Farnham Bishop and Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur

“ Though the townsfolk are too weak to withstand you, they may not be alone! Let Cospatrick go!"
Duncan turned on him.
"So Evan the Headless is with you! It is unsafe to tell such treason to a king's officer!"
"I never spoke his name!" Gillespie protested. "I am no traitor, good sir!"
"Then you will do well to wait till the deputy comes," McIvor sternly admonished him.
The merchant's distress was pitiful.
"But I tell ye," he whined, "it is death to wait! The blood of many men will be on your head. Let him go at once! If ye wait till tomorrow, it may be too late!" ”

“ Through a loophole in the wall of his castle he could see the great Manila galleon San Gregorio riding at anchor in Urado Bay. The flaming banner of Spain flew from her lofty poop, and beneath it sparkled the blue gleam of Western armor.
Ichio, the mask-faced secret agent of Hideyoshi, looked at the fighting eye and panther-like body of the Daimio—now fully recovered from the effects of his fever—and replied—
“Oh Lord of Tosa, he is even such a man as yourself!” ”

“ The scheme is desperate, but we have no other hope.”
“OH LORD OF TOSA,” protested Kurushima’s gray-haired second in command, “half our men are slain, the rest are weary and sorely wounded, and this devil-ship is as strong as ever! Whenever we win her deck and drive back her crew, their high-placed guns sweep us away as an angry chess-player sweeps the pieces from the board. Their weapons are too powerful; their captain, whose sword is everywhere, is no mortal but a demon—else how could he have flown over our castle-wall? ”

“ The townsmen stared at each other aghast for a single moment; then frenzy seized them, and they surged toward the scaffold. Evan the Headless waved to his outlaws, who were wheeling into line; down came the lance-points, couched for the charge. The Earl of Ross roared an order, his archers bent their bows, the men-at-arms locked shields and formed an unbroken hedge of spears. The hangman placed the noose 'round Ronald Cospatrick's neck.
"Hold! Stay the execution! Here is the murderer!" A voice rang clear and high through the startled square. ”

“ It was manifestly a ship—but what a ship! The Japanese stared as at some incredible monster. She was covered with an iron roof; a curved deck of iron plates shaped like the back of a tortoise. There was neither sail nor mast; beneath the protecting overhang of the iron deck the oars of many rowers urged her forward at stupefying speed. A hideous dragon’s head, with wide-open jaws, glared horribly above the bows. A raised oar in the stern bore the flaming standard of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the great sea-fighter and inventor of Korea. ”

“ Do ye like to see good men killed for nothing?"
"Are you mad?" Duncan replied.
"It is you who are mad. The townsfolk love their provost; if ye hang him, they will throw themselves upon you. Then there will be a deal of killing, much harmless blood will be spilt, and the good town of Kinlochan will be laid waste. I love this town, young man, and I would not see these ill things happen. Therefore I warn you, let the provost escape. Ye need not fear for yourself. When the deputy comes, you say that Evan the Headless surprised the guard and took him away. ”

“ A powerfully built man with commanding eyes rose from a padded mat at the further end of the hall, and approached him, bowing low. Though no word was said, Diego recognized that he was in the presence of the Daimio, so obviously was this Japanese the master of the place. Ichio, entering behind his captain, confirmed his impression by prostrating himself with marked humility. Diego looked his host over with frank, though courteous curiosity. Kurushima was still young, plainly an athlete and a soldier. His gaze was lion-like and frank, his gestures those of a born leader of men. ”

“ Still rigid in his saddle, Duncan shifted his eyes from the crowd to the cathedral portal. A tall, spare man in a stained surcoat of soft leather appeared beside Cospatrick, the provost, and acknowledged the citizens' welcome. This was Sir Hugh Kennedy, Earl of Carfrae, the king's justiciar. A terrible man was he, feared throughout Scotland for his grim gray sword and his fierce gray eye; his visit usually boded little good to the city he honored with his presence.
Nor was Kinlochan the most conscience-free city in the land, either ”

“ As the Japanese gazed with open eyes and mouths, the dragon’s jaws spat smoke and flame, and a heavy cannon-ball tore through the crowded waist of one of Kurushima’s junks. The shrieks of the wound ed rang piteously; but through and above them beat a thunderous yell of defiance from the whole Japanese fleet. Tall, narrow banners, bright with the insignia of a hundred fighting feudal chiefs, were waved on high. ”

“ Duncan commanded crisply.
Jamieson caught the look in McIvor's eye, and obeyed at once. He was a dour, rangy Borderer on a stolen horse; though he had little liking for his young officer, he understood the consequences of disobedience at such a time.
"You, Kilbeggie," McIvor ordered, "take two-score men and search every house in the town. Arrest all who resist or can not give a good account of themselves. Henderson, mount a patrol, scour the district, and look sharp for signs of Evan's men. Seize all who go armed. Steenson, ride to the regent with the ill news and ask for thirty spearmen." ”

“ The Spanish musket-balls splintered their gunwales and tore through their armor, inflicting horrible, tearing wounds; but in spite of it, the sampans grappled the San Gregorio fore and aft, port and starboard, as many as could crowd alongside. The rest vomited their swordsmen over the side and into the already packed hulls of those that were at close grips. Trained to scale walls and surmount all obstacles, the gallant Samurai, burdened as they were with armor, swarmed up the sides of the galleon as easily as the naked men from the junks. ”

“ Unused to desperate fighting, the townsmen made way before him, or fell headlong beneath his blows, until the captain stood within striking distance of Evan the Headless, with no one between to save the outlaw from his stroke. Duncan raised his sword, felt a weapon thud against the stanch steel rings on his back, and realized instantly that he had no time to fight.
Lowering his point, he dealt Evan a mighty blow with his left fist against the meshed mail covering the throat. The outlaw fell heavily, still struggling to release his sword from the scabbard in which it was jammed. ”

“ There was something under the man's boldness, or he would hardly have been so ready with his promises to free the provost; nor would he have dared show his ill-will so openly. And what was the reward he expected from Margaret?
"The man can not be in love with her?" he muttered. "A mere cordwainer!"
But the thought suited well with Carmichael's insolent behavior; he was a man who would dare much, Duncan felt. ”

“ These you will try to take alive.
“The hulls of these Manila ships are of teak, thick enough to withstand stone or iron shot from the heaviest cannon in all Japan or Korea. That is why I wish for one to fight the tortoise-boat. If you succeed, you shall take the great ship into battle for the conquest of China. Nevertheless, stout as she is, I forbid you to use either cannon or fire-arrows when you capture her, lest mischance occur.”
“We of Tosa despise such cowards’ tools,” Kurushima answered scornfully. “The brave man knows no weapon but the sword.” ”

“ Reading the Daimio’s intention, as he was wont to read the minds of men, Hideyoshi raised two fingers in a gesture of restraint.
“You shall not slay yourself, Kurushima,” he commanded. “You are to kill the crew of the tortoise-boat instead, and sink their iron monster in the sea.”
“But how?” gasped the astonished Kurushima. “How can I do this, when I have already failed?”
“By returning to your province of Tosa and playing go in your castle at Urado,” Hideyoshi replied enigmatically, and sat on the floor beside the sleeping-mat. “Do not try to rise, for the fever has scarce left you. ”

“ Kill this fellow quietly, and be done with it."
"But, good Evan," Gillespie protested, "would it not be more prudent to hold him as a hostage? If we slay him, the king's spearmen will butcher us all!"
"The king's troops will have enough to do to save their own lives," the outlaw answered. "This lad here is both brain and heart to them; put him out of the way, and his men will offer small resistance tomorrow. Consider, men of Kinlochan: if McIvor escapes, he will bring a charge of high treason against all of you, and then it will be hey for a short grace and a long rope. ”

“ I mean that he is no merchant, but a warrior—a caballero, which is to say, a Samurai of Spain. Born of the most ancient and impoverished house of de Torres, my captain, Don Diego, thinks never of gain, but always of honor. The Spaniards in his crew boast of the many battles he has fought with the English, the Moros and other pirates. So great is his skill and valor that he has never lost a ship entrusted to his care. ”

“ All that was forgiven; but Evan the Headless, the blood-guilty outlaw, had not been forgiven, and Kinlochan's most respectable citizens were suspected of taking his pay. Certain it was that the young bloods had been known to toast Evan openly; and goods pillaged from the very outskirts of the capital had a way of showing up in Kinlochan. The townsfolk smelled blood in the air; wherefore they applauded the king's justiciar with all their might.
Duncan's heart swelled with pride in his stern old leader. There he stood facing hundreds of men who might be thirsting for his blood ”

“ The low waist lay like a valley between them; to raise its sides and make them harder for a foe to scale, strips of stout canvas, painted with gay armorial devices, were stretched along the top of the bulwarks from poop to forecastle. These were the waist-cloths, ancestors of the nineteenth-century boarding-net.
Mounted at the break of poop and forecastle were the bases, minions and murderers; wicked little breech-loading swivels that could sweep any part of deck or rail with a storm of small shot.
“Boy, bring me my armor!” cried Diego; but the cabin-boy was below, sanding the gun-deck. ”

“ Moreover, if Kinlochan was loyal to the boy-king Malcolm with its head, it was loyal to the defeated Robert with its sentimental heart, and Evan was a hero to the townsfolk, if he was something of a terror to them also.
Duncan McIvor knew that he and his company of spearmen stood in grave danger if Evan chose this all too opportune moment for a dash into the city; the grumbling citizens were almost certain to join hands with the outlaw. The king's men were too few to hold the walls against a numerous and determined enemy, with treason menacing them from within. ”

“ For that there was a plot to free the provost, by force if necessary, Duncan no longer doubted.
Tiptoeing cautiously toward the street, he followed his man's portly figure to the turn, down a narrow, winding side street, to the rear entrance of a large, six-story house with a high-pitched, many-angled roof and a wilderness of chimneys. Gillespie mounted the steps and looked about apprehensively. Duncan dropped to the cobblestones just in time, and heard the merchant knock at the door four times in rapid succession. ”

“ As soon as we had discharged our lading of Spanish goods and Mexican silver, Don Diego went to the governor and offered to sail the San Gregorio into the Sulu Sea, destroy the pirates, and re-open the China trade. This was a voluntary service on his part, for he is not an officer of the governor of the Philippines, but of the viceroy of Mexico. Overjoyed, the governor bade him name his own reward; and Don Diego asked for the hand of the Lady Ysabel. This was overheard by one of my comrades, a servant in the Palacio. Nothing is said or done in Manila that we servants of Japan do not know. ”

“ As McIvor readjusted his cloak and turned away, Jamieson saw that he was carrying; stuck through his belt, the devil's dagger—at midnight, too, when, as all men know, the Evil One has power! The superstitious Borderer crossed himself and gave up all hope of ever seeing his young officer alive again.
The moon was up, but the streets and houses of Kinlochan were otherwise dark, for the captain had given orders for all citizens to be at home and in bed by the curfew hour, now long past. As Duncan crossed a side street, a man stole out of a house-door, closely muffled. ”

“ I regret exceedingly that I am unable to dispose of his Majesty’s ship without authorization.”
“But, Don Diego,” protested the voluble Ichio, “the crew will do whatever you bid them—you have but to order them ashore. None of those on board will be injured or deprived of anything: the cargo will be placed under seal and guarded by its owners and the soldiers of Lieutenant Gomez, till another ship can come from Manila to take everything away. And the great price that the Lord Kurushima is paying for the ship will surely compensate for the delay to those in authority in Mexico and Spain.” ”

“ Suspecting something vaguely evil in the man's purpose, he beckoned the nearest soldier to him, and pointed in the direction Carmichael had taken.
"A tall fellow in murray and black has just gone up that street yonder," he said. "Follow him, and report to me where he goes, with whom he speaks, and where he lives."
McIVOR established his headquarters in the keep, a small but thick-walled and easily defended castle that had once been the lonely stronghold of the cattle-lifting robber lords of Kinlochan, the last of whom had died, with a lance through his body, a century since. ”

“ The superstitious countryfolk said that he was an evil spirit, and whispered that there was no head within that helmet, nothing but a grinning skull. It was this superstition which had given him his title.
But cruel and uncanny as he was, he had stood by Robert, young Malcolm's unsuccessful rival to the throne, with a devotion which won him as much affection from the men of Kinlochan as they dared show. He never raided this town, and he shared the proceeds of his pillage with the rash young townsmen who smuggled across the near-by Highland border. ”

“ Shrewd little Ichio glanced from one to the other, read their minds, and silently congratulated himself and his master, Hideyoshi.
“Tell the Lord Kurushima that I accept,” said Diego, rising, “for his service seems one in which a man may gain much honor. Now I must go to the ship and come back with a friend, before the galleon resumes her voyage to Acapulco. When she has returned to Japan* as my Lord Kurushima’s ship, then will I begin my duties as his admiral. Till then, I crave his hospitality lor myself and one other person now on board the San Gregorio.” ”