The minds of the men preoccupied by the thought of their distinguished prisoner, and the thickening gloom, aided his resolution.
Happening to have a quantity of thick flax in his pocket, the boy, with admirable foresight, fastened it to different shrubs and stones as he passed, and thus secured his safe return; a precaution very necessary, as from the windings and declivities, and in parts well-nigh impregnable hollows, into which he followed the men, his return in time would have been utterly frustrated.
The gathering mist had occasioned a halt, and a consultation as to whether they could reach the encampment to which they belonged, or whether it would not be better to halt till dawn.

They had decided in favor of the latter, fearing, did they continue marching, they might lose their track, and perhaps fall in with the foe.

He had waited, he said, till he saw them making such evident preparations for a halt of some hours, that he felt certain they would not remove till daylight.

It was a difficult and precarious path, he said, yet he was quite sure he could lead fifteen or twenty men easily to the spot, and, taken by surprise, nothing would prevent the recovery of the countess: less than two hours would take them there.
This tale was told in less time than we have taken to transcribe it, and not twenty minutes after Malcolm's first appearance, the king and Sir Alan, with fifteen tried followers, departed on their expedition.

There had been some attempt to dissuade the king from venturing his own person where further treachery might yet lurk, but the attempt was vain.
"She has perilled her life for me," was his sole answer, "and were there any real peril, mine would be hazarded for her; but there is none--'tis but a child's work we are about to do, not even glory enough to call for envy." The fog had sufficiently cleared to permit of their distinguishing the route marked out by Malcolm, but not enough to betray their advance, even had there been scouts set to watch the pass.