The Scottish Chiefs
Chapter LXIX.
Roslyn Castle.
Wallace, having planted an adequate force in charge of the prisoners,went to the two Southron commanders to pay them the courtesy he thoughtdue to their bravery and rank, before he retired with his victoriousfollowers toward Roslyn Castle. He entered their tent alone. At sightof the warrior who had given them so signal a defeat, the generalsrose. Neville, who had received a slight wound in one of his arms,stretched out the other to Wallace. "Sir William Wallace," said he,"that you were obliged to declare a name so deservedly renowned, beforethe troops I led, could be made to relinquish one step of theirhard-earned advantage, was an acknowledgment in their favor almostequivalent to a victory."
Sir John Segrave, who stood leaning on his sword with a disturbedcountenance, interrupted him. "The fate of this day cannot beattributed to any earthly name or hand. I believe my sovereign willallow the zeal with which I have served him; and yet thirty thousand asbrave men as ever crossed the marshes, have fallen before a handful ofScots. Three victories, won over Edward's troops in one day, are notevents of a commonplace nature. God alone has been our vanquisher."
"I acknowledge it," cried Wallace; "and that He is on the side ofjustice, let the return of St. Matthias' Day ever remind yourcountrymen!"
When Segrave gave the victory to the Lord of Hosts, he did it more fromjealousy of what might be Edward's opinion of his conduct, whencompared with Neville's, than from any intention to imply that thecause of Scotland was justly Heaven-defended. Such are the impiousinconsistencies of unprincipled men! He frowned at the reply ofWallace, and turned gloomily away. Neville returned a respectfulanswer, and their conqueror soon after left them.
Edwin, with the Knight of the Green Plume (who had indeed approved hisvalor by many a brave deed performed at his commander's side), awaitedWallace's return from his prisoners' tent. Ruthven came up withWallace before he joined them, and told him that Bruce was safe underthe care of the sage of Ercildown, and that the regent, who had beenwounded in the beginning of the day, was also in Roslyn Castle.Wallace then called Edwin to him, giving him orders that all of thesurvivors who had suffered in these three desperate battles, should becollected from amongst the slain, and carried into the neighboringcastles of Hawthorndean, Brunston, and Dalkeith. The rest of thesoldiers were commanded to take their refreshment still under arms.These duties performed, Wallace turned with the eagerness of friendshipand loyalty to see how Bruce fared.
The moon shone brightly as his party rode forward. Wallace ascendedthe steep acclivity on which Roslyn Castle stands. In crossing thedrawbridge which divides its rocky peninsula from the main land, helooked around and sighed. The scene reminded him of Ellerslie. A deepshadow lay on the woods beneath; and the pensile branches of the nowleafless trees bending to meet the flood, seemed mourning the deathswhich now polluted its stream. The water lay in profound repose at thebase of these beautiful craigs, as if peace longed to become aninhabitant of so lovely a scene.
At the gate of the castle its aged master, the Lord Sinclair, metWallace, to bid him welcome.
"Blessed be the saint of this day," exclaimed he, "for thus bringingour best defender, even as by a miracle, to snatch us as a brand fromthe fire! My gates, like my heart, open to receive the true Regent ofScotland."
"I have only done a Scotchman's duty, venerable Sinclair," repliedWallace, "and must not arrogate a title which Scotland has transferredto other hands."
"Not Scotland, but rebellion," replied the old chief. "It wasrebellion against the just gratitude of the nation that invested theBlack Cummin with the regency; and only some similar infatuation hasbestowed the same title on his brother. What did he not lose till you,Scotland's true champion, have reappeared to rescue her again frombondage?"
"The present Lord Badenoch is an honest and a brave man," repliedWallace; "and as I obey the power which gave him his authority, I amready, by fidelity to him, to serve Scotland with as vigorous a zeal asever; so, noble Sinclair, when our rulers cast not trammels on ourvirtue, we must obey them as the vicegerents of Heaven."
Wallace then asked to be conducted to his wounded friend, Sir Thomas deLongueville, for Sinclair was ignorant of the real rank of his guest.Eager to oblige him, his noble host immediately led the way through agallery, and opening the door of an apartment, discovered to him Bruce,lying on a couch; and a venerable figure, whose silver beard andsweeping robes, announced him to be the sage of Ercildown, was bathingthe wounded chief's temples with balsams. A young creature, beautifulas a ministering seraph, also hung over the prostrate chief. She helda golden casket in her hand, out of which the sage drew the unctions heapplied.
At the sound of Wallace's voice, who spoke in a suppressed tone toRuthven while entering the chamber, the wounded prince started on hisarm to greet his friend; but he as instantly fell back. Wallacehastened forward. When Bruce recovered from the swoon into which thesuddenness of his attempt to rise had thrown him, he felt a handgrasping his; he guessed to whom it belonged, and gently pressed it,smiled; a moment afterward he opened his eyes, and in a low voice,articulated from his wounded lips:
"My dear Wallace, you are victorious?"
"Completely so, my prince and king," returned he, in the same tone;"all is now plain before you; speak but the word, and render Scotlandhappy!"
"Not yet; oh, not yet!" whispered he. "My more than brother, allowBruce to be himself again before he is known in the land of hisfathers! This cruel wound in my head must heal first, and then I mayagain share your dangers and your glory! Oh, Wallace, not a Southronmust taint our native lands when my name is proclaimed in Scotland!"**
**It is a curious circumstance, that when the body of Bruce wasdiscovered a few years ago in the abbey of Dunfermline, his headretained all its teeth excepting two in front, evidently originallyinjured by a stroke of violence. Beside this, the evidence remained inthe bone of the chest of the fact of its having been cut open after hisdeath, for the heart to be taken out, according to his dying command,to be sent to the Holy Land.
Wallace saw that his prince was not in a state to bear argument, and asall had retired far from the couch when he approached it, in gratitudefor this propriety (for it had left him and his friend free to converseunobserved), he turned toward the other inmates of the chamber. Thesage advanced to him, and recognizing in Wallace's now manly form thefine youth he had seen with Sir Ronald Crawford at the claiming of thecrown, he saluted him with a paternal affection, tempering the sublimefeelings with which even he approached the resistless champion of hiscountry, and then beckoning the beautiful girl who had socompassionately hung over the couch of Bruce, she drew near the sage.He took her hand: "Sir William Wallace," said he, "this sweet child isthe youngest daughter of the brave Mar, who died in the field of gloryon the Carron. Her grandfather, the stalwart knight of Thirlestane,fell a few weeks ago, defending his castle, and I am almost all that isleft to her, though she has, or had a sister, of whom we can learn notidings." Isabella, for it was she, covered her face to conceal heremotions.
"Dear lady," said Wallace, "these venerable heroes were both known toand beloved by me. And now that Heaven has resumed them to itself, asthe last act of friendship that I, perhaps, may be fated to pay totheir offspring, I shall convey you to that sister whose matchlessheart yearns to receive so dear a consolation."
To disengage Isabella's thoughts from the afflicting remembrances, nowbathing her fair cheeks with tears, Ercildown put a cup, of the mingledjuice of herbs, into her hand, and commissioned her to give it to theirinvalid. Wallace now learned that his friend's wound was not only inthe head, accompanied by a severe concussion, but that it must be manydays before he could remove him from his bed without danger. Anxiousto release him from even the scarcely breathed whispers of his martialcompanions, who stood at some distance from his couch, Wallaceimmediately proposed leaving him to rest, and beckoning the chiefs,they followed him out of the apartment.
On the following morning he wa
s aroused at daybreak by the abruptentrance of Andrew Lord Bothwell into his tent. The well-known soundsof his voice made Wallace start from his pillow, and extend his arms toreceive him.
"Murray! My brave, invaluable Murray!" cried he, "thou art welcome oncemore to the side of thy brother in arms. Thee and thine must ever befirst in my heart!"
The young Lord Bothwell returned his warm embrace in silent eloquence;but sitting down by Wallace's couch, he grasped his hand, and pressingit to his breast, said, "I feel a happiness here which I have neverknown since the day of Falkirk. You quitted us, Wallace, and all goodseemed gone with you, or buried in my father's grave. But you return!You bring conquest and peace with you, you restore our Helen to herfamily, you bless us with yourself! And shall you not see again thegay Andrew Murray? It must be so, my friend, melancholy is not myclimate, and I shall now live in your beams."
"Dear Murray!" returned Wallace, "this generous enthusiasm can only beequaled by my joy in all that makes you and Scotland happy."
He then proceeded to confide to him all that related to Bruce; and todescribe the minutiae of those plans for his establishment, which hadonly been hinted in his letters from France. Bothwell entered withardor into these designs, and regretted that the difficulty he found inpersuading the veterans of Lanark to follow him to any field where theydid not expect to find their beloved Wallace, had deprived him of theparticipation of the late danger and new glory of his friend.
"To compensate for that privation," replied Wallace, "while our princeis disabled from pursuing victory in his own person, we must not allowour present advantages to lose their expected effects. You shallaccompany me through the Lowlands, where we must recover the placeswhich the ill-fortune of James Cummin has lost."
Murray gladly embraced this opportunity of again sharing the field withWallace, and the chiefs joined Bruce. Bothwell was presented to hisyoung sovereign, and Douglas entering, the discourse turned on theirdifferent posts of duty. Wallace suggested to his royal friend, thatas his restoration to health could not be so speedy as the causerequired, it would be necessary not to await that event, but begin therecovery of the border counties before Edward could reinforce theirgarrisons. Bruce sighed; but with a generous glow suffusing his paleface, said:
"Go, my friend! Bless Scotland which way you will, and let my readyacquiescence convince future ages, that I love my country beyond my ownfame; for her sake I relinquish to you the whole glory of deliveringher out of the hands of the tyrant who has so long usurped my rights.Men may say when they hear this, that I do not merit the crown you willput upon my head; that I have lain on a couch while you fought for me;but I will bear all obloquy rather than deserve its slightest charge,by withholding you an hour from the great work of Scotland's peace."
"It is not for the breath of men, my dear prince," returned Wallace,"that either you or I act. It is sufficient for us that we effecttheir good, and whether the agent be one or the other, the end is thesame. Our deeds and intentions have one great Judge, and He will awardthe only true glory."
Such were the principles which filled the hearts of these two friends,worthy of each other, and alike honorable to the country that gave thembirth. Gordon had won their confidence, and watched by his prince'spillow.
Though the wounded John Cummin remained possessed of the title ofregent, Wallace was virtually endowed with the authority. Whatever hesuggested was acted upon as by a decree--all eyes looked to him as tothe cynosure by which every order of men in Scotland were to shapetheir course. The jealousies which had driven him from his formersupreme seat, seemed to have died with their prime instigator, the lateregent; and no chief of any consequence, excepting Soulis and Athol,who had retired in disgust to their castles, breathed a word ofopposition to the general gratitude.
Wallace having dictated his terms and sent his prisoners to England,commenced the march that was to clear the Lowlands of the foe. His ownvaliant band, headed by Scrymgeour and Lockhart of Lee,** rushed towardhis standard, with a zeal that rendered each individual a host inhimself. The fame of his new victories, seconded by the enthusiasm ofthe people and the determination of the troops, soon made him master ofall the lately lost fortresses.
**The crusading ancestor of this Lockhart was the bringer of the famousLee penny from the Holy Land, and from his sprung the three bravebranches of the name--Lockhart of Lee, Lockhart of Carnwarth, andLockhart of Drydean.
Hardly four weeks were consumed in these conquests, and not a rood ofland remained south of the Tay in the possession of England, exceptingBerwick. Before that often-disputed stronghold, Wallace drew up hisforces to commence a regular siege. The governor, intimidated by thepowerful works which he saw the Scottish chief forming against thetown, dispatched a messenger to Edward with the tidings; not onlypraying for succors, but to inform him that if he continued to refusethe peace for which the Scots fought, he would find it necessary tobegin the conquest of the kingdom anew.