He pressed the cold steel muzzle to my temple and I knelt and swore. When it was done, he roared and jeered at me. "You see, I have my oath!" he cried, "as well as Little Hooknose! And no non-jurors! Now say 'Down with King William!'"
I said it.
"Louder! Louder!" he cried.
I could only comply.
"Now, write it! Write it!" he continued, thrusting a piece of paper under my nose, and slapping his huge hand upon it. "I'll have it in black and white! Or write this--ha! ha! that will be better. Are you ready? Write, 'I hereby abjure my allegiance to Prince William.'"
"No," I said faintly, laying down the pen which I had taken up at his bidding. "I will not write it."
"You will write it!" he answered in a terrible tone. "And within a very few seconds. Write it at once, sirrah! 'I hereby abjure my allegiance to Prince William!'"
I wrote it with a shaking hand, after a glance at the pistol muzzle.
"And swear that I regard King James as my lawful sovereign. And I undertake to obey the rules of the St. Germain's Club, and to forward its interests. Good! Now sign it."