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

50
LIFE OF
owners. Percy, already aware of the impover¬
ished situation of the country, had husbanded
the resources of the garrison, in order to make
them hold out till the arrival of the expected
supplies. Under these circumstances, his dis¬
appointment may be easily conceived, when the
disordered remains of Fenwick’s party arrived
at Ayr without a leader, to give an account of
their disaster. Every man being at liber¬
ty to tell his own story; and, as might be
expected, all of them agreed in exaggerating
the number of the Scots, and the gigantic sta¬
ture and strength of their chief. Percy, even
from the most favourable view of the affair,
could easily see the embarrassing situation in
which he was placed. The uncertainty of pro¬
curing supplies by land was but too evident;
and to bring them by sea was equally precarious,
as the Scotish fleet was still in considerable force,
and had not acknowledged the sovereignty of
Edward, but, in the unsettled state of their
country, continued to capture all the English
vessels that came in their tract. Animated with
their success, the Scotish garrilla parties began
to appear in different parts of the country, and
visited the former cruelties of the English with
a severity that made it extremely dangerous for
them to stray beyond the boundaries of their