Lord Mar into the place of refuge. He being the cause of the affray,
if discovered, would be immediately sacrificed."

Lord Mar acquiesced; and while the contention was so loud without, as
to threaten the tearing down of the walls, the earl was carried into
the garden. He was followed by Sir William Wallace, to whose arm his
wife yet fondly clung. At every cry of the enemy, at every shock they
gave to his yet impregnable gates, she breathed the shorter, and was
clasped by the lord of her heart still more closely to his bosom.

At the well-side they found the earl bound with rope that was to lower
him to the bottom. By great care it was safely done; and the cord
being brought up again, before it was tied round Wallace (for his
agonized wife insisted he should descend next), he recollected that the
iron box at his side might hurt the wounded nobleman by striking him in
his descent; and, unbuckling it, he said it contained matters of great
value, and ordered it to be lowered first.

Lord Mar, beneath, was releasing it from the rope, when a shout of
triumph pierced their ears. A party of the English, having come round
the heights, had leaped the wall of the garden, and were within a few
yards of the well. For Wallace to descend now was impossible. "That
tree!" whispered Marion, pointing to an oak-tree near which they stood.
As she spoke, she slid from his arms, and along with the venerable
Halbert, who had seized her hand, disappeared amid the adjoining
thicket. The two servants fled also.

Wallace, finding himself alone, the next instant, like one of his
native eagles, was looking down from the towering top of the wood upon
his enemies. They passed beneath him, denouncing vengeance upon the