CHAPTER XXXIII
THE BLACK BULL'S HEAD
The banqueting-hall of Edinburgh Castle, but lately out of artificers'hands, was a noble oblong chamber reaching from side to side of thesouth-looking keep, begun by James I. It was decorated in the Frenchmanner with oak ceilings and panellings, all bossed and cornered withmassive silver-gilt mouldings.
Save in the ordering of the repast itself there was a marked absenceof ostentation. Only a soldier or two could be seen, mostly on guardat the outer gates, and Sholto, who till now had been uneasy andfearful for his master, became gradually more reassured when he sawwith what care every want of the Earl and his brother was attended to,and if possible even forestalled.
The young King was in jubilant spirits, and could scarcely bepersuaded to let the brothers Douglas remain a moment alone. He wasresolved, he said, to have his bed brought into their chamber that hemight talk to them all night of tourneys and noble deeds of arms.Never had he met with any whom he loved so much, and on their part theyoung Lords of Douglas became boys again, in this atmosphere of frankand boyish admiration.
It was a state banquet to which they sat down. That is, there was nohungry crowd of hangers-on clustered below the salt. To eachgentleman was allotted a silver trenchard for his own use, instead ofone betwixt two as was the custom. The service was ordered in theFrench manner, and there was manifest through all a quiet observanceand good taste which won upon the Earl of Douglas. Nevertheless, hiseyes still continued to range this way and that through the castle,scanning each tower, glancing up at every balcony and archway, insearch of the Lady Sybilla.
In the banquet-hall the little King sat on his high chair in themidst, with the brothers of Douglas one on either side of him. Hespoke loudly and confidently after the manner of a pampered boy ofhigh spirits.
"I will soon come and visit you in return at the Castle of Thrieve.The Lady Sybilla hath told me how strong it is and how splendid arethe tourneys there, as grand, she swears, as those of France."
"The Lady Sybilla is peradventure gone to her own land?" venturedDouglas, not wishing to ask a more direct question. He spoke freely,however, on all other subjects with the King, laughing and talkingmostly with him, and finding little to say to the tutor Livingston orthe Chancellor, who, either from humility or from fear, had taken careto interpose half a dozen knights between himself and his late guests.
"Nay," cried the young King, looking querulously at his tutor, "but,indeed, I wot not what they have done with my pretty gossip, Sybilla;I have not seen her for three weeks, save for a moment this morning.And before she went away she promised to teach me to dance a corantoin the French manner, and the trick of the handkerchief to hide adagger in the hand."
As the Earl listened to the boy's prattle, he became more and moreconvinced that the Marshal de Retz, having in some way discoveredtheir affection for each other, had removed Sybilla out of his reach.Her letter, indeed, showed clearly that she was in fear ofill-treatment both for himself and for her.
The banquet passed with courtesies much more elaborate than was usualin Scotland, but which indicated the great respect in which theDouglases were held. Between each course a servant clad in the royalcolours presented a golden salver filled with clear water for theguests to wash their hands. Through the interstices of the ceilingstrains of music filtered down from musicians hidden somewhere above,which sounded curiously soothing and far away.
The Chancellor bowed and drank every few minutes to the health of theEarl and his brother across the board, while the tutor sat smilingupon all with the polish of a professional courtier. In his high seatat the table end the little King chatted incessantly of the times whenhe could do as he pleased, and when he and his cousin of Douglas wouldride together to battle and tourney, or feast together in hall.
"Be sure, then, I will not keep all these grey-beard sorners aboutme," he said, lowering his voice cautiously; "I will only have younggallant men like you and David there. But what comes here?"
There was a stir among the servitors at the upper end of the room.Sholto, who stood behind his master's chair, heard the skirl of thewar-pipes approach nearer. It grew louder, more insistent, finallyalmost oppressive. The doors at either end were filled with armedmen. They filed silently into the hall in dark armour, all carryingshining Lochaber axes.
Douglas leaned back in his chair, and looked nonchalantly on like aspectator of a pageant. He continued to talk to the King easily andcalmly, as if he were in his own Castle of Thrieve. But Sholto saw thewhite and ghastly look on the face of the Chancellor, and noted hishands nervously grip the table. He observed him also lean across andconfer with Livingston, who nodded like one that agrees that themoment of action has come.
At the upper end of the hall were wide folding doors which till nowhad been shut. These were opened swiftly, either half falling back tothe wall. And through the archway came two servitors in black habits,carrying between them on a huge platter of silver a black bull's head,ghastly and ominous even in death, with staring eyeballs and mattedfrontlet of ensanguined hair.
"Treachery!" instantly cried Sholto, and ere the men could approach hehad drawn his sword and stood ready to do battle for his lord. Forthroughout all Scotland a bull's head served at table is the symbol ofdeath.
The Earl did not move or speak. He watched the progress of the men inblack, who staggered under their heavy burden. David also had risen tohis feet with his hand on his sword, but William Douglas sat still.Alarm, wonder, and anxiety chased each other across the face of theyoung King.
"What is this, Chancellor--why is the room filled with armed men?" hecried.
But Crichton had withdrawn himself behind the partisans of hissoldiers, and down the long table there was not a man but had risenand bared his sword. Every eye was turned upon the young Earl. A scoreof men-at-arms came forward to seize him.
"Stand back on your lives!" cried Sholto, sweeping his blade about himto keep a space clear about his youthful master.
But still the Earl William sat calm and unmoved, though all others hadrisen to their feet and held arms in their hands.
"What means this mumming?" he said, high and clear. "If a mystery isto be played, surely it were better to put it off till after dinner."
Then through the open doorway came a voice piercing and reedy.
"The play is played indeed, William of Douglas, and the lion is nowsafe in the power of the dogs. How like you our kennel, most mightylion?"
It was the voice of the Chancellor Crichton.
The young King came running from his place and threw his arms aboutthe Earl's neck.
"I am the King," he cried; "not one of you shall touch or hurt mycousin Douglas!"
"Stand back, James," said the tutor Livingston; "the Douglas is atraitor, and you shall never reign while he rules. He and his brothermust be tried for treason. They have claimed the King's throne, andusurped his authority."
Sholto MacKim turned about. In all that threatening array of armed menno friendly eye met his, and none of all he had trusted drew a bladefor the Douglas. Sholto stood calculating the chances. To die like aman was easy, but how to die to some purpose seemed more difficult.He saw the King with his arm about the neck of William Douglas, whoremained quietly in his place with a pale but assured countenance.
It was Sholto's only chance. With his left hand he seized the youngKing by the collar of his doublet, and set the point of his sword tohis back between the shoulder-blades.
"Now," he cried, "let a man lay hand on my Lord Douglas and I willslay the King!"
At this there was great consternation, and but for fear of Sholto'skeeping his word half a score would have rushed forward to theassistance of the boy. The scream of a woman from some concealedportal showed that the Queen Mother was waiting to witness thedownfall of the mighty house which, as she had been taught, alonethreatened her boy's throne.
Sholto's arm was already drawn back for the thrust, when the voice ofthe Earl of Douglas was heard. He had risen to
his feet, and now stoodeasy and careless as ever, with his thumb in the blue silken sashwhich girt his waist.
"Sholto," he said calmly, "you forget your place. Let the King goinstantly, and ask his Majesty's pardon. Set your sword again in itssheath. I am your lord. I dubbed you knight. Do as I command you."
Most unwillingly Sholto did as he was bidden, and the King, instead ofwithdrawing, placed himself still closer to William of Douglas.
"And now," cried the Earl, facing the array of armed men who throngedthe banquet-hall, "what would ye with the Douglas? Do ye mean mydeath, as by the Bull's Head here on the table ye would have mebelieve?"
"For black treason do we apprehend you, Earl of Douglas," creaked thevoice of the Chancellor, still speaking from behind his array ofmen-at-arms, "and because you have set yourself above the King. But weare no butchers, and trial shall ye have by your peers."
"And who in this place are the peers of the Earl of Douglas?" said theyoung man, haughtily.
"I will not bandy words with you, my Lord Douglas. You areovermastered. Yield yourself, therefore, as indeed you must withoutremeed. Deliver your weapons and submit; 'tis our will."
"My brave Chancellor," said the Earl William, still in a voice ofpleasant irony, "you have well chosen your time to shame yourself. Weare your invited guests, and the guests of the King of Scotland. Weare here unarmed, sitting at meat with you in your own house. We havecome hither unattended, trusting to the honour of these noble knightsand gentlemen. Therefore my brother and I have no swords to deliver.But if, being honourable men, you stand, as is natural, upon a nicepunctilio, I can satisfy you."
He turned again to Sholto MacKim.
"Give me your sword," he said. "'Tis better I should render it thanyou."
With great unwillingness the captain of the guard of Thrieve did as hewas bidden. The Earl reversed it in his hand and held it by the point.
"And now, my Lord Chancellor, I deliver you a Douglas sword, dependingupon the word of an honourable man and the invitation of the King ofScotland."
But even so the chancellor would not advance from behind the cover ofhis soldiery, and the Earl looked around for some one to whom tosurrender.
"Will you then appoint one of your knights to whom I may deliver thisweapon? Is there none who will dare to come near even the hilt of aDouglas sword? Here then, Sholto, break it over your knee and cast itupon the board as a witness against all treachery."
Sholto did as he was told, breaking his sword and casting the piecesupon the table in the place where the King of Scots had sat.
"And now, my lords, I am ready," said the Earl, and his brother Davidstood up beside him, looking as they faced the unbroken ring of theirfoes the two noblest and gallantest youths in Scotland.
At this the King caught Lord William by the hand, and, lifting up hisvoice, wept aloud with the sudden breaking lamentation of a child.
"My cousin, my dear cousin Douglas," he cried, "they shall not harmyou, I swear it on my faith as a King."
At last an officer of the Chancellor's guard mustered courage toapproach the Earl of Douglas, and, saluting, he motioned him tofollow. This, with his head erect, and his usual easy grace, he did,David walking abreast of him. And Sholto, with all his heart filledwith the deadly chill of hopelessness, followed them through thesullen ranks of the traitors.
And even as he went Earl Douglas looked about him every way that hemight see once more her for whose sake he had adventured within theportals of death.