Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/134

100 of a grisly incident at this time, of the sort which accounts, in some measure, for Edward's reputation among the Scots for extraordinary cruelty. Eleven hostages had been taken from Galloway at the beginning of Wallace's rising, as security for the loyalty of that province, which was suspected of favouring the cause of Balliol. Now hostages were entitled, under the custom of war, to lenient and even hospitable treatment; nevertheless, these unhappy men, who seem to have been of respectable standing, were imprisoned in Lochmaben Castle by the Earl of Surrey on October 23, 1297. On September 8, 1300, one of them was liberated, Robert MacMaster, the sole survivor of the horrors of those three years.