hemselves among their
hills, carrying their booty with them. These ruffians had long gone
unpunished, and now England made friendly protest in the matter.

The king gathered his nobles about him and laid the case before them.
Not a man among them but was older than himself, and therefore more
experienced. James requested advice regarding the action it might
be thought wise to take. Many of the nobles whose estates lay in
the Lowlands of Scotland had themselves suffered from Highland
cattle-lifters, and thus they were imbued with a fellow feeling for
the raided English across the border. The English protest, they
said, was courteously made. The evil was undoubted, and had existed
unchecked for years, growing worse rather than better. Henry VIII, who
now occupied the English throne, was a strong and determined man, and
this continued source of irritation in the northern part of his realm
might easily lead to a deplorable war between the two countries. In
addition, James of Scotland was nephew to Henry of England, and the
expostulation from uncle to nephew was of the mildest, without any
threat even intimated.

The nobles thought that James might well put a stop to a state of
things which no just man could approve, and thus do an act of justice
which would at the same time please an august relative. James admitted
that these were powerful arguments, but still if the Border robbers,
who had many followers, resisted the Scottish force sent against them,
there would be civil war, an outcome not to be looked forward to with
light heart.

"In truth," said the king, "I would rather lead an army against
England, with England in the right, than against my own countrymen,
even if they were in the wrong."

This remark seemed to encourage certain gentlemen there present, who
up to that moment had not spoken. The Earl of Bothwell, as the highest
in rank among the silent phalanx, stepped forward and said,--

"Your majesty, there are always two sides to a question, and, with
your permission, I should be glad to put in a word for those Border
riders who have been so ruthlessly condemned by men who know nothing
of them."

"It is for the purpose of hearing all there is to say that I called
you together," rejoined the king. "Speak, my Lord of Bothwell."

"In the first place, your majesty, these Border men have had to stand
the first brunt of all invasions into our country for centuries past.
It is, therefore, little to be wondered