the argument, "but not in mine. My injury yet burns upon my cheek; and
as nothing but the life blood of Cressingham can quench it, I will
listen no more to your doctrine till I am avenged. That done, I shall
not forget your lesson."

"Generous Kirkpatrick!" exclaimed Wallace, "nothing that is really
cruel can dwell with such manly candor. Say what you will, I can trust
your heart after this moment."

They had crossed the River Ennerie, and were issuing from between its
narrow ridge of hills, when Wallace, pointing to a stupendous rock
which rose in solitary magnificence in the midst of a vast plain,
exclaimed, "There is Dumbarton Castle!-that citadel holds the fetters
of Scotland; and if we break them there, every minor link will easily
give way."

The men uttered a shout of anticipated triumph at this sight; and
proceeding, soon came in view of the fortifications which helmeted the
rock. As they approached, they discovered that it had two summits,
being in a manner cleft in twain; the one side rising in a pyramidal
form; while the other, of a more table-shape, sustained the ponderous
buildings of the fortress.

It was dusk when the little army arrived in the rear of a close thicket
to a considerable length over the plain. On this spot Wallace rested
his men; and while they placed themselves under its covert till the
appointed time of attack, he perceived through an opening in the wood,
the gleaming of soldiers' arms on the ramparts, and fires beginning to
light on a lonely watchtower, which crowned the pinnacle of the highest
rock.