THE LION AT BAY The morning had broken broad and clear from the east when the door of the prison-house was opened, and a seneschal appeared.

He saluted the brothers, and in a shaking voice summoned them to come forth and be tried for offences of treason and rebellion against the King and his ministers.
William of Douglas waved a hand to him, but answered nothing to the summons.

He wasted no words upon one who merely did as he was bidden.
All night the brothers had sat looking out on the city humming sleeplessly beneath them, till the light slowly dawned over the Forth and away to the eastward Berwick Law stood dwarfed and clear.

At first they had sat apart, but as the hours stole on David came a little nearer and his hand sought that of his brother, clasped it, and abode as it had been contented.

The elder brother returned the pressure.
"David," he said, "if perish we must, at least you and I will show them how Douglases can die." So when they rose to follow the seneschal who summoned them, as they left the chamber of detention and the clanking guard fell in behind them, Earl William put his hand affectionately on his young brother's shoulder and kept it there.