Scotland/Scots > Life of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Ellerslie, and Guardian of Scotland

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE.
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enemy appeared, no foreboding sound met their
ear, to disturb the tranquillity of their revels.
Far, in the woodlands, the sound of a bugle
might be heard, but that passed as proceeding
from some lonely forester going his rounds.
The drawbridge is let down to admit fuel or
provision for the garrison—the loads are thrown
on the ground, the porter knocked on the head,
and the burden-bearers bristle into well armed
and resolute intruders; the wine cup is dashed
from the hand of the astonished governor, who
is only made sensible of his situation, by the
vengeance that ensues; the Castle demolished,
and the spoil divided among his followers, who
are now allowed to return home. Wallace, at¬
tended perhaps, by a few select friends, pursues
his way, to call forth the avenging swords of
his countrymen, in some distant part of the
kingdom.
Such were the fruits of that admirable system
of warfare, which Wallace was now engaged in
explaining and enforcing, at the midnight meet¬
ings of his nonjuring countrymen; and which, it
has been thought proper to allude to, at this
early stage of our history, that the reader may
be able to comprehend the possibility of those
exploits, which afterwards obtained for the
heroic champion of the Scots, the applause and
admiration of mankind.