Desperate at the sight, and with a burning
furnace in their rear, it was not the might of man that could prevent
their escape, and with the determination of despair, rushing forward,
the foremost rank of Scots fell. But ere the exulting Southrons could
press out into the open space, Wallace himself had closed upon them,
and Arnuf, the merciless Arnuf, whose voice had pronounced the sentence
of death upon Sir Ronald Crawford, died beneath his hand.
Wallace was not aware that he had killed the Governor of Ayr till the
terror-struck exclamations of his enemies informed him that the
ruthless instigator of the massacre was slain. This event was welcome
news to the Scots; and hoping that the next death would be that of De
Valence, they pressed on with redoubled energy.
Aroused by so extraordinary a noise, and alarmed by the flames of the
palace, the soldiers quartered near hastened half armed to the spot.
But their presence rather added to the confusion than gave assistance
to the besieged. They were without leaders, and not daring to put
themselves to action, for fear of being afterward punished (in the case
of a mischance) for having presumed to move without their officers,
they stood dismayed and irresolute, while those very officers, who had
been all at the banquet, were falling in heaps under the swords of the
exterminating Scots.
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