The contest did not end till night; and after
passing a brief while in the council-tent listening to the suggestions
of his friends relative to the use that might be made of the new
acquisition, he retired to his own quarters at a late hour. At these
momentous periods he never seemed to need sleep; and sitting at his
table setting the dispositions for the succeeding day, he marked not
the time till the flame of his exhausted lamp expired in the socket.
He replenished it and had again resumed his military labors, when the
curtain which covered the door of his tent was drawn aside, and an
armed man entered. Wallace looked up, and seeing that it was the
Knight of the Green Plume, asked if anything had occurred from the town.
"Nothing," replied the knight, in an agitated voice, and seating
himself beside Wallace.
"Any evil tidings from Perthshire?" demanded Wallace, who now hardly
doubted that ill news had arrived of Bruce.
"None," was the knight's reply; "but I am come to fulfill my promise to
you, to unite myself forever heart and soul to your destiny, or you
behold me this night for the last time."
Surprised at this address, and the emotion which shook the frame of the
unknown warrior, Wallace answered him with expressions of esteem, and
added:
"If it depend on me to unite so brave a man to my friendship forever,
only speak the word, declare your name, and I am ready to seal the
compact.
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