Page:Life and surprising adventures of Sir William Wallace.pdf/7

7 several of whom being accused of felony, were immediately condemned and executed. Among these were Sir Ronald Crawford sheriff of Ayr, and grandfather of Wallace, Sir Bryce Blair, Sir Niel Montgomery, and many of the barons of Kyle, Cunningham, Carrick, and Clydesdale. The few that escaped having informed Wallace of this dreadful catastrophe, with his usual intrepidity, he immediately assembled fifty of his followers, secretly entered Ayr in the night, and set fire to the place where many of the English were asleep. The garrison issuing forth from the castle, fell into an ambush laid for them, and were all put to the sword. The fort being immediately seized, Wallace marched next day to Glasgow, when engaging a body of troops, under the command of Lord Piercy, he completely routed them, and quickly after took the castle of Stirling, recovered Argyle and Lorn, with the town of St Johnston and adjacent country, and continued daily doing some signal mischief to the English and their friends. Travelling through Angus and Mearns, he arrived at Aberdeen, from which the English had just made their escape by sea, and made himself master of all the towns of consequence in the north. In the mean time, Sir William