"Ah, then there's some spirit among the three of you. I am glad to see
that. Who am I? I am Johnny Armstrong. Did you ever hear tell of him?
And I suspect that your cattle are grown in the high town of Stirling.
Am I right in that? It is in Stirling that you can sell what you may
lift on the Border, and your cattle will be paid for in king's gold.
You are spies, my fine gentlemen, and know as little of cattle as I
know of the king and the court."

The king rejoined calmly,--

"The country is at peace. There can be no spies except in a time of
war."

"Is it even so? Then what are you three doing rampaging up and down my
land on the Border?"

"That the lands may be yours we do not dispute, nor have we interfered
with them. The highways are the king's, and we three are peaceful
subjects of his, claiming, therefore, the right to travel on them as
we will, so long as we infringe not his peace or the liberty of any
man."

"Stoutly spoken and bravely, considering in what king's dominion you
now find yourself. You have to learn that Johnny, and not Jamie, is
king of the Border. And when you're in the hands of a man named
Armstrong, you'll find how little a boy named Stuart can do for you.
Tie them up!"

Before one of the three could move from the stool he occupied, they
were set upon by the ruffians, and each Stirling man found his ankles
fastened together and his elbows tied behind his back with a speed
that amazed him.

"Bless my soul," moaned the poet, "all this in broad daylight, and in
the king's dominion."

They were carried outside and flung thus helpless, face downward
on horses, like so many sacks of corn, each before a mounted man.
Armstrong sprung upon his horse and led his men from the high road
into the forest, his followers numbering something like a score.
The captives, from their agonising position on the horses, could
see nothing of the way they were being taken, except that they
journeyed on and on through dense woodland. They lost all knowledge
of direction, and, by and by, came to the margin of a brawling
stream, arriving at last, much to their relief, at a stronghold of
vast extent, situated on a beetling rock that overhung the river. Here
the three were placed on their feet again, and chattering women and
children crowded round them, but, in no case, was there a word of
pity or an expression of sympathy for their plight.

The striking feature of the castle was a tall square tower, which
mig