I and the gallant chief have not yet met; but
I am in arms for him; and the hour of retribution for all our injuries,
I trust, is at hand."
"But where is Sir William Wallace?" demanded Murray.
"Gone toward the Forth, to rouse that part of sleeping Scotland. If
all he meet have my spirit, they will not require a second call. Now
is the time to aim the blow; I shall ever give thanks to the accident
which brought me the welcome news, that an arm is raised to strike it
home."
As he spoke, he led Murray to the rampart-like cliffs which crown the
summit of Craignacoheilg. In the midst stood a tower, which had once
been a favorite hunting-lodge of the great King Fergus. There
Kirkpatrick joyfully greeted his guest a second time: "This," said he,
"is the far-famed lodge of the three kings: here did our lion, Fergus,
attended by his royal allies, Durstus the Pict, and Dionethus the
Briton, spread his board during their huntings in Glenfinlass! And
here eight hundred years ago, did the same heroic prince form the plans
which saved his kingdom from a foreign yoke! On the same spot we will
lay ours; and in their completion, rescue Scotland from a tyranny more
intolerable than that which menaced him.
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