The Tirolese laid the blame on the Scots, the Scots
upon the Tirolese; and though disputes between his Tirolese and Alsatian
followers had been the constant trouble of Sigismund at Nanci, they
now joined in making common cause against the Scots, so that Gebhardt
strongly advised that these should be withdrawn to Nanci for the
present, the which advice George Douglas hotly resented. He had as good
a claim to watch the castle as the Duke. He was not going to desert his
King's sisters, far less the lady he had followed from Scotland. If any
one was to be ordered off, it should be the fat lazy Alsatians, who were
good for nothing but to ride big Flemish horses, and were useless on a
mountain.

Gebhardt and Robert Douglas, both experienced men of the world, found it
one of their difficulties to keep the peace between their young lords;
and each day was likely to render it more difficult. They began to
represent that it could be made a condition that the leaders should be
permitted to see the ladies and ascertain whether they were treated with
courtesy; and there was a certain inclination on Sigismund's part, when
he was driven hard by his embarrassments, to allow this to be proposed.

The very notion of coming to any terms made Geordie furious. If the
craven Dutchman chose to sneak off and go in search of a ransom,
forsooth, he would lie at the foot of the castle till he had burrowed
through the walls or found a way over the battlements.

'Ay,' said Douglas of Harside drily, 'or till the Baron sticks you in
the thrapple, or his next neighbour throws you into his dungeon.'

In the meantime the captives themselves were suffering, as may well be
believed, agonies of suspense. Their loophole did not look out towards
the gateway, but they heard the peals of the trumpet, started up with
joy, and thought their deliverance was come. Eleanor threw herself on
her knees; Lady Lindsay began to collect their properties; Jean made a
rush for the stair leading to the top of the turret, but she found her
way barred by one of the few men-at-arms, who held his pike towards her
in a menacing manner.

She tried to gaze from the window, but it told her nothing, except that
a certain murmur of voices broke upon the silence of the woods. Nothing
more befell them. They eagerly interrogated Barbe.

'Ah yes, lady birds!' she said, 'there is a gay company without, all in
glittering harness, asking for you, but my Lords know 'tis like a poor
frog