"That dagger!" exclaimed Scrymgeour.
"Has done nothing," replied Wallace, "but let a little more blood." As he spoke he drew it out, and thrusting the corner of his scarf into his bosom, staunched the wound.
"So is your mercy rewarded!" exclaimed Kirkpatrick.
"So am I true to a soldier's duty," returned Wallace, "though De
Valence is a traitor to his!"
"You treated him as a man," replied Kirkpatrick, "but now you find him a treacherous fiend!"
"Your eagerness, my brave friend," returned Wallace, "has lost him as a prisoner. If not for humanity or honor, for policy's sake, we ought to have spared his life, and detained him as an hostage for our countrymen in England."
Kirkpatrick remembered how his violence had released the earl, and he looked down abashed. Wallace, perceiving it, continued, "But let us not abuse our time discoursing on a coward. He is gone, the fortress is ours, and our first measure must be to guard if from surprise."
As he spoke, his eyes fell upon Edwin, who, having recovered from the shock of Murray's exclamation, had brought forward the surgeon of their little band. A few minutes bound up the wounds of their chief, even while beckoning the anxious boy towards him. "Brave youth," cried he, "you, at the imminent risk of your own life, explored these heights, that you might render our ascent more sure; you who have fought like a young lion in this unequal contest! here, in the face of all your valiant comrades, receive that knighthood which rather derives luster from your virtues than gives additional consequence to your name."
With a bounding heart Edwin bent his knee, and Wallace giving him the hallowed accolade,** the young knight rose from his position with all the roses of his springing fame glowing in his countenance. Scrymgeour presented him the knightly girdle, which he unbraced from his own loins, and while the happy boy received the sword to which it was attached, he exclaimed, with animation, "While I follow the example before my eyes, I shall never draw this in an unjust cause, nor ever sheath it in a just one."
**Accolade, the three strokes of the sword given in knighting.