es there?" cried a voice above, from the castle terrace.

"Row, row," said Douglas, placing himself in front of the queen.

"The boat! the boat!" cried the same voice; "bring to the boat!" Then,
seeing that it continued to recede, "Treason! treason!" cried the
sentinel. "To arms!"

At the same moment a flash lit up the lake; the report of a firearm was
heard, and a ball passed, whistling. The queen uttered a little cry,
although she had run no danger, George, as we have said, having placed
himself in front of her, quite protecting her with his body.

The alarm bell now rang, and all the castle lights were seen moving and
glancing about, as if distracted, in the rooms.

"Courage, children!" said Douglas. "Row as if your lives depended on
each stroke of the oar; for ere five minutes the skiff will be out after
us."

"That won't be so easy for them as you think, George," said Little
Douglas; "for I shut all the doors behind me, and some time will elapse
before the keys that I have left there open them. As to these," added
he, showing those he had so skilfully abstracted, "I resign them to the
Kelpie, the genie of the lake, and I nominate him porter of Lochleven
Castle."

The discharge of a small piece of artillery answered William's joke;
but as the night was too dark for one to aim to such a distance as that
already between the castle and the boat, the ball ricochetted at twenty
paces from the fugitives, while the report died away in echo after echo.
Then Douglas drew his pistol from his belt, and, warning the ladies to
have no fear, he fired in the air, not to answer by idle bravado the
castle cannonade, but to give notice to a troop of faithful friends, who
were waiting for them on the other shore of the lake, that the queen had
escaped. Immediately, in spite of the danger of being so near Kinross,
cries of joy resounded on the bank, and William having turned the
rudder, the boat made for land at the spot whence they had been heard.
Douglas then gave his hand to the queen, who sprang lightly ashore, and
who, falling on her knees, immediately began to give thanks to God for
her happy deliverance.

On rising, the queen found herself surrounded by her most faithful
servants--Hamilton, Herries, and Seyton, Mary's father. Light-headed
with joy, the queen extended her hands to them, thanking them with
broken words, which expressed her intoxication and her gratitude better
than the choicest phrases could have done, wh