'Have you not heard how in the north country the Craufords beset the
Kennedies in Dalrymple Kirk, taking them at an advantage without their
weapons of war--so that a Kennedy now goes no oftener to kirk than the
twenty-ninth of February comes into the calender.'
'How strange it befalls in a small world,' said I, laughing, 'for I am a
Kennedy, and I ride to visit the Craufords of Kerse.' Then he looked at
me more closely than ever.
'My name,' he said courteously, 'is John Mure of Auchendrayne.'
So I told him my name and style, and also the knight's name to whom I
was squire, for after his giving me his own I could not do less.
'You have been in Edinburgh lately?' he said. 'And I doubt not, by your
looks, bore yourself well in the sad broil in the High Street. Indeed,
I think that I heard as much. Though being a man of good age, and one
that is of quiet ways, I neither make nor mell with such tulzies, which
are for young, lusty folk at any rate.'
After a little riding in silence and thought, he asked me if I had ever
spoken to Gilbert Kennedy of Bargany, and it was with a loath heart that
I answered 'No.'
Then he spoke long of him and his noble prowess, comparing him to the
Earl of Cassillis, to his great advantage--which I grant it was easy
enough to do. But since I could not wear a man's signet ring on my
finger and deny him even by my silence, I spoke up for my colours. And
that is good enough religion, as I read it.
'I am Cassillis man,' said I, with my hand on my sword, 'and I care not
who knows it.'
'Hush you, young sir,' replied the Laird of Auchendrayne, soothingly,
'mind that you are now in an enemy's country. I warrant that Currie of
Kelwood has travelled this road not so long before you.'
'I am not one who cares whether folk know my opinions,' I cried. 'See,
I wear them on my collar. And I have on my finger a double
safe-conduct.'
Whereupon I let him see the rings, drawing off my gauntlet that I might
show him the signets.
Then he redoubled his respect and rode nearer to me, which made me glad
that I had showed him the seals with their crests.
'You are young to ride so far alone on such great folk's business,' he
said softly. 'Even I, that am old and sober, am not so trusted.'
'Laird Auchendrayne,' I replied to him, 'you do jest with me because of
my youth. For you yourself are of the great ones, their kinsman and
equal at muster and council-board, and but lately, in the Earl's
absence, Bailzie of Carrick!'
Then he went on to speak of the Earl, mocking at him as one greedy-tooth
for land and siller like his father, and warning me that when he had
done with me he would cast me off without fee or reward, like an old
glove.
'Nay, worse,' said he, 'for he will save the worn glove to sell over
again to Granny Nish of the Luckenbooths.'
'Light-hand or luck-penny,' said I, 'Launcelot Kennedy is not the man to
change his colours for goods or gear.'
'And who bids you?' said he. 'Tush, man! you are at the horn and
outlaw. Any man may take your life and be the freer for it. The
sneckdraw Cassillis and the old wife Culzean are not fit mettle for a
gallant like you to ride beside. Hear ye, man; I will tell you a secret
which none knoweth yet, but which, if you are wise and bold, will make
your fortune with the King. Bargany is to marry one of the Queen's
bower-maidens--one too that carries the King's name--_and he is to have
the Earldom of Carrick_!'
Here he hushed his voice and leaned towards me, setting his hand on the
arch of Dom Nicholas's neck.
'And that,' he whispered,' will mean knighthood and an estate--besides a
fair maid with a tocher, to every good man that can draw a sword and
lead a company. What think ye of that? Be not hasty, man. I tell you
Bargany will crumple up Cassillis as I crumple this bit of paper.'
And he threw a crushed sheet of writing into Doon Water as we rode
beside it.
Then I faced about upon him, and set myself very straight in the saddle.
'Sir,' I said, 'you are an older man, a richer man, a better learned man
than I. But let me tell you, sir, that I am an honester man than you;
and maybe I shall win though none the worse of that at the long and
last. But if what I have said offend you, I am willing to give
satisfaction on horse or foot, now or again, either to you or to any
younger man of your name. I bid you good-day, sir, for I count you not
good company for leal gentlemen.'
And with that I turned my back on him, and rode on my way.
'Go your own gate,' he said, rather regretfully than angrily. 'You have
thrown away a kindly offer for an old song and a sounding phrase. You
are a mettle lad, but with much wind in your belly.'
So I rode on, thinking that I had done with him--which was very far
indeed from being the case.
*CHAPTER IX*
*CARTEL OF CONTUMELY*
Now, the place where I took my leave of that pleasant, reputable
treason-breeder, John Mure of Auchendrayne, was within a quarter of a
mile of Dalrymple Bridge, where it strides across Doon Water. I am
persuaded that when I left him a little behind, I saw him heave up his
hand, for I got just a waft of it with the tail of my eye. Yet though I
could not swear it conscience-clear in any court in the land (unless
absolute need were), I am still persuaded in my mind, as much as I was
then, that the douce and gracious man intended that I should fall into
an ambush, if I proved overly hard-bitten for his projects and
temptings.
So as I came near to the bridge-end, I looked very warily about, and
methought that I spied the black muzzle of a hackbutt, where there was
no need of such like. Now hackbutts do not, even in Carrick, grow on
hedges, though in these days a man might somewhat easily make the
mistake of thinking so. I judged, therefore, that there would be an
ugly face behind the gun, and a finger on the slow match that intended
me no good.
As I paused, turning about on my saddle, I saw a fellow rise out of the
copse-wood before me, and run like a rabbit to the bridge-end. That was
enough for me. Fighting is well enough, and I can be doing with it, for
it is the path of glory and of fortune. But black treachery I cannot
stomach.
So being mightily angry, but resolved like steel to show John Mure and
his butchers that I despised them, I turned Dom Nicholas's head and set
him straight at the deeps of Doon Water, where ford there was none. In
a moment we were splashing in the pool, and in another Dom Nicholas had
thrown back his head and taken to the swimming like a duck. It was but
a little way across, but far enough for me, for I saw the fellows
running along the bank from the end of the bridge, blowing on their
matches and bidding me stop. Now that was not a likely thing for me to
do, being, praise the Lord! in my sober senses.
But when I got to the other shore, and set my horse to climb the steep
(which was by a mill on the waterside), I was somewhat dashed to find
one sitting quiet on his horse, within ten paces of me, with his fingers
on his sword and his pistol bended in his hand.
I apprehended in a moment that this must be James Mure the younger of
Auchendrayne, and I thought that I was as good as dead. Yet I held up
my hand and cried, 'Herald!' and 'Safe-Conduct!' Though I knew that
with such men as the Mures I might just as well and usefully have cried
'Bubbly Jock!' or 'Pigeon Pie!'
The young man in war-gear who sat his horse above me, did not move nor
lift his weapon to fire.
'Tell me,' he said calmly, 'who may you be that cries "Safe-Conduct!"
and "Herald!" on the lands of Kerse?'
I answered him that I was Launcelot Kennedy--and to effectuate something
with him I added 'of Kirrieoch.' For I thought it was unlikely that he
would know the hill country well enough to remember that my father was
still alive. Which I take to have been an innocent enough deception, in
that it hurt no one.