Wallace received the latter with a glad smile; and taking him warmly by
the hand, "Gallant Murray," said he, "with such assistance, I hope to
reinstate your brave uncle in Bothwell Castle, and soon to cut a
passage to even a mightier rescue! We must carry off Scotland from the
tyrant's arms; or," added he, in a graver tone, "we shall only rivet
her chains the closer."
"I am but a poor auxiliary," returned Murray; "my troop is a scanty
one, for it is my own gathering. It is not my father's nor my uncle's
strength, that I bring along with me. But there is one here,"
continued he, "who has preserved a party of men, sent by my cousin Lady
Helen Mar, almost double my numbers."
At this reference to the youthful warrior, Sir Roger Kirkpatrick
discerned him at a distance, and hastened toward him, while Murray
briefly related to Wallace the extraordinary conduct of this unknown.
On being told that the chief waited to receive him, the youth hastened
forward with a trepidation he had never felt before; but it was a
trepidation that did not subtract from his own worth. It was the
timidity of a noble heart, which believed it approached one of the most
perfect among mortals; and while its anxious pulse beat to emulate such
merit, a generous consciousness of measureless inferiority embarassed
him with a confusion so amiable, that Wallace, who perceived his
extreme youth and emotion, opened his arms and embraced him.
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