Do as I command you." Most unwillingly Sholto did as he was bidden, and the King, instead of withdrawing, placed himself still closer to William of Douglas.
"And now," cried the Earl, facing the array of armed men who thronged the banquet-hall, "what would ye with the Douglas?
Do ye mean my death, as by the Bull's Head here on the table ye would have me believe ?" "For black treason do we apprehend you, Earl of Douglas," creaked the voice of the Chancellor, still speaking from behind his array of men-at-arms, "and because you have set yourself above the King.

But we are no butchers, and trial shall ye have by your peers." "And who in this place are the peers of the Earl of Douglas ?" said the young man, haughtily.
"I will not bandy words with you, my Lord Douglas.

You are overmastered.

Yield yourself, therefore, as indeed you must without remeed.

Deliver your weapons and submit; 'tis our will." "My brave Chancellor," said the Earl William, still in a voice of pleasant irony, "you have well chosen your time to shame yourself.