"May I die," cried the old man, "ere
I hear it is otherwise! But youth is no warrant for life; the vigor of
those arms cannot always assure themselves of victory; and should you
fall, where would be our country?"
"With a better than I," returned the chief, "in the arms of God. He
will fight for Scotland when Wallace is laid low." Halbert wept. But
the trumpet sounded for the field. He blessed his lord, and they
parted forever.
A strong force from the Highlands joined the troops from Stirling; and
Wallace had the satisfaction of seeing before him thirty thousand
well-appointed men eager for the fight. With all Scotland pressing on
his heart, his eye lingered for a moment on the distant towers of
Bothwell; but not delaying a moment, he placed himself at the head of
his legions, and set forth through a country now budding with all the
charms of the cultivation he had spread over it. In the midst of a
fine glen of renovated corn fields, he was met by a courier from Sir
Roger Kirkpatrick, with information that the Northumbrians, being
apprised of King Edward's approach, were assembling in immense bodies;
and having crossed the debatable land in the night, had driven Sir
Eustace Maxwell, with great loss, into Carlaveroch; and though harassed
by Kirkpatrick himself, were ravaging the country as far as Dumfries.
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