Page:History of Sir William Wallace (1).pdf/7

 (7) Lord Percy, the English lord-lieutenant of the county, rode past, with his armed suit, on their journey from Ayr to Glasgow. According to their usual custom, five of them turned aside, and insultingly demanded the fish he had caught. He consented to give them a part, bat they in- sisted for the whole, and seized them from his boy. Irritated with their rapacity and insc- luce, 'Wallace gave one of them a blow on the head with his fishing-staff, that brought him to the ground, and instantly wrested his sword from his hand. The rest' attacked, but they, to their experience, soon found that his indi- vidual strength, dexterity and intrepidity, were superior to their united force. Three of them were slain. and with difficult v the other two escaped. Informed that it was one Scotsman who had given them such a defeat, Lord Percy was so highly offended at their acting such cowardly part, that he refused to return in search of Wallace. Meanwhile he rode home a triumph to his uncle, upon one of the horses of the English. Convinced that he could no longer remain in safety with his uncle, and having been provided with money and other necessaries he set off upon his English horse, determined to seize every opportunity stroy the English, and either deliver his i or fall in the attempt. Firm to his re he spared neither great nor small of the English who fell in his way. For these her .ic actions he was outlawed by the English and compelled, during the inclemency of winter (1207) to live in