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Gentleman's Magazine 1902 part 2 p.426
"You have wronged," came a voice as of a syren gloating over
its prey. The hardy men shivered, and turned to discern, if
possible, whence the voice came.
Not fifty yards away, a sheer spur of rock towered up, and
here in majestic state stood the witch, with the scurrying
wreaths of mist around her head. The Captain sprang to the
foot of the cliff and addressed her:-
"Friend witch, a plague to these stone-covered slopes and
craggy cliffs. Show us the way to the valley again, if thy
magic avail aught, and thou shalt have treasure to satisfy
thee."
"Canst thou bribe the devil, whose is all gold and silver?
Thou and thy band are condemned to find the fourscore Saxons
who fought for their rights at Ely and at
Northallerton,l and till Norman eyes can see the
fox among the bent, and Norman feet can outclimb all upon
scree and crag, you cannot reach them. From this to that,"
the witch held out her hands towards the heavens above and
towards the moving mist-wreaths below, "you cannot find
solace or rest. The curse of the fells is upon you. in the
coming time I see you riding betwixt mist and dale,
restless, silent, capturing none."
"A Saxon pig, by God! and a heathen. Upon her, and hew her
to pieces."
Obediently his men sprang forward, but, with a roar and a
rattle, the cliff in front of them crumbled to pieces, and
they had to retreat for their lives. The Captain, sword in
hand, stood nearest the flying fragments, and in silence
waited for the witch to speak again.
But she had gone; the rock on which she had stood when last
seen slowly crumbled and, in a succession of mighty
avalanches, rolled down the mountain side.
"You have wronged," came a thunder of defiance from the
surging clouds above, "and be ye punished."
Days passed on; the expedition did not return, so the Baron
of Kendal sent forth another force. Not a trace, not a sign,
of the lost men could be found. The mist still hung close on
the hills, and the Saxon rebels, more accustomed to the
conditions of the ground and air than the Normans, were
unremitting in their attacks. The bowmen of the invaders
could not shoot without a mark, and the arrows cleaving the
mists were the only signs of life. Now came the breaking up
of the Saxon terror. An army was sent in succour, and the
last bitter struggle began. Round Buckbarrow and Grey Crag,
round
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