Grimsby now came forward; and unloosing an iron box from under his arm, put it into the hands of Lord Murray.
"This fatal treasure," said he, "was committed to my care by the earl, your uncle, to deliver to the prior of St.Fillan's." "What does it contain ?" demanded Murray; "I never saw it before." "I know not its contents," returned the soldier; "it belongs to Sir William Wallace." "Indeed!" ejaculated Helen.

"If it be treasure, why was it not rather sent to him!" "But how, honest soldier," asked Murray, "did you escape with it, and Halbert, too! I am at a loss to conjecture, but by miracle." He replied, that as soon as the English, and their Scottish partisans under Lord Soulis, had surprised the castle, he saw that his only chance of safety was to throw off the bonnet and plaid, and mix amongst the numerous soldiers who had taken possession of the gates.

His armor, and his language, showed he was their countryman; and they easily believed that he had joined the plunderers as a volunteer from the army, which at a greater distance beleaguered the castle.

The story of his desertion from the Lanark garrison had not yet reached those of Glasgow and Dumbarton; and one or two men, who had known him in former expeditions, readily reported that he had been drafted into the present one.

Their recognition warranted his truth; and he had no difficulty, after the carnage in the state apartment, to make his way to the bed-chamber where Lord Aymer de Valence had ordered Lord Mar to be carried.