Scotland -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
"By the time that he got down, and the door was shut over him, the
conspirators came in, and began to look all about for him; but they
could not find him. I suppose they did not see the trap door. Or,
perhaps, the women had covered it over with something."
"Well, and what did they do?" asked Waldron.
"Why, they were dreadfully angry because they could not find the king,
and some of them were going to kill the queen; but the rest would not
let them. But there was one of the women that got her arm broken."
"How?" asked Waldron.
"She did it somehow or other holding the door. I suppose she got it
wedged in some way. She was a countess.
"After a while," continued Rollo, "the men went away to look in some of
the other rooms of the monastery, and see if they could not find the
king there. As soon as they were gone the king wanted to get out of the
dungeon. The women opened the trap door, but he could not reach up high
enough to get out. So he told them to go and get some sheets and let
them down, for ropes to pull him up by.
"They brought the sheets, and while they were letting them down, and
trying to get the king out, one of the ladies fell down herself into the
hole. So there were two to get up; and while the others were trying to
get them up, the conspirators came in again."
"Hoh!" said Waldron.
"One of them had a torch," said Rollo, continuing his narrative. "He
brought the torch and held it down the trap door, and presently he
caught sight of the king. So he called out to the other conspirators
that he had found him, and they all came round the place, with their
swords, and daggers, and knives in their hands.
"One of them let himself down into the dungeon. He had a great knife in
his hand for a dagger. But the king seized him the instant he came down,
got his knife away from him, and pinned him to the ground. The king was
a very strong man. Immediately another man came down, and the king
seized him, and held him down in the same way. Next Graham himself came
with a sword. He stabbed the king with his sword, and so disabled him.
The king then began to beg for his life, and Graham did not seem to like
to strike him again. But the other conspirators, who were looking down
through the trap door, said if he did not do it they would kill _him_.
So at last he stabbed the king again, and killed him."
When Rollo had finished the story he paused, expecting that Waldron
would say something in relation to it.
"Is that all?" said Waldron, after waiting a moment. He spoke, however,
in a very sleepy tone of voice.
"Yes," said Rollo, "that is all. Now tell me your story."
Waldron began; but he seemed very sleepy, and he had advanced only a
very little way before his words began to grow incoherent and faltering,
and very soon Rollo perceived that he was going to sleep. Indeed, Rollo
himself was beginning to feel sleepy, too; so he said,--
"No matter, Waldron. You can tell me your story to-morrow."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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