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Ef yo' ain't man to protect Marse Comyn's prop-ty, jes han' over Marse Comyn's gun." The marshal and his men had stood, half amused, more than half baffled by this unexpected resistance. Mammy Easter looked so dangerous that it was evident she was not to be passed without extreme bodily discomfort. "Is your mistress here?" This question was unfortunate in the extreme.
I had come by nature to that intuition which a true swordsman must have, gleaned from the eyes of his adversary. Long ago Captain Daniel had taught me the remedy for this coupe. I parried, circled, and straightened, my body in swift motion and my point at Comyn's heart, when Heaven brought me recollection in the space of a second. My sword rang clattering on the floor.
"Except as a prisoner I shall never see it again. The die is cast this time, Sir Archie, and for good; even if I would I can never draw back again. Comyn's treachery has made my action irrevocable it is now indeed death or victory!" All night they rode without drawing rein, save that they once changed horses where a relay had been provided.
"Be assured you shall have your reward," he cried loudly, and drawing his dagger he plunged it in Comyn's breast. Murder was little thought of in those days, but murder in a church, before the altar itself and under the very eyes of the priests who were engaged in their religious offices, was a crime that made the whole civilized world ring with horror.
Fourteen years' work, at the cost of honor, mercy, and the love of his people, all was undone, and the spirit of independence still uncrushed. Edward regarded Bruce as so sacrilegious a traitor, that a war with him was almost sacred; he swore to revenge Red Comyn's death, and prepared for the war in the most solemn manner.
'Twas on the way there that Fitzpatrick told me Dorothy had fainted when she heard the alarm a piece of news which added to my anxiety. We called up the dowager countess, Comyn's mother, and Carlisle broke the news to her, mercifully lightening me of a share of the blame.
He had committed an action which was sure to bring down upon him the vengeance of all Comyn's relations, the resentment of the King of England, and the displeasure of the Church, on account of having slain his enemy within consecrated ground. He determined, therefore, to bid them all defiance at once, and to assert his pretensions to the throne of Scotland.
"And can it be thou art such craven, Robert, as to repent a Comyn's death a Comyn, and a traitor e'en though his dastard blood be on thy hand? bah! An' such deeds weigh heavy on thy mind, a friar's cowl were better suited to thy brow than Scotland's diadem."
Meanwhile Bruce, who ranks with Wallace as a Scottish hero, had suffered some reverses at the hands of the English. Under the Earl of Pembroke, in 1306, they took Perth and drove Bruce into the wilds of Athol. In the same year, at Dairy, Bruce was defeated by Comyn's uncle, Macdougal, Lord of Lorn, and escaped to Ireland.
These were about a third the number of those of the English, while Comyn's cavalry were a thousand strong. The infantry were formed in three great squares or circles, the front rank kneeling and the spears all pointing outwards. In the space between these squares were placed the archers, under Sir John Stewart.
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