THE BLACK DOUGLAS.
In Scotland, in the time of King Robert Bruce, there lived a brave man
whose name was Doug-las. His hair and beard were black and long, and
his face was tanned and dark; and for this reason people nicknamed him
the Black Douglas. He was a good friend of the king, and one of his
strongest helpers.
In the war with the English, who were trying to drive Bruce from
Scotland, the Black Douglas did many brave deeds; and the English
people became very much afraid of him. By and by the fear of him
spread all through the land. Nothing could frighten an English lad
more than to tell him that the Black Douglas was not far away. Women
would tell their chil-dren, when they were naughty, that the Black
Douglas would get them; and this would make them very quiet and good.
There was a large cas-tle in Scotland which the English had taken
early in the war. The Scot-tish soldiers wanted very much to take it
again, and the Black Douglas and his men went one day to see what they
could do. It happened to be a hol-i-day, and most of the English
soldiers in the cas-tle were eating and drinking and having a merry
time. But they had left watch-men on the wall to see that the Scottish
soldiers did not come upon them un-a-wares; and so they felt quite
safe.
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