but
will go forth with you to the battle, and swither not with the sword
till we have effected some notable achievement."

They accordingly went forthwith to Captain Crawford and proffered to him
their service; and he was gladdened that my grandfather had come to so
warlike a purpose; but he looked sharply at the bailie, and twice smiled
to my grandfather, as if in doubt of his soldiership, saying, "But,
Gilhaize, since you recommend him, he must be a good man and true."

So the same night they set out at dusk, with a chosen troop and band of
not more than two hundred men. A boat, provided with ladders, dropped
down the river with the tide, to be before them.

By midnight the expedition reached the bottom of Dumbuckhill, where,
having ascertained that the boat was arrived, Jordanhill directed those
aboard to keep her close in with the shore, and move with their march.

The evening when they left Glasgow was bright and calm, and the moon, in
her first quarter, shed her beautiful glory on mountain and tower and
tree, leading them as with the light of a heavenly torch; and when they
reached the skirts of the river, it was soon manifest that their
enterprise was favoured from on high. The moon was by that time set, and
a thick mist came rolling from the Clyde and the Leven, and made the
night air dim as well as dark, veiling their movements from all mortal
eyes.

Jordanhill's guide led them to a part of the rock which was seldom
guarded, and showed them where to place their ladders. He had been in
the service of the Lord Fleming, the governor, but on account of
contumelious usage had quitted it, and had been the contriver of the
scheme.

Scarcely was the first ladder placed when the impatience of the men
brought it to the ground; but there was a noise in the ebbing waters of
the Clyde that drowned the accident of their fall, and prevented it from
alarming the soldiers on the watch. This failure disconcerted Jordanhill
for a moment; but the guide fastened the ladder to the roots of an ash
tree which grew in a cleft of the rock, and to the first shelf of the
precipice they all ascended in safety.

The first ladder was then drawn up and placed against the upper story,
as it might be called, of the rock, reaching to the gap where they could
enter into the fortress, while another ladder was tied in its place
below. Jordanhill then ascended, leading the way, followed by his men,
the bailie of Crail being before my grandfa