Note 8.--BATTLE BETWIXT THE ARMIES OF THE BRUCE AND MACDOUGAL OF
LORN.
"But the King, whose dear-bought experience in war had taught him
extreme caution, remained in the Braes of Balquhidder till he had
acquired by his spies and outskirries a perfect knowledge of the
disposition of the army of Lorn, and the intention of its leader.
He then divided his force into two columns, entrusting the
command of the first, in which he placed his archers and lightest
armed troops, to Sir James Douglas, whilst he himself took the
leading of the other, which consisted principally of his knights
and barons. On approaching the defile, Bruce dispatched Sir
James Douglas by a pathway which the enemy had neglected to
occupy, with directions to advance silently, and gain the heights
above and in front of the hilly ground where the men of Lorn were
concealed; and having ascertained that this movement had been
executed with success, he put himself at the head of his own
division, and fearlessly led his men into the defile. Here,
prepared as he was for what was to take place, it was difficult
to prevent a temporary panic when the yell which, to this day,
invariably precedes the assault of the mountaineer, burst from
the rugged bosom of Ben Cruachan; and the woods which, the moment
before, had waved in silence and solitude, gave forth their birth
of steel-clad warriors, and, in an instant, became instinct with
the dreadful vitality of war.
Pages:
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413