With these
whisperings, they slid away from their standards; and when Loch-awe
left them they were dispersed on all sides, like an already discomfited
army.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
Arthur's Seat.
For a day or two the paralyzed terrors of the people, and the tumults
in the citadel, seemed portentous of immediate ruin. A large
detachment from the royal army had entered Scotland by the marine gate
of Berwick; and, headed by De Warenne, was advancing rapidly toward
Edinburgh. Not a soldier belonging to the regent remained on the
carse; and the distant chiefs to whom he sent for aid refused it,
alleging that the discovery of Wallace's patriotism having been a
delusion, had made them suspect all men; and, now locking themselves
within their own castles, each true Scot would there securely view a
struggle in which they could feel no personal interest.
Seeing the danger of the realm, and hearing from the Lords Ruthven and
Bothwell that their troops would follow no other leader than Sir
William Wallace, and hopeless of any prompt decision from amongst the
contusion of the council, Badenoch yielded a stern assent to the only
apparent means of saving his sinking country.
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