m by either arm, he gave to the Dean. And very courteously he
bade us who were to die with him farewell, and also those that were with
him. He was a most gallant gentleman, though a Highlandman. They made us
stand with our backs to the Maiden, and rolled the drums, while they set
him in his place. But for all that I heard louder than thunder the
horrible crunch as of one that shaws frosty cabbages with a blunt knife.
Methought I had fainted away, when I heard the answering splash, and the
loud universal "Ah!" which swept across the multitudes of people.

Yet as they turned me about, because my time had come, I saw quite
clearly beneath me the populace fighting fiercely one with another
beneath the scaffold, for the blood that drippled through the boards,
dipping their kerchiefs and other linen fabrics in it for keepsakes.
Also I perceived the collapsed body, most like a sack that falls
sideways; and the tall masked headsman holding up the poor dripping
head. For the napkin had fallen away from the staring eyne, and I
shuddered at the rasping echo of his words.

"This is the head of a traitor!" he cried, as the custom is.

Again the people cried, "Ah!"--They cried it through their clenched
teeth. But it was more like a wild beast's growl than a human cry.

Then I was bidden speak if I had aught to say before I died.

So I took off my hat, and though for a moment I stood without strength,
suddenly my voice was given back to me, and that with such surprising
power that I never knew that I had so great an utterance.

"I die (so they recorded my words) in the faith my father taught me, and
for which my father died; neither for King nor bishop will I change it.
Neither for love nor lands will I recreant or swear falsely. I am a
Gordon of Earlstoun. I die for the freedom of this land. God do so to me
and more also, if ever I gave my back to a foe, or my shoulder to a
friend all the days of my life! That is all my testimony. God have mercy
on my sinful soul, for Christ's sake. Amen!"

"Lord, that is no Whig word!" cried one from the crowd--a soldier, as I
think.

"Tis a pity he is a rebel," said another. I heard them as though they
had spoken of another, and not of myself. And all the time I had been
speaking, I was watching the headsman wiping his broad sliding blade
with a fragment of fine old linen, daintily as one may caress a
sweetheart or other beloved possession.

Then the Dean began the praying, for because I h