Waldron was very much pleased to hear this, and then Mr. George and Rollo went away.
Chapter XVI.
Conclusion.
Mr. George and Rollo made some excursions together after this, but I have not time to give a full account of them. Among others, they went to see Linlithgow, where stands the ruin of an ancient palace, which was the one in which Queen Mary was born. Linlithgow itself is a town. Near it is a pretty little loch. The ruins stand on a smooth and beautiful lawn, between the town and the shore of the loch. The people who lived in the palace had delightful views from their windows, both of the water of the loch itself and of the opposite shores.
At this ruin people can go up by the old staircases to various rooms in the upper stories, and even to the top of the walls. The floors, wherever the floors remain, are covered with grass and weeds.
There was a very curious story about the castle. It was taken at one time by means of a load of hay. The enemy engaged a farmer who lived near, and who was accustomed to supply the people of the castle with hay, to join them in their plot. So they put some armed men on his cart, and covered them all over with hay. They also concealed some more armed men near the gateway. The gateway had what is called a portcullis; that is, a heavy iron gate suspended by chains, so as to rise and fall. Of course, when the portcullis was down, nobody could get in or out.
The people of the castle hoisted the portcullis, to let the load of hay come in, and the farmer, as soon as he had got the wagon in the middle of the gateway, stopped it there, and cut the traces, so that it could not be drawn any farther. At the same instant the men who were hid under the hay jumped out, killed the guard at the gates, called out to the other men who were in ambush, and they all poured into the castle together, crowding by at the sides of the wagon. The wagon, being directly in the way, prevented the portcullis from being shut down. Thus the castle was taken.