Frank Stokoe was that force. To him went the friends of Lowes; and next
morning saw the peel tower of Leehall besieged. Frank demanded the
surrender of Lowes, uninjured. Leehall retorted that he might take
him--if he could. But Leehall had reckoned without his retainers; they
dared not fight against Frank Stokoe. So they said. But was it not, in
reality, a sort of incipient Strike? Did they, perhaps, being wearied of
the somewhat tame sport of baiting him, think the opportunity a fitting
one to get rid of their uninvited guest for good and all? In any case,
before an hour had passed, Leehall found it convenient to hand Lowes
over to Stokoe, who safely deposited him by his own fireside at
Willimoteswick, and the feud was pursued no further.
Whether or not Leehall was content to have thus played second fiddle,
one does not know. Perhaps it was his men who, a year or two later, paid
a nocturnal visit to Stokoe's peel tower. Frank was roused from sleep
one winter night by his daughter, who told her father that some one was
attempting to force the outer door. Stokoe stole quietly downstairs, to
find that some one outside was busy with the point of a knife trying
gently to prise back the great oaken bolt which barred his door.
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