This was beyond endurance. With one leap I was upon him and hurled him to the ground. He fell with a crash; his head struck the flagged floor with a heavy thud, and he lay still. I had fallen with him, and as I rose I received a blow which flung me down again. In an instant, as though a match had been set to a keg of powder, the tavern was in an uproar. What but a moment before had been a personal conflict between myself and the halberdier had waxed into a general mêlée. Some joined battle on my side, others were against me, and townsmen and troopers laid about them wildly with fists, beer-pots, and any other weapons to which they could lay their hands. The clean sanded floor became a mire of blood and tumbled ale, in which wallowed a tangle of cursing, fighting men. Just when the fray was at its hottest the door of the kitchen was thrown open, and the sergeant of our troop stood in its shadow. "What’s this?" he shouted, and, as though by magic, the combat ceased. None of us spoke, but the inn-keeper, finding speech at last, said: "A maist unseemly row, sergeant, begun by ane o’ your ain men, wha wi’ oot provocation felled ma frien’ the halberdier wha lies yonder a’maist deid." The sergeant strode to the body of the halberdier and dropped on his knees beside it. "What lousy deevil has done this?" he cried. "The Englishman," said the inn-keeper; "Nae Scotsman would ha’e felled sic a decent man unprovoked." I looked at the halberdier, and saw with relief that he was beginning to recover from his stupor. "Fetch us a gill o’ your best, Mac," said the sergeant. "We’ll see if a wee drap o’ Blednoch will no’ bring the puir fellow roon’. And you, Agnew, and MacTaggart, arrest Trooper Bryden. Lag will ha’e somethin’ to say aboot this." Agnew and MacTaggart laid each a hand on my shoulder, but my gorge was up and I resented being made a prisoner. I looked towards the door; there were four or five troopers in a knot beside it and escape in that direction was impossible; but behind me there was a stair. One sudden wrench and I tore myself from my captors and raced wildly up it. At the top, a door stood open. I flung it to in the faces of Agnew and MacTaggart, who were racing up behind me, and shot the bolt. Frail though it was, this barrier would give me a moment’s respite. I found myself in an attic room, and to my joy saw, in the light of the moon, a window set in the slope of the roof. Rapidly I forced it open, and threw myself up and out upon the thatched roof. In a moment I was at its edge, and dropped into the garden at the back of the inn. As I dropped I heard the door at the stair-head crash and I knew that my pursuers would soon be upon me. Crouching low I dashed to the bottom of the garden, broke my way through the prickly hedge and flew hot-foot down the hill.