Farnham Bishop and Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I hope with all my heart that your father may clear himself. But I would not willingly bring hardship upon you. Your house is now the king's, but you have my consent to occupy it until the regent sends his deputy to take over the town and inquire into the murder."
With charming grace, but with unconcealed scorn, she swept him a low courtesy, and majestically descended the steps. Duncan turned to Carmichael, who stood regarding him sourly.
"Henceforth you will take care not to lay hands on a soldier of the king," he warned the cordwainer. ”

“ He must find some other means of escape.
Then there came to Duncan's ears the blessed sound of the tramp of disciplined feet, and he knew that one of his own patrols was passing by. A shout rose to his lips; but he checked it, realizing that to call out thus from the housetops would almost certainly rouse the town and start a general fight that otherwise might be avoided—for now he knew that the other side would not be ready to strike till tomorrow noon. ”

“ Evan the Headless was Malcolm Carmichael!
Signing for silence, Black David addressed the people:
"Justice is done," he said. "I restore Ronald Cospatrick to all his honors and offices, and I give freedom to his fellow officers. Some of them may have been a thought disloyal; but he who misled them is punished, and I pardon them. Ridolfo the Italian is free to go and come where he likes, so long as he does not remain in Scotland. As for Duncan McIvor, who found the murderer and solved the vexed matter of the devil's dagger, I can promise him an ample reward at the king's hands. ”

“ His severity caused the townsfolk to mutter ominously, for it was plain that they regarded the murder as the work of some supernatural power. Had they not seen the dagger stand forth in Carfrae's breast, with no hand raised to plant it there? Then why were peaceful burgesses thrown into prison, when a thousand men had seen them standing innocently by at the commission of the deed?
Discontent was doubly dangerous in Kinlochan, in the heart of the district infested by Evan the Outlaw, "the Headless," as men called him. ”

“ Duncan assured her. "He will be Evan the Headless in very truth if he shows himself in Kinlochan."
The curtains parted, and Malcolm Carmichael's bold, sinister face smiled at them across the room.
"This is foolish talk," he gibed. "Evan knows more than to thrust his neck into the snare. He appears only when he is not looked for."
Duncan flushed angrily.
"Master Cordwainer," he said, "I have warned you twice not to interfere in the king's business. I warn you now for the last time. ”

“ Be it known that the said town is also suspect of making way with and murdering one Duncan McIvor, in command of the king's troops, occupying the said town. Wherefore, in the king's name, I, David, Earl of Ross, deputy for the king, do hereby command that unless the murderer or murderers be produced within half the space of an hour, the provost and officers of the said town of Kinlochan be duly and well hanged, in satisfaction of the king's vengeance. ”

“ The herald's trumpet was drowned out by a prolonged howl of hate and fury from the grimly waiting men in house-doors and street-corners. Through their outcries rang another trumpet, blown three times, from without the wall. ”

“ And suiting the action to the word, he seized the hilt with one brawny hand, laid the other against the earl's breast, and wrenched out the dagger.
Duncan caught up the man's hand, took the weapon from it, and examined the palm and fingers.
"Those callouses were made by a sword, not by a cordwainer's knife," he said sternly.
"All free citizens bear arms, and have occasion to use them against the king's enemies," the other replied carelessly. ”

“ It is an old saying that he who plucks the knife out may plunge it in."
The cordwainer shot a dark look at him; but before either could speak another word, a woman's shriek rang above the murmur of the scattering crowd and the threats of the soldiers, who were clearing the square. Carmichael darted past McIvor to the far end of the platform between the top of the steps and the cathedral door, and disappeared 'round the corner of the building. Following swiftly on his heels, Duncan saw a young girl struggling in the grasp of two spearmen, upon one of whom Carmichael was leaping from behind. ”

“ Removing the cloth from his burden, Ridolfo displayed a short, thick steel bow set in a heavy stock, to which a small windlass was attached near the grip. At the fore-end was a steel stirrup; this Ridolfo planted on the ground, placed one foot in it, and with both hands revolved the cranks that drew back the string to where it was caught and held by a trigger. ”

“ There he found a messenger from the capital, dusty with hard riding.
"The regent can not send reinforcements," he reported. "The Islesmen are up in arms, and he needs every man; but the Earl of Ross will be here with a small escort by noon tomorrow. He bids you have a gallows built in front of the church before he comes."
DETAILING Kilbeggie and three men to this task, Duncan went to his quarters and pondered over the things he had heard. At first he thought only of Carmichael's strong, evil face and arrogant speech. ”