of it came to the edge of the
platform and received from the secretary double the amount of gold
pieces set down on the parchment. As each man secreted his treasure he
passed along out of the hall; and so it came about that Sir David and
Ballengeich, being the last on the list, received the remaining coins
on the table, and silently took their departure.

The king spoke no word until they had entered the castle and were
within his private room. Once there, the first thing he did was to
pull from his pouch the coins he had received and examine them
carefully one by one. There was no doubt about them, each was a good
Scottish gold piece, with the king's profile and bonnet stamped
thereon.

"You will find them genuine," said Sir David. "I had my own fears
regarding them at first, thinking that this foreigner was trying the
trick which Robert Cockran, the mason, accomplished so successfully
during the reign of your grandfather, mixing the silver coins with
copper and lead; but I had them tested by a goldsmith in Edinburgh and
was assured the pieces are just what they claim to be."

"Prudent man!" exclaimed the king, throwing himself down on a seat and
jingling the gold pieces. "Well, Davie, what do you think of it all?
Give me an opinion as honest as the coin."

"Truth to tell, your majesty, I do not know what to think of it. It
may be as he says, that the earth here contains particles of gold,
that are drawn to the bars he throws in the melting-pot. If the man
is a cheat, where can he hope for his profit?"

"Where indeed? I mind you told me he had other marvellous inventions;
what are they?"

"He has a plan by which a man in full armour can enter the water and
walk beneath it for any length of time without suffocating."

"Have you seen this tried?"

"No, your majesty; there has been no opportunity."

"What an admirable contrivance for invading Ireland! What are his
plans as far as England is concerned? He seems, if I remember your
tale aright, to have some animosity in that direction."

"He has constructed a pair of wings, and each soldier being provided
with them can sail through the air across the Border."

"Admirable, admirable!" exclaimed the king nodding his head. "Now
indeed is England ours, and France too for that matter, if his wings
will carry so far. Have you seen these wings?"

"Yes, your majesty, but I have not seen them tried. They seem to be
made of fine silk stretched on an extremely light fra