CHAPTER LXIV

JAMES V. THE KING OF THE COMMONS—THE STORY
OF JOHNNIE ARMSTRONG

‘ The last of our steers on the board has been spread,
And the last flask of wine in our goblet is red ;
Up ! up, my brave kinsmen ! belt swords and begone,
There are dangers to dare, and there ‘s spoil to be won.

The rain is descending ; the wind rises loud ;
And the moon her red beacon has veiled with a cloud ;
’Tis the better, my mates ! for the warder’s dull eye
Shall in confidence slumber, nor dream we are nigh.’

Now that James was free, he began really to rule, and
one of the first things he tried to do was to bring order
to the Border Lands. All about the Borders lived tribes
of fierce, unruly men, who were nearly always at war with
the English or with each other. They never thought of
tilling the ground or of rearing cattle for themselves, but
when they were in need, they rode out against their
peaceful neighbours, and stole from them anything they
could lay hands upon.

The great lords were often the worst thieves. In one
castle it was the custom, when the last bullock had been
killed for food, for the lady of the house to place upon the
table a dish of spurs. This was a hint to the lord of the
castle that it was time for him to gather his men and ride
out for more. Then the men would buckle on their
armour, mount their horses and ride away.

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286                   SCOTLAND’S STORY

In the gloaming of a summer night, or when the
August moon was shining, some peaceful farmer would
be roused by the trample of horses’ hoofs and the lowing
of cattle. He would awake, perhaps, to find his cattle
sheds empty, his barns ablaze, and the thieves already far
away. Or, if there was yet time to fight, he might be
left dead or wounded beside his plundered homestead,
while the robbers rode homeward, driving the good man’s
cattle before them.

Sometimes these raids were the result of quarrels
between two families ; they were vengeance for some real
or fancied wrong. Sometimes they were mere lawless­
ness. One man wanted what another had, so he took it.
Might was right. It seemed to these Border reivers, that
if a man could not protect his goods, they had a right to
take them from him. That was quite natural and simple,
and so unruly were the times, that it was hard to make
these reivers believe that they were in any way worthy of
punishment.

But King James meant not only to make laws, but to
force the people to keep them. He loved justice, and he
set himself to protect the weak from the strong. So,
under pretence of a great hunting expedition, he gathered
a good company of knights and soldiers, and rode to the
Borders. And so quick was the King, that he seized the
greatest of the reivers, and hanged them at their own
castle gates before they were even aware of their danger.

But one of the greatest of them all, called Johnnie
Armstrong, he could not seize. This man was so much
feared, that the people far into England paid him money
every year to be free from his attack. This was called
‘ blackmail.’ So long as the farmers paid the money,
Johnnie left them in peace, but if it was not paid, he
plundered them without mercy.

THE STORY OF JOHNNIE ARMSTRONG 287

Johnnie was very rich, and lived in great state. He
ruled like a King in his own country-side. He dressed
very grandly, and when he rode abroad, was attended by
twenty-four men almost as fine as himself.

Johnnie had no fear of James, and when he heard of
his coming, he dressed himself in his best, and rode to
meet the King, to ask him to dine at his castle.

‘ When Johnnie came before the King,
Wi’ a’ his men sae brave to see,
The King he movit his bonnet to him,
He ween’d he was a king as well as he.’

But James, instead of being friendly as Johnnie had
thought he would be, was stern and angry. He was not
pleased to see Johnnie so grandly dressed, and followed
by such a train. ‘ What wants that knave, that a King
should have but the sword of honour and the crown ? ’ he
cried. ‘Take the traitor out of my sight, and let him
be hanged.’

Then Johnnie begged hard for his life. ‘ My lord King,’
he said, ‘ I have ever been your true subject. Let me
live, and I promise to keep a band of forty true men
always ready to fight for you.’

‘ You must die,’ said James.

‘ I have never hurt a Scottish subject, man or woman,’
said Johnnie. ‘ It is only the English that I rob. Let
me live.’

‘ You must die,’ said James, hard and stern as before.

‘ Away, away, thou traitor strang !

Out of my sight soon may’st thou be !
I grantit never a traitor’s life,

And now I’ll not begin with thee.’

‘ Had I known,’ said Johnnie at last, ‘ that you meant to
treat me so, I should never have come near to you. I

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should have kept the border side in spite of you, and of
the King of England too. For well I know King Harry
would give the weight of my best horse in gold, to know
that I must die this day.’

‘ To seek het water beneath cauld ice,
Surely it is a great follie,—
I have ask’d grace at a graceless face,
But there is nane for my men and me !

‘ But, had I kenn’d ere I cam frae hame,
How thou unkind wadst been to me
I wad hae keepit the border side,
In spite of all thy force and thee.’

But all that Johnnie could say was vain. He and his four-
and-twenty gallant men were led away to die. No doubt
many people were glad to be rid of these Border robbers.
Yet although they were a great trouble to their neigh­
bours, they were also the defenders of their country
against the English. So, many mourned for their loss,
and were angry with the King. But James v., like
James I., had sworn to bring order into his land, and
‘ make the furze bush keep the cow.’

‘ John hangéd was at Carlinrigg,
And all his gallant companie ;
But Scotland‘s heart was ne’er sae wae,
To see sae mony brave men dee.—

‘ Because they saved their country dear,
Frae Englishmen ! Nane were sae bold
While Johnnie lived on the border side,
Nane of them durst come near his hold.’

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