He was now sixteen, his frame was set and vigorous, and exercise and constant practice with arms had hardened his muscles.

He became restless with his life of inactivity; and his mother, seeing that her quiet and secluded existence was no longer suitable for him, resolved to send him to her sister's husband, Sir Robert Gordon, who dwelt near Lanark.

Upon the night before he started she had a long talk with him.
"I have long observed, my boy," she said, "the eagerness with which you constantly practise at arms; and Sandy tells me that he can no longer defend himself against you.

Sandy, indeed is not a young man, but he is still hale and stout, and has lost but little of his strength.

Therefore it seems that, though but a boy, you may be considered to have a man's strength, for your father regarded Sandy as one of the stoutest and most skilful of his men-at-arms.
I know what is in your thoughts; that you long to follow in your father's footsteps, and to win back the possessions of which you have been despoiled by the Kerrs.