Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/428

414 PEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 55. ment of his wife, came to Lennox at Glasgow, and told him that the garrison was keeping negligent watch, and that the place might be surprised. Crawford of Jordan- hill, Darnley's last friend, who had shared his confidence on Mary Stuart's fatal visit to him, was now an officer of Lennox's guard. Throughout the civil war, when any exploit of note and mark was to be accomplished, Crawford was always among the foremost. He was a man of great personal courage, devoted to the young King, and one of those who were most anxious to avenge his father's murder. He had a follower of his own who had once lived at Dumbarton, and knew his way about the cliffs, and with this man's help Crawford, when the Regent consulted him, determined to undertake the enterprise. If done at all it was to be done at the first permissible moment, before the recommencement of the war placed Fleming again upon the alert. On the 3 1 st of March, an hour before sunset, Crawford, with one of the Ramsay s and a hundred and fifty men, went quietly out of Glasgow, carrying with them ladders, cords, and 'crows of iron to drive into the rock.' A party of horse had been sent on to watch the road and prevent intelligence from being carried to the castle. At mid- night they were at Dumbuck, a mile and a half up the river. The moon set shortly after, and with their guns strapped to their backs, the ladders slung between them, and attached in line by the cords that none might stray, they stole down over the marshes in single file. It was a clear starlight night, but they were delayed more than once by the broad deep ditches with which the fields were