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."

In five minutes from that time both the boys were fast asleep.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE PALACE OF HOLYROOD.

While Mr. George and the boys were in Edinburgh, they went one day to
visit the Palace of Holyrood, and they were extremely interested in what
they saw there. This palace stands, as has already been stated, on a
plain, not far from the foot of a long slope which leads up to the
castle.

As long as Scotland remained an independent kingdom, the Palace of
Holyrood was the principal residence of the royal family. Queen Mary was
the last of the Scottish sovereigns--that is, she was the last that
reigned over Scotland alone--for her son, James VI., succeeded to the
throne of England, as well as to that of Scotland. The reason of this
was, that the English branch of the royal line failed, and he was the
next heir. So he became James the First of England, while he still
remained James the Sixth of Scotland. And from this time forward the
kings of England and Scotland were one.

Mary, therefore, was the last of the exclusively Scottish line. She
lived at H