est should not fall
upon one side only. Every one of you here are outlawed, and if you
are taken by the English will be executed or thrown in prison for
life, and your lands and all belonging to you forfeited. It is time
that those who fight upon the other side should learn that they
too run some risk. Besides leading his vassals in the field against
us, Sir John Kerr twice in arms has attacked me, and done his best
to slay me or deliver me over to the English. He fell yesterday by
my hand at Stirling, and I hereby declare forfeit the land which
he held in the county of Lanark, part of which he wrongfully took
from Sir William Forbes, and his own fief adjoining. Other broad
lands he owns in Ayrshire, but these I will not now touch; but the
lands in Lanark, both his own fief and that of the Forbeses, I,
as Warden of Scotland, hereby declare forfeit and confiscated, and
bestow them upon my good friend, Sir Archie Forbes. Sir John Grahame,
do you proceed tomorrow with five hundred men and take possession
of the hold of the Kerrs. Sir Allan Kerr is still at Stirling, and
will not be there to defend it. Like enough the vassals will make
no resistance, but will gladly accept the change of masters. The
Kerrs have the reputation of being hard lords, and their vassals
cannot like being forced to fight against the cause of their country.
The hired men-at-arms may resist, but you will know how to make
short work of these. I ask you to go rather than Sir Archibald
Forbes, because I would not that it were said that he took the
Kerr's hold on his private quarrel. When you have captured it he
shall take a hundred picked men as a garrison. The place is strong.

"Your new possessions, Archie, will, as you know, be held on
doubtful tenure. If we conquer, and Scotland is freed, I doubt in
no way that the king, whoever he may be, will confirm my grant.
If the English win, your land is lost, be it an acre or a county.
And now let me be the first to congratulate you on having won by
your sword and your patriotism the lands of your father, and on
having repaid upon your family's enemies the measure which they
meted to you. But you will still have to beware of the Kerrs. They
are a powerful family, being connected by marriage with the Comyns
of Badenoch, and other noble houses. Their lands in Ayr are as
extensive as those in Lanark, even with your father's lands added
to their own. However, if Scotland win the day the good work that
you