who thronged
the banquet-hall, "what would ye with the Douglas? Do ye mean my
death, as by the Bull's Head here on the table ye would have me
believe?"

"For black treason do we apprehend you, Earl of Douglas," creaked the
voice of the Chancellor, still speaking from behind his array of
men-at-arms, "and because you have set yourself above the King. But we
are no butchers, and trial shall ye have by your peers."

"And who in this place are the peers of the Earl of Douglas?" said the
young man, haughtily.

"I will not bandy words with you, my Lord Douglas. You are
overmastered. Yield yourself, therefore, as indeed you must without
remeed. Deliver your weapons and submit; 'tis our will."

"My brave Chancellor," said the Earl William, still in a voice of
pleasant irony, "you have well chosen your time to shame yourself. We
are your invited guests, and the guests of the King of Scotland. We
are here unarmed, sitting at meat with you in your own house. We have
come hither unattended, trusting to the honour of these noble knights
and gentlemen. Therefore my brother and I have no swords to deliver.
But if, being honourable men, you stand, as is natural, upon a nice
punctilio, I can satisfy you."

He turned again to Sholto MacKim.

"Give me your sword," he said. "'Tis better I should render it than
you."

With great unwillingness the captain of the guard of Thrieve did as he
was bidden. The Earl reversed it in his hand and held it by the point.

"And now, my Lord Chancellor, I deliver you a Douglas sword, depending
upon the word of an honourable man and the invitation of the King of
Scotland."

But even so the chancellor would not advance from behind the cover of
his soldiery, and the Earl looked around for some one to whom to
surrender.

"Will you then appoint one of your knights to whom I may deliver this
weapon? Is there none who will dare to come near even the hilt of a
Douglas sword? Here then, Sholto, break it over your knee and cast it
upon the board as a witness against all treachery."

Sholto did as he was told, breaking his sword and casting the pieces
upon the table in the place where the King of Scots had sat.

"And now, my lords, I am ready," said the Earl, and his brother David
stood up beside him, looking as they faced the unbroken ring of their
foes the two noblest and gallantest youths in Scotland.

At this the King caught Lord William by the hand, and, lifting up his
voice, wept aloud with th