When all the slain were lowered to their last beds, a young priest, who
came in the company of Scrymgeour, gave the funeral benediction both to
the departed in the waves, and those whom the shore had received. The
rites over, Murray again drew near to Wallace and delivered his aunt's
message. "I shall obey her commands," returned he; "but first we must
visit our wounded prisoners in the tower."
Above three hundred of them had been discovered amongst the dead.
Murray gladly obeyed the impulse of his leader's arm; and, followed by
the chieftains returned from the late solemn duty, they entered the
tower. Ireland welcomed Wallace with the intelligence that he hoped he
had succored friends instead of foes, for that most of the prisoners
were poor Welsh peasants, whom Edward had torn from their mountains to
serve in his legions; and a few Irish, who in the heat of blood, and
eagerness for adventure, had enlisted in his ranks. "I have shown to
them," continued Ireland, "what fools they are to injure themselves in
us. I told the Welsh they were clinching their own chains by assisting
to extend the dominion of their conqueror; and I have convinced the
Irish they were forging fetters for themselves by lending their help to
enslave their brother nation, the free-born Scots.
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