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Books: In Freedom\'s Cause

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The Scots waited but a minute or two to see that the work was
thoroughly done and that the flames had got fair hold, and then,
keeping in a close body, they retired to the castle. Not a soul
was met with by the way, and leaving Andrew Macpherson with fifty
men to hold the outwork until Archie should return and decide
whether it should be occupied, Marjory, with the rest, re-entered
the castle.

She at once ascended to the walls again, where Sandy also posted
the men to be in readiness to open fire with their arrows should
the English return and endeavour to extinguish the flames round
the machines. The sound of fighting had ceased at the camp. By the
light of the flames numbers of the English could be seen pulling
down the tents which the fire had not yet reached and endeavouring
to check the conflagration, while a large body of horse and foot
were rapidly advancing toward the castle.

As soon as they came within bowshot range the archers opened fire,
and the English leaders, seeing that it was already too late to
save the machines, which were by this time completely enveloped in
flames, and that men would only be sacrificed to no good purpose,
halted the troops. They then moved towards the outwork, but finding
this in possession of the Scots, they fell back again to the camp
to take council as to the next steps to be adopted. Archie's attack
had been crowned with complete success. Apprehending no danger
from behind, the English had neglected to place sentries there,
and the Scots were already among the tents before their presence
was discovered. Numbers of the English were cut down and the tents
fired, and as soon as the English recovered from their first surprise
and began to form, Archie gave the word for a retreat. This was
effected without molestation, for the first thought of the English
was to save the camp from total destruction. The reports of the
men who escaped from the castle outwork and the outburst of flames
around the machines added to the confusion which reigned, and the
leaders, who had by the light of the flames ascertained that the
assault upon the camp had been made by a small body of the enemy,
deemed it of the first importance to move at once to save the
machines if it were still possible.

The Scots regained the entrance to the passage without the loss
of a single man, and passing through, soon re-entered the castle.
Marjory had laid aside her warlike trappings and awaited her
husband's return at the inner entrance of the passage.

"We have had good success, Marjory," Archie said as he greeted
her, "as you will have seen from the walls. The greater part of
the English camp is destroyed; we have killed great numbers, and
have not lost a man."

"That is good news indeed, Archie. We, too, have not been quite
idle while you have been away."

"Why, what have you been doing, Marjory?" Archie asked in surprise.

"Come up to the walls and I will show you."

Archie mounted with her, and gave a start of surprise as he looked
towards the machines. The great body of fire had died down now, but
the beams of the machines stood up red and glowing, while a light
flickering flame played round them.

"You see we have not been idle, Archie. We have destroyed the
machines, and retaken the outwork, which is now held by Andrew
Macpherson with fifty men."

"Why, what magic is this, wife?"

"No magic at all, Sir Knight. We have been carrying out the work
which you, as a wise and skilful commander, should have ordered
before you left. We have taken advantage of the confusion of the
enemy by the fire in their camp, and have made a sortie, and a
successful one, as you see."

"I am delighted, indeed," Archie said; "and the destruction of
those machines is indeed a great work. Still Sandy and Macpherson
should not have undertaken it without orders from me; they might
have been cut off and the castle stormed before I came back."

"They had orders from me, sir, and that was quite sufficient. To
do them justice, they hesitated about obeying me, and I was well
nigh ordering them to the dungeon for disobedience; and they only
gave way at last when I said they could stop at home if they liked,
but that I should lead out the retainers. Of course I went in your
place with armour and sword; but perhaps it was as well that I had
no fighting to do."

"Do you mean, Marjory, that you really led the sortie?"

"I don't think I led it, Archie; but I certainly went out with it,
and very exciting it was. There, dear, don't look troubled. Of
course, as chatelaine of the castle, I was bound to animate my
men."

"You have done bravely and well, indeed, Marjory, and I am proud
of my wife. Still, dear, I tremble at the thought of the risk you
ran."

"No more risk than you are constantly running, Archie; and I am
rather glad you tremble, because in future you will understand my
feelings better, left here all alone while you are risking your
life perpetually with the king."

The success of the sally and the courage and energy shown by Marjory
raised the spirits of the garrison to the highest pitch; and had
Archie given the word they would have sallied out and fallen upon
the besiegers. Two days later fresh machines arrived from Stirling,
and the attack again commenced, the besiegers keeping a large body
of men near the gate to prevent a repetition of the last sally.
Archie now despatched two or three fleet footed runners through
the passage to find the king, and tell him that the besiegers were
making progress, and to pray him to come to his assistance. Two
days passed, and the breach was now fairly practicable, but the
moat, fifty feet wide, still barred the way to the besiegers. Archie
had noticed that for two or three days no water had come down from
above, and had no doubt that they had diverted the course of the
river. Upon the day after the breach was completed the besiegers
advanced in great force up the stream from below.

"They are going to try to cut the dam," Archie said to Sandy; "place
every man who can draw a bow on that side of the castle."

As the English approached a rain of arrows was poured into them,
but covering themselves with their shields and with large mantlets
formed of hurdles covered with hides they pressed forward to the
dam. Here those who had brought with them picks and mattocks set
to work upon the dam, the men with mantlets shielding them from
the storm of arrows, while numbers of archers opened fire upon the
defenders. Very many were killed by the Scottish arrows, but the
work went on. A gap was made through the dam. The water, as it rushed
through, aided the efforts of those at work; and after three hours'
labour and fighting the gap was so far deepened that the water in
the moat had fallen eight feet. Then, finding that this could now
be waded, the assailants desisted, and drew off to their camp.

A council was held that evening in the castle as to whether
the hold should be abandoned at once or whether one attack on the
breach should be withstood. It was finally determined that the
breach should be held. The steep sides of the moat, exposed by the
subsidence of the water, were slippery and difficult. The force in
the castle was amply sufficient at once to man the breach and to
furnish archers for the walls on either side, while in the event
of the worst, were the breach carried by the English, the defenders
might fall back to the central keep, and thence make their way
through the passage. Had it not been for the possibility of an
early arrival of the king to their relief all agreed that it would
be as well to evacuate the castle at once, as this in the end must
fall, and every life spent in its defence would thus be a useless
sacrifice. As, however, troops might at any moment appear, it was
determined to hold the castle until the last.

The next morning a party of knights in full defensive armour
came down to the edge of the moat to see whether passage could be
effected. They were not molested while making their examination,
as the Scottish arrows would only have dropped harmless off their
steel harness. Archie was on the walls.

"How like you the prospect, Sir Knights?" he called out merrily.
"I fear that the sludge and slime will sully your bright armour and
smirch your plumes, for it will be difficult to hold a footing on
those muddy banks."

"It were best for you to yield, Sir Archibald Forbes, without giving
us the trouble of making our way across your moat. You have made
a stout resistance, and have done enough for honour, and you must
see that sooner or later we must win our way in."

"Then I would rather it should be later," Archie replied. "I
may have done enough for honour, but it is not for honour that I
am fighting, but for Scotland. Your work is but begun yet, I can
assure you. We are far from being at the end of our resources yet.
It will be time enough to talk about surrendering when you have
won the breach and the outer walls."

The knights retired; and as some hours passed without the besiegers
seeing any preparation for an assault they judged that the report
carried back to camp was not an encouraging one. Large numbers of
men were, however, seen leaving the camp, and these toward sunset
came back staggering under immense loads of brushwood which they
had cut in the forest.

"They intend to fill up the moat," Archie said; "it is their wisest
course."

He at once directed his men to make up large trusses of straw, over
which he poured considerable quantities of oil. Early the next
morning the English drew out of their camp, and advanced in martial
array. Each man carried a great faggot, and, covering themselves
with these as they came within bowshot, they marched down to the
moat. Each in turn threw in his faggot, and when he had done so
returned to the camp and brought back another. Rapidly the process
of filling up the moat opposite to the breach continued. The besiegers
kept up a rain of arrows and darts, and many of the English were
killed. But the work was continued without intermission until well
nigh across the moat a broad crossway was formed level with the
outer bank, but a narrow gap remained to be filled, and the English
leaders advanced to the front to prevent the Scots on the breach
rushing down to assault those placing the faggots.

Somewhat to the surprise of the English the defenders remained
stationary, contenting themselves with hurling great stones at their
busy enemy. Suddenly there was a movement. Archie and a party of
his best men dashed down the breach, and, climbing on the causeway,
for a moment drove the workers and their guards back. They were
followed by twenty men carrying great trusses of straw. These were
piled against the faggots forming the end of the causeway. Archie
and his band leapt back as a torch was applied to the straw. In a
moment the hot flames leapt up, causing the knights who had pressed
after the retreating Scots to fall back hastily. A shout of triumph
rose from the garrison and one of dismay from the besiegers.
Saturated with oil, the trusses burnt with fury, and the faggots
were soon alight. A fresh wind was blowing, and the flames crept
rapidly along the causeway. In a few minutes this was in a blaze
from end to end, and in half an hour nothing remained of the great
pile save charred ashes and the saturated faggots which had been
below the water in the moat, and which now floated upon it.

The besiegers had drawn off when they saw that the flames had
gained a fair hold of the causeway. The smoke had scarcely ceased
to rise when a great outcry arose from the English camp, and the
lookout from the top of the keep perceived a strong force marching
toward it. By the bustle and confusion which reigned in the camp
Archie doubted not that the newcomers were Scots. The garrison were
instantly called to arms. The gates were thrown open, and leaving
a small body only to hold the gates, he sallied out at the head of
his men and marched toward the English camp. At the approach of
the Scottish force the English leaders had marched out with their
men to oppose them. Bruce had been able to collect but three hundred
and fifty men, and the English, seeing how small was the number
advancing against them, prepared to receive them boldly. Scarcely
had the combat begun when Archie with his band entered the English
camp, which was almost deserted. They at once fired the tents, and
then advanced in a solid mass with level spears against the rear
of the English. These, dismayed at the destruction of their camp,
and at finding themselves attacked both front and rear, lost heart
and fell into confusion. Their leaders strove to rally them,
and dashed with their men-at-arms against the spearmen, but their
efforts to break through were in vain, and their defeat increased
the panic of the footmen. Archie's party broke a way through their
disordered line and joined the body commanded by the king, and the
whole rushed so fiercely upon the English that these broke and fled
in all directions, pursued by the triumphant Scots.

"I am but just in time I see, Sir Archie," Bruce said, pointing
to the breach in the wall; "a few hours more and methinks that I
should have been too late."

"We could have held out longer than that, sire," Archie replied.
"We have repulsed an attack this morning and burnt a causeway of
faggots upon which they attempted to cross the moat; still, I am
truly glad that you have arrived, and thank you with all my heart
for coming so speedily to my rescue, for sooner or later the hold
must have fallen; the great machines which they brought with them
from Stirling proved too strong for the wall."

"And how has the Lady Marjory borne her during the siege?" the king
inquired.

"Right nobly," Archie replied; "ever in good spirits and showing a
brave face to the men; and one night when I made a sortie through
my secret passage, and fell upon the English camp from the other
side, having left the castle in her charge, she headed the garrison
and issuing out, recaptured the outworks, and destroyed the machines
by fire."

"Bravely done," the king said, "and just what I should expect from
your wife. You did well to take my advice in that matter."

"We shall never agree there, sire, for as you know I followed my
own will and wed the bride I had fixed upon for myself."

"Well, well, Sir Archie, as we are both satisfied we will e'en let
it be; and now, I trust that you have still some supplies left,
for to tell you the truth I am hungry as well as weary, and my men
have marched fast and far."

"There is an abundance," Archie replied; "to last them all for a
month, and right willingly is it at their service."

The king remained a week at Aberfilly, his men aiding Archie's
retainers in repairing the gap in the dam and in rebuilding the
wall; and as five hundred men working willingly and well can effect
wonders, by the time Bruce rode away the castle was restored to
its former appearance. Archie marched on the following day, and
rejoined Douglas in Galloway.



Chapter XXII A Prisoner


After some consultation between the leaders, it was agreed to make
an attempt to capture the castle of Knockbawn. It was known to
possess a garrison of some sixty men only, and although strong,
Archie and Sir James believed that it could be captured by assault.
It was arranged that Archie should ride to reconnoitre it, and
taking two mounted retainers he started, the force remaining in the
forest some eight miles distant. The castle of Knockbawn stood on
a rocky promontory, jutting a hundred and fifty yards into the sea.
When he neared the neck of the point, which was but some twenty
yards wide, Archie bade his followers fall back a short distance.

"I will ride," he said, "close up to the castle walls. My armour
is good, and I care not for arrow or crossbow bolt. It were best
you fell back a little, for they may have horses and may sally out
in pursuit. I am well mounted and fear not being overtaken, but it
were best that you should have a good start."

Archie then rode forward toward the castle. Seeing a knight
approaching alone the garrison judged that he was friendly, and it
was not until it was seen that instead of approaching the drawbridge
he turned aside and rode to the edge of the fosse, that they
suspected that he was a foe. Running to the walls they opened fire
with arrows upon him, but by this time Archie had seen all that
he required. Across the promontory ran a sort of fissure, some ten
yards wide and as many deep. From the opposite edge of this the
wall rose abruptly. Here assault would be difficult, and it was
upon the gateway that an attack must be made. Several arrows had
struck his armour and glanced off, and Archie now turned and quietly
rode away, his horse being protected by mail like himself. Scarce
had he turned when he saw a sight which caused him for a moment
to draw rein. Coming at full gallop toward the promontory was a
strong body of English horse, flying the banner of Sir Ingram de
Umfraville. They were already nearer to the end of the neck than
he was. There was no mode of escape, and drawing his sword he
galloped at full speed to meet them. As he neared them Sir Ingram
himself, one of the doughtiest of Edward's knights, rode out with
levelled lance to meet him. At full gallop the knights charged
each other. Sir Ingram's spear was pointed at the bars of Archie's
helmet, but as the horses met each other Archie with a blow of his
sword cut off the head of the lance and dealt a tremendous backhanded
blow upon Sir Ingram's helmet as the latter passed him, striking
the knight forward on to his horse's neck; then without pausing a
moment he dashed into the midst of the English ranks.

The horsemen closed around him, and although he cut down several
with his sweeping blows he was unable to break his way through them.
Such a conflict could not last long. Archie received a blow from
behind which struck him from his horse. Regaining his feet he
continued the fight, but the blows rained thick upon him, and he
was soon struck senseless to the ground.

When he recovered he was in a room in the keep of the castle. Two
knights were sitting at a table near the couch on which he was lying.
"Ah!" exclaimed one, on seeing Archie open his eyes and move, "I
am glad to see your senses coming back to you, sir prisoner. Truly,
sir, I regret that so brave a knight should have fallen into my
hands, seeing that in this war we must needs send our prisoners
to King Edward, whose treatment of them is not, I must e'en own,
gentle; for indeed you fought like any paladin. I deemed not that
there was a knight in Scotland, save the Bruce himself, who could
have so borne himself; and never did I, Ingram de Umfraville, come
nearer to losing my seat than I did from that backhanded blow you
dealt me. My head rings with it still. My helmet will never be
fit to wear again, and as the leech said when plastering my head,
`had not my skull been of the thickest, you had assuredly cut
through it.' May I crave the name of so brave an antagonist?"

"I am Sir Archibald Forbes," Archie replied.

"By St. Jago!" the knight said, "but I am sorry for it, seeing that,
save Bruce himself, there is none in the Scottish ranks against
whom King Edward is so bitter. In the days of Wallace there was no
one whose name was more often on our lips than that of Sir Archibald
Forbes, and now, under Bruce, it is ever coming to the front. I had
thought to have asked Edward as a boon that I should have kept you
as my prisoner until exchanged for one on our side, but being Sir
Archibald Forbes I know that it were useless indeed; nevertheless,
sir knight, I will send to King Edward, begging him to look mercifully
upon your case, seeing how bravely and honourably you have fought."

"Thanks for your good offices, Sir Ingram," Archie replied, "but
I shall ask for no mercy for myself. I have never owed or paid him
allegiance, but, as a true Scot, have fought for my country against
a foreign enemy."

"But King Edward does not hold himself to be a foreign enemy," the
knight said, "seeing that Baliol, your king, with Comyn and all
your great nobles, did homage to him as Lord Paramount of Scotland."

"It were an easy way," Archie rejoined, "to gain a possession to
nominate a puppet from among the nobles already your vassals, and
then to get him to do homage. No, sir knight, neither Comyn nor
Baliol, nor any other of the Anglo-Norman nobles who hold estate
in Scotland, have a right to speak for her, or to barter away her
freedom. That is what Wallace and thousands of Scotchmen have fought
and died to protest against, and what Scotchmen will do until their
country is free."

"It is not a question for me to argue upon," Sir Ingram said
surlily. "King Edward bids me fight in Scotland, and as his knight
and vassal I put on my harness without question. But I own to
you that seeing I have fought beside him in Gascony, when he, as
a feudal vassal of the King of France, made war upon his lord, I
cannot see that the offence is an unpardonable one when you Scotchmen
do the same here. Concerning the lawfulness of his claim to be
your lord paramount, I own that I neither know nor care one jot.
However, sir, I regret much that you have fallen into my hands,
for to Carlisle, where the king has long been lying, as you have
doubtless heard, grievously ill, I must forthwith send you. I must
leave you here with the governor, for in half an hour I mount and
ride away with my troop. He will do his best to make your sojourn
here easy until such time as I may have an opportunity of sending
you by ship to Carlisle; and now farewell, sir," he said, giving
Archie his hand, "I regret that an unkind chance has thrown so
gallant a knight into my hands, and that my duty to the king forbids
me from letting you go free."

"Thanks, Sir Ingram," Archie replied. "I have ever heard of you
as a brave knight, and if this misfortune must fall upon me, would
sooner that I should have been captured by you than by one of less
fame and honour."

The governor now had a meal with some wine set before Archie, and
then left him alone.

"I am not at Carlisle yet," Archie said to himself. "Unless
I mistake, we shall have Sir James thundering at the gate before
morning. Cluny will assuredly have ridden off at full speed to carry
the news when he saw that I was cut off, and e'en now he will be
marching towards the castle." As he expected, Archie was roused
before morning by a tremendous outburst of noise. Heavy blows were
given, followed by a crash, which Archie judged to be the fall of
the drawbridge across the fosse. He guessed that some of Douglas's
men had crept forward noiselessly, had descended the fosse, and
managed to climb up to the gate, and had then suddenly attacked
with their axes the chains of the drawbridge.

A prodigious uproar raged in the castle. Orders were shouted, and
the garrison, aroused from their sleep, snatched up their arms
and hastened to the walls. Outside rose the war cry, "A Douglas! A
Douglas!" mingled with others of, "Glen Cairn to the rescue!" For
a few minutes all was confusion, then a light suddenly burst up
and grew every instant more and more bright.

"Douglas has piled faggots against the gates," Archie said to
himself. "Another quarter of an hour and the castle will be his."

Three or four minutes later the governor with six soldiers, two
of whom bore torches, entered the room. "You must come along at
once, sir knight," the governor said. "The attack is of the fiercest,
and I know not whether we shall make head against it, but at any
rate I must not risk your being recaptured, and must therefore
place you in a boat and send you off without delay to the castle
at Port Patrick."

It was in vain for Archie to think of resistance, he was unarmed
and helpless. Two of the soldiers laid hands on him and hurried
him along until they reached the lower chambers of the castle. The
governor unlocked a door, and with one of the torch bearers led
the way down some narrow steps. These were some fifty in number,
and then a level passage ran along for some distance. Another door
was opened, and the fresh breeze blew upon them as they issued
forth. They stood on some rocks at the foot of the promontory on
which the castle stood. A large boat lay close at hand, drawn to
the shore. Archie and the six soldiers entered her; four of the
latter took the oars, and the others seated themselves by their
prisoner, and then the boat rowed away, while the governor returned
to aid in the defence of the castle.

The boat was but a quarter of a mile away when on the night air
came the sound of a wild outburst of triumphant shouts which told
that the Scots had won their way into the castle. With muttered
curses the men bent to their oars and every minute took them further
away from Knockbawn.

Archie was bitterly disappointed. He had reckoned confidently on
the efforts of Douglas to deliver him, and the possibility of his
being sent off by sea had not entered his mind. It seemed to him
now that his fate was sealed. He had noticed on embarking that
there were no other boats lying at the foot of the promontory, and
pursuit would therefore be impossible.