Chapter I: Introduction

In that broad and magnificent valley which separates chain of the Grampians from the Ochil Mountains, close by the margin of the Allan, and sequestered among venerable trees, lies the pleasant and peaceful little village of Dunblane, in Scotland's elder days an old cathedral city. Northward of the limpid Allan lie purple heaths, black swamps, and desert muirs. An old bridge which spans the river, and was built in the time of King Robert III., by "the Most Reverend Father in God," Findlay Dermach, bishop of the see, with a few ancient houses, having quaint chimneys and crow-stepped gables, that peep on the steep brae-side from among the shady beeches, are all that survive of Dunblane; but over those remains rise the grey ruins of King David's vast cathedral, of which nothing now is standing but the roofless nave, with its shattered aisles, and the crumbling but lofty gothic tower.

The gleds and corbies that flap their wings between the deserted walls; the swallows that twitter on the carved pillars, or build their nests among the rich oakwork of the prebends' stalls, with the grass-grown floor and empty windows of this magnificent ruin, impress the mind of the visitor with that melancholy which is congenial to such a place. But it is neither the recumbent figure of a knight in armour, with his sword and triangular shield, marking where the once powerful Lord of Strathallan sleeps, not the burial-place of the Dukes of Athol, blazoned with the silver star of the Murrays, that are the most interesting features in this old ruin.

It is not the fine west window which overlooks the wooded path that winds by the river-side, and is known as "the Good Bishop's walk," nor the ruined shrine where sleeps St. Blane of Bute--he whose boat sailed upon the Clyde without sail or oar; he who (as the veracious Breviary of Aberdeen tells us) struck fire with his fingers when the vesper lights went out; and who raised from the dead the English heir of Appleby and Trodyngham, that attract most particularly the attention of visitors, but _three plain slabs_ of blue marble, that lie side by side on the grassy floor, and nestling, as it were, together, as if to show that those they cover had loved each other in life too well to be separated even in death.

The fall of the ponderous and once magnificent roof; the action of the weather, and the footsteps of visitors, have defaced the legends that were originally carved there; but the memory of those who sleep below these marble labs yet lingers in Dunblane and Strathearn.

Under the first lies the affianced bride of one who was a good and valiant soldier, and faithful to his king.

Under the second lies the betrothed of a stout Scottish mariner, as brave a fellow as ever faced salt water or cannon-shot.

Under the third sleeps the youngest--she who perhaps was the fairest--the wife (but not the queen) of one who in his time was the most gallant and magnificent monarch that ever wore the Scottish diadem.

These three ladies were sisters; and their story is a strange and a dark one.

History, tradition, and an old manuscript, that was found (no matter when) among the Records of the Scottish Court of Admiralty, have enabled me to lay their lives and narrative before the reader in the following pages.

CONTENTS.

I. ON BOARD
II. THE SWASHBUCKLER
III. BONNY DUNDEE
IV. THE SISTERS
V. JAMES III
VI. PALACE OF SAINT MARGARET
VII. MARGARET DRUMMOND
VIII. THE FISHERMAN OF BROUGHTY
IX. THE BANE OF SCOTLAND
X. THE BOATSWAIN'S YARN
XI. CHAINING THE UNICORN
XII. EMBASSY OF THE SIEUR DE MONIPENNIE
XIII. TO SEA!
XIV. THE OGRE OF ANGUS
XV. CONCLAVE OF MALCONTENTS
XVI. ANOTHER SON-IN-LAW
XVII. THE WARLOCK OF BALWEARIE
XVIII. FATHER AND SON
XIX. HOW BORTHWICK FULFILLED HIS PROMISE
XX. WOOD MEETS HOWARD
XXI. THE PRICE OF THREE TENEMENTS
XXII. THE SILKEN CORD
XXIII. LORD DRUMMOND AND ROBERT BARTON
XXIV. DAVID FALCONER
XXV. HOWARD AND MARGARET
XXVI. THE CHAPLAIN'S CABIN
XXVII. THE ISLES OF THE FORTH
XXVIII. THE FIRST SCOTTISH REVOLUTION
XXIX. THE MARCH TO STIRLING
XXX. THE GOOD SHIP HARRY
XXXI. THE TORWOOD
XXXII. THE DOUBLE BRIBE
XXXIII. THE GREY HORSE
XXXIV. THE BATTLE OF SAUCHIEBURN
XXXV. THE FOUR HORSEMEN
XXXVI. THE MILL ON THE BANNOCK
XXXVII. THE REGICIDES
XXXVIII. THE HOUSE OF THE BARTONS
XXXIX. THE PRINCE AND THE ADMIRAL
XL. CLEARED FOR ACTION
XLI. THE ENGLISH BOAT
XLII. THE LOVER AND THE SPY
XLIII. THE BATTLE OF THE MAY
XLIV. LARGO
XLV. ST. ANTHONY'S BELL
XLVI. THE GUNNER
XLVII. BORTHWICK'S NEW MISSION
XLVIII. TIB'S HOWFF
XLIX. THE KING'S WARK
L. THE SUMMER SPEAT
LI. LADY EFFIE'S LETTER
LII. THE HERMIT OF LORETTO
LIII. THE TRYSTE AT LORETTO
LIV. THE WEIRDWOMAN'S TREE
LV. THE ESCAPE
LVI. THE UNICORN LOOSE
LVII. CAMBUSKENNETH
LVIII. DOUBT, FEAR, AND SECRECY
LIX. REUNITED
LX. LONDON IN 1488
LXI. THE ADMIRAL'S STORY--THE LEGEND OF CORA LYNN
LXII. STORY CONTINUED--"ERIS-SKENE!"
LXIII. THE BROKEN WEDDING-RING
LXIV. THE BATTLE OFF FIFENESS
LXV. THE ENGLISH PRISONERS
LXVI. THE STANE BICKER
LXVII. THE MAUCHLINE TOWER
LXVIII. DUNBLANE
LXIX. THE MIDNIGHT TRYSTE
LXX. THE IRON BELT
CONCLUSION
NOTES

THE YELLOW FRIGATE

OR,

THE THREE SISTERS