The old man bowed in assent.
"I come from across the mountains, and I bring you glad tidings from beyond the sea."
"Glad tidings!" they all exclaimed.
"Glad tidings, if you will obey them," he replied;—"if not, the saddest you ever heard. It is not an enemy who sends the Black Ship, but a friend."
Not a question, scarcely a breath interrupted him; and he continued, in brief, broken sentences—
"It is our King. Our island belongs to Him. He gave it us. But, long ago, our people rebelled against Him. They were seduced by a wicked prince, His deadly enemy, and, alas! ours. They sent the King a defiance; they defaced His statues, which were a type of all beauty; they broke His laws, which are the unfolding of all goodness. He sent ambassadors to reclaim them; He, who could have crushed the revolt, and destroyed our nation with one of His armies in a day, descended from His dignity, and stooped to entreat our deluded people to return to their allegiance. But they treated his condescension as weakness. They defied His ambassadors, and maltreated them and drove them from the island. He had warned them against the usurper, and told them the consequences of revolting; and too surely they have been fulfilled.
"The Black Ship is the punishment inflicted by our offended Monarch; but those who return to His allegiance need not dread it."
"Some, then, have submitted to the King?" asked Hope.
"Every ambassador He sent has persuaded some to recognise the King."
"Why not all?" asked Hope. "If the King is good and is our King, and will receive us, why not all return?"