Ayrshire > Volume 1

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 63
Upon the head so fierce he struck at one, v-^-
The shearing sword cut through his collar bone ;
Another, on the arm, that stood near by
He struck, till hand and sword on the field did lie.
Three slew he there, two fled with all their might £
Unto their horse in a confounded fright. '\
Lost all their fish, no longer durs't remain,
And three fat English bucks upon the plain.
The survivors received scant sympathy from Percy,
who thought that, if one Scot could thus deal with five
Englishmen, the misfortune in their particular case was
not worth avenging. When Sir Reginald heard the
news, however, he was in a sad plight. He foresaw
whither it might lead ; but Wallace at once relieved
him cf his apprehension by announcing that he would
forthwith leave and push his fortunes wherever he could.
From Riccarton he went to the house of Auchincruive,
a mansion romantically situated on a rocky eminence
overlooking the river Ayr, and about three miles distant
from the county town. The old house has long since
gone ; another has taken its place ; but the scene upon
which the patriot looked may still be realised — a scene
of a rocky river bed, of the Ayr winding its way by little
passes in the broken rocks, or the flood driving its brown
waters impetuously over them, the high banks on either
side of the stream, the adjacent country rich in foliage,
deeply wooded, and all forming a picture pleasant to the
eye and much reminiscent. The owner, Aleyn Wallace,
was also, like the Sheriff of Ayr, Sir Reginald Craufurd,
one of Edward's " homagers " — that is, he had signed
the roll of homage— and he was afraid to shelter Wallace
within the walls of his dwelling. But the Laglane wood
was hard by, its recesses and its shelters, and there was
a cave in the cliffs overhanging the river, and in this
wood, and sometimes in this cave, the patriot remained
secluded, the while he gathered about him a small band
of devoted followers — men like himself, who scorned the
Southron's ascendancy and were for a free Scotland.
To the wood and the river Burns repaired in his day
and explored every foot that he thought might have