In the midst of these feuds Sir Simon Fraser abruptly appeared in the
council-hall. His countenance proclaimed his tidings. Lennox and
Loch-awe (who had duly attended, in hopes of bringing over some of the
more pliable chiefs to embrace the cause of justice) listened with
something like exultation to his suddenly disastrous information. When
the English governor at Berwick learned the removal of Wallace from his
command and the consequent consternation of the Scottish troops,
instead of surrendering at sunset as was expected, he sallied out at
the head of the whole garrison, and attacking the Scots by surprise,
gave them a total defeat. Every outpost around the town was retaken by
the Southrons, the army of Fraser was cut to pieces or put to flight,
and himself now arriving at Stirling, smarting with many a wound but
more under his dishonor, to show to the Regent of Scotland the evil of
having superseded the only man whom the enemy feared. The council
stood in silence, staring on each other; and, to add to their dismay,
Fraser had hardly completed his narration, before a messenger from
Tiviotdale arrived to inform the regent that King Edward was himself
within a few miles of the Cheviots; and, from the recovered position of
Berwick, must have even now poured his thousands over those hills upon
the plains beneath.
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