ee life in the woods, that he fell ill, and was reduced
to so weak a state that he lay like one dead--the jailer indeed
thought that he was so, and he was carried out to be cast into the
prison burial ground, when a woman, who had been his nurse, begged
his body. She had it carried to her house, and then discovered that
life yet remained, and by great care and good nursing succeeded
in restoring him. In order to prevent suspicion that he was still
alive a fictitious funeral was performed. On recovering, Wallace
had other frays with the English, all of which greatly increased
his reputation throughout that part of the country, so that more
adherents came to him, and his band began to be formidable. He
gradually introduced an organization among those who were found to
be friendly to the cause, and by bugle notes taken up and repeated
from spot to spot orders could be despatched over a wide extent of
country, by which the members of his band knew whether to assemble
or disperse, to prepare to attack an enemy, or to retire to their
fastnesses.

The first enterprise of real importance performed by the band was
an attack by Wallace and fifty of his associates on a party of
soldiers, 200 strong, conveying provisions from Carlisle to the
garrison of Ayr. They were under the command of John Fenwick,
the same officer who had been at the head of the troop by which
Wallace's father had been killed. Fenwick left twenty of his men
to defend the wagons, and with the rest rode forward against the
Scots. A stone wall checked their progress, and the Scotch, taking
advantage of the momentary confusion, made a furious charge upon
them with their spears, cutting their way into the midst of them
and making a great slaughter of men and horses. The English rode
round and round them, but the Scots, defending themselves with spear
and sword, stood so staunchly together that the English could not
break through.

The battle was long and desperate, but Wallace killed Fenwick with
his own hand, and after losing nigh a hundred of their number the
English fled in confusion. The whole convoy fell into the hands of
the victors, who became possessed of several wagons, 200 carriage
horses, flour, wine, and other stores in great abundance; with
these they retired into the forest of Clydesdale.

The fame of this exploit greatly increased the number of Wallace's
followers. So formidable did the gathering become that convoys by
land to Ayr were entire