man here," and he turned to Sir Ned Agnew. "If thou wilt
accept the post, I shall be glad to have thee for my steward, and for
the keeper of my forests, and my deer, as well. And for everyone of the
pence which thou wert willing to lend me, I will pay thee a full pound."

So once more the rightful lord reigned in the Castle of Linne, and to
everyone's surprise he settled down, and grew so like his father, that
strangers who came to the neighbourhood would not believe the stories
which people told them of the wild things which he had done in his
youth.

BLACK AGNACE OF DUNBAR

"Some sing o' lords, and some o' knichts,
An' some o' michty men o' war,
But I sing o' a leddy bricht,
The Black Agnace o' Dunnebar."

It was in the year 1338, when Bruce's son was but a bairn, and Scotland
was guided by a Regent, that we were left, a household of women, as it
were, to guard my lord's strong Castle of Dunbar.

My lord himself, Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar and March, had ridden off to
join the Regent, Sir Andrew Moray, and help him to drive the English out
of the land. For the English King, Edward III., thought it no shame to
war with bairns, and since he had been joined by that false loon, Edward
Baliol, he had succeeded in taking many of our Scottish fortresses,
including Edinburgh Castle, and in planting an English army in our
midst.

Now the Castle of Dunbar, as all folk know, is a strong Castle, standing
as it doth well out to sea, on a mass of solid rock, and connected with
the mainland only by one narrow strip of land, which is defended by a
drawbridge and portcullis, and walls of solid masonry. Its other sides
need no defence, for the wild waters of the Northern Sea beat about them
with such fury that it is only at certain times of the tide that even
peaceful boatmen can find a safe landing. Indeed, 'tis one of the
strongest fortresses in the country, and because of its position, lying
not so far from the East Border, and being guard as it were to the
Lothians, and Edinburgh, it is often called "The Key of Scotland."

My lord deemed it impregnable, as long as it was well supplied with
food, so he had little scruple in leaving his young wife and her two
little daughters alone there, with a handful of men-at-arms, too old,
most of them, to be of any further service in the field, to guard them.

She, on her part, was very well content to stay, for was she not a
daughter of the famous Randolph