etely unprepared for this
change alike in weapon and attack, still dazzled and slightly confused
by the rush which had divided them, Sir Henry scarcely saw the youthful
knight, till he felt his helmet transfixed by the lance, and the blow
guided so well and true, that irresistibly it bore him from his horse,
and he lay stunned and helpless, but not otherwise hurt, at the mercy of
his foe. Recovering his weapon, Alan, aware that the great disparity of
numbers rendered the securing English prisoners but a mere waste of
time, contented himself by waving the standard high in air, and again
shouting his war-cry, galloped impetuously on. Wounded he was, but he
knew it not; the excitement, the inspiration of the moment was all he
felt.

"To the king--to the king!" shouted Nigel Bruce, urging his horse to the
side of Alan, and ably aiding him to strike down their rapidly
increasing foes. "Hemmed in on all sides, he will fall beneath their
thirsting swords. To the king--to the king! Yield he never will; and
better he should not. On, on, for the love of life, of liberty, of
Scotland!--on to the king!"

His impassioned words reached even hearts fainting 'neath exhaustion,
failing in hope, for they knew they strove in vain; yet did that tone,
those words rouse even them, and their flagging limbs grew strong for
Robert's sake, and some yet reached the spot to fight and die around
him; others--alas! the greater number--fell ere the envied goal was
gained.

The sight of the royal standard drew, as Alan had hoped, the attention
of some from the king, and gave him a few moments to rally. Again there
was a moment of diversion in favor of the Scotch. The brothers of the
Bruce and some others of his bravest knights were yet around him,
seemingly uninjured, and each and all appeared endowed with the strength
of two. The gigantic form of Edward Bruce, the whelming sweep of his
enormous battle-axe, had cleared a partial space around the king, but
still the foes hemmed in, reinforced even as they fell. About this time
the moon, riding high in the heavens, had banished the mists which had
enveloped her rising, and flung down a clear, silvery radiance over the
whole field, disclosing for the first time to King Robert the exact
situation in which he stood. Any further struggle, and defeat,
imprisonment, death, all stared him in the face, and Scotland's liberty
was lost, and forever. The agony of this conviction was known to none
save to the s