=40. The Gowrie Plot.=--On the morning of the fifth of August, 1600, as James was setting out hunting from Falkland Palace, he was met by _Alexander Ruthven_, the younger brother of the _Earl of Gowrie_, who told him with a great air of mystery that he had discovered a man burying a pot of money in a field, and that he thought the affair so suspicious that he had taken him prisoner, and begged the King to come to _Gowrie House_ in _Perth_ to see him. James went, taking with him _Mar_, _Lennox_, and about twenty other gentlemen. After dinner _Alexander_ took the King aside, and, when his attendants missed him, they were told that he had gone back to _Falkland_. They were preparing to follow him there when some of them heard cries from a turret. They recognized the King's voice, and they presently saw his head thrust out of a window calling for help. They had much ado to make their way to him, but they found him at last in a small room struggling with Alexander, while a man dressed in armour was looking on. Alexander Ruthven and Gowrie were both killed in the scuffle which followed. A tumult rose in the town, for the Earl had been Provost and was very popular with the townsfolk, and the King and his followers had to make their escape by the river. The doom of traitors was passed on the dead men, and their name was proscribed, but, as no accomplice could be discovered, it was hard to say what was the extent or object of their plot. The whole affair was very mysterious, the only witnesses being the King himself and Henderson the man in armour. Some of the ministers thought it so suspicious that they refused to return thanks for the King's safety, as they thought the whole affair an invention of his own. Eight years later some letters were discovered in the hands of one _Sprot_, a notary at _Eyemouth_, which threw some more light on the mystery. They were written by _Logan_ of _Restalrig_, and revealed a plan between him and the Ruthvens for bringing some prisoner, who was not named, but might possibly be the King, to _Fast Castle_, a fortress belonging to Logan, standing on a rock at the entrance to the _Forth_. Sprot was found guilty of treason, and was put to death for not revealing all he knew about the plot long before.