"For King James, I should say, and a bellyful of fighting," said Dundee carelessly.
"Maybe ye're richt, and if so, there's no mischief done; and maybe ye're wrang, and if so, there will be black trouble. At ony rate, I didna like the story, and I wasna taken wi' the men. No that they're bad-lookin', but they're after some ploy. Weel, they ride by themsel's, and they camp by themsel's, and they eat by themsel's, and they sleep by themsel's. So this midday, when we haltit, they made off to the bank o' the river, and settled themsel's ablow a tree, and by chance a burn ran into the river there wi' a high bank on the side next them. Are ye listenin', my lord?"
"Yes, yes," said Dundee, whose thoughts had evidently been far away, and who was attaching little importance to Jock's groundless fears. "Go on. So you did a bit of scouting, I suppose?"
"I did," said Jock, with some pride, "and they never jaloused wha was lying close beside them, like a tod (fox) in his hole. I'm no prepared to say that I could catch a' their colloguing, but I got enough to set me thinkin'. Juist bits, but they could be pieced togither."
"Well," said Dundee, with more interest, "what were the bits?"
"The one asks the other where he keeps his pass. 'Sown in the lining of my coat,' says he. 'Where's yours?' 'In my boot,' answers he, 'the safest place.' Who gave them the passes, thinks I to myself, and what are they hiding them for? So I cocks both my ears to hear the rest."
"And what was that, Jock?" And Dundee now was paying close attention.
"For a while they spoke so low I could only hear, 'This underhand work goes against my stomach.' 'Aha, my lad, so it's underhand,' says I in my hole. 'It's worth the doing,' says the other, 'and a big stroke of work if we succeed. It might be a throne one way or other.' 'Not to us,' laughs the first. 'No,' says his friend, 'but we'll have our share.' 'This is no ordinary work,' says I to mysel', and I risked my ears out of the hole. 'It's no an army,' says one o' them, 'but juist a rabble, and a' depends on one man.' 'You're right there,' answers the other, 'if he falls all is over.' Then they said something to one another I couldn't catch, and then one stretched himself, as I took it by his kicking a stone into the river, and rose, saying, 'By heaven! we'll manage it.' The other laughed as he rose too, and as they went away the last words I heard were, 'The devil, Jack, is more likely to be our friend.' Notice this, my lord, every word in the English tongue, as fine and smooth spoken as ye like. Where did they come from, and what are they after? Aye, and wha is to fall, that's the question, my lord?"