ers to wave above them, esquires and pages to be in attendance, and
their war-cries to be shouted, as was the custom when they led on in
person. The numerous knights, clothed in bright armor from head to heel
ever traversing the field, assisted the illusion, and the Scotch never
once suspected the truth.

Imagining a very brief struggle would deliver the castle into their
hands, even if its garrison were mad enough to refuse compliance with
King Edward's terms, the earls had not hurried themselves on their
expedition, and a fortnight after the siege had begun, were reposing
themselves very cavalierly in the stronghold of an Anglo-Scottish baron,
some thirty miles southward of the scene of action.

It was the hour of supper, a rude repast of venison, interspersed with
horn and silver flagons filled with the strong liquors of the day, and
served up in a rude hall, of which the low round arches in the roof, the
massive walls without buttresses, and windows running small outside, but
spreading as to become much larger within, all denoted the Saxon
architecture unsoftened by any of the Norman improvements.

The earls and their host, with some attendant knights, sat as usual
round the dais or raised part of the hall, their table distinguished it
may be by some gold as well as silver vessels, and a greater variety of
liquor, particularly hypocras and claret of the day, the one formed of
wine and honey, the other of wine and spices; by the sinnel and wastel
cakes, but certainly not by the superior refinement of the more solid
food. The huge silver saltcellar alone divided the table of the baron
from that of his dependants, yet the distinction of sitting above and
below the salt was as great as the division between the master and
servant of the present day; the jest, the loud laugh seasoned the
viands placed before them, and the hearty draught from the welcome
flagon. Nor was the baron's own table much quieter; remarks on the state
of the country, speculations as to the hiding-place of King Robert, and
when they should receive tidings of the surrender of Kildrummie, formed
topics of conversation alternately with discussions on the excellence of
the wines, the flavor of the venison, the difference between English and
Scottish cookery, and such like matters, important in the days of our
ancestors as in our own.

"You have ridden long enough to-day, good my lords, to make a hearty
charge on your suppers; a long journey and a tou