“Be not too hasty with him, my Lord,” said he; “he may yet peraunter be brought to give us tidings of the enemy. Let him but give us what information he can, under promise, that if it be found soothfast, he shall have no evil. Meanwhile, after he shall have effunded all that it may concern us to know, let him be delivered into the custody of the Constable of Jedworth, with him to liggen in strict durance, until we shall have certiorated ourselves by our own experience, whether the things which he may tell be true or false, with certification that his life shall be the forfeit of the minutest breach of verity. If he doth refuse these terms, then, in the name of St. Andrew, let him incontinent lose his head.”
A hum of approbation ran around the meeting, and the Earl of Fife, though in secret half-chagrined that he had not had his own will, saw that in this point he must give way to the general voice.
“Thou dost hear thy destiny,” said he to the prisoner; “what is thine election?”
“My Lord, seeing that I have no alternative but to yield me to dire necessity,” answered the English esquire, with an expression of infinite relief in his countenance, “verily, I do most gladly accept your terms. As God is my judge, I shall tell thee all I know, without alteration, addition, or curtailment.”
“Who sent thee hither, then?” demanded the Earl of Fife.
“Being one to whom these Marches be well known, I was chosen by the Lords of Northumberland, and sent hither to learn the state of your enterprise; as alswa to gather which way ye do propose to draw.”
“Where, then, be these English Lords?” demanded the Earl of Douglas.
“Sirs,” replied the captive squire, “sith it behoveth me to say the truth, ye shall surely have it. I be come straight hither from Newcastle, where be Sir Henry Piersie, surnamed Hotspur, from his frequent pricking; and his brother Sir Rafe Piersie, yea, and divers other nobles and knights, flowers of English chivalry, all in readiness to depart thence as soon as they may know that ye have set forward into England; for, hearing of the strength of your host, they do not choose to come to meet you.”
“Why, what number do they repute us at?” demanded the Earl of Moray. [[414]]
“Sir,” replied the esquire, “it is said how ye be forty thousand men and twelve hundred spears.”