“Do not hurry, sirrah,” Pembroke called; “hold in your hound till the others join you.”  But Archie paid no attention to the shout, but kept up the steep path at the top of his speed.  Shouts and threats followed him, but he paused not till he reached the top of the ascent; then he unfastened Hector’s collar, and the dog, relieved from the chain which had so long restrained him, bounded away with a deep bay in pursuit of his master, whose scent was now strong before him.  As Archie looked back, the four knights and their followers, in single file, were, as yet, scarce halfway up the ascent.  Lying round were numbers of loose boulders, and Archie at once began to roll these down the hillside.  They went but slowly at first, but as they reached the steeper portion they gathered speed, and taking great bounds crashed down the hillside.  As these formidable missiles burst down from above the knights paused.

“On!” Pembroke shouted from below; “the Scot is a traitor, and he and the hound will escape if you seize him not.”  Again the party hurried up the hill.  Three of them were struck down by the rocks, and the speed of all was impeded by the pauses made to avoid the great boulders which bounded down toward them.  When they were within a few yards of the top Archie turned and bounded off at full speed.  He had no fear of being himself overtaken.  Lightly clad and unarmed, the knights and men-at-arms, who were all in full armour, and who were already breathed with the exertions they had made, would have no chance of overtaking him; indeed he could safely have fled at once when he loosed Hector, but he had stopped to delay the ascent of his pursuers solely to give the hound as long a start as possible.  He himself could have kept up with the hound; the men-at-arms could assuredly not do so, but they might for a long time keep him in sight, and his baying would afterwards indicate the line the king was taking, and Bruce might yet be cut off by the mounted men.  The delay which his bombardment had caused had given a long start to the hound, for it was more than five minutes from the time when it had been loosed before the pursuers gained the crest of the hill.  Archie, in his flight, took a different line to that which the dog had followed.  Hector was already out of sight, and although his deep baying might for a time afford an index to his direction this would soon cease to act as a guide, as the animal would rapidly increase his distance from his pursuers, and would, when he had overtaken the king, cease to emit his warning note.  The pursuers, after a moment’s pause for consultation on the crest of the hill, followed the line taken by the hound.