for quarter. This was given, and the following day the
prisoners were marched under a strong guard down to Montrose, there
to be confined until orders for their disposal were received from
the king. For the next fortnight Archie and his retainers, aided by
the whole of the villagers, laboured to dismantle the castle. The
battlements were thrown down into the moat, several wide breaches
were made in the walls, and large quantities of straw and wood piled
up in the keep and turrets. These were then fired, and the Castle
of Dunottar was soon reduced to an empty and gaping shell. Then
Archie marched south, and remained quietly at home until the term
of rest granted him by the king had expired.

Two girls and a son had by this time been born to him, and the
months passed quietly and happily away until Bruce summoned him to
join, with his retainers, the force with which Randolph had sat down
before Edinburgh Castle. Randolph was delighted at this accession
of strength. Between him and Douglas a generous rivalry in gallant
actions continually went on, and Douglas had scored the last
triumph. The castle of Roxburgh had long been a source of trouble
to the Scots. Standing on a rocky eminence on the margin of the
Teviot, just at its junction with the Tweed and within eight miles
of the Border, it had constituted an open door into Scotland, and
either through it or through Berwick the tides of invasion had ever
flowed. The castle was very strongly fortified, so much so that
the garrison, deeming themselves perfectly safe from assault, had
grown careless. The commandant was a Burgundian knight, Gillemin
de Fienne. Douglas chose Shrove Tuesday for his attack. Being a
feast day of the church before the long lenten fast the garrison
would be sure to indulge in conviviality and the watch would be
less strict than usual. Douglas and his followers, supplied with
scaling ladders, crept on all fours towards the walls. The night
was still and they could hear the sentries' conversation. They had
noticed the objects advancing, but in the darkness mistook them for
the cattle of a neighbouring farmer. Silently the ladders were
fixed and mounted, and with the dreaded war cry, "A Douglas! A
Douglas!" the assailants burst into the castle, slaying the sentries
and pouring down upon the startled revellers. Fienne and his men
fought gallantly for a time, but at length all surrendered, with
the exception of the governor himself and a few of his imm