they took the principal staircase, rushed against the door of the chamber and
burst it open. The king panted out, when he saw his page, "Fy! strike him
low ! he has secret armour on." At which Kamsay, casting from him the hawk
which still sat upon his hand, drew his dagger and stabbed the master. The
next moment, the king, exerting all his strength, threw him from him down
stairs. Ramsay ran to a window, and called upon Sir Thomas Erskine, and one
or two who were with him, to come up the turnpike. Erskine was first, and as Ruthven staggered past him on the stair, wounded and bleeding, he desired those who followed to strike the traitor. This was done, arid the young man fell, crying, "Alas! I had not the wyte of it."
The king was safe for the mean time, but there was still cause for alarm. Only four of his attendants had reached him ; and he was uncertain whether the incessant attempts of Mar and Lennox's party to break open the door by which the chamber communicated with the gallery, were made by friend or foe. At this moment the alarm bell rang out, and the din of the gathering citizens, who were as likely, for any thing the king knew, to side with their provost, Gowrie, as with himself, was heard from the town. There was, besides, a still more immediate danger.
Gowrie, whom we left attempting to force his way into the house, was met at the gate by the news that his brother had fallen. Violet Ruthven, and other women belonging to the family, were already wailing his death, screaming their curses up to the king's party in the chamber, and mixing their shrill execrations with the fierce din which shook the city. The earl, seconded by Cranstone, one of his attendants, forced his way to the foot of the black turnpike, at which spot lay the master's body. "Whom have we here?" said the retainer, for the face was turned downwards. "Up the stair!" was Gowrie's brief and stern reply. Cranstone, going up before his master, found, on rushing into the chamber, the swords of Sir Thomas Erskine, and Herries, the king's physician, drawn against him. They were holding a parley in this threatening attitude, when Gowrie entered, and was instantly attacked by Ramsay. The earl fell after a smart contest. Ramsay immediately turned upon Cranstone, who had proved fully a match for the other two, and having wounded him severely, forced him finally to retreat.
All this time they who were with the duke of Lennox had kept battering at the gallery-door of the chamber with hammers, but in vain. The partition was constructed of boards, and as the whole wall gave way equally before the blows, the door could not be forced. The party with the king, on the other hand, were afraid to open, lest they should thus give admission to enemies. A servant was at last despatched round by the turnpike, who assured his majesty that it was the duke of Lennox and the earl of Mar who were so clamorous for admission. The hammers were then handed through below the door, and the bolts speedily displaced. When these noblemen were admitted, they found the king unharmed, amid his brave deliverers. The door, however, which entered from the turnpike, had been closed upon a body of Gowrie's retainers, who were calling for their master, and striking through below the door with their pikes and halberds. The clamour from the town continued, and the voices from the court were divided, part calling for the king, part for their provost, the earl of Gowrie. Affairs, however, soon took a-more decided turn. They who assaulted the door grew tired of their ineffectual efforts, and withdrew ; and almost at the same moment the voices of baillies Ray and Young were heard from the street, calling to know if the king were safe, and announcing that they were there, with the loyal burgesses of Perth, for his defence. The king gratified them by showing himself at the window, requesting them to still the tumult. At the
