28. "'Since you love him so well, dame,' said the king, 'know that you
see him before you. I am Robert the Bruce.' 'You!' said the good
woman in great surprise; 'and wherefore are you thus alone? Where are
all your men?' 'I have none with me at this moment,' answered the
Bruce, 'and therefore I must travel alone.' 'But that shall not be,'
said the brave old dame, 'for I have two stout sons, gallant and
trusty men, who shall be your servants for life and death!' So she
brought her sons, and, though she well knew the danger to which she
exposed them, she made them swear fealty to the king; and they
afterward became high officers in his service." Now the loyal old
woman was getting everything ready for the king's supper, when
suddenly there was a trampling of horse heard around the house. They
thought it must be some of the English or John of Lorn's men, and the
good wife called upon her sons to fight to the last for King Robert.
But, shortly after, the voices of James of Douglas and of Edward
Brute, the king's brother, were heard, who had come with a hundred and
fifty horsemen to this farm-house, according to the instructions of
the king when they parted.

"Robert the Bruce was right joyful to meet his brother and faithful
friend Lord James, and had no sooner found himself at the head of such
a considerable body of followers, than, forgetting hunger and
weariness he began to inquire where the enemy who had pursued him so
long had taken up their quarters; 'for,' said he, 'as they must
suppose we are totally scattered and fled, it is likely they will
think themselves quite secure, and disperse themselves into distant
quarters, and keep careless watch.'

"'That is very true,' answered James of Douglas; 'for I passed a
village where there are two hundred of them quartered who had placed