Tell me, is it to set me free
that you come hither? Do you come from my father?"
"Your father?" said Kenric. "I know not who your father may be. Methinks
you make some strange mistake!"
"Alas!" said the lad, crestfallen, "then am I the most unhappy youth
that ever lived! But stay; you come from Bute. I heard the King say so.
You have come in your ship. I saw when you entered this room that you
were an islander. My friend, I implore you to rescue me from the hands
of these Scots. Take me away from this land, for I am well-nigh dying to
breathe once more the free air of my island home, and to rove again upon
the wide ocean. Say, will you help me to escape?"
"What!" exclaimed Kenric, "even in his Majesty's presence you ask me to
do such a thing? By the rood, but you are passing bold!"
"Enough," said King Alexander, smiling as he signed to the page to retire.
Then he drew Sir Piers and Kenric nearer to him.
"The death of Hamish of Bute," said he, "is a sore calamity. We could
ill spare him. But as concerning the matter of the Western Isles, the
time has come for speedy action, and we must look to you, Sir Piers, and
to you, Earl Kenric, for the help that we now need. We are about to
despatch an expedition to the outer islands, and it may be that the
mission will not be fulfilled without the spilling of blood.
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