It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce Argyll. Probably, however, he undertook the expedition immediately after the reduction of the north. If he conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth, and Sir William Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have been free to go west till the very end of July 1308. Fordun states that, within a week after August 15, Bruce defeated the men of Argyll and subdued the whole land; that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll 'for some time' in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban); and that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but was allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to England. Barbour tells how Lorn--John, the son of Alexander--gathered some 2000 men and opposed Bruce in a narrow pass between a steep mountain and the sheer bank of a loch--perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe. Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on the ridge commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched Douglas, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of archers, to fetch a circuit above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the pass. Lorn's men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a bridge crossing the river at one end of the loch, and, having crossed, attempted to break down the bridge. Bruce was upon them before they could effect their purpose, and completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun Lorn's country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was wont to be,' escaped by water. Bruce then received the homage of all the men of Argyll, and returned to Perth.