Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/60

 zeal which he manifested in procuring every possible alleviation and comfort for his forlorn and helpless companions.

While the royalists thus avoided the immediate peril which had threatened them from one quarter, by abiding in those natural strong-holds which their enemy could not force, they almost inevitably came in contact with another danger no less imminent. They fell upon Charybdis seeking to avoid Scylla. The Lord of Lorn, upon the borders of whose territories they lay, was nearly connected by marriage with the family of the murdered Comyn: and, as might be expected, entertained an implacable hatred towards the person and the cause of the Scottish king. Having early intelligence of the vicinity, numbers, and necessities of the fugitive royalists, this powerful baron collected together a body of nearly a thousand of his martial dependants, men well acquainted with the advantages and difficulties of such a country, and besetting the passes, obliged the king to come to battle in a narrow defile where the horse of the party could possibly prove of no service, but were indeed an incumbrance. Considerable loss was sustained on the king's side in the action; and Sir James Douglas and de la Haye were both wounded. The king dreading the total destruction of his followers, ordered a retreat; and himself boldly taking post in the rear, by desperate courage, strength, and activity, succeeded in checking the fury of the pursuers, and in extricating his party. The place of this memorable contest is still pointed out, and remembered by the name of Dairy, or the king's field.

The almost incredible displays of personal prowess and address which Robert made on this occasion, are reported to have drawn forth the admiration even of his deadly enemies. In one of those repeated assaults which he was obliged to make in order to repress the impetuous pursuit of the assailants, he was beset, all at once, by three armed antagonists. This occurred in a pass, formed by a loch on the one side, and a precipitous bank on the other, and so narrow as scarcely to allow of two horses riding a-breast. One seized the king's horse by the bridle; but by a blow, which severed his arm in two, was almost instantly disabled. Another got hold of the riders foot within the stirrup iron with the purpose of unhorsing him; but the king standing up in the stirrup, and urging his steed forward, dragged the unfortunate assailant to the ground. The third person leaped up behind him in hope of pinioning his arms and making him prisoner, or of despatching him with his dagger; but turning round, and exerting his utmost strength, Robert forced him forwards upon the horse's neck and slew him; after which he killed the helpless wretch who still dragged at his side. Barbour, the ancient authority by whom this deed of desperate valour is recorded, has contrived, whether intentionally or not, to throw an air of probability over it. The laird of Macnaughton, a follower of the lord of Lorn, we are told, was bold enough, in the presence of his chief, to express a generous admiration of the conduct of the heroic king. Being* upbraided for a liberality which seemed to imply a want of consideration for the lives and honour of his own men, he replied by nobly observing, "that he who won the prize of chivalry, whether friend or foe, deserved to be spoken of with respect."

The danger which the royalist party had thus for the time escaped, the near approach of winter, during which, in so sterile a country, the means of support could not be procured, and the almost certain destruction which they would encounter should they descend into the level country, induced the king to give up all thoughts of keeping the field longer in the face of so many pressing and manifest perils and difficulties. The queen and the ladies who accompanied her, were put under the escort of the remaining cavalry; and the charge of conducting them safely to the strong castle of Kildrummie, committed to Nigel, the king's second brother, and the earl of Athole. The parting was sorrowful on both