Books: In Freedom\'s Cause

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"Rein back, rein back," Pembroke said, "the country is wild and
hilly here, and Bruce may hide himself long before you can overtake
him. Keep steadily in his track till he gains flatter country, where
we can keep him in sight, then we shall have no more occasion for
the hound and can gallop on at full speed."

Archie observed, with satisfaction, that Bruce was making up an
extremely steep hillside, deeming probably that horsemen would be
unable to follow him here, and that he would be able to distance
pursuers on foot. Ten minutes later his pursuers had reached the
foot of the hill. Pembroke at once ordered four knights and ten
men-at-arms to dismount.

"Do you," he said, "with the dog, follow hard upon the traces of
Bruce. When you reach the top signal to us the direction in which
he has gone. Follow ever on his track without stopping; he must at
last take to the low country again. Some of my men shall remain
here, others a mile further on, and so on round the whole foot of
the hills. Do you, when you see that, thinking he has distanced
you, which he may well do being more lightly armed and flying for
his life, he makes for the low country again, send men in different
directions to give me warning. The baying of the dog will act as
a signal to us."

While the men had been dismounting and Pembroke was giving his
orders Archie had proceeded up the hill with the hound. The path
was exceedingly steep and difficult.

"Do not hurry, sirrah," Pembroke called; "hold in your hound till
the others join you." But Archie paid no attention to the shout,
but kept up the steep path at the top of his speed. Shouts and
threats followed him, but he paused not till he reached the top
of the ascent; then he unfastened Hector's collar, and the dog,
relieved from the chain which had so long restrained him, bounded
away with a deep bay in pursuit of his master, whose scent was now
strong before him. As Archie looked back, the four knights and
their followers, in single file, were, as yet, scarce halfway up
the ascent. Lying round were numbers of loose boulders, and Archie
at once began to roll these down the hillside. They went but slowly
at first, but as they reached the steeper portion they gathered
speed, and taking great bounds crashed down the hillside. As these
formidable missiles burst down from above the knights paused.

"On!" Pembroke shouted from below; "the Scot is a traitor, and he
and the hound will escape if you seize him not." Again the party
hurried up the hill. Three of them were struck down by the rocks,
and the speed of all was impeded by the pauses made to avoid the
great boulders which bounded down toward them. When they were
within a few yards of the top Archie turned and bounded off at full
speed. He had no fear of being himself overtaken. Lightly clad and
unarmed, the knights and men-at-arms, who were all in full armour,
and who were already breathed with the exertions they had made,
would have no chance of overtaking him; indeed he could safely have
fled at once when he loosed Hector, but he had stopped to delay the
ascent of his pursuers solely to give the hound as long a start
as possible. He himself could have kept up with the hound; the
men-at-arms could assuredly not do so, but they might for a long
time keep him in sight, and his baying would afterwards indicate
the line the king was taking, and Bruce might yet be cut off by
the mounted men. The delay which his bombardment had caused had
given a long start to the hound, for it was more than five minutes
from the time when it had been loosed before the pursuers gained
the crest of the hill. Archie, in his flight, took a different
line to that which the dog had followed. Hector was already out
of sight, and although his deep baying might for a time afford an
index to his direction this would soon cease to act as a guide, as
the animal would rapidly increase his distance from his pursuers,
and would, when he had overtaken the king, cease to emit his warning
note. The pursuers, after a moment's pause for consultation on the
crest of the hill, followed the line taken by the hound.

The men-at-arms paused to throw aside their defensive armour,
breast, back, and leg pieces, and the knights relieved themselves
of some of their iron gear; but the delay, short as it was, caused
by the unbuckling of straps and unlacing of helms, increased the
distance which already existed between them and the hound, whose
deep notes, occasionally raised, grew fainter and fainter. In a
few minutes it ceased altogether, and Archie judged that the hound
had overtaken his master, who, on seeing the animal approaching
alone, would naturally have checked his flight. Archie himself
was now far away from the men-at-arms, and after proceeding until
beyond all reach of pursuit, slackened his pace, and breaking into
a walk continued his course some miles across the hills until he
reached a lonely cottage where he was kindly received, and remained
until next day.

The following morning he set out and journeyed to the spot, where,
on leaving his retainers more than a week before, he had ordered
them to await his coming. It was another week before he obtained
such news as enabled him again to join the king, who was staying at
a woodcutter's hut in Selkirk Forest. Hector came out with a deep
bark of welcome.

"Well, Sir Archie," the king said, following his dog to the door,
"and how has it fared with you since we last parted a fortnight
since? I have been hotly chased, and thought I should have been
taken; but, thanks to the carelessness of the fellow who led my
hound, Hector somehow slipped his collar and joined me, and I was
able to shake off my pursuers, so that danger is over, and without
sacrificing the life of my good dog."

Archie smiled. "Perchance, sir, it was not from any clumsiness that
the hound got free, but that he was loosed by some friendly hand."

"It may be so," the king replied; "but they would scarcely have
intrusted him to a hand friendly to me. Nor would his leader, even
if so disposed, have ventured to slip the hound, seeing that the
horsemen must have been close by at the time, and that such a deed
would cost him his life. It was only because Hector got away, when
the horsemen were unable to follow him, that he escaped, seeing
that, good dog as he is, speed is not his strong point, and that
horsemen could easily gallop alongside of him even were he free.
What are you smiling at, Sir Archie? The hound and you seem on
wondrous friendly terms;" for Hector was now standing up with his
great paws on Archie's shoulder.

"So we should be, sire, seeing that for eight days we have shared
bed and board."

"Ah! is it so?" Bruce exclaimed. "Was it you, then, that loosed
the hound?"

"It was, sir," Archie replied; "and this is the history of it;
and you will see that if I have done you and Hector a service in
bringing you together again the hound has repaid it by saving my
life."

Entering the hut, Archie sat down and related all that had happened,
to the king.

"You have done me great service, Sir Archie," Bruce said when he
concluded his tale, "for assuredly the hound would have wrought my
ruin had he remained in the hands of the English. This is another
of the long list of services you have rendered me. Some day, when
I come to my own, you will find that I am not ungrateful."

The feats which have been related of Bruce, and other personal
adventures in which he distinguished himself, won the hearts of
great numbers of the Scotch people. They recognized now that they
had in him a champion as doughty and as valiant as Wallace himself.
The exploits of the king filled their imaginations, and the way in
which he continued the struggle after the capture of the ladies of
his family and the cruel execution of his brothers and so many of
his adherents, convinced them that he would never desist until he
was dead or a conqueror. Once persuaded of this, larger numbers
gathered round his banner, and his fortunes henceforth began steadily
to rise.

Lord Clifford had rebuilt Douglas Castle, making it larger and
much stronger than before, and had committed it to the charge of
Captain Thirlwall, with a strong garrison. Douglas took a number
of his retainers, who had now joined him in the field, and some
of these, dressing themselves as drovers and concealing their
arms, drove a herd of cattle within sight of the castle toward an
ambuscade in which Douglas and the others were laying in ambush.
The garrison, seeing what they believed a valuable prize within
their grasp, sallied out to seize the cattle. When they reached the
ambuscade the Scots sprang out upon them, and Thirlwall and the
greater portion of his men were slain. Douglas then took and destroyed
the castle and marched away. Clifford again rebuilt it more strongly
than before, and placed it in charge of Sir John Walton. It might
have been thought that after the disasters which had befallen
the garrison they would not have suffered themselves to be again
entrapped. Douglas, however, ordered a number of his men to ride
past within sight of the castle with sacks upon their horses,
apparently filled with grain, but in reality with grass, as if
they were countrymen on their way to the neighbouring market town,
while once more he and his followers placed themselves in ambush.
Headed by their captain, the garrison poured out from the castle,
and followed the apparent countrymen until they had passed the
ambush where Douglas was lying. Then the drovers threw off their
disguises and attacked them, while Douglas fell upon their rear,
and Walton and his companions were all slain. The castle was then
attacked, and the remainder of the garrison being cowed by the
fate which had befallen their leader and comrades, made but a poor
defence. The castle was taken, and was again destroyed by its
lord, the walls being, as far as possible, overthrown.

Shortly after the daring adventures of Bruce had begun to rouse
the spirit of the country Archie Forbes found himself at the head
of a larger following than before. Foreseeing that the war must be
a long one he had called upon his tenants and retainers to furnish
him only with a force one third of that of their total strength.
Thus he was able to maintain sixty men always in the field -- all
the older men on the estate being exempted from service unless
summoned to defend the castle.

One day when he was in the forest of Selkirk with the king a body
of fifty men were seen approaching. Their leader inquired for Sir
Archibald Forbes, and presently approached him as he was talking
to the king.

"Sir Archibald Forbes," he said, "I am bidden by my mistress, the
lady Mary Kerr, to bring these, a portion of the retainers of her
estates in Ayrshire, and to place them in your hands to lead and
govern."

"In my hands!" Archie exclaimed in astonishment. "The Kerrs are all
on the English side, and I am their greatest enemy. It were strange,
indeed, were one of them to choose me to lead their retainers in
the cause of Scotland."

"Our young lord Sir Allan was slain at Methven," the man said, "and
the lady Mary is now our lady and mistress. She sent to us months
ago to say that she willed not that any of her retainers should any
longer take part in the struggle, and all who were in the field
were summoned home. Then we heard that no hindrance would be offered
by her should any wish to join the Bruce; and now she has sent by
a messenger a letter under her hand ordering that a troop of fifty
men shall be raised to join the king, and that it shall fight under
the leading and order of Sir Archibald Forbes."

"I had not heard that Sir Allan had fallen," Archie said to the
king as they walked apart from the place where the man was standing;
"and in truth I had forgotten that he even had a sister. She must
have been a child when I was a boy at Glen Cairn, and could have
been but seldom at the castle -- which, indeed, was no fit abode
for so young a girl, seeing that Sir John's wife had died some
years before I left Glen Cairn. Perhaps she was with her mother's
relations. I have heard that Sir John Kerr married a relation of
the Comyns of Badenoch. `Tis strange if, being of such bad blood
on both sides, she should have grown up a true Scotchwoman -- still
more strange she should send her vassals to fight under the banner
of one whom she must regard as the unlawful holder of her father's
lands of Aberfilly."

"Think you, Sir Archie," the king said, "that this is a stratagem,
and that these men have really come with a design to seize upon
you and slay you, or to turn traitors in the first battle?"

Archie was silent. "Treachery has been so much at work," he said
after a pause, "that it were rash to say that this may not be a
traitorous device; but it were hard to think that a girl -- even
a Kerr -- would lend herself to it."

"There are bad women as well as bad men," the king said: "and if
a woman thinks she has grievances she will often stick at nothing
to obtain revenge."

"It is a well appointed troop," Archie said looking at the men,
who were drawn up in order, "and not to be despised. Their leader
looks an honest fellow; and if the lady means honestly it were
churlish indeed, to refuse her aid when she ventures to break with
her family and to declare for Scotland. No; methinks that, with
your permission, I will run the risk, such as it may be, and will
join this band with my own. I will keep a sharp watch over them at
the first fight, and will see that they are so placed that, should
they mean treachery, they shall have but small opportunity of doing
harm."

Chapter XIX The Convent of St. Kenneth

Bruce, as the result of his successes, was now able to leave
his fastnesses and establish himself in the districts of Carrick,
Kyle, and Cunningham. Pembroke had established himself at Bothwell
Castle, and sent a challenge to Bruce to meet him with his force at
Loudon Hill. Although his previous experience of such challenges
was unfortunate, Bruce accepted the offer. He had learned much
since the battle of Methven, and was not likely again to be caught
asleep; on the 9th of May he assembled his forces at Loudon Hill.

It was but a small following. Douglas had brought 100 men
from Douglasdale, and Archie Forbes had as many under his banner.
Bruce's own vassals had gathered 200 strong, and as many more of
the country people had joined; but in all, the Scotch force did
not exceed 600 men, almost entirely on foot and armed with spears.
Bruce at once reconnoitred the ground to discover a spot where his
little force might best withstand the shock of Pembroke's chivalry.
He found that at one place near the hill the road crossed a level
meadow with deep morasses on either side. He strengthened the position
with trenches, and calmly awaited the approach of his enemy. Upon
the following day Pembroke's army was seen approaching, numbering
3000 knights and mounted men-at-arms, all in complete armour. They
were formed in two divisions. The battle was almost a repetition
of that which had been fought by Wallace near the same spot. The
English chivalry levelled their spears and charged with proud
confidence of their ability to sweep away the rabble of spearmen
in front of them. Their flanks became entangled in the morasses;
their centre tried in vain to break through the hedge of Scottish
spears, and when they were in confusion, the king, his brother
Edward, Douglas, Archie Forbes, and some twenty other mounted men
dashed through a gap in the spearmen and fell upon them. The second
division, seeing the first broken and in confusion, turned and took
to flight at once, and Pembroke and his attendants rode, without
drawing rein, to Bothwell Castle.

A few days later Bruce encountered and defeated Ralph de Monthermer,
Earl of Gloucester, and compelled him to shut himself up in the
Castle of Ayr.

Archie Forbes was not present at the second battle, for upon the
morning after the fight at Loudon Hill he was aroused by his servant
entering his tent.

"A messenger has just brought this," he said, handing him a small
packet. "He bids me tell you that the sender is a prisoner in the
convent of St. Kenneth, on Loch Leven, and prays your aid."

Archie opened the packet and found within it the ring he had given
to Marjory at Dunstaffnage. Without a moment's delay he hurried
to the king and begged permission to leave him for a short time on
urgent business, taking with him twenty of his retainers.

"What is your urgent business, Sir Archie?" the king asked. "A lady
is in the case, I warrant me. Whenever a young knight has urgent
business, be sure that a lady is in question. Now mind, Sir Archie,
I have, as I have told you, set my heart upon marrying you to
Mistress Mary Kerr, and so at once putting an end to a long feud
and doubling your possessions. Her retainers fought well yesterday,
and the least I can do to reward so splendid a damsel is to bestow
upon her the hand of my bravest knight."

"I fear, sire," Archie said laughing, "that she must be content
with another. There are plenty who will deem themselves well paid
for their services in your cause by the gift of the hand of so rich
an heiress. But I must fain be excused; for as I told you, sire,
when we were together in Rathlin Island, my heart was otherwise
bestowed."

"What! to the niece of that malignant enemy of mine, Alexander of
Lorne?" the king said laughing. "Her friends would rather see you
on the gibbet than at the altar."

"I care nought for her friends," Archie said, "if I can get herself.
My own lands are wide enough, and I need no dowry with my wife."

"I see you are hopeless," the king replied. "Well, go, Archie; but
whatever be your errand, beware of the Lornes. Remember I have
scarce begun to win Scotland yet, and cannot spare you."

"A quarter of an hour later Archie, with twenty picked men, took
his way northward. Avoiding all towns and frequented roads, Archie
marched rapidly north to the point of Renfrew and crossed the Firth
of Clyde by boat; then he kept north round the head of Loch Fyne,
and avoiding Dalmally skirted the head of Loch Etive and the slopes
of Ben Nevis, and so came down on Loch Leven.

The convent stood at the extremity of a promontory jutting into the
lake. The neck was very narrow, and across it were strong walls,
with a gate and flanking towers. Between this wall and the convent
was the garden where the inmates walked and enjoyed the air free
from the sight of men, save, indeed, of fishers who might be passing
in their boats.

Outside the wall, on the shore of the lake, stood a large village;
and here a strong body of the retainers of the convent were always
on guard, for at St. Kenneth were many of the daughters of Scotch
nobles, sent there either to be out of the way during the troubles
or to be educated by the nuns. Although the terrors of sacrilege
and the ban of the church might well deter any from laying hands
upon the convent, yet even in those days of superstition some were
found so fierce and irreverent as to dare even the anger of the
church to carry out their wishes; and the possession of some of these
heiresses might well enable them to make good terms for themselves
both with the church and the relations of their captives. Therefore a
number of the retainers were always under arms, a guard was placed
on the gate, and lookouts on the flanking towers -- their duty
being not only to watch the land side, but to shout orders to keep
at a distance to any fisherman who might approach too closely to
the promontory.

Archie left his party in the forest under the command of William
Orr. He dressed himself as a mountaineer, and, accompanied by Cluny
Campbell, and carrying a buck which they had shot in the forest,
went boldly down into the village. He soon got into conversation
with an old fisherman, and offered to exchange the deer for dried
fish. The bargain was quickly struck, and then Archie said:

"I have never been out on the lake, and would fain have a view of
the convent from the water. Will you take me and my brother out
for a row?"

The fisherman, who had made a good bargain, at once assented, and
rowed Archie and Cluny far out into the lake.

As they passed along at some distance Archie saw that the shore was
in several places smooth and shelving, and that there would be no
difficulty in effecting a landing. He saw also that there were many
clumps of trees and shrubs in the garden.

"And do the nuns and the ladies at the convent often walk there?"
he asked the fisherman.

"Oh yes," he answered; "of an evening as I come back from fishing
I can see numbers of them walking there. When the vesper bell rings
they all go in. That is the chapel adjoining the convent on this
side."

"It is a strong building," Archie said as when past the end of
the promontory they obtained a full view of it. "It is more like
a castle than a convent."

"It had need be strong," the old man said; "for some of the
richest heiresses in Scotland are shut up there. On the land side
I believe there are no windows on the lower storey, and the door
is said to be of solid iron. The windows on that side are all
strongly barred; and he would have hard work, indeed, who wanted
by force or stratagem to steal one of the pretty birds out of that
cage."

Archie had no idea of using force; and although he had been to some
extent concerned in the breach of sanctuary at Dumfries, he would
have shrunk from the idea of violating the sanctuary of St. Kenneth.
But to his mind there was no breach whatever of that sanctuary in
aiding one kept there against her will to make her escape. Having
ascertained all that he wished to know, he bade the boatman return
to shore.

"Keep a lookout for me," he said, "for I may return in a few days
with another buck, and may bring a comrade or two with me who would
like an afternoon's fishing on the lake. I suppose you could lend
me your boat and nets?"

"Assuredly," the fisherman replied. "You will not mind taking into
consideration the hire of the boat in agreeing for the weight of
fish to be given for the stag?"

Archie nodded, secretly amused at the old man's covetousness, for
he knew that the weight of fish he had given him for the stag which
he had brought down was not one fourth the value of the meat.

He then returned with Cluny to the band. Some time before daybreak
he came down to the place again, and, entering the water quietly,
at a distance from the promontory, swam noiselessly out, and landed
at the garden, and there concealed himself in a clump of bushes.
Daylight came. An hour later some of the nuns of the second order,
who belonged to poor families and acted as servants in the convent,
came out into the garden, and busied themselves with the cultivation
of the flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Not till the afternoon did
any of the other inmates appear; but at about four o'clock the
great door of the convent opened, and a number of women and girls
streamed out. The former were all in nuns' attire, as were a few
of the latter, but their garb was somewhat different from that of
the elder sisters; these were the novices. The greater number,
however, of the girls were dressed in ordinary attire, and were the
pupils of the convent. While the nuns walked quietly up and down
or sat on benches and read, the pupils scattered in groups laughing
and talking merrily together. Among these Archie looked eagerly
for Marjory. He felt sure that her imprisonment could be detention
only, and not rigorous seclusion. Presently he espied her. She
was walking with two of the nuns and three or four of the elder
residents at the convent, for many of these were past the age of
pupildom; and were there simply as a safe place of refuge during
troublous times. The conversation appeared to be an animated one.
It was not for some time that the group passed within hearing of
Archie's place of concealment. Then Archie heard the voice of one
of the nuns raised in anger:

"It is monstrous what you say, and it is presumptuous and wicked
for a young girl of eighteen to form opinions for herself. What
should we come to if every young woman were to venture to think and
judge for herself? Discord and disorder would be wrought in every
family. All your relations and friends are opposed to this sacrilegious
murderer, Robert Bruce. The church has solemnly banned him, and
yet you venture to uphold his cause."

"But the Bishop of Glasgow," Marjory said, "and many other good
prelates of our church side with him, and surely they must be good
judges whether his sins are unpardonable."

"Do not argue with me," the sister said angrily. "I tell you this
obstinacy will be permitted no longer. Had it not been that Alexander
of Lorne begged that we would not be harsh with you, steps would
long since have been taken to bring you to reason; but we can no
longer permit this advocacy of rebellion, and the last unmaidenly
step which you took of setting at defiance your friends and relatives,
and even of sending messages hence, must be punished. The abbess
bade me reason with you and try and turn your obstinate will. Your
cousins of Badenoch here have appealed to you in vain. This can no
longer be tolerated. The lady abbess bids me tell you that she gives
you three days to renounce the rebel opinions you have so frowardly
held, and to accept the husband whom your uncle and guardian has
chosen for you, your cousin John of Lorne, his son. During that
time none will speak to you. If at the end of three days you are
still contumacious you will be confined to your cell on bread and
water until better thoughts come to you."

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