 Supplies had been sent to the English garrison of 30 men at arms and 100 infantry at Cumnock Castle, at the meeting place of the Afton Water and River Nith and Aymer de Vallence’s forces were to be joined by John of Lorn and his ‘aucht hunder men’.Lorn, a nephew of John Comyn and a sworn enemy of Bruce, had brought with him a sleuth-hound which reputedly had belonged to the king, to help track down his former master.To no avail, for again Bruce and his ‘four hundred men’ evaded capture, this time ‘up in the strenthis’, i.e.