EDINBURGH CASTLE.
The day after the visit which the party made to the palace, they set out
from their hotel to go to the castle. As they were walking along
together on the sidewalk of Prince's Street, on a sudden Waldron darted
off from Rollo's side, and ran into the street, in pursuit of a cab
which had just gone by. He soon overtook the cab and climbed up behind
it; and then, to Mr. George's utter amazement, he reached forward along
the side of the vehicle, so as to look into the window of it, and
knocked on the glass. In a moment the cab stopped, the door opened, and
the mystery of the case was explained to Mr. George and Rollo by seeing
Waldron's father looking out of it.
"It is his father!" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "But that is not the proper way for a boy to
stop his father, riding by in a cab, in the streets of Edinburgh."
The cab drove up to the sidewalk, and then Mr. Kennedy got out to speak
to Mr. George. He said that he had received letters from America, making
it necessary for him to set sail immediately for home. He had intended,
he added, to have remained two or three weeks longer in Scotland; and in
that case he should have liked very much to have continued Waldron under
Mr. George's care.
"And now," he added, turning to Waldron, "which would you rather do--go
home to America with me, or stay here, and travel with Mr. George?"
Waldron looked quite perplexed at this proposal. He said that he liked
very much to travel with Mr. George and Rollo, and yet he wanted very
much indeed to go home.
In the course of the day various debates and consultations were held,
and it was finally decided that Waldron should go home. So the accounts
were settled with Mr. George, and Waldron was transferred to the hotel
where his father and mother were lodging. They were to set out the next
morning, in the express train for Liverpool. The preparations for the
journey and the voyage kept Waldron busy all that day, so that Mr.
George and Rollo went to the castle alone. But Waldron made Rollo
promise that in the evening he would come to the hotel and see him, and
tell him what he saw there.
In the evening, accordingly, Rollo went to the hotel where Mr. Kennedy
was staying. Mr. George went with him. They went first into Mr.
Kennedy's parlor. A door was open between the parlor and one of the
bedrooms, and both rooms were full of trunks and parcels. Every body was
busy packing and arranging. The ladies were showing each other their
different purchases, as they came in from the shops; and as soon as Mr.
George entered, they began to ask him whether he thought they would be
obliged to pay duty on this, or on that, when they arrived in America.
Rollo asked where Waldron was, and they said he was in his room, packing
his trunk. So Rollo went to find him.
"Ah, Rollo," said Waldron, "I am glad you have come. I want you to sit
on the top of my trunk with me, and make it shut down."
Rollo gave Waldron the assistance he required, and by the conjoined
gravity of both the boys the trunk was made to shut. Waldron turned the
key in an instant, and then said,--
"There! Get open again if you can. And now, Rollo," he continued, "tell
me about the castle."
"Well, we had a very good time visiting it," said Rollo. "We went over
the bridge where you and I stopped to look down to the market, and came
to High Street. But instead of turning down, as we did when we were
going to Holyrood, we turned _up_; because, you know, the castle is on
the top of the hill."
"Yes," said Waldron, "I knew that was the way."
"Well, we went up High Street," continued Rollo. "The upper part of it
is quite a handsome street. There were a great many large public
buildings. We passed by a great cathedral, where, they said, a woman
threw a stool at the minister, while he was preaching."
"What did she do that for?" asked Waldron.
"I don't know," said Rollo. "I suppose she did not like his preaching.
It was in the reformation times. I believe he was preaching Popery, and
she was a Protestant. Her name was Jenny Geddes. They have got the stool
now."
"They have?" exclaimed Waldron.
"Yes," said Rollo, "so uncle George said. They keep it in the
Antiquarian Museum, for a curiosity."
"When we got to the upper end of the High Street," continued Rollo,
"there was the castle all before us. Only first there was a parade
ground for the troops; it was all gravelled over."
"Were there any soldiers there?" asked Waldron.
"Yes," said Rollo, "there were two or three companies drilling and
parading."
"I should like to have seen them," said Waldron.
"Yes," said Rollo, "and besides, the parade ground was a splendid place.
The lower end of it was towards the street; the upper end was towards
the gates and walls of the castle, and the two sides of it were shut in
by a low wall, built on the very brink of the precipice. You could look
down over this wall into the streets of the lower part of the town; and
then we could see off a great way, over all the country.
"We stopped a little while to look at the view, and then we turned round
and looked at the soldiers a little while longer, and then we went on.
Presently we came to the castle gates. There was a sentinel on guard,
and some soldiers walking to and fro on the ramparts above; but they did
not say any thing to us, and so we went in. There were other parties of
ladies and gentlemen going in too."
"Well," said Waldron, "what did you see when you got in?"
"Why, we were yet only inside the walls," said Rollo, "and so we kept
going on up a steep road paved with stones. There were walls, and
towers, and battlements, and bastions, and soldiers walking sentry, and
cannons pointed at us, all around. Presently we came to a sort of
bridge. Here we heard some music. It seemed down below; so we went to
the side of the bridge and looked over. There was a little square field
below, and three men, with Scotch bagpipes, playing together. The men
were dressed in uniform, and the bagpipes were splendid-looking
instruments."
"Yes," said Waldron. "They were the musicians of some Highland regiment,
practising."
"Well; we went on, higher and higher," said Rollo, "and continued going
round and round, till, at last, we came to the upper part of the castle,
where there were platforms, and cannons upon them, pointing out over all
the country round about."
"Did you see Mons Meg?" asked Waldron.
"Yes," said Rollo, "and we went up close to it. But we did not touch it,
for there was a notice put up that visitors must not touch the guns.
"By and by we came into a large square court, with buildings, that
looked like barracks, all about it. There was a sign up, with a hand on
it pointing, and the words, 'To the crown room.' So we knew that that
was the place where we were to go. Besides, all the other ladies and
gentlemen were going there, too.
"We gave up our tickets at the door, and went up a short flight of
steps, into a little sort of cellar."
"A little sort of cellar!" exclaimed Waldron. He was surprised at the
idea of going up stairs into a cellar.
"Yes," said Rollo. "It was just like a cellar. It had stone walls all
around it, and was arched overhead."
"Was it dark?" asked Waldron.
"O, no," said Rollo; "it was lighted up splendidly with gas. The gas
shone very bright in between the bars of the cage, and brightened up the
crown and the jewels wonderfully."
"In the cage?" repeated Waldron; "was there a cage?"
"Yes," replied Rollo. "In the middle of the room there was a great iron
cage, as high as my head, and big in proportion. The crown and the
jewels were in the cage, on cushions. They were so far in that people
could not reach them by putting their hands through the bars. There were
a great many persons standing all around the cage, and looking in to
see the crown and the jewels."
"Were they pretty?" asked Waldron.
"Not very," said Rollo. "I suppose the things were made of gold; but I
could not tell, from the looks of them, whether they were made of gold
or brass."
"Was there any thing else?" asked Waldron.
"Yes," said Rollo, "there was a monstrous oak chest,--iron bound, or
brass bound,--where the crown and jewels were hid away for a great many
years. At the time when Scotland was united to England, they put these
things in this chest; and they were left there so long that at last
there was nobody that knew where they were. Finally the government began
to look for them, and they looked in this old chest, and there they
found them.
"While we were looking at the chest," continued Rollo, "I heard some
music out in the court, and I asked uncle George to let me go out; and
he did. I was very glad I did, for the Highland regiment was paraded in
the court. I stood there some time to see them exercised."
"Did they look well?" asked Waldron.
"Beautifully," said Rollo.
After this, Rollo gave Waldron some further accounts of what he saw at
the castle; but before he got quite through with his descriptions Mr.
George came, and said it was time for them to go home. So they both bade
Waldron good by. Rollo said, however, that it was not his final good by.
"I shall come down to the station to-morrow morning," said he, "and see
you go."
Waldron was very much pleased to hear this, and then Mr. George and
Rollo went away.