If this is so, he will have to fly; for assuredly he has, at present, no force gathered that could resist those of the king and Douglas." "Give me an account of what has happened," Hotspur said, frowning.

"I feared that March's impetuous temper would lead him into trouble, before we were in a position to march to his assistance; and I heard rumours of a stormy scene between him and Rothesay, when he learned that he had been fooled; but I knew not that the king, himself, was present." Oswald related the story of his journey, and the interruption on the moor; and the reports, that he had afterwards heard, of the stoppage of all travellers coming from the south, by the same band.
"The leader was evidently above the rank of an ordinary marauder, and his followers obeyed him as men-at-arms would obey an officer; and it seemed to me, my lord, that Douglas must have heard a vague report that the earl was in communication with England; and sought to intercept some messenger, on whom he might find a letter, or from whom he could extract proofs of the earl's treachery." "'Tis like enough," Hotspur said.

"When a man is so rash as to upbraid the king, and still more Albany, he must needs fall under suspicion.
Now, go on with your story." When Oswald had brought his narration to an end, Percy said: "You have done very well, Oswald, and have deserved the confidence that I placed in you.

You have shown much circumspection, and you did well in escaping from Dunbar, as you did.

The mad monk, too, seems to have behaved well.