The small party of adherents which still clung to the fortunes of Wallace and the cause of independence, were reduced to the greatest distress for want of provisions. Our hero had left them, in order to look out for a place where they might obtain supplies; and, while wandering through the wilds of Lorn, overcome by hunger and fatigue, he threw himself down in despair at the entrance of a forest, when the following adventure occurred to him:—
“Out off thair sycht, in till a forest syd,
He sat him doun wndyr ane ayk to bid;
His bow and suerd he lenyt till a tre,
In angwyss greiff, on grouff so turned he.
His petows mynd was for his men so wrocht,
That off him selff litill as than he roucht.
‘O wrech!’ he said, ‘that neuir couth be content
Off our gret mycht that the gret God the lent:
Bot thi fers mynd, wylfull and wariable,
With gret lordschip thow coud nocht so byd stable;
And wylfull witt, for to mak Scotland fre;
God likis nocht that I haiff tane on me.
Fer worthyar of byrth than I was born,
Throuch my desyr wyth hungyr ar forlorn:
I ask at God thaim to restor agayn;
I am the causs, I suld haiff all the pain.’
Quhill studeand thus, whill flitand with him sell,
Quhill at the last apon slepyng he fell.
Thre days befor thar had him folowed fyve,
The quhilk was bound, or ellis to loss thair lyff:
The erl off York bad thaim so gret gardoun,
At thai be thyft hecht to put Wallace doun.
Thre off thaim was all born men off Ingland,
And twa was Scottis, that tuk this deid on hand;
And sum men said, thar thrid brothir betraissed
Kyldromé eft, quhar gret sorow was raissed.
A child thai had, qubilk helpyit to ber mett
In wildernes amang thai montans grett.
Thai had all seyn disseuyring off Wallace
Fra his gud men, and quhar he baid on cace;
Amang thyk wod in cowert held thaim law,
Quhill thai persawyt he couth on sleping faw.
And than thir fyve approchit Wallace neir;
Quhat best to do, at othir can thai speir.
A man said thus: ‘It war a hie renoun,
And we mycht qwyk leid him to Sanct Jhonstoun,
Lo, how he lyis; we may our grippis waill;
Off his wapynnys he sal get nane awaill.
We sall him bynd in contrar off hys will,
And leid him thus on baksyd off yon hill,
So that his men sall nothing off him knaw.’
The tothir thre assentit till his saw;
And than thir fyve thus maid thaim to Wallace,
And thocht throw force to bynd him in that place.
Quhat, trowit thir fyve for to hald Wallace doun?
The manlyast man, the starkest off persoun,
Leyffand he was; and als stud in sic rycht,
We traist weill, God his dedis had in sycht.
Thai grippyt him, than out off slepe he braid;
‘Quhat menys this? rycht sodandly he said,
About he turnyt, and wp his armys thrang;
On thai traytouris with knychtlik fer he dang.
The starkast man in till his armys hynt he,
And all his harnys he dang out on a tree.
A sword he gat son efter at he rayss,
Campiounlik amang the four he gais;
Euyr a man he gert de at a dynt.
Quhen twa was ded, the tothir wald nocht stynt;
Maid thaim to fle; bot than it was na but,
Was nane leyffand mycht pass fra him on fut.
He folowed fast, and sone to ded thaim brocht;
Than to the chyld sadly agayn he socht,
‘Quhat did thow her?’ The child with [ane] paill face,
On kneis he fell, and askyt Wallace grace.
‘With thaim I was, and knew nothing thair thocht;
In to seruice, as thai me bad, I wrocht.’
‘Quhat berys thow her?’ ‘Bot meit, the child can say.’
Do, turss it wp, and pass with me away,
Meit in this tym is fer bettyr than gold.”
[65] According to Henry, Gilbert Grymsby, or, as he is called by the Scots, Jop, was employed in this mission.
[66] This young man is said by Henry to have been a son of Menteith’s sister. Langtoft calls him a servant, and says his name was Jock Short.
[67] From Robroyston Wallace could easily make his way to the Clyde; cross the river and keep his appointment with Bruce, who was to have approached from the south, without coming in sight of any of the English stationed at Glasgow. The burrow-muir was situated on the south side of the Clyde.
[68] The circumstance of this person being the last friend whom our hero was destined to behold, would, independent of his own personal merits, have rendered him an object of curiosity to a great proportion of our readers. The following account is taken from the notes of the editor of the Perth edition of Blind Harrie; and, as any thing which the writer has yet met with, rather tends to confirm than invalidate the statement, he shall submit it to the reader in the words of the learned and intelligent author:—
“William Ker, commonly called Kerlie, or Ker Little, was ancestor of the Kers of Kersland. He, as well as many others, was compelled to swear the unlawful oath of fealty to Edward, August 5. 1296.
“He joined Wallace at the castle of the Earl of Lennox, September 1296, and went with him immediately on his first northern expedition. He and Stephen of Ireland were the only two of Wallace’s men who survived the battle along the north side of the River Erne, November 1296.
“He was the constant friend and companion of Wallace on all occasions, and is sometimes called his steward: In 1305, when Wallace was taken prisoner at Robrastoun, a solitary village near Glasgow, William Ker only was with him. They were found both asleep, and Ker was killed in the scuffle.
“Henry says, that William Ker had large inheritance in the district of Carrick in Air-shire. That his ancestor was brought from Ireland by King David I., and defeated, with the assistance of seven hundred Scots, nine thousand Norwegians who had landed at Dunmoir. Some of the Norwegians were drowned in Doun, and others slain upon the land. King David gave him the lands of Dunmoir in reward of his bravery.