he knight, "of the Council of Princes of the Holy
Crusade."

"And how dared any one to give such an order, when I--not the least,
surely, in the league--was unacquainted with it?"

"It was not my part, please your highness," said the Scot, "to inquire
into such particulars. I am a soldier of the Cross--serving, doubtless,
for the present, under your highness's banner, and proud of the
permission to do so, but still one who hath taken on him the holy symbol
for the rights of Christianity and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre,
and bound, therefore, to obey without question the orders of the
princes and chiefs by whom the blessed enterprise is directed. That
indisposition should seclude, I trust for but a short time, your
highness from their councils, in which you hold so potential a voice, I
must lament with all Christendom; but, as a soldier, I must obey those
on whom the lawful right of command devolves, or set but an evil example
in the Christian camp."

"Thou sayest well," said King Richard; "and the blame rests not with
thee, but with those with whom, when it shall please Heaven to raise me
from this accursed bed of pain and inactivity, I hope to reckon roundly.
What was the purport of thy message?"

"Methinks, and please your highness," replied Sir Kenneth, "that were
best asked of those who sent me, and who can render the reasons of mine
errand; whereas I can only tell its outward form and purport."

"Palter not with me, Sir Scot--it were ill for thy safety," said the
irritable monarch.

"My safety, my lord," replied the knight firmly, "I cast behind me as a
regardless thing when I vowed myself to this enterprise, looking rather
to my immortal welfare than to that which concerns my earthly body."

"By the mass," said King Richard, "thou art a brave fellow! Hark thee,
Sir Knight, I love the Scottish people; they are hardy, though dogged
and stubborn, and, I think, true men in the main, though the necessity
of state has sometimes constrained them to be dissemblers. I deserve
some love at their hand, for I have voluntarily done what they could not
by arms have extorted from me any more than from my predecessors, I
have re-established the fortresses of Roxburgh and Berwick, which lay
in pledge to England; I have restored your ancient boundaries; and,
finally, I have renounced a claim to homage upon the crown of England,
which I thought unjustly forced on you. I have endeavoured to make
honourable and independe