The monastery; The abbot.

244 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
"No one surely," said Murray; " they would presume to hold no election
until the Queen's pleasure and mine were known?"
Morton shrugged his shoulders-" They have chosen the pupil of old Cardinal Beatoun, that wily determined champion of Rome, the bosom-friend
of our busy Primate of Saint Andrews. Eustace, late the Sub-Prior of
Kennaquhair, is now its Abbot, and, like a second Pope Julius, is levying
men and making musters to fight with Foster if he comes forward."
"We must prevent that meeting," said Murray, hastily; "whichever
party wins the day, it were a fatal encounter for us -Who commands the
troop of the Abbot?"
"Our faithful old friend, Julian Avenel, nothing less," answered Morton.
"Glendilnning," said Murray, " sound trumpets to horse directly, and let
all who love us get on horseback without delay -Yes, my lord, this were
indeed a fatal dilemma. If we take part with our English friends, the
country will cry shame on us-the very old wives will attack us with their
rocks and spindles -the very stones of the street will rise up against uswe cannot set our face to such a deed of infamy. And my sister, whose
confidence I already have such difficulty in preserving, will altogether withdraw it from me. Then, were we to oppose the English Warden, Elizabeth
would call it a protecting of her enemies and what not, and we should lose
her."
" The she-dragon," said Morton, "is the best card in our pack; and yet
I would not willingly stand still and see English blades carve Scots flesh
What say you to loitering by the way, marching far and easy for fear of
spoiling our horses? They might then fight dog fight bull, fight Abbot
fight archer, and no one could blame us for what chanced when we were
not present."
" All would blame us, James Douglas," replied Murray; " we should lose
both sides -we had better advance with the utmost celerity, and do what
we can to keep the peace betwixt them. -I would the nag that brought
Piercie Shafton hither had broken his neck over the highest heuch in Northumberland!-H e is a proper coxcomb to make all this bustle about, and to
occasion perhaps a national war!"
"Had we known in time," said Douglas, " we might have had him privily
waited upon as he entered the Borders; there are strapping lads enough
would have rid us of him for the lucre of his spur-whang.* But to the
saddle, James Stewart, since so the phrase goes. I hear your trumpets
sound to horse and away-we shall soon see which nag is best breathed."
Followed by. a train of about three hundred well-mounted men-at-arms,
these two powerful barons directed their course to Dumffries, and from
thence eastward to Teviotdale, marching at a rate which, as Morton had
foretold, soon disabled a good many of their horses, so that when they approached the scene of expected action, there were not above two hundred
of their train remaining in a body, and of these most were mounted on
steeds which had been sorely jaded.
They had hitherto been amused and agitated by various reports concerning the advance of the English soldiers, and the degree of resistance which
the Abbot was able to oppose to them. But when they were six or seven
miles from Saint Mary's of Kennaquhair, a gentleman of the country,
whom Murray had summoned to attend him, and on whose intelligence he
knew he could rely, arrived at the head of two or three servants, "bloody
with spurring, fiery red with haste." According to his report, Sir John
Foster, after several times announcing, and as often delaying, his intended
incursion, had at last been so stung with the news that Piercie Shafton was
openly residing within the Halidome, that he determined to execute the
commands of his mistress, which directed him, at every risk, to make himself master of the Euphuist's person. The Abbot's unceasing exertions
* Spur-whang —Spur-leather.