wo of his boon
companions had returned to finish a flagon. Then he stared hard and he
passed his hand over his eyes like one who thinks he may be dreaming.

"Mon Dieu!" he cried. "Who are you and whence come you at this hour of
the night? Is this the way to break into our royal presence?"

Simon approached up one side of the table and Aylward up the other. When
they were close to the King, the man-at-arms plucked a torch from its
socket and held it to his own face. The King staggered back with a cry,
as he gazed at that grim visage.

"Le diable noir!" he cried. "Simon, the Englishman! What make you here?"

Simon put his hand upon his shoulder. "Sit here!" said he, and he forced
the King into his seat. "Do you sit on the farther side of him, Aylward.
We make a merry group, do we not? Often have I served at this table,
but never did I hope to drink at it. Fill your cup, Samkin, and pass the
flagon."

The King looked from one to the other with terror in his bloodshot eyes.
"What would you do?" he asked. "Are you mad, that you should come here.
One shout and you are at my mercy."

"Nay, my friend, I have lived too long in your house not to know the
ways of it. No man-servant ever slept beneath your roof, for you feared
lest your throat would be cut in the night-time. You may shout and
shout, if it so please you. It chanced that I was passing on my way from
England in those ships which lie off La Brechou, and I thought I would
come in and have speech with you."

"Indeed, Simon, I am right glad to see you," said the King, cringing
away from the fierce eyes of the soldier. "We were good friends in the
past, were we not, and I cannot call to mind that I have ever done you
injury. When you made your way to England by swimming to the Levantine
there was none more glad in heart than I!"

"If I cared to doff my doublet I could show you the marks of what your
friendship has done for me in the past," said Simon. "It is printed on
my back as clearly as on my memory. Why, you foul dog, there are the
very rings upon the wall to which my hands were fastened, and there the
stains upon the boards on which my blood has dripped! Is it not so, you
king of butchers?"

The pirate chief turned whiter still. "It may be that life here was
somewhat rough, Simon, but if I have wronged you in anyway, I will
surely make amends. What do you ask?"

"I ask only one thing, and I have come hither that I may get it. It is
that you pay me forfeit