Having led him to safety through the vaulted passage, they parted in
the cemetery of Fincklay; Gloucester, to walk back to Durham by the
banks of the Wear; and Bruce, to mount the horse the good earl had left
tied to a tree, to convey him to Hartlepool. There he embarked for
Normandy.
When he arrived at Caen, he made no delay, but taking a rapid course
across the country toward Rouen, on the second evening of his
traveling, having pursued his route without sleep, he felt himself so
overcome with fatigue, that, in the midst of a vast and dreary plain,
he found it necessary to stop for rest at the first habitation he might
find. It happened to be the abode of one of those poor, but pious
matrons, who, attaching themselves to some neighboring order of
charity, live alone in desert places for the purpose of succoring
distressed travelers. Here Bruce found the widow's cruse, and a pallet
to repose his weary limbs.
Chapter LXI.
Normandy.
Wallace, having separated from the Prince Royal of France, pursued his
solitary way toward the capital of Normandy, till night overtook him
ere he was aware. Clouds so obscured the sky, that not a star was
visible; and his horse, terrified at the impenetrable darkness, and the
difficulties of the path, which lay over a barren and stony moor,
suddenly stopped.
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