"I am neither desperate nor
inefficient; and you, faithful creature, shall have no cause to mourn
this night's resolution. GO to Lord Mar, and tell him what are my
resolves. I have nothing now that binds me to life but my country; and
henceforth she shall be to me as mistress, wife and child. Would you
deprive me of this tie, Halbert? Would you, by persuading me to resign
my interest in her, devote me to a hermit's seclusion amongst these
rocks? for I will never again appear in the tracks of men if it be not
as the defender of her rights."
"But where, my master, shall we find you, should the earl choose to
join you with his followers?"
"In this wilderness, whence I shall not remove rashly. My purpose is
to save my countrymen, not to sacrifice them in needless dangers."
Halbert, oppressed with sorrow at the images his foreboding heart drew
of the direful scenes in which his beloved master had pledged himself
to become the leader, bowed his head with submission, and, leaving
Wallace to his rest, retired to the mouth of the cavern to weep alone.
It was noon before the chief awoke from the death-like sleep into which
kind nature had plunged his long-harassed senses.
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