In the e-ven-ing, when it was growing dark, the wife of one of the
soldiers went up on the wall with her child in her arms. As she looked
over into the fields below the castle, she saw some dark objects
moving toward the foot of the wall. In the dusk she could not make out
what they were, and so she pointed them out to one of the watch-men.
"Pooh, pooh!" said the watchman. "Those are nothing to frighten us.
They are the farmer's cattle, trying to find their way home. The
farmer himself is en-joy-ing the hol-i-day, and he has forgotten to
bring them in. If the Douglas should happen this way before morning,
he will be sorry for his care-less-ness."
But the dark objects were not cattle. They were the Black Douglas and
his men, creeping on hands and feet toward the foot of the castle
wall. Some of them were dragging ladders behind them through the
grass. They would soon be climbing to the top of the wall. None of the
English soldiers dreamed that they were within many miles of the
place.
The woman watched them until the last one had passed around a corner
out of sight. She was not afraid, for in the dark-en-ing twi-light
they looked indeed like cattle. After a little while she began to sing
to her child:--
"Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye,
Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,
The Black Douglas shall not get ye.
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