Ayrshire > Volume 1

ROBERT THE BRUCE 87
Scottish War of Independence; his poem of " The Brus "
is distinguished by great simplicity and clearness of
style ; he has depicted in rough but faithful outline the
men and manners of a truly heroic age ; he was highly
esteemed of the Scottish Court ; and none knew better
than he that to have drawn wildly upon his imagination
would have subjected him to the opprobrium of those
for whom he wrote. There is no good reason, therefore,
why his narrative should be regarded as fabulous.
Possibly, if such a thing were indeed possible, he may
have overdone the individual prowess of the King, but
that is an assumption there is really no sufficient reason
for making. With Barbour then as our guide, let us
follow the Bruce in his wanderings through Ayrshire
and the adjacent shires, and tell the doughty deeds by
which he raised an apparently hopeless cause to the
crowning glory of national independence.
Aymer de Valence was in command in the Lothians,
and forthwith he despatched Sir Ingram Bell with a
strong body of men to bring King Robert into subjection.
Sir Ingram thought it wiser, in view of the fact that
Bruce was encamped in the wilds, and in ignorance of
the strength of his followers, to attempt his downfall
by treachery. He accordingly despatched three men, a
father and two sons, to take him at unawares. These
were familiar with the district, and, knowing that it
was Bruce' s custom to retire on occasion into a thicket
for purposes of meditation, they arranged the time of
their coming for such a period as might best enable them
to catch him unprotected. And so they found him.
Bruce had a strong intuition of danger. He knew the
treachery that everywhere abounded, and when he saw
them advancing, he ordered them to remain where they
were. The conspirators observed that he was alone,
save for a page boy, and the father urged his right, as
a distant relative of the King, to be at his side in the
hour of danger. As they continued their approach,
Bruce took the bow from his page that the lad had been
carrying, fitted an arrow upon the string, and, taking