On leaving the hall, Sir Andrew Wood was received at the palace-gate by his usual body-guard; the crew of his barge, under the command of Cuddie, the coxswain, armed with their boat-stretchers, and clad in their spotless white gaberdines, girdled by broad black belts, in which each had his Scottish knife or dudgeon-dagger, and all wearing broad blue bonnets, having red cherries on the top and white St. Andrew's crosses in front. They were sixteen of the smartest men in the ship's company, and Cuddie--or Cuthbert--the coxswain, marched in front. As the admiral, thus escorted and accompanied by Falconer and Barton, proceeded towards the landing-place down Tindall's Wynd, a narrow thoroughfare, then paved by those round stones such as may yet be seen in the streets of Arbroath and other seaport towns in Angus, he perceived a seaman making various efforts to attract his attention, by coming close to the barge's crew, and always touching his bonnet with profound respect whenever his eye fell on him. "Ahoy, brother!" said the admiral, "what cheer? Do you wish to speak with me? Ha! Jamie Gair--is it thee who art backing and filling thus, as if I were some great lord? Put on thy bonnet, man. But why art not away to the fishing-ground? Are there English cruisers off the coast?" "Ye have guessed aright, Sir Andrew," replied Gair; "and I crave the honour o' a word wi' ye apart." "Well,--say forth." "Captain Howard, the _Royal Harry_, and twa other English ships were off the Firth last night." "What dost thou tell me?" "Sure as I am a living man, sir--inside the Inchcape bell," continued Jamie, in a low anxious whisper. "Lubber and loggerhead! And thou only tellest me now!" "Wi' the first blink o' dawn I was aboard the frigate, Sir Andrew, but ye werena there; and I hae been haudin' off and an about the palace door sincesyne, in the hope o' seeing you. But oh, be wary, Sir Andrew, and ask me nae mair, for I am but a puir fisherman, wi' a wife and a bairn to feed and to cleed----" "Wary--what mean ye, Jamie Gair?" "Your word as a knight, Sir Andrew, that you will never repeat what will assuredly be my ruin." "Messmate, thou hast my word as a seaman. Well?" "Last night three gentlemen, in masks, went off to the _Royal Harry_, and remained two hours aboard." "About what time was this?" "Mirk midnight----" "When honest men are swinging in their hammocks. Well?" "When day broke, she and her twa consorts were bearing awa south and by east." "Three gentlemen, wearing masks,"--said the admiral, keenly scrutinizing the honest brown visage of the fisherman; "ken ye their names?" "No, Sir Andrew," replied Jamie looking down, for he trembled for his wife and child, if exposed to the vengeance of Gray of Kyneff.