



Produced by Martin Robb and Ted Robb.  HTML version by Al Haines.








In Freedom's Cause

G. A. Henty




CONTENTS

       I  Glen Cairn
      II  Leaving Home
     III  Sir William Wallace
      IV  The Capture of Lanark
       V  A Treacherous Plot
      VI  The Barns of Ayr
     VII  The Cave in the Pentlands
    VIII  The Council at Stirling
      IX  The Battle of Stirling Bridge
       X  The Battle of Falkirk
      XI  Robert The Bruce
     XII  The Battle of Methven
    XIII  The Castle of Dunstaffnage
     XIV  Colonsay
      XV  A Mission to Ireland
     XVI  An Irish Rising
    XVII  The King's Blood Hound
   XVIII  The Hound Restored
     XIX  The Convent of St. Kenneth
      XX  The Heiress of the Kerrs
     XXI  The Siege of Aberfilly
    XXII  A Prisoner
   XXIII  The Escape from Berwick
    XXIV  The Progress of the War
     XXV  The Capture of a Stronghold
    XXVI  Edinburgh
   XXVII  Bannockburn




PREFACE.


MY DEAR LADS,

There are few figures in history who have individually exercised
so great an influence upon events as William Wallace and Robert
Bruce. It was to the extraordinary personal courage, indomitable
perseverance, and immense energy of these two men that Scotland
owed her freedom from English domination. So surprising were the
traditions of these feats performed by these heroes that it was at
one time the fashion to treat them as belonging as purely to legend
as the feats of St. George or King Arthur.  Careful investigation,
however, has shown that so far from this being the case, almost
every deed reported to have been performed by them is verified by
contemporary historians. Sir William Wallace had the especial bad
fortune of having come down to us principally by the writings of
his bitter enemies, and even modern historians, who should have
taken a fairer view of his life, repeated the cry of the old English
writers that he was a bloodthirsty robber. Mr. W. Burns, however,
in his masterly and exhaustive work, The Scottish War of Independence,
has torn these calumnies to shreds, and has displayed Wallace as
he was, a high minded and noble patriot. While consulting other
writers, especially those who wrote at the time of or but shortly
after the events they record, I have for the most part followed
Burns in all the historical portions of the narrative. Throughout
the story, therefore, wherein it at all relates to Wallace, Bruce,
and the other historical characters, the circumstances and events
can be relied upon as strictly accurate, save only in the earlier
events of the career of Wallace, of which the details that have
come down to us are somewhat conflicting, although the main features
are now settled past question.

Yours sincerely,
  G.A. HENTY.




Chapter I

Glen Cairn


The village of Glen Cairn was situated in a valley in the broken
country lying to the west of the Pentland Hills, some fifteen miles
north of the town of Lanark, and the country around it was wild
and picturesque.  The villagers for the most part knew little of
the world beyond their own valley, although a few had occasionally
paid visits to Glasgow, which lay as far to the west as Lanark was
distant to the south. On a spur jutting out from the side of the
hill stood Glen Cairn Castle, whose master the villagers had for
generations regarded as their lord.

The glory of the little fortalice had now departed. Sir William
Forbes had been killed on his own hearthstone, and the castle had
been sacked in a raid by the Kerrs, whose hold lay to the southwest,
and who had long been at feud with the Forbeses. The royal power
was feeble, and the Kerrs had many friends, and were accordingly
granted the lands they had seized; only it was specified that Dame
Forbes, the widow of Sir William, should be allowed to reside in
the fortalice free from all let or hindrance, so long as she meddled
not, nor sought to stir up enmity among the late vassals of her
lord against their new masters.

The castle, although a small one,