The wind swept in gusts through the trees,
and seemed by its dismal yellings, to utter warnings of the dreadful
retributions he was about to inflict. He had already declared his plan
of destruction; and Graham, as a first measure, went to the spot he had
fixed on with Macdougal, his servant, as a place of rendezvous. He
returned with the man; who informed Wallace, that in honor of the
sequestrated lands of the murdered chiefs having been that day
partitioned by De Valance amongst certain Southron lords, a grand feast
was going on in the governor's palace. Under the very roof where they
had shed the blood of the trusting Scots, they were now keeping this
carousal!
"Now, then, is our time to strike!" cried Wallace; and ordering
detachments of his men to take possession of the avenues to the town,
he set forth with others, to reach the front of the castle gates, by a
less frequented path than the main street. The darkness being so great
that no object could be distinctly seen, they had not gone far, before
Macdougal, who had undertaken to be their guide, discovered by the
projection of a hill on the right, that he had lost the road.
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