air of
satisfaction, then clearing his voice, and drawing more to the centre of
the group; "Your worship knows," he began, addressing Sir Amiot, who,
stretched at full length on the sward, had fixed his eyes upon him,
though their eagle glance was partly shaded by his hand, "that our good
King Robert the Bruce, determined on the reduction of the north of his
kingdom, advanced thereto in the spring of 1308, accompanied by his
brother, Lord Edward, that right noble gentleman the Earl of Lennox, Sir
Gilbert Hay, Sir Robert Boyd, and others, with a goodly show of men and
arms, for his successes at Glen Fruin and Loudun Hill had brought him a
vast accession of loyal subjects. And they were needed, your worship, of
a truth, for the traitorous Comyns had almost entire possession of the
castles and forts of the north, and thence were wont to pour down their
ravaging hordes upon the true Scotsmen, and menace the king, till he
scarcely knew which side to turn to first. Your worship coming, I have
heard, from the low country, can scarcely know all the haunts and
lurking-places for treason the highlands of our country present; how
hordes of traitors may be trained and armed in these remote districts,
without the smallest suspicion being attached to them till it is
well-nigh too late, and the mischief is done. Well, to drive out these
black villains, to free his kingdom, not alone from the yoke of an
English Edward, but a Scottish Comyn, good King Robert was resolved--and
even as he resolved he did. Inverness, the citadel of treason and
disloyalty, fell before him; her defences, and walls, and turrets, and
towers, all dismantled and levelled, so as to prevent all further
harborage of treason; her garrison marched out, the ringleaders sent
into secure quarters, and all who hastened to offer homage and swear
fidelity, received with a courtesy and majesty which I dare to say did
more for the cause of our true king than a Comyn could ever do against
it. Other castles followed the fate of Inverness, till at length the
north, even as the south, acknowledged the Bruce, not alone as their
king, but as their deliverer and savior.

"It was while rejoicing over these glorious successes, the lords and
knights about the person of their sovereign began to note with great
alarm that his strength seemed waning, his brow often knit as with
inward pain, his eye would grow dim, and his limbs fail him, without a
moment's warning; and that extreme depr