The noise roused Wallace,
whose wakeful senses had rather slumbered than slept, and opening his
eyes, he he sprung on his feet.
A moment told him enemies were around. Seeing him rise, they rushed on
him with imprecations. His eyes blazed like two terrible meteors; and,
with a sudden motion of his arm, he seemed to hold the men at a
distance, while his god-like figure stood, a tower in collected might.
Awe-struck, they paused, but it was only for an instant. The sight of
Edwin, now starting from his sleep, his aghast countenance, while he
felt for his weapons, his cry when he recollected they were gone,
inspired the assassins with fresh courage. Battle-axes, swords, and
rattling chains, now flashed before the eyes of Wallace. The pointed
steel in many places entered his body, while with part of a broken
bench, which chanced to lie near him, he defended himself and Edwin
from this merciless host. Edwin, seeing naught but the death of his
friend before his sight, regardless of himself, made a spring from his
side, and snatched a dagger from the belt of one of the murderers. The
ruffian instantly caught the intrepid boy by the throat, and in that
horrible clutch would certainly have deprived him of life had not the
lion grasp of Wallace seized the man in his arms, and with a pressure
that made his mouth and nostrils burst with blood, compelled him to
forego his hold.
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