Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/363

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from Durham to the border of the true Scotland, the Firth of Forth; and we are told that many of the land force also perished of cold and hunger. The army however which remained was strong enough to make Malcolm feel less eager for deeds of arms than he had most likely felt in May. At last, near the shore of the Scots' Water, the estuary which parted English Lothian from Scottish Fife, the two kings met face to face, seemingly in battle array, but without coming to any exchange of blows. It is marked in a pointed way that Malcolm had crossed from his kingdom to his earldom. He "went out of Scotland into Lothian in England, and there abode," There a negotiation took place. The ambassadors or mediators were Duke Robert and the Ætheling Eadgar. According to the most picturesque version, Malcolm, who is conceived as still keeping on the northern side of the firth, sends a message to