Page:History of the life and death, of the great warrior Robert Bruce.pdf/14

 large army, with which he resolved to march against King Robert. The two armies met near Inverury, in Aberdeenshire. Feeble and depressed as the king was, he did not decline the contest, nor would he listen to any proposal of delegating the command to another. He desired that he should be lifted from his couch and placed on horseback; and in this situation he was supported on each side by an attendant. He sketched the order of battle, and led on the charge with his usual courage. The onset of the troops, augmented perhaps by a sympathy for the peculiar situation of their leader, was so impetuous, that the enemy were almost instantly broken, and pursued with great slaughter. From this day a visible and progressive change for the better took place in Robert's health, and he himself declared that the excitment of that day had done more for him than twenty physicians.

He determined to proceed against his old enemy the lord of Lorn. Who mustering his whole force; awaited the approach of the Scottish king. The only entrance into the country of Lorn lay through the pass of Brandir, which winds along the rugged base of a noble mountain three thousand feet above the sea; on the other side a precipice almost perpendicular descended to Loch-awe; and, farther on, the pass became so narrow that two men could scarcely march abreast.