“Then the letter went on to say that the writer would at once buckle to and raise a troop of horse among his tenantry, and that if other satisfactory arrangements could not be made for the conveyance of the moneys, he would bring them in person to the King.
“And now comes the climax of the story. The messenger was captured and Sir James’s incautious letter taken from his boot, as a result of which within ten days’ time he found himself closely besieged by five hundred Roundheads under the command of one Colonel Playfair. The Castle was but ill-provisioned for a siege, and in the end Sir James was driven by sheer starvation to surrender. No sooner had he obtained an entry, than Colonel Playfair sent for his prisoner, and to his astonishment produced to Sir James’s face his own letter to the King.
“‘Now, Sir James,’ he said, ‘we have the hive, and I must ask you to lead us to the honey. Where be those great moneys whereof you talk herein? Fain would I be fingering these ten thousand pieces of gold, the which you have so snugly stored away.’
“‘Ay,’ answered old Sir James, ‘you have the hive, but the secret of the honey you have not, nor shall you have it. The ten thousand pieces in gold is where it is, and with it is much more. Find it if you may, Colonel, and take it if you can.’
“‘I shall find it by to-morrow’s light, Sir James, or otherwise—or otherwise you die.’
“‘I must die—all men do, Colonel, but if I die, the secret dies with me.’
“‘This shall we see,’ answered the Colonel grimly, and old Sir James was marched off to a cell, and there closely confined on bread and water. But he did not die the next day, nor the next, nor for a week, indeed.
“Every day he was brought up before the Colonel, and under the threat of immediate death questioned as to where the treasure was, not being suffered meanwhile to communicate by word or sign with any one, save the officers of the rebels. Every day he refused, till at last his inquisitor’s patience gave out, and he was told frankly that if he did not communicate the secret he would be shot at the following dawn.
“Old Sir James laughed, and said that shoot him they might, but that he consigned his soul to the Devil if he would enrich them with his treasures, and then asked that his Bible might be brought to him that he might read therein and prepare himself for death.