He soon discovered it; and by the light of a torch, making his way
through a passage bored in the rock, emerged at its western base,
screened from sight by the surrounding bushes. He had disguised
himself in a shepherd's bonnet and plaid, in case of being observed by
the enemy; but fortune, favored him, and unseen he crept along through
the thickets, till he descried the advance of De Warenne's army on the
skirts of Tor Wood.
Having missed Wallace in West Lothian, De Warenne divided his army into
three divisions, to enter Stirlingshire by different routes; and so he
hoped, certainly, to intercept him in one of them. The Earl of
Montgomery led the first, of twenty thousand men; the Barons Hilton and
Blenkinsopp, the second, of ten thousand; and De Warenne himself the
third, of thirty thousand.
It was the first of these divisions that Cressingham encountered in Tor
Wood; and revealing himself to Montgomery, he recounted how rapidly
Wallace had gained the town, and in what jeopardy the citadel would be,
if he were not instantly attacked. The earl advised waiting for a
junction with Hilton or the lord warden, "which," said he, "must happen
in the course of a few hours.
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