The Black Douglas

  CHAPTER I

  THE BLACK DOUGLAS RIDES HOME

  Merry fell the eve of Whitsunday of the year 1439, in the fairest andheartsomest spot in all the Scottish southland. The twined May-polehad not yet been taken down from the house of Brawny Kim, masterarmourer and foster father to William, sixth Earl of Douglas and Lordof Galloway.

  Malise Kim, who by the common voice was well named "The Brawny," satin his wicker chair before his door, overlooking the island-studded,fairy-like loch of Carlinwark. In the smithy across the greenbare-trodden road, two of his elder sons were still hammering at somearmour of choice. But it was a ploy of their own, which they desiredto finish that they might go trig and point-device to the Earl'sweapon-showing to-morrow on the braes of Balmaghie. Sholto andLaurence were the names of the two who clanged the ringing steel andblew the smooth-handled bellows of tough tanned hide, that wheezed andpuffed as the fire roared up deep and red before sinking to the rightwelding-heat in a little flame round the buckle-tache of the girdlebrace they were working on.

  And as they hammered they talked together in alternate snatches andsilences?--Sholto, the elder, meanwhile keeping an eye on his father.For their converse was not meant to reach the ear of the grave, strongman who sat so still in the wicker chair with the afternoon sunshining in his face.

  "Hark ye, Laurence," said Sholto, returning from a visit to the doorof the smithy, the upper part of which was open. "No longer will I bea hammerer of iron and a blower of fires for my father. I am going tobe a soldier of fortune, and so I will tell him--"

  "When wilt thou tell him?" laughed his brother, tauntingly. "I wagermy purple velvet doublet slashed with gold which I bought with mineown money last Rood Fair that you will not go across and tell him now.Will you take the dare?"

  "The purple velvet--you mean it?" said Sholto, eagerly. "Mind, if yourefuse, and will not give it up after promising, I will nick thatlying throat of yours with my gullie knife!"

  And with that Sholto threw down his pincers and hammer, and valorouslypushed open the lower door of the smithy. He looked with bold, darkblue eye at his father, and strode slowly across the grimy door-step.Brawny Kim had not moved for an hour. His great hands lay in his lap,and his eyes looked at the purple ridges of Screel, across thebeautiful loch of Carlinwark, which sparkled and dimpled restlesslyamong its isles like a wilful beauty bridling under the gaze of ascore of gallants.

  But, even as he went, Sholto's step slowed, and lost its braggartstrut and confidence. Behind him Laurence chuckled and laughed,smiting his thigh in his mocking glee.

  "The purple velvet, mind you, Sholto! How well it will become you,coft from Rob Halliburton, our mother's own brother, seamed with redgold and lined with yellow satin and cramosie. Well indeed will it setyou when Maud Lindesay, the maid who came from the north for companyto the Earl's sister, looks forth from the canopy upon you as youstand in the archers' rank on the morrow's morn."

  Sholto squared his shoulders, and with a little backward hitch of hiselbow which meant "Wait till I come back, and I will pay you for thisflouting," he strode determinedly across the green space towards hisfather.

  The master armourer of Earl Douglas did not lift his eyes till his sonhad half crossed the road. Then, even as if a rank of spearmen at theword of command had lifted their glittering points to the "ready,"Sholto MacKim stopped dead where he was, with a sort of gasp in histhroat, like one who finds his defenceless body breast high againstthe line of hostile steel.

  "The purple velvet!" came the cautious whisper from behind. But thetaunt was powerless now.

  The smith held his son a moment with his eyes.

  "Well?" came in the deep low voice, more like the lowest tones of anorgan than the speech of a man.

  Sholto stood fixed, then half turning on his heel he began to walktowards the corner of the dwelling-house, over which a gay streamer ofthe early creeping convolvulus danced and swung in the stirring of thelight breeze.

  "You wish speech with me?" said his father, in the same level andthrilling undertone.

  "No," said Sholto, hesitant in spite of himself, "but I thought--thatis I desired--saw you my sister Magdalen pass this way? I havesomewhat to give her."

  "Ah, so," said Brawny Kim, without moving, "a steel breastplate,belike. Thou hast the brace-buckle in thy hand. Doth the littleMagdalen go with you to the weapon-show to-morrow?"

  "No, father," said Sholto, stammering, "but I was uneasy for thechild. It is full an hour since I heard her voice."

  "Then," said his father, "finish your work, put out the fire, and goseek your sister."

  Sholto brought his hands together and made the little inclination ofthe head which was a sign of filial respect. Then, solemn as if he hadbeen in his place in the ordered line of the Earl's first levy ofarcher men, he turned him about and went back to the smithy.

  Laurence lay all abroad on the heap of charcoal of which thearmourer's welding fire was made. He was fairly expiring withlaughter, and when his brother angrily kicked him in the ribs, he onlywaggled an ineffectual hand and feebly crowed in his throat like acock, in his efforts to stifle the sounds of mirth.

  "Get up, fool," hissed his angry brother; "help me with this accursedhammer-striking, or I will make an end of such a giggling lout as you.Here, hold up."

  And seizing his younger brother by the collar of his blue workingblouse, he dragged him upon his feet.

  "Now, by the saints," said Sholto, "if you cast your gibes upon me,by Saint Andrew I will break every bone in your idiot's body."

  "The purple velvet--oh, the purple velvet!" gasped Laurence, as soonas he could recover speech, "and the eyes of Maud Lindesay!"

  "That will teach you to think rather of the eyes of Laurence MacKim!"cried Sholto, and without more ado he hit his brother with hisclinched knuckles a fair blow on the bridge of his nose.

  The next moment the two youths were grappling together like wild cats,striking, kicking, and biting with no thought except of who shouldhave the best of the battle. They rolled on the floor, now tusslingamong the crackling faggots, anon pitching soft as one body on thepeat dust in the corner, again knocking over a bench and bringing downthe tools thereon to the floor with a jingle which might have beenheard far out on the loch. They were still clawing and cuffing eachother in blind rage, when a hand, heavy and remorseless, was laid uponeach. Sholto found himself being dabbled in the great temperingcauldron which stood by his father's forge. Laurence heard his ownteeth rattle as he was shaken sideways till his joints waggled likethose of a puppet at Keltonhill Fair. Then it was his turn to bedoused in the water. Next their heads were soundly knocked together,and finally, like a pair of arrows sent right and left, Laurence spedforth at the window in the gable end and found himself in the midst ofa gooseberry bush, whilst Sholto, flying out of the door, fellsprawling on all fours almost under the feet of a horse on which ayoung man sat, smilingly watching the scene.

  Brawny Kim scattered the embers of the fire on the forge-hearth, andthrew the breastplate and girdle-brace at which the boys had beenworking into a corner of the smithy. Then he turned to lock the doorwith the massive key, which stood so far out from the upper leaf thatto it the horses waiting their turns to be shod were ordinarilytethered.

  As he did so he caught sight of the young man sitting silent on theblack charger. Instantly a change passed over his face. With onemotion of his hand he swept the broad blue bonnet from his brow, andbowed the grizzled head which had worn it low upon his breast. Thusfor the breathing of a breath the master armourer stood, and then,replacing his bonnet, he looked up again at the young knight onhorseback.

  "My lord," he said, after a long pause, in which he waited for theyouth to speak, "this is not well--you ride unattended and unarmed."

  "Ah, Malise," laughed the young Earl, "a Douglas has few privileges ifhe may not sometimes on a summer eve lay aside his heavy prisonment ofarmour and don such a suit as this! What think you, eh? Is it not avaliant apparel, as might almost beseem one who rode a-court
ing?"

  The mighty master-smith looked at the young man with eyes in whichreverence, rebuke, and admiration strove together.

  "But," he said, wagging his head with a grave humorousness, "yourlordship needs not to ride a-courting. You are to be married to agreat dame who will bring you wealth, alliance, and the dower ofprovinces."

  The young man shrugged his shoulders, and swung lightly off hischarger, which turned to look at him as he stood and patted its neck.

  "Know you not, Malise," he said, "that the Earl of Douglas must needsmarry provinces and the Lord of Galloway wed riches? But what is therein that to prevent Will Douglas going courting at eighteen years ofhis age as a young man ought. But have no fear, I come not hitherseeking the favour of any, save of that lily flower of yours, the onlytrue May-blossom that blooms on the Three Thorns of Carlinwark. Iwould look upon the angel smile on the face of your little daughterMagdalen. An she be here, I would toss her arm-high for a kiss of hermouth, which I would rather touch than that of lady or leman. For I doever profess myself her vassal and slave. Where have you hidden her,Malise? Declare it or perish!"

  The smith lifted up his voice till it struck on the walls of hiscottage and echoed like thunder along the shores of the lake.

  "Dame Barbara," he cried, and again, getting no answer, "ho, DameBarbara, I say!"

  Then at the second hallo, a shrill and somewhat peevish voiceproceeded from within the house opposite.

  "Aye, coming, can you not hear, great nolt! 'Deed and 'deed 'tis apretty pass when a woman with the cares of an household must comerunning light-toe and clatter-heel to every call of such a lazy lout.Husband, indeed--not house-band but house-bond, I wot--house-torment,house-thorn, house-cross--"

  A sonsy, well-favoured, middle-aged head, strangely at variance withthe words which came from it, peeped out, and instantly the scoldingbrattle was stilled. Back went the head into the dark of the house asif shot from a bombard.

  Malise MacKim indulged in a low hoarse chuckle as he caught the words:"Eh, 'tis my Lord William! Save us, and me wanting my Ryssil gown thatcost me ten silver shillings the ell, and no even so muckle as mywhite peaked cap upon my head."

  Her husband glanced at the young Earl to see if he appreciated thesavour of the jest. Then he looked away, turning the enjoyment overand over under his own tongue, and muttering: "Ah, well, 'tis not hisfault. No man hath a sense of humour before he is forty years of hisage--and, for that matter, 'tis all the riper at fifty."

  The young man's eyes were looking this way and that, up and down thesmooth pathway which skirted like a green selvage the shores of theloch.

  "Malise," he said, as if he had already forgotten his late eager questfor the little Magdalen, "Darnaway here has a shoe loose, andto-morrow I ride to levy, and may also joust a bout in the tilt-yardof the afternoon. I would not ask you to work in Whitsuntide, but thatthere cometh my Lord Fleming and Alan Lauder of the Bass, bringingwith them an embassy from France--and I hear there may be fair ladiesin their company."

  "Ah!" quoth Malise, grimly, "so I have heard it said concerning theembassies of Charles, King of France!"

  But the young man only smiled, and dusted off one or two flecks offoam which had blown backwards from his horse's bit upon the richcrimson doublet of finest velvet, which, cinctured closely at thewaist, fell half-way to his knees in heavy double pleats sewn withgold. A hunting horn of black and gold was suspended about his neck bya bandolier of dark leather, subtiley embroidered with bosses of gold.Laced boots of soft black hide, drawn together on the outside fromankle to mid-calf with a golden cord, met the scarlet "chausses" whichcovered his thighs and outlined the figure of him who was the noblestyouth and the most gallant in all the realm of Scotland.

  Earl William wore no sword. Only a little gold-handled poignard with alady's finger ring set upon the point of the hilt was at his side, andhe stood resting easily his hand upon it as he talked, drawing it aninch from its sheath and snicking it back again nonchalantly, with asound like the clicking of a well-oiled lock.

  "Clink the strokes strongly and featly, Malise, for to-morrow, when theBlack Douglas rides upon Black Darnaway under the eyes of--well--ofthe ladies whom the ambassadors are bringing to greet me, there mustbe no stumbling and no mistakes. Or on the head of Malise MacKim thematter shall be, and let that wight remember that the Douglas does notkeep a dule tree up there by the Gallows Slock for nothing."

  The mighty smith was by this time examining the hoofs of the Earl'scharger one by one with such instinctive delicacy of touch thatDarnaway felt the kindly intent, and, bending his neck about, blew andsnuffled into the armourer's tangled mat of crisp grey hair.

  "Up there!" exclaimed MacKim, as the warm breath tickled his neck, andat the burst of sound the steed shifted and clattered upon thehard-beaten floor of the smithy, tossing his head till the bridlechains rang again.

  "Eh, my Lord William," an altered voice came from the door-step, whereDame Barbara MacKim, now clothed and in her right mind, stood loutinglow before the young Earl, "but this is a blythe and calamitatious dayfor this poor bit bigging o' the Carlinwark--to think that your honourshould visit his servants! Will you no come ben and sit doon in thehouse-place? 'Tis far from fitting for your feet to pass thereupon.But gin ye will so highly favour--"

  "Nay, I thank you, good Dame Barbara," said the Earl, very courteouslytaking off the close-fitting black cap with the red feather in itwhich was upon his head. "I must bide but a moment for your husband toset right certain nails in the hoofs of Darnaway here, to ready me forthe morrow. Do you come to see the sport? So buxom a dame as themistress of Carlinwark should not be absent to encourage the lads todo their best at the sword-play and the rivalry of the butts."

  And as the dame came forth courtesying and bowing her delightedthanks, Earl William, setting a forefinger under her triple chin,stooped and kissed her in his gayest and most debonair manner.

  "Eh, only to think on't," cried the dame, clapping her hands togetheras she did at mass, "that I, Barbara MacKim, that am marriet to adonnert auld carle like Malise there, should hae the privileege o' asalute frae the bonny mou' o' Yerl William--(Thank ye kindly, mylord!)--and be inveeted to the weepen-shawing to sit amang the leddiesand view the sport. Malise, my man, caa' ye no that an honour, aprivileege? Is that no owing to me being the sister--on my faither'sside--o' Ninian Halliburton, merchant and indweller in Dumfries?"

  "Nay, nay, good dame," laughed the Earl, "'tis all for the sake ofyour own very sufficient charms! I trust that your good man here isnot jealous, for beauty, you well do ken, ever sends the wits of aDouglas woolgathering. Nevertheless, let us have a draught of yourhome-brewed ale, for kissing is but dry work, after all, and little doI think of it save" (he set his cap on his head with a gallant wave ofhis hand) "in the case of a lady so fair and tempting as Dame BarbaraMacKim!"

  At this the dame cast up her hands and her eyes again. "Eh, what willMarget Ahanny o' the Shankfit say noo--this frae the Yerl William. Eh,sirce, this is better than an Abbot's absolution. I declare 'tis mairsustainin' than a' the consolations o' religion. Malise, do you hear,great dour cuif that ye are, what says my lord? And you to think solittle of your married wife as ye do! Think shame, you being what yeare, and me the ain sister to that master o' merchandise and Bailie o'Dumfries, Maister Ninian Halliburton o' the Vennel!"

  And with that she vanished into the black oblong of the door oppositethe smithy.