often to secrete themselves in the fastnesses of the mountains or in
the lonely huts of the peasants. Blood-hounds were employed to track
the fugitives, and it is related that Lorn at one time followed Bruce
with a blood-hound that had once been his own. The king, seeing that
he was followed by a large body of soldiers, divided his men into
three separate parties, hoping to throw the hound off the track. The
blood-hound, when he came to the point of separation, would not even
notice the two other divisions, but followed that of the king. Finding
his last expedient had failed, Bruce ordered his whole party to
disperse, keeping with him only his foster-brother as an attendant.
When Lorn discovered the party had broken up, he sent five of his men
who were speedy on foot to follow the king and put him to death. They
ran so fast that they soon gained sight of Bruce and his companion.
The two turned upon the five men of Lorn, who came up one by one,
exhausted with running, and put them all to death.

22. By this time Bruce was much fatigued, but he dared not stop to
rest, for he could hear every moment the deep bay of the hound. At
length they came to a wood through which ran a small stream of water.
Into the stream they waded and followed it for a long distance; the
blood-hound followed the track to the water, but he could trace the
scent no farther, and Lorn gave up the chase. But Bruce's adventures
were not at an end. After resting themselves in the woods, the two set
out to find some human habitation, or to fall in with some party of
their friends. In the midst of the forest they met three men who
looked like ruffians. "They were well armed, and one of them bore a
sheep on his back, which it seemed he had just stolen. They saluted
the king civilly, and he, replying to their salutation, asked them
where they were going. The men answered that they were seeking for
Robert Bruce, for they intended to join him. The king answered that,