Page:History of the life and death, of the great warrior Robert Bruce.pdf/15

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The men of Lorn, about 2000 strong, conceal- ed themselves in the thick copsewood which co- vered the sides of the mountain, intending to at- tack the king's army while entangled in the de- file; but Bruce having received information from his scouts of the disposition of the army of Lorn, despatched Sir James Douglas, with his archers and light-armed troops, 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 grounds where the men of Lorn were concealed; and Bruce at the head of his own division fearlessly advanced into the defile. Having proceeded some little way, a fearful yell burst from the rugged bosom of the mountain, and the woods, which the moment be- fore had waved in silence and solitude, gave forth their birth of steel-clad warriors, and became an- imated with the vitality of war. Whilst Bruce pressed with his division up the side of the moun- tain, and furiously attacked the men of Lorn, amidst masses of rock which the enemy rolled down from the precipices, Sir James Douglas and his party suddenly raised a shout from the heights above them, and showered down their arrows, and, when these missiles were exhausted, attacked them with their swords and battle-axes. This attack, both in front and rear, occasioned the total discomfiture of the army of Lorn. A