like yourself, noble Douglas,’ said the king, ‘The higher the stake the greater the honour. The task be yours, and may the issue add another laurel to the heroic name.’
‘James of Douglas,’ said Lady Margaret, ‘dost thou indeed accept of these hard conditions for my sake? Then the hand of thy royal mistress shall buckle on the armour in which thou goest to the field, but never shall unloose it, unless from a victor or a corse!’ And with that she stretched forth her hand, which Douglas, as he kneeled with one knee on the ground, took and pressed to his lips.
Every one of the nobles shook Douglas by the hand, and wished him success. Does any man believe that there was one among them that indeed wished it? No, there was not a chief present that would not have rejoiced to have seen him led to the gallows. His power was too high already, and they dreaded that now it might be higher than ever; and, moreover, they saw themselves outdone by him in heroism, and felt degraded by the contract thus concluded.
The standard of the Douglas was reared, and the bloody heart flew far over many a lowland dale. The subordinate gentlemen rose with their vassals, and followed the banner of their chief; but the more powerful kept aloof, or sent ambiguous answers. They deemed the service undertaken little better than the frenzy of a madman.
There was at that time a powerful border baron, nicknamed Sir Ringan Redhough, by which name alone he was distinguished all the rest of his life. He was warden of the middle marches, and head of the most warlike and adventurous sept in all that country. The answer which this hero gave to his own cousin, Thomas Middlemas, who came to expostulate with him from Douglas, is still preserved verbatim: ‘What, man, are a’ my brave lads to lie in bloody claes that the Douglas may lie i’ snaw-white sheets wi’ a bonny bedfellow? Will that keep the braid border for the king, my master? Tell him to keep their hands fu’, an’ their haunches toom, an’ they’ll soon be blythe to leave the lass an’ loup at the ladle; an’ the fient ae cloot shall cross the border to gar their pots play brown atween Dirdanhead and Cocketfell. Tell him this, an’ tell him that Redhough said it. If he dinna work by wiles he’ll never pouch the profit. But if he canna do it, an’ owns that he canna do it, let him send word to me, an’ I’ll tak’ it for him.’
With these words he turned his back, and abruptly left his cousin, who returned to Douglas, ill satisfied with the success of his message, but, nevertheless, delivered it faithfully. ‘That curst carle,’ said the Douglas, ‘is a thorn in my thigh, as well as a buckler on my arm. He’s as cunning as a fox, as stubborn as an oak, and as fierce as a lion. I must temporize for the present, as I cannot do without his support, but the time may come that he may be humbled, and made to know his betters; since one endeavour has failed, we must try another, and, if that do not succeed, another still.’
The day after that, as Sir Ringan was walking out at his own gate, an old man, with a cowl, and a long grey beard, accosted him. ‘May the great spirit of the elements shield thee, and be thy protector, knight,’ said he.
‘An’ wha may he be, carle, an it be your will?’ said Ringan; ‘An’ wha may ye be that gie me sic a sachless benediction? As to my shield and protection, look ye here!’ and with that he touched his two-handed sword, and a sheaf of arrows that was swung at his shoulder; ‘an’ what are all your saints and lang nebbit spirits to me?’
‘It was a random salutation, knight,’ said the old man, seeing his mood and temper; ‘I am not a priest but a prophet. I come not to load you with blessings, curses, nor homilies, all equally unavailing, but to tell you what shall be in the times that are to come. I have had visions of futurity that have torn up the tendrils of my spirit by the roots. Would you like to know what is to befal you and your house in the times that are to come?’
‘I never believe a word that you warlocks say,’ replied the knight; ‘but I like aye to hear what you will say about matters; though it is merely to laugh at ye, for I dinna gie credit to ane o’ your predictions. Sin’ the Rhymer’s days, the spirit o’ true warlockry is gane. He foretauld muckle that has turned out true; an’ something that I hope will turn out true: But ye’re a’ bairns to him.’
‘Knight,’ said the stranger, ‘I can tell you more than ever the Rhymer conceived, or thought upon; and, moreover, I can explain the words of True Thomas, which neither you nor those to whom they relate in the smallest degree comprehend. Knowest thou the prophecy of the Hart and the Deer, as it is called?
‘Quhere the hearte heavit in het blude over hill and howe,
There shall the dinke deire droule for the dowe:
Two fleite footyde maydenis shall tredde the greine,
And the mone and the starre shall flashe betweine.
Quhere the proude hiche halde and heveye hande beire
Ane frenauch shall feide on ane faderis frene feire,
In dinging at the starris the D shall doupe down,
But the S shall be S quhane the heide S is gone.’
‘I hae heard the reide often and often,’ said the knight, ‘but the man’s unborn that can understand that. Though the prophecies and the legends of the Rhymer take the lead i’ my lear, I hae always been obliged to make that a passover.’
‘There is not one of all his sayings that relates as much to you and your house, knight. It foretels that the arms of your family shall supersede those of Douglas, which you know are the bloody heart; and that in endeavouring to exalt himself to the stars, the D, that is the Douglas, shall fall, but that your house and name shall remain when the Stuarts are no more.’
‘By the horned beasts of Old England, my father’s portion, and my son’s undiminished hope,’ exclaimed the knight – ‘Thou art a cunning man! I now see the bearing o’ the prophecy as plainly as I see the hill o’ Mountcomyn before my e’e; and, as I know Thomas never is wrong, I believe it. Now is the time, auld warlock – now is the time; he’s ettling at a king’s daughter, but his neck lies in wad, and the forfeit will be his undoing.’
‘The time is not yet come, valiant knight; nevertheless the prophecy is true. Has thy horse’s hoof ever trode, or thine eye journeyed, over the Nine Glens of Niddisdale?’
‘I hae whiles gotten a glisk o’ them.’
‘They are extensive, rich, and beautiful.’
‘They’re nae less, auld carle; they’re nae less. They can send nine thousand leel men an’ stout to the field in a pinch.’
‘It is recorded in the book of fate – it is written there––’
‘The devil it is, auld carle; that’s mair than I thought o’.’
‘Hold thy peace: lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and be silent till I explain: I say I have seen it in the visions of the night – I have seen it in the stars of heaven––’
‘What? the Nine Glens o’ Niddisdale amang the starns o’ heaven! by hoof and horn, it was rarely seen, warlock.’
‘I say that I have seen it – they are all to belong to thy house.’
‘Niddisdale a’ to pertain to my house!’
‘All.’
‘Carle, I gie nae credit to sic forbodings; but I have heard something like this afore. Will ye stay till I bring my son Robin, the young Master of Mountcomyn, and let him hear it? For aince a man takes a mark on his way, I wadna hae him to tine sight o’t. Mony a time has the tail o’ the king’s elwand pointed me the way to Cumberland; an’ as often has the ee o’ the Charlie-wain blinkit me hame again. A man’s nae the waur o’ a bit beacon o’ some kind – a bit hope set afore him, auld carle; an’ the Nine Glens o’ Niddisdale are nae Willie-an-the-Wisp in a lad’s ee.’
‘From Roxburgh castle to the tower of Sark––’
‘What’s the auld-warld birkie saying?’
‘From the Deadwater-fell