Yes, Murray; there is not a
stone in this building that does not call aloud to us to draw the
sword, and hold it unsheathed till our country be free."
"And by the ghost of that same Fergus, I swear," exclaimed Murray,
"that my honest claymore shall never shroud its head while an invader
be left alive in Scotland."
Kirkpatrick caught him in his arms. "Brave son of the noble Bothwell,
thou art after mine own heart! The blow which the dastard Cressingham
durst aim at a Scottish chief, still smarts upon my cheek; and rivers
of his countrymen's blood shall wash out the stain. After I had been
persuaded by his serpent eloquence to swear fealty to Edward on the
defeat at Dunbar, I vainly thought that Scotland had only changed a
weak and unfortunate prince for a wise and victorious king; but when in
the courts of Stirling, I heard Cressingham propose to the barons north
of the dike, that they should give their strongest castles into English
hands; when I opposed the measure with all the indignation of a Scot
who saw himself betrayed, he first tried to overturn my arguments, and
finding that impossible, while I repeated them with redoubled force-he
struck me!-Powers of earth and heaven, what was then the tempest of my
soul!-I drew my sword-I would have laid him dead at my feet, had not my
obsequious countrymen held my arm, and dragged me from the apartment.
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