In Freedom's Cause : A Story of Wallace and Bruce

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter VI

  The Barns of Ayr

  Archie was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his messenger, for thethree lads were met two miles out by another who had been placed onwatch, and had come on ahead at full speed with the news of theirapproach. The report brought in by Jock Farrell of the words thathe had overheard in the barn prepared for the meeting, had beenreported by Archie to Wallace. Sir John Grahame and the othergentlemen with him all agreed that they were strange, and his friendshad strongly urged their leader not to proceed to the meeting.Wallace, however, persisted in his resolution to do so, unlesshe received stronger proofs than those afforded by the few wordsdropped by the governor and his officer, which might really haveno evil meaning whatever. He could not throw doubt upon the fairintentions of King Edward's representative, for it might well besaid that it was the grossest insult to the English to judge themas guilty of the intention of a foul act of treachery upon suchslight foundation as this. "It would be a shame indeed," he said,"were I, the Warden of Scotland, to shrink from appearing ata council upon such excuse as this." The utmost that Archie couldobtain from him was that he would delay his departure in the morninguntil the latest moment, in order to see if any further news camefrom Ayr.

  The meeting was to be held at ten o'clock, and until a little beforenine he would not set out. He was in the act of mounting his horsewhen Cluny Campbell arrived.

  "What are your news, Cluny?" Archie exclaimed, as the lads, pantingand exhausted, ran up.

  "There is treachery intended. I overheard the governor say so."

  "Come along with me," Archie exclaimed; "you are just in time,and shall yourself tell the news. Draw your bridle, Sir William,"he exclaimed as he ran up to the spot where Sir William Wallace,Grahame, and several other gentlemen were in the act of mounting."Treachery is intended--my messenger has overheard it. I knownot his tale, but question him yourself."

  Important as was the occasion, the Scottish chiefs could not resista smile at the wild appearance of Archie's messenger.

  "Is it a boy or a girl?" Wallace asked Archie, "for it might beeither."

  "He is one of my band, sir. I sent him dressed in this disguise asit would be the least suspected. Now, Cluny, tell your own story."

  Cluny told his story briefly, but giving word for word the sentencesthat he had heard spoken in anger by the governor and his officer.

  "I fear there can be no doubt," Wallace said gravely when thelad had finished--"that foul play of some kind is intended, andthat it would be madness to trust ourselves in the hands of thistreacherous governor. Would that we had had the news twenty-fourhours earlier; but even now some may be saved. Sir John, will yougallop, with all your mounted men, at full speed towards Ayr. Sendmen on all the roads leading to the council, and warn any who maynot yet have arrived against entering."

  Sir John Grahame instantly gave orders to all those who had horses,to mount and follow him at the top of their speed; and he himself,with the other gentlemen whose horses were prepared, started atonce at full gallop.

  "Sir Archie, do you cause the 'assembly' to be sounded, and sendoff your runners in all directions to bid every man who can becollected to gather here this afternoon at three o clock. If foulplay has been done we can avenge, although we are too late to save,and, by Heavens, a full and bloody revenge will I take."

  It was not until two in the afternoon that Sir John Grahame returned.

  "The worst has happened; I can read it in your face," Wallaceexclaimed.

  "It is but too true," Sir John replied. "For a time we could obtainno information. One of my men rode forward until close to the Barns,and reported that all seemed quiet there. A guard of soldiers werestanding round the gates, and he saw one of those invited, who hadarrived a minute before him, dismount and enter quietly. FortunatelyI was in time to stop many gentlemen who were proceeding to thecouncil, but more had entered before I reached there. From timeto time I sent forward men on foot who talked with those who werestanding without to watch the arrivals. Presently a terrible rumourbegan to spread among them--whether the truth was known from somecoarse jest by one of the soldiers, or how it came out, I know not.But as time went on, and the hour was long past when any fresharrivals could be expected, there was no longer motive for secrecy,and the truth was openly told. Each man as he entered was stoppedjust inside the door. A noose was dropped over his neck, and hewas hauled up to a hook over the door. All who entered are dead."

  A cry of indignation and rage broke from Wallace and those standinground him, and the Scottish leader again repeated his oath to takea bloody vengeance for the deed.

  "And who are among the murdered?" he asked, after a pause.

  "Alas! Sir William," Grahame said, "your good uncle, Sir RonaldCrawford, the Sheriff of Ayr, is one; and also Sir Richard Wallaceof Riccartoun; Sir Bryce Blair, and Sir Neil Montgomery, Boyd,Barclay, Steuart, Kennedy, and many others."

  Wallace was overwhelmed with grief at the news that both his uncles,to whom he was greatly attached, had perished. Most of those aroundhad also lost relatives and friends, and none could contain theirgrief and indignation.

  "Was my uncle, Sir Robert Gordon, among the victims?" Archieinquired.

  "No," Sir John replied; "happily he was one of the last who camealong the road."

  "Thank God for that!" Archie said earnestly; "my uncle's slownesshas saved his life. He was ever late for business or pleasure, andmy aunt was always rating him for his unpunctuality. She will notdo so again, for assuredly it has saved his life."

  The men came in but slowly, for the bands had all dispersed totheir homes, and it was only those who lived within a few mileswho could arrive in time. Little over fifty men had come in by thehour named. With these Wallace started at once towards Ayr. Archie'sband fell in with their arms, for they too burned to revenge themassacre, and Wallace did not refuse Archie's request that theymight join.

  "Let them come," he said; "we shall want every sword and piketonight."

  This was the first time that Wallace had seen the band under arms,for at the battle of Biggar, Archie had kept them from his sight,fearing that he might order them from the field.

  "They look well, Sir Archie, and in good military order. HithertoI have regarded them but as messengers, and as such they have donegood service indeed; but I see now that you have them in good order,and that they can do other service on a pinch."

  One member of Wallace's band was left behind, with orders to waituntil seven o'clock, and then to bring on as fast as they couldmarch all who might arrive before that hour. The band marched towithin a mile of the barns. They then halted at a stack of straw,and sat down while one of Archie's band went forward to see what wasbeing done. He reported that a great feast, at which the governorand all the officers of the garrison, with other English dwellingin town, were present, was just beginning in the great barn wherethe massacre had taken place.

  Soon after nine o'clock the man who had been left behind, with tenothers, who had come in after Wallace had marched, came up. Eachman, by Wallace's directions, drew a great truss of straw from thestack, and then the party, now eighty in all, marched toward thebarn. Wallace's instructions were that so soon as the work hadfairly begun, Grahame, with Archie and half the band, was to hurryoff to seize the gate of Ayr, feigning to be a portion of the guardat the barn.

  When they approached the spot they saw that the wooden building wasbrightly lit up with lights within, and the English guard, somefifty in number, were standing carelessly without, or, seatedround fires, were carousing on wine which had been sent out by therevellers within.

  The Scotch stole up quietly. Wallace's party, composed of half thestrength, handed their bundles of straw to the men of Grahame'scompany; then with a sudden shout they fell upon the Englishsoldiers, while Grahame's men, running straight to the door of thebarn, threw down their trusses of straw against it, and Sir John,snatching down a torch which burned beside the entrance, appliedfire to the mass, and then, without a moment's delay, starte
d at arun towards the town. Taken wholly by surprise the English soldierswere slain by Wallace and his men almost before they had timeto seize their arms. Then the Scots gathered round the barn. Theflames were already leaping up high, and a terrible din of shoutsand cries issued from within. The doors had been opened now, butthose within were unable to force their way across the blazing massof straw. Many appeared at the windows and screamed for mercy, andsome leapt out, preferring to fall by the Scottish swords ratherthan to await death by fire within.

  The flames rose higher and higher, and soon the whole buildingwas enveloped, and ere many minutes all those who had carried out,if not planned, the massacre of Ayr had perished. In the meantimeGrahame and his party had reached the gate of Ayr. Bidding othersfollow him at a distance of about a hundred yards, he himself, withArchie and ten of his followers, ran up at full speed.

  "Quick!" he shouted to the sentry on the gate. "Lower the bridgeand let us in. We have been attacked by Wallace and the Scots, andthey will speedily be here."

  The attention of the guard had already been attracted by the suddenburst of light by the barns. They had heard distant shouts, anddeemed that a conflagration had broken out in the banqueting hall.Not doubting for an instant the truth of Grahame's story, theylowered the drawbridge instantly, and Sir John and his companionsrushed across.

  The guard were only undeceived when Grahame and his followers fellupon them with their heavy broadswords. They had left their armsbehind when they had assembled on the walls to look at the distantflames, and were cut down to a man by the Scots. By this time therest of Grahame's band had arrived.

  So short and speedy had been the struggle that no alarm had beengiven in the town. The inmates of a few houses near opened theirwindows and looked out.

  "Come down as quickly as you may," Sir John said to them; "we havetaken Ayr."

  Several of the burghers were soon in the street.

  "Now," Sir John said, "do two of you who know the town well gowith me and point out the houses in which the English troops arequartered; let the others go from house to house, and bid everyman come quickly with his sword to strike a blow for freedom."

  Sir John now went round the town with the guides and posted two ormore men at the door of each house occupied by the English. Soonthe armed citizens flocked into the streets, and when sufficientwere assembled the blowing of a horn gave the signal. The doors ofthe houses were beaten in with axes, and, pouring in, the Scotchslew the soldiers before they had scarce awakened from sleep. Veryfew of the English in the town escaped to tell of the terribleretaliation which had been taken for the massacre of Ayr.

  One of the few who were saved was Captain Thomas Hawkins. Archie,mindful of the part which he had taken, and to which, indeed, thediscovery of the governor's intention was due, had hurried direct tothe prison, and when this was, with the rest of the town, taken,discovered the English officer in chains in a dungeon, and protectedhim from all molestation.

  The next morning he was brought before Wallace, who expressed tohim his admiration of the honourable course which he had adopted,gave him a rich present out of the booty which had been captured,and placed him on a ship bound for England.

  A week after the capture of Ayr one of Archie's band came into hishut. Tears were running down his cheeks, and his face was swollenwith weeping.

  "What is it, Jock?" Archie asked kindly.

  "Ah! Sir Archie! we have bad news from Glen Cairn. One has comehither who says that a few days since the Kerrs, with a followingof their own retainers, came down to the village. Having heardthat some of us had followed you to the wars, they took a list ofall that were missing, and Sir John called our fathers up beforehim. They all swore, truly enough, that they knew nought of ourintentions, and that we had left without saying a word to them.Sir John refused to believe them, and at first threatened to hangthem all. Then after a time he said they might draw lots, andthat two should die. My father and Allan Cunninghame drew the evilnumbers, and Kerr hung them up to the old tree on the green and putfire to the rooftrees of all the others. Ah! but there is weepingand wailing in Glen Cairn!"

  Archie was for a while speechless with indignation. He knew wellthat this wholesale vengeance had not been taken by the Kerrs becausethe sons of the cottagers of Glen Cairn had gone to join the armyof Wallace, but because he deemed them to be still attached to theirold lord; and it was to their fidelity to the Forbeses rather thanto Scotland that they owed the ruin which had befallen them.

  "My poor Jock!" he said, "I am grieved, indeed, at this misfortune.I cannot restore your father's life, but I can from the spoils ofAyr send a sufficient sum to Glen Cairn to rebuild the cottageswhich the Kerrs have destroyed. But this will not be enough--wewill have vengeance for the foul deed. Order the band to assembleat dusk this evening, and tell Orr and Macpherson to come here tome at once."

  Archie had a long consultation with his two young lieutenants,whose fathers' cottages had with the others been destroyed.

  "What we have to do," Archie said, "we must do alone. Sir Williamhas ample employment for his men, and I cannot ask him to weakenhis force to aid me in a private broil; nor, indeed, would any aidshort of his whole band be of use, seeing that the Kerrs can putthree hundred retainers in the field. It is not by open force thatwe must fight them, but by fire and harassment. Fighting is outof the question; but we can do him some damage without giving hima chance of striking a blow at us. As he has lighted Glen Cairn,so shall he see fires blazing round his own castle of Aberfilly.We will not retaliate by hanging his crofters and vassals; but ifhe or any of his men-at-arms falls into our hands, we will haveblood for blood."

  In the course of the afternoon Archie saw his chief and beggedleave to take his troop away for some time, telling Sir William ofthe cruel treatment which the Kerrs had dealt at Glen Cairn, andhis determination to retaliate for the deed.

  "Aberfilly is a strong castle, Archie," Wallace said; "at least sopeople say, for I have never seen it, so far does it lie removedfrom the main roads. But unless by stratagem, I doubt if my forceis strong enough to capture it; nor would I attack were I sure ofcapturing it without the loss of a man. The nobles and landownersstand aloof from me; but it may be that after I have wrested somemore strong places from the English, they may join me. But I wouldnot on any account war against one of them now. Half the greatfamilies are united by ties of blood or marriage. The Kerrs, weknow, are related to the Comyns and other powerful families; anddid I lift a hand against them, adieu to my chance of being joinedby the great nobles. No; openly hostile as many of them are, I mustlet them go their way, and confine my efforts to attacking theirfriends the English. Then they will have no excuse of personalfeud for taking side against the cause of Scotland. But this doesnot apply to you. Everyone knows that there has long been a bloodfeud between the Forbeses and the Kerrs, and any damage you maydo them will be counted as a private feud. I think it is a rashadventure that you are undertaking with but a handful of boys,although it is true that a boy can fire a roof or drive off abullock as well as a man. However, this I will promise you, thatif you should get into any scrape I will come with what speed Ican to your rescue, even if it embroil me with half the nobles ofScotland. You embroiled yourself with all the power of England inmy behalf, and you will not find me slack in the hour of need. Butif I join in the fray it is to rescue my friend Archie Forbes, andnot to war against John Kerr, the ally of the English, and my ownenemy."

  Archie warmly thanked his leader, but assured him that he had nothought of placing himself in any great peril.

  "I am not going to fight," he said, "for the Kerr and his retainerscould eat us up; we shall trust to our legs and our knowledge ofthe mountains."

  After dark Archie and his band started, and arrived within ten milesof Aberfilly on the following morning. They rested till noon, andthen again set out. When they approached one of the outlying farmsof the Kerrs, Archie halted his band, and, accompanied by four ofthe stoutest and tallest of their number, went on to the
crofter'shouse. The man came to the door.

  "What would you, young sir?" he said to Archie.

  "I would," Archie said, "that you bear a message from me to yourlord."

  "I know not what your message may be; but frankly, I would ratherthat you bore it yourself, especially if it be of a nature to angerSir John."

  "The message is this," Archie said quietly: "tell him that ArchibaldForbes bids him defiance, and that he will retort upon him and histhe cruelties which he has wrought in Glen Cairn, and that he willrest not night nor day until he has revenge for the innocent bloodshed and rooftrees ruthlessly burned."

  "Then," the crofter said bluntly, "if you be Archibald Forbes, youmay even take your message yourself. Sir John cares not much uponwhose head his wrath lights, and I care not to appear before himas a willing messenger on such an errand."

  "You may tell him," Archie said quietly, "that you are no willingmessenger; for that I told you that unless you did my errand yourhouse should, before morning, be a heap of smoking ashes. I havea following hard by, and will keep my word."

  The crofter hesitated.

  "Do my bidding; and I promise you that whatever may befall theother vassals of the Kerrs, you shall go free and unharmed."

  "Well, if needs must, it must," the crofter said; "and I willdo your bidding, young sir--partly because I care not to see myhouse in ruins, but more because I have heard of you as a valiantyouth who fought stoutly by the side of Wallace at Lanark andAyr--though, seeing that you are but a lad, I marvel much that youshould be able to hold your own in such wild company. Althoughas a vassal of the Kerrs I must needs follow their banner, I neednot tell you, since you have lived so long at Glen Cairn, that theKerrs are feared rather than loved, and that there is many a manamong us who would lief that our lord fought not by the side of theEnglish. However, we must needs dance as he plays; and now I willput on my bonnet and do your errand. Sir John can hardly blame megreatly for doing what I needs must."

  Great was the wrath of Sir John Kerr when his vassal reported tohim the message with which he had been charged, and in his savagefury he was with difficulty dissuaded from ordering him to be hungfor bringing such a message. His principal retainers ventured,however, to point out that the man had acted upon compulsion, andthat the present was not the time, when he might at any momenthave to call upon them to take the field, to anger his vassals, whowould assuredly resent the undeserved death of one of their number.

  "It is past all bearing," the knight said furiously, "that an insolentboy like this should first wound me in the streets of Lanark, andshould then cast his defiance in my teeth--a landless rascal,whose father I killed, and whose den of a castle I but a month agogave to the flames. He must be mad to dare to set his power againstmine. I was a fool that I did not stamp him out long ago; but woebetide him when we next meet! Had it not been that I was servedby a fool"--and here the angry knight turned to his henchman, RedRoy--"this would not have happened. Who could have thought thata man of your years could have suffered himself to be fooled by aboy, and to bring me tales that this insolent upstart was a poorstupid lout! By Heavens! to be thus badly served is enough to makeone mad!"

  "Well, Sir John," the man grumbled, "the best man will be sometimesin error. I have done good service for you and yours, and yet eversince we met this boy outside the gates of Lanark you have neverceased to twit me concerning him. Rest secure that no such errorshall occur again, and that the next time I meet him I will pay himalike for the wound he gave you and for the anger he has broughtupon my head. If you will give orders I will start at daybreakwith twenty men. I will take up his trail at the cottage of JohnFrazer, and will not give up the search until I have overtaken andslain him."

  "Do so," the knight replied, "and I will forgive your havingbeen so easily fooled. But this fellow may have some of Wallace'sfollowers with him, and contemptible as the rabble are, we had bestbe on our guard. Send round to all my vassals, and tell them tokeep good watch and ward, and keep a party of retainers under armsall night in readiness to sally out in case of alarm."

  The night, however, passed quietly. The next day the knight salliedout with a strong party of retainers, and searched the woods andlower slopes of the hill, but could find no signs of Archie andhis followers, and at nightfall returned to the castle in a rage,declaring that the defiance sent him was a mere piece of insolentbravado. Nevertheless, he kept the horses again saddled all nightready to issue out at the slightest alarm. Soon after midnightflames suddenly burst out at a dozen of the homesteads. At thewarder's shout of alarm Sir John Kerr and his men-at-arms instantlymounted. The gate was thrown open and the drawbridge lowered, andSir John rode out at the head of his following. He was within afew feet of the outer end of the drawbridge when the chains whichsupported this suddenly snapped. The drawbridge fell into the moat,plunging all those upon it into the water.

  Archie, with his band, after detaching some of their number to firethe homesteads, had crept up unperceived in the darkness to theend of the drawbridge, and had noiselessly cut the two projectingbeams upon which its end rested when it was lowered. He had intendedto carry out this plan on the previous night, but when darkness setin not a breath of wind was stirring, and the night was so stillthat he deemed that the operation of sawing through the beams couldnot be effected without attracting the attention of the warderson the wall, and had therefore retreated far up in the recesses ofthe hills. The next night, however, was windy, and well suited tohis purpose, and the work had been carried out without attractingthe attention of the warders. When Kerr and his men-at-arms rodeout, the whole weight of the drawbridge and of the horsemen crossingit was thrown entirely upon the chains, and these yielded to astrain far greater than they were calculated to support.

  The instant the men-at-arms were precipitated into the moat, Archieand his companions, who had been lying down near its edge, leapt totheir feet, and opened fire with their bows and arrows upon them.It was well for Sir John and his retainers that they had not stopped tobuckle on their defensive armour. Had they done so every man musthave been drowned in the deep waters. As it was, several were killedwith the arrows, and two or three by the hoofs of the strugglinghorses. Sir John himself, with six of the eighteen men who hadfallen into the moat, succeeded in climbing up the drawbridge andregaining the castle. A fire of arrows was at once opened from thewalls, but Archie and his followers were already out of bowshot;and knowing that the fires would call in a few minutes to the spota number of the Kerr's vassals more than sufficient to crush themwithout the assistance of those in the castle, they again made forthe hills, well satisfied with the first blow they had struck attheir enemies.

  The rage of Sir John Kerr was beyond all expression. He had himselfbeen twice struck by arrows, and the smart of his wounds added tohis fury. By the light of the burning barns the garrison were enabledto see how small was the party which had made this audacious attackupon them; and this increased their wrath. Men were instantly setat work to raise the drawbridge from the moat, to repair the chains,and to replace the timbers upon which it rested; and a summons wasdespatched to the whole of the vassals to be at the castle in armsby daybreak.

  Again the woods were searched without success, and the band thendivided into five parties, each forty strong. They proceeded toexplore the hills; but the Pentlands afforded numerous hiding placesto those, like Archie and most of his band, well acquainted withthe country; and after searching till nightfall the parties retired,worn out and disheartened, to the castle. That night three of theoutlying farms were in flames, and the cattle were slaughtered intheir byres, but no attack was made upon the dwelling houses. Thefollowing night Sir John distributed the whole of his vassals amongthe farms lying farthest from the castle, putting twenty men ineach; but to his fury this time it was five homesteads nearer athand which were fired. The instant the first outburst of flame wasdiscovered the retainers hurried to the spot; but by the time theyreached it no sign of the assailants was visible; the flames hadhowever taken t
oo good a hold of the various barns and outbuildingsto be extinguished.