Page:Life and surprising adventures of that renowned hero, Sir Wm. Wallace.pdf/7

 several of whom being accused of felony, were immediately condemned and executed. Among these were Sir Ronald Craw- ford, Sheriff of Ayr, and uncle of Wallace, Sir Bryce Blair, Sir Neil Montgomery, and many of the barrons of Kyle, Cunningham, Carrick, and Clydesdale. The few who escaped, having informed Wallace of this dreadful catastrophe, he, with his usual intrepidity, 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 castles fell into an ambush laid for them, and were all put to the sword. The fort being immediately seized, Wal- lace marched next morning to Glasgow, when engaging a body of troops under the command of Lord Henry Percy, 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, in short, to do 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