me your dagger,
Colonel Holmes. It is stitched round with packthread. Ha! it is a bar
of gold--solid virgin gold by all that is wonderful. Take charge of it,
Wade, and see that it is added to the common fund. This little piece
of metal may furnish ten pikemen. What have we here? A letter and an
enclosure. "To James, Duke of Monmouth"--hum! It was written before we
assumed our royal state. "Sir Jacob Glancing, late of Snellaby Hall,
sends greeting and a pledge of affection. Carry out the good work.
A hundred more such ingots await you when you have crossed Salisbury
Plain." Bravely promised, Sir Jacob! I would that you had sent them.
Well, gentlemen, ye see how support and tokens of goodwill come pouring
in upon us. Is not the tide upon the turn? Can the usurper hope to hold
his own? Will his men stand by him? Within a month or less I shall see
ye all gathered round me at Westminster, and no duty will then be
so pleasing to me as to see that ye are all, from the highest to the
lowest, rewarded for your loyalty to your monarch in this the hour of
his darkness and his danger.'

A murmur of thanks rose up from the courtiers at this gracious speech,
but the German plucked at Saxon's sleeve and whispered, 'He hath his
warm fit upon him. You shall see him cold anon.'

'Fifteen hundred men have joined me here where I did but expect a
thousand at the most,' the King continued. 'If we had high hopes when
we landed at Lyme Cobb with eighty at our back, what should we think now
when we find ourselves in the chief city of Somerset with eight thousand
brave men around us? 'Tis but one other affair like that at Axminster,
and my uncle's power will go down like a house of cards. But gather
round the table, gentlemen, and we shall discuss matters in due form.'

'There is yet a scrap of paper which you have not read, sire,' said
Wade, picking up a little slip which had been enclosed in the note.

'It is a rhyming catch or the posy of a ring,' said Monmouth, glancing
at it. 'What are we to make of this?

"When thy star is in trine,
Between darkness and shine,
Duke Monmouth, Duke Monmouth,
Beware of the Rhine!"

Thy star in trine! What tomfoolery is this?'

'If it please your Majesty,' said I, 'I have reason to believe that the
man who sent you this message is one of those who are deeply skilled
in the arts of divination, and who pretend from the motions of the
celestial bodies to forete