effect of a quarrel or the work of
robbers.

'Routiers,' Ringan said. 'The ladies--we guarded them--they carried them
off--up there.'

'What ladies?--the Scottish princesses?' asked one of the friars; for
they had been at Nanci, and knew who had been assembled there; besides
that, the Scot was known enough all over France for the nationality of
Ringan and his master to have been perceived at once.

George understood this, and answered vehemently, 'I must follow them and
save them!'

'In good time, with the saints' blessing,' replied Brother Benigne
soothingly, 'but healing must come first. We must have you to our poor
house yonder, where you will be well tended.'

George was lifted to the pony's back, and supported in the saddle by
Ringan and one of the brethren. He had been too much dazed by the cut
on the head to have any clear or consecutive notion as to what they were
doing with him, or what passed round him; and Ringan did his best to
explain the circumstances, and thought it expedient to explain that his
master was 'Grand Seigneur' in his own country, and would amply
repay whatever was done for him; the which Brother Gerard gave him
to understand was of no consequence to the sons of St. Francis. The
brothers had no doubt that the outrage was committed by the Balchenburg
Baron, the ally of the ecorcheurs and routiers, the terrors of the
country, in his impregnable castle. No doubt, they said, he meant to
demand a heavy ransom from the good King and Dauphin. For the honour
of Scotland, Ringan, though convinced that Hall had his share in the
treason, withheld that part of the story. To him, and still more to his
master, the journey seemed endless, though in reality it was not more
than two miles before they arrived at a little oasis of wheat and
orchards growing round a vine-clad building of reddish stone, with a
spire rising in the midst.

Here the porter opened the gate in welcome. The history was volubly
told, the brother-infirmarer was summoned, and the Master of Angus was
deposited in a much softer bed than the good friars allowed themselves.
There the infirmarer tended him in broken feverish sleep all night,
Ringan lying on a pallet near, and starting up at every moan or murmur.
But with early dawn, when the brethren were about to sing prime, the lad
rose up, and between signs and words made them understand that he must
be released, pointing towards the mountains, and comporting himself much
like a dog