CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE WEEM.

"Blow ye horns, And rouse each wilder passion of the soul, To drown the voice of Nature! He must die! He who puts forth his hand to seize a crown Must stake his all upon the mighty game." KÖRNER'S _Expiation_, a Drama.

"Oho! here cometh _another_ guest, whom the high wind bath blown us this eerie night!" cried one of the occupants of the weem, as the whole party arose and stood around the intruder.

Tall, strong, armed with a broken spear, smeared with mud from the paws of the wolf, and covered with gouts of its blood, which hung upon his matted hair and bushy beard, the aspect of the earl was sufficiently formidable to command the respect of the desperadoes among whom he had intruded; and, at a wave of his right hand and arm--the latter being drenched in blood to the elbow--they all shrunk back instinctively and grasped their clubs and poniards.

The enormous weem he had entered was one of those caverns from which a part of the coast obtains its name--Wemyss; and though the outer part of it was brilliantly illuminated by a fire of drift wood and pine-logs that blazed on the rocky floor, on progressing, the earl was impressed with a feeling of awe by the uncertainty of the vast profundity to which it penetrated; for the inner end of this frightful chasm or fissure yawned away obscurely and horribly into the bowels of the earth. It had, doubtless, been formed, like many others along the rocky coast, by that wondrous upheaval of the Scottish shores, which geologists suppose must have taken place some two thousand years ago, or when, the sea receded thirty feet from its ancient margin, which to this day is visible along the summits of all the headlands in Fifeshire and Lothian.

Though several culinary utensils, Dutch kegs and tubs were placed in little cupboard-like recesses, the cavern did not seem to have been long occupied by its tenants, who were six in number, strong and muscular men, whose long matted beards flowed nearly to their girdles; and whose attire declared them to be partly beggars, partly robbers, and wholly desperadoes. That they lived at enmity with their fellow-subjects was apparent from the multiplicity and aspect of the swords, poniards, and poleaxes with which they were armed.

The earl found, when too late, that he had made an unfortunate choice of hosts, when such a price was on his head, but grasping his broken spear with one hand, and his gory bundle by the other, he confronted them resolutely.

"Now, who are you?" asked one who seemed to be the leader.

"It matters nothing to thee, thou dour carle, so lay down thy maul, or beware!" replied the earl.

"Then, what are you?"

"A gaberlunzie--a beggar!" said Ashkirk, bitterly.

"Then, where is thy parish token?"

"I spoke but metaphorically, for I Lave not yet taken me unto _that_ trade; and when I do, I will see King James at Jericho, and his parliament too, before I will sew a pewter badge on my doublet, tattered though it be. I will not conform to this new law, believe me, brother rogue. But I repeat, nevertheless, that I _am_ a beggar, because I seek food without having the wherewithal to pay for it; and, moreover, that I am, like thyself, an outlaw."

"Gude and better!" replied the other; "but there is blood on thy sleeve; why man, thou art red handed!"

"Blood! true--I shed a little in my own defence, and what then? I have committed no murder. Believe me, fellow, there is more blood on thy soul than on my fingers. But, enough of this. I seek what every man who hath them not hath a right to seek from those who hath--food, fire, and shelter."

"What is this in your cloak?"

"Something that thou hast no concern with."

"We will soon see that," cried several, laying hands on their knives and daggers.

"If thou darest!" replied the earl, raising his truncheon, and confronting the strongest and the boldest.

"Byde and haud ye! Nay, nay," cried the others, laughing; "honour among thieves. Hath he not said that, like oursels, he is an outlaw? besides, ye will waken that chield in the corner."

"Sit down again, you quarrelsome loons," said the leader; "and seat thyself, too, my bold gaberlunzie, with a welcome to bite and to bicker."

As the earl seated himself, carefully placing his bundle behind him, he now for the first time perceived a cavalier, in a rich velvet mantle, lying asleep in a nook of the weem, which sheltered him both from the night wind, that blew the smoke and brands of the fire into the recesses of the rocks, and from the damp atmosphere of the sea, which burst like thunder every moment on the adjacent beach. The boots of the sleeper were of spotless white leather, adorned with spurs of gold, polished and richly chased, with rowels of glittering steel. Beside him lay his sword, which was sheathed in blue and embroidered velvet.

"Who may this gay gallant be?" asked the earl, as he warmed his hands, and, making himself quite at home, kicked up the brands to make a blaze.

"One of our king's dainty courtiers," replied the principal ruffian; a patch over whose left eye nearly concealed the little of his frightful visage which was not overgrown with hair. "St. Mary! thou mayest see he is Falkland bred, by those cork-heeled boots and gowden spurs. There hath been a brave hunt after the wolf of Pittencrief, and all the court and countryside have driven horse and hound nearly to death, without getting even sight or scent of the monster; so either the wind, the storm, or the darkness of the night, his evil chance, or our good luck, hath brought this gay galliard hither for a shelter and supper, which," he added, sinking his voice, "both his cloak and purse----"

"Breeches and doublet," said another, in the same whispering tone.

"With his horse, which we have stabled in yonder hole----"

"Yea," chimed in the earl, "and those dainty boots and spurs, shall pay for. Is it not so?"

"Right--we'll all have a share!" and here the six uttered a brutal laugh, and all exchanged glances and winks expressive of fun and ferocity.

"Meantime," said the leader, "waken up his worship, for supper is ready."

Here one pulled the wearied cavalier by the cloak. He started up, and revealed a handsome young face, aquiline features and dark hazel eyes, close clipped beard and dark moustache. He wore (very much on the right side) a smart blue bonnet, with a white feather springing from a diamond St. Andrew's cross.

"Mercy! _the king!_" said the earl, in the inmost recesses of his heart, as he respectfully gave place at the fire to the gallant and adventurous James V., who had not the most remote idea that he was recognised by any one there, and passed for nothing more than a private gentleman; the whole adventure being one of that romantic kind in which he--our Scottish Haround Alraschid--delighted. Before seating himself on the stone which was to be his chair, he signed the cross upon his breast and said: "_Benedicite._"

A mess of rabbits and fowls stewed together in a kailpot, another of broiled fish, with cheese and bannocks, which, like the small kegs of ale and usquebaugh, had merely cost the trouble of carrying them off (at a time when the burgh-merchants had no other police than their own eyes and hands), were freely shared by the thieves with their illustrious guests, one of whom they had foredoomed to death. The other, they deemed already as one of themselves; for the earl, the better to conceal his real character, assumed a strange dialect, and talked, laughed, sung and swore, till he drew upon him the marked attention of the king; but under that matted beard and tattered attire, disfigured by many a gout of blood, the monarch failed to recognise the outlawed noble.

With a hunting clasp-knife, one of those made and inscribed by Jacques de Liege (whence comes our Scottish _Jockteleg_), the king was carving for himself a chicken which he had laid on a broad bannock, and was evidently enjoying the repast like a huntsman and soldier, for he was both.

"By my faith! knave of the pot," said he to the robber who had cooked, "thou hast done thy duty well."

"Ouaye; we fisher chields can turn our hands to anything."

"Then turn them to mending the fire; for dost thou not see 'tis all gone to cinders?"

"As we shall when we gang to auld Clootie," replied the cook, whose reply was greeted by a roar of laughter, the echoes of which seemed to rumble away into the heart of the rocks.

"Friend Bloodybeard," said the king to the earl, "hand over that keg of usquebaugh; wilt drink with me? thy health, friend Bloodybeard."

"Thine, my gentleman of the white feather."

"How gallantly thou drainest thy bicker!" said the king, on seeing how the earl emptied his tass of raw spirits; "didst thou ever taste pure water, fellow?"

"Once, when an infant; but, as it nearly choked me, I have never tried it since. Tush! wine costs us no more than spring water. Like James and his courtiers of Arran, we help ourselves to our neighbours' goods and gear, whenever we lack."

The broad brow of the king knit, but he laughed, and said--

"Have the courtiers not wealth enough and to spare, sirrah?"

"Wealth--ah, that is the greatest and most respected quality in man."

"But beside wealth, hath not King James many virtues?"

"Tut! these are but a silly habit of differing from such merry men as we; but I fear me we scare thee, my dainty gentleman, by the din we are making."

"By my word, no; I should like to see the men who would scare me," replied the king, fishing another pullet out of the pot; "I am but fulfilling the injunctions of the great Plato, who said, 'live with thine inferiors as with unfortunate friends.' Ho! by St. Anne, Bloodybeard, knock the bottoms out of these broiled eggs, or all the Fife witches will be sailing over to Lothian in them; dost hear me? quick, or I shall report thee to the cardinal and his grand inquisitor."

"The inquisitor--faugh! he is but a Hamilton," said the earl, who could not jest with the names of his enemies; "and as for the cardinal, I say, bah! he is a mere cannonier in canonicals--a devil in a broad red hat."

"Beware how ye get under its shadow, my fool-hardy knaves," said the king, laughing. "Have you looked well to my horse?"

"Yea, sir, as a man looketh after his _own_," replied one fellow, whose ears bore visible marks of the nails which so frequently had fastened them to many a burgh cross; and at this significant reply there was uttered another of those low, ferocious laughs, which soon served to put the unwary monarch on his guard; for, like each of his forefathers, James V. was brave as a lion.

"My gallant grey!" said he; "'tis a gift to me from the Laird of Largo, who took him from the Lord Cassilis at Linlithgow Bridge, on the day of that unhappy battle. I have ridden him forty miles to-day,--not a rood less, I am sure."

"After such sore toil," said the earl; "his nostrils should be bathed with vinegar, and his breast with warm wine."

"Oho! thou knowest something of stablecraft, my smuggler, it would seem."

"Few in broad Scotland know better."

"And now I have supped right gloriously!" said the king, reclining back against the great cyclopean wall of the weem. "Friend robber, thy crail capons and stewed pullets have been done in such wise, that even King James's cook might envy thy skill; and in England, I doubt not, Henry the king would have made thee a belted earl; for he hath just made a baron of his cook for the exquisite manner in which he broiled a mackarel--at least so my friend the English ambassador said to-day, as we rode together near the old castle of Balwearie. Hand over that keg again, Bloodybeard," said the king, and, on receiving it, he began to sing a popular ditty of the day:--

"King James rode round by the Mere-cleugh-heid, Booted and spurred as we a' did see; But he dined and supped at Mossfennan yett, Wi' the bonny young Lass o' the Loganlee.

"Her hair was like the gowd sae braw, Like a lammer bead her deep dark e'e, Nor Falkland tower, nor Lithgow ha', Had a dame like the Lass o' the Loganlee.

"'Oh, where is the king?' quoth all the court, From the great cardinal to the fool, M'Ilree; But the devil a one knew where he was gone, With the bonnie young Lass o' the Loganlee."

Here the merry king lay back and laughed excessively at this hunting song, which had been composed on one of his own amorous adventures.

By this time the thieves had drunk deeply, but their hilarity began to subside, and their ferocious glances warned their guest that something unpleasant was about to terminate the noisy repast. Under his mantle the king felt secretly for his sword, and grew pale as death on discovering that, either by accident or design, when he was asleep, the blade had been broken in the sheath--leaving him defenceless, with seven armed outlaws, in a lonely cavern. He was in the very act of looking hurriedly round for some other weapon to snatch up in case of need, when lo! one of the ruffians held before him a plate, whereon (according to an ancient and barbarous custom) lay two naked poniards, as a signal that he was to be sacrificed, and might choose with which blade he was to die.

Instead, as they expected, of being appalled, with the rapidity of lightning the gallant king clutched one in each hand, and striking to the right and to the left, buried both weapons in the breasts of the ruffians next him.

"Dogs and villains!" he exclaimed, "slipper-helmetted dastards! come on, if you dare!"

Armed with mauls and axes, the other four fell furiously upon him, and he must inevitably have been slain had not the earl, with the truncheon of his spear in one hand, and a burning brand in the other, attacked them in the rear, and with such impetuosity that, by two blows he broke the arm of one, the head of a second, and drove the whole from the cavern. Thus, in less than one minute, the king and he found themselves, with two dead bodies, the sole occupants of the place.

"Well done, friend Bloodybeard!" exclaimed the breathless king; "by my soul, I thought thee one of them; and well it is for me thou didst strike in such good time. Complete me now thy service by cutting out the tongues of these two carrion, that I may give them to my hounds," he added, kicking the dead bodies, and untying his purse from his girdle. "I have here only twenty French crowns, but if thou wilt come to Falkland to-morrow, and ask fer--for----"

"His majesty the king," replied the earl, whose eye moistened, and whose heart swelled, as (instead of kneeling) he drew himself proudly up to his full height; "replace your purse, James Stuart; surely Archibald Earl of Ashkirk hath not sunk so far as to be paid thus for fighting in the service of his king."

"Ashkirk!" said King James, less astonished that he was recognised than at this rencontre and discovery. "Ashkirk, is it indeed thee, thou traitor and son of a traitress?"

"I am no traitor, neither am I the son of a traitress; but an outlaw, certainly; and why? Because I am the hereditary foeman of the house of Hamilton. False king, thou wrongest me sorely by such epithets as these."

"_Thou_, Ashkirk? it is impossible!" said James, filled with pity at the deplorable aspect of his long-dreaded rebel.

"Look at me, king! My years are not yet thirty, and my brow is wrinkled; for the hand of a tyrant, less than time, hath touched it."

"A tyrant?"

"Thou!"

"Darest thou say so to my teeth?"

"Ay, thou, James V.; for thou wagest the quarrels and the feuds of the fathers upon their children. By war and death thou dost; revengefully and remorselessly. Thou hast put a price upon my head, and hunted me, even as a wild beast, from place to place. But think not that I will ever sue for pardon; I will live as my fathers hath lived, or die, sword in hand, as my fathers have died. Never shalt thou see a Seton of Ashkirk among those fawning slaves of the house of Arran, who, watching for every passing smile, crowd round thy throne like sycophants--never! never!"

"This to me!" cried the king, snatching up a sword; "to me from thee, thou parricide, who hast carried fire and sword into the heart of thy fatherland! Must I tell thee, false earl, that, in addition to thy rebellion, all assurance and friendship with Englishmen is _treason_; that the residence of a Scot in England is treason; that buying from or selling to Englishmen is _treason_; that all travelling or trafficking with Englishmen, by word or writing, _is treason_; incurring the penalties of proscription and death! Not content with the committal of all these crimes, and with levying war against our wardens with lances uplifted and banner displayed, I find thee the boon-companion of thieves and outlaws, who live by slaughter and robbery; by stealing pikes from ponds; by breaking dowcots and orchards; by lifting sheep and slaying parked deer; all contraventions of the laws passed by my father, James IV., for the security of property; and involving the penalty of the scourge."

"The scourge!" reiterated the earl, with a bitter laugh; "I can respect the name of James IV., for he was my father's friend, and side by side they have often fought like two brave comrades; but thou, his son, the ruthless oppressor of the bravest nobles Scotland ever saw--who hast thrown the sceptre into the scales that justice might be overborne, never! The scourge? I am indeed degraded, when even a king dare mention it to me. Proud and ungrateful prince, hast thou, indeed, forgotten all that thou and thy forefathers owe to the houses of Seton and of Douglas?"

"I have not," said the king, standing on his guard; "it is, indeed, a debt of vengeance, so take up a sword and come on. Here, man to man, I defy thee, and repay it."

"Nay, nay; it shall never be said that the royal blood of Scotland stained the hand of a Seton. Ten minutes ago I might have slain thee in the _mêlée_, and there had ended thy Stuart line for ever."

"To place thy feudal foe of Arran on the throne--eh? That would not have mended matters with thee and Angus, I think. But what does royal blood signify? Art thou not at this moment covered with the blood of my subjects? Just now, earl, I tell thee, thou hast all the aspect of a gory murderer."

"Then, behold the head of my victim!" said the noble, as from his mantle he rolled at the king's feet the enormous and grisly head of the wolf. "Behold that _other_ head, on which, as on mine, your majesty has placed a golden price."

Admiration flashed in the eyes of James V.; he threw away his sword, and took the earl's hand in his.

"Oh, Ashkirk, Ashkirk! thou triest me sorely; oh, why art thou nob my friend?--but it cannot be; for thy wrongs against thy country, its parliament and crown, are too deep to be easily forgiven. For the gallant deeds of this night, I feel that I could forgive them all; but what would my people say, and what my peers, Cathcart and Lennox, Darnley, Hailes, Lyle, and Lorn,--all of whom are hostile to thy house? Besides, I have sworn--solemnly and irrevocably sworn--never to forgive the crime of man or of woman in whose veins there is one drop of the Douglas blood; and too surely, at this hour, at my own hearth and home, I feel that thy mother and thy sister are Douglases. My poor Magdalene!--Lord earl, thy crimes I might afford to forgive freely, for they are only those of a rash and headstrong Scot; but the other crimes of thy family never--never!"

And here, stung deeply by the thought of that supposed sorcery which was bringing his queen to the grave, James paused, and pressed his hands upon his brow; and the earl, who was ignorant of what he referred to, remained silent and perplexed.

"Still I could forgive thee, for the memory of my father's friend, Earl John,--that arm of steel and heart of fire--but my vow!--it cannot be. Here let us part; go on, pursue thy wandering way, unfriended and unhappy lord, and may Heaven keep thee! Here, take these thirty crowns from me,--not as the price of this wolf's head, which I will bear with me to Falkland, with the story of thy prowess, to shame my carpet knights, but as that gift, such as one friend, one gentleman, may freely bestow or freely accept from another. There are proclamations for thine apprehension posted on every city cross, on every burgh-barrier and tolbooth-gate, throughout the length and breadth of the land; if thou escapest, I will rejoice; and if thou art taken, I will sorrow; for, by my father's soul, I must then behead thee before the gates of Stirling. So away! to France, to Flanders, to Italy--anywhere but England, the land of our enemies; and may the blessed God grant that we shall never meet again.--Farewell!"

And leading forth his horse, for the storm had now died away, and the early sun of June had risen, the king put his foot in the stirrup, saying,--

"My adventures are wild and strange; and assuredly, if ever old Scotland hath a Plutarch, James V. will live in his pages. Adieu!" and with these words, placing the wolf's head at his saddle-bow, the king put spurs to his grey horse, and galloping along the sandy beach, rode over the adjacent hill in the direction of Falkland, which lay on his road to the Cistercian abbey of Balmerino.

The earl stood near the mouth of the cavern on the desolate beach, and gazed after the king's retiring figure, with mingled feelings of sadness, hostility, and admiration. Then, after long musing and much hesitation, he took up the purse of crowns which lay at his feet, and kissing his hand towards the castle of the Inch--the prison of Sybil Douglas and his mother--walked slowly and thoughtfully along the beach.

The storm had completely lulled. The sea was mirrored around the rocks and isles; the sky was blue and cloudless. The chafing waves broke with a dreamy ripple on the yellow sands. The green headlands and bold promontories, the rustic villages and quaint old fisher-town that nestled between them, were all shining in the silvery haze of that beautiful summer morning; but the soul of the young earl was sad.