**This historical fact relating to the bridge is yet exultantly
repeated on the spot, and the number of the Southrons who fell beneath
the arms of so small a band of Scots, is not less the theme of
triumph.-(1809.)
The cries of the maimed and the drowning were joined by the terrific
slogan of two bands of Scots. The one with Wallace toward the head of
the river, while the other, under the command of Sir John Graham,
rushed from its ambuscade on the opposite bank upon the rear of the
dismayed troops; and both divisions sweeping all before them, drove
those who fought on land into the river, and those who had just escaped
the flood, to meet its waves again, a bleeding host.
In the midst of this conflict, which rather seemed a carnage than a
battle, Kirkpatrick, having heard the proud shouts of Cressingham on
the bridge, now sought him amidst its shattered timbers. With the
ferocity of a tiger hunting its prey, he ran from man to man, and as
the struggling wretches emerged from the water, he plucked them from
the surge; but even while his glaring eye-balls and uplifted ax
threatened destruction, he only looked on them; and with imprecations
of disapointment, rushed forward on his chase.
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