the mean time at
supper in the great square tower with his father and mother. The keys
were lying upon the table. He contrived to get them into his
possession, and then cautiously stole away. He locked the tower as he
came out, went across the court to Mary's room, liberated her through
the postern window, and descended with her into the boat. One of her
maids, whose name was Jane Kennedy, was to have accompanied her, but,
in their eagerness to make sure of Mary, they forgot or neglected
her, and she had to leap down after them, which feat she
accomplished without any serious injury. The boat pushed off
immediately, and the Douglases began to pull hard for the shore. They
threw the keys of the castle into the lake, as if the impossibility
of recovering them, in that case, made the imprisonment of the family
more secure. The whole party were, of course, in the highest state of
excitement and agitation. Jane Kennedy helped to row, and it is said
that even Mary applied her strength to one of the oars.

They landed safely on the south side of the loch, far from Kinross.
Several of the Hamilton lords were ready there to receive the
fugitive. They mounted her on horseback, and galloped away. There was
a strong party to escort her. They rode hard all night, and the next
morning they arrived safely at Hamilton. "Now," said Mary, "I am once
more a queen."

It was true. She was again a queen. Popular feeling ebbs and flows
with prodigious force, and the change from one state to the other
depends, sometimes, on very accidental causes. The news of Mary's
escape spread rapidly over the land. Her friends were encouraged and
emboldened. Sympathies, long dormant and inert, were awakened in her
favor. She issued a proclamation, declaring that her abdication had
been forced upon her, and, as such, was null and void. She summoned
Murray to surrender his powers as regent, and to come and receive
orders from her. She called upon all her faithful subjects to take up
arms and gather around her standard. Murray refused to obey, but
large masses of the people gave in their adhesion to their liberated
queen, and flocked to Hamilton to enter into her service. In a week
Mary found herself at the head of an army of six thousand men.

* * * * *

[Illustration: RUINS OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE.]

The Castle of Loch Leven is now a solitary ruin. The waters of the
loch have been lowered by means of an excavation of the ou