“Agreed,” Duncan Armstrong said, and Conal Bruce nodded.
A meeting place for them to gather with their clansmen was decided upon.
“The full moon is in eight days,” Adair told them.
“Can you be ready by then? Better we ride with a bright night sky.”
Again the men agreed.
“We’ll have our clansmen at the meeting place on that day,” Hercules Hepburn said. “I can bring fifty men. How many does Ramsay have? Do we know?”
“I’ll send my youngest brother, Murdoc, to reconnoi-ter for us tomorrow,” the laird replied.
“You must consider that Ramsay and his men may also be planning to ride out on the full moon,” Adair said. “It is better to trap them in the village than to have to face them in the open. We will lose more men that way.”
“Madam, your strategy is worthy of a general,” Andrew Home told her.
“If you attack in late morning,” she continued, “you will succeed, and no one would expect any attack then.
But I will wager that Ramsay of Balmain has become very lax, and believes himself safe, as no one has ever followed him to his viper’s nest.”
Conal Bruce listened, very surprised that the rough border lords would listen to his beautiful wife in regard to strategy, but they were heeding her. And she was right.
“Is it possible some other Scots are involved with Ramsay?” Adair wondered aloud. “Men whom no one would suspect?”
“We’ve considered it,” Andrew Home said, “and my father believes it so.”
“Then we need to learn who these men are,” Adair said. “Ramsay and everyone connected with his treason should be expunged.”
“One of those men may be your cousin Alpin,” Hercules Hepburn said, embarrassed that he had to say it.
“The earl dismissed him from his service some months back. He could not keep his hands off the women in the keep. He did no serious damage, but there were so many complaints that even Patrick finally had to pay them heed.”
Conal Bruce’s face grew dark with his anger. “If he is with Ramsay then I will kill him myself,” the laird said.
“I will not permit him to bring shame upon our clan.”
His companions nodded in agreement.
Murdoc Bruce left before the dawn the following day on his mission of reconnaissance. He was very pleased to have been given such a responsibility. It was a two-day trip to Stanton from Cleit, Adair later learned. Riding the second night by the light of the waxing moon, Murdoc reached a spot overlooking the little valley of Stanton early on the third day. The entrance into the valley was very narrow, which should have made it easy to defend, but Murdoc saw no men at arms posted. Nor were there any men watching upon the hillsides. Ramsay of Balmain obviously felt quite secure. Murdoc had hidden his horse in a copse of trees. He watched as Ramsay’s men returned from a raid shortly after he had arrived. The sun was not even yet up, although the sky was blue with expectant dawn. Murdoc lay in the grass upon the valley, observing. When the raiding party reached the village they dismounted, stabled their horses, and, in groups of several men, entered the cottages, where smoke was streaming from the chimneys.
After a time Murdoc saw women exiting and reentering the cottages. They were probably captives captured in the raids and brought to Stanton to cook and otherwiseservice Ramsay and his men. No men were visible, however, until quite late in the day, when they began appearing again from the cottages, where they had obviously been sleeping.
Adair had been correct, Murdoc thought with a small smile. His sister-in-law was a clever woman. Had she not been, he considered, Cleit wouldn’t be the comfortable home it now was; nor would his brother have such a fine wife. And even from a distance Murdoc spotted their cousin Alpin. The bastard had turned traitor! And then, to his surprise, William Douglas rode into the village on a large wagon. He was greeted by Ramsay of Balmain himself. Together the men entered one of the cottages.
Murdoc wished he could go closer, but his brothers had warned him that if he were caught all would be lost. He was just to observe.
After a time Douglas exited the cottage, and Ramsay’s men began loading their recent booty onto the wagon. It was then covered to conceal its contents, and Douglas went back into the cottage. Murdoc did not need to be closer to understand that William Douglas was obviously selling the goods that Ramsay’s men stole in return for a share of the profits. This permitted the traitorous lord to finance his treason without involving the English king. And it gave Douglas the income he needed without any risk to himself, or the need to share those monies with men in his employ. It was cleverly done, Murdoc had to admit. He watched that night as the raiders rode out again. They would go a-roving most nights until the snows and cold prevented them unless they were stopped. Murdoc saw them return in the predawn just as William Douglas was climbing up on his wagon seat to depart.
Having seen enough, the young Bruce retrieved his horse and rode for Cleit to tell his brothers and the others what he had learned.
Conal was furious to find that Alpin Bruce was indeed one of Ramsay’s men. It would bring shame uponhis clan should the information become public knowledge, and the Bruces of Cleit had always been considered honorable men. But they were all surprised to find that William Douglas was involved. Without his help in disposing of the ill-gotten gains, it was agreed, Ramsay of Balmain would have had a more difficult time of it.
“I always thought Willie Douglas deserved hanging,”
Hercules Hepburn said. “I suppose we shall have to do it. He was never a particularly trustworthy man, but he’s involved himself in treason. We’ll hunt him down when the business is completed, and render some border justice.”
The others nodded in agreement.
