Page:History of the Black Douglas.pdf/11

Rh Castle Dangerous against the Scots for a year and a day. A gallant young knight, named Sir John Wilton, stepped forward, and said, for the love of that Lady, he would engage to keep Castle Dangerous for a year and a day, if the king would give him leave. This the king was very glad to do.

This gallant nobleman kept the castle very safely for some time, but in the end he had no better fortune than his predecessors, for Douglas, by a stratagem, induced him to venture out with a great part of his garrison, and set upon them in the midst of a wood, and slew them. Sir John Wilton himself was killed, and a letter from the lady is said to have been found in his pocket. Sir James Douglas deeply regretted the fate of this brave young man, and did not put to death any of the prisoners as he had formerly done, but sent them all in safety to the next English garrison.

The next exploit of Sir James Douglas was the taking of Roxburgh Castle, situated near where two fine rivers, the Tweed and the Teviot, join to each other. It was a very strong place, and being within a few miles of the English border, the English were extremely desirous of maintaining it, and equally so the Scots of gaining possession of it.

It was upon the night of what is called Shrovetide, a Roman Catholic holiday, and which was solemnized with much gaiety and feasting, that the attempt was made by Douglas.

About the close of the evening, while the wife of one of the English officers was sitting on the battlements with a child in her arms, and looking out on the fields below, she saw some objects, like