Chapter LXXI.
The Camp.
Next morning Wallace was recalled from the confusion into which hisnocturnal visitor had thrown his mind by the entrance of Ker, who came,as usual, with the reports of the night. In the course of thecommunication he mentioned, that about three hours before sunrise, theKnight of the Green Plume had left the camp with his dispatches forSterling. Wallace was scarcely surprised at this ready falsehood ofLady Mar's, and, not intending to betray her, he merely said, "Long erebe appears again I hope we shall have good tidings from our friend inthe north."
But day succeeded day, and notwithstanding Bothweil's embassy, noaccounts arrived. The countess had left an emissary in the Scottishcamp, who did as she had done before--intercepted all messengers fromPerthshire.
Indeed, from the first of her flight to Wallace to the hour of herqoitting him, she had never halted in her purpose from any regard tohonor. Previous to her stealing from Huntingtower, she had bribed thesenesehal to say that on the morning of her disappearance, he had met aknight, near Saint Concal's Well, coming to the castle; who told himthat the Countess of Mar was gone on a secret mission to Norway, andshe therefore had commanded him, by that knight, to enjoin hersister-in-law, for the sake of the cause most dear to them all, not toacquaint Lord Ruthven, or any of their friends, with her departure,till she should return with happy news for Scotland. The man added,that after declaring this, the knight rode hastily away. But thisprecaution, which did indeed impose on the innocent credulty of herhusband's sister and his daughter, failed to satisfy the countessherself.
Fearful that Helen might communicate her flight to Wallace, and soexcite his suspicion of her not being far from him, from the moment ofher joining him at Linlithgow she intercepted every letter fromHuntingtower: and when Bruce went to that castle, she continued thepractice with double vigilance, being jealous of what might be said ofHelen by this Sir Thomas de Longueville, in whom the master of her fateseemed so unreservedly to confide. To this end, even after she leftthe camp, all packets from Perthshire were conveyed to her by the spyshe had stationed near Wallace; while all which were sent from him toHuntingtower were stopped by the treacherous seneschal, and thrown intothe flames. No letters, however, ever came from Helen; a few bore LordRuthven's superscription, and all the rest were addressed by Sir Thomasde Longueville to Wallace. She broke the seals of this correspondence,but she looked in vain on their contents. Bruce and his friend, aswell as Ruthven, wrote in a cipher, and only one passage, which theformer had by chance written in the common character, could she evermake out. It ran thus:
"I have just returned to Huntingtower, after the capture of Kinfouns.Lady Helen sits by me on one side, Isabella on the other. Isabellasmiles on me, like the spirit of happiness. Helen's look is not lessgracious, for I tell her I am writing to Sir William Wallace. Shesmiles, hut it is with such a smile as that with which a saint wouldrelinquish to Heaven the dearest object of its love. 'Helen,' said I,'what shall I say from you to our friend?' 'That I pray for him.''That you think of him?' 'That I pray for him,' repeated she, moreemphatically; 'that is the way I always think of my preserver.' Hermanner checked me, my dear Wallace, but I would give worlds that youcould bring your heart to make this sweet vestal smile as I do hersister!"
Lady Mar crushed the registered wish in her hand; and though she wasnever able to decipher a word or more of Bruce's numerous letters (manyof which, could she have read them, contained complaints of thatsilence she had so cruelly occasioned), she took and destroyed them all.
She had ever shunned the penetrating eyes of young Lord Bothwell, andto have him on the spot when she should discover herself to Wallace,she thought would only invite discomfiture. Affecting to share thegeneral anxiety respecting the failure of communications from thenorth, she it was who suggested the propriety of sending some one ofpeculiar trust to make inquiries. By covert insinuations, she easilyinduced Ker to propose Bothwell to Wallace, and, on the very night thather machinations had prevailed, to dispatch him on this embassy;impatient, yet doubting and agitated, she went to declare herself tothe man for whom she had thus sunk herself in shame and falsehood.
Though Wallace heard the denunciation with which she left his presence,yet he did not conceive it was more than the evanescent rage ofdisappointed passion; and, anticipating persecutions rather from herlove than her revenge, he was relieved, and not alarmed, by theintelligence that the Knight of the Green Plume had really taken hisdeparture. More delicateof Lady Mar's honor than she was of her own, when he met Edwin at theworks, he silently acquiesced in his belief also, that their latecompanion was gone with dispatches to the regent, who was now removedto Stirling.
After frequent sallies from the garrison, in which the Southrons werealways beaten back with great loss, the lines of circumvallation wereat last finished, and Wallace hourly anticipated the surrender of theenemy. Reduced for want of provisions, and seeing all succors cut offby the seizure of the fleet, the inhabitants, detesting their newrulers, collected in bands; and lying in wait for the soldiers of thegarrison, murdered them secretly, and in great numbers. But here theevil did not end; for by the punishments which the governor thoughtproper to inflict by lots on the guilty, or the guiltless (he not beingable to discover who were actually the assassins), the distress of thetown was augmented to a horrible degree. Such a state of things couldnot be long maintained. Aware that should he continue in the fortress,his troops must assuredly perish, either by insurrection within, orfrom the enemy without, the Southron commander determined no longer towait the appearance of a relief which might never arrive; and to stopthe internal confusion, he sent a flag of truce to Wallace, acceptingand signing his offered terms of capitulation. By this deed, heengaged to open the gates at sunset, but begged the interval betweennoon and that hour, to allow him time to settle the animosity betweenhis men and the people before he should surrender his brave followersentirely into the hands of the Scots.
Having dispatched his assent to this request of the governor's, Wallaceretired to his own tent. That he had effected his purpose without thecarnage which must have ensued had he again stormed the place, gratifiedhis humanity; and congratulating himself on such a termination of thesiege, he turned with more than usual cheerfulness toward a herald, whobrought him a packet from the north. The man withdrew, and Wallace brokethe seal; but what was his astonishment to find it a citation forhimself to repair immediately to Stirling, "to answer," it said,"certain charges brought against him, by an authority too illustrious tobe set aside without examination!" He had hardly read this extraordinarymandate when Sir Simon Fraser, his second in command, entered, and,with consternation in his looks, put an open letter into his hand. Itran as follows:
"Sir Simon Fraser,--Allegations of treason against the liberties ofScotland having been preferred against Sir William Wallace, until heclears himself of these charges to the thanes of Scotland hereassembled, you, Sir Simon Fraser, are directed to assume, in his stead,the command of the forces which form the blockade of Berwick, and, asthe first act of your duty, you are ordered to send the accused towardStirling under a strong guard, within an hour after you receive thisdispatch.
"(Signed)
John Cummin,
"Earl of Badenoch, Lord Regent of Scotland.
"Stirling Castle."
Wallace returned the letter to Fraser with an undisturbed countenance."I have received a similar order from the regent," said he; "and thoughI cannot guess the source whence these accusations spring, I fear notto meet them, and shall require no guard to speed me forward to thescene of my defense. I am ready to go, my friend, and happy to resignthe brave garrison, that has just surrendered, to your honor andlenity." Fraser answered that he should be emulous to follow hisexample in all things, and to abide by his agreements with the Southrongovernor. He then retired to prepare the army for the departure oftheir commander, and, much against his feelings, to call out the escortthat was to attend the calumniated chief Stirling.
/> When the marshal of the army read to the officers and men the orders ofthe regent, a speechless consternation seized on one part of thetroops, and as violent an indignation agitated the other to tumult.The veterans, who had followed the chief of Ellerslie from the firsthour of his appearing as a patriot in arms, could not brook thisaspersion upon their leader's honor; and had it not been for thevehement exhortations of the no less incensed, though more moderate,Scrymgeour and Lockhart, they would have risen in instant revolt.Though persuaded to sheathe their half-drawn swords, they could not bewithheld from immediately quitting the field, and marching directly toWallace's tent. He was conversing with Edwin when they arrived; and,in some measure, he had broken the shock to him of so dishonoring acharge on his friend, by his being the first to communicate it. WhileEdwin strove to guess who could be the inventor of so dire a falsehoodagainst the truest of Scots, he awakened an alarm in Wallace for Bruce,which could not be excited for himself, by suggesting that perhaps someintimation had been given to the most ambitious of the thanes,respecting the arrival of their rightful prince. "And yet," returnedWallace, "I cannot altogether suppose that; for even their desires ofself-aggrandizement could not torture my share in Bruce's restorationto his country into anything like treason our friend's rights are tooundisputed for that; and all I should dread, by a prematurediscovery of his being in Scotland, would be secret machinationsagainst his life. There are men in this land who might attempt it; andit is our duty, my dear Edwin, to suffer death upon the rack, ratherthan betray our knowledge of him. "But," added he, with a smile, "weneed not disturb ourselves with such thoughts--the regent is in ourprince's confidence; and did this accusation relate to him, he wouldnot, on such a plea, have arraigned me as a traitor."
Edwin again revolved in his mind the nature of the charge and who thevillain could be who had made it; and, at last suddenly recollectingthe Knight of the Green Plume, he asked if it were not possible thathe, a stranger who had so sedulously kept himself from being known,might be the traitor?
"I must confess to you," continued Edwin, "that this knight, who everappeared to dislike your closest friends, seems to me the most probableinstigator of this mischief; and is, perhaps, the author of the strangefailure of communication between you and Bruce! Accounts have notarrived, ever since Bothwell went; and that is more than natural.Though brave in his deeds, this unknown way prove only the more subtlespy and agent of our enemies."
Wallace changed color at these suggestions, but merely replied:
"A few hours will decide your suspicion, for I shall lose no time inconfronting my accuser."
"I go with you," said Edwin; "never while I live, will I consent tolose sight of you again!"
It was at this moment that the tumultuous approach of the Lanarkveterans was heard from without. The whole band rushed into the tent;and Stephen Ireland, who was foremost, raising his voice above therest, exclaimed:
"They are the traitors, my lord, who accuse you! It is determined, byour corrupted thanes, that Scotland shall be sacrificed, and you are tobe made the first victim. Think they, then, that we will obey suchparricides? Lead us on, thou only worthy of the name of regent, and wewill hurl these usurpers from their thrones."
This demand was reiterated by every man present--was echoed by hundredswho surrounded the tent. The Bothwell men and Ramsay's followersjoined the men of Lanark, and the mutiny against the orders of theregent became general. Wallace walked out into the open field, andmounting his horse, rode forth amongst them. At sight of him the airresounded with acclamations, unceasingly proclaiming him their onlyleader, but, stretching out his arm to them, in token of silence, theybecame profoundly still.
"My friends and brother soldiers," cried he, "as you value the honor ofWilliam Wallace, as you have hitherto done this moment yield himimplicit obedience."
"Forever!" shouted the Bothwell men.
"We never will obey any other!" rejoined his faithful Lanark followers,and, with an increased uproar, they demanded to be led to Stirling.
His extended hand again stilled the storm, and he resumed:
"You shall go with me to Stirling, but as my friends only: never as theenemies of the Regent of Scotland. I am charged with treason; it ishis duty to try me by the laws of my country; it is mine to submit tothe inquisition. I fear it not, and I invite you to accompany me; notto brand me with infamy, by passing between my now darkened honor andthe light of justice--not to avenge an iniquitous sentence denounced ona guiltless man--but to witness my acquittal; and in that my triumphover them, who, through my breast would strike at what is greater thanI."
At this mild persuasive every upraised sword dropped before him, andWallace, turning his horse into the path which led toward Stirling, hismen, with a silent determination to share the fate of their master,fell into regular marching order, and followed him. Edwin rode by hisside, equally wondering at the unaffected composure with which hesustained such a weight of insult, and at the men who could be sounjust as to lay it upon him.
At the west of the camp, the detachment appointed to guard Wallace inhis arrest came up with him. It was with difficulty that Fraser couldfind an officer who would command it; and he who did at last consent,appeared before his prisoner with downcast eyes; seeming rather theculprit than the guard. Wallace, observing his confusion, said a fewgracious words to him; and the officer, more overcome by this than hecould have been with reproaches, burst into tears and retired into therear of his men.