"I request of thee to read me this, and read it truly for thine own sake. By the mass! I never could read much at any time, and such a cramped scrawl baffles my skill in writing, which never went much beyond making my mark on an Englishman's hide."
Aware of the futility of resistance, and feeling for the agony of poor Hans, whose all was shipped on board his crayer, Konrad read the following invoice, which we give verbatim from the papers of the Magister Absalom:—
"Shippit by ye grace of God, in goode order and weel-conditioned, by Ihone Middiltoune, at the Timber Holfe, in and upon ye goode shippe Skottefruin of Bergen, quherof Hans Knuber is maister, now lying in the harberie of Leith, bound for Bergen—to saye, 113 baggs containing aucht tons, four bollis, three lippies, and twa pecks of wheaten flour, to be delivered at Bergen, in ye like gude order (the act of God, the queen's enemies of England, fire, and all other dangeris of ye sea excepted), as customarie; and so God send yis gude and noble shippe to her destined port in safety.—Amen.
"At Leith, ye 23d April, in ye zeir of our Lord 1567."
"Now God be with thee, thou dour carle!" said Ormiston, leaping up; "thou hast enough and to spare of the very provender we lack most. One hundred and thirteen bags of wheaten flour! St. Mary—I have not broken a flour bannock since we left Dunbar! Thou must hand me over, say fifty bags of this ware, and I will make thee a free gift of the three-and-sixty other bags, with the bolls, lippies, and pecks to boot—so up with thy hatches, for our stomachs and tempers lack no delay."
It was only on hearing this that Hans seemed to shake oft his lethargy, and his rage burst suddenly forth. He seized a handspike, and, grasping it with nervous hands, flourished it aloft, and planted his broad sturdy feet, which were cased in rough leather shoes, upon the hatchway, vowing to dash out the brains of the first man who approached it.
"Presumptuous fool!" said the gigantic knight, laying his hand on his sword; "were it worth while to draw, I might by one sliver cut thee in two. I have no wish to harm thee; but beware, for thou hast to deal with ruined and outlawed men, whom toil by sea—a narrow escape from a superior force, that hath pursued and driven us into these waters—starvation, and Heaven knows what more—have rendered desperate—so beware thee, Sir Skipper, or I will hang thee at thine own mast-head!"
"And who art thou, robber and pirate! that I, a free trader, should unclose my hatches at thy bidding on the open sea?" cried Hans in broken Scottish, as he flourished his club within an inch of the speaker's nose.
"Black Hob of Ormiston, a name that would find an echo in bonny Teviotdale, Master Knuber, ha! ha!"
"And what wantest thou with my goods?"