returned, it was in great dismay, for the sailors had become impatient at the
detention of their commander, and were fully prepared to hang them if his stay
on shore had been continued much longer.
In this way the brave Wood had bearded a whole troop of lions in their den, and retired with impunity; but still they were determined that he should not escape unpunished. He might be denounced as a public enemy, and assailed with the same power that had sufficed to crush the king. It was dangerous, too, that such a man should go at large, and repeat among others those threats which he had thrown in their own teeth. Accordingly, with the new sovereign, James IV., at their head, they applied to the skippers of Leith, desiring them to proceed against Wood, and apprehend him, offering to furnish them with sufficient ships, weapons, and artillery for the purpose; but one of their number, Captain Barton probably one of those bold Bartons who, like Wood himself, were famed at this time for exploits of naval daring declared that there were not ten ships in Scotland that could give battle to the admiral with the Flower and Yellow Caravel alone, so high was his skill, and so completely seconded with good artillery and practised seamen. Reluctantly, therefore, they were obliged to remit their designs of vengeance, and pass on to the subject of the young king's coronation. Wood also turned his attention to his own affairs, the chief of which was a quarrel with the good citizens of Aberdeen towards the close of 1488, concerning the forest of Suckett and the castle hill of Aberdeen, which, he alleged, had been granted to him by James III. On this occasion the Aberdonians denied his claim, and stood to their defence, which might have been followed by a cannonade, had not the privy council interfered between the angry admiral and the equally incensed citizens. It was then found that the property in question had been granted to the city in perpetuity by Robert Bruce, upon which Wood abandoned his claim.
All this was but sorry practice, however accordant with the spirit of the age, and the high talents of Wood were soon employed in a more patriotic sphere of action. Jarnes IV., one of whose earliest proceedings was to distinguish between his selfish partizans, that had made him king for their own purposes, and those who had generously espoused the cause of his unfortunate father, received the latter into favour; and among these was the ocean hero, with whose first appearance he had been so mournfully impressed. Having himself a high genius for naval architecture, and an earnest desire to create a national navy, he found in Wood an able teacher, and the studies both of sovereign and admiral, for the building of ships that should effectually guard the coasts of Scotland and promote its commerce, were both close and frequent. An event soon occurred to call their deliberations into action. About the commencement or earlier part of the year 1489, a fleet of five English ships entered the Clyde, where they wrought great havoc, and chased one of the king's ships, to the serious damage of its rigging and tackle. As this deed was committed during a season of truce, the actors were denounced as pirates; and James, who felt his own honour sensibly touched in the affair, commissioned Sir Andrew to pursue the culprits, after he had proposed it to the other naval captains, but in vain. The knight of Largo undertook the enterprise, and set off in his favourite vessels, the Flower and Caravel, in quest of these dangerous marauders. He fell in with the five English ships off Dunbar Castle, and a desperate conflict commenced. But though the English were so superior in force, and fought with their wonted hardihood, the greater skill, courage, and seamanship of Wood prevailed, so that all their
