CHAPTER VI.

PEEL OF GARGUNNOCK TAKEN BY THE SCOTS.--THE BRADFUTES OF LAMINGTON OPPRESSED BY THE ENGLISH.--THE ORPHAN OF LAMINGTON.--SIR RAYNALD CRAWFORD SUMMONED TO GLASGOW.--WALLACE CAPTURES THE BAGGAGE OF PERCY.--RETIRES TO LENNOX.--VARIOUS RENCOUNTERS WITH THE ENGLISH.

The Scottish insurgents, being now abundantly supplied with all the munitions of war, and animated by their success to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, became impatient to prosecute hostilities against their oppressors; and their leader, who was not of a character to allow the swords of brave men to rust in their scabbards, soon found them an opportunity to gratify their wishes.

At Gargunnock, in the neighbourhood of Stirling, the English had erected a small fortification or _peel_, which they had plentifully furnished with provisions. Some of the Scots in that quarter, who secretly adhered to Wallace, observed the carelessness which at times prevailed in setting the watch, and that the drawbridge was occasionally left down all night, for the purpose of admitting, in the morning, the labourers who were still employed about it,--conveyed the intelligence to their chief, who resolved to make himself master of the place the following night. Accordingly, two spies were despatched to ascertain the probability of success. Towards evening a column of smoke was seen rising from a neighbouring hill: it was the signal agreed upon, if the party were to advance. Wallace instantly set his men in motion, and about midnight arrived in front of the place which was the object of attack. As they expected, the drawbridge was down, but they found the door strongly secured within. Impatient at the delay this occasioned, our hero raised a heavy piece of timber, and, rushing with it against the door, the fastenings gave way with a violence that loosened the stones, not yet properly cemented, and nearly a yard of the wall came tumbling to the ground. The porter, awakened by the noise, attempted to strike him with a ponderous mace. Wallace avoided the blow; and, before he could recover his unwieldy weapon, laid him lifeless at his feet. Thornton, the captain of the garrison, now appeared, with the men under his command; but the Scots had got too firm footing within the fort, to be easily expelled. After a sanguinary conflict, in which the captain fell by the hand of Wallace, the garrison were put to the sword, with the exception of the women and children, who received from the victors as much courtesy as the rudeness of the age entitled them to expect. The wife and three children of Thornton, after being supplied with what necessaries they required, were allowed to depart along with the other females, and furnished with a pass from Wallace, by which they could proceed in safety to any of the towns in the possession of the English. The Scots found in the peel of Gargunnock[75] abundance of all kinds of necessaries, with a large sum of money, which Wallace divided equally among his followers; and, after distributing what part of the stores they did not require among his oppressed countrymen in the neighbourhood, he demolished the fortification, and proceeded with his companions on their crusade against the enemies of their independence.

Though Wallace was thus actively engaged in harassing the enemies of the country, the calamities and acts of oppression with which particular families or individuals were visited, neither escaped his attention, nor failed to call forth that interference which their circumstances demanded; and, amid the many cases of private suffering which came under his notice, none appeared to affect him more deeply than the desolation which had overtaken a respectable and ancient family in the neighbourhood of Lanark. Hew de Bradfute, a zealous advocate for the liberties of Scotland, possessed the lands of Lamington, and left them at his death to his son, who had imbibed, with all the ardour of youth, that love of liberty so fondly cherished by his father. For some display of these patriotic feelings, he had incurred the displeasure of Hasilrig, or Hasliope, the English governor of Lanark, who found a pretext for attacking him in his castle, and put him, along with a number of his friends, to the sword. The house and lands of Lamington now became the right of a surviving sister. The youth and beauty of this young gentlewoman attracted the notice of the murderer of her friends; and, under the pretence of a regard for her safety, obliged her to take up her residence in Lanark. For this _protection_, considerable sums were, from time to time, levied upon her property. The cupidity of Hasilrig, not satisfied with these exactions, intended her as a match either for himself or his son; and the helpless girl had no means of averting this hateful connection, but by pleading for delay, till her grief for her slaughtered kindred had abated. Every indulgence of this kind was accompanied by a fresh exaction on her property, till the victim of his avarice became an object of commiseration even to those who were themselves suffering under the hand of the oppressor. Henry draws a most fascinating picture of this lovely orphan; and we have no reason to doubt the assemblage of virtues and graces in which he has arrayed her person and character, particularly as he is borne out in what he says by the Prior of St Serf’s, and other respectable authorities.

While attending her religious duties at a church near Lanark, Wallace first saw this interesting female. The beauty of her person, the grace and propriety of her demeanour, added to her forlorn situation, excited the tenderest sensations in the bosom of our hero. A circumstance, however, which occurred about this juncture, served to divide his attention with the fair object of his solicitude.

For the purpose of levying fresh assessments on certain districts of the country, an extraordinary council of the English authorities was appointed to meet with the Bishop of Durham, at Glasgow, which see had been now occupied by this ambitious ecclesiastic. Sir Raynald Crawford, the uncle of our hero, though long since deprived of his commission, was summoned to attend as sheriff of Ayr in right of his birth. Whether this was an indirect attempt to conciliate Wallace, or if it was merely done on the supposition that the Scots would submit to their imposts with more patience if some of their countrymen appeared as the assessors, cannot now be distinctly ascertained. The sheriff, however, prepared to obey the mandate; while his nephew, always suspicious of the intentions of the English, resolved, along with two of his followers, to watch over the safety of his relative, and observe the motions of the enemy. In those times the accommodations for travellers were far from complete. With the exception of convents, such houses of entertainment as might be found on the roads, afforded them little more than shelter from the inclemency of the weather; and travellers who came to spend the night, were expected to bring their food and other necessaries along with them, particularly those who journeyed with retinues. Under such circumstances, Sir Raynald’s party were provided with a sumpter-horse to carry their provisions.

They had not proceeded far, before they came up with the servants of Percy, conducting his baggage. One of their horses having met with an accident, they stopped the sheriff’s party, and insisted on having their sumpter-horse, in order to supply the place of the one that had become disabled. It was in vain to remonstrate with those who had the power, and were determined to do an act of injustice. Wallace, from a distance, saw the load rudely thrown from the back of the horse, and the animal carried off. The sheriff, in consequence, had to remain at Mearns for the night.

The convoy that protected the baggage of Percy consisted of five of his personal retainers, and had reached the vicinity of the little township of Cathcart, when they heard the noise of our hero’s steed behind them, followed by his companions; but as there appeared to be only three to five, the English determined to stand on their defence. The contest, however, was soon decided; and the English, from the loopholes of the neighbouring castle of Cathcart, saw their countrymen slaughtered, and the baggage under their protection rifled or carried off, without venturing to quit their stronghold. Money and other valuables, to a considerable amount, fell into the hands of the victors, who lost no time in making their way towards Glasgow, in order to cross the Clyde at that place, and thus effect their retreat into the Lennox before Percy could be apprised of his loss.

Having effected their object, they sheltered themselves for the night in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, and on the morrow proceeded towards the wilds of the Lomond. Here Wallace was joyfully received by Malcolm Earl of Lennox, who, with a number of his trusty tenantry, maintained, amid the fastnesses of that romantic district, a protracted, and sometimes a successful struggle, for their independence. This nobleman offered to place his followers under the command of Sir William, provided he would remain among them for the defence of the Lennox. His mind, however, was too deeply impressed with a desire for the general good of his country, to allow him to think of confining his exertions within the limits proposed. On explaining his plan of warfare to this worthy chieftain, he found no difficulty in gaining him over to his views, and inducing him to co-operate in extending the spirit of insurrection, as well as to create a more powerful diversion in favour of those who were already embarked in the cause. With this understanding, Wallace took his departure, accompanied by a number of his companions, who had resorted to him on discovering the place of his retreat.

The mortification of Percy, on receiving the accounts of the capture of his baggage, was considerably increased by the subsequent proceedings of Wallace and his partisans. An express had just reached Glasgow, announcing the fate of the garrison of Gargunnock, when another made his appearance, giving an account of the slaughter of a party of English in the neighbourhood of Doune. Sir Raynald Crawford, who had been put under an arrest on suspicion of being concerned in the affair at Cathcart, was now ordered before the council, and, though he had been able to establish an _alibi_ with regard to the offence charged against him, yet, after being strictly interrogated as to his knowledge of his nephew’s places of concealment, he was forced to take an oath against affording him shelter, or holding any correspondence with him, directly or indirectly, so long as he remained under the ban of outlawry; he was also sworn to afford the English all the information in his power, in order that means might be taken for bringing him to punishment.

While Percy and his coadjutor were thus employed at Glasgow, Wallace and his followers were concerting measures, in the depths of Methven wood, for an attack on a body of English troops which were to leave St Johnstone on the day following; in order to proceed to Kincleven Castle, headed by an old veteran knight named Butler, who had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious to the Scots by the cruelties which he had inflicted upon them. Intelligence of this intended movement was communicated to Wallace, who, having disguised himself in the dress of a borderer, got introduced into St Johnstone under the name of William Malcolmson. The mayor, before whom he had to appear, was so well pleased with his humorous conversation, and the account which he gave of himself, that he allowed him to go in search of the employment he pretended to have come in quest of. By this means he had all the facilities he could desire for becoming acquainted with the strength and condition of the garrison. Having ascertained the intended removal of the troops alluded to, he hastened back to his retreat in the woods, where, sounding his horn, he rallied his associates around him, and found them all willing to engage in the enterprise.

Sir James Butler, who was esteemed one of the bravest old warriors among the English, had on this occasion about a hundred choice soldiers under his command. With this force he was quietly proceeding, amid the thick haze of the morning, to reinforce the garrison of Kincleven, when, from behind a rock that projected over the road, he was suddenly assailed by the Scots. The confusion occasioned by their unexpected attack, disconcerted the English commander, and before he could recover his troops from their consternation, a fresh charge threw them into complete disorder. The strength and valour of the undaunted champion of the Scots rendered the advantage which their enemies possessed, in point of numbers, of little avail. It must, however, be allowed, that the disparity in this instance was not so great as in some previous rencounters: Wallace, according to some accounts, having near sixty hardy warriors under his command, most part of whom had distinguished themselves on former occasions. Kerlé or Kerle, to whom he had presented the _mace_ or staff of steel, taken from the porter at the Peel of Gargunnock, displayed on this occasion the most determined bravery; his formidable weapon being wielded with a dexterity which admirably seconded the efforts of our hero. Sixteen of the English had fallen beneath the swords of the Scots; but when Wallace came in contact with Sir James Butler, the conflict was of short duration. The old veteran was no match for the young patriot; and on seeing their chief fall beneath the arm of his adversary, the rout of the English became general. The disordered rabble fled in terror towards Kincleven, from the battlements of which their discomfiture had been observed; and those within hastened to let down the drawbridge to receive and shelter their flying countrymen. Onwards came the confused mass of friends and foes,--the shouts of the victors mingling with the cries of the vanquished, and thundering over the drawbridge, the pursued and their pursuers entered the castle together. The few soldiers that were in the place could render them but little assistance in making head against their enemies; and the whole, with the exception of two priests, and some women and children, were indiscriminately put to the sword.

Having cleared the place of the dead bodies of the English, and taken precautions against a surprise during the time they might remain, they proceeded to search the castle, in which was found a rich booty in money, besides a plentiful stock of provisions and other stores. A part of this valuable pillage they conveyed by night to Shortwood Forest, where they prepared pits[76] and other places for its concealment, there to remain as a resource against future emergencies.

The nonjurors under Wallace were not as yet sufficiently numerous to enable him to put garrisons in those fortresses which fell into his hands. It was therefore wisely determined to demolish every place of strength that was likely to afford their enemies a footing in the country. Hardy themselves, and inured to the inclemency of the weather, they cared little for those comforts which were indispensable to their more luxurious neighbours. In summer, the forest spread its leafy canopy over their slumbers; and, in winter, their robust and sinewy frames felt little inconvenience, though exposed, in their dens and caverns, to all the rigour of the merciless elements. Such men heard with indifference, and executed with alacrity, the command which their leader gave for the destruction of Kincleven Castle. After securing that part of the iron work which might be useful in their sylvan retreats, the remaining furniture and lumber were formed into piles; and, at the dead hour of night, the conflagration rose in volumes to the sky. From the lateness of the hour, and the secluded situation of the castle, its fate remained unknown until the morning, when the smoke, which continued to ascend from the ruins, led the country people to the knowledge of the desolating vengeance which had overtaken their oppressors. The females, who had been allowed to depart before the work of destruction commenced, carried to St Johnstone the melancholy account of their disaster.

The grief and indignation which were felt among the English at St Johnstone, on hearing the doleful recital of the slaughter of their countrymen, induced Sir Gerald Heron,[77] the governor, to allow Sir John Butler, son of the forementioned Sir James, to follow the Scots with all the force of the garrison, to revenge the death of his father. In this undertaking he was joined by Sir William de Lorayne, an officer of reputation, and a great favourite with the soldiery.

Although the force under these leaders amounted to nearly a thousand men, from the admirable management of the Scottish chief, they were kept in a great measure ignorant of their own vast superiority. In the forest of Shortwood, a part of which they endeavoured to invest, their provident enemy had erected a number of rustic fortifications, in the form of squares, communicating with each other, the walls of which were made, by affixing two rows of planks to the trees, and filling up the space between with thorns. Each of these squares had a small opening towards the enemy, and another at the opposite side, for the purpose of retreat; while the advance towards them was intersected by defences, formed in a similar manner, in order to break, and otherwise prevent the approach of too great a body of the enemy. By this means, when the Scots found themselves obliged to retire for shelter to these intrenchments, they could only be pursued in broken and straggling detachments. These defences were not fully completed when the English came in sight; and Wallace, therefore, in order to gain time, appeared at a distant and almost detached part of the wood with a few of his followers, leaving the rest under the command of Stephen of Ireland, to complete the works. On the approach of the English, an arrow from the powerful and unerring hand of our hero, brought down one of their advanced-guard. This had the effect of attracting their attention towards that part of the wood where he had stationed his little party, who also sent their arrows among the English, though not with such good effect as their chief, who continued to bring down his man as they advanced. The enemy, having observed the opening at which Wallace made his appearance to discharge his deadly shafts, sent forward one of the most expert of their Lancashire bowmen to lie in wait for him, while the rest directed their missiles at random toward those parts where they conceived his men to be stationed. It was not long before the eagerness of Wallace betrayed him to the practised hand of his watchful adversary, whose well-directed shaft, after grazing the collar of steel which he usually wore, stuck fast in the fleshy part of his neck. His keen eye, however, soon discovered his lurking foe; and, hurrying towards him, intercepted his retreat, and slew him in front of his companions, who were so struck with the boldness of the deed, that not one of them attempted to oppose his return to his associates. Although the Scots were generally thought inferior to the English in the use of the bow,[78] on the present occasion, having the covering of the wood to shelter them from the superior number and direct view of their adversaries, they managed, by shifting their ground as their enemies advanced, to keep up a kind of bush-fight till after noon; during which time fifteen of the English had been slain by the hand of Wallace, besides a considerable number by his companions. Their arrows being all expended, and having arrived at a part of the forest, where a high cliff prevented their further retreat, Sir William de Lorayne advanced upon them with nearly three hundred men, while Sir Gerald Heron and young Butler remained without the forest, in order to prevent the escape of any of the fugitives. Wallace had just time to make a short animating address to his companions; and placing them so as to have the advantage of the cliff as a protection to their rear, they stood prepared for the onslaught. The English were astonished to find themselves opposed to so small a number of Scots as now appeared waiting their attack, and conceived they would have little else to do than to surround the party and take them prisoners. The determined valour, however, with which they received and repulsed their repeated charges, convinced them that the toils of the day were not yet over. Wallace, who was always a tower of strength to his friends in the hour of danger, displayed, on this occasion, more than his usual heroism. While the strength which nerved his resistless arm excited the greatest enthusiasm among his followers, and spread horror and dismay through the ranks of their enemies, Sir William de Lorayne still urged his men on to the conflict, and they as quickly receded, when they found themselves opposed to that champion of whose strength and exploits they had heard so many appalling accounts. The battle, however, still continued to rage with unabated fury on both sides;--the English, eager to revenge the slaughter of their countrymen, and the Scots, frantic with the wrongs they had already sustained, determined to conquer or die on the spot. At this time their dauntless chief burst like a thunderbolt amidst the thickest of the English; and, having scattered them before him, ascended a little hillock behind which they had retreated, and applying his bugle-horn to his mouth, made the woodlands resound with a bold and animating war-note. The English leader, conceiving that this was done in derision, rallied his forces, and again advanced to the attack. Wallace and his few hardy veterans were soon environed by their enraged assailants, and the battle commenced anew with all the rancour of their former animosities. Though the Scots fought with the most inflexible obstinacy, yet some of them, from the severity of their wounds, appeared unable to continue much longer the unequal contest; but at this critical juncture, Stephen of Ireland, and his party, in obedience to the signal sounded by their chief, suddenly emerged from the brush-wood, and fell upon the rear of the enemy with determined ferocity. Surprised and dismayed at so unexpected an attack, the English fled in the greatest confusion, followed by the victors, who continued the pursuit, making dreadful carnage among them, till they reached the boundary of the forest. Here the terrified fugitives were met by Sir John Butler, at the head of five hundred men. This accession of force obliged the Scots, in their turn, to retreat to their defences--the first of which was carried by the enemy, but at the expense of a considerable number of the bravest of their warriors. The English had now the mortification to find that their opponents had only retired to a second enclosure, from which Wallace, supported by Cleland, Boyd, and a few of the most resolute of his companions, made a sortie, in which, after killing a considerable number, Wallace came in contact with the knight of Lorayne, and at one blow clove him to the chin. His terrified followers shrunk aghast from the ponderous weapon of their gigantic adversary; but urged on by Butler, to revenge the death of their leader, they again crowded round the little band of heroes. Again they were dispersed; and Butler, who had been foremost in the attack, came within reach of the sword of the Scottish champion, which descended with a force that would have cut him to the ground, had not the intervening branch of a tree saved him from the blow, and his men, rushing forward to his assistance, carried him off before it could be repeated. According to some accounts, Butler is said to have been first wounded, and that Sir William de Lorayne was slain in attempting to rescue him from his perilous situation. Whatever may have been the case, the English were so discouraged by the loss of one leader, and the disabling of the other, that they hastily fell back upon the troops left at the entrance of the forest under Sir Gerald Heron. Here a council of war was held, wherein it was proposed to make a simultaneous attack on the defences of the Scots. During the discussion, however, which ensued on the manner of carrying the proposal into effect, Wallace and his companions escaped by the opposite side of the forest, and retreated to Cargyle wood, a situation which afforded them more natural advantages in securing themselves from their numerous assailants.

The English, on the retreat of the Scots, now commenced a strict search after the booty taken from Kincleven Castle. Nothing, however, could be discovered, save the favourite steed of old Butler, which had been left behind in one of the enclosures. On this his wounded son was placed, and the whole cavalcade returned fatigued and dispirited to St Johnstone, leaving one hundred and twenty of their companions dead behind them. Of the Scots, seven were killed, and the rest more or less injured.

From an elevated situation, Wallace had observed the English as they retired to St Johnstone; and, though still smarting from the wounds he had received, returned at midnight to the scene of action with a number of his companions, and dug up the most valuable part of the concealed plunder, which they conveyed to their new retreat, along with whatever arms or other booty the light of the moon enabled them to strip from the dead bodies that lay scattered around them.

A few days after the above rencounter, Wallace is said to have returned to St Johnstone in the disguise of a priest; and a story is told of his having been betrayed by a female, with whom he had become acquainted during his former visit to that place. Repenting, however, of the information she had given his enemies, she disclosed the danger that awaited him just in time to effect his escape. His foes, enraged at the disappointment, again set off in pursuit of him, taking along with them a slough-hound[79] to assist them in discovering his retreats. A sanguinary battle was again fought, in which Wallace lost nine of his remaining followers, and the English leader about one hundred.

In this retreat of the Scots, their chief is also said to have slain one of his followers, named Fawdon, an Irishman, whom he suspected of treachery. Of this man, Blind Harry gives the following unprepossessing description:

“To Wallace thar come ane that hecht Fawdoun; Melancoly he was of complexioun, Hewy of statur, dour in his contenance, Soroufull, sadde, ay dreidfull but plesance.”

The circumstances of his death, are thus narrated by the same author, who justifies the deed on the plea of necessity:

“To the next woode twa myil thai had to gang, Off vpwith erde; thai yeid with all thair mycht; Gud hope thai had for it was ner the nycht, Fawdoun tyryt, and said, he mycht nocht gang. Wallace was wa to leyff him in that thrang. He bade him ga, and said the strenth was ner; But he tharfor wald nocht fastir him ster. Wallace in ire on the crag cam him ta With his gud suerd, and strak the hed him fra. Dreidless to ground derfly he duschit dede, Fra him he lap, and left him in that stede. Sum demys it to ill, and othyr sum to gud; And I say her, into thir termyss rude, Bettir it was he did, as thinkis me. Fyrst, to the hunde it mycht gret stoppyn be. Als Fawdoun was haldyn at [gret] suspicioun; For he was haldyn of brokill complexioun. Rycht stark he was, and had bot litill gayne, Thus Wallace wist: had he beyne left allayne. And he war fals, to enemyss he wald ga; Gyff he war trew, the Sothroun wald him sla. Mycht he do ocht bot tyne him as it was?”

On the first view of the case, there appears a degree of barbarity in the conduct of Wallace, which is quite at variance with that affection and tenderness which he had uniformly displayed towards his adherents; and we cannot help condemning the sternness of that policy which could thus deprive a follower of his life, because worn out with toil, and disabled by wounds, he could no longer keep up with his companions. But, on reflection, we find the lives of Wallace, and of the few that remained of the party, placed in jeopardy by one, who, from his reluctance to make a little farther exertion, when assured that a place of safety was at hand, gave good grounds to suspect that he had become unsound at the core. We may also remark, that being acquainted with the spot where the plunder taken from the English was concealed, Wallace had an additional reason to suspect Fawdon’s motives for wishing to be left behind; and it may be urged in support of the justice of this suspicion, that his countryman Stephen, who introduced him to the little band of patriots, remained the firm and confidential friend of Wallace through all his difficulties. This he certainly would not have done, had Wallace, on _slight_ grounds, inflicted death on one who was not only his friend and countryman, but in some degree under his protection. So far, indeed, was Stephen from feeling dissatisfaction at the conduct of Wallace, that he and Kerle lingered behind, and, favoured by the shades of night, which had now set in, mingled with the enemy; and while their general, Sir Gerald Heron, was in the act of stooping to examine the body of Fawdon, whose blood had arrested the progress of the slough-hound, Kerle watched the opportunity, and gave him a mortal stab in the throat with his dagger. The cry of “Treason!” arose among the English; but, in the confusion, the two confederates slipped down unobserved among the underwood that surrounded them, and made the best of their way towards Loch Earne, the well-wooded banks of which afforded them every chance of security. In the interval, Wallace, and thirteen of his followers, all that were now left him, made good their retreat to the deserted Castle of Gask situated in the middle of a wood. This place possessed few advantages that could recommend it as a desirable retreat; but, to men in their desperate situation, the prospect of shelter from the swords of their pursuers was a considerable relief, and though it appeared in a sad state of dilapidation, a number of the apartments were entire; and the courtyard was surrounded by a wall of great thickness, which, broken as it might be in some parts, would nevertheless enable them to make a tolerable defence. With this expectation, therefore, they determined to secure themselves for the night, and trust to their good swords for a path through their enemies in the morning.