“Your Captain! with his sword sheathed, and on foot in the presence of his enemy? a raw soldier, I warrant him,” said the English leader. “So! ho! young man, is your dream out, and will you now answer me if you will fight or fly?”
“Neither,” answered Halbert Glendinning, with great tranquillity.
“Then throw down thy sword and yield thee,” answered the Englishman.
“Not till I can help myself no otherwise,” said Halbert, with the same moderation of tone and manner.
“Art thou for thine own hand, friend, or to whom dost thou owe service?” demanded the English Captain.
“To the noble Earl of Murray.”
“Then thou servest,” said the Southron, “the most disloyal nobleman who breathes—false both to England and Scotland.”
“Thou liest,” said Glendinning, regardless of all consequences.
“Ha! art thou so hot how, and wert so cold but a minute since? I lie, do I? Wilt thou do battle with me on that quarrel?”
“With one to one—one to two—or two to five, as you list,” said Halbert Glendinning; “grant me but a fair field.”