be time to settle that when we have him safely under bolt."

"Pardon me, not so. The time to arrange all things is now. Everything
must be cut and dried, or failure is certain. The moment the king is
missing the country will be scoured for him. There will be no possible
place of refuge for miles round that will not be searched for the
missing monarch. We will suppose that four of you are guarding the
king, two and two, turn about. What are the four, and myself, to say
to the king's soldiers when they demand entrance to my house?"

"The king is but a boy, and when he sees death or compliance before
him he will accede to our demands."

"He is a boy, it is true," agreed the laird, "but he is a boy, as I
pointed out to my friend Flemming, who escaped from the clutches of
the Earl of Angus, out of the stronghold of Falkland Palace, and who
afterwards drove the earl and many of the Douglas leaders into English
exile. That is the kind of boy you have to deal with. Suppose then, he
gives consent to all you place before him? Do you think he will keep
his word?"

"I doubt it," said the cobbler, speaking for the first time. "The
word of a Stuart is not worth the snap of my finger."

"On the other hand, if he does not accede," continued Ballengeich,
"what are we to do with him?"

"Cut his throat," replied the leader decisively.

"No, no," cried several others, and for a moment there was a clamour
of discussion, all speaking at once, while the laird stood silently
regarding the vociferous disputants. Finally their leader said,--

"What better plan have you to propose?"

"The king is a boy," spoke up Ballengeich, "as you have said." At the
sound of his voice instant silence reigned. "But he is a boy, as I
have told you, extremely difficult to handle with violence. I propose
then to approach him peaceably. The fact that he is a boy, or a very
young man at least, implies that his mind will be more impressionable
than that of an older person whose ideas are set. I propose then that
a deputation wait upon his majesty and place before him the evils that
require remedying, being prepared to answer any question he may ask
regarding the method of their amendment. If peaceable means fail,
then try violence, say I, but it is hardly fair to the young man to
approach him at the beginning of his reign with a dirk in the hand.
His answer would likely be a reference to his headsman; that is a
favourite Stuart mode of argument. I have som