filled the Tower of Buchan with his
own creatures, scattered the Comyns all over the land, with express
commands to attack, hunt, or resist all of the name of Bruce to the last
ebb of their existence. He left amongst them officers and knights as
traitorous, and spirits well-nigh as evil as his own, and they obeyed
him to the letter, for amongst the most inveterate, the most
treacherous, and most dishonorable persecutors of the Bruce stood first
and foremost the Comyns of Buchan. Ah! the land was changed from the
time when the noble countess held sway there, and so they felt to their
cost.

"It was a grand yet fearful sight, those low hanging woods and glens all
in one flame; the spring had been particularly dry and windy, and the
branches caught almost with a spark, and crackled and sparkled, and
blazed, and roared, till for miles round we could see and hear the work
of devastation. Aye, the coward earl little knew what was passing in his
territories, while he congratulated himself on his safe flight into
England. It was a just vengeance, a deserved though terrible
retaliation, and the king felt it as such, my masters. He had borne with
the villains as long as he could, and would have borne with them still,
had he not truly felt nothing would quench their enmity, and in
consequence secure Scotland's peace and safety, but their utter
extermination, and all the time he regretted it, I know, for there was a
terrible look of sternness and determination about him while the work
lasted; he never relaxed into a smile, he never uttered a jovial word,
and we followed him, our own wild spirits awed into unwonted silence.
There was not a vestige of natural or human life in the district--all
was one mass of black, discolored ashes, utter ruin and appalling
devastation. Not a tower of Buchan remains."

"All--sayest thou all?" said Sir Amiot, suddenly, yet slowly, and with
difficulty. "Left not the Bruce one to bear his standard, and thus mark
his power?"

"Has not your worship remarked that such is never the Bruce's policy?
Three years ago, he had not force enough to fortify the castles he took
from the English, and leaving them standing did but offer safe harbors
for the foe, so it was ever his custom to dismantle, as utterly to
prevent their reestablishment; and if he did this with the castles of
his own friends, who all, as the Douglas saith, 'love better to hear the
lark sing than the mouse squeak,' it was not likely he would