a loud
laugh went round the hall, and the smart pages whispered together and
pointed to my muddy clothes.

When the old seneschal saw this, he gave me a kindly nudge.

"Yonder is my Lord of Buccleuch at the top of the table," he whispered;
"go right up to him, and speak out thy message boldly."

I did as I was bid, though I felt my cheeks burn as I walked up the
great hall, among staring men and whispering pages, and when I reached
the dais where the Warden sat, I knelt at his feet, cap in hand, as my
father had taught me to do before my betters.

Sir Walter Scott, Lord of Buccleuch, of whom I had heard so much, was a
young, stern-looking man, with curly brown hair and keen blue eyes. His
word was law on the Borders, and people said that even the King, in
far-off Edinburgh, stood in awe of him; but he leant forward and spoke
kindly enough to me.

"So thou comest from Armstrong of Kinmont, boy; and had Kinmont Willie
no better messenger at hand, that he had to fall back on a smatchet like
thee?"

"There were plenty of men at Kinmont, an' it please your lordship," I
answered, "had I had time to seek them; but a man called Sakelde hath
ta'en my father prisoner, and carried him to Carlisle, and I have ridden
all night to tell thee of it, for he is like to be hanged the day after
to-morrow, if thou canst not save him."

Here my voice gave way, and I could only cling to the great man's knee,
for my quivering lips refused to say any more.

Buccleuch put his arm round me, and spoke slowly, as one would speak to
a bairn.

"And who is thy father, little man?"

"Kinmont Willie," I gasped, "and he was ta'en last night, in truce
time."

I felt the arm that was round me stiffen, and there was silence for a
moment, then my lord swore a great oath, and let his clenched fist fall
so heavily on the table, that the red French wine which stood before him
splashed right out of the beaker, a foot or two in the air.

"My Lord of Scroope shall answer for this," he cried. "Hath he forgotten
that men name me the Bold Buccleuch, and that I am Keeper o' the
Scottish Marches, to see that justice is done to high and low, gentle
and simple?"

Then he gave some quick, sharp orders, and ten or twelve men left the
room, and a minute later I saw them, through a casement, throw
themselves astride their horses, and gallop out of the courtyard. At the
sight my heart lightened, for I knew that whatever could be done for my
father would be d