At another time, King Robert was surprised by a party of two hundred men with bloodhounds. Bruce was accompanied by only two men. The king was in a most perilous situation, but he stationed himself in a narrow gorge and despatched his companions in haste for succor. But before his band of brave Scots arrived, King Robert had slain with his dreadful sword, fourteen of his enemies, who were found piled up in the gorge, men and horses above each other.
A party of English, under the command of John Lorn, now determined to search for the brave Bruce among the mountains of Carrick, where he was intrenched; and in order to track the valiant Scottish king, Lorn carried with him a sagacious bloodhound which belonged to Bruce. This bloodhound proved of great use to Lorn, for it discovered his master by its scent, and the English pursued him so closely that Bruce divided his men in small bands and dispersed them, that they might thus more easily flee. Still being pressed sorely by the relentless foe, Robert dismissed all his men, each one to look out for his own safety; and attended only by his foster-brother, who would not leave him, the brave Scottish king fled, still pursued by five of Lorn’s men, led on by the bloodhound who tracked his master with sure scent. Meanwhile the dog was outrun by the five powerful mountaineers, and the king and his foster-brother at last stood at bay to receive them. Bruce singled three of these assailants, leaving his companion to combat with two. As the first approached, the king cleft him through the skull with one blow of his weapon, and as the other two fell back for a moment, stunned by this unexpected disaster, Bruce sprang to the assistance of his foster-brother, whom he saw was in danger, and severing the head of one of his assailants from his body, he quickly laid his other two enemies dead, while the fifth was killed by his companion. When the king graciously thanked his faithful foster-brother for his aid, “It’s like you to say so,” he replied, “but you yourself slew four of the five.”
But now the cry of the hound was heard again, for Lorn and his band were on the trail. The king and his companion hastily entered a small stream near by, to break the scent of the hound, and as the dog bounded up and down the banks, having lost all scent of his master, the foster-brother of King Robert shot him dead with an arrow, from their retreat in the forest. They then fled in safety from their pursuers, who gave up the chase. But King Robert had escaped from the bloodhound only to fall into other dangers. Three freebooters, pretending to be friends of the Scottish king, joined him and his foster-brother in their retreat through the forest. Bruce, suspecting these companions, desired them to walk at some distance before.
“We seek the Scottish king,” said the strangers: “you need not mistrust us.”
“Neither do I,” replied Robert; “but until we are better acquainted, you must walk thus.”
When they came to a ruinous hut, where they rested for the night, the king ordered the strangers to remain at the other end of the room. But the past fatigues overcoming them, at last Bruce and his foster-brother fell asleep. The king was roused from his slumbers by the approach of the three villanous freebooters, with arms in their hands, intent on his assassination. Robert laid hold of his sword, and stepping heavily over his foster-brother, to awaken him, he rushed upon the assassins. After a fierce combat, in which his faithful foster-brother was killed, Bruce succeeded in overcoming these three villains, and left them dead on the spot.
It was during these wanderings that Bruce was one day resting in a ruined hut in the forests. He was lying upon a handful of straw, and considering whether he should continue this strife to maintain his right to the Scottish throne, or if it were best to abandon an enterprise attended with such danger, and seeming at times almost hopeless, and go to the Holy Land and end his days in the wars with the Saracens. While thus musing, his attention was arrested by the movements of a spider on the roof of the hut above his head. This spider was trying to fix its web on the rafters, and was swinging itself from one eave to another. The king was amused with the patience and energy displayed by the tiny insect. It had tried six times to reach one place, and failed. Suddenly the thought struck the Scottish monarch, “I have fought six times against the enemies of my country.” He thereupon resolved that he would be guided in his future actions by the failure or success of this indefatigable little insect. The next effort of the spider was successful, and King Robert then determined that he would make the seventh attempt to free his country, feeling confident that he should yet achieve the liberty of Scotland. It is hence esteemed unlucky for a Bruce to kill a spider. Meantime Edward, the brother of Robert Bruce, and Sir James Douglas had made many successful raids against the English. They now joined their forces with those of King Robert, and they then overran Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham, which places had been in the possession of the English.
In 1307 Pembroke advanced against Bruce with three thousand men. But though the Scottish king’s band numbered but six hundred men, they charged so valiantly with their long Scottish spears, that Pembroke’s forces were completely routed, and he himself was obliged to flee for safety to the castle of Ayr. King Edward was so enraged by these events that he determined to march himself against this bold foe. But the English king had not proceeded three leagues from Carlisle when death met him. With his dying breath he ordered his remains to be carried with the army, and not to be interred until the enemy was conquered. He had previously caused his son to swear in the most solemn manner, that when he should die, he would boil his body in a caldron and separate the flesh from the bones, and having buried the former, the bones were to be carried with the army to inspire his men with hatred against the Scots, while his heart was to be taken to the Holy Land. But Edward II., instead of obeying his father’s dying commands, interred his body in Westminster; and disbanding the army, the troops returned to England. The death of Edward I. gave new courage to the Scots. By this inglorious retreat of the English king, he lost all the advantages which his father had so dearly purchased for him. Edward Bruce, the brother of Robert, one of the most chivalrous knights, had conquered the English in Galloway, taking, in one year, thirteen castles. Meanwhile, Lord Douglas had recovered his ancient estate of Douglas from the English and made many conquests.
The north and the south being now reduced to obedience, the united troops of Bruce and Douglas proceeded to the west to subdue the proud lord of Lorn. By a series of well-contested engagements in which no ordinary degree of skill as a general was displayed, and the greatest personal courage, Bruce succeeded in wresting his much-injured country from the power of the English. Twice had the king of England attempted an expedition to reconquer Scotland, but he had returned without result. The authority of Bruce was rapidly being established throughout his country. The castles of Perth, Dunbar, and Edinburgh were in his hands. Many stories are told of his heroic bravery in these contests, but we can only stop to note the taking of Perth. This was a strongly fortified garrison. The fortress was enclosed by a lofty wall and towers, surrounded by a deep moat filled with water, which set at defiance the efforts of the Scots for several weeks. At last, King Robert made a feint of raising the siege, struck his tents, and departed to some distance. But one night, when least expected, he approached unperceived to the foot of the rampart, and walking up to his throat in the water, he seized a ladder and mounted to the wall’s parapet, where he found a Scottish maiden whom the English had imprisoned, and who had escaped to the top of the wall, but could get no farther, as the frightful moat surrounded her on all sides.