102 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



in his power, Bruce discomfited the Argyll men with great slaughter, and 

 secured the Pass.* 



This defile seems as strong to the eye of a soldier, as it is wild and romantic 

 to that of an ordinary traveller ; but the skill of Bruce had anticipated this 

 difficult}'. While his main body, engaged in a skirmish with the men of Lorn, 

 diverted their attention to their position in front, James of Douglas, with Sir 

 Alexander Eraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Grey, ascended the 

 mountain with a select body of archery, and thus obtained possession of the 

 heights which command the defile. A volley of arrows descending upon them, 

 directly warned the Argyllshire men of their perilous situation ; and their 

 resistance, which had hitherto been bold and manly, was now changed into a 

 precipitate flight. The deep and rapid river Awe was then, as we learn from 

 Barbour, crossed by a bridge, which the mountaineers attempted to demolish ; 

 but Bruce and his followers being too close on their rear, they had no means 

 of defence, and were dispersed with great slaughter. John of Lorn, suspicious 

 of the event, had early betaken himself to the galleys which he had on the 

 lake. After this decisive engagement, Bruce laid waste Argyllshire, besieged 

 Dunstaffnage castle, took possession of it, and for that of Macdougall of Lorn, 

 substituted a garrison of his own. 



Among the local anecdotes, the following is interesting, and characteristic 

 of the past. In the early part of the seventeenth century, a young man of 

 the name of Lamont, travelling from Cowal to Fort William on a shooting 

 excursion, fell in with the son of a chieftain, of the Clan Gregor, who inhabit 

 the adjoining district of Glenstrae. Having adjourned together to a public- 

 house, a dispute arose between the two clansmen, which terminated in a scuffle, 

 in which Macgregor was mortally stabbed. Lamont instantly escaping, was 

 hotly pursued ; but, descrying a house, he fled thither for shelter, was received 



* Lorn, it will be remembered, had espoused the third daughter of the red C'omyn, slain by Bruce in the 

 Dominican church of Dumfries ; and in addition to other strong motives for resistance, had this also the 

 ardent desire of revenge. In the former rencontre, the Highlanders under Lorn, being on foot, and armed 

 with long pole-axes, attacked the little band of Bruce, where the knights had no room to manage their 

 horses, and did them much harm. Thus beset, the latter was forced back ; but Bruce, placing himself in 

 the rear of his followers, protected their retreat with the utmost gallantry. Three Highlandmen, a father 

 and his two sons, assaulted him at once ; but, completely armed, and full master of his weapon, he cut 

 them down one after another, and escaped ; leaving, however, according to' the tradition above-mentioned, 

 a royal badge in the dying grasp of his victims. " Look at him," said Lorn, as he witnessed the unequal 

 combat with involuntary admiration, " see he guards his men from us as Gaul, the son of Morni, pro- 

 tected his host from the fury of Fingal !"* See Lord of the Isles. Notes. Statist. Bruce. 



* A comparison taken from the ancient poems of Ossian. 



