rease of Wallace's
band is one the story of which may be in part legendary, but which is
significant of the cruelty of warfare in those thirteenth-century days.
It is remembered among the Scottish people under the name of the "Barns
of Ayr."

The English governor of Ayr is said to have sent a general invitation to
the nobility and gentry of that section of Scotland to meet him in
friendly conference on national affairs. The place fixed for the meeting
was in certain large buildings called the barns of Ayr. The true purpose
of the governor was a murderous one. He proposed to rid himself of many
of those who were giving him trouble by the effective method of the
rope. Halters with running nooses had been prepared, and hung upon the
beams which supported the roof. The Scotch visitors were admitted two at
a time, and as they entered the nooses were thrown over their heads, and
they drawn up and hanged. Among those thus slain was Sir Reginald
Crawford, sheriff of the county of Ayr, and uncle to William Wallace.

This story it is not easy to believe, in the exact shape in which it is
given, since it is unlikely that the Scottish nobles were such fools as
it presupposes; but that it is founded on some tragical fact is highly
probable. The same is the case with the story of Wallace's retribution
for this crime. When the news of it came to his ears he is said to have
been greatly incensed, and to have determined on an adequate revenge. He
collected his men in a wood near. Ayr, and sent out spies to learn the
state of affairs. The English had followed their crime with a period of
carousing, and, having eaten and drunk all they wished, had lain down to
sleep in the barns in which the Scotch gentry had been murdered. Not
dreaming that a foe was so near, they had set no guards, and thus left
themselves open to the work of revenge.

This news being brought to Wallace, he directed a woman, who was
familiar with the locality, to mark with chalk the doors of the
buildings where the Englishmen lay. Then, slipping up to the borders of
Ayr, he sent a party with ropes, bidding them to fasten securely all the
marked doors. This done, others heaped straw on the outside of the
buildings and set it on fire. The buildings, being constructed of wood,
were quickly in a flame, the English waking from their drunken slumbers
to find themselves environed with fire.

Their fate was decided. Every entrance to the buildings had been
secured. Such as