The gates were firmly closed, and the dismayed Cressingham
was panting behind its walls, as Wallace commanded the parley to be
sounded. Afraid of trusting himself within arrow-shot of an enemy who
he believed conquered by witchcraft, the terrified governor sent his
lieutenant up on the walls to answer the summons.
The herald of the Scots demanded the immediate surrender of the place.
Cressingham was at that instant informed by a messenger, who had
arrived too late the preceding night to be allowed to disturb his
slumbers, that De Warenne was approaching with an immense army.
Inflated with new confidence, he mounted the wall himself, and in
haughty language, returned for answer, "That he would fall under the
towers of the citadel before he would surrender to a Scottish rebel.
And as an example of the fate which such a delinquent merits,"
continued he, "I will change the milder sentence passed on Lord Mar,
and immediately hang him, and all his family, on these ramparts, in
sight of your insurgent army."
"Then," cried the herald, "thus says Sir William Wallace-if even one
hair on the heads of the Earl of Mar and his family falls with violence
to the ground, every Southron soul who has this day surrendered to the
Scottish arms shall lose his head by the ax.
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