, spanned by rustic
bridges. The walls were peopled by cheering clansmen, and nearly a
score of pipers did much to increase the din. Inside, the king and his
men found ample accommodation; their rooms were carpeted with moss and
with flowers, forming a variety of colour and yielding a softness to
the foot which the artificial piles of Eastern looms would have
attempted to rival in vain. Here for three days the royal party was
entertained. Hunting in the forest gave them prodigious appetites, and
there was no criticism of the cooking. The supply of food and drink
was lavish in the extreme; fish from the river and the loch, game from
the moors and venison from the hills.

It was evening of the third day when the cavalcade set out again for
the Priory; the chief, Finlay MacNab, accompanied his guests down the
valley, and when some distance from the castle of logs, James smote
him on the shoulder, copying thus his own astonishing action. "Sir
Finlay," he cried, "a king's hand should be no less potent than a
king's sword, and thus I create thee a knight of my realm, for never
before has monarch been so royally entertained, and now I pause here
to look once more on your castle of pine."

So they all stayed progress and turned their eyes toward the wooden
palace they had left.

"If it were built of stone," said the Pope's legate, "it would be the
strongest house in the world as it is the largest."

"A bulwark of bones is better than a castle of stones," said Sir
Finlay. "That is an old Highland saying with us, which means that a
brave following is the best ward. I will show you my bulwark of
bones."

And with that, bowing to the king as if to ask permission, he raised
his bugle to his lips and blew a blast. Instantly from the corner of
the further bastion a torch flamed forth, and that torch lighted the
one next it, and this its neighbour, so that speedily a line of fire
ran along the outlines of the castle, marking out the square towers
and the round, lining the curtain, the smaller towers, turrets and
parapets. Then at the top of the bailey wall a circle of Highlanders
lit torch after torch, and thus was the whole castle illumined by a
circle of fire. The huge edifice was etched in flame against the
sombre background of the high mountain.

"Confess, legate," cried the king, "that you never saw anything more
beautiful even in fair Italy."

"I am willing to admit as much," replied the Roman.

Another blast from the