Bruce thought of going back to
awaken his men; but then he thought it might be some shepherd's dog.
'My men,' said he, 'are sorely tired; I will not disturb them by the
barking of a cur till I know something more of the matter.'
35. "So he stood and listened; and, by and by, as the cry of the hound
came nearer, he began to hear the trampling of horses, and the voices
of men, and the ringing and clattering of armor; and then he was sure
the enemy were coming to the river-side. Then the king thought, 'If I
go back to give my men the alarm, these Galloway men will get through
the ford without opposition, and that would be a pity, since it is a
place so advantageous to make a defense against them.' So he looked
again at the steep path and the deep river, and he thought it gave him
so much advantage that he could defend the passage with his own hand
until his men came to assist him. His armor was so good and strong
that he had no fears of their arrows, and therefore the combat was not
so very unequal as it must have otherwise seemed. He therefore sent
his followers to waken his men, and remained alone on the bank of the
river.
36. "In the meanwhile the noise and the trampling of the horses
increased, and, the moon being bright, Bruce saw the glancing arms of
about two hundred men, who came down to the opposite bank of the
river.
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