have done should well outweigh all the influence which they
might bring to bear against you.

"And now, Archie, I can, for a time, release you. Ere long Edward's
army will be pouring across the Border, and then I shall need every
good Scotchman's sword. Till then you had best retire to your new
estates, and spend the time in preparing your vassals to follow
you in the field, and in putting one or other of your castles in
the best state of defence you may. Methinks that the Kerr's hold
may more easily be made to withstand a lengthened siege than Glen
Cairn, seeing that the latter is commanded by the hill beside it.
Kerr's castle, too, is much larger and more strongly fortified. I
need no thanks," he continued, as Archie was about to express his
warm gratitude; "it is the Warden of Scotland who rewards your
services to the country; but Sir William Wallace will not forget
how you have twice stood beside him against overwhelming odds, and
how yesterday, in Stirling, it was your watchful care and thoughtful
precaution which alone saved his life."

Archie's friends all congratulated him warmly, and the next morning,
with his own band, he started for Glen Cairn. Here the news that
he was once more their lawful chief caused the greatest delight.
It was evening when he reached the village, and soon great bonfires
blazed in the street, and as the news spread burned up from many
an outlying farm. Before night all the vassals of the estate came
in, and Glen Cairn and the village was a scene of great enthusiasm.

Much as Archie regretted that he could not establish himself in
the hold of his father, he felt that Wallace's suggestion was the
right one. Glen Cairn was a mere shell, and could in no case be
made capable of a prolonged resistance by a powerful force. Whereas,
the castle of the Kerrs was very strong. It was a disappointment
to his retainers when they heard that he could not at once return
among them; but they saw the force of his reasons, and he promised
that if Scotland was freed and peace restored, he would again make
Glen Cairn habitable, and pass some of his time there.

"In the meantime," he said, "I shall be but eight miles from you,
and the estate will be all one. But now I hope that for the next
three months every man among you will aid me--some by personal
labour, some by sending horses and carts--in the work of
strengthening to the utmost my new castle of Aberfilly, which I
wish to make so strong that it