was thrown is said to have been
tremendous."

"That's false," interrupted the captain, removing his pipe while he
spoke. "The word ain't appropriate. The men of Arbroath doesn't know
nothin' about no such word as `consternation.' They was _surprised_, if
ye choose, an' powerfully enraged mayhap, but they wasn't consternated
by no means."

"Well, I don't insist on the point," said the lieutenant, "but
chroniclers write so--

"Chroniclers write lies sometimes," interrupted the captain curtly.

"Perhaps they do; but you will admit, I dare say, that the women and
children were thrown into a great state of alarm."

"I'm not so sure of that," interposed Ruby. "In a town where the men
were so bold, the women and children would be apt to feel very much at
their ease. At all events, I am acquainted with _some_ women who are
not easily frightened."

"Really, I think it is not fair to interrupt the story in this way,"
said Minnie, with a laugh.

"Right, lass, right," said the captain. "Come, leftenant, spin away at
yer yarn, and don't ventur' too much commentary thereon, 'cause it's apt
to lead to error, an' ye know, as the poet says--

"`Errors in the heart breed errors in the brain,
An' these are apt to twist ye wrong again.'

"I'm not 'xactly sure o' the precise words in this case, but that's the
sentiment, and everybody knows that sentiment is everything in poetry,
whether ye understand it or not. Fire away, leftenant, an' don't be
long-winded if ye can help it."

"Well, to return to the point," resumed Lindsay. "The town was
certainly thrown into a tremendous state of _some_ sort, for the people
had no arms of any kind wherewith to defend themselves. There were no
regular soldiers, no militia, and no volunteers. Everybody ran wildly
about in every direction, not knowing what to do. There was no leader,
and, in short, the town was very like a shoal of small fish in a pool
when a boy wades in and makes a dash amongst them.

"At last a little order was restored by the Provost, who was a sensible
old man, and an old soldier to boot, but too infirm to take as active a
part in such an emergency as he would have done had he been a dozen
years younger. He, with several of the principal men of the town, went
down to the beach to receive the bearers of the flag of truce.

"The boat was manned by a crew of five or six seamen, armed with
cutlasses and arquebusses. As soon as its keel grated on the sand a