ht be anything from seventy to a hundred feet in height; and
connected with it were several stone buildings, some two stories and
some three stories high. Round the castle, in a wide, irregular
circle, had been built a stout stone wall, perhaps twenty feet high,
wide enough on the top for half a dozen men to walk abreast. The space
enclosed was tolerably flat, and large enough for a small army to
exercise in. Leaning against the inside of this wall was an array of
sheds, which provided stabling for the horses, and numerous stalls in
which many cattle were lowing. The contour of the wall was broken by a
gateway, through which the troop and their captives had entered. The
inlet could be closed by a massive gate, which now stood open, and by
a stout portcullis that hung ready to drop when a lever was pulled.
But the most gruesome feature of this robber's lair was a stout beam
of timber, which projected horizontally from the highest open window
of the square tower. Attached to the further end of the beam was a
thick rope, the looped end of which encircled the drawn neck of a man,
whose lifeless body swayed like a leaden pendulum, helpless in the
strong breeze. Seeing the eyes of the three directed to this pitiful
object, Armstrong said to one of his men,--

"Just slip that fellow's head from the noose, Peter; we may need the
rope again to-night." Then turning to his prisoners, Armstrong spoke
like a courteous host anxious to exhibit to a welcome guest the
striking features of his domain.

"That's but a grisly sight, gentlemen, to contemplate on a lowering
evening."

The day was darkening to its close, and a storm, coming up out of the
west, was bringing the night quicker than the hour sanctioned.

"But here is an ingenious contrivance," continued the freebooter,
cheerfully, "which has commanded the admiration of many a man we were
compelled to hang. You see there are so many meddlesome bodies in this
world that a person like myself, who wishes to live in peace with all
his fellows, must sometimes give the interferers a sharp bit lesson."

"I can well believe it," answered the king.

"An Englishman of great ingenuity had a plan for capturing us, but, as
it stands, we captured him; and being a merciful man, always loth to
hang, when anything else can be done, I set him at work here, and
this is one of his constructions. As it's growing dark, come nearer
that you may see how it works."

At the bottom of the tower, and