good faith and honest truth, I do confess I won not by the blade,
but I claim the credit of securing it with that presence of mind
which few men possess amidst flashing torches and clashing weapons.
I secured it, my lord, and here it is."

So saying, he produced, from the hawking pouch already mentioned,
the stiffened hand which had been found on the scene of the skirmish.

"Nay, bonnet maker," said the provost, "I'll warrant thee man enough
to secure a rogue's hand after it is cut from the body. What do
you look so busily for in your bag?"

"There should have been--there was--a ring, my lord, which was
on the knave's finger. I fear I have been forgetful, and left it
at home, for I took it off to show to my wife, as she cared not to
look upon the dead hand, as women love not such sights. But yet I
thought I had put it on the finger again. Nevertheless, it must,
I bethink me, be at home. I will ride back for it, and Henry Smith
will trot along with me."

"We will all trot with thee," said Sir Patrick Charteris, "since I
am for Perth myself. Look you, honest burghers and good neighbours
of Perth; you may have thought me unapt to be moved by light
complaints and trivial breaches of your privileges, such as small
trespasses on your game, the barons' followers playing football in
the street, and suchlike. But, by the soul of Thomas of Longueville,
you shall not find Patrick Charteris slothful in a matter of this
importance. This hand," he continued, holding up the severed joint,
"belongs to one who hath worked no drudgery. We will put it in a
way to be known and claimed of the owner, if his comrades of the