is voice and shouted,--

"God save the King!"

The mob heard the announcement in silence, and then a roar of laughter
followed, as they gazed at the two tattered figures on the edge of the
platform. But the laughter was followed by an ominous howl of rage, as
they understood that they were like to be cheated of a spectacle.

[Illustration: "'I AM JAMES, KING OF SCOTLAND,' HE PROCLAIMED, IN
STENTORIAN TONES."]

"Losh, I'll king him," shouted the indignant sheriff, as he mounted
the steps, and before the beggar or his comrade could defend
themselves, that official with his own hands precipitated them down
among the assemblage at the foot of the scaffold. And now the spirit
of a wild beast was let loose among the rabble. The king and his
henchman staggered to their feet and beat off, as well as they
could, the multitude that pressed vociferously upon them. A soldier,
struggling through, tried to arrest the beggarman, but the king nimbly
wrested his sword from him, and circled the blade in the air with a
venomous hiss of steel that caused the nearer portion of the mob to
press back eagerly, as, a moment before, they had pressed forward. The
man who swung a blade like that was certainly worthy of respect, be he
beggar or monarch. The cobbler's face was grimed and bleeding, but
the king's newly won sword cleared a space around him. And now the
bellowing voice of Baldy Hutchinson made itself heard above the din.

"Stand back from him," he shouted. "They're decent honest bodies, even
if they've gone clean mad."

But now these at the back of the crowd were forcing the others
forward, and Baldy saw that in spite of the sword, his old and his new
friend would be presently engulfed. He turned to one of the upright
posts of the scaffold and gave it a tremendous shuddering kick; then
reaching up to the cross-bar and exerting his Samson-like strength, he
wrenched it with a crash of tearing wood down from its position, and
armed with this formidable weapon he sprung into the mob, scattering
it right and left with his hangman's beam.

"A riot and a rescue!" roared the sheriff. "Mount, Trooper MacKenzie,
and ride as if the devil were after you to Stirling; to Stirling, man,
and bring back with you a troop of the king's horse."

"We must stop that man getting to Stirling," said Baldy, "or he'll
have the king's men on you. I'll clear a way for you through the
people, and then you two must take leg bail for it to the forest."

"S