhill," a place
unknown to research thereabout. Thence they both ride to Martin Elliot
at Preakinhaugh, high up in Liddesdale, and the Elliots under Martin
rescue Jamie's kye.
Now the original ballad, if it did not contain Buccleuch's refusal of
aid to Telfer (which refusal is a thing "too absurd to be believed")
must merely have told about the rescue of Jamie's kye by the Scotts,
Wat of Harden, and the rest.
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