SURPRISE OF THE CASTLE. 125 



the guns, like the garrison, have been long off duty sound sleepers on those 

 very battlements they should guard ! Our sole antagonist is the rock ; and this 

 surmounted, we shall have sumptuous fare to indemnify us for the exploit." 

 " An up-hill march, truly," observed one of the adventurers, as he cast his eye 

 up the wall-like rock. " And in case of a rather hasty descent from the half- 

 way ?" " Promotion, and a pension, of course 'tis little more than a hundred 



feet, with a few notches to break the fall." ..." Nay, tell that to the ' friar of 

 Tungland ;'* for, to gain that crest, a man, methinks, must either have the 

 friar's wings, or a crab's claws. . . ." 



" Now, my men" whispered Crawford, who observed that they were becom- 

 ing rather curious as to the height of the ramparts " know ye not that the Lord 

 Fleming and the Archbishop j- have invited us to supper? Let us taste their cheer; 

 and they who dislike the governor's soup shall have the bishop's absolution." 



" Pity," said another, " that the way to mess is not a little smoother! 

 But never mind; guests who arrive by the steepest way, are sure to contract 

 the keenest appetites in the ascent." " Thus," said Jordanhill, " I ascend in 

 the king's name ;" placing at the same instant his foot in the ladder, and fol- 

 lowed by the others, who had pledged their lives in the cause. " Now," he 

 added, " not a syllable till we stand on the summit." 



They proceeded in profound silence, drawing the ladder after them, and 

 refixing it at every spot of the rock where they could gain a footing. A 

 more perilous enterprise it is impossible to imagine. But, to a certain degree, 

 the darkness was favourable, as it concealed the abyss over which they hung, 

 with an uncertainty that even a breath of wind might have turned to their 

 destruction. Example, however, nerved the followers ; while the leader himself, 

 knowing that doubt or hesitation on his part would be fatal to the whole, kept 

 his eye steadily on the rampart, and continued his determined progress. When 

 about half way up, however, an incident occurred which had nearly proved fatal. 

 One of the party, whilst in the act of ascending the ladder, was seized with a 



See his flying leap from Stirling, described in vol. i. pp. 1G7-S, of the present work. 



f John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, then in the fortress. (See History of that time.) 

 This prelate, it will be remembered, was highly obnoxious to the king's party on account of his pro- 

 fession, his family, and his talents; and being already attainted by parliament, lay open to their severity, 

 which was carried to the uttermost, as already stated in our account of Stirling. That he deserved this 

 fate, is, says Sir Walter Scott, highly probable. He was proprietor of the Kirk of Field, in which 

 Darnley was blown up; and of the no less fatal lodging at Linlithgow, from which the Regent Murray 

 received his death-wound ; and there was little doubt of Ms being on both occasions aware of the purpose 

 to which the lodgings were to be applied. But his execution, without even the semblance of trial, in 

 the heat of a civil war, was calculated to add fuel to its fury, and became the example and justification of 

 numerous atrocities practised by way of retaliation. 



VOL. II. K K 



