ike. Every one who came was allowed to tell his story without
hindrance.

For hours Louis would listen patiently to all the tales of wrong-doing,
of hardships and misery that were told him, and he would do what
he could to right the wrongs of those who suffered.

When news came of some more dreadful persecutions of Christians by
the Moslems in Palestine, Louis again raised an army of Crusaders
and started with them for Tunis, although he was sick and feeble--so
sick, indeed, that he had to be carried on a litter. Upon his arrival
at Tunis he was attacked by fever and died in a few days.

He is better known to the world as Saint Louis than as Louis IX,
because some years after his death Pope Boniface VIII canonized
him on account of his pious life and his efforts to rescue the
Holy Land from the Turks.

ROBERT BRUCE

KING FROM 1306-1329

The most famous king that Scotland ever had was Robert Bruce. He
lived in the days when Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III were
kings of England.

During the reign of Edward I the king of Scotland died and thirteen
men claimed the throne. Instead of fighting to decide which of
them should be king they asked Edward to settle the question. When
he met the Scottish nobles and the rivals, each of whom thought
that next day he would be wearing the crown, Edward told them that
he would himself be their king. Just then an English army marched
up. What could the nobles do but kneel at the feet of Edward and
promise to be his vassals? This they did; and so Scotland became
a part of Edward's kingdom and Ba'li-ol, one of the rivals who
claimed the Scottish throne, was made the vassal king.

Some time after this Edward ordered Baliol to raise an army and
help him fight the French. Baliol refused to do this, so Edward
marched with an army into Scotland and took him prisoner. He was
determined that the Scotch should have no more kings of their own.
So he carried away the sacred stone of Scone (_scoon_), on which
all kings of Scotland had to sit when they were crowned, and put
it in Westminster Abbey in London, and there it is to this day. It
is underneath the chair on which the sovereigns of England always
sit when the crown of England, Scotland, and Ireland is placed upon
their heads. It is said to have been the very stone that Jacob
used for a pillow on the night that he saw, in his dream, angels
ascending and descending on the ladder that reached from earth
to heaven.

Edward n