I see not one of my late commanders--all must be slain; and for me to hold out longer would be to sacrifice my men, not to redeem that which has been so completely wrested from us.

But I serve severe exactors, and I hope that your testimony, my conqueror, will assure my king that I fought as became his standard." Wallace gave him a gracious answer; and committing him to the generous care of Murray, he turned to give orders to Ker respecting the surrendered and the slain.

During these momentous events, Graham had deemed it prudent that, exhausted by anxiety and privations, the noble captives should not come forth to join in the battle; and not until the sound of victory echoed through the arches of their dungeons, would he suffer the eager Dundaff to see and thank his deliverer.

Meanwhile, the young Edwin appeared before the eyes of his father, like the angel who opened the prison gates to Peter.

After embracing him with all a son's fondness, in which for the moment he lost the repressing idea, that he might have offended by his truancy; after recounting, in a few hasty sentences, the events which had brought him to be a companion of Sir William Wallace; and to avenge the injuries of Scotland in Ayr, he knocked off the chains of his amazed father.