"We never will obey any other!" rejoined his faithful Lanark followers,
and, with an increased uproar, they demanded to be led to Stirling.
His extended hand again stilled the storm, and he resumed:
"You shall go with me to Stirling, but as my friends only: never as the
enemies of the Regent of Scotland. I am charged with treason; it is
his duty to try me by the laws of my country; it is mine to submit to
the inquisition. I fear it not, and I invite you to accompany me; not
to brand me with infamy, by passing between my now darkened honor and
the light of justice--not to avenge an iniquitous sentence denounced on
a guiltless man--but to witness my acquittal; and in that my triumph
over them, who, through my breast would strike at what is greater than
I."
At this mild persuasive every upraised sword dropped before him, and
Wallace, turning his horse into the path which led toward Stirling, his
men, with a silent determination to share the fate of their master,
fell into regular marching order, and followed him. Edwin rode by his
side, equally wondering at the unaffected composure with which he
sustained such a weight of insult, and at the men who could be so
unjust as to lay it upon him.
Pages:
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055