Read The Battle for Duncragglin for Free Online Page A

didn't say that.” Duncan glared.
    “Are they haunted?” Annie gave him a disarming, mischievous smile.
    Duncan sighed. He pulled his long hair back with both hands, clutched it behind his neck, and let it fall down his back. “I'm not sure ‘haunted’ is the right word, but there's something strange about the place – which is all the more reason to stay away!”
    “For sure! No way
we'd
want to go there,” Annie said.
    Duncan eyed her suspiciously, but said nothing more. He revved the tractor, ground the gearshift into reverse, and backed the trailer for them to load another crate.

5
P ICNIC AT THE R UINS
    “A lright, alright.” Mr. McRae put down his reading glasses. “A promise is a promise. But let me finish up my paperwork, then we can have lunch and head on out to the ruins.”
    “Hooray!” Willie whooped. He and Annie threw together some ham and cheese rolls, grabbed a few apples, and persuaded Mr. McRae to let them pack them up and make it a picnic.
    “Fine, fine.” He laughed. “Such enthusiasm! What's with the lot of ye?”
    Since Duncan had taken the van, they all had to squeeze into Mr. McRae's little car: Annie up front, with the picnic basket on her lap, and Alex squeezed awkwardly between Willie and Craig in the back, each insisting on having a window seat. The car looked so old that Alex doubted it would start, but it sputtered, coughed, and revved up.
    They rounded a bend and saw the battered outline of the castle rising up above the cliffs. Even in the midday sun, the ruins looked bleak and desolate.
    Mr. McRae turned onto a grassy plateau and parked overlooking the sea. There was no paved car park, ticket booth, or guided tour. In fact, there was no one there at all – only hundreds of seagulls wheeling about and screeching from nooks in the crumbled walls.
    All that remained of the castle were mounds of earth and stone, basic outlines of foundations, and eroded remnants of towers. Everything was so overgrown, it was hard to tell where natural rock formations ended and ancient walls began.
    Centrally perched on the edge of the cliffs was a large mound that Alex guessed would have been the castle keep. The upper floors appeared to have collapsed into the lower, filling them in. Grass had grown over the top, and seagulls had taken to building nests in the remnants of the walls.
    Alex regarded it dubiously. There seemed little prospect of finding a way in. Perhaps it would offer a good view. “Is there a way up top?” he asked.
    “Around the other side there's a wee sloped bit,” Mr. McRae replied. “Seeing how it isn't a windy day, we can have our picnic up there.”
    The top provided a spectacular panorama of surrounding cliffs, with waves crashing far below. Alex leaned against an iron rail and shaded his eyes from the ocean glare. Ahead, a crumbling, overgrown arch connected with more ruins on outcropping rocks. Under it was a water passage to a small natural harbor that would once have been surrounded by castle and walls.
    Alex sighed. Such a magnificent castle, so little left.
    The midday sun beat down on them. Even on theirperch high above the sea, there was only the slightest warm breeze to ruffle their hair. Mr. McRae spread a tartan blanket and placed the picnic basket in the middle. Willie picked a stem of tall grass and stuck it in his mouth. The end wiggled as he chewed.
    “Ah, what a braw day.” Mr. McRae stretched out on the tartan blanket, his hands behind his head. “We don't have nearly enough days like this in this country.”
    Willie reached into the basket and pulled out a roll.
    “Hey – that's mine!”
    “No, it's not.” Willie held the roll out of Craig's reach. “Do you see your name on it?”
    “Is too, I called it! Let me have it!” Craig lunged and grabbed Willie's arm.
    “Boys … boys … BOYS!” Mr. McRae waded in and pulled them apart. “Enough of this! Willie, put the roll down. I'll hand them out myself.”
    Even with all the rolls spread